Page 7 of Danny's Dance

Regan looked up into the sky. “Hard to know for sure, but thatway.”

“But we already tried that way. We just wound up back here,” JP added, panic clear in his voice. I placed my hand on his arm, hoping to calm him down. I knew how scared he felt being trapped in a forest again and I cursed myself. If I hadn’t got caught by Chesca, none of this would’vehappened.

“I’m g-going crazy,” JP uttered in frustration, throwing his walking stick on the ground as he let himself fall down in defeat. I crouched down next to him and wiped the angry tears from hisface.

“Hey, hey, it’s all going to be okay,” I whispered, turning his face toward me so I could look into his eyes. A whiff of honey caught my nostrils and I smiled. I would be okay. Whether that was in the middle of the desert, the crappiest rat-infested ship, or a forest that seemed to be hell bound on keeping us here. It didn’t matter as long as I had JP with me. “What do you think, set up camp and battle this forest when it’s day?” I proposed, looking at Regan. He was always the practical one that knew best what to do in this kind ofsituations.

“I don’t mind staying,” he mumbled, but I could tell from his voice that he wasn’t exactly pleased with the situation either. He was just being too tough to show it. I grinned as I watched my man. The first time I met him, he was in wolf form and I almost pissed myself from fear. He was intimidating, imposing, magnificent. In his human form, he was still like that, but there was a much gentler and calmer vibe to him. I wasn’t sure which I preferred, but the longer I spend with Regan, the more his wolf and human form started to blur together. He had become a bit less terrifying as a wolf and a bit more playful too. I quite enjoyed running with him in the fields now. Whenever my wolf allowed me to. She and I were getting along much better, but we still had no control over our shift and who came outwhen.

Usually, extreme emotion seemed to trigger my shift and then it was a tug of war until she had played enough and gave me the reigns back. Nowadays, that was usually after a couple of hours. Especially with Regan around to keep her in check. She adored him, but then again, how could she not. He was our onemate.

I grimaced, remembering the times before Regan. How I’d stray around in my wolf form for days, from town to town, eating trash and chasing hares. Which didn’t sound much different than what we were doing right now. As people. But we had a war that we couldn’t win follow us around. Nobody could blame us for running from it as far as wecould.

Ironic. Before the war, had all the money and all the riches in my reach. All I needed was at my beckon. Being the sole heir of the D’Ors family definitely came with perks. But I had been bored, unhappy, lifeless and I would have given anything for an adventure. Hell, I would’ve wished for war just to entertainmyself.

And now I was here. Stranded in the middle of the Woods of Erald, with no money, almost no food. I travelled from town to town, fleeing from a war that was started over me, and yet, I had everything I needed. JP and Regan by my side, and my two best friends, waiting for us to get back, hopefully with hotfood.

I wondered how things would’ve been, if Regan and I met before my house was in shambles. How our life would have panned out then. Would my parents have been overjoyed that my mate belonged to another prestigious house? Or would they have banned me from seeing him to keep our bloodline pure? A question I would never get an answer to. Our house were in shambles. When none of our so called allies answered my call for help, I finally understood how many enemies my parents had made over the years. Why all the kids in the village treated me this way. We were not loved. Barelytolerated.

I could only imagine how many clans Chesca found who would happily take a shot at overthrowing my parents and their pretentious way ofliving.

And now I was here. Sitting in the dirt with no possessions apart from the clothes on my back and the handful of utensils I owned. And I was richer than I had ever beenbefore.

“We’ll be alright, won’t we?” I smiled, looking from Regan to JP. They both nodded and I turned to Regan. We could always set up camp, right? A forest was just a forest. If we had a tent to shield us from strangers and a fire to keep out the night, we would manage. I knew Regan always carried those around in his pack, regardless of where we went. It would come in handy now! I turned to him, ready to set up an impromptu campsite, but noticed that Regan wasn’t actually carrying his usualbackpack.

“Did you lose your backpack?” I asked him, trying to recall if we left it at the clearing by accident. His eyes fell to the ground as he awkwardly shifted his weightaround.

“Didn’t bringit.”

Regan didn’t bring his emergency backpack? But he always, always brought it with him. That was the whole point,no?

JP placed a soft hand on my shoulder. “W-We left in a hurry. We didn’t want to w-waste anytime.”

I felt a lump appear in my throat. So that was how worried they had been. Regan left without his trusted backpack. Ironically, this was one of the times that we actually neededit.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to keepgoing?”

“Or one of us keeps g-guard while the other two s-sleep?”

“Better not stay the night after all,” Regan mumbled, looking around dodgily. That sealed the deal for me. If Erald even gave Regan the heebie jeebies, there was no way camping was a goodidea.

“Then we’ll just keepgoing?”

“A-All good b-by me,” JPnodded.

“This stupid forest is throwing us for a loop. We just need to keep on moving straight ahead,” I muttered, pressing myself against Regan again. “Can I see themap?”

Regan shook the map again and stretched out his arm. “That way. Definitely thatway.”

I ran my hand through my hair, racking my brain. “Okay, so now we just need to come up with a system to make sure we’re going in a straight line out ofhere.”

“How?

“We’ll figure itout.”

I nodded, trusting in Regan and his abilities to get us out ofhere.

Chapter Five - The Barn

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