Page 6 of Cheshire’s Smile (The Crimes of Alice #3)

Tick’s nine tails drooped as he walked in front of us. His usual swagger was missing. If I were a bigger person, I wouldn’t find a sick pleasure in having deflated his ego. However, I never believed I was a good person.

We came upon a familiar cave that made my palms sweat.

“You better not be leading us into a trap, Tick.” I sent a zip of magic at his tail, yanking it.

A satisfying yip escaped him.

I picked up the pace until I was standing beside, pointing at the ominous entrance to the cave that housed a lower fae that haunted my dreams. How did I still remember the decaying scent of the creature and not the loves of my life before now? It hardly seemed fair.

“I mean it, Tick.” I twisted to block his path. “I’m not that weak pathetic human girl just trying to get home anymore.”

Tick lifted his hands. “Look, I promise. No tricks. She’s not even in there anymore.”

“She?” I glanced over at Cheshire who shrugged. “How do you know it’s a she? You know what? Never mind. You’re sure she is not in there?”

Tick dragged his hand through his long hair. “She, just like everyone else, has either disappeared or caught the sickness. I don’t know which. She’s been missing for a few months now.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. If the sickness could take out a creature that big and horrible, then it was much worse than any of us had ever thought.

I stepped aside, letting Tick take the lead once more. My stomach cramped at just the thought of stepping into the inky darkness.

A warm hand encircled mine and squeezed. I glanced up at Cheshire, who gave me an encouraging smile.

“It’s okay. I’m right here.”

His words warmed the coldness inside of me, and I took the first step into my nightmare.

The cave was exactly the way I remembered it. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face, let alone where I was going.

The only thing worse than the darkness was the overwhelming stench of death. The first time I’d come through this cave, it was horrible. Now that I had fae senses, it was ten times worse, and I was upgrading the stench to abysmal.

“Oh my Reaper,” Cheshire’s voice came out muffled. I could only assume he was covering his nose with his sleeve. “Is this how bad the sickness smells?”

“Worse,” I coughed out, covering my mouth with my hand. “Tick? How much further?”

Silence greeted me. I strained my ears searching for any hint of the fox leading us.

“Tick!” I called out, irritation growing inside me. “Where are you, you stupid sneaky fox?”

I clutched Cheshire’s hand while searching in the dark, which ended up being pointless. After a few minutes of calling for him and waiting, we finally gave up looking.

“I think it’s safe to say he left us.” I sighed and leaned against the wall. Something crunched beneath my weight. Grimacing, I straightened. “Well, do we keep going?”

Cheshire squeezed my hand. “Do you know where this cave exits?”

Searching my brain for the memory, my lips curled up. “Actually, I do. It comes out behind a clock in Tick’s home.”

“Well, then. I think we should pay the little creatin a visit, don’t you?”

I giggled and pulled Cheshire along. Each step crunched and, the further we delved into the cave, the more the stench grew stronger. By the time we reached the back of the cave, I was holding my breath.

“It’s here somewhere.” I tried not to vomit as I pressed my hand against the cave wall. I’d almost given up hope when the wall gave beneath my hand. “Ah ha!”

Bright light burned my eyes. I covered them as I stumbled out of the cave. Cheshire pressed in close behind me.

I shoved the clock door shut and breathed in deeply. Sweet. sweet untainted air filled my lungs.

“I never want to do that again.”

“Me either.” Cheshire chuckled, his green orbs surveying the room. “This is Tick’s place?”

Hundreds of clocks covered the walls and ceiling. The tick, tick, ticking filled my ears. I walked through the room, faint memories of my short time here becoming clearer with every step.

My fingers walked across a low wooden table with a ragged tablecloth. Left over teacups sat on the table half filled with cool liquid. Two chairs circled the table, but one of them had been turned over on its side.

“Looks like someone came through here in a hurry,” Cheshire murmured, lifting a piece of clothing from a set of dresser drawers. Each of them was yanked open, and clothing was strewn across them as if someone was searching for something, but they weren’t being particular about being neat about it.

I picked up the chair and set it on its legs before sitting down with a huff. “Looks like he flew the coop. Now what do we do?”

Cheshire came around the table and sat down in front of me. “Well, he obviously didn’t come out through the cave. or we’d have heard him.”

“I don’t know. I came through the top.” I glanced up at the solid roof above us, frowning. The Underground will forever confuse me. How could one fall through a ceiling and yet the ceiling could now be solid?

Shaking my head, I let my eyes wander around his home. My eyes landed on the bed tucked into the corner.

A bone-weary exhaustion came over me, and my eyelids drooped. Living in the human world and taking day-to-day meetings wasn’t as tiring as all the chasing around I had done in the last few days.

At least, that’s what I thought it had been. Time in the Underground wasn’t exactly easy to track as the Human Realm.

“Alright.” Cheshire stood and scooped me up into his arms. “Since it looks like we are stuck here for the time being, I think we should get you to bed.”

“I’m not tired,” I muttered, burying my face into his chest.

A low rumble soothed me until my back pressed against something soft and creaky. Cheshire held me to his front, purring against my back until my eyes slowly slipped closed, and I was gone.

My dreams were usually filled with terror and ended with me waking in a cold sweat. Even with Hatter sometimes, I’d wake screaming, and he’d have to spend the next few hours calming me down before I could finally fall back asleep.

And yet, the only thing I remembered from my time asleep was this overwhelming feeling of comfort and a low vibration that kept the nightmares away.

A musky floral scent filled my nose. It reminded me lazy days laying in the grass staring up at the clouds with my sisters. We’d point out different shapes of animals and talk about everything. The scent reminded me of home.

I buried my face in that scent, nose brushing along warm smooth skin. The heart beating beneath my face soothed me in a way I’d never felt before. I could lay here forever and be completely content.

Cheshire’s hand brushed my hair away from my face. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“I’m sorry,” I sighed into his embrace and shook my head, my nose brushing against his chest. “I don’t. Not yet anyway.”

A low chuckle rumbled against my face. “Apologizing to a fae, pet? You know better than that.”

“Does that mean I owe you now?” I hummed, peering up at him. “I can think of a few things I could offer as compensation.”

He hummed and brushed his nose against mine. “I like the way you’re thinking, but what I want requires a bit of an explanation.”

I pulled back slightly. “Huh?”

Cheshire cupped the back of my neck, the point of his claw tracing the vein in my neck. “When we first met, I thought the queen had sent you.”

Something tickled in my memory. “You were part of her little side project to try to stop the shadows with a half breed child.”

“You remember that?”

“No, Chess... when you were locked away, she forced him to take your place.”

His jaw tightened, a growl sending a shiver through me. I didn’t hate it.

“I know how you feel.” I stroked my hand down his chest. “But Kat already got revenge for Chess. I promise. The queen barely has any power anymore. She has to go through a council before she can make any decisions anymore. Kat keeps her on a pretty tight leash.” I smirked a bit, proud of my own hand in the queen’s neutering. “Anyway, you were saying?”

Cheshire’s grip loosened. and he let out a hard breath. “You’re right. I’ll let it go. For now. Anyway. you may not remember but... I bit you.”

His fingers stroked the side of my neck where I knew I had a scar. I’d always wondered where it had come from. Now I knew.

“Okay?” I drew out the word, not sure how this was important.

“You were so mad at me.” Cheshire chuckled, his gaze locking with mine. “Do you know why I bit you?”

“Uhhhh, because you’re a cat?”

“No.” His eyes narrowed. “Biting someone, leaving my mark on them, is how I show dominance to those the queen sends to me, so they know that though I had to mate with them, I was the one in control.”

His other hand slid down my back and cupped my backside, pulling me flush against him where I could feel him hard and ready. “Biting is also a way of marking a lover. Someone you want to commit your life to.”

I swallowed a thick knot in my throat. “And you want to do that with me? What about Mercury?”

“You’ve been with him for a year and you never noticed the marks on his inner thigh?” Cheshire smirked, his eyes full of desire.

My mouth dropped open in an oh. I actually had noticed them, but I assumed it was an old scar, not a mating claim. I didn’t know why the idea of Cheshire biting Mercury made me squirm against him.

An appreciative sound came from Cheshire, and he ground himself against me.

“Alice, my love, saying I love you is not a strong enough phrase for the way I feel about you. Mercury, Hatter, we have a long-standing arrangement. There was nothing I wanted more than to be with him but, as you know, the position I was in at the time kept us from really being together. Until you.”

His thumb brushed my lower lip. “Some may think I should be jealous of you and Hatter. Worried that you would break us apart. But I don’t see it that way.

You are the missing piece that makes it possible for us to be together.

I am simply lucky that the female my mate loves is also one for whom I would let the shadows envelop this world ten times over, just to see her smile. ”

If I hadn’t been laying down, I would have melted on the spot. “Oh, Cheshire.”

“I want to mark you.” His thumb brushed the scar on my neck. “Not in dominance this time, but as a lover would. Would you accept me, Alice Liddell? Would you be mine until the Reaper calls?”

My heart raced in my chest, and an overwhelming feeling filled my chest. A year ago, I would have turned him down. I couldn’t trust the thoughts in my own head, let alone those around me.

But Hatter and Kat had changed that. They had renewed my trust in those that cared for me.

Cheshire had proven himself more than once. The thought of belonging to him not just in name but having physical proof filled some fractured part of me that wanted nothing more than for someone to want me. All of me. Forever.

I clung to him, my fingers curling in his purple strands. My words came out in a breathy moan.

“Yes, I accept you.”