Page 25 of Alec in Wonderland (Rainbow Tales #1)

“There you are!” Torwen declared.

Alec spun to see him come striding up to Bax and him.

“Cheshire, stay where you are!” Bax hissed.

“Oh, I don't think so, Knave,” Torwen growled. “I've had enough of your snide looks and scorn. I'm the Queen's consort, and you will—”

“Stop!” Bax's eyes had gone wide. He held out a hand to ward Torwen off.

But it was too late.

Neither Alec nor Torwen understood the danger they were in. They didn't know where they were. Not exactly. But Alec saw the terror on Bax's face and heard the truth in his voice. He realized before Torwen that Bax hadn't meant to keep Torwen and Alec apart. Nor was it scorn that drove his command.

It was the hounds.

They came bursting through a wall—enormous beasts with long, mottled fur that flapped like the flags of war. Teeth the length of Alec's middle finger glinted in the sunlight. Eyes as dark as midnight locked on Torwen. They snarled, the sound low in their broad throats, and jumped.

Four of them. Alec wasn't sure what type of creature they were, but he was suddenly sure that they weren't your average dogs. He only assumed they were canines because Bax had been giving him a tour and mentioned that the kennels were near. But these couldn't be dogs. They were too large. Too ferocious. Too fucking terrifying.

Alec backpedaled, his throat locked up with terror, unable to even shout. As he fell into the dirt, he saw Bax bash aside one beast while he dove between the last three and Torwen. Torwen could have vanished, but he didn't. He kept in character even as he jumped onto a bench. Not that any height would have saved him. He was going to die, and Alec knew it. Instead of vanishing to save himself, Torwen was going to play his role to the end.

But he didn't die. Bax had all three of the creatures focused on him now. Beasts covered him—a pile of snarling teeth, fur, and Bax. Seeing that, something clicked in Alec. With a roar, he launched himself through the air on a collision course with the monsters. He landed on one of them and wrapped his arms around its neck. Bax was below, bashing his fist into the face of a second animal, and he looked up in shock, then terror.

“Get back, Mal!” Bax shouted. “Let me handle this.”

“The fuck I will!” Alec punched the beast in his arms, then executed a perfect sumi-otoshi, tossing the creature through the air to bash into the remains of the kennel wall.

Torwen and Bax gaped at him.

Alec immediately locked on another animal, adjusting a hiza guruma by hitting the beast's back knee and using the momentum to toss him into his buddy, who was just getting up.

Bax still wrestled with the last creature, fists flying along with blood. It had his arm in its jaws. Alec punched that animal in the face until it howled and let go of the Knave. Bax jumped to his feet, his eyes glowing. Alec paused to see that.

“Mal!” Torwen shouted.

Alec had just enough time to turn toward the two beasts he had tossed. They were working as a team now, spread out to come at him from two sides. Jaws open, saliva dripping, and heads thrashing, they ran for him. Centering himself and silently thanking his father for getting him into Judo, Alec settled into a right stance, with his right foot forward.

A blur crossed his vision.

Baxenvir took one beast down, rolling with it. Then he was up, his body bending and jerking through rapid movements that Alec couldn't track. But the beasts did. The second one abandoned Alec to help its buddy. Launching itself at Bax, it opened its jaws.

“Oh, I don't fucking think so.” Alec pounced, knocking into the creature in midair.

They went down. Alec gave up on the tossing shit. He had to knock the beast out. First, a kirioroshi—a downward blow with a “knife” hand. He followed that with an empi-uchi, an elbow to the thing's head. Without a sound, the creature went limp. Alec jumped to his feet, bouncing on his toes, and turned toward the last fight.

That fight had turned savage, Bax and the creature moving too fast for Alec to track, much less help. Blood sprayed. Bax made a horrible sound. Alec searched for an opening. Just as he was about to leap into the fray, the beast went sailing through the air.

Alec ran after the thing to make sure it was down. It wasn't dead, its chest still rising and falling, but it was out cold. A quick search showed him that the other three lay in the same condition. Only then, with the enemy down, did Alec run to Bax.

Alec's hands started to shake when he saw the state of the Knave of Hearts. Blood soaked his clothing, terrible slashes showing through the torn fabric. Arms, chest, and thighs were all wounded. He looked as if a bear had mauled him. And still, the Hero of Hearts was standing. He was standing and staring at Alec. When he saw that Alec was alive, he crumpled.

“Bax!” Alec cried and lurched forward to catch him. “Damn it all. Bax? Oh, fuck. Bax?” He eased him down to the ground.

“I'll get help,” Torwen said.

Alec looked up and their stares met. He saw the conflict in Torwen's gaze. The hesitation. Alec widened his eyes at Torwen, and Tor grimaced. Then he ran off.

Cradling Bax, Alec prayed that Torwen didn't take his time in getting that help. The cat-man wanted to. It would be a huge win for their side if Bax died. But Alec knew that Torwen now felt indebted to Bax. Because the Knave of Hearts had just saved his life. He had even tried to warn Torwen. The attack was kind of Torwen's fault. And Torwen would want that debt paid immediately. He couldn't allow it to confuse their mission—a mission that Alec had just majorly confused by helping the enemy.

“Bax, hold on.” Alec pressed a hand over the worst of the wounds—the one in Baxenvir's chest. “Fuck, Bax. Please, baby, stay with me.”

Bax looked up and smiled even as blood dripped from his lips. “Are those tears in your eyes, Mal? For me?”

Tears? Alec blinked and felt liquid roll down his cheeks. Holy shit, he was crying.

“Yes, they're for you,” he snapped. “Who else? My fucking dumb ass cousin is fine.”

Bax chuckled, and it turned into a wheeze.

“Shh,” Alec pressed harder on the wound. “You're bleeding too much.”

“You're bleeding too.” Bax's gaze traveled over Alec's face. “You helped me. And you did it well. I'm fucking impressed, Mal. What was that? Those moves—I've never seen anything like them.”

“Stop talking!” Alec growled. “Fuck! You're gonna kill yourself with words. Just fucking be quiet.”

“I'm harder to kill than you think. Don't worry about me, sweetheart.”

“Don't worry?! Are you fucking insane? You're bleeding out. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck! Don't die, baby. Please, don't die.”

“Move aside!” The Queen of Hearts came striding up to them, her eyes full of murder. “Now!”

Alec gently laid Bax down and moved out of the way.

“Leave us!”

“I'm not leaving, Your Majesty,” Alec said. “I can't.”

“Mal, go,” Bax said. “I'll be fine.” He winced as the Queen pressed her hand to his chest. “She'll help me. But she needs privacy to do it. Go.”

“I'm not—”

“Guards!” the Queen shouted.

A pair of soldiers grabbed Alec by his upper arms and carried him away from his bloody lover and the groaning piles of fur.

“Fine! Put me down!” Alec shouted. “I'm going. Just put me down.” He let himself hang, surprising the guards into dropping him, then prepared to toss them.

“I'll take him, boys.” Torwen pulled Alec up and away from the guards before Alec could lay them out.

“Tor—”

Torwen hissed, cutting Alec off, and dragged him away into the gardens.

“Sorry,” Alec muttered as he shot a glance around. “I was upset. I forgot. No one's listening.”

“Still. You have to remember who you are.” Torwen widened his eyes. “At all times. No matter what happens. Remember or we die.”

“You would have died to protect the lie, wouldn't you?”

“Yes, of course.” Torwen glanced back toward the kennels. “If I had saved myself, Baxenvir would have known who I was.”

“How? Just from you—”

“Don't say it!” Torwen hissed. “And yes. Only I have that ability. Just me in all of Wonderland.”

“Oh.” Alec swayed.

“Mal!” Torwen steadied him.

“Damn, you're good,” Alec said, his voice as weak as his knees. “Even now, you remember.”

“Get it together!” Torwen shook Alec.

“I'm fine.” Alec pushed him away. “I'm fine now.” He turned to look back and saw a wall of card soldiers barring the way to the Queen and her knave, their boxy tunics filling any holes there might have been. “Will she really save him?”

“I don't know.” Torwen sighed. “I hope so. Fuck, the idiot jumped between me and a pack of bandersnatches. And you—”

“Bandersnatches?”

“Those beasts.” Torwen nodded toward the kennels. “They're war dogs. Bred to kill.” He grimaced. “And they hate cats.”

“That's why he told you to stop.”

“Yes. I realize now that he wasn't being churlish.”

“Churlish?!”

“I thought he was trying to keep you to himself! It annoyed me. I didn't notice the smell of bandersnatches until it was too late.” He shook his head. “You were amazing. How did you do that? I didn't think you were a warrior.”

“I'm not.”

“Yes, you are! Destiny has chosen well. You are amazing.”

“It's called Judo. It's a Japanese martial art.”

“Martial art,” Torwen tried out the words. “Judo.” He shook his head. “It's wondrous. The way you tossed those bandersnatches as if they were puppies. Great boojums! A martial art indeed. It was pure magic.”

“For fuck's sake.” Alec crumpled onto the grass.

That's when he realized they were in the garden. By the roses. The damn flowers were everywhere.

With a shuddering sob, Alec bent over and wept.