by Meg Xuemei X
My eyes found the massive white wolf. Severely wounded, he was still regenerating. A young woman with strawberry-golden hair was fussing over him. She had to be his mate. I hadn’t seen her this morning, so she must have just arrived from the wolves’ compound at the news of our defeat and escape.
They had all united with their mates, but I’d lost mine—and I had just started to believe Gabriel was my destined mate after his refusal to step into the portal alone.
When Gabriel had cut down the vampires’ pursuit and given us an opening to flee, the white wolf had fought beside him.
The wolf general had returned, but Gabriel hadn’t.
I stalked toward the white wolf. Kaara and her mate followed me.
“Fia,” Kaara whispered behind me, grief in her voice, as if she felt my pain.
She had no idea how the hurt was tearing me up inside, but I was careful not to show my emotion.
I stopped in front of the white wolf and his mate.
“Lady Fiammetta,” his mate greeted me. “It’s good to see you.”
I nodded.
“You helped Bella when the Dark Prince turned her, Lady Fiammetta,” Kaara said beside me, offering me a clue. “We’re forever grateful.”
Gabriel wasn’t the only one who knew about my amnesia. I figured out that Kaara had known about it for a while. She’d never betrayed me. She’d never abandoned me. I knew she and I had a special tie, but I didn’t know what it was. My magic markings had told me she was the only one I could trust. I could tell from how the Wolf King treated me that Kaara had kept my secrets even from him.
Now I would trust Gabriel with my secrets and life as well.
I didn’t remember Bella or how I’d helped her. I’d told lots of people that they owed me a life debt, so she could be one of them.
“Wolf general,” I said. I didn’t remember his name.
The white wolf shifted in an instant, and suddenly a handsome but naked man was sitting there on the floor, leaning on the wall. Bella immediately covered his nakedness with a blanket. He grinned at her.
“Antonio,” Kaara said, “Lady Fiammetta has a few questions.”
“Of course,” Antonio said. “That’s why I shifted, for Lady Fiammetta’s convenience.”
I looked into Antonio’s eyes and asked. “He didn’t make it, did he?” My heart pounded painfully, and a sick, horrible feeling threatened to shred me. I stood still, out of sheer will, with an icy mask on my face.
Antonio exhaled, sorrow and respect sparking in his blue eyes.
“We—the rest of the pack and I—couldn’t fight any longer. We were cut down. The Archangel ordered us to go. So, we left him behind.”
“If you’d stayed, you’d have died,” the Wolf King said. Somehow, he’d shifted as well, but he had clothes on. “You all would have died. And you have a new mate at home.”
Antonio swallowed. “We had to leave him. I’m sorry, Lady Fiammetta.”
“Was he alive when you left?” I asked softly, but all around me, my subjects shivered at my tone.
“Before I ran out of the jungle, I looked back once. They’d dragged him down, hundreds of them. And he still roared for us to get the fuck out. We didn’t go back for him.”
“You couldn’t,” Bella protested, fierce tears in her eyes. “You barely made it out. Next time, don’t you leave me behind! Where you go, I go. I can fight.”
Antonio touched his mate’s cheek gently, before he turned to me, holding my gaze. “Gabriel had a message for you, Lady Fiammetta.”
“What was it?”
“He said, ‘Tell my witch I’ll find her, in this life or next. No matter what happens, tell her not to come for me, or I’ll be royally pissed. When I’m furious, she won’t like it.’”
I didn’t care if he’d be royally pissed or not. That was exactly what I would do next—go for him, as soon as I could.
If I didn’t get him back, the cold void inside me would open wider every day until it swallowed me.
My darkness twirled around me, hissing, and dimming the entire hall.
I laughed coldly as I heard fearful gasps. My guards and the wolves must have thought I’d finally gone mad, like most of the exiles who had been dumped on Pandemonium.
Bella threw herself at her mate to shield him, and Antonio grabbed her and tried to shove her behind him to block her from my sight. He was about to shift back to his warrior wolf form.
Marrok tensed beside his mate as well, despite Kaara’s frequent chiding that I would never hurt her. But it was hard to trust the Wickedest Witch.
Kaara moved closer to me, reaching for my darkness, and it caressed her violet hair like a dark wind. Marrok looked surprised, but he relaxed.
My magic liked only two persons—Archangel Gabriel and Kaara Nightshades.
My wind tugged her away until she was in Marrok’s arms, because my TimeFire was coming out. I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t burn her, since my core magic was volatile.
My fire, the color of the sun and firestorm, materialized on my palms in the shape of thin twine, caressing my skin before entwining with my darkness, like day and night. Twines of fire and darkness flowed together toward the windows, doors, and every entrance, until they covered the entire tower.
Everyone in the room inhaled sharply in awe.
“That is the Wickedest Witch’s new ward of living fire and darkness,” I announced. “No enemies can get into the tower. Not even Akem himself.”
The wolves howled, and my guards cheered.
Tears welled up in Kaara’s eyes, and her lips quivered. “Your fire magic has returned, Fia.”
I was sure now that she’d come from my past. I would ask her about it later.
I withdrew my magic. My flame settled back in my magical well, and my darkness twirled at my feet in a small happiness.
I turned to Marrok. “Bring all the wolves here. City of Nine won’t last for more than three weeks. We need to leave before then. I’ve found the portal in the jungle.”
The room became deadly quiet, then sobs rose.
“You could have left, Lady Fiammetta,” Kaara said. “But you kept your promise and came back for us.”
“I won’t leave without Gabriel, either,” I said.
“We’ll come up with a rescue plan soon,” Marrok said. “If we leave, we all leave together.”
“We’ll leave together,” Kaara said resolutely, one of her hands clasping her mate’s, the other holding mine.
I didn’t pull away, though the Wickedest Witch wasn’t supposed to hug or hold hands with anyone. Gabriel had held mine as we’d walked into the jungle together.
And we had walked into an ambush.
But what happened between Gabriel and me this morning had changed me.
Would I be the same Wickedest Witch whom everyone feared when I woke up next morning? I couldn’t know, but I knew and dreaded that I’d forget everything and everyone.
Marrok howled, and the wolves in the room and outside patrolling my territory answered.
We would ride into battle soon.
10
The Angel
“And now you’re forever mine, Gabriel.” Those were the last words I’d heard before I’d lost consciousness.
I was coming back, but it felt as if a giant Lamashtu was sitting on my eyelids as I tried to open my eyes.
“So, this was the Wickedest Witch’s new pet,” a deep velvet male’s voice said.
The voice was full of loathing. I recognized it. It had once come out of the vampire messenger beheaded by Fiammetta. It belonged to the vampire Dark Prince Desdemona. I must be in his presence.
I pondered tearing his black heart out as soon as I regained my muscles.
I’d finally gotten my mate to warm up to me. We were going to leave this pit and head toward a bright future together, then Akem and Desdemona had ruined everything. The sight of Fiammetta being tossed into the air, bleeding, still made my blood boil with rage.
I summoned
my Archangel strength.
“Now he’s mine,” Jasmine said. “His devotion will turn to me, and me alone.”
Not a fucking chance, vampire bitch.
“My venom, as potent as yours,” she continued, “now pumps in his veins. It’s going well.”
I must be indoors, since their voices seemed to echo.
I pushed back whatever bound my eyelids. But on second thought, I decided to keep my eyes shut, so as to hear what else the vampires had to say.
“You can’t drink his blood, either,” Desdemona said.
Jasmine laughed. “Have you also tried? How was that? Did his fiery blood burn you?”
“You should have warned me,” he sounded annoyed.
“But I preferred to show you.”
“We should get rid of him. This one is too powerful.”
I held back but kept gathering strength. When the vampire came near, I’d take him by surprise.
“Don’t tell me you fear him, brother.”
“I fear no one. But I’m telling you, he’s a threat.”
“He won’t be a menace to us. My venom has bonded him to me, so he can never harm you or me. I’ve never bled so much blood for anyone, but he’s worth it. Plus, don’t you forget my power of compulsion, brother. I’m a primordial, just like you.”
She’d mentioned twice she was a primordial. So, the vampires on Pandemonium weren’t a branch of the mutant vampires the Dark Lord of All Angels had experimented on. They weren’t from the vampire planet we’d conquered a thousand years ago. Where had they come from? Kaara had said that, except for Akem’s creatures, no one was native on this planet.
The vampiress was delivering bad news, but I didn’t believe it.
No inferior race could enslave an Angel, let alone an Archangel.
But the vampire’s venom could temporarily paralyze my race when it latched to our angelic blood. I must inform High Prince Seth of this as soon as I return to ThunderSong in orbit.
Then it dawned on me that going back to my ship was wishful thinking at the moment.
I dropped the thought, and my mind drifted to my mate.
A wave of longing, worry, and rage reeled in my chest.
“What do you think, Desdemona? Will he become like us? His blood is like no other. It has heavenly fire in it, if you know what I mean. I wonder if it’s even possible he’ll be fully turned.”
“That will be interesting to see. And to satisfy my curiosity alone, I shall spare him for now.”
Fuckers!
That was why the vampiress had almost bled herself dry to pour her black blood into my veins. And now her every drop of venom was in my blood cells.
These two clowns wanted to turn an Archangel into a vampire!
That was definitely the worst joke, and I’d never heard anything more offensive. I’d kill them for that.
Then a dark thought clicked in my head. What if they succeed?
“He should have gone through the transition already,” Jasmine said. “No one has ever resisted—”
My eyes flashed open, and I found myself in an all-black room in the vampire tower, lying on an operational table with my wings draping to the floor.
To my right was a wide window, displaying a skyline of the post-apocalyptic City of Nine. A plume of smoke rose into the horizon. My gaze fixed on a distant, gray tower. Had my mate returned safely? I hoped for their sake the wolves were guarding her well. If not, they would have to answer to me when I returned.
My throat moved at the thought of my mate. It might have been hours since I’d passed out. And I already missed her like hell.
It was the greatest pain I’d known—to be torn away from her, the only female who mattered to me. Only it was too late for her to realize that she was my mate, and she still didn’t believe it.
I’d burned my hope into the last kiss and asked her to remember me.
Would she? I needed to get to her before she forgot me.
I tried to rise and strike down my enemies, but my muscles were still numb. How could the vampiress’ venom be so potent? I gritted my teeth. I would eventually break her bind, but I wanted to slay her and her brother right now!
My furious gaze fell on Desdemona first.
He was tall and masculine, with pale skin, gray eyes, and black hair. At first glance, I thought he shared Fiammetta’s features, and that angered me more.
Kaara Nightshades had once mentioned that Desdemona was gorgeous and powerful. When I got up, I would maul his face and see how dazzling he would be, then I’d bring his head, along with his sister’s, and toss them at the feet of Fiammetta and Kaara. If my mate had also thought the Dark Prince was handsome, she could reconsider.
Then I felt abyssal, dark power rolling off the Dark Prince.
He was indeed a primordial predator.
What else could he do other than possess his vampire vessels? There was no way in hell I would allow him or his pervert sister to take control of my body.
As my challenging stare fixed on him, Desdemona growled, his eyes flashing crimson.
He very much wanted to murder me.
“Easy, brother,” Jasmine cut in between us. “He’s mine. He’s always wild, but I’ll tame him.”
“I’d love that,” I snorted. “Come and try, sweetheart.”
“What if you can’t?” Desdemona asked, ignoring my taunting.
“Then you can do whatever you want with my Angel. But I didn’t want him completely docile. I want him to battle my will even after he’s turned. It’ll be more fun. You know, brother, I always like to walk on the wild side, even though I was never trained as a warrior.” She regarded me. “I’ve never had anyone quite like him before.”
She talked as if I were already hers.
“Careful, sister,” Desdemona said. “An obsession is a disease.”
“We’re immortals, brother. What do we care if it’s fascination, obsession, or boredom? Is it also a disease that you’ve been obsessed with the Wickedest Witch since you first saw her?”
Desdemona glowered. “The witch is mine. She’ll give me a future no one else can.”
My mate’s future was with me!
I’d pull out all his fangs for trying to claim what’s mine before slaying him.
“And what can this hunk possibly offer you other than a few nights’ pleasure in bed?”
Jasmine laughed. “That’s all I want. I have no other ambitions. And it won’t be just a few long nights’ pleasure. It can be forever. I know Gabriel can deliver. I have a good feeling about him.”
I was sick to my stomach.
Actually, I was so sickened by the picture she’d put in my head I could no longer lie still. Or maybe her venom’s effect was waning. I jumped off the table.
Jasmine instantly darted behind her brother for cover, and Desdemona grew large, his fangs lengthening and his hands turning blade-like.
As if that could scare me. I chuckled.
“Brother, the only weapon that can bleed the Angel is his sword,” Jasmine shouted in warning. “I kept it somewhere safe.”
Desdemona growled. I lunged at him, only to find my legs wobbly. I swayed and cursed.
“Stay down, Gabriel,” Jasmine commanded.
Like hell I would. As I stepped toward the vampire prince, against his sister’s order, a blinding pain blurred my vision.
“What the fuck!” I roared.
“Take it easy, Gabriel.” Jasmine smirked. “You’re mine now. My command, your wish. The more you fight, the worse it’s gonna hurt. Stay down. Be a good Angel.”
I struggled to resist her, and pain pounded in my head until I could think of nothing else but agony. I panted and stepped back.
The pain released its pressure.
Jasmine laughed. “See, brother, he obeys me, even though he’s extremely powerful. He’s more powerful than anyone we’ve encountered. By the way, what’s the name of your last pet? Oh, Bella. She’s quite something, isn’t she? You gave her power, but she took it
and ran.”
Desdemona glanced at his sister with a sour expression. “I unleashed her upon the wolves, but the Wickedest Witch messed with me and found a way to block my access to the girl.”
Hope and pride spiked in me. I had a very powerful mate! I needed to get back to Fiammetta as soon as possible. She could fix me. She’d purge the vampire venom in me in no time.
“Bella shifted back to leopard, and with the strength you gave her, she killed many of our kind.”
“I’ll personally end her one day,” said Desdemona.
Jasmine’s eyes never left me, heat boiling in her bright, blue gaze.
She was a slender blonde, and before I’d met Fiammetta, the vampiress would have been my type.
“I won’t make the mistake you made. I’ll never let my Angel go.” She flashed me a smile. “I don’t think I’ll ever be bored with this hunk.”
“You never know,” Desdemona said drily.
“Oh, I know,” she said. “I always know. I’ve had ages of practice. The Archangel won’t disappoint me, especially in bed.”
When I’d refused to obey her order, excruciating pain had exploded in my head. That pain, like no other, must be related to a spell or a curse. I needed to figure out a way to lift the curse off me before she’d make any sexual advances.
Right now, as I tried again to move toward them, intending to kill them both, pain impaled me. If I kept fighting it, my bones might shatter.
I staggered back, leaning on the operational table while working on my wings. If I could propel them forward when the two weren’t paying attention and stab them, but that thought alone made me grasp my hurting head.
Things didn’t look good. I prayed my bond with my mate could protect me from the vampire princess’ predation.
“If you command me to have sex with you by compulsion,” I told the vampiress, “that would be rape.”
Jasmine giggled heartily. “Oh, love, aren’t you cute? But don’t you worry, my Angel. It won’t be rape, because you’ll enjoy it tremendously.” When she dropped her laughter, she actually looked concerned. “Are you feeling any burn inside, like a worm of black fire traveling in your veins?”