Page 57 of Alice and Her Shifters (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 2)

Something about my expression set her off. She stormed forward and punched me in the face. “You are a foul, despicable person.”

I huffed out a sarcastic chuckle. “Sticks and stones, Love. The important thing to keep in mind is that I was wrong, and I’m trying to fix my mistake.”

“Why the sudden change of mind? You didn’t seem too worried about me when that woman was flirting with you.”

I huffed. “We don’t have time for this. But if you must know, I was playing both sides. Camelia wanted me to bring you in at the cost of me keeping my head. She felt your power activate and wanted to take you out before you became an issue. I told you the truth about wanting to be free of her. We all do. This was the only way. I’m sorry I betrayed you. If there was any other way to do this, believe me, I would have done it in a heartbeat.”

She sucked in a breath as her eyes searched mine. For several seconds, we stood there, letting the silence settle between us. Then she broke out in laughter.

“You are twisted for thinking that sorry attempt at an excuse and apology would even work for you,” she said as her laughter died down.

“Regardless, we have a head to roll, and I would prefer it not to be yours. Or mine, for that matter. I don’t really care much about Calvin’s or Aidan’s heads, but I am forced to accept them because you care for them.”

“Whatever,” she said. “I’m here to do a job and get home. Let’s go.”

I motioned for her to lead the way. She stared at me as though I had grown a second head. “Oh no. You brought us into this mess, you lead us out of it.”

“Very well,” I said and turned my back to her.

I smiled to myself. She was certainly a surprising woman. If we made it out of the fight alive, I was going to find a way to tell her how I felt.

23

ALLISON

I couldn’t trust Milo any farther than I could throw him. I believed the words that spilled out of his mouth even less. It was hard to follow him when he practically served me on a silver platter to the one person I was supposed to kill. The person who he wanted me to kill.

The fact that he set Calvin and Aidan free made no difference. If anything, it only raised my suspicions. There was a hidden motive to all of this, and I was determined to figure it out before everything was said and done with.

He told me handing me over to the red witch was part of his plan all along, and I couldn’t stand the idea that he expected me to believe he grew a conscience in the last few hours. I still couldn’t reconcile his persistence of training me with everything that had happened up to this point.

Every step I made from that moment on, I was going to keep my eyes open. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be duped into believing Milo’s lies.

Never again.

As we made our way through what I assumed was the basement level of the estate, I processed through everything that had happened up to this point. At least Calvin and Aidan were still alive. I wasn’t sure what I would do if they had been hurt or killed. But there were two people still unaccounted for in this group of ours and I couldn’t stand not knowing what happened to them. They deserved Milo’s betrayal even less than the rest of us.

“Where are King and Jasper?” I asked.

Milo huffed. “They got away.”

“How do you know?” I asked with an arched eyebrow. My words came out sharp. I was still angry over his betrayal, and at myself for ever believing him in the first place.

He turned and faced me. “Because Camelia told me she sent out part of her guard to hunt for them.”

“And you believed her?”

“Well do you see a bunch of her people standing around?” he asked.

I nodded. “Fair enough. Calvin, what do you think?”

“It sounds about right,” Calvin said after taking a few seconds to think on it. “Before we reached our position, I had told them to run at the first sign of trouble. When they saw me get captured, they ran off.”

“I hope you’re right on this one,” I said.

He nodded. “I’m sure they are safe. It would take a lot more than Milo’s tricks and the red witch’s men to kill them.”

I nodded. “Good. I hope they are okay.”

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