"Earlier..." I swallow hard. "It's as if you two knew..."
"We heard you calling for us," Haine interrupts me flatly.
"He was in the woods," Rayé continues in the same grim tone, "while I was here at home. But we both heard you loud and clear, and when we followed the sound of your voice..."
The way his lips suddenly tighten alarm me. "That's when you found me, right?"
Rayé nods with visible reluctance, and my unease grows. "There's more," I say jerkily, "isn't there?"
The were-tiger glances at Haine, and after a moment, it's the Hatter who answers me in a curt voice. "You are the only human we know of who's capable of coming here without an entryway—-"
"And?" I can only stare at him in bemusement, feeling like I'm missing something.
"Entryways allow your physical body to remain in your world while your consciousness enters Wunderland," Haine continues broodingly. "But since you came here without passing through an entryway—-"
"Are you saying I'm dead?"
"We're saying what you've done is completely unnatural," Rayé bites out. "Everything about you and what you can do is unnatural, and so one can't help but think..."
I can feel myself already turning white even before the Cheshire Cat finishes speaking, and I gnaw at my lip, wishing there's a way for me to forget about a certain prophecy. But...it's just as Rayé's fictional counterpart says in the book. How do you run from what's inside your head?
The answer to it is painfully and undeniable simple: you don't...because you can't.
You can try your bloody hardest, but it's just a matter of time, and so it is for me as well. Words have started rearranging themselves inside my mind until they slowly lay out a prophecy I might no longer have a choice but to believe.
First comes an Alice who breaks all the rules,
and soon after
the same Alice shall become Winter's queen.
Just thinking about it makes me shake my head, and I turn to the two shifters, intending to crack a joke at how ludicrous it all sounds—-
Whoa!
I jump off the couch, dump the empty mug on the coffee table, and scramble to place as much distance as I can between me and the two gorgeous men currently eyeing my body like it's food.
"Stop it!"
"Stop?" the were-tiger mocks. "I'm afraid that's not in our vocabulary—-"
"Well, gangbang isn't in mine either—-" Shit. What the heck am I saying? I can already feel myself turning red as I look at the two shifters, and my heart sinks. I was hoping they hadn't heard me muttering under my breath, but the way they're smirking at me say it all.
"We hate to disappoint you, little Alice," the Cheshire Cat says politely, "but we're lacking at least one more man to make that possible. However..." He inclines his head towards the Hatter, saying, "Between the two of us, darling, I'm confident we can satisfy—-"
Oh my God.
I finally realize what his words are leading to, and I don't bother listening to the rest of what he has to say. Spinning around, I take one step towards the door—-
And that's it.
Because Haine is suddenly blocking my way, and the hunger in his eyes makes my mouth go dry, and my body start to tremble.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asks quietly.
"Anywhere is better than here—-"
"Why?"
He asks it so simply that I just know he's not joking.
But even so.
"Because it's not normal—-"
"And that's it?" he asks curtly.
"Haine—-" I break off when he suddenly starts to move, and I find myself nervously retreating with every step.
"Is that how little Rayé and I mean to you?"
"I...I..." Words escape me, and I can only continue backing away from the were-lion.
"You are willing to give up being our queen—-"
"No," I whisper. "It's not—-" My words crash to a halt as the back of my knees hit something.
"Because other people think we're not normal?"
I start to fall—-
Oh dear.
And just like that I'm back where I started, my trembling body trapped between the hard heat of two impossibly demanding shifters—-
No, no, no.
Desperation claws at me. I know I should run away. Do everything I can to pretend that no prophesied bond exists between us. But the moment I see the two gorgeous shifters turn to me at the same time, their gazes fiercely possessive...and tender...
That's all it takes. And instead of words of protest, I hear a different sound spilling past my lips the moment I see them slowly leaning towards me.
Aaaaaaah.
Even to my own ears, my moan sounds lewd and needy. It's almost as if I'm begging these beautiful men to seduce me, almost as if I want them to make me ache so bad that I can no longer think. The way my moan lingers in the air, it's almost as if I'm dying to belong to both of them——
Yes, yes, yes.
And the moment I feel their hands on my skin, the heat of their touch burns all of my defenses—-