Chapter 11

I couldn’t let the laughter deter me. I tried to picture the audience wearing their underwear to make a mockery of them the same way they were doing to me. I had to view this as merely another rehearsal in order to maintain my composure. It wasn’t like the queen was watching or anything…

I heard one of my dancers cough next to me to try and bring me back to the moment at hand, and I nodded to the orchestra who began the introduction of our piece.

The choreography I had put together was influenced by my dancers and their strengths. Instead of a pure ballet, it was a fusion of all the styles my dancers knew best with ballet as the base that brought it all together. I extended my arms and leaped into the first formation, twirling in a circle with the other two dancers on stage as the rest of my troupe came marching on stage.

We were a well-blended cocktail of tango, tap, flamenco and hip hop, mixing together sharp lines and smooth curves complimented by our edgy costumes. My ballet served as the core of the dance that set the stage for the story we told through our movement — I was the lead dancer trying to show my struggles with life by breaking free from the other dancers who attempted to trap me. In a way, I was freeing myself through dance.

During some of the more powerful moves the audience would cheer and vocalize more, which I could tell heightened the energy among me and my dancers. It’s like with every cheer we were super charged and the dance became more like a real story and less like a performance. At one point during the piece, I pulled away

towards the back of the stage to let the other dancers have highlighted moments. I took that as my chance to take in my surroundings more, noticing how invested the lycan luna seemed in our piece — I also noticed her eyes light up when it was my time to return to center stage.

I finished the dance with a series of connected ballet turns on high pointe — a combination that was very technical and required all the skill I could summon — then finished in a strong yet elegant pose. With my arms raised above my head and my chin held high, I felt the most confident I’d felt in five years.

But no applause came and I momentarily started to panic. I risked a glance at the audience and made eye contact with the lycan luna. For a moment, time stopped and I felt like she had stared into my soul, her expression unreadable. But then, she broke out into a smile and jumped up from her seat with giddy applause.

The next person to join her surprised me even more: Lorenzo, who sat a few chairs away from the queen, stood and applauded as well. Soon the entire audience was on their feet and we received a standing ovation.

I dropped my arms and summoned my dancers to the front of the stage with me so we could take a bow. As I lowered my body, I noticed a few other familiar faces in the crowd. Cate, who had somehow snuck out of the dressing room and was now standing at the top of one of the aisles, was clearly seething at the public’s reaction. I saw the queen’s assistant looking very pleased, as if our performance was a reflection on him. And finally, on the queen’s opposite side stood Cruz Sterling — one of my high school classmates. I remembered him because he had been Lorenzo’s rival during our school years, and not to mention he was the brother of the Blue Moon alpha.

My eyes continued to track the audience and I dared to take a closer look at Lorenzo. His facial expression was one I hadn’t seen in years but recognized instantly: it was the same as the first time we had ever locked eyes. Yes, our first meeting had been something like this with me on stage and him in the audience. I had been center stage and caught him walking in late, and even though it was a split second of eye contact, it was enough to know we would be forever connected somehow. At least that’s what I thought at the time, but maybe now history was repeating itself.

The applause had started to die down and I could feel myself getting increasingly self aware of how long my dancers and I had been bowing for. As much as I cherished the stage and the feeling of finally being back in my element, I knew I had to leave. With one last wistful look out into the audience, I pulled myself off stage and back towards the dressing rooms.

As we entered the common space, we were openly celebrated by the other packs. They applauded our creativity and congratulated me on a wonderful performance. I did my best to be gracious but in truth I was feeling so elated that it was hard to be humble. We were the center of attention, until the room suddenly went silent and everyone’s focus shifted to the door.

I turned around slowly to see Lorenzo.

He looked like he was out of breath from running backstage, and he seemed eager. Like he was a young boy again who didn’t know how to start a conversation, just like when we were 18. I held my breath and felt the world fall away, like the only thing that existed was him.