The Joker; His foreign she-wolf

Does he have a twin?

*Scarlett*

Good Goddess, I almost gasp. It's him. The man from the Moon Goddess club. Only it can't be because the Luna of Brinsley is introducing him as Beta Johnny, future Alpha of the Elverton pack.

Certainly, a future Alpha wouldn't work at a place that engaged in fulfilling a she-wolf's fantasies. Wouldn't work at all, from what I understand. They consider themselves a privileged lot and avoid any sort of real occupation.

Could he have a twin? A twin who looks exactly like him but wouldn't inherit, who wasn't given an allowance, who had to earn his own coin, make his way in the world?

Or perhaps it's simply that every now and then, nature forgets when it created someone and it creates them again, in another time and place. A duplicate. I have read about them in folklore. Doppelgangers.

But if he is either a twin or a replica, if we have never met, then why did his eyes briefly widen with recognition? His nostrils flared, like he remembered my scent, and was possibly trying to draw more of my fragrance into his lungs. Only he can't be the man who had knelt beside me and carried me so skillfully into the realm of pleasure.

I have to be mistaken. Although I believed I would never forget what the gent had looked like, I have to admit to some murkiness around the edges of my memories, thanks to the influence of too much absinthe. So perhaps he only reminds me of the fellow, because of his sandy hair and blue eyes, along with the intensity with which he seems to be taking me in.

He gives a little bow. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Irontail.”

That voice. Deep, silky, rich. Low and intimate. Don’t be nervous. You tell me.

I swallow hard, striving to get my lungs to work. I can't return his sentiment, can't claim pleasure because I fear the word would come out as a strangled croak.

Since that night at the Moon Goddess club, I have thought of that man, possibly this man, a hundred times at least, regretted not allowing him to give his name because if I return to the club, how could I ask for him in order to ensure that he was the one who comes to me?

I give a shallow curtsy. "My beta."

My voice comes out as a strangled croak anyway, and I curse my traitorous body for showing any indication that I'm struggling with this unexpected development.

"I was giving Miss Irontail a tour of the library. She loves books," the Luna says.

"Reading makes for a wonderful pastime," he says. "Are you enjoying our country?"

I can’t help but smile, "It has its moments."

When a corner of his mouth lifts ever so slightly and his blue eyes warm, I know he is no twin or doppelganger. He's the one they sent to me.

How he has come to be that man is another matter entirely. Does he lead a clandestine life? Does the Moon Goddess club allow him to fulfill his own fantasies of pleasuring the innocent? Does he use the various encounters for blackmail? My mind is rife with questions, none of them flattering toward him. And none that I can ask outright at the moment without giving away my own sinful behavior.

"If you will excuse me," I say, needing to put distance between us. I step around him to move nearer to my family, not that they are wont to provide a modicum of protection. "You should have come with us, Mama. You would have been impressed with all the books."

"Unlike you, my girl, I prefer to live life within the real world, not between the pages of a book." My mother huffs.

My father adored me. His death nearly a year ago had come as a blow, even though I had been expecting it. The doctors knew little about the illness that had caused his muscles to atrophy and his body to fade away, and thus there had been nothing they could do to stop its progress.

I dearly miss him and wish he was here now to share in and be part of my endeavors. My mother has never approved of me, which is no doubt one of the reasons I hadn't stayed on the ship to travel back to the western lands once it became clear that my mother had tagged along with a definite agenda in mind: to see her daughter married to an Alpha, believing it would lift her own esteem.

But I have no wish to marry or have a mate. Instead, I have my own dreams that could be accomplished by not remaining on the vessel. So here I am, striving to prove myself of value and worthy of my family’s kind regard, while also hoping to obtain that which I long for: to be recognized for my talents and acknowledged as a true partner in the business.

I take the sherry my brother has been holding for me and force a delicate sip when I would have preferred to down all the contents. Between my mother’s designs, my brother’s tendency to take nothing seriously… even our dire straits… and the arrival of a man with the power to distract me, possibly to destroy me, I'm teetering on the edge of a precipice, and a single misstep could cause me to lose everything for which I've worked so hard and devoted years hoping to acquire. All done surreptitiously. All done with the knowledge of only a few.

Glancing over at beta Johnny, who has joined his friends, I can hope only that my encounter with him will also remain confidential.