Page 1 of Cheshire’s Smile (The Crimes of Alice #3)

This bed was so comfortable. I hadn’t slept on a bed this soft in ages. The human world might have advanced in many ways, but their beds had gotten worse. Give me a feather down bed any day, and I would sleep like a babe.

I groaned and tried to roll over. My wrist caught. My brows furrowed. I jerked on my wrist. It didn’t move.

My eyes flew open, zeroing in on where my wrist was tied with... a measuring tape? I followed the tape up to the headboard, then yanked both of my wrists, trying to dislodge the tape that bit into my skin.

No luck.

Growling, I shifted in the bed. My legs caught. Annoyance and a growing panic filled my chest as I realized my legs were tied down too. My limbs pulled at my binds as my ears searched around me.

It was a typical bedroom at first glance. Warm colored walls, wooden floor, and a dresser off to one side.

My lips flattened into a frown when I realized that there was no door. Or windows.

What in the world? How did I even get here?

One moment, I was trying to find Hatter in the Bandersnatch only to realize there was nothing but a black void of nothingness, and the next, I was here. Was this some kind of trick by the Seelie Queen?

As I struggled, I didn’t notice the figure appearing until they were right before me.

“Now, Ally. You wouldn’t be trying to escape us would you?” A low masculine chuckle followed.

A slightly deeper voice answered him. “Not a chance. She put our world in danger to be with us. She wants to be here.”

My eyes shot up to the speakers. Two muscular bodies wrapped in tight black pants and colorful vests stood before me. Messy brown hair topped each of their heads, barely covering pointed ears. They were practically identical down to the measuring tape wrapped around their biceps.

Then I reached their faces, only to find they had none.

How were they even talking?

One of them put his knee on the bed making it dip. I inched away from him as much as I could while tied down.

“Who are you?” I screeched. “What do you want?” My heart pounded in my chest. This couldn't be happening. I had places to be. People to save.

The male didn’t stop, a low chuckle coming from him. “Don’t tell me you have forgotten me already.” He reached out and trailed a finger down the side of my corset. “You’re still wearing our clothes.”

I frowned. My eyes darted down where he touched. Their clothes?

“These aren’t yours.” I shook my head. “They’re mine.”

The other male laughed as he grabbed my ankles. “And where did you get them?”

I opened my mouth to answer and then clamped it shut. I didn’t remember. Another memory stolen by the shadows.

The two males turned to one another. If they were exchanging a look, I couldn’t tell for their lack of facial features. Then the one beside me pulled out a blade.

I flinched away. “Wha — what are you doing?”

“Relax,” he murmured, climbing on the bed fully. “Just taking back what is ours.” The one at my feet pulled one shoe off and then the other.

I kicked my feet for all it did. “Get off me.”

“Now stop moving or you'll hurt yourself,” the one beside me murmured, bringing the knife to the ties of my corset.

My breath held as he snipped each lace until the weight of it fell off me.

“It really hurts my feelings that you don’t remember me.

” The one at my feet stroked his hands up my inner thighs until he reached the top of my thigh high stocking.

He rolled one down, his face close to my skin.

I could feel his breath which made no sense since he had no mouth as he spoke.

“After all, I still have your virgin blood on my cock.”

My brows shot up. Virgin blood?

“You’re lying. Hatter is the only male I’ve been with.”

The knife traced along the neckline of my dress. “Was he? Is he? Are you quite sure?”

I couldn’t find an answer. The truth was I didn’t know. The shadows had stolen so many memories from me. I could have slept with the whole Underground for all I knew.

He didn’t wait for my answer before the blade cut into my dress, ripping it down the middle and leaving me bare for their gazes. I couldn’t see their eyes and yet I felt them burning into my naked flesh.

“Stop,” I breathed, my chest heaving. “Why are you doing this?”

The one at the foot of the bed crawled onto it and pushed my thighs open, his mouth hot against the inside of my thighs. “Reminding you of what you’ve lost, Ally. Of course.”

The other one threw the knife away and bent over me, catching my nipple in his mouth.

I gasp and arched my back. I shouldn’t want this. I should be trying to shove them away. I could use my powers to get them off me.

And yet...

Each hot touch of their mouth, each stroke of their tongue set something on fire within me.

“Your mind doesn’t remember,” the one between my thighs murmured, his mouth so close to where I pulsated with need. “But your heart? Your body? It knows us.”

His mouth closed around my clit, and I screamed. He held my thighs open in a firm grip, sucking at me in tandem with his brother at my breasts.

Brother? How did I know they were brothers?

I didn’t have a chance to ponder it further before two fingers pushed inside of me, curling at that spot that made me see stars.

The other male cupped and squeezed my breasts, nipping at the tips. The slight pain shooting straight to my core making me clench.

“That’s our girl,” the brother between my legs purred against me. “Come for us. We’ve been waiting for you.”

“You left us.” The other one pulled away and straddled my chest. His clothing had disappeared, and his long hard length stood proud in front of my face. “Have you truly forgotten us?”

“We have not forgotten you,” the other parroted, his mouth and fingers leaving me before something blunt bumped against my entrance.

The tip of the brother’s cock pressed against my mouth and traced my lips, leaving a sticky substance behind.

I licked my lips on instinct. The taste was familiar and yet foreign to me.

“I... I don’t know.” I squeezed my eyes shut. A memory fumbled trying to latch onto me but couldn't. I did know them. Not their voices. Or their bodies. Yet my own responded as if they were the only ones who had ever touched it.

They chuckled together before speaking in tandem. “Is it the word fucking you itself or the act of fucking? Because anyone who doesn’t like fucking hasn’t ever been fucked by us.”

I gasped the memory of the words crashing through my mind at the same times they both thrust forward.

I swallowed and moaned around the first’s length. His brother’s pace matched the thrusts into my mouth. Each movement shoved me further up the bed, but the binds on my legs and arms kept me in place.

The strangest thing occurred. With each pulse of pleasure pushing through me, I felt tired. Drained. Euphoria filled my head and body, begging me to keep going. To not stop and yet I could feel something inside of me that was... wrong.

“Look at our girl, Carban.” The first fucked my mouth harder. “Taking us so well. You’ll stay right here with us. Like you always wanted. Forever.”

Carban echoed his words.

My eyes widened. My mind raced and tried to piece together while my body fought against the pleasure raging through it.

Carban. Twins. Tweedles. A memory fought. Pushed at my mind. A blurring set of figures filled my head.

I gagged, trying to speak around him.

“Coby,” Carban panted, gripping my hips tighter. “Ally is trying to speak.”

Coby’s face turned down to me. His features were less blurred now. A sharp jawline came into focus. Green eyes burned through the blur. He pulled back slightly, letting me breath.

“Coby,” I breathed out, my eyes squeezed shut as Carban’s angle changed hitting that special spot inside. “Carban. God. I hate to say this but... you’re not real.”

As if saying their names made the memory latch onto my mind their faces cleared.

I knew them. I knew the sharp line of their noses.

The bristle of their facial hair dusted their jawlines.

And those eyes... how I could forget those twin eyes looking at me like I was their everything as they once were mine.

Coby chuckled and leaned down to brush his lips across my forehead. “We know, but do you really want to lose us again?”

He shoved his cock back into my mouth. I kept my eyes on him, enjoying the feel of them touching me, the taste of him on my tongue.

I lost this. The shadows took this from me. Took them from me. And now I had them back.

The draining feeling made me wince even through the desire pouring through me.

No. This wasn’t real. They weren’t real. Not these versions of them. Which means Carban and Coby were out there, somewhere, waiting for me.

Oh God. What happened to them? If Hatter and Cheshire had been punished because of my actions, then so had the Tweedles.

Despite my body warring with me to stay. I drew on my magic.

“No,” Carban and Coby said together. They thrusted faster. “Stay with us, Ally.”

I shook my head and pulled away from Coby. He tried to bring me back, but I kept my mouth clamped shut and pulling on my magic. I filled myself with it until it overpowered the feelings they were creating in me.

“No, Ally.” Coby stroked my hair and cupped my cheek. “Don’t leave us.”

Carban appeared on my other side, no longer trying to distract me with sex. “You gave up everything for us. And then they took you away. Don’t leave us now.”

My heart warred with my mind. My eyes burned with tears. I wanted to stay. I didn’t want to leave them. Everything I had done was for them. But it was also for Hatter. For Cheshire.

As much as I wanted to stay with them, they weren't the real Tweedles. This was a trick. A trap. And someone was feeding off me.

I knew the feeling, that dragging pull of my essence leaving me. They tried to hide it behind the Tweedles.

The power building inside of me came to a peak, and I stared at them with heart break. “Goodbye,” I whimpered.

Energy exploded out of me. They screamed and flew away as the image around me shattered.

I jerked off the ground with a gasp. I blinked rapidly. Black filled my vision.

Except this time, I wasn’t alone. Four heads floated above me, their faces gaunt and drawn.

“You must be the Bandersnatch.”