Page 53 of Escaping Wonderland

He took her hand and, before she could react, slipped her finger between his lips. His rough tongue swirled around it as he slowly slid it back out again.

Alice stared, panting softly, her sex clenching in need.

Shadow’s nostrils flared with a deep inhalation, and his smile widened into a wicked grin. “That was just an appetizer. I’ll feast upon the main course soon enough.”

A shiver swept through her as she recalled the way his tongue had felt against her sex. “No cheating, though. You can’t phase.”

When she pulled her hand away, he released it reluctantly. Alice turned fully toward him.

He took a long step backward and sank into a deep, exaggerated bow, complete with a flourish of his hands. “A true hunter always practices good sportsmanship, dearest.”

Alice grinned. “Good. Now close your eyes and count to…fifty.”

Shadow rose from his bow and straightened his jacket. His eyes glimmered with an anticipatory light. “For the sake of fairness, I’ll make it one hundred—but I doubt I could make myself wait any longer than that.”

“One hundred it is, then. Now close them.”

He lifted his hands to his face and moved as though to turn, only to stop and peer between his fingers. “One more look, just to hold me over during your brief absence.” He raked his gaze over her from head to toe and back again; Alice swore she could feel the heat of his eyes on her skin, and it made her clothing feel irritating and restrictive.

His grin tilted to one side as he closed his fingers, turned away, and leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. “One…two…”

Alice spun around and raced off. Her grin widened as the distance between them increased; soon, she could no longer hear him counting. Perhaps this game was childish, especially when they should’ve been focused on finding the king and escaping this simulation, but Alice didn’t feel childish. All those worries were far off right now, they were distant while she was in this forest with Shadow. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Alice was truly enjoying herself. She was having fun with the man that she…

The man that she…loved?

No, it can’t be that. Can it?This soon?

She barely knew anything about him, and the little she’d seen from Shadow wasn’t necessarilyhim—it had been more like…facets of him. Fragments of his broken mind. No one they’d encountered seemed very fond of Shadow. Was that because, as he’d implied, he was simply a misunderstood outcast? Or was it because hewasthe Grinning Ghost, as they’d called him, because he was an agent of chaos?

Keep your eyes open, Alice. Look at me. See me.

Alice shoved aside her doubts.No. She’d caught glimpses of Shadow, therealShadow, when his mask fell. She didn’t see what everyone else seemed to. Shesawhim. Whatever was between her and Shadow was new, but it was potent, and she would nurture it as it blossomed into something larger, stronger, and deeper rooted. Her feelings for him couldn’t be undone—she didn’t want them to be undone.

She dashed between huge leaves, giant flowers and mushrooms, and towering trees. Her breath was ragged, and her heart pounded against her ribs. Despite the exertion, she feltgood; her body seemed lighter than ever, and she bounded through the woods as easily as the wind flowed over a field. The surface of her skin tingled, and heat pulsed in her core, intensified by the knowledge that Shadow would be right behind her, stalking her, eager to catch her and claim his reward—claimher.

Over her heavy breaths and drumming heart, Alice heard water running nearby. Darting between two trees, she pushed through the thick foliage only to come to an abrupt stop when she found herself near the bank of a wide stream. She bent over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath, and ran her gaze along the stream.

The water was blue and clear, more like the waters off a tropical beach than any stream or river she’d ever seen. Large, flat, dark stones lined the stream, too neat to be natural. It wasexactly what she’d come to expect in Wonderland—a familiar sort of thing that was just a bitofffrom the norm.

She inhaled deeply, straightened, and cocked her head to listen for sounds of Shadow’s approach. She heard nothing.

Alice stepped to the edge of the water, knelt, and leaned forward to peer in. The crystal-clear water was deeper than she’d expected; it was always difficult to judge depth, especially through the reflections wavering on the surface, but it had to be at least three feet deep even here along the bank. She reached in to splash handfuls of cool water on her cheeks, distorting her own reflection.

Closing her eyes, she released a soft hum of satisfaction; the water was refreshing against her heated skin.

When she opened her eyes, she started and gasped.

There was a face staring up at her from beneath the surface—a face that wasn’t her own.

Alice jumped to her feet and reeled back only to slam into something solid. A pair of powerful arms wrapped around her from behind, banding around her torso and pinning her own arms at her sides. She knew by the feel of the rough skin against hers that her captor wasn’t human—and that he wasn’t Shadow. Her heart leapt into her throat.

Something moved beneath the stream’s surface—a figure, distorted by the rippling water, attached to the face she’d seen. An alien rose out of the water slowly, revealing his hairless head first. His skin—no, not skin,scales—were a dull golden brown with olive spots along the sides of his head. He stared at her with two large, yellow eyes with slitted pupils. His face was startlingly humanlike despite his scales, right down to a perfect, aquiline nose, but that nose rested over a too-wide mouth that was curled into a grin from which long, jagged, yellowed fangs jutted like crocodile’s teeth.

Where Shadow’s grin always held a hint of mischief, a roguish charm, this creature’s grin was cruel, sadistic, and smug.

Alice knew what he was, though his species wasn’t common on her home planet—a boruk. The images she’d seen had not prepared her for how unsettling they looked in person.

The boruk stood up fully, bringing his torso out of the water. There were more olive spots on his shoulders and upper arms, both of which were powerfully built. The scales of his chest and abdomen were large and segmented, almost like armor plates, and tapered along with his narrow waist.

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