by Meg Xuemei X
“An excellent question,” I said. “However, I feel no attraction to your captain at all, even though your blood flows in her.”
Marrok growled. “You don’t need to be attracted to my mate. She’s mine!”
“No one is arguing with you on that, Marrok. Chill,” I said exasperatedly. “I was just making a point that my flame might act differently toward her than to my mate.”
“Your flame won’t burn anything related to me,” Fiammetta said.
“You’re going to mess with three types of blood from three different species,” I said. “You and I can always work things out between us, but when Marrok joins us, he might screw up. Our blood might attack his alien one. Don’t forget he’s a shifter—half-man and half-wolf.”
Marrok glared at me. I nodded at him knowingly. Truth is hard to swallow, and few can truly handle it.
“My blood is fine!” the shifter said. “When I claimed my mate, we became one. Kaara can take my blood.”
“Marrok is right,” Fiammetta said. “Kaara is bonded to him. She’s bonded to me as well in a different way. And we’re bonded as well. All I need is to connect us all with a blood ritual. When Kaara gets enough blood from both of you, I’ll take back what’s mine.”
Marrok looked uncertain. “But if you withdraw your blood—”
“I’ll only extract my blood when she can sustain herself,” Fiammetta said. “I won’t take all of it. I just need some back so that I’ll be strong enough to handle the portal.”
“Do it,” Marrok said, dipping his head and brushing a kiss over Kaara’s pale lips.
“We’ll need a blood transfusion kit, if you have one,” I said.
“I’ll have Antonio fetch it,” Marrok said. “He once used it to give blood to Bella when she was a vampire.”
“No needle can pierce my skin,” I said. “I’ll have to cut my vein open with my blade, which is fine.” I locked my gaze with Fia. “Or you can bite me.”
She flushed, then rolled her eyes. “Why do I need needle, blade, or teeth, when I have my magic?”
Two columns of fire materialized on her palms. Marrok stared at the flame, mesmerized, until a cord of fire sprouted from the column and dashed toward Kaara in an arc.
Marrok acted instinctively, throwing himself over his mate to shield her, but Fiammetta’s darkness had slammed into him, pinning him back against the chair. Marrok snarled. And I narrowed my eyes at him in a warning. I don’t like anyone hissing or snapping at my witch.
The cord of fire divided into three strings. Two of them punctured Kaara’s wrists.
Marrok’s irises dilated at the sight, and before they resumed to normal, the third cord of fire stabbed into his thick neck, latching to his vein, all in one swift, smooth act.
Pride swelled at my chest. Look how awesome my mate was. She knew her stuff.
Marrok sat still, obviously afraid he’d fuck it up if he did so much as blink.
I grinned. “I don’t even need to count down this time—the benefit of being the witch’s mate—”
A yarn of flame landed on my arm, licking me all the way until it slithered up my neck. It hesitated, as if asking me if I was ready.
Pleased with my mate’s tenderness and consideration, I angled my neck for the fire cord. It sank into my vein. My flame came to meet it, and they mingled in a secret language. Then I felt a stream of my blood flowing through the cord of fire.
My witch had used her fire as the blood transfusion conduit.
Mine and Marrok’s blood infused into Kaara’s veins.
Marrok fixed his intense gaze on Kaara, fear, hope, and pleading filling his eyes. I sympathized with him. If my mate lay there like that, I wouldn’t know what to do, either. And Kaara Nightshades had given all for us.
The blood transfusion went on for a while, but Kaara still didn’t respond.
“It’s not working,” Marrok choked. “She isn’t waking up.”
Fiammetta looked exhausted. “I have to reach her deep in another realm. Do not interrupt me again while I’m searching for her.”
Marrok clamped his mouth shut and held his breath.
Half a minute later, color slowly returned to Kaara’s face.
Then her eyes fluttered.
“Love,” Marrok called, “I’m here. Come back to me, to us, my love.”
Kaara Nightshades opened her eyes—they were the color of the violet sea on the planet where I would take Fia to live with me.
An ember of fire sparked in the girl’s eyes before it vanished.
Fiammetta’s cord of fire in my neck gave me a lick before fading off. And the fire of thread between Marrok and Kaara also disconnected. Only the link of fire between her and her captain lingered a little longer.
She was pulling out her blood from Kaara.
“Don’t take back too much, please,” Marrok pleaded.
Fiammetta flicked him an icy glance, flames glowing in her silvery eyes.
Her whole being radiated while her darkness swirled around her, making her the sole star in deep space.
Lust punched my soul. How I could ever tell her that she was my whole universe.
Fiammetta cut the last fire cord between her and Kaara, and her eyes returned to a piercing, icy gray.
Kaara gazed at Marrok as he pulled her into his arms and choked.
“Marrok,” Kaara whispered.
“I’m here, love,” Marrok said. “I’ve never left. I’ll never leave.”
“Athena,” Kaara said, then glanced at me. “Gabriel.”
Fiammetta beamed at her loyal captain—there wasn’t the slightest iciness in my mate—and bent down to kiss Kaara on the forehead.
“See you later, Kaara,” she said.
I held out a hand, my mate putting hers in mine, and we left the room for Marrok and his mate.
15
The Witch
Warmth, softness, and solidity surrounded me. I opened my eyes.
The softness was from the Angel’s feathers, on which I lay sideways; warmth emitted from his hard chest; and the solidness came from his strong arms around me.
He watched me, a doting smile in his brilliant green eyes. I hadn’t known he could smirk like that. Usually, he flashed a wicked, cocky grin.
It was the third day since Kaara had awoken from her coma.
She was stronger than ever with my mate’s powerful angelic blood in her veins, along with the few drops of mine remaining in her. Marrok donated most of the blood. Kaara also started to generate her own blood cells.
Every day since then, I’d woken up in Gabriel’s arms. We couldn’t have intercourse because of the Furies’ curse. Her magical band on Gabriel’s wrist prevented us from mating.
But it hadn’t stopped him from trying all sorts of ways to pleasure me. However, our mating bond wasn’t sated; it required Gabriel to penetrate me and spill his seed in me. When we couldn’t, it had been driving us half-mad.
“Gabriel?” I called, my eyelids fluttering against his chin.
How I loved waking up beside him, remembering it all.
“Yes, baby.” His eyes sparkled with the starlight.
He liked the way I said his name, but whenever I’d first opened my eyes, I’d always spotted fear lurking in his before he stored it away. He was forever afraid that I’d forget him again.
I feared the same every night before I closed my eyes.
I snuggled closer to him.
“Do you need more sleep, Fia?” he asked, lust thick in his eyes.
Would he always want me like that? Would this attraction ever fade? Only time would tell, for time eroded everything. Even the gods were at the mercy of time. The colors they appreciated, the scent they remembered, and the events they participated in, would never return the same way. They couldn’t freeze the best moments in time any more than the mortals.
I would cherish every moment with Gabriel, no matter what was going to happen the next.
“I won’t go anywhere while you sleep.” He k
issed my lips and pulled back to gaze at me again. His erection pressed against my belly. “I’ll wait as long as I have to, but our suffering won’t be long. Then I’ll fuck you like a real man.”
“You’re more than a real man,” I said, and his eyes sparkled with delight.
Maybe I should flatter him more often just to see his stunning green eyes lightening up.
“We’re going to cross the portal today, baby.”
“I know,” I said.
I’d been practicing my TimeFire to make sure it would perform when the time came.
The wolves and my army had been preparing to flee this planet. They were nervous, excited, and for the first time, full of hope.
We wouldn’t know what would happen in the next few hours, but we weren’t all optimistic that all of us would make it.
My hand traced along his muscled chest to his hard, flat abs. It kept going, gliding over his pubic hair, until my fingertips touched the base of his rigid cock. He remained still. As my hand climbed over his impressive length, his shaft jerked.
His skin was so smooth and hot, burning mine. My fingers curled and grasped his crown. As my hand moved clockwise, rubbing and caressing the head of his cock, he let out a rough, angelic curse.
Through our mating bond, I felt his urgent male need.
I knew how much he wanted to roll me over to my stomach, open my legs wide, and thrust his dick into my pussy. I could see his fantasy playing in a stream of images, and it heated my blood like no other.
For days, I’d tried to help him get a release, but it seemed he could only come inside me.
Maybe this time I would succeed. It was torturous to see him suffer like that, even though he said it made him happy that he could still make me come and that his need didn’t matter much.
It mattered to me.
I gave his large, hard rod a squeeze, and he thrust into my palm in eager response. I twirled my hand around and slid down his length, pumping up and down fast and hard.
“Witch, you play me like I’m an instrument,” he grunted, and I wasn’t sure if it was a complaint or a compliment.
Before I could tease him further, he’d lifted me in the air as if I weighed less than a feather. Before I knew what was going on, I was sitting on his face, and his hot mouth was working my pussy.
His hands held my butt cheeks effortlessly.
His tongue lashed out, licking me thoroughly. The sensation was unmaking me, and his hunger and lust reverberated with mine.
“Oh, Gabriel,” I moaned.
The tip of his wicked tongue flicked my swollen clit. It was as if fire rasped my tender flesh. I cried out. His tongue lapped around my sensitive nub one more time before moving down and thrusting into my heated channel.
It withdrew and thrust, in and out of my pussy.
Fire ignited in me, and it called for his. I remembered how marvelous and addictive it had been when he had fucked me in his shuttle and his flame had first brought out mine. I wanted that again.
He said I was fire in his veins. Did he know that he was pure fuel to my fire?
“Give me your flame,” I demanded.
He withdrew his tongue and asked, “Can you take it, witch?” His voice was laced with thick lust.
He thrust his tongue into my aching pussy again. His hand wrapped around me and pumped his cock up and down.
“More than you know, Angel,” I said breathlessly.
And this time, when his tongue invaded my pussy, it carried his flame.
If I couldn’t have his cock, then, at least I would have his flame. The angelic flame traced along my inner walls, licking all at once. The sensation was beyond anything in this world. I trembled and climaxed right away.
My witch flame rose, pouring on his wings like intense sunlight, caressing his ridge and every feather.
The Angel shuddered, his eyes rolling back.
He bucked his hips up, wanting to thrust his cock into my heat more than anything, but he couldn’t due to the Furies’ bracelet. And I still perched on his face.
My fire flowed down along his body and slithered up his cock.
He let go of his hand that had been stroking himself. My fire formed a fist and started to pump his hard length.
He roared in pleasure and cursed at the same time. He called my names, and his angelic flame surged into my core.
The next I knew, I was in the air.
A force so great it had torn me from Gabriel and sent me flying backwards across the room and right out of the open window.
“Fia!” Gabriel shouted in panic and flew out like a lightning arrow, his black wings at full length.
My icy storm sent me up instead of letting me fall, then my fire formed a flaming vortex, pulling me into its infinite tunnel.
The next second, I stood before the full window of a white marble tower. I recognized it—the Royal Palace of Lithuaria Empire, my home.
The skyscraper floated in the air, and I watched my realm beneath my feet. Highways were everywhere like layers of veins with endless flows of cars. Commercial buildings shot out on either side of the express way. Artificial gardens encased endless residences.
The cloudless sky was so blue, and the pure sea stretched at the far end of the city.
It wasn’t a vision. It was a memory, and somehow, I was reliving it.
“We’ve come a long way,” the queen said behind me. “We’re becoming a nation of reason and technology. The scientists estimate we’ll leap into the quantum era in less than a century.”
“Yet, no one expected me to be born into this era with such powerful magic,” the past me said, not turning to glance at my mother.
She was a tall blonde with a willowy figure. I didn’t take after her or the king. I looked more like an adopted daughter with the palest skin and raven-black hair.
“Five thousand years ago,” the queen said, “there was a witch with the same power, just like you.”
The power of TimeFire. The High Witch was called Cassandra. Our magic could not only open the portal to the past and future; it could change the future and bend the fate of the realm to our will.
My mother sighed.
While I was the greatest witch, she didn’t have any magic in her bones.
Actually, I might be the only one who had such terrifying magic in the realm, since we hadn’t found another who could summon the wind, ice, and fire.
I turned to my mother. “The senators are scared, aren’t they?”
We had twelve silver-ranking senators to balance the power of the crown.
“All I want is to shield you, Athena,” the queen said.
I gave the queen a wicked wink. “They want to protect the realm from me. I think I can convince the senators with a little demonstration.”
“That’s unwise. You’re the crown princess. Your every action has a consequence.”
“The throne might not be here one day, Mother,” I said. “Haven’t you heard the public opinion that they now would prefer to abolish the monarchy? Maybe there’s a reason I was born with this great magic—to strengthen our royal house.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” the queen said. “A display of your power will only deepen their fear. The High Witch before you brought down a whole technological kingdom.”
Cassandra had used her magic wave to erase the technology of her time. There had been a fight, and Cassandra had won. But while her magic had prevailed, the civilization had collapsed. She pushed development backwards a thousand years.
Everyone thought such a great, terrifying magic was myth, until I was born. Now the senators feared that I would repeat history and cause catastrophe.
“With all the technology, it comes with the byproducts of pollution, over-population, and callousness of the heart,” I said. “We’ve been constantly poisoning the land. Maybe the planet is fed up with the abuse. It wants to return to the old world of purity and beauty. Maybe I was born for this purpose. I can start a revolution, should I desire.”
“Let the assassins come and see how they like my fire,” I said, letting a twine of fire leap on my palms. It lit every inch of my skin while my blue royal gown remained intact.
I strode toward my mother and embraced her. My fire would never hurt my own flesh and blood.
The queen sighed, hugging me back. “I should have taken more measures when you were a child. If no one had known about your magic—”
“Mother, I am who I am. I’m never going to hide my magic. I’m not ashamed that I’m the greatest witch ever. It’s my birthright. The realm just has to deal with it. And I’m nothing like Cassandra.”
“Don’t say her name,” she hissed out the words.
Even today, no one dared mention Cassandra’s name, for fear of bringing her back. Technology hadn’t exactly rooted out superstitious. The irony was, the High Witch, who had been marked as a terrorist in history, hadn’t returned. But here I was—another great witch born five thousand years later.
Worry lines formed at the corner of my mother’s mouth. She was no longer young, yet she was still more beautiful, graceful, and regal than any woman in the realm.
“I won’t harm the realm, Your Majesty,” I said.
“How can you know?” Mother asked. “How can anyone know?”
I grinned. “I enjoy the convenience technology brings. I love space travel. And most important I know in my heart—I’m not a destroyer. I’m a protector of the realm.”
My mother screamed and lunged at me to shove me behind her to shield me, but I’d turned toward the window.
A missile was heading toward us.
It would kill us both.
Part of the building would collapse at the hit, and many of our royal subjects would die with us.
I snarled, throwing up my hands.
If the realm was afraid of my magic, they could now witness how truly powerful I was, and learn never to piss me off again.
Fire blasted out of me, crashed into the missile half-way, and melted it instantly. My fire didn’t stop there. It surged forward, searching, until it found the hostile vessel—a fighter aircraft that had shot the missile.