Page 31 of Alice and Her Shifters (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 2)

Then I realized what the something was. She was holding back. Either that or something within her was holding her back. Why? I couldn’t tell. That was something only she could answer, and I hadn’t had enough clarity to coherently speak to her again. Not like when we were making love. I wasn’t sure what happened to give me my voice and focus back, but I had a feeling everything had something to do with her and her powers. Maybe it was the closeness.

I wondered if the longer I was around her, the more clarity I would gain, and for longer periods of time. It was an experiment worth trying out. But not while she was training.

“Aidan?” Milo said.

I looked at him.

“Gather food and supplies for our trip. We’ll need to be on the move soon.”

I nodded and stood from the road. After I dusted my rear off from dirt and debris, I set off to do the very thing I was requested to do.

As I moved throughout the woods gathering various nuts and berries and herbs, hope continued to burn within me. It urged me to continue. To keep going. And it was all because of her.

Allison.

I pondered the sensation floating through me and came to realize there was another strange sensation that brewed within me. It was a need burning within my gut. A need to protect her.

I then realized, without a doubt, I would lay my life down for her if needed. I would do whatever it took to keep her safe and protected. Damned the consequences and damned the curse.

Allison gave me something to live for. A reason to fight.

13

ALLISON

For days now, we had been walking. We started a few hours after I finally hit Milo with some fire magic, which took literally all night long. He wasn’t hurt, much to my surprise and relief. The guy was an asshole and deserved to get hit, but he was helping me. At least, that’s what I told myself.

I was fascinated by everything around me. I had never seen so many trees in my life. Yet, they surrounded us with few breaks and clearings. We also never stayed in one place for longer than necessary. Usually only long enough to get what little sleep we could get and to do some more training. Although most of the training we ended up doing on the road as we walked, which only added to the sheer exhaustion that I constantly felt.

If Camelia or her army cornered us now, it would suck. I was too exhausted to carry on a fight and with the very few hours of sleep I was able to get with all the stops, I was sure I was going to pass out in the middle of it, which wouldn’t be good.

That’s what surprised me the most about the men. They were always on alert, despite how tired we all were. And I was sure they felt the exhaustion as much as I had.

My feet ached something fierce. Just when I thought I had enough of the pain and couldn’t take one more step, we entered another forest like the one I found myself lost in the first night I had come to this strange place. The trees seemed to constantly move and shift, and it was dizzying trying to keep track of where we had been from where we were going. I had taken the last step I could tolerate as Milo called for a break.

“Let’s call this good. Get a couple of hours of rest and food,” he said.

“Thank God,” I said and collapsed onto a fallen over tree trunk and rested my head against its neighbor that was still standing, albeit barely. The branches were bare, and the roots had pulled from the ground. Laying against it was probably not in its best interest, but I was too exhausted to keep holding myself up. I wrapped my arms tightly around me and closed my eyes.

Creaks and groans filled my ears. The tree I laid against shifted. I sat up and watched as it purposefully leaned away from me. I frowned.

“Well, that didn’t last long,” I said to myself as I glared at the tree. I wanted to stick my tongue out at it, but from what I could tell, the trees didn’t have eyes. It would have been a waste of effort. “What is this place, anyway?”

“Do you not recognize it?” Milo asked. The light within the dimly lit woods around us danced within his hazel cat-like eyes.

“It’s called Dusang, or blood forest,” Calvin said.

Milo glared at Calvin and said, “Spoilsport.”

I shook my head as Aidan laughed. He had been doing a lot better. Calvin had commented on that during our journey. Aidan gleefully shared I had given him a reprieve. I believed he was giving me too much credit.

“This is the very wood you got lost in on your first night here,” Milo added.

“Isn’t that impossible?” I asked. “Or are we walking in huge circles?”

“No, it’s not impossible when the forest is constantly moving,” Calvin added.

“How do you keep from getting lost?” I asked. “If it keeps moving, that is.”

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