"Mother, shall we be living here henceforth?"
Kendra asked her mother, her thin smile dissolving into the air as she looked around the dilapidated cabin, clutching fiercely at the small bag that contained all she possessed as a young woman of twenty, who knew nothing but to work her hands off at the pack house, dedicating her life to please the Alpha and his household.
"Kendra, set the bag down and let us begin to clean up. The fireplace looks like it has been deserted for ages,"
Her mother said in response. Kendra sighed.
"Mother, you are evading my question. What would you have me do now that I have not gotten a response from you?"
Kendra pressed on, knowing fully well that her mother would give in.
"You know, your father is no longer the butler at the pack house," Her mother began to say.
"That is because he passed on, right?"
Kendra cut in. Her mother nodded. Her eyes had began to glisten with tears that she was holding back.
"Yes, dear. Our place at the pack house as domestic helps, with lives dedicated to serve the Alpha and his household had only been guaranteed for as long as he was alive."
" But we still live to serve the Alpha and his household despite dad's demise, right? "
Kendra asked, not able to make complete sense of the situation.
" We still serve the Alpha's household but we can no longer live in the pack house. We shall live in this cabin now."
Her mother said. Kendra stood there for long. Wondering why they had been sent away from the pack house to the decrepit inn behind the pack house when they could easily remain in the pack house after the demise of her dad.
"Come and help me here, honey. I don't know what this pile is," Kendra's mother called.
Kendra trudged to where her mother was, sad over the turn their lives were taking barely a month after her father's death whom she still mourned.
"Don't look so sad, honey! Come here." Her mother called.
****
The next few days of Kendra's life at the inn was characterized by her usual routine. She woke up early, when the moons were still up in the sky and sometimes, before the morning sun rose and while the night birds still sang. She made her way to the pack house and started her chores there, from polishing the fire place to scrubbing the floors and walls of pack house and then cleaning the the rooms in the pack house starting from Laura's room.
As Kendra started her chores that morning, humming a familiar tone that often kept her company on such cold mornings, Laura showed up.
"Good morning, Laura. Would you like me to do anything for you?"
Kendra asked as Laura drew closer to her, her frown permanently fixed on her face.
"Why are you polishing the fireplace?"
Laura asked sternly. The question puzzled and amused Kendra.
"What are you smiling at, idiot!"
Laura asked angrily.
"I'm sorry, I am only doing my usual chore, Laura," Kendra replied. It was not uncommon to have Laura call her names .
" I want to know why you are not cleaning my room first! Haven't you noticed that I rose early today?"
Kendra was speechless. Whatever she did, no matter how well she did it, Laura always found a reason to complain and talk down on her.
"I'm sorry, but I am not used to having you wake up this early, besides, your mother, the Luna instructs that I polish the fireplace and scrub the walls of the halls before progressing to the rooms," Kendra explained humbly.
Of course, Laura was aware of this but she always looked for a way to make Kendra get into trouble with the Luna who gave all the instructions for the running of the Blood Moon pack.
"Don't you ever tell me what my mother instructed when next I ask you to do anything! Now scurry off and go clean my room!"
Laura ordered, furiously. Kendra was left with no choice than to obey..she picked up the brushes and headed down the hallway, to Laura's room. Laura sighed contentedly.
"It is enough pains that the low life is my lookalike and is often taken to be me!" She spat angrily.
Many times, the Alphas from the neighbouring packs who came to visit Alpha Lachlan, Laura's father, often assumed that he had two daughters each time Kendra showed up in her tattered dress to attend to their needs. Sometimes, when Kendra appeared first before Laura did, the Alphas who were familiar with her looks quickly assumed that she was the Alpha's daughter until the Luna who was always by the Alpha's side debunked the belief.
"Mother, why do I look exactly like the Alpha's daughter?"
Kendra had asked her mother once.
" I can not explain that, Kendra. It just happens that you two look alike."
"Did you not say that we were born on the same night when the full moon had come out for the first time?"
Kendra pressed on.
" That is true. But everyone had hoped that the Luna would give birth to a male child and it had been a surprise when she had put to bed a girl as I also had."
Kendra had been led to believe that she was ugly and less of a woman compered to Laura who exuded all the class and charisma that an Alpha's daughter was supposed to exude. She wore the mean smile that Kendra had come to believe was associated with royalties and she faked a warm response to every compliment she was paid.
"It puzzles me that I could have a doppelganger who would rather have me dead. She hates me that much."
"It does not matter anything. You are your own person, Kendra and you should focus on becoming a better woman than you already are."
" Mother, why are we slaves to the Alpha's family?"
Kendra asked suddenly. She watched as her mother's face slowly shrunk with fear.
