Page 6 of Once Upon a Dance Club Wish

Though I felt his muscles tighten, Holden still bowed to the man. “Of course, Banir. The outer-worlders are coming here to be mates of the council members.”

So that’s what he’d meant when he said I wasn’t intended for him. Yet, I didn’t like the option in front of me. I wanted to stay with Holden, wherever he lived.

Banir walked around us, his hand on his chin, as if inspecting us. “Ah, I think he will give birth to some fine children to myself or one of the other council members. What’s he called?”

Birth children? Um, that wasn’t possible for any person I’d ever met who was assigned male at birth based on their genitals. “My name is Nelson, and I can’t have babies. My body doesn’t work like that.”

The man scoffed and waved off my concerns. “See that he understands how things work around here,” Banir said to Holden, completely ignoring me. “And give him a tour of the village before bringing him back to my hut for the evening. We will see who he is most compatible with in the morning.”

Suddenly he was right behind me, his groin pressed to my ass. “Or maybe I won’t wait and simply claim him as my own. If he can behave.”

I jumped away from the leader, my stomach roiling like I was about to hurl. I went from a young creep at the dance club who thought I was his, to an old creep in the Enchanted Forest with the same mentality. Banir wasn’t the type of man I’d wished for. The dream I thought I was in took a sharp turn into nightmare territory.

Chapter Six

Holden

I still didn’t understand how Banir had been appointed leader of the council. And what leader needed a minotaur as a chaperone? That should have been a big indicator he wasn’t suited for the position. If he treated every outer-worlder as a breeder instead of as a being, none of them would want to stay.

“Nelson, come.” I cringed at my own words, shamed I had spoken to the outer-worlder as if he were lesser. “If you want to come with me, I will give you a tour of village.”

He rushed to my side before placing his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go. Get me away from him.”

Nelson seemed to want to get away from Banir as much as me, but what did that indicate about his prospect of staying in the Enchanted Forest? I needed to introduce him to other members of the council and make the village appealing to convince Nelson to remain in our world. I needed to show him what I loved about it. Though that would be difficult in some areas considering his size and the fact he couldn’t shift into a smaller creature.

I took him to the community garden first. “This is where we grow the majority of the food to feed our village.” We walked among the fruit trees to start with, the apple blossoms having recently opened, promising a new batch of the sweet, red goodness. “There is a total of four large plots of land we work on, but not all at the same time. That way, we constantly have a supply of food. Ahmed has told us about the different weather seasons you have in the outer-world, but we don’t have them the same as you do, so we have a continuous growing period.”

I paused for Nelson to ask questions or simply to take in the information. But instead of looking around or wanting to learnmore about our world, he stared at the ground a few feet in front of himself with his fists clenched, as if struggling in his own mind. That didn’t bode well for him to become someone’s mate. The notion made my stomach roll, as I really wanted him to stay.

“Nelson, this is Lee. He is a satyr, and one of the council members. He does all the planning for the gardens to ensure we always have food, and coordinates the villagers to work the fields.”

The outer-worlder snapped from his trance and held out his hand to Lee. And while I understood the gesture as a greeting from Nelson’s culture from my encounters with Walter, the original outer-worlder who stayed, Lee did not.

I straightened my hand and moved it up and down to demonstrate to the satyr the expected response, but instead he shrugged, and Nelson returned his arm to his side with a heavy sigh. Miffs, I didn’t know why Ahmed had thought of me to fill the position of security officer. Before that designation, I’d been a worker under Lee’s supervision, harvesting one field or another. I would likely not get a chance to do that again if Nelson refused to stay. Nope, compost duty waited for me.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, I took the outer-worlder to many parts of the village, introducing him to as many other council members and villagers as possible. Anyone and everyone to show not all the villagers acted the same as Banir. But, like when he’d met Lee, Nelson either seemed lost in his thoughts, or cultural differences got in the way of a smooth greeting.

With one last place to visit before I took him back to Banir’s hut, I hoped the community builders fascinated Nelson enough to keep him in our world a little longer. We came upon their current project, the beaver shifters busy constructing a larger hut for the community healer to see patients.

“Wait.” Nelson stuck his arm in front of me, as if I was somehow in danger in my own village. “They are shifting as they work.”

“Yes.” I guided his arm away from me and down to his side, amused by his fascination with the idea of shifting forms. “If they need their teeth or tail, they’ll be in beaver form. But if they need strength or height, they’ll look like you.”

His mouth hung open, and his eyes were wide with wonder as he watched them work. It was the most focused he’d been all day. Until he started to yawn.

“I guess we should return now.” Though I didn’t know if I’d convinced him to stay, I had nothing else to show him. Taking him to the pond with me wasn’t an option any longer since everyone knew he’d arrived. “Banir will have food and a bed prepared for you. In the morning, it will be decided whose mate you will become.”

His face wrinkled as he rubbed his forehead. “I still don’t understand how I can be someone’s mate. My anatomy doesn’t make it possible for me to bear children. Where I come from, we have females for that.”

“Right.” I sighed, having forgotten I’d yet to explain that part. “Remember that card you used to wish your way here?”

“Yep.” He nodded.

“Did you happen to read the fine print on the back?”

He shook his head. “I need glasses to see print that tiny, and I left them at my apartment.”

I had no idea what glasses or an apartment was, but that meant I had some explaining to do, a chance to keep Nelson from Banir a little longer.

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