The music is languorous. Wolfgang makes me turn before holding me against him. I'm hot when our bodies move at the rhythm and I avoid his blue eyes who seems to make fun of the situation. No wolf will have the upper hand on me ! Whether I am a riding hood or a granny, the fight is the same !

I have to concentrate not to lose the bet and avoid at all costs thinking about Mina and... damn, concentrate !!!

I close my eyes and count the steps. The music is a bit melancholy. I don't want to dance, but to run. I imagine the Snowy moors, like on the pictures of my geography books. Maybe one day, I'll see them myself ? I will run through them until I lose my breath. Running in a vast universe and without fences neither of forbidden. Free. Maybe a bit lonely too. But whatever ! I smile. Yes, I dream of leaving everything to be myself.

But... who am I at the bottom ? If like Thomas says, I'm not a vixen ? I don't have memories of my arrival at the Village. Search in my past scares me. If I wasn't someone important or worse... If I was a scary and crafty ? If I was dangerous, like the principal always said ?

I'm scared of what I can discover if I search too much. Going away from here is a bit like running away from myself. I thought that by becoming a riding hood, it will be my exit door. It was my choice ! But event that is impossible. I feel corned and manipulated. I hate it ! It makes me angry. My hand is twitching on Wolf's shoulder. I feel his breath close to my ear.

"I like it when you're angry, Fox ! Your thoughts are so limpid to read and I see what pleases me. I understand what Shawn feels for you. What he sees in you."

I open my eyes.

"You know", he keeps on going, "SHAWN ! Handsome guy, wide shoulders, shy smile, grey eyes..."
"Dirt wolf ! You're cheating !"
"I'm a wolf... All shots are allowed so I can win. And now, in your mind, it's Shawn's image that spreads. I win. You lose ! So the wolf can eat the riding hood. It's the perfect moral for the tale of the Big North where I come from. I am allowed yo your riding hood's lips. What taste do they have ?"

His mouth comes closer to mine, his hands hold mine against his torso. On this dance floor, we looked like a couple among others. It's my first kiss, I don't want to... not like that... We must never play with a wolf ! We lose all the time because he cheats. I don't want to give my first kiss to a wolf, not like that !

Suddenly, a fast movement projects me behind and a thud ! Wolf is on the floor. He stand up, his lip is bleeding. My cheek is against a heart that beats a hundred per hour. Shawn presses me against his torso. He clenches his fists and his joints are white.

"Wolf !" screams Mina

She come toward him and give Shawn a scared look.

"It's nothing the mouse !" laughs Wolf. "It's always a men fight, this story !"

Wolf and Shawn stare at each other.

"Don't touch Diane", spits Shawn
"The hunter comes to the riding hood's rescue ? It's true that you like to rewrite the story in your forests !" laughs the Master Wolf while getting up. "Let's take a walk, Mina", he says. "Let's leave these two talk."

Wolfgang winks at me and bring Mina apart.

"Wolf !" I say mentally, because I suppose he still reads my thoughts. "Did you do it on purpose to bring Mina away ?"

Wolfgang nods to answer my silent question. He was playing with me since the start ? It annoys me !

When he passes my height, I hear his voice in my head. He's telepath ?

"You'll owe me that, Fox ! Us, wolves are patient and don't forget, I also eat Grannys ! I'll wait the good time."
"Idiot !"

His laugh is heard as he moves away with Mina. At least, he leaves with a real riding hood !

"What took him ?" says Shawn annoys while pulling me far from the dance floor.

I know where we are going when we get into the forest. Toward the waterfall of our childhood. Where we met.

"Wolf plays with my nerves sometimes, it amuses him !" explain Shawn like he's apologizing. "It's good war between hunters and master wolves."
"I don't see what it has to do with me ! Solve your problems with him !" I answer in bad faith.
"You... you don't see what it has to do with you ?" he almost strangles himself with my answer. "EVERYTHING that concerns you touches me. Everything that you do has an impact on me !
"Why ?!" I scream. "Let me live my life. I don't forbid you to be with Mina ! By the way, congratulations : you're a great couple !"
"A couple ? Mina is like a part of my family !"
"Really ?"
"Obviously !"
"Liar !"

I push him and he almost slides toward the lake from the smooth stones where we are.

His grey eyes stare at me. He catches me and raises me when I'm trying to run away.

"Don't take me easily, Diane ! I already told you !"

He walks toward the lake and goes in while I'm fighting. The water reaches his torso and I'm submerged in the lukewarm water of the lake. He throws me at the fleet in a fast move.

When I get my face out of the water, his is facing mine.

"You're good ?" he ask. "You have clear ideas now ?"
"I will..."
"What ? Make me crazy by kissing a stranger ? The wolf instead of me ? And you think I will stay impassive ? That it won't do me anything ?"
"That's not it... It was..."

A STUPID BET ! But I can't tell him that it was me who was dead of jealousy.

"Forget it", I say all down while facing the water of the lake making swirls between our two bodies so close. "It was nothing !"
"Nothing ? You think it does me nothing ? That you kiss him under my nose ?"
"What can it do to you ?" I shout. "I'm free to act like a I want. If I want to kiss a boy, it has to be possible. And if I want to become a riding hood instead of a Granny too ! Why can't I choose what I want to do ? Nothing !"

Tears are coming to my eyes. Nothing is going in the right way. Why ? Why don't I have control on my own life ?

"Diane, I will do what you want and all that is in my power to help you."
"Stop !" I say. "Stop to play the savior ! Stop acting for me ! I'll manage it alone. Live your life !"
"Without you, my life doesn't have any interest !" he screams
"No... get away from me, Shawn ! If you stay with me, you will leave your future. Hunter for a Granny is too risky ! I'd rather be alone than knowing that I could lose you and that... that it would be MY fault."
"That's the bottom of your problem ? That's why you're pushing me away ? That's why you're scare that I become your hunter ?"

He takes my arm and comes closer to me.

"I'm big enough to choose my destiny. Responsible enough not to put the fault on anyone else for my own decisions. If I have to live or die, I want to do it for me and choose with who I want to spend my life and which face I want to bring as my last memory before closing my eyes for eternity. I want to choose with who I want to spend my best moments. With who I want to laugh and cry. With who I want to dream. And you know, like me, with who I want to be", he says softly.
"Stop", I whisper, my lips trembling.
"Diane... you are the only one. You will always be the only one for me. Don't think I don't know that you are afraid of yourself and your past. Don't think I'll just watch you from far. I don't know what you're hiding but I'm not afraid of it. I accept you in your all, you and your shadow. Since forever and forever.
"No Shawn ! You don't know a thing. I've been told I wasn't a vixen ! And if I was different ?"
"You will always be my Diane ! You will eternally be my... my..."
"What ?" I ask febrile. "Your friend ? Like... Mina ?"
"No, you will always be..."

Slowly, he comes closer to me. His hand lays on my wet cheek, his brown curls caress my forehead and his arm sticks me to his body in the water of the lake.

"You will always be the one I love."

The night just fell in the middle of our screams and the silence is taking it over. I don't hear anything else than my beating heart. Our lips get closer and caress each other, it seems to me that the world is slower. Nothing else exist except the two of us.

Shawn's lips are burning. His soft kiss becomes more intense. Our bodies press against each other. I could literally melt in his arms so we can be one. So I'm not scared that he could walk away from me. So that our bodies are never apart. It's my first kiss and it is shared with the one I love and the one I always loved, under the beams of a golden moon.