Taken by Passion: King of Hearts (Wonderland Book 1) (3 page)

They would be forced to wage physical war against the Malachad Kingdom while attempting to fight off the
bakirs’
mind-war at the same time. Countless Tarok warriors would die, and Jarronn refused to waste one precious life. He would find another way to defeat the bitch, Mikaela.

Flexing his biceps, Jarronn held his hand out, palm facing down, and slowly swept it over the cards. The intricate geometric design upon the back of the first one glimmered, and the card vibrated against the
a’bin’s
glowing surface.

“Yes, Milord,” the sorceress whispered from behind him, the timbre of her voice rich with passion. “Take it.”

This time without hesitation, Jarronn reached for the card that called to his soul, called to the most basic elements of his very nature. Heat rushed through him, hot and fierce, and the heart tattoo across his left biceps burned with inner fire as he picked up the card. The power flowing through him was beyond any that he had experienced in his lifetime.

The moment he flipped his chosen card over, Jarronn rumbled with satisfaction.
Perfect.
This woman would be perfect…a woman born to be his mate. Eyes as aqua-green as a Tarok sky, long white-blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, soft thighs to slide between, breasts full enough to fill his large hands, and generous lips made to slide over his cock. And most certainly he would find use for the blue satin ribbon she wore in her hair.

He clasped the card in his palm and caused it to vanish, using his magic to send it to the royal vault for safekeeping.

“Come, sorceress,” he ordered as he shape-shifted into his hunting form. He gave a deep, vibrating growl that caused Kalina to shiver.

Jarronn turned his eyes upon the sorceress as he added in thought-words,
I have prey to stalk.

*

Alice tossed her purse onto a park bench and sank down beside it. She was somewhere in the middle of Golden Gate Park, just off one of the many paths in a secluded location. She’d absently noticed the sign several feet behind where she sat and vaguely knew where she was, but right now she really didn’t give a damn.

Her muscles ached as she drank in her surroundings—massive eucalyptus, cypress and pines, soft grass, and wildflowers. The park was a huge forest and had often been a place of refuge for her, a place where she could work through any problem that might be bothering her.

She’d been walking for hours and caught a couple of local bus lines to make it out here. Along the way she’d gone through a range of emotions: a huge dose of self-pity; anger with herself for being so stupid as to even be with Jon in the first place; anger at Jon the asshole for using her and cheating on her.

But what had echoed over and over and over in her mind, and hurt the most, was the last thing she’d heard Jon say:
If Alice wasn’t so fat, I wouldn’t have to…

Alice leaned back against the hard wood of the park bench and stared up at the leaves of the eucalyptus tree overhead. A heavy ache settled where her heart should be. She bit her lower lip hard to keep it from trembling. Jon wasn’t worth one damn tear. After she’d caught her long-ago ex-boyfriend, Steve, screwing around with some girl he’d met in the apartment’s laundry room, she never thought she’d trust a guy again. Then came Jon with his wicked sense of humor and boyish personality.

God, she was an idiot. She’d been so desperate for love that yet again she’d settled for a L-O-S-E-R.

Why couldn’t she find a man who loved her for
her?
What was wrong with being a size 16-18? She felt comfortable in her own skin…usually. Even kept herself in pretty good shape with all the walking she did around the city instead of taking the trolley or the bus most places she went.

As long as she let go of the old pains of being teased in school, and comments she’d heard over the years, she was fine. But every time she heard the word
fat
, it brought back all the old, horrible feelings of her youth, along with a feeling of inadequacy, insecurity, and pain.

Well, never again would she trust her heart to any man. From now on she would be more like Alexi and fuck ’em and leave ’em.

Oddly enough, Alice realized she felt relief along with the pain.

Like a part of her had recognized long ago, and just like Alexi had said a million times, Jon was not the right man for her.

Man? Yeah, right. As if Jon was even close to being a
real
man.

From out of nowhere a loud giggle burst from inside Alice and right through her lips. Birds startled in nearby pines and she sat up in her seat and clapped her hand over her mouth. But at the thought of Jon’s shocked face when he saw her watching him getting it in the ass, Alice sniggered again and then burst into full-scale, all-out laughter. She laughed so hard that her belly hurt and tears rolled down her face.

When she finally calmed down and had wiped away the last trace of moisture from her eyes, she couldn’t help the silly, almost maniacal grin that she knew was on her face. “Just think, Alice, dear,” she mumbled out loud, “today certainly can’t get more interesting than it has already, now can it?”

A squirrel chattered from the bough of a cypress, and Alice took that for an agreement. With a tired sigh, she kicked off her walking shoes and wiggled her bare toes in the grass. She reached into her purse and withdrew the new tube of raspberry-scented lotion that she’d just bought at a spa shop on her way to the park. After watching Stone grease himself with her former favorite rose scent, she’d decided it was definitely time for something new.

Sweaty and tired from her long walk, Alice eased out of her jacket and tossed it onto the bench next to her. Yeah, she’d definitely had it with men. She was going to be more like her twin and just enjoy men and sex with no commitment. Hell, she might as well make her fantasy come true and have two men at once.

If she could find two men who enjoyed women on the plump side.

She glanced around to make sure she had privacy—it was starting to get late and she hadn’t seen anyone on her way in here. With a quick jerk she hiked up her skirt and smoothed some of the lotion between her thighs. That was one thing Alexi never had to worry about, since she was so damn slender—her thighs never rubbed together. And since Alice’s were rather full, and since she’d taken her ruined nylons off back at the apartment, her thighs were good and well chafed.

The lotion soothed her skin as she smoothed it over the soft flesh. Her fingertips brushed her panties and for a wild moment she visualized herself sliding them off and bringing herself to orgasm right here in the park.

What am I thinking?

But the desire to do just that was nearly overwhelming, like some force was directing her. With another quick glance around the darkening park, Alice scooted her red panties over her hips and ankles and then tucked them into the bottom of her purse.

Yeah. That’s better.

She frowned at her large breasts, her cleavage clearly showing in the lace-up opening of her blouse. Her breasts all but begged her to free them from her bra.

Again that force seemed to tell her,
Do it. Do it now.

Well, why not? Who would see? She’d be putting her jacket back on, anyway.

It was a lot harder taking off her bra, and for a moment her naked breasts were exposed to the cool air, sweat chilling her skin, her nipples growing painfully tight. After she’d shoved her bra into her purse beside the panties, she started to pull her blouse down but stopped.

Instead, she took another quick look around and then pushed her blouse up higher over her breasts. A deliciously naughty feeling raced over her skin. She squeezed more of the raspberry lotion onto her hands and massaged it into the delicate skin of her breasts and then pinched her taut nipples. It was so relaxing and stimulating caressing herself, and all the day’s stress seemed to slip away.

Damn, she was close to coming, just by playing with her breasts.

Mmmmm…
She loved the smell of raspberries. Somehow it was even more arousing, mixed with the pine and cypress scents of the surrounding trees and the smell of the Pacific Ocean. She could almost hear waves thrusting against the shore, then sweeping out, only to pound the sand again and again.

Against her will, Alice’s eyelids fluttered shut and she imagined the faceless man of her fantasies. He was always dark haired, muscular, powerful, and very dominant. Maybe that’s why she didn’t go for submissive men—because deep down she wanted to be dominated.

What an incredible feeling that would be. To feel possessed and cherished. To know she was with a man who was all man. A man who was in control of himself, a man who was the master of his own destiny. A man who would give her as good as she gave him, and more.

She imagined the man pushing her to her knees and forcing himself through her lips. Maybe her wrists would be bound behind her back as he clenched his hands in her hair. And she’d take all of him, enjoying the power she held over him and his pleasure.

A faint ringing snapped Alice from her fantasy. Her cell phone. It had dried out enough to work, so it must not have gotten too wet when it fell partially into the puddle. The phone had started ringing earlier when her sister had called the first time.

Probably Alexi again,
she thought as she yanked her blouse down and then dug through her purse and pulled out the slim black phone with the large screen. Her sister had called three times already, just to make sure Alice was all right. During one of the calls, Alice had told her sister about that bastard Mitch, and Alexi had gone even more ballistic than she already had over Jon.

Alice checked the caller ID and, sure enough, it was Alexi. She slid her finger across the screen to answer the call
.
“I keep telling you I’m okay,” she said as she played with her woven bracelet.

“Hello to you, too, sis.” Alexi’s voice switched to her get-down-to-business tone: “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

With a shrug, Alice tugged at her skirt and covered herself, her arousal vanishing like the sun through the park’s trees. “I needed to walk. And there’s no way I can stay in that apartment, ever again.”

“It’s all taken care of.” Alexi’s tone held smooth satisfaction. “I’ll tell you all about it when you get to my place.”

Alice had to smile. No doubt Alexi had been busy terrorizing the landlady and the ex-fiancé. Maybe Alice should have stayed and watched. The show had probably been at least as good as the one Jon, Min, and Stone had put on. Probably better.

“Now where the hell are you?” Alexi was saying. “It’s getting late.”

“Golden Gate Park.” Alice craned her neck and her gaze found the park location sign several feet to the right of where she was sitting, and she told Alexi exactly where she was.

“I’ll take the hog for a spin and meet you there in twenty.” The clink of keys sounded over the phone and then Alexi added, “We’ll pick up Thai on our way back.”

Alice’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “Order chicken
panang
for me, and make it spicy.”

After her sister hung up, Alice pressed the disconnect icon and dropped the phone into her purse. Just as she was about to slip her jacket on, she caught a flash of white out of the corner of her eye. Something low to the ground had just dashed behind the massive trunk of a eucalyptus tree.

For some odd reason she felt compelled to investigate, as though she had to know what it was. Her jacket slipped from her fingers as she stood up from the park bench. A gust of wind stirred her long hair about her shoulders while she walked barefoot through the grass to the tree. She braced one hand against its rough, tattered bark and peered around its trunk.

A snow white, lop-eared rabbit. The bunny had bright pink eyes and a cute little pink nose that twitched as it looked up at her.

Alice smiled. It had to be someone’s pet—it definitely wasn’t the wild variety. “I’ll bet you’re lost, aren’t you, sweetie?” she murmured as she took a step forward. She hesitated and squinted. A white tiger?

The bunny morphed before her eyes into one of those huge rare white tigers she’d seen at a magic show in Las Vegas. At the Mirage, she thought. This bunny/white tiger was simply a mirage.

Okay, Alice, you’re hallucinating. Time to go visit the doctor. Or better yet, a shrink.

She started to back away from the figment of her imagination just as the ground gave out beneath her bare feet.

Terror ripped through her as she pitched into nothingness.

Alice screamed as she tumbled through air so thick it felt like pudding. Faster and faster she dropped through the black void. She couldn’t stop screaming, couldn’t stop falling. Her heart beat like it was going to come out of her chest as she fell and fell.

Bright light stabbed at her eyes, and then she slammed onto her back, on an unforgiving surface. Air whooshed from her lungs and pain shot through her head.

For the briefest of moments she thought she saw a massive white tiger peering down at her, but then it was gone.

Her sight dimmed in a rush until the remaining speck of light narrowed to the size of a pinhead.

Everything went dark.

JARRONN CUT HIS FURIOUS FELINE GAZE from the motionless woman lying on her back before him. Snarling and baring his fangs, he swung his tremendous paw at Darronn, cuffing his twin’s ear.

Damn you, I instructed you to be careful with the woman when you brought her through the path,
Jarronn bellowed in thought-words.
This is your future High Queen.

With a roar, Darronn bared his own fangs and sliced a ferocious glare at Jarronn.
The maid lives,
Darronn growled.
But if you are sporting for a fight, I will gladly oblige you, brother.
Fluid muscle rippled beneath his glossy striped coat and his muscles bunched as though he prepared to spring.

Slowly Jarronn turned to face the white tiger so they were eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose, whisker-to-whisker. He could scent Darronn’s fury, could see the barely controlled rage in the beast’s green eyes.