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

I stumbled out of the Bandersnatch and right into a set of warm strong arms. Breathing in the earthy but spicy scent, I buried my face in Cheshire’s chest. Something about his scent made everything that happened in the Bandersnatch not so atrocious.

Cheshire’s clawed fingers stroked through my hair, his arms holding me tighter. A rumble vibrated against me. He was purring. My lips ticked up at the edges.

“Just like a cat,” I mumbled, rubbing my face against his bare chest. His nipple brushed my cheek. I had the sudden urge to lick it.

“Mmm, love,” Cheshire murmured into my hair. “I could hold you all day.” He squeezed me tighter before releasing me to look down at me.

“However, we shouldn’t tarry here in the queen’s bedroom. Unless...” He let out a low growl, his hands gripping my hips before cupping my backside. “You wish to defile the queen’s bedchambers?”

Heat licked between my thighs, and the temptation to take him up on his offer was almost too good to pass up. I wanted Cheshire. My mind didn’t remember him the way my body seemed to. Something inside of me was still incomplete.

That very word snapped me out of my lust-filled stupor.

I pushed out of his arms with a shake of my head. “No. We have to find Hatter.”

Cheshire let out a disgruntled sound before stroking a hand over my shoulder, brushing my hair out of my face. “Did you not find him in the Bandersnatch?”

A part of me told me to brush his touches away and yet I leaned into it. Ignoring my confusing feelings, I shook my head.

“Unfortunately, they were as helpful as faeries in a pool.”

I mulled over the conversation I had with the Bandersnatch. There wasn’t much, if anything, to go on. They hadn’t even plainly stated that Hatter had been there. In fact, they were more interested in me than Hatter.

I wasn’t about to tell Cheshire that. The less people who got the idea of me being High Queen in their heads, the better.

“They didn’t say anything helpful?” Cheshire’s nose stroked along the side of my neck, his claws wrapping around the back of my neck.

I moaned and angled my head for him. That felt so good. “They didn’t say anything. In fact when I asked them they said, ‘Reaper knows where Hatter was.’”

Cheshire paused, my eyes flickered open. I turned my head, locking our gazes.

“What? What is it?”

Cheshire smirked, then dipped his head, his tongue licking a path up the line of my neck.

A shudder of desire rippled through me. I pressed my thighs together. Cheshire’s hand splayed low on my hip, fingers teasing the arch of my skirt. I had to force myself not to push myself into his hands further.

“Would you stop that?” I clasped my hand over his warm one.

“The Reaper.” His breath stroked my face as he spoke low and intimately. It was as if we were talking about something more salacious than where my missing lover was.

“Reaper?” I breathed, my eyes dipping to his lips and then back to his eyes. “What about him?”

The Reaper wasn’t like the stories described him. There was no skull head or decomposing body. In fact, the Reaper’s name was Eugene, a handsome fae male and the father of Dorian the UnSeelie Prince.

Dorian had taken time away from the Underground to spend time with his long-lost father and chase down the remainders of the shadows. Though I had a sneaky suspicion some of his reasoning for leaving was because he didn’t want to see Kat a.k.a. Lynne, his ex-fiancé, happy with Chess.

Not that I could blame him. It would be torture to watch any of my males with someone else.

My males? Where had that come from? I guess, if I was being honest with myself, I did consider Cheshire mine now. But for some reason, I felt as if I wasn’t just talking about Hatter and Cheshire. The remnants of the dream the Bandersnatch trapped me in filtered through my mind.

“Coby and Carban,” I whispered.

“What?” Cheshire cocked his head.

“Nothing.” I blinked. “What about Eugene?”

Cheshire snuggled his face against my shoulder. “The Bandersnatch told you where Hatter was, kitten. You just weren’t listening.”

I blew out a hard breath. “The Reaper. Hatter’s in the Shadow Realm.

Of course.” I threw my hands up and stalked across the room, irritation making my steps harder than they needed to be.

“Why can’t any fae in all the Underground just speak plainly?

It’s always a roundabout way of answering a question or fucking riddle. ”

I spun around and pointed at Cheshire. “I might be fae just like the rest of you now, but at least I can tell the truth when asked.”

“Is that so?” Cheshire arched a brow as he prowled toward me, his eyes darkening. For a brief moment, the sickness filled my nose before he was close to me. “Can you tell the truth, precious?”

I stumbled back a step. His hands slashed out to pull me flush against him.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

His claws tangled in my hair, pulling my head back so we stared into each other’s eyes. A heat burned low, and his nostrils flared. His tongue dipped out to swipe his lips, as if tasting my scent.

“Hmmm, how much did you actually forget?” His hand slid down my side, drawing my skirt aside so his fingers could trail up the inside of my thigh.

My legs trembled. My words stuttered. “I — I don’t know. The shadows took a lot of memories.”

“But not all of them.” Cheshire walked his fingers up my thigh, his knuckles brushed against my aching core.

“They couldn’t take every single piece of them.

” His hand tapped against me with each word.

My insides quivered as a small gasp escaped me.

“Maybe we can trigger some of those memories. But will you be truthful?”

I licked my lips, unsure how to answer him. I already knew my body remembered him. Did I really want to add more to an already overcomplicated situation?

Cheshire ushered me backward until my knees hit the queen’s bed. My eyes flicked from him to the mattress and then the open bedroom door.

“The only one watching you is me.”

I huffed a laugh. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

My eyes widened. A feeling like déjà vu came over me. I’d said those words to him before. He’d said those words to me before. too. He knelt before me, using both hands to slide my skirt up my thighs.

“Let me help you remember.”

My legs spread wider for him. His breath brushed against my skin. My knees trembled, the thin fabric covering me soaked through. My fingers inched to pull his face against my throbbing core. My chest rose and fell in rapid succession, breath ragged.

I wanted this. For him to taste me. Even if it didn’t help me remember anything from before I went to the Hall of Mirrors.

A clawed finger dragged the thin fabric back, exposing me to him. Cheshire inhaled deeply, a low rumbling growl coming from him. “You smell divine, kitten. I can’t wait to have another taste of you.”

I waited with bated breath, dripping for that first brush of his tongue against my hot aching folds. The wet rough feel of his tongue swiped me from butt to clit.

My mouth dropped open and my head fell back with a gasp. My eyes squeezed shut.

When Cheshire pulled back with a hum, my hand shot out and latched onto his hair, holding him to me.

Cheshire let out a low chuckle. “Eager are we?”

I could only whimper. Each lap of his tongue sent stars through my vision, twinkling up above me in a dark sky. A warm wind brushed my skin. My back pressed against a cushy blanket. Warm bodies surrounded me, the stench of sex heavy in the air.

“Breathe, Alice dear,” Hatter’s voice filled my ears. “Don’t pass out on us now.”

“No more,” my tired and desire filled voice begged. “I can’t take anymore.”

A growling purr echoed both in real life and my mind. “Let me help you clean up, love.”

“No more, please,” a breathy male whimpered. “I’m not going to last.”

My head angled to the side, eyes squeezing shut. That voice. I recognized it. I heard it recently.

Cheshire’s fang nipped at my clit.

I came, screaming a name. “Carban!”

“So you do remember,” Cheshire purred against my core.

Breathing heavily, I leaned up on my elbows. “The Tweedles.”

Licking his lips, Cheshire lifted from between my thighs. “Yes. What about them?”

I scrambled for the memory, trying to piece it back together. I remembered that blanket. That dark night. There were four of them. All of us had...

My face heated. I’d lost my virginity right there on the blanket where anyone could have seen me.

The memory was murky, but I could see all four of their faces. Cheshire licking his lips as he watched us. Carban and Coby, the males from my dream, pinning me between them. Sinking down on Carban while Hatter and Coby played with me.

It was such an erotic sight that I almost came again just from the memory.

“I remember them,” I breathed out to Cheshire. “I remember you.” I cupped his face in my hands. “I mean, not everything. But I remember us, together.”

I chewed on my lower lip my eyes growing sad and confused. “The shadows stole you from me. Hatter... why could I only remember Hatter?”

“Probably because he was the only one you met with as a child,” Cheshire purred against my touch. “They didn’t get those memories before you escaped.”

I snorted and dropped my hands. “I hardly call it escaped. Kat blackmailed me to get out.”

Honestly, I should feel lucky to remember Hatter at all. If I’d forgotten him too, I wasn’t sure what I would have done. But now I knew why I never felt truly complete.

Was that why Hatter was so insistent to find the missing pieces of his heart? Was he talking about Cheshire and the Tweedles?

I wouldn’t know unless I found him to ask.

“Either way, that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is finding Hatter.” I paused and locked eyes with Cheshire. “Where are the twins?”

Cheshire winced and glanced to the side. “They’re still in the Shadow Realm.”

“You mean, the Shadow Realm where Hatter is? Do you think they are together?” Excitement raced through me. I could find Hatter and the Tweedles at the same time. All I had to do was get to the Shadow Realm.

“Uh... love. I don’t mean to rain all over your happiness.”

“No time for that.” I pushed him aside and almost raced to the door. “We have to find them now.”

“But Ally!” Cheshire chased after me as I power walked down the empty Seelie Palace. “Dear, love, precious. Would you just stop for a moment?”

I huffed and spun on my heel. “What?”

Cheshire paused behind me. “About the twins...”

“Yes, I know. They’re in the Shadow Realm with Hatter. We must save them. Now come on.” I tried to pull him by the wrist, but he held fast.

“Alice.” Cheshire’s gaze grew solemn. “Darling, I don’t know how to tell you this, but...”

“Oh, no.” I released him, clasping my face. “Please tell me. They’re not dead, are they? Cheshire. Tell me.”

“No! No.” He shook his head and placed a hand on mine. “They’re alive and well. But...” He winced.

“Well, what is it?”

Cheshire took a deep breath. The expression on his face pulled a feeling of dread from the pit of my stomach. Whatever he had to say was going to hurt me, I just knew it.

“Lovely, the twins hate you.”