Madness of the Hatter: Alix in Wonderland, #1

By Ysobella Black

Every girl in the Liddle family goes to Wonderland when she turns seven — whether she wants to or not. The White Rabbit came for Alix. Sixteen years later, Hatter comes for her niece. Determined to put a stop to the abductions. Alix takes her niece's place. Wonderland is different than Alix remembers, but if she can't get four sexy men to trust her with their secrets, Wonderland itself could be no more.

 

This series is a steamy reverse harem MFMMM trilogy. Not every question will be answered in the first story. There is no cheating, and happily ever afters are guaranteed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ysobella Black
• Release date: Aug 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798223194996

Ysobella Black

I love to travel, read, and think of ways to complicate my characters’ lives. I have two borrowed cats who take shameless advantage of my good nature. Hopefully you find my characters a lot more entertaining than I am. :) If you enjoyed this story, you may be interested to know that I write in several series. While each novel is written for one relationship, features unique mythologies, and can be read as standalone, a little more of that world is revealed and the overall arc of the series grows throughout. I also write two versions of most of my stories. For the naughty versions, read stories by Ysobella Black. If you prefer nice/sweet stories with fade to black scenes and no swearing, you'll want to read the versions by Ysobel Black. The best way to find out what’s going on with the series, and me, is to visit my website at https://www.ysobellablack.com. There, you can also check out the wikis and timelines for each series. Or, sign up for the newsletter. https://ysobellablack.com/newsletter/ I send out things like surveys, freebies, contests, and random news about things going on with me that may or may not be interesting.  I love hearing from my readers. Feel free to contact me via my website, or find me on social media. I admit, I don't keep up with posting constantly on one account, much less two, so I don't have separate accounts for my two pen names on most platforms. Twitter - @Ysobellablack Pinterest - ysobellablack Goodreads - ysobellablack or ysobelblack Instagram - @ysobellablackauthor TikTok - @ysobellablack Bookbub - ysobellablack or ysobelblack

Book preview

WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

All of my stories and series, except for Alix in Wonderland and Raven Chronicles, are a different aspect of my Dragaverse, but can be read and enjoyed as standalone.

Stories by Ysobel Black

(Nice/Sweet Versions)

Bakery Street Cozy Mysteries

Paranormal Cozy Mysteries

The Lyrical Lycanthrope

Druids of Bandrui

Immortal Druids search for their Maités

Druid of Oaks

Druid of Apples

Fairy Tales With a Twist

Retellings of fairy tales, myths, and stories you only thought you knew.

The Crimson Hood & the Alpha of Wolves

The Ice Maiden & the Princes of Diamonds

Holiday Hullabaloo

Love in Ashana can be tricky, but twelve days of chaos result in paranormal happily-ever-afters.

A Penghou in a Pine Tree

Two Tatzelwurms

Three French Bêtes

Four Ceffyl Dŵr

Five Golden Wings

Six Grootslangs Playing

Seven Spawns a-Swimming

Eight Maenads Mixing

Nine Lazy Dragons

Ten Swords a-Sneaking

Eleven Pixie Potions

Twelve Lovers Loving

Pohjola Maidens

The Maidens of Pohjola are free, heading for the human world, and looking for love.

Dream's Sleeper: Lemminki

Strygoi Witches & Vampires

Join an Ildum of vampires over 10,000 years of history and mythology as they find their Dragăs — witches who make their hearts beat and restore their souls.

Ember's Light: Stryx

Viktoria's Shadow: Jael

Myth's Legend: Norrix

Bijou's Cure: Zeke

Musette's Fate: Idris

Strygoi Witches & Vampires Companion Stories

Shadowy — Viktoria's prequel (companion novella)

Echo's Answer: Lachlan (companion novel)

COLLECTIONS/BOX SETS

Holiday Hullabaloo

DAYS 1-12

Strygoi Witches & Vampires

COLLECTION ONE, BOOKS 1-4

Stories by Ysobella Black

(Naughty/Steamy Versions)

Alix in Wonderland

A reverse harem (MFMMM) retelling of Alice in Wonderland.

Madness of the Hatter

Bakery Street Mysteries

Paranormal Cozy-ish Mysteries

The Lyrical Lycanthrope

Fairy Tales With a Kink

Retellings of fairy tales, myths, and stories you only thought you knew.

The Crimson Hood & the Alpha of Wolves

The Ice Maiden & the Princes of Diamonds

Grove of Bandrui

Immortal Druids search for their Maités.

Druid of Oaks

Druid of Apples

Harom & Aneja

Witches choose three men to form their Haroms as they become Aneja — Walkers in magic. Reverse Harem (MFMM) 

RealmWalker

BeastWalker

Magical Love in London

Regency London with a Paranormal twist

A Marriage of Inconvenience

Oubliette

Paranormal Short and Steamy Stories

Selkie

Merrow

Pohjola Passions

The Maidens of Pohjola are free, heading for the human world, and looking for love.

Dream’s Sleeper: Lemminki

Raven Chronicles: Phoenix Rising

An epic spanning generations — the battle for the Raven Throne is full of sex, intrigue, and betrayal.

First Generation

Souls Lost & Found

Under a Blue Moon, star-crossed lovers get a second chance for their love to shine.

The Egyptian

Utopia Pack Shifters

A pack of shifters find their Fateds.

Unyielding

Vampires & Strygoi Witches

Join an Ildum of vampires over 10,000 years of history and mythology as they find their Dragăs — witches who make their hearts beat and restore their souls.

Ember’s Light: Stryx

Viktoria’s Shadow: Jael

Myth’s Legend: Norrix

Bijou’s Cure: Zeke

Musette’s Fate: Idris

Vampires & Strygoi Witches Companion Stories

Shadowy — Viktoria's Prequel (Companion Novella)

Echo’s Answer: Lachlan (Companion Novel)

Xuterias: Xov & Xau

Enemies to Lovers Paranormal Romances

Poisoned Heart

Yuletide Yearnings

Short Paranormal Romances about finding love in mystical Ashana.

A Penghou in a Pine Tree

Two Tatzelwurms

Three French Bêtes

Four Ceffyl Dŵr

Five Golden Wings

Six Grootslangs Playing

Seven Spawns a-Swimming

Eight Maenads Mixing

Nine Lazy Dragons

Ten Swords a-Sneaking

Eleven Pixie Potions

Twelve Lovers Loving

12 Days of Chaos Box Set

COLLECTIONS/BOX SETS

Three First in a Series

FATED – Three Firsts

Ember's Light:Stryx

RealmWalker

Poisoned Heart

Five First in a Series

FATED – Five Firsts

Ember's Light:Stryx

The Crimson Hood & the Alpha of Wolves

RealmWalker

Dream's Sleeper: Lemminki

Poisoned Heart

Vampires & Strygoi Witches

COLLECTION ONE: BOOKS 1-4

Yuletide Yearnings

DAYS 1-12

https://ysobellablack.com/newsletter

CHAPTER ONE

ALIX

I LIKE THAT MAN’S HAT. It’s shiny and tall like in the storybooks. Nobody wears a hat like that anymore.

Heart suddenly pounding wildly, Alix scanned the pedestrians filling the street around them. What man? She squeezed Alyss’ small hand a little too tightly. Where do you see him?

He’s just there. A small finger pointed across the street.

Alix stared where Alyss pointed. People moved around a particular spot, like it was occupied. He had to be there. She remembered the last time she'd seen him. When she was seven, he'd worn a red suit and top hat.

Wonderland and its inhabitants didn't conform to rules of the normal world, and she couldn't protect Alyss' against an unseen threat. She would not let her cousin be taken.

Resigned, Alix imagined the locked door in her mind behind which she kept the part of her that had never left Wonderland. It might be more accurate to admit part of Wonderland had never left her.

An ornate, old-fashioned, brass doorknob elongated to reveal a keyhole. Alix imagined a shiny, golden key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it with a click.

What should have been an insignificant noise sounded like a thunderclap. She twisted the knob. The door opened an inch and stopped. Something giggled from the other side, and the door creaked open a little more.

A wild presence peeked around the edge of the door. Sensing freedom, it sidled out, little feet scuffing in tentative steps.

Oh, seven-year-old Alix said. We are much bigger now.

The older Alix struggled not to be overwhelmed by curiosity as her younger self whirled through their mind.

Hatter. She fought to keep her thoughts on target. We need to see Hatter.

We can't see him? the little Alix asked. Why ever not? He is quite tall. Not a mile high, but when he wears his high hat, almost!

Alix snorted. I'll give you six-and-a-half feet. Maybe seven with the hat. But how can I see him?

Then we must simply not believe it is not possible. How will we ever see six impossible things before breakfast if we simply cannot see them?

Trying to follow that way of thinking lay madness. With a mental shrug, Alix tried to take her own advice without thinking too much. Leaving her seven-year-old self free to roam made her nervous, but Alix might need her help again.

I don't believe I can't see him.

Alix focused her eyes on the place Alyss pointed. Across the street, the air shimmered like a heat mirage in the desert. Then, there he was.

Hatter stood in the previously empty space, watching them like a creepy pervert.

Well, to be fair, he wasn’t watching them.

His eyes were on the seven-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl at her side. Looks all the Liddle women shared.

A run-of-the-mill creep would be almost welcome.

Hatter was something else entirely, and far more dangerous.

A run-of-the-mill creep could be dispatched by a phone call to the police. They took even remote threats to young children seriously enough to at least ask a few questions and warn potential danger away.

There was no easy way to be rid of Hatter. 

He stood out once she’d spotted him. His clothes were outdated. In a crowd of people dressed in trainers and dungarees, he wore an old-fashioned suit in dark blue, a matching tall hat, and a long high-collared black coat that reached the tops of his shiny black boots.

Straight red hair parted in the middle to frame his face. Piercing green eyes, that seemed old and young at the same time, returned her stare.

He was as huge as she recalled, well over six-feet tall, with broad shoulders. She’d thought that might be different now that she was grown up and not a seven-year-old girl forced to look up at everyone.

The sword sheathed at his hip was new. He hadn’t carried a weapon the last time she saw him. Not that she remembered, anyway. It had been nearly sixteen years since she’d been to Wonderland. Things must have changed.

On the crowded city street, people moved around him without paying him any attention, like they couldn’t see him, but somehow knew he was there. Acknowledging that he was aware she’d seen him, he touched his hat with two fingers in a salute to her.

Come on Alyss. Alix tugged her cousin’s hand and hurried her around the next corner. Let’s get home. It looks like rain and I need to get dinner started.

Her cousin lifted her face to the cloudless blue sky and raised an eyebrow. After we get ice cream? she bargained.

Okay. Ice cream, then home. They'd planned to spend the day out, but now Alix had things to take care of. Hatter hadn't tried to talk to Alyss yet. They always tried to talk girls into going willingly at first.

Content with the new arrangement, Alyss nodded and let Alix pull her along the street.

Why had he come instead of the White Rabbit? That was who Alix had been keeping a watch for since her cousin turned seven a few days ago.

Every girl in the Liddle family disappeared soon after her seventh birthday. Sometimes it was only for an hour or two. When it was longer, the girls weren’t the same when they came back. If they returned.

A