Page 44 of Alice and Her Shifters (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 2)

If anything, he was to blame. For all of this.

Was that what Aidan had met by them all being damned regardless? Only he had the answer for that, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with riddles or Calvin’s insistence that I lay down and get more rest. They had made an effort to get me calmed down enough so that I was able to lay down, and I didn’t want to interrupt their discussion.

I had a sinking suspicion there was much more going on than what I was being let in on. But I wasn’t going to get any answers from the men. Not tonight at least. And I was too tired to fight for the answers as well. My best bet, as much as I hated to admit it, was to do what Calvin suggested. Maybe after I have had some good rest, I would have the clarity and patience to deal with everything.

I laid down and tried my best to get comfortable. Once I closed my eyes, it didn’t take long for me to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

18

AIDAN

“What to do now?” I asked as we returned to our spots on the outside wall of the mill, near the door. Part of me was surprised I still had clarity. Part of me wasn’t, and that was because of Allison. The longer I spent around her the more of my old self came back, and I would forever be indebted to her because of everything.

“We have to stand watch,” Calvin said. “At least until Milo comes back.”

I nodded. “Prickly pear.”

I rolled my eyes. That wasn’t what I wanted to say at all. But it didn’t matter. Those moments would become less and less frequent. So long as Allison stayed. So long as she chose me. But that was the double-edged sword.

Calvin snorted. “That’s putting it lightly.”

Crickets had begun chirping from somewhere unseen. A light breeze danced around the trees. From somewhere in the distance, an owl called out. A chill had settled in the air and nipped at my skin.

“Probably need a flame to dance… for warmth,” I muttered.

Calvin shook his head. “We can’t. A fire will make us seen, which will bring us more trouble, and Allison is still healing from her extremely recent close brush with death. Do you want to see her get hurt again?”

“Of course not,” I said with a frown. “No can I leave you alone with the girl anymore.”

Calvin huffed. “You might be right.”

I laughed. The curse clearly still had a good grip over me. Not as much of one. Still, the moments where I came off as insane hung over me like a dark cloud. I wondered if there would ever be a day when I would be fully recovered.

There was only one way to find out, and the odds weren’t in our favor. Milo screwed things up again. He didn’t believe in the prophecy, which didn’t make any sense, because he was the one that found us and used it to form our group. The concept that he continued to fight against it remained unknown. He had a reason, I was sure, for behaving the way he was.

It didn’t make sense to me that he would purposefully sabotage our chances. We needed Allison. He knew that better than Calvin or I did.

I shook my head.

I wish I could work some sense into him. It was foolish to believe he didn’t have feelings for the girl. I suspected as much when I decided to join. But I never expected Allison to be the one girl who would not only bring me clarity, but my faith in the prophecy. She had such strength and power and… well, everything about her was amazing and wonderful.

Calvin huffed and pushed himself away from the side of the mill. “Why would you suggest to her that she only choose one of us when you are very much so aware that she has to choose us all?”

I shrugged. “A means to an end.”

The prophecy was only one of the stories that we only touched on briefly the first night Allison was with us. What she wasn’t told was that she had to choose her three champions to fight alongside her. The problem was, the prophecy was a riddle, and I had no reason to believe I was a part of the mix. I suspected this was all orchestrated by someone else. Milo certainly didn’t have the know-how or the patience to decipher an ancient text. I was at a loss on how he got as far as he had.

He won’t tell though. I couldn’t ask him. Even if I had the capability to. He was a man who loved to keep his secrets.

The point was, she could never learn of the prophecy. Not the entire thing. If she learned what it all meant, her choosing all of us might have been because of what she was told instead of what really rested in her heart.

“Only she with her chosen three,” I muttered.

Calvin growled. “I know what the prophecy says.”

“Yes, but are you sure we are the three?” I asked. I was almost surprised that I had nearly full clarity to push that out. It seemed to come in waves. I wasn’t sure about whether or not proximity to Allison held any sway of it.

Perhaps, I could keep an eye on that.

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