by A. K. Koonce
Clearly, I picked the wrong team to show the Elders that we could all live in harmony together.
“Have you told them about the games?” Gwen asks with bright eyes and that fucking irrational happiness spread across her lips.
“Ah, I nearly forgot.” He beams at her like she’s the favorite grandchild, and I’m just a cousin who keeps showing up late and drunk to Thanksgiving.
Perfect.
“Games?” Kais’s drifting attention finally falls on Liddell, and his chin tips up, his posture impossibly tense while he looks up at the man who brought him into this realm all those years ago.
“Well, when I created the portal between Wonderland and the surface world, I promised the Elders I would only accept one person into our world. I’d only change their lives by one.” His hazy blue eyes pass from Gwen to me, and I might act like an idiot sometimes, but even I can count to two. “Now we have two women who Preston assures me should be in this realm. I can’t have two.”
Preston, the Profit, steps around from behind Liddell, and it’s the first time I’ve seen the young boy look as innocent as his age should be.
He’s careful. He’s smart. He…doesn’t want to be here, obviously.
Preston keeps his blond head tilted down, not looking at anyone and giving the strange illusion of privacy, as if he knows he shouldn’t be here.
I fucking know that feeling, Preston.
“So, I thought the fairest way would be to do some games. Best of three.”
Best of three. My fate in this world boils down to the same childhood logic of rock-paper-scissors rules.
Great.
“I thought we could call them the Alice Games. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?” Liddell asks, Gwen nodding so much it infuriates me.
Why do they all have to be so irrationally insane all the time?
“That sounds lovely. Really nice. I can’t think of a thing I’d rather do,” I say with such a forced smile that a mocking laugh even slips through.
But it only pleases Liddell even more.
“Fantastic. Alice One and…” He turns to me as if he doesn’t want to call me Alice Two, but it only seems like the rational thing to do. Except there is no rational. Not here. “Alice One and Alice One will make a splendid show for us.”
“Wouldn’t I be Alice Two?” I clip out.
His eyes widen with that eerie smile. “Clever girl. But no. It’s entirely possible to have One and One. To have two ones and also none.” The smile finally fades into a sincere look of sadness for the first time since I met him.
It hangs in the air, the sorrow sinking into me the longer he looks dazedly off into the distance. And then, without another bizarre word, he adjusts his dark hat and walks away.
This place is exhausting.
Mickey and Gwen trail after him, and at this point, I might as well just start calling her Alice and accept my place as the runner up in the Alice Games.
“Where’s your room?” Kais cuts into my line of sight, drawing my attention to the crimson numbers kissing the side of his throat and…the new lines of red slipping down the front of his shirt. The number four is right in the center of his windpipe, and the alarming number disappears beneath the soft white material before I can read more.
And I just know it’s Gwen’s.
I don’t know why that’s hard for me to think about.
My fingers skim along his neck, my thumb tracing back and forth over that offending blood red number. His big palm catches my wrist, his body coming close to mine, dominating over mine until I’m no longer mesmerized by the number but by the way his body feels against mine.
“Stop thinking so much, Prospect. You’re still here. You’re in Wonderland. And you brought me with you. You did what no one else has been able to do in over a century. You’re winning.” The corner of his mouth tips up just slightly. “Now, where’s your room?”
“You’re so fucking eager to get into her bedroom.” Lighton’s usually carefree voice is tinged with annoyance as he passes the two of us. My attention follows him, his quiet strides giving him a kind of defeated stature that I’m not used to seeing in him. He disappears down the hall, and I know he’s going to my room without even telling anyone.
And so I follow.
Preston closes the door behind all of us. Lighton puts as much space between himself and me as the room will allow. He leans there with his back pressed to the wall just near the window, the setting sunlight casting across his bronze skin and deep dark eyes.
Not that I notice.
Preston eyes the fountain in the corner, his fingers daringly skimming her golden hair like he isn’t afraid the woman will snatch his hand away and possess his body with a single sinister touch.
I have got to toss a sheet over that thing, or I’m never going to get any sleep in here.
Cat makes herself comfortable on my bed, falling back onto the puffy white comforter and just lazing there like a kitten.
Which seems to draw Brody’s attention. He follows after her, preying on her really. His thigh presses right against her as he sits down, and when he skims his long fingers across the inch of skin peeking between her shirt and jeans, she reacts.
She rolls, slapping his hand away so fast he doesn’t seem to see the blow until she’s already gone, rolling out of his reach on the mattress.
“Fucking feline sex appeal,” she whispers strangely under her breath.
I arch an eyebrow at her, but she only keeps on glaring at Brody who looks just as confused as I am.
She and I are going to have a long conversation once the fate of this realm is all cleared up and stuff.
Kais’s booming tone brings everyone’s attention to him.
“I’m not going to argue with you on why you took Madison or why you deviated from the plan or why the fuck you’re working with the Elders. You can go.” He nods to the door, but his cutting blue gaze stays pinned on Lighton.
Lighton’s arms fold over his chest, and there’s a determination that I’ve never seen in him.
“Don’t feed the hand that bites you, Kais. I’m the reason you’re here at all.”
“Madison is the reason we’re here.”
“And who do you think brought her here?” Lighton tips his chin up to his friend, even though neither one of them is looking at the other in that friendly of a way.
“Maybe don’t remind me of that if you want to live.” The bleeding ink along Kais’s biceps flex as his fingers curl subtly into his palm at his side. “I can’t trust you. I can’t talk around you. You need to leave.”
“He hates himself too much for you to hate him too,” Preston says, his fingers still skimming along tears streaming down Annabelle’s golden face. His light touch lingers against her cheek there. “He won’t turn on you. He needs you just like you needed someone once before, Kais.” It’s the most blatant statement, spoken in a completely factual tone.
I don’t understand what Preston is saying, but the tension in Kais’s body locks even more, his hands shaking so hard he fists them before folding his arms and hiding the trembling gesture all together.
“Fine.” Kais turns his gaze toward Brody, and the man’s attention pulls away from the way Cat is pulling her long hair forward to really take a look at it. Brody ignores her oddness and waits for whatever his leader will say next. “We can’t make them see us the way we need them to. The Elders will never lower the barrier. You heard it yourself. They’re only accepting one. And no offense, Madison, but I don’t see them picking you, no matter how many games you win.”
“Best of three says she wins it.” Brody smirks at Kais, but his leader doesn’t return the gesture.
“I could win.”
Kais arches an eyebrow at me.
“It possible,” he finally relents. “But we need a backup plan.” Kais takes a breath and turns to address the room, but Lighton is quicker.
“Exactly how long is this motivational speech, because it’s already running longer
than my attention span.”
The glinting glare in Kais’s eyes is brighter than ever before.
“How were you ever a spy?” Cat’s tone is unamused, and she folds her arms across her breasts, shifting uncomfortably before glaring down on her own boobs like they’re just completely in the way of her annoyance right now.
What is wrong with everyone? This place is making us crazier than usual, if that’s even possible.
“I was a good spy because my own body was infused with Parroting magic. Even when I wasn’t paying attention, my mind was photocopying every single detail until it hurt just to think. And for me to lie, for me to tell Liddell a single lie about the people I cared about the most, it had painful consequences for days.” Lighton’s words sink right into me, but when I meet his gaze, he looks away.
I hate this. I hate hating him.
They just all make it so damn easy.
“The motivational speech will go on just a bit longer.” Kais stares Lighton down, but his next words change the energy in the room in an instant. “Because I want to take Wonderland.”
“Take it?” Preston finally stops marveling at the depressing fountain and gapes at Kais. “That—that doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“Unless you tell me blatantly that it ends badly for the six of us and the kingdom of Wanderlust, then I’m going to have to disagree.” Kais waits for his prophet to tell him what our future holds.
But he only stares blankly.
“You know my ability doesn’t work like that. I get snippets. And none of those snippets includes the kind of stupidity you’re talking about.” Preston’s bright eyes narrow on Kais as if he’s a grown man challenging the former soldier, instead of a pubescent boy.
“Then I guess my stupidity pays off.”
“You’re reckless,” Preston growls, diverting his attention and glaring out the window instead of at his friend.
He’s right. Kais is reckless.
He’s also incredibly smart.
I just don’t know if his recklessness or his intelligence is dominating his mind right now.
“I’m going back to Wanderlust. Today,” Preston says slowly, looking up at all of us one by one. “This place isn’t safe. It never was. The Elders questioned me, and I’m not sticking around to be their little tortured pet.”
Kais and Lighton both nod, and the simple fact that Preston doesn’t want to linger here sets my nerves into overdrive.
A knock comes at the door, and it cuts our discussion off with the sound of its echoing beats.
“Elder Liddell would like me to show your friends to their rooms, Miss Madison.”
Miss Madison. It sounds belittling, but I’m not sure why.
“Just a moment, Mack.”
“It’s Mick. Mick.”
It feels good to piss him off about his name as much as he pissed me off about mine.
I guess there’s always time during a rebellion for a little pettiness to sneak in.
Kais turns toward me, and there’s enough space between us for me to feel it. I can physically feel the small distance separating us. I don’t know why I just want to curl into his body today. After everything, after Alixx, my wedding, the attack, and then Lighton, I just want to feel calm again.
I want to feel safe. And that’s exactly what Kais brings me.
But he keeps the space between us as he speaks lowly and quietly to me.
“The festivities tonight are…dangerous. I’ll come get you. I know Liddell wants to introduce you and New Alice, but don’t leave until I get here.” It’s then, with the urgency tinging his voice, that he steps closer to me, his body warming mine but not quite touching in the way I need. Fingers hesitantly stroke down the outside of my arm, his hand brushing over mine before lingering along my fingertips.
And then Lighton jars his shoulder into Kais’s. “I’ll see you in our room,” he calls back to his friend in a strangely challenging way.
Kais steps back, his gaze flickering from me to the now open door.
Preston pauses at the door. “Be careful,” he whispers in the ominous way the young boy always has.
I shake off his warning as he slips out. Brody passes a quiet glance to Cat, but the woman is still staring down in concern at her breasts like they sprouted overnight and she doesn’t understand their purpose.
I have got to talk to her.
Kais pulls my attention back to him when his hand squeezes mine, and he pulls me closer with one hard tug. I stumble into him, and he catches me, holding me to him until all the weight on my shoulders falls away. That cutting line of his jaw rests against the side of my head, my breath fanning along the curve of his neck.
All I can think about his how badly I’ve wanted this all day. I just wanted a moment to fall apart and to know that, for a single moment, nothing bad will happen.
As long as Kais is here.
“I haven’t got all day, Mr. St. Croix.” The man’s brooding gaze is pinned on the two of us, and every time he speaks, my hate for him just climbs.
“Calm down, Macklemore,” I whisper on a defeated breath.
The man’s jaw clenches, but I don’t know why.
Everyone is so damn touchy today.
“Be careful.” Kais tilts his head low, his gaze trailing back and forth between my eyes before dipping…to my lips.
That look sparks right into me.
And then he turns and leaves just like everyone else.
Except for Cat.
“Elder Liddell said your cat friend can be your bed mate. Women are emotional. They need constant support. He wanted you to know he understands that. Until you find new friends here, she can stay.” There’s some weird fucking kindness in Macky’s words, like calling me emotional and weak is endearing, and I’m still glaring a hole through the wood even after he shuts the door behind him.
The asshole.
My shoulders fall with a heavy breath leaving my lungs, and when I turn, Cat is pulling off her shirt, her lip curling when she spots the bare curve of her ridiculously perfect breasts.
Okay. I get it. You’re flawless.
What the fuck are you doing?
She wastes no time before unbuttoning her jeans. She stumbles so hard her ass actually hits the beige rug as she struggles to get the skinny jeans off.
“Why would women ever wear these? They’re literally prison pants. And pockets? There are no pockets in females’ pants. These are fake pockets; did you know that?” She points at the stitching where her pockets would be, and I still have no idea what is wrong with her. “It’s probably a form of repression that you just don’t think about. It’s their way of keeping women controlled. Take away their pockets, that’ll show them. You females really shouldn’t stand for this kind of injustice. Bigotry at its finest.”
I tilt my head at her, and her struggles finally pay off as she kicks the tight jeans off, her heels tumbling away with them, until she stands at a much smaller stature in just the black line of her very small panties.
Cat glares down at the underwear as well. Her fingers pull at the thin elastic on her hip.
“If I look back, is this string going to go somewhere insulting?” Her lips curl, eyes narrowed on me with worry.
“Cat…what…what is wrong with you? Are you feeling okay?” I tilt my head at her, and the moment I take a step toward her, her body convulses.
I keep my distance. She coughs once. Then gags hard. Her petite frame curls abruptly forward.
Then she vomits.
An inky substance spews from her lips, but it isn’t wet and splattering. It slides out in a solid sort of form that takes shape slowly. An arm stretches, one first and then the other. Black hair shakes back and forth before the hairball figure Cat just retched up turns into a man.
A very, very attractive and uninvited man.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” My jaw clenches, and it only makes Alixx Stone smile harder.
“Didn’t think I’d miss the fun, did you?” Hi
s emerald gaze trails over my body in the exact same way Cat’s did when she first saw me in the downstairs foyer.
“You kissed me.” I look from Alixx to Cat.
Cat pats the corner of her mouth delicately, as if she’s cleaning herself up after just projectile vomiting an entire fucking man out of her body. Her fingers lift in the air away from her nudity as she realizes she’s nearly naked.
“Why am I in my underwear, Rotter?” Her arms fold confidently over her chest, and he glances back as if he too just now noticed her lack of clothes.
“You weren’t before?” he asks genuinely.
They’re all fucking pricks. Every one of them.
“Get out.” My voice comes out impossibly steady, and even I’m impressed with my emotions’ ability to fake it.
That swaying persona of his turns on me, and I hate that he really isn’t disheveled at all after being puked up like a hair ball. Every crisp line of his black suit is perfect. The scar carving from his throat to the side of his handsome face is the only flaw, and really with that much perfection, even his flaws look beautiful.
And I hate that I can still see him in that light after everything.
He said I was meaningless.
And yet, he snuck into a forbidden kingdom.
Just to torment me.
“I said get out.”
“I just got here, Sweet Madison.”
He uses my name just to get on my good side, and I’m not an idiot to be screwed with so transparently. Twice anyway.
“Get. Out.”
“If I leave this room, they’ll kill me.”
There’s an honesty in his gaze that no one else ever gets to see. I only ever see it in little glimpses here and there.
I don’t want to see it anymore. It doesn’t feel honest anymore. It feels scheming.
I tilt my head up to his sincerity, and he has the stupid nerve to come closer until he’s breathing in the quiet words that slip from my lips. I say them so sweetly to the man I thought cared about me. I move my lips in the slowest sensual way, and it only makes him lean into me even more.
“Then I suggest you run, Rotter.”
His features fall, his gaze meeting mine with understanding shining in his eyes.