by Maria Dean
"Goddamnit," she muttered. "I am an Alice."
"You are." It was Lorenzo. He was sitting in the corner, cradling a stuffed toy in his hands. "I could've told you from the minute I first saw you."
She snorted. "You told me the world was fucked up. The way I see it, that's basically the same thing."
Her bedroom door cracked open. Christian bounded in, followed by Giovanni, who held a fresh cup of hot chocolate in his hands. "You're awake!" The wholesome twin exclaimed. "God, Astrid, I was so worried." He fell to her side and took her hands. "How do you feel?"
"Chris, you're suffocating her." Giovanni set the cup down on the table next to her. "But really, dear, how are you?"
Astrid inhaled and hit her head against the headboard. "I want to drink," she admitted. "A lot."
Lorenzo snickered. "Yeah, I can help you with that." He retrieved a bottle of Svedka and offered it to her from across the room. "Gio hasn't cracked it open yet."
Weakly, she beckoned him over. "Put it in the cocoa," she instructed.
"Lorenzo, I don't think that's a healthy idea," Giovanni scolded him. Lorenzo didn't listen, pouring the liquor in her cup, anyway. The stern twin watched her gulp it down. "Happy?"
"Very," she replied. Setting the cup down, she looked at the three men before her. "So, you're all dragons," she said. "As is the rest of your family."
Christian smiled. "Pretty cool, right? Not as cool as you portalling into an other-realm, obviously, but you know."
She nodded along. "Right. I'm an Alice. I have special powers or something besides portalling. And there are a bunch of people out there who would kill me for them. Or kill you for being dragons. Or kill all of us, because hey, magical creatures are evil."
"More or less," Gio said.
"All right." She took the bottle of Svedka from Lorenzo, opened it, and easily knocked back two shots. "You're going to teach me how to use my powers," she decided.
The three Russo brothers all looked at each other. "Are you sure? You passed out the first time you portalled." It was rare to hear Lorenzo's tone sound like anything that wasn't sarcastic. "We've already put you in danger enough."
She shook it off. "Nope. You're too late. Someone already tried to kill Giovanni because of me. I'm stuck with y'all. Now get, I need some rest before you teach me how to teleport or something."
The Russo brothers left her, she guessed they were all unsure of whether or not they wanted to let such a strange woman risk her life for them. Before they left they told her she was the first Alice they'd ever met and if they weren't careful, losing her could mean losing their own lives as well. The arrival of a new Alice would heat up the Dragon-Fae war and there were so few dragons left.
As for Astrid, she was left with more questions than answers. At the beginning, she wanted nothing to do with the strange family. Frankly, she still wasn't sure of them. But Giovanni had risked his life for her, and Christian and Lorenzo seemed willing to do the same.
There was also the matter of the voice in her head that helped her go home. Or how her powers had allegedly been blocked by someone, long ago. If Astrid was going to become an Alice and help the Russos with whatever magical bullshit life was throwing at them, she'd need to work out her own issues too.
It was a good thing Nova was already coming to her. No better place to start than the woman who might've known from the beginning.
But first, Astrid had an entire bottle of vodka to drink.
Get Book Two and Three
The Alice Serial continues in Deceived available for preorders NOW.
Deceived: Book 2 of the Alice novella serial
https://www.amazon.com/Deceived-dragon-shifter-romance-Novella-ebook/dp/B07XRYR3MT
Frozen: Book 3 of the Alice novella serial
https://www.amazon.com/Frozen-shifter-paranormal-romance-Novella-ebook/dp/B07XSDVS8J
About the Author
Maria lives with her husband Andy, her 2 beautiful children and slightly mad dog Bruno.
She has been storytelling as soon as she could talk, but it was when she finished the first draft of a novel she realised why she was a dreamer. Why the world outside of the window was more interesting than every day life. Writing made sense of who she was.
Sign up for Maria's news letter at: BookHip.com/KJRXAZ
And grab a free book whilst you're at it. Maria sends out an exclusive short story once a month.
Connect with Maria
BLOG: http://www.MariaDean.com/blog
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/mariadeanauthor/