ALICE HANDED JAY THE small cake that would once again alter his size. He eyed it warily not loving the thought that they would be able to smell the stench of the woods in human size, but it was necessary, so he took a fourth of the cake and ate it.

They both shot up to true form, although Alice was much smaller than he was, so she still seemed tiny to him. The overwhelming stench of rotten eggs washed over him, and he wanted to gag.

“What in the hell is that?”

Alice wrinkled her nose, “Sulfur, they must have a load of it around here.”

“It’s coming from the trees,” Jay muttered, “What kind of shitty place is this?”

Alice cocked her head to the side, “Hopefully a place we can soon depart from.”

They had landed on a dirt road with boarded-up shacks decorating the side streets. It seemed like a ghost town and not the busy place that Carlos had described it to be. They started walking toward the lake and saw a creature or two, but no one approached them.

Everyone could feel the waves coming off of Jay. He radiated dominance and danger. It was only natural that they would cower from him in self-preservation. Alice hadn’t thought of that when they set out.

“I think I need to go the rest of the way alone.” She reached up and grabbed his arm, the heat from his skin making her fingertips tingle in anticipation. Damn, if he wasn’t so fucking hot, she thought.

“You want me to let you go into one of the most dangerous places in Wonderland—by yourself?” he said it like she was a complete idiot for even considering such an action.

Alice raised her chin, eyes hardening, “Yes, I do. And for your information, Jerk-face, I can take care of myself.”

In an instant he was on her, trapping Alice against his large body. She struggled to be free from him, but it was in vain. He was twice her size and the strongest creature in their world. She wasn’t going to beat him physically.

“Ouch,” Alice cried out and dropped into his arms. He easily caught her dead weight, but his hold became gentle as he cradled her to him.

“What is it?” Jay swept a free hand over her body trying to locate broken bones.

“My foot,” Alice managed to squeeze out a tear and Jay muttered a curse before setting her gently on the ground.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he said gruffly.

Alice used that moment to roll away from him and then sprung up to her feet and ran like hell.

Jay was after her in seconds. He could have caught her at any moment. But the sheer joy of her laughter as she thought she was escaping him was so pure that he hadn’t the heart to stifle it.

Her hair was hanging loosely from their earlier fucking and it flowed out behind her like ribbons in the wind. Jay had never in his life seen anything more beautiful.

Alice looked over her shoulder and caught the expression on his face. She couldn’t describe what it did to her, the way her stomach seemed to drop into her toes or how her heart seemed to be lodged in her throat.

He smiled and reached out to gather her against him, “You are a cheat.”

Alice’s dancing eyes met his, “Don’t be sad that I am smarter than you are. You have good qualities too.”

Jay rolled his eyes playfully but before he could respond the noise from the crowd filtered into their consciousness. People were staring, some out of fear and others with malicious intent.

Jay cursed himself for playing around instead of keeping her safe.

Alice could feel the animosity from the other creatures as they stared at Jay. She tried to fix a smile on her face.

“Excuse me, sir?” Alice was addressing a thin man who was hiding behind an old newspaper. He reluctantly lowered it.

“Yes?”

Alice gave him a winning smile, “I am looking for the Hatter. Have you seen him?”

The thin man gave a furtive glance in the eastern direction before meeting her gaze.

“No.”

“Are you certain?” she prodded.

The man flushed and nodded his head twice in the same direction he had gazed at moments before.

“I ain’t seen him, lady.”

Jay wanted to throttle the man for speaking to Alice with such disrespect, but Alice dug her nails into his arm in warning.

“Thanks anyway,” she replied and then she turned toward the east dragging a confused Jabberwocky behind her.

“Where are you going?” he hissed.

Alice huffed, “The man said that the Hatter was this way.”

Jay blinked in confusion, “No, the man said that he hadn’t seen him.”

Alice shook her head with a touch of pity, “You are clueless, Jay. He clearly wanted to send us in this direction.”

“What if it’s a trap?” Jay’s arm yanked her closer to his side.

Alice was getting irritated, “It wasn’t a trap! Good grief, would you just listen to me?”

Jay wasn’t impressed with her tantrum, but he did enjoy the way her cheeks heated. She was hot when she was angry. Of course, he thought Alice was hot when she was sleeping, walking, eating, and breathing—but that was beside the point.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” he growled.

Alice was just about to roll her eyes and give him a piece of her mind when she was rudely interrupted.

“Listen to your boyfriend, Sweetheart,” the slippery voice crooned, “It might save your life.”

Alice whipped her head around to see the Mad Hatter, live and in person right before her eyes. She would have squealed with glee if he hadn’t had a gun aimed straight at her heart.

Alice gulped and took a small step back into Jay.

“I heard you been looking for me,” Hatter spat something brown on the ground and Alice felt her stomach twist in disgust. “I don’t want to be found.”

“We are looking for the White Pawn,” Alice tried to keep her voice steady, “Have you seen her?”

He raised a brow, “You seriously asking me a question right now?”

Alice swallowed, “Yes?”

The Hatter’s hand was anything but steady. His long greasy hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and he had at least three weeks beard on his cheeks.

“We don’t want any trouble,” Jay tried to push Alice behind him, but she wasn’t moving. He turned so that the gun was aimed at him. “You haven’t seen the princess, no problem. We don’t need anything more from you.”

Alice wanted to argue but Jay tightened his arm around her waist, almost cutting off her air supply.

Hatter blinked about twenty times too much before lowering the gun an inch or two, “Keep away from me and my business.”

Jay nodded, but he secretly wanted to rip the fucker’s head off. The fact that the Hatter had threatened Alice made him enemy number one.

Jay picked up a perturbed Alice and walked away, the gun still aimed at his broad back.

It wasn’t until they reached the boardwalk where the thin man had been sitting with his paper earlier that Jay released his hold.

Alice punched his chest and winced.

Jay fought a smile—fucking adorable.