I couldn’t stop the flush that spread over my face. He chuckled at my reaction, bending down to kiss a heated cheek.
“Are you thirsty, love?” He purred, kissing my other cheek. “Are you comfortable, my love?” I felt like I was burning in the most pleasant way. A warm, smouldering fire.
“Shaheen,” I murmured, sliding my arms around his neck. I was swimming in his words and gentle kisses while slowly soaking in the massage of his caterpillar body.
“Tell me what you need, Alice,” he whispered as he kissed the tip of my pink button nose. It made me think about it again. The thing I’d pushed down for so long.
“I’m a rabbit,” I said. He hummed in my ear.
“And I’m a caterpillar,” he responded with humour.
“How did I not know?” I asked. I was still so confused. Things were a mess in my head. What all had I forgotten?
“What do you remember?” His words slid into my ear, sounding almost demanding. I swallowed, fingers moving up to trace the antenna horns on his forehead.
“Cheshire kept asking me questions and then I fell asleep and remembered the tea party where I was the rabbit. I’m the White Rabbit of Wonderland, right?”
“Yes, love.” Every time he called me that, I felt so satisfied. I squirmed beneath him, becoming needy by the way his legs kept massaging mine.
“Mmm,” he hummed, pressing his nose to my cheek and inhaling. “I can smell your arousal, Alice. Nothing like my citrus.”
“What do I smell like?” I asked. I adored this quiet moment of us wrapped together in his bed. I could spend years just this way, never untangling our limbs.
“Like frosted cake,” he said. “Such a sweet little rabbit, aren’t you?” I bit my lip, feeling small in his hold. As if he could pick me up and twist me whichever way I pleased.
“Is there more to remember?” I whispered and he stilled, his body tightening all around me. “Shaheen?”
“Shaheen!” Cheshire’s voice rattled the entire frame of the building. A glass lantern fell to the floor, shattering into an array of red and blue. Scratches dug into the door and then it flew open. A large pair of emerald cat eyes peered through the doorway that was too small for him to get through.
One large cat paw slid through the entry and he shrunk to fit as he went through.
“How dare you take her,” he growled with a terrifying smile. Shaheen’s expression hardened as he lifted from the bed. He straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin to face Cheshire. Then he suddenly darted for a hookah in the room.
Cheshire hissed and leapt at him, turning into a man to grab Shaheen’s arm. Shaheen laughed and reached out another one of his four arms. Cheshire growled and leapt at the hookah, pushing it to the ground. It fell and water spilled into a sparkling puddle—shining green glass sparkling in broken pieces. The bowl of shisha rolled away.
I thought of my cat Dinah knocking things from the tables but that just reminded me of home. The place I hadn’t been in so very long.
Oh yes, it wasn’t just that I was a rabbit. It was that I’d never made it home.
I whined, my stomach rolling in pain as I thought of my family. No, no, no. I didn’t like remembering that.
Shaheen winced as he looked at me, appearing to be in pain as well.
“Stop it!” He yelled at Cheshire. “Can’t you see she’s in pain?” Cheshire’s smile slowly dropped from his face as he stared at Caterpillar.
“She should know,” he said, his voice as cold as I imagined the Arctic to be. Something that made you gasp, your entire body seizing with the shock of it.
“She needs protection from herself,” Shaheen said. His words hurt in such a confusing way because I wasn’t sure if he was wrong. Clearly, something wasn’t right with me. Their argument was only making me more confused. I already knew what had happened so why argue it further now?
“I’m going to save her from you,” Cheshire said in that cold, cold voice with eyes dead pools of glittering emerald. Then his face finally split into a smile again, his pupils dilating as he launched at Shaheen.
Cheshire tackled him. They fell into another table. Little absinthe glasses and spoons fell to the floor. I watched them in shock. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a physical fight. It was frenzied and wild, making me unable to look away for fear of missing something vital.
Cheshire got on top of Shaheen with violence in his eyes. Shaheen lay there, breathing heavily, his eyes wide on Cheshire’s raised hand. Claws slowly slid from his fingers, so long and sharp. It looked as if he planned to gut Shaheen and I let out a cry of dismay.
“What are you doing?” Shaheen whispered in shock.
“Fuck,” Cheshire hissed, his face breaking into a grimace. I’d never seen that expression on him before. I didn’t think Shaheen had either because he inhaled sharply in shock.
