Modern Wicked Fairy Tales: Complete Collection (43 page)

“Wait!” she called, rushing after him,
determined not to be left behind again. “Can you take me to Mr.
Knight?”

He stopped, turning only briefly, a
distracted look of pity crossing his face. “You should take heed of
the instructions on the table. Don’t worry, Miss. I’m sure he’ll
join you shortly.”

“What table—?” She turned to look at the
room and he was gone, the door disappearing as if it had never been
there. Alice growled in frustration, pushing at the wall in the
same spot, but it didn’t give. She dropped her shoes and put her
phone back into her purse, leaving that on the floor as well and
went all around the room, finding it had eight sides, like an
octagon, pushing and pushing, looking for a way out.

She didn’t find one, but she did find the
little table with the instructions the driver mentioned. She hadn’t
noticed it at all when they arrived but there it was, a little
glass bistro table set with a plate and a wine glass. The glass was
full of a red liquid she could only assume was wine. The plate held
an hors d'œuvre of some sort. She couldn’t identify it, but when
she got close, it smelled sweet, like honey.

She’d been hoping for a long list of
instructions, or perhaps just the words, “Wait, I’m coming for
you.” She would have waited for him forever. Instead, there were
two small notes, scrawled in someone’s handwriting, not Wade’s she
was sure. The one by the glass said, “Drink me.” The one by the
plate said, “Eat me.”

Which first? She picked up the little hors
d'œuvre and contemplated it. She could almost hear Maddie screaming
in her head.
Don’t do it! What are you thinking? It could be
anything! Poison! A date rape drug! Allliiiiiiiiccce!

She defiantly popped it into her mouth and
chewed. Honey, she’d been right about that much. Honey and pecans
and cream cheese on a tasty little cracker. Yum. She licked her
lips and cleaned her teeth off with her tongue, looking at the
other note. The honey was still so sweet and bright in her mouth
she hated to wash it away with wine. She’d never been much of a
drinker.

Of course, she would drink it anyway, if
that’s what Wade wanted her to do. She smiled and took a slow turn
around the room, looking up at the red and white stripes of the
fabric hung from the ceiling. It didn’t really look anything like
it, but it made her think of Wade’s ‘Sanctuary.’ It had the same
feel, the same vibe. The thought made her flush with warmth. The
anticipation she’d been feeling upon getting Wade’s phone call
returned as her fingers brushed the smooth, dark walls, her bare
feet cold on the stone floor, wondering what came next. She
probably should have been afraid—she knew Maddie would have been
terrified—but she wasn’t. She trusted Wade, and he had brought her
here.

Did he, Alice? Are you sure?
Maddie’s
imagined voice made her stop and cock her head like a dog listening
for its master.
Wade has always come for you himself in his own
car. He takes you to his place, or maybe out to a club. But he’s
never sent a driver, and he didn’t tell you about this place,
whatever it is. And by the way, what
is
it exactly?

All of that was true, but it didn’t mean
anything. Besides, strange drivers didn’t just show up unannounced
on people’s doorsteps to take them to unfamiliar places in the
middle of the night for no reason. She was sure someone had paid
him. That Wade had hired him. What other explanation was there?

She didn’t have any more time to ponder the
question because a door burst open behind her out of nowhere.
Alice’s heart leapt, but when she saw her visitor wasn’t Wade, her
belly clenched with fear. The man who entered was a mountain,
dressed in a red velvet robe from head to toe, all trimmed in
silver. He also wore a silver crown that sat cockeyed on his head.
He smiled at her though—that was encouraging. Perhaps he was here
to take her to Wade.

“Alice in Wonderland.” The man laughed,
delighted, and took her hand. She watched, bemused, as he lifted it
to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles. He had a mustache that
tickled her. She was so involved she missed the other figure
standing behind him until she spoke.

The woman was similarly dressed, all in red
with silver trimmings and a crown, but she wore far less material.
Her corset was red with silver lacings, but it ended below her
heavy breasts, pushing them upward. The bottom of the thing was
open as well, showing the shaved swell of her mound. The outfit was
covered by a red lace peignoir that hung open to reveal her lush
body.

Alice saw the woman’s sharp look and slowly
withdrew the hand the man was still holding. She didn’t know who
they were, but they were clearly together, and the older woman
didn’t seem to like the attention the man was paying young
Alice.

“You curtsy before the Red King, my dear, or
you’ll lose your head.” The woman’s lips were as red as her outfit
as they stretched into a slow, sly smile.

“I didn’t know,” Alice said by way of
apology, awkwardly approximating a curtsey before the king. An idea
struck her and she turned to the woman, curtsying even lower before
her. “Then you must be the Red Queen.”

It was simple deduction but the queen seemed
pleased as Alice rose again, looking between them both. Clearly
this was some sort of game, a scene being played out. She’d been to
enough BDSM clubs with Wade to know what they looked like, how it
all worked. But where was Wade?

“Come child, it’s time to play our game.”
The Red King moved so quickly Alice wondered at his speed, given
the man’s bulk. He was more executioner than king, at least in
size, but he moved as swiftly as a cat, and before she knew what
was happening, her dress and wrap had been slipped from her
shoulders to a puddle on the floor and leather manacles were
attached to each wrist and ankle. They were secured to the floor
with a silver length of cord as thin as thread, but when Alice
pulled on them, they held fast.

Then the floor began to rise.

Panicked, Alice tried to jump off the dias
but the restraints tightened and kept her in place. The Red King
jumped up onto the platform beside her as it rose, but the Red
Queen stayed below. Alice let him hold onto her, afraid of heights
as she was. They were four feet in the air now, on a round raised
section of floor.

“Don’t be afraid.” The king breathed his
words, warm against her neck, and it made her shiver. “This is only
a test.”

Alice relaxed almost immediately. Of course.
Wade had created this scenario to test her. But why? How? And what
should her response be? Already she could feel the king’s strong
hands squeezing her upper arms, the way he held her naked body back
against his robed one. He had intentions. But were those Wade’s
intentions?

“Transmission!” The queen called out from
below and Alice gasped when something flickered across the room
against the black wall, a faint glow growing in the dimness. She
stared as a picture began to take shape and when she recognized it,
she whimpered in response.

“Alice, you have been chosen.” Wade’s words
were spoken with a smile. “If you pass this test, you and I will be
together. Forever.”

The words made her belly clench, her heart
race. She knew very well how phobic Wade was about commitment. At
the beginning, Alice had talked about marriage and children and
houses in the suburbs, but Wade’s silence on the subject had
quieted her too. She’d learned to let him go at his own pace. You
couldn’t push a man like Wade. So she had waited and hoped. There
had been times, especially with Maddie’s voice in her head, that
she’d considered breaking it off. But Wade had a way of keeping her
coming back for more, yet always leaving her wanting, just a
little.

“Kitten…” His pet name for her. She melted
at the word, at the almost shy look on his handsome face. “All you
have to do is say yes.”

If this was it—well, it was a hell of a
marriage proposal. Strange and distant and yet sweet and exciting,
just like Wade. Alice felt tears stinging her eyes.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”

Behind her, the Red King chuckled.

Then the picture went back to black, and the
Red Queen cried out, “Consent! We have consent!”

“Wait—” Alice struggled. She’d almost
forgotten her restraints, that the king was still holding her in
the bulk of his arms.

“No time for that now.” The king stomped
hard on the floor with one foot and Alice felt things began to
change beneath her. The floor itself was moving. No, it was
softening, melting, turning into some other substance. She expected
to look down and see herself covered in some sort of goo, but the
stuff was solid and it cushioned her feet. It was strange,
impossible, but true.

The king let her go and she stood, still
manacled, in the middle of the dias. He walked around the edge of
it, studying her naked body. Alice flushed and went to cover
herself, but the instant she even thought about it, the leads on
her restraints tightened and prevented the motion.

“I need to go home.” Alice saw the Red King
flash by out of the corner of her eye. He was behind her now but
not touching her. “Have you seen my driver?”

“What driver?” His voice, behind her. “What
do you want your safe word to be, Alice?”

“He had white gloves on. And a hat. He was
very tall,” she explained. His hand moved over her shoulder, his
touch light, but his palm huge. “My safe word?”

“The white rabbit?” the king inquired. She
gasped when he cupped her breast, kneading the firm flesh in his
fingers. “Yes, dear, your safe word. You do know what one is, don’t
you?”

“White rabbit?” Alice asked, confused,
trying to ignore the tingling sensation from her nipple to her
crotch as he manipulated it between thumb and finger.

“Well, it’s strange, but it will do,” the
king said with a laugh. “White rabbit it is.”

“Wait—” Alice said again, but it was too
late, far too late. Behind her, the king had disrobed. She felt the
heat from his body and the press of his cock, thick and huge,
against her hip. “What are you doing?”

“From now on, the Red Queen asks the
questions.” The king reached down between her legs and cupped her
mound from behind. Alice had shaved smooth for Wade and her vulva
was soft as velvet in his hand. “And I do all the dirty work.”

“I like the dirty work,” he confessed, his
fingers parting her lips, dipping in, testing the waters. Then he
lifted her like that, in one hand, tilting her hips with the flick
of his wrist, and she found herself suspended spread-eagle by
silver thread, attached from her restraints to the ceiling. She had
time to wonder how things had turned upside down—the string had
gone from manacle to floor just moments before—but the strain on
her arms and legs, carrying the fullness of her weight, grew
painful almost immediately.

“I’ll be as gentle as I can.” He whispered
the words into her ear, which was at mouth-level as he stood beside
her. “But she is watching.”

“It hurts,” Alice gasped, trying to turn
away from or into the pain in her limbs.

“It’s supposed to!” The Red Queen sang from
somewhere below them. How could she possible see? Alice wondered.
They were far off the ground and she was down there. She turned her
head from side to side and then she saw it, a glimmer of light
below—another transmission, this one showing the scene above
displayed on the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw
herself suspended, nude, helpless.

The king made some motion and Alice sighed
in relief as the strings holding her up drew closer together on the
ceiling. She couldn’t see where they were attached, no pulleys or
levers. They seemed to disappear in to the red and white material
above with no fastening at all. The affect was both good and bad.
Her limbs were still holding her own weight, but they were drawn
together now, arms parallel with her legs and perpendicular to the
floor. It left her body jackknifed and her unable to see, except
peripherally, what was going on around her.

“Such sweet skin.” The king had something to
pet her with. She couldn’t tell at first what it was, the touch was
so light over the backs of her thighs, behind her knees. “Like
peaches and cream.”

But when the first blow fell near her hip,
she recognized the implement immediately. A riding crop. It was one
of Wade’s favorite toys.

Alice howled when the crop bit her behind a
second and third time, leaving a burning sting. Below her, the
queen mimicked her response, howling back, the sound making an
echo. It was painfully humiliating, knowing she was not only being
punished, but that someone was watching—and enjoying it.

But this is a test, she reminded herself,
thinking of Wade. He’d asked her to say yes to this, yes to him.
This was part of it, and so she would submit. She would have done
anything for him. Maddie would call her crazy, or maybe she would
come up for a name for the hormone in her brain responsible for the
way she felt, but Alice knew the truth. She wanted Wade, and she
wanted what he wanted for her.

“Oh Alice, that’s lovely.” The riding crop
came down again, but this time she didn’t cry out. Her body relaxed
and the moment she let go, she realized how tense she had been, how
much she had been fighting against her restraints.

The king knew just what he was doing. She
didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but he was almost better
than Wade in his technique. He knew just when to deliver a sting,
followed by the soft pet of the leather, and then two more, quick,
on one side, then three on the other. He kept her guessing,
anticipating, soothing her at turns and then going back at her with
great force.

He was warming her up. And it was working.
She could feel herself giving into it, floating away on the
sensation. The king seemed to sense the shift in her because he
slid the riding crop’s leather end between her pussy lips, making
her gasp and twist and moan. There was nothing she could do to stop
him. Her legs were pressed together, but her pussy was completely
exposed to him between her thighs, plump and ripe as a peach.