Page 17 of Alice and Her Shifters (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 2)

Milo and Calvin glared at me as the general said, “What?”

“Never mind him,” Milo said. “We don’t know of any girl you speak of.”

Shadows moved within the dark outside the home, just behind the general. I pointed and laughed.

Calvin said, “Oh good, he brought friends with him.”

“Now, it’s a party,” Milo said.

The general huffed a breath of hot air through his nose before he charged Milo. He gripped the Cheshire by his shirt and heaved him out of the cottage and onto the ground. The man barely made a grunt as he landed.

“Grab the other two,” the general said.

Two of the henchmen piled into the small living room of my home. One tackled Calvin, the other came for me.

I launched a ball of lightning into the chest of the one heading for me, burning a hole straight through him. Then I said, “Hungry.”

Calvin had dispatched the other henchman sent in to collect him. A fight brewed outside the cottage, signaling Milo fighting off whoever was after him.

Two more of Camelia’s army filed into my cottage. The smell of burning flesh choked the air, and the spray of blood coated nearly every wall, muddying the clay which started to bulge and drip to the floor like melting wax. Each man that came for me, I ducked and dodged to get enough space between us so that I could destroy them with my magic.

That was the one thing Camelia didn’t account for in her curse, thankfully. I could still use magic. She wasn’t powerful enough to take that from me. Though I’m sure she had tried.

Within minutes, eight more henchmen bodies lay scattered across my home. The fight came down to just the general and two more of his men.

Calvin and Milo and I took the other two out. I grazed the general with a blast of my magic. He glared at me before running away. “You’ll pay for this!”

Calvin and Milo rush after him, disappearing into the trees. One of them mentioned not letting him get back to Camelia. That was a smart decision. I remained where I was, understanding fully well someone needed to keep an eye out for Allison.

I hummed as I started dragging the bodies out of my home. Normally, I would burn them, but instead, I took the woods and left them right inside the boundary of trees. Once I made it back inside, I stared at the condition of my home.

Laughter bubbled out of me. “Strange decorating.”

I shrugged to myself and then headed to bed.

7

ALLISON

A weight plopped onto the bed, pulling me from sleep that was lighter than I wanted. I recalled where I was and realized one of the men had laid on the bed with me. My eyes peeled open as I sat up. “What are you doing?”

The form didn’t move. He simply said, “Staring at the universe.”

I sighed with relief. “Oh, it’s just you, Aidan.”

He was the safer of the three men. If he was Calvin or Milo, I would have socked him and kicked him out of the room. Literally and figuratively. But with Aidan, there was something sweet and deeply wounded about him. I saw the gentleness and sadness in his eyes each time they met mine. After hearing what happened to him, I understood why. He probably mourned his sanity and intellect. I had no idea who he was before that woman, the red witch, came into his life, but I was sure he was tortured now.

I laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Things between us fell into a peaceful silence. After a few moments, he leaned in closer and whispered, “Thank you for helping.”

I smiled for a moment before I realized he had spoken another coherent sentence.

“I haven’t done anything yet, but you’re welcome.” I rolled to my side. “You are making sense. I can understand what you are saying.”

“Curiously,” he said.

I kissed him on the cheek. When I pulled back his eyes met mine and a strange sensation—a powerful need—overwhelmed me. I sucked in a breath and leaned forward, brushing my lips against his. After a few moments, I pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” I said, breathlessly.

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