Page 20 of Danny's Dance

Abone-chilling shriekreverberated through the cold night. Oh no. I doubled over and sank to my knees, clutching myself as ice coursed through my veins and fire danced over my skin. A pain like thousands of needles stabbing me all at once shot through my nerves and the nauseating telltale signs of joints popping made my stomach turn. Notnow!

My eyes shot open and as I watched Regan lying still on the cold ground, I knew there was no use fighting it. My wolf was coming out, whether I wanted her ornot.

My limbs twisted, my skin slit open and with a howl, my wolf burst out. With a vigour and strength that my human form lacked, I rushed towards my mate. The first horse that blocked our path threw his rider off as I sank my sharp teeth in his leg. The taste of blood metallic and sour on my tongue, but I didn’t care. All I cared about wasRegan.

With a nudge, I pressed my wet nose against him and silently begged for him to get up. Defending him if he was out cold would be so much harder. I snarled as another horse approached us and howled to spook the beast. He bucked but his rider skillfully moved with his animal and swung a spear at me. I jumped out of the way and narrowly avoided another cut. Luckily, shifting meant that the wound on my arm healed and I could draw strength from my bond, even if he wasunconscious.

I nudged him again, praying he’d get up.Come on, Regan! I needyou.

My long tongue lapped his face and in relief, his eyes fluttered open. Thank thespirits.

“Danny?” he groaned, slowly coming by. The heavy rock lifted from my heart and I happily rubbed my head against Regan’s. Hey, in my wolf form, that was as close as I could come to acuddle.

“You shouldn’t be a wolf,” Regan muttered, grunting as he pushed himself up from the ground. He swayed a little as he regained his footing and patted me on the head. A low rumble escaped from my chest and I pressed myself against his legs. Good mate getting backup.

He stretched his neck and tested his shoulders, wincing as his muscles cramped. I gently nudged against his legs and he smiled, knowing exactly what I meant. He grimaced and ran his hand through my fur. For a big man with rough manners and a cold stare, he was always surprisingly tender and soft when it came to me. It just made me melt. But this was not the time nor the place for romance. I quickly checked the battlefield and noticed that both Aspen and Ash had drawn the last man from the horse. Quickly, they double-teamed him and before I knew it, he hit the ground. That sort of efficiency only came from years and years of fightingtogether.

A chill ran over my spine and just in time, I spun around. From the bushes, a stray man came running out in a desperate attempt to kill one of us. I clacked my tongue in dismissal and lunged toward him, knocking him down in one clean sweep. That poor sod. He shouldn’t underestimate me. I clamped my jaw around his neck and with all the anger and strength I had left, ripped out his windpipe. An eerie silence befell on us as the screaming in the village had died out and the flames had been extinguished. It had all been a ploy to smoke us out.Literally.

I curled myself around Regan’s legs again and searched for there rest. JP was panting heavily, his hand pressed hard against his thigh. He was wounded but alive. Darren reappeared from the shrubbery without a scratch, while Aspen had an ugly gash on his forehead and Ash clothes were ripped rather inappropriately. But apart from that, we were all fine. We made it. I sighed and fell down on my belly, my legs giving out. That was one heck of a fight and it was a surprise none of us got seriouslyhurt.

Playful fingers curled themselves in my pelt and I happily let myself be stroked. I loved being cuddled in my wolf form and Regan always knew precisely where to scratch me. Lazily, I turned on my back to expose my soft tummy and purred when his hands ruffled through my fur. Now that was the perfect after battletreat.

I growled softly and opened my eyes, only to find myself staring in Darren’s handsome face. I immediately jumped up and glared angrily at him. Why was he just leisurely petting me? Surely, that wasn’t one’s usual reaction to seeing someone turn in awolf?

I shifted my attention to Regan and growled at him. Why had he let someone else touch me? Thetraitor.

But then again... Why had he? I knew how possessive his wolf was in the beginning and how much trouble he had sharing me with JP. Even now, every once in a while, he’d threaten JP when he tried to pat me. My wolf usually didn’t let him. But here she was, happily curling under Darren’s touch. What was up withthat?

Maybe I was just tired. Probably that. And I had no time to waste thinking about which my wolf could and couldn’t pet. Just because we won, didn’t mean more men couldn’t arrive at any given moment. We should grab all the healthy horses we could and get the hell out of here.Fast.

“Let’s take their horses and go,” Regan translated my wishes and everyone nodded looking rather eager to get out of here. Darren threw me a strange look, quickly brush his fingers through my fur again and jogged towardsJP.

“Can I look?” he asked, peeling JP’s torn shirt away from the wound. My lover winced as Darren prodded the gash and I could tell he was in pain. “You needstitches.”

He let out a shaky breath and pointed at me. “Danny u-usually takes c-care of the medical s-stuff. But w-wolf Danny isn’t so g-good withneedles.”

“I feel her wolf. She won’t shift back for a while,” Regan helpfully added, gently scratching me behind my ears. My wolf purred and lovingly caught his wrist between her teeth. She almost liked Regan in human form as much as in wolfform.

“T-That’s a r-rather vague time e-estimate,” JP muttered, his facecontorted.

I let my head hang down in shame, angry that I couldn’t shift back at will. I would probably be stuck in my wolf form for at least a couple more hours until my wolf felt like she played enough withRegan.

Darren pressed his hand against JP’s stomach, making him flinch in pain. “I’ll doit.”

“Errr... I-I think I’ll w-wait for Danny to t-turnback.

“It’s a deep cut. You need it treated now. Look,” he disagreed, pulling up his own shirt and revealing a hard set of abs. Wow. He was fit. Why was he showing off his stomach again? Did I really carewhy?

“N-Nice abs. W-Why am I l-looking at them? S-Should it help with the p-pain?”

Darren chuckled, pulling the hem higher to reveal more rows of hard steel. Damn, that was one good-lookingbody.

“No, look here. I got a cut here a while back. I stitched it up myself and it healed nicely. I know what I’m doing,” Darren explained, pointing at himself. I dribbled towards him so I could inspect it closer. Not because I wanted a closer look of his abs, of course. No, for JP. I couldn’t let someone incompetent touch my man. With my snout almost pressed against him, I inspected his scar. It looked rather fresh, but it was neat and it had healed properly. That was pretty goodhandiwork.

I nodded, giving Darren approval to help and reassureJP.

“We need to move first,” Ash said, rejoining the group with three horses. “Only three horses left. I put the wounded ones out of their misery and the rest ran off,” she muttered, not looking very happy with that. I couldn’t blame her. During the fight, when it was your life on the line, defending yourself and attacking your enemies was almost a natural reflex. Cleaning up after the battle was horrible. There was nothing glamorous about making sure everyone was dead. Especially not when they looked at you with those begging eyes. Sometimes they wished to be spared and others wished for a quick death. I wasn’t sure which one wasworse.

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