The Dancer (Men of the North Book 7)

by Elin Peer

  “There was a bear. I’m certain of it.”

  “Yes, there was a bear and a whole fucking army of Huntsmen chasing us. That’s why we jumped.”

  “I didn’t fall?”

  “No. We jumped.”

  “I remember almost drowning in water and falling down a waterfall.”

  “It wasn’t that big.”

  I lifted my arm. “Big enough for me to break two bones and get a severe concussion. Do you see this scar?” I pulled my hair away from my neck. “That’s from that day too. Most people remove their scars but I kept mine so I would never forget how close I came to dying because of you. But maybe you suppressed that part.”

  “I fucking stopped the bleeding. Trust me, I’ll never forget seeing you hurt.”

  Picking up a piece of cake, I unwrapped it and nibbled at it with my fingers. “I have pictures from my stay in the hospital. The scratches, cuts, and bruises. I looked like a castaway.”

  Solomon’s answer came fast and with a tone of frustration. “Which is why I insisted we give up running. You wanted us to keep hiding, or have you forgotten about that too?”

  Shaking my head, I felt annoyed with him. “I had a concussion. I wasn’t in a position to make rational decisions.”

  “Willow, I was trying to save you. That’s why I built a fire to lead them to us. You were so worried they would kill me.”

  The cake was crumbling between my fingers as I clung to my shield of anger. “Yeah, well, there’ve been days when I wished they would have.”

  Solomon dropped his chin and it took him seconds to respond. “You wish that I’d died that day?”

  “Because of you my brother has trust issues. Because of you I never got to say goodbye to everyone at the school. Did you know that I was whisked away in the middle of the night? Because of you I have nightmares. Because of you I have a heart that I never want to follow again. You took something pure and destroyed it with your reckless impatience.”

  Solomon’s ears grew redder by the second. “Is that why you’re with Tristan?”

  I stared at him. “Who told you that?”

  “Hunter did.”

  My heart was beating fast. It was impossible not to see the pain in Solomon’s eyes, so why wasn’t I feeling the satisfaction my revenge fantasy had promised me?

  “Are you with him because he feels safe and I don’t?”

  “Tristan isn’t…” I was going to tell the truth. Tristan was a friend and nothing more. Hunter would have mentioned that I was with Tristan to make sure Solomon didn’t make any kind of move on me.

  “Tristan isn’t what?” Solomon tucked his hands under his armpits and looked down, his body positioned to shield him from my words.

  “Tristan isn’t reckless. He’s kind and funny.”

  “And you’re happy with him?”

  I looked away feeling uncomfortable with lying. Sudden memories of being in a hospital bed connected to feeding tubes worked like gasoline thrown on my inner fire of anger. This man was dangerous to me and I hated him. I straightened up to my full height. “Yes, I’m very happy with Tristan. What about you? Are you married?”

  Solomon lifted his face and looked at me like he didn’t understand the question.

  “Are you married?” I repeated.

  “Willow, you and I… we…”

  First, I stared at him in disbelief. Then I erupted in a hollow laugh. “You’re not serious?”

  “A hundred percent. I still love you.”

  Damn it. I had been so prepared to spew all my anger at him, but hearing Solo say that he still loved me softened me, and I couldn’t afford to be soft around him. In self-defense, I poured all my energy into my armor of anger. “I don’t care. I feel nothing for you except hate. Whatever dreams you had about us marrying, forget it. We were children when we made that pact and I guarantee that it will never happen in this lifetime.”

  Solomon’s face tensed up and the veins on his neck popped out.

  I squared my shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “There is no pact and no marriage! All there is left between us are painful memories and a deep feeling of hate. I will never forgive you for what you did to me.”

  Solomon’s face was as red as if I’d slapped his cheeks. The warm apologetic man turned icy. “They say all it takes to move on is closure. I think this qualifies.” He took a step back. “You can tell the three men watching us from the trees that I’m no threat to you. The Willow I loved is obviously gone.”

  I wanted to shout at him to get the last word, but I could think of nothing to say. He was right. I was no longer the naïve, adoring girl who had loved him without conditions. I was the cynic with the broken heart who stood without moving, watching Solo disappear out of my life for the second time.

  It’s better this way. He only brings pain with him.

  As soon as Solo was out of sight, Hunter came running from the trees followed by Magni and Archer.

  “Why were you spying on us?” I asked with annoyance.

  “We were making sure you were safe.”

  “I didn’t know you were watching us.”

  “That was the point.” Hunter looked over his shoulder to where Solo had left. “What happened?”

  “The last thing he said was that I should tell the three men watching us that he’s not a threat to me.”

  “He saw us?” Hunter wrinkled his brow. “That’s impossible.”

  Magni snorted. “I trained him. Of course, he knew someone was watching. Solo is clever and his instincts are fine tuned.”

  “I told you not to throw away that bad nectarine. I bet he heard it,” Archer scolded Hunter.

  “I’m taking a swim.” Magni pulled off his shirt and walked to the water. “I need to cool down.”

  “Me too.” Archer stepped out of his shoes and when he began pulling his clothes off, I walked away.

  “You’re not going after Solo, are you?” Hunter called behind me.

  “No. I’m going back to the school.”

  My brother fell into step next to me. Loud splashing sounds behind us revealed that Magni and Archer had gone into the water. “What did you and Solo talk about?”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “But you talked for a long time.”

  “Not really. There were a lot of silences too.”

  “Did you tell Solo that you never want to see him again.”

  “Pretty much.”

  Hunter groaned. “You sure he got the message?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  The rest of the way we walked in silence and when we got to the school Solomon was already taking off in his drone.

  I watched him when his drone rose into the sky, his eyes on me before he turned his head away, leaving me with some of his last words resounding in my head. They say that all it takes to move on is closure. I think this qualifies.

  Hunter leaned his head back and followed Solomon’s military drone as it took off. “Are you happier now?”

  “Yes.” It was what he wanted to hear and what I wanted to believe. “I’m much happier.”

  CHAPTER 6

  New Assignment

  Solomon

  Zasquash was waiting for me when I returned from the reunion.

  “How did it go?”

  “She hates me.”

  He walked next to me. “Sorry about that. What about Hunter? Did you at least make up with him?”

  “No.”

  Zasquash gave a deep groan and opened the door to the small headquarters of the Domestic Violence Unit where we worked. “Why not? Did you put on your charm like I told you to?”

  “Yeah, I did the tap-dance routine, the stand-up comedy act, and still nothing helped.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Ahh, that explains it. I’ll bet you blew the comedy act. You never had much humor to begin with.” Zasquash followed me into the kitchen.

  “I’m only here to pick up some stuff. I’m off duty for two days so I’m heading up t
o my cabin.” I opened the fridge to get something to drink.

  “Sorry, but your cabin will have to wait. Leo called us with a new assignment. We have to go.”

  “Can’t some of the others go?” Sounds of voices from the gym further down the hall told me at least a few of our colleagues were here.

  “Nope, Magni gave an order and he wants you and me to go.”

  I slammed the fridge closed and pushed both my hands through my hair. “Shit.”

  “What is it?”

  “Magni used to give me the shittiest of assignments to remind me that I should be grateful that I wasn’t executed. I’ll bet this new assignment has to do with my talk with Willow today. Magni is just making sure I remember my place. I’m sorry that you’re being dragged into this mess.”

  Zasquash frowned. “I don’t know, man, Leo sounded pretty excited about it.”

  “All right.” I held up my hands. “I’m just warning you. Don’t get your hopes up. We might be asked to visit all the Motlander brides and do trivial interviews about their level of happiness or some shit.”

  Zasquash pushed me aside and opened the fridge. “Nah, man, Magni wants us because we’re the fiercest of his warriors. He wouldn’t waste our time like that.”

  “Trust me, he would.”

  “I know there’s some weird shit going on between you two, but Magni is smart. He knows that we’re the best team at tracking down people and handing out lessons to the fuckers who need to know what it feels like to be the smaller one in the relationship.” While talking, Zasquash pulled out a container. “We just got these new ones. You’ve got to try them.”

  He pulled out the balls of water that I’d seen as a child visiting the Motherlands. It was the same sort Mila had brought Willow and me by the lake today.

  “Isn’t this the coolest thing ever?” He peeled one and popped it in his mouth. “You can get them with beer now too.”

  I grabbed a handful and headed out the door to the drone I had flown in to the reunion. “Come on, let’s find out what the assignment is about.”

  “Turn around.” Zasquash was right behind me. “I wanna see if you can catch a water ball with your mouth.”

  Coming to a full stop, I held my mouth open. “Try it.”

  Zasquash threw hard enough for the damn ball of water to hit me right between my eyes and burst. The volume of his laughter told me it was no coincidence.

  “Asshole.”

  “Told you that your sense of humor sucks.”

  An hour later we walked into Police District Three, where our friend Leo came to meet us.

  “What’s up?” Zasquash asked and plunked down in a chair. “Who do we need to chase down now?”

  “No one.” I looked at Leo. “If you had a runner, you wouldn’t have asked us to meet you here. We would be at the last place he was seen.”

  “That’s right. This is an assignment completely different from what you’ve ever done before and to be honest, I’m not sure why Magni insisted that it was given to you two.”

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a group of Motlander artists coming to the Northlands to impress us with their culture. They’re going on a tour around the country as a part of the overall integration program.”

  “So?”

  “So, there’s heavy security around them and the three of us have been selected to personally guard the star of the show.”

  Zasquash sat up. “What star are we talking about?”

  “It’s this lady.” Leo headed over to a computer and pulled up a hologram of a woman. “Salma Rose – she’s twenty-seven, five-foot-four, and one of the greatest singers in the Motherlands.” We all looked at the hologram showing a beautiful woman sitting on a beach, looking out over the ocean with her hair blowing in the wind and her sunglasses raised up in her hair.

  “She’s coming here?” Zasquash got up and moved closer to the image. “When?”

  “In ten days. There will be almost thirty artists and technicians but she’s the main attraction.”

  “Why do we have to be three people to protect her? I could do that alone.” Zasquash crossed his arms and gave us a challenging stare.

  Leo placed a hand on the desk and leaned to the side. “Don’t fucking get possessive of her. She’s not going to fall for an old scarred warrior like you.”

  “Hey, I’m only six years older than her. That’s nothing, and why wouldn’t she fall for me? I’m tall, dark, and handsome. It’s what all women want.”

  Leo gave a rueful twist of his mouth. “You’ve been reading too many steamy novels from the olden days. Things have changed, my friend.”

  I sat down on the edge of a table. “The question remains. Why three men to guard one woman? It seems excessive.”

  “Because if anything happens to this fragile rose, we’re screwed. My boss has given his personal guarantee that our police force is capable of keeping the artists safe during their tour.”

  “Fine, but if the police have it covered, then why are we here?” I asked and used my thumb to point to me and Zasquash. “We’re soldiers.”

  Leo shrugged. “That was Magni’s order.”

  “I know why.” Zasquash glanced at the other policemen buzzing around in the large room. “Everyone knows that we Doomsmen are the biggest, badest, and most feared soldiers in our country. It’s obvious Magni wants us in visible roles to discourage any fool who might try to get close to the artists.”

  Leo squared his shoulders, his muscles showing through the thin uniform shirt he had on. “Hmm. Either way, by bringing in the freak show and pushing you two clowns to the front, it will look like the Doomsmen are responsible for the security while in reality we policemen are doing the actual work, as always.”

  It wasn’t the first time Leo called us freaks, and Zasquash was quick to give him shit for it. “Hey, cry-baby, do you need a hug to cheer you up?”

  “No thanks, I don’t trust your mutant arms,” Leo retorted with a straight face and changed the projection. “Here’s the tour schedule. We’ll meet the artists by the border and escort them from there. It’s all noted down.”

  I studied the list, where names were followed by descriptions like singer, dancer, musician, and technician. “At least I don’t see the Butterflies on here.”

  “Who are they?”

  “This popular group of three singers. I went to one of their concerts ten years ago.”

  Leo scrunched up his face. “How is that possible?”

  “Remember that I told you how I was in the first experimental school and we had a field trip to the Motherlands? It lasted a week and we went to see a factory, a concert, and the beach. You know, to experience what the Motherlands are like.” I looked at Zasquash. “Don’t give me that face. I fucking told you about it plenty of times.”

  “Yeah, you did. But I don’t remember hearing anything about butterflies.”

  Leo stared at me. “You never told me about it, and now my head is exploding with questions.”

  “All you need to know is that it’s a good thing that the Butterflies aren’t on the list, because they were awful.”

  “But what was it like, seeing so many women at once?”

  “Fine.” I smiled. “One time we went to a pool at the hotel, and the thing is that in the Motherlands men and women shower together.

  “No fucking way.” Both men narrowed their eyes in suspicion. “You’re messing with us.”

  “No, it’s true. We saw several naked women.”

  “Holy fuck!” Leo’s hands flew to his head. “For real?”

  “Yes, for real. It would have been amazing except for the fact that we only saw women who were old and wrinkled.”

  “Aww, why did you have to tell me that part?” Leo spun around with his hands still in his hair. “Fuck you, Solo, I had such nice pictures in my head.”

  I laughed. “What I want to know is how come the three of us were teamed up together for this task. That can’t be a coincidence.”


  Leo shrugged. “It’s not. None of my colleagues wanted to work with you two.”

  Zasquash snorted and looked around. “What’s their problem? Are they scared of us?”

  “Intimidated is maybe a better word. You do have a reputation.”

  Zasquash and I exchanged a look and he shrugged. “Yeah, we do. Otherwise we couldn’t do our job, could we? Your colleagues should be smart enough to know that it’s a good thing that most men piss themselves when we show up. It makes life easier for the police as well.”

  “Uh-huh.” Leo lifted his chin. “One last thing. When we meet the performers for the first time, you two will stay in the background. We don’t want them to run back home because they’re afraid of you. I’ll greet Salma Rose when she arrives and introduce her to you.”

  “Sure, that’s fine with me. As long as you let her know that we’re the chosen ones.” Zasquash winked.

  Leo lifted an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ll tell her that yourself.”

  “Salma Rose,” Zasquash pronounced the name slowly. “I like it.” He turned and gave us a pointed stare. “I call dibs on the first shift when she gets here.”

  “Fine, but you understand that your role isn’t to entertain her or talk to her, right? You’re supposed to be aware of everything around her and keep her safe.”

  Zasquash squared his shoulders. “I can do both.”

  Leo clapped his hands together. “Good. In that case, welcome on board.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Touring

  Willow

  I was star-struck when I first saw Salma Rose. Her songs were giant hits and I knew the lyrics to most of them. The fact that she was going on the Northlands tour had been one of the reasons I’d let Pearl talk me into joining when a spot opened up at the last minute.

  Now, I stood in front of my building and stared into the drone that had just landed, seeing one of my biggest idols. The man who had stepped out to greet me moved closer. He was shorter than me but his hair was puffed up in the latest fashionable hairstyle, one that made him appear taller.

  “You must be Willow Darlington.” He smiled and pulled up the sleeves of his multicolored shirt, revealing that he was fond of jewelry. All his finger rings and wristbands distracted me, and I blinked my eyes and moved my head to look at him. “What?”