Nessa averted her gaze, her face flushing almost instantly.


    “I… I didn’t mean it like that,” she replied softly. “I was talking to Lady Sentari….”


    “Ok, I need more exnation on what exactly that means,” ra sighed.


    Nessa took a breath.


    “Lady Sentari,” Alice said from her seat in Axel’sp, “was the character I yed for a few weeks in Nessa’s Dungeons and Dragons group.”


    Axel pressed his lips to her neck softly.


    “You yed games together?” he asked, purposefully whispering against her throat. “Should we y a game?”


    Alice took a soft breath and smiled.


    “That’s hot….” Bell whispered.


    A low growl brought her attention to Galen, holding Ren in his arms. Bell grinned.


    “That’s hotter.”


    Galen could not help the smile that formed on his lips.


    “She came in as a temporary character while one of our normal yers was unavable. I never even met her; she was just a voice over theputer as we yed through a side quest on our adventure.”


    “She seems to have left quite an impression on you for only being a voice on theputer,” ra sighed.


    Nessa stepped forward, cing her hands on ra’s elbows. ra tried to hide her reaction, the sharp intake of breath, but she couldn’t help it. The rarity of feeling the warmth of Nessa’s touch made it that much more stimting.


    And that was precisely why she was so bothered by Nessa’s closeness to Alice. ra pulled away.


    “I’m sorry, rebear,” Nessa said sweetly with her own pout, but ra seemed unwilling to listen. “I was just surprised.”


    Alice observed the two of them. She turned and whispered into Axel’s ear before she stood from hisp against his wishes.


    “Excuse me,” she said, tapping on ra’s shoulder.


    ra turned and took a deep breath as Alice gave her a warm smile. ra couldn’t help her own lips curling upward.


    “Yes?’ she replied.


    “I’m sorry,” Alice said sweetly. “I didn’t mean to cause any confusion between the two of you… I just thought it would be fun to surprise Nessa with our former acquaintance.”


    “Heh… yea…” raughed nervously as she looked up into Alice’s warm chocte eyes. “I could see… how.. uhm… that would be fun. And she has really great reactions….”


    Alice touched ra’s shoulder.


    “Thank you for understanding,” she whispered, leaning close and licking her lips with a yful smile.


    ra blushed as she took a deep breath.


    Suddenly she felt herself moving back away from Alice with a warmth stretched across her chest.


    ra came to a stop against something soft. She nced down and saw Nessa’s arm across her chest and suddenly realized that the warmth on her back was that of Nessa’s body pressed to her.


    ra’s eyes widened, and they met with Alice for a moment, who smiled and gave her a wink before returning to Axel’sp.


    Nessaid her head against ra’s and whispered against her ear.


    “Only I can make your heart race like that.”


    ra’s heart was racing all right.


    She licked her lips and nodded.


    “I want to be alone with you,” Nessa whispered, pressing a gentle kiss just below ra’s ear.


    Again, ra nodded, and the two of them quickly left the mess hall.


    “That was kind of you,” Axel whispered.


    Alice smiled.


    He squeezed his arm around her waist. Pulling her against his body and nuzzling his nose into the crook of her neck, giving her a gentle bite.


    “Don’t do it again,” he whispered.


    “No promises,” Alice giggled in response.


    Galen cleared his throat.


    “You know we are still here, right?”


    Axel looked up and shrugged.


    Galen rolled his eyes, and Bellughed.


    “So… you yed dungeons and dragons?” Bell asked.


    “Sort of,” Alice replied. “It was part of an assignment.”


    “To y a game?” Galen asked.


    “Technically, most of what I did was y games,” Alice replied. “Flirting with you during the exchange was a game.”


    Galen didn’t bother to look at Axel. He felt his imposing gaze on him.


    “Look, man, I had no part and no interest in any of that, so stop murdering me with your eyes!”


    Alice and Bellughed.


    “Actually, your dislike of my attention worked in my favor. You tried so hard to avoid me that it was easier for me to ess the ces I wasn’t supposed to.”


    “So, you flirted with me because you knew I wouldn’t like it?” Galen asked.


    “My intel on you was that you are loyal to a fault and that you had your eyes on a particr wolf already,” Alice smiled in Bell’s direction. “So, I took a chance. I figured your loyalty to her would make it unpleasant to deal with my flirtation. While your loyalty to Summer and the diplomatic repercussions of the exchange would stop you from taking action against my behavior.”


    “Huh… so you were never really interested in me?” Galen asked.


    Bell and Axel both turned their attention to him, one with a look of curiosity and the other with murderous intent.


    Alice leaned forward with her elbow on the table. She rested her chin in her hand.


    “Do you really want to know?” she asked with a devious grin.


    Galen swallowed, suddenly feeling very trapped.


    “Excuse me, are you Alice?”


    They all turned to a woman standing a few feet from the table.


    “That’s me,” Alice replied.


    “We received a package for you,” the woman said, holding up a box.


    Alice stood up and approached the woman.


    “Thank you,” she said, taking the small box.


    The woman nodded and walked away.


    “What is it?” Axel asked.


    “Not sure,” Alice replied, sitting down in the chair beside him as she opened the box.


    “We need to go,” Bell said. “The convoy leaves in the morning, and there are a few things I need to see personally.”


    Galen nodded sadly.


    “We’ll see you guyster,” he said.


    Axel nodded and waved as they gathered their things and left the table.


    “So… do you?” Bell asked as they walked away.


    “What?” Galen replied.


    “Want to know the answer.”


    “Hey Ren, look, it’s Grandma Fiona!” Galen said and suddenly hurried away.


    Axel sniggered as he watched them leave the mess hall.


    “The protection detail on the convoy….” Alice said. “We should increase it.”


    Axel turned to her with furrowed brows. She stared into the box, her jaw clenched and a look of concern in her eyes.


    He reached out and took her hand.


    “What is in the box, Alice?” he asked.


    Alice swallowed.


    “It’s not what is in it that concerns me right now,” she said, reaching in and pulling out a folded paper. “But who sent it.”


    Axel took the paper from her hand and opened it.


    [You’re finally free, no more doll, no more leash. Now neither of us is caged.


    See you soon, my Alice.


    Yours,


    Roman]