The Dancer (Men of the North Book 7)

by Elin Peer

  Distrust was all over her face.

  “Magni ordered me and Zas to join the security team. I’m doing my job, nothing else.”

  “Why? There’s plenty of police. They don’t need you here and I don’t want you here.”

  My nostrils were flaring a little. It was surreal to face off with Willow like this and see her face twisted in resentment and anger. She was like an evil twin of the woman I’d once thought of as my mate and best friend. “My assignment isn’t to protect you. I’m here to protect Salma Rose.” It wasn’t true, because although Salma Rose was my main focus, I had an obligation to protect all the Motlanders.

  “Others can protect Salma Rose. It doesn’t have to be you. You’re not a policeman anyway.”

  I pushed out a huff of irritation. “Don’t you think I wonder why I was ordered to be here? As far as I’m concerned Magni assigned me to this torturous mission as another fucking punishment and nothing else.”

  “Oh, so being around me is torture, is it?”

  I groaned and dropped my head with exasperation. “Believe me, there are plenty of other things I’d rather be doing than fucking babysitting Momsies for a month.”

  “Don’t call us Momsies, that’s rude.”

  I was getting tired of her scolding me. “Welcome to the Northlands, we’re fucking rude and obnoxious. You used to love that about us.”

  She leaned forward. “I used to love a lot of things that I now loathe. Some of us learn from our mistakes while others don’t. I heard you made it your living to hurt and kill people, but I guess that was always what you did best, anyway.”

  Inside I was boiling with anger. Willow had no fucking clue what she was talking about. But years of training at suppressing my emotions paid off and I kept my face impassive. That only made her dig her knife deeper into my heart to get a reaction.

  “How do you even sleep at night with what you’ve done?”

  Every muscle in my body tensed up and my lips screwed together with my jaw so clenched that I couldn’t answer her at first. When I finally spoke, my voice was hoarse and full of suppressed rage. “I protect women and their children from men who aren’t worthy of them. I push large men against the wall and choke them so they can feel small for a change and see how they like it. I turn the abuse on the abuser.”

  Willow raised an eyebrow. “And if a man rapes his wife, then what? Do you rape him too?”

  I growled low. “If a man rapes his wife, I kill him.”

  “So it’s true? You’ve killed men?”

  “Yes.” I turned so she couldn’t see me close my eyes. But there was no shutting out the imprint those eight men had left on me. Their faces flashed like projections on my eyelids, and I had to push dark memories back to the troubled corner of my soul where I kept them locked away.

  “That makes you a murderer.”

  The judgment in her voice had me turn to stare at her. “No, Willow, it makes me a soldier, something you Motlanders will never understand.” I hated to see the disapproval. I wasn’t some monster. Why couldn’t she see that I was one of the good guys?

  “You have to leave, Solo.”

  I didn’t answer her.

  “Surely, you can see that we can’t both stay, and since I have a show to perform, you’re the one who has to leave.”

  For Willow to judge me saddened me, but for her to think she was in a position to order me around provoked me. “I’ve never abandoned an assignment in my life. Until Commander Magni tells me to leave, I’m staying.”

  “Then call Magni up and tell him there’s been a misunderstanding. Maybe he didn’t know I was coming on the tour.”

  “I’m not calling Magni.” My voice was firm. “You can go home or stay if you’d like. I don’t care either way.”

  Willow scoffed. “You’re such a bad liar.”

  My tone was flat as I turned back to the door. “You do you and I do me.”

  Willow made an outburst behind me. “Don’t you see that the two of us being on this tour is a disaster?”

  I shrugged and pretended not to care.

  “There’s no way we’re both staying on this tour. Do you hear me? I’ll find a way to get you reassigned.”

  I had my hand on the door handle but waited for her to finish.

  “I’ll tell Salma that I can’t stay if you do. Being the star of the show, I’ll bet she can have Magni remove you just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “And until it happens you’d better stay away from me.”

  My hands gripped tighter around the door handle but I refused to look at her. “Why would I come near you? This might surprise you, Willow, but after seeing how much you’ve changed I’m no more interested in you than you are in me.” A taste of acid spread in my mouth and my chest felt two sizes too small, as if my heart was banging against my rib cage protesting the lie.

  Willow’s voice lowered to a menacing sneer. “Just keep your distance or I’ll tell the other Nmen that you touched me.”

  My pupils swelled and my breath stuttered when I turned my face and looked at her with disbelief. This was the woman who had once stepped in front of a gun for me, and now she was threatening to make false claims to have me killed.

  She didn’t waver but kept the hard expression on her face.

  Feeling nauseated and shocked to my core, I went straight to the men’s restroom. I needed a place to be alone for a second. To recover and think.

  Willow truly hates me. Part of me had excused her harsh words from the reunion, telling myself that she had spoken in anger, but this time she had accused me of being a murderer and threatened to accuse me of touching her without permission. I pressed my head against the cool wall of the bathroom stall, assaulted by her words that she would set me up and her harsh statement from the reunion, which played in my mind again.

  There is no pact. All there is left between us are painful memories and a deep feeling of hate. I will never forgive you for what you did…

  My eyes were closed and I planted my hand next to my forehead, pushing out from the wall with a deep sigh. She had told me there were days when she wished the men had killed me back then.

  I knew how to fight large men with sharp weapons who wanted to hurt me. I had no clue how to defend myself against a woman who wished me dead. If she went ahead with telling the other men that I’d touched her, they would believe her. Especially with our history. Being alone with her had been a major mistake that I could never allow to happen again.

  If there was a shred left of the Willow I’d once known, she’d regret it if her actions caused a man to be executed. Even if that man was me. My head felt heavy as I concluded that I had to protect Willow from herself. Maybe I should request Magni to reassign me but knowing the Commander, he would only double down on my punishment. The best I could hope for was that Willow would succeed in demanding me gone.

  “Solo, are you in here?”

  The sound of Zasquash’s voice had me flush the toilet and yell out, “What is it?”

  “You’re on.”

  I opened the door to the stall and walked out to wash my hands. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Good.” Zasquash flexed his right biceps in the mirror with a small grin. “It takes fuel to keep this perfection going, you know? I gotta feed my beast.”

  He was referring to his always-hungry stomach and normally, I would have fired back at him. Today, I couldn’t engage in the friendly banter that always ran between us. I was too rattled from Willow’s threat.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m good. Go feed your beast and I’ll babysit the songbird.” It was a lame attempt to sound like myself but it got me out of the bathroom without him drilling deeper.

  With my head heavy from dark thoughts, I stepped into the dining room and walked over to Leo. “I’m taking over for Zasquash.”

  He gave a small nod. “I know. I told him to find you.”

  The room was full of Motlanders eating, talking, and walking to and from the
buffet of food. I took a moment to observe them in their strange fashions.

  “They’re very colorful.”

  Leo gave a low “Uh-huh.”

  “Do you think we look as strange to them as they do to us?”

  Leo turned his head to me. “You more than me. I think they see you as a freak with your size and all.”

  I’d taken my limit of shit from people today and fired back at him. “It’s not my fault they’re all so freaking small. They look like children to me.”

  “Huh. Even that guy with the strange mustache? Or what about that guy who has hair down to his behind? Do they look like children to you?”

  “They do,” I insisted. “They need to pack on some weight and muscles. Even our teen boys have wider shoulders.” My chin gestured to a man in an orange vest and tight shorts. “Some of them look so fragile I’d be afraid to whistle around them out of fear they would blow away.”

  Leo gave a vague smile. “I’ve been wondering though; maybe it’s because these are all musicians and singers. I mean, Willow is the only dancer. I heard that a whole dance group bailed out at the last minute.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is that these are musicians and they’re probably not the most athletic of Motlanders. There must be other men who are muscular – I mean they have sport stars like us, right?”

  “Only if you count soccer, tennis, drone races, dancing, ice-skating, and that sort of thing. They don’t have any real contact sports like football, ice hockey, rugby, or basketball.”

  “Soccer is a contact sport.”

  I scoffed, giving him a dose of the irritation and frustration from my conversation with Willow. “Not their version. They aren’t even allowed to head the ball or anything.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because they claim it can cause brain cells to die.”

  Leo laughed. “If that’s true it explains a lot.”

  Salma, who had been sitting and talking with Ben, pushed her chair back and the movement made both Leo and me pay attention.

  “She’s returning to her room.” Leo waited for Salma to get closer before he opened the door for her. She was just about to walk through when a fellow Motlander approached her.

  “I love your songs. I’m a huge fan.”

  Salma gave the man a wide but rather stiff smile. “That so kind of you to say.”

  “May peace follow you and may your songs continue to bring joy.”

  “Thank you.” Salma waved at him but hurried out the door.

  I kept in the back and let Leo lead the way to the lift, where a small group of performers were waiting.

  “Salma Rose, can I have a picture with you?” a female performer asked and when Salma nodded, the woman signaled for her three friends to be part of it too.

  “We’re in the Floral Choral,” the woman explained before posing for the picture.

  Salma was polite. “That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to hear your choir sing on stage.”

  “Come on.” Leo was holding the doors to the lift open.

  After Ben and Salma got in, I took up as much space as I could. The lift was big enough to have included the singers from the choir, but I was there to protect Salma Rose and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she got nervous around people. The four singers would have to wait.

  After the doors closed Ben asked me about Willow. “We waited for her, but she didn’t come back after talking with you.”

  I kept my face toward the doors and spoke in a flat tone. “I’m guessing Willow returned to her room.”

  “Was she all right?” There was concern in Salma’s voice.

  “She was fine. I didn’t hurt her if that’s what you think.”

  “How was the buffet?” Leo saved me from further inquisition by making casual small talk with Ben and Salma about their favorite vegetarian dishes.

  As we exited the lift and walked down the hallway to the suite, Ben yawned. “We have a long day tomorrow with rehearsals and our first show. Salma and I are going to enjoy a quiet night.”

  Leo kept going. “Whatever you like.”

  Salma stopped one door before the suite we were in and knocked on it. “I’m just going to check in on Willow before I go in.”

  Still reeling from Willow’s threat, I hurried by and told Leo in passing, “I’ll search the suite to make sure it’s clear.”

  The last thing I heard before I walked into the suite was Willow’s voice sounding friendly and soft. The way she had sounded when she spoke to me in the past. Back when we had been madly in love.

  CHAPTER 11

  Soft Words

  Year 2440 – Seven years earlier

  Solomon

  “Willow.” I stroked her shoulder and lifted a lock of her hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. “I brought you some berries to eat.”

  Lifting her hand, she rubbed her eyes before she opened them and gave me a small smile. “Did you say berries? I didn’t hear you leave.”

  “I’ve only been gone for ten minutes.”

  Willow crawled out of the small improvised bivouac I had built to keep us dry from last night’s rain. “How long did we sleep?”

  “About five hours.” I didn’t tell her that I’d been awake most of the night, listening for dangers and making sure her body was covered from the rain.

  “You’re soaked.” She lifted her hand and touched my hair.

  “You should eat, Willow.” I held out the berries to her.

  She took a few. “Did you eat already?”

  “Yes. These are for you.”

  “We can’t live off berries, Solo.” A line of worry formed between her eyebrows. “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

  “It’s just until we’re sure they’re no longer following us. Then we can light a fire and I can cook us something more filling. Rabbit stew tastes really good, you’ll see.”

  Willow took some more berries and looked down. “I don’t think I can eat rabbit, Solo. It’s not right.”

  “But you ate meat that time at the Happy Cow, remember?”

  “That was engineered meat. No cow had to die for us to eat it. How would you make rabbit stew without killing a rabbit?”

  Raising my hand, I tucked another strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned in to kiss her lips. “Then I’ll make you a green stew of some kind. You’ll see, it will be all right.”

  Willow popped the three last berries in her mouth and caressed my cheek, giving me another of those loving looks that always melted everything inside of me.

  “I love you.” Her words were soft and sincere.

  “I love you more.”

  We leaned our foreheads against each other and just sat like that for a few seconds.

  “Willow, there’s a river close by. We’ll build a raft and go as far as the river will take us. It will be easier on you than hiking all day.”

  “Can we wash ourselves first?”

  “Yes.”

  She pulled back. “Do we have time? Last night you said we should push through, and if we’ve slept for five hours they might be catching up to us.

  “I know. But it’ll take me a while to build the raft. You’ll have time to fill our water bottles, wash yourself, and maybe wash some of our clothing too.”

  “I would like that.”

  I bit my lip. “Okay, but just stick to a few essentials. We’ll have to hang them on our backpacks to dry.”

  Willow helped me carry the bivouac to the river, where I used parts of it to make a raft. We erased the most obvious traces of our night spent here. After eight days on the run she was becoming good at it.

  The stream of water was cold but nice and refreshing. Our backpacks stood on the side and the morning sun was coming through the treetops creating that magical glow that I loved so much. When the basic raft was done I took a minute to wash myself too.

  Willow stood in her panties and bra with water reaching her waist. The current was strong
and I kept an eye on her, afraid she’d lose her footing. Her hands were busy washing some of our clothes and I admired the view of her toned body with the soft curves that I’d never get enough of. She had mosquito bites on her arms and thighs and last night they had been driving her insane. Now that she was distracted she seemed to have forgotten about them. Willow looked over and smiled. It felt like the sun came out, and I thought she was the most beautiful young woman the world had ever seen. Her long hair was wet from before when she’d dipped under the water and washed it. Joy erupted inside me knowing that from now on it would be me and Willow together. I just had to find a place for us to build our new life away from the adults that tried to control us.

  “How sore are you?” I asked when I saw Willow place a hand on her back and stretch backward.

  “I’m not used to running and walking this much.” She smiled at me. “I’m not complaining, though. It’s worth it to be here with you.”

  I had been squatting in the water, washing myself, but now I got up and walked over to touch her, my black briefs dripping with all the water they had soaked up. “Are you sure?”

  Willow tilted her head back and looked up at me. “Yes, I’m sure.” She wrapped her arms around my waist, the wet fabric in her hands falling down my backside.

  “I want to give you the world,” I whispered and kissed her.

  Her smile widened. “We’ll create our own world.”

  “That’s right.”

  A bright sunbeam hit us as if someone in the sky had been searching for us and now shone a projector on us. It was nice and warmed our cold bodies.

  Willow pressed up against me, kissing my collarbone. “I’m sorry about last night. I think I fell asleep while we were kissing, didn’t I?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I’m sorry. I was just so tired. Maybe today it’ll be different and we can try something new.”

  My arms wrapped around her back and I leaned my head on her hair. “It’s okay. We have all the time in the world. There’s no need to rush anything.”