Page 46 of Alice and Her Shifters (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 2)

19

ALLISON

I opened my eyes and stretched my arms above my head. I had no idea how long I was asleep, but I felt more rested than I had the entire time I’ve been here. The delicious smell of bacon wafted into my nose, and I couldn’t stop the smile that stretched my lips.

Once I stood from the patch of straw that covered the floor, I yawned and stretched again before heading out of the mill. I instantly spotted Calvin sitting along the outside wall of the mill, whittling a piece of wood. The look of concentration pulled his eyebrows closer together with a slight crease above his nose. His lips were turned downward as he struggled to form the small piece of wood into whatever shape he was making it in. Milo sat on a boulder near a small cooking fire, where the bacon was popping. He had a somber look on his face. His eyes were focused on something far away. Aidan was near the base of a tree, picking the flowers that had surrounded the base of the trunk.

His attention turned to me, and he smiled. “Beauty awakens.”

I chuckled under my breath. “What’s going on? It’s unusually quiet.”

Milo plopped a few pieces of bacon onto a makeshift plate made from a flat rock and held it out to me. “First, breakfast. Then the news. Crispy pork?”

“We call that bacon where I’m from,” I said and took the meal and munched on the pieces of bacon, moaning in delight.

“We call it that here too,” Milo said. “I like crispy pork better.”

“Well, this is so delicious,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” he said. A proud smirk teased the corner of his lips. It was one of the very few moments when we weren’t at each other’s throats. Maybe this was a sign of things changing between us. Not that I had forgotten the way he treated me last night. I was still angry about that. Regardless, the peaceful reprieve was more than welcomed.

Then, in a flash, the mask of contempt was back.

I glared at him. “Still in a mood, I see.”

He sighed. “I just made you breakfast, and you’re already criticizing me?”

I shrugged. “I’m grateful for the food. I just thought things were calmer now between us. But I suppose I was wrong. Now tell me, what’s the news?”

He huffed and leveled his gaze on me. I still get chills when he stares at me with his cat eyes. I wondered if I would ever get used to them.

He said, “I found Camelia’s estate when I went for a walk last night. We’re close.”

Hearing the news the walk had resulted in made my heart sink. This whole adventure could be over by the end of today. So soon. I still wanted to go home, but I was just getting used to things here and I thought we still had quite a journey in front of us. Besides, I had grown rather fond of the men. And now that things are coming to an end, a small piece of me hoped to have a little more time with them. I was already starting to miss them. Even Milo and his unrelenting moodiness would be missed. I forced back the odd sense of disappointment back and nodded.

“We need to form a plan,” Calvin said, joining Milo and me at the fire. “Going in half-cocked is going to get one of us killed.”

“I agree,” Milo said and gestured toward me. “But Alice is still chewing.”

“Don’t wait on my account,” I said around my bite. The fact that he continued to insist on calling me Alice didn’t escape my notice, much less become less annoying. I simply chose to pick my battles on this one. “Let’s hear it.”

Milo shook his head. “You’re not ready.”

I stared coldly at him. A bite of bacon sat in my mouth partially chewed. I wondered briefly if I had heard him correctly, but I had. No doubt about it. I finished chewing the bite and then swallowed it down. “What?”

My voice came out flat.

“He said ‘you’re not ready,’” Aidan said as he stepped up with a handful of flowers. He held them up to his nose and laughed.

I settled my attention on Milo. He seemed rather agitated. Something about this whole moment wasn’t sitting right with me.

“Why am I not ready, exactly?” I asked. “Or should I be asking for what I’m supposedly not ready for? And since when are you the expert on what I am and am not ready for?”

Milo glared at me. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and he opened his mouth to speak. But Aidan beat him to it.

“Ready or not, the moment has come,” Aidan said and tossed the flowers into the fire. They instantly started to smoke and smolder, filling the small area around the fire with a pungent odor.

Milo cursed to himself and jumped up from the boulder, taking several steps away, batting at the air. “Fucking idiot.”

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