บท 1124: MOON BELL PUNCH

He never made it back to his room.

"Dan, my man!" Jax yelled at him just as he mounted up the first porch step, "Or should I say Hotshot?"

Dan stopped to wait for the other man to catch up, he had thought Jax wanted to go indoors too, but the warrior grabbed Dan by the shoulders, "Come hang out with the real men."

Which immediately signaled many dangers. Dan did try to politely refuse, but Jax hadn't quite heard him. He was dragged forcefully to meet a group of warriors who had gathered in the cover of woods just beyond the party - which clearly signaled even more danger.

And Dan was very aware of these signals. He decided his best course of action was to greet everyone, and then politely remove himself and return to the Packhouse ASAP.

"One round, young Hotshot!" One of the warriors requested. They were playing some kind of drinking game.

"Truth or dare, Hotshot." Jax announced with a saucy wink, "This is a real man's game!"

Actually, Dan had always thought it was a teenager game, but he wasn't going to argue - not against the half a dozen or so old warriors who were clearly enjoying the game.

Not that any of them actually looked old...but Dan knew that with wolves, looks could be deceiving. Even though they looked like they could not be more than 40, they were probably Jax and Neil's peers. Bearing in mind that Neil was a grandfather of teenagers, it was obvious that they were very much his elders.

But at least Neil was around too.

"Hey, you guys don't play too rough with Hotshot, you hear?" The large man cautioned from against one of the trees.

Dan immediately felt safer with Neil around.

"Yeah, yeah." Jax waved it off, "What can happen with me around?"

For some reason, Jax didn't give Dan the same kind of reassurance Neil did.

But it wasn't like Dan could outright refuse to play.

"Alright. Just one, and I really must go." Dan agreed amiably. This way everyone would be happy, and he'd be strengthening his friendship with Neil and Jax AND gaining goodwill all around.

"ALRIGHT!" The warriors clapped and hooted in welcome. They were definitely pleased.

"Okay," The one named Dave took charge, "Truth or dare, Hotshot."

"Truth, sir." Dan smiled, "Please go easy on me."

Dave nodded, "No problem. Let's see... Okay, I've got an easy one. If you can kiss any girl in our pack, who'd it be?"

"Your alpha." Was what Dan was definitely NOT going to say.

The other warriors howled with laughter. There was body slapping and friendly warnings bandied about.

"Come on, Hotshot." Jax cajoled, "Don't be shy. If you tell us, I'll help you hook up."

Dan was very sure he didn't want Jax's help.

"I... I don't even dare consider it." Dan managed politely, "No thanks. I'll pass."

"You can't pass!" The warriors protested, but in a friendly whiney way. Dan realized they were just playing and relaxed a little bit.

"You can choose to take a dare though." Dave offered.

"Wait, hold it, hold it." Neil decided to step in at this point, "Hotshot's just a human so don't get him killed."

"Of course, I know that! Neil, will you chill? It's just a game!" Dave took offense, he turned back to Dan, "What do you say, Hotshot? Wanna try the dare?"

"How about you tell me what it is, and I'll try my best?" Dan negotiated.

The other warriors clapped, "Hotshot! Hotshot! Hotshot!"

Dan knew it was just a silly nickname, but being called hotshot liked that did something to your brain.

"Okay!" Jax jumped in on the action, "I know a good one."

"But it's my turned to give the dare." Dave complained.

"But I've got a really good one!" Jax was too excited to care, "Alright, Hotshot. Since you won't tell us who'd you like to kiss, how about you go kiss her now? Eh?"

Jax turned to the other wolves, "Is that genius or what?"

Dave shrugged, "I was going to dare him to steal some chocolate fudge from the packhouse kitchen."

"Oooh..." A warrior next to Dan said, "They made chocolate fudge?"

Dave nodded, "I heard it was the dessert for tomorrow's lunch menu."

Suddenly, it got serious, "Hotshot would probably be able to get us some..."

"No, it's too dangerous." Another deliberated.

"He could charm the ladies to giving him the extras though?"

"Or they might find out we sent him..."

But Jax wasn't having any of it, "That's not fair to Hotshot! You can't change the dare once it's issued!"

Considering his options, Dan felt quite sure stealing fudge was less likely to kill him, "I don't mind trying to get some fudge back..."

This impressed the warriors way more than Dan felt it was warranted.

"WOOOOAAAHHH...." They said in exaggerated motion. A couple of them actually stepped back as if in awe.

"No, no, Dan. We were just joking about the dare." Dave nodded and waved it off.

"We were?" Jax asked. Neil hit him.

"Yeah, I mean, sure, we were." Jax agreed.

"Yeah, but you're a brave man." Another warrior clapped Dan firmly on the shoulder.

Someone gave him a plastic cup of something, "Just drink a toast with us and we'd let you go."

"Yeah. To Hotshot!" The warriors toasted.

Dan looked at his plastic cup. He had no idea was was in it, but it was only two thirds full anyway. Plus everyone else was drinking it. Oh well, better to drink the the toast than receive the forfeit. He downed the cup... It was surprisingly sweet - orange cordial and sprite... But it burned like something else going down his gullet.

Oh. Was THAT the punch?

It wasn't that bad.

The rest of his memories were a little choppy after that.