Page 16 of Danny's Dance

I awkwardly chuckled. “It’s a longstory.”

Darren ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I have some time,” he said, sounding all nonchalant and casual, but I could tell he was enjoying our company. Especially Aspen. Those two got along like two peas in apod.

I pushed my own plate away as I tried to find a good starting point to this whole mess. “Okay... So, you might have noticed that there is... A war goingon.”

Darren nodded. “Yes?”

“Well... It’s more of a slaughter than a war. Nobody was prepared for an attack of the Lowetts and they are just burning town aftertown.”

“I did wonder why none of the Wolf clans have banded together to protect their towns,” Darren admitted, staring curiously at us. “I guess the fact that the two of you are here on the run explainswhy.”

“Do you know of an incident from years ago? When the Lowetts attacked the Ardelean family and completely obliteratedthem?”

“Vaguely... I heard the town went up in smoke and that it ended the Ardeleanlineage.”

“It didn’t. The two kids got away and have been hiding ever since. But I foundthem.”

Darren straightened his back, looking at me curiously. Interesting that after all his time away, he still seemed to care about the politics of it all. “Youdid?”

“Yes. They are sitting right next to you. Aspen and Ashleigh Ardelean. Nice to meet you,” Aspen grinned, shaking Darren’s baffled hand. He stared at the twins and then back at Regan andme.

“So does thismean...”

I grinned and nodded. “Yes. With you here, we represent the four noble lines of this county. And yes, we’re squatting in an abandoned building eating Aspen’s murky stew. Ironic, isn’tit?”

Darren looked hesitantly at all of us. “Am I beingpunked?”

“Wish you were,” Regan muttered, mopping up the last of his plate with a piece of oldbread.

“If you’re all here, who is in charge of your houses? Your treasures? Your lands, stock,people?”

We all exchanged awkward glances and for a moment, nobody spoke. None of our pasts were particularlypleasant.

“Our town burned with everyone in it. Including our parents... All there is to left from Ardelean is our title and us,” Ash spoke, her voice quivering. She wasn’t coping with their past as well as Aspen did. Or maybe Aspen was just better at hiding how broken he reallywas.

“Not sure what mine are doing,” Regan added, the familiar little crease appearing on his forehead whenever he talked about hisparents.

“We heard they made it out alive and Regan’s family has got property up in the mountains. We guess they’re out there hiding until the war isover?”

Darren tilted his head. “Why aren’t they fightingback?”

“Because they’re selfish,” my mate growled, his lip curled up in disdain. I reached out to him and squeezed his hand. I knew how much he hated his relationship with his parents and it pained me to see him so disappointed in them. But I understood why. From what I had heard about them, they were awful. They only cared about riches. I had no doubt they were living in their mansion with a fully stocked pantry as they sat on all the gold and wealth they had collected over the centuries. Regan was nothing like them. He was noble and courageous and kind. I knew he cared for people, even if he didn’t know how to show that affection. A side effect of growing up with cold parents, I guessed. When we met, even a hug was foreign to him. It helped that he knew Aspen and Ash from their childhood, but it took a while before he showed me his gentler side. And even longer for him and JP to become friends and shed their jealousy. But here we were. Years later. Both JP and Regan hadn’t left my side and I couldn’t me happier with having them both in my life. They were myeverything.

I intertwined my fingers with Regan and nudged my wolf to go comfort his. I felt him growing upset just at the mere thought of his parents. Not that I blamed him. He told me all about their controlling and manipulativeways.

“They won’t spend a dime to stop this war. Not if it doesn’t benefit them somehow,” I clarified, shuddering at the thought of them being my in-laws. I was almost glad that Regan ran away from home long before the war started so I didn’t need to meetthem.

Darren nodded and I could see him count out our stories. “So what about you, Danny D’Ors? What’s the... How did they call you... Oh right, “the delicate rose” of House D’Ors doing out here?” he grinned, turning me bright red. I always hated that nickname. It made me sound helpless and spoiled. To be fair, that was how my parents tried to raiseme.

“When I was little, I had a best friend named Chesca. I’m not sure where she came from, but one day, she was just... There. My parents let her live in our house as a playmate forme.”

Darren scratched his head. “How is that relevant to thewar?”

“It all ties together, I swear. A while back, Chesca died... Well... It was my fault she did. And... How to put it,” I trailed off, thinking about how to make sense off the whole resurrecting vendetta thing. “She came back to life... And now she’s trying to killme?”

“Aha. Sure,” Darren nodded, like it was the most common thing in the world. But then again, in some parts of the world, it was? Supposedly, there was a whole race who was able to resurrect. They lived down in the south, close to the Wild Seas, but I had never been there or met anyone from there. Apart from Chesca. But even so, she was a mystery to me. She possessed powers that I hadn’t seen or heard anyone do. Not even in the myths andlegends.

“Well... Funny thing happened when she came back to life. She... Changed? She became harsh and vengeful. I mean, I understand why. I did let her down and it cost her one of her lives. But it was like her whole memory changed about our time together.” I turned to JP, Aspen, and Ash. “You knew her too. It wasn’t just my imagination, was it? Her personality... Her emotions... They became skewed. She was a different person before herdeath.”

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