13
The Witch

 

 

 

He blew out a ragged breath, along with a string of curses, and bucked up his hips and thrust hard into me.

I gasped at the depth he went inside me.

I started to move, faster and faster, arching my back and rocking him. His powerful hands left my waist and cupped my bouncing breasts.

Then, in the blink of an eye, I was lying on my back, and a steel rod drove into me.   

He pounded between my thighs, his shaft slamming to the hilt, pulling back a little, and plunging deeper.

I moaned his name as my release came like waves of fire, and he gazed down at me as if he’d found the wonder in a forgotten world, his green eyes brighter than the stars.

He came from the sky and a faraway galaxy.

I flung my eyes open. “Gabriel,” I whispered.

My eyes darted wildly. I was alone in bed, and I was inside a tower.

I had no idea how I’d gotten here.

I didn’t know my name, but I remembered his.

What was happening to me?

I lay still, waiting for my panic to pass.

When it didn’t, I slowly sat up, reminding myself to stay calm. My survival depended on my cool head.

Yet anxiety kept raining down on me.

After what felt like an eternity, my mind still didn’t register anything.

I slid off the bed, hurried to the window, and pulled back the curtain. 

I was at the top of the tower, a city of fire and smoke slouching beneath my feet under the gray sky. 

Was I a prisoner here?

A flash of memories hit me—

Massive, glossy, black wings had rushed toward me.

He’d climbed the tower to my chamber.

I’d dashed toward the bed, nude, and pretended to be asleep. 

He’d stalked to my bed as I’d quietly inhaled his intoxicating male scent of sandalwood, sky, and wind.

While I’d been “asleep,” he’d spread my legs wide. His wicked tongue had licked the tender flesh between my thighs. Every suckling had sent fire to my nerve endings.

Then he’d lain sideways, grabbed me to him not so gently, and aimed his hard cock between my folds. 

With a powerful thrust, he’d driven into my liquid heat, filling me gloriously. 

“More!” I had cried.

But the memory whisked away.

I blinked back to the present, with burning questions on my tongue.

Why hadn’t he come through the door to my chamber? Wouldn’t it have been easier than to climb the steep wall?

A thought reeled in my head.

He could be my secret lover, and our affair was forbidden.

But where was my adventurous, wild lover now?

I wanted to see him. I couldn’t remember my past, but somehow, I remembered his name. That must mean he was my missing link, and that he could help me. He would know what had happened to me. Perhaps he could help me escape this tower? With his wings, he could fly me away.

I glanced at the door and swallowed, controlling my urge to pound on the door, for fear of finding horror on the other side.

What had happened to the rest of my memories?

Calm down.

As I tried to seek my mind to remember who I was, severe pain erupted in my head. When I withdrew from the search and picked up the pieces remaining in my consciousness, those bits of memory were but a fragmented sex scene featuring the hot, gorgeous man with black wings.

Had he done this to me?

Who could help me?

I was all alone, trapped in the top of a tower.  

I darted my eyes around, panting through fear, pain, and panic.

Help me!

A burning sensation spiked from my arm; an eerie red glowed on my skin.  

A sequence of glyphs and runes appeared. I knew how to read them!

I learned the basics about myself. 

My name was Fiammetta. I was the Wickedest Witch, and I’d lived in this tower for three years. My subjects feared me. And wherever I was, I made people uneasy.

Every morning I woke up just like this, unable to remember my past—near or distant.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. I remembered Gabriel, though not as much as I wanted, but it was something.

I’d regained my first new memory.

My magical markings then told me that Gabriel had sacrificed himself to save me yesterday. They reminded me to open the door for Kaara Nightshades.

I took a deep breath, holding back my blind fury and grief, and let my icy wind pull the door open.

I found a violet-haired woman perching on the marble stairs outside my door. She held a glass of water for me.

“Kaara?” I called.

“Fia, I’m here,” she said, rising to her feet. A wave of warmth, loyalty, and sorrow swirled in her dark violet eyes.

I studied her for a second. My magical markings wanted me to trust her.

From now on, she would help me remember every day.

“Will you come in?” I asked.

She handed me the glass of water and stepped into my chamber.

I’d warded my suite, but she had no problem entering, which meant my magic recognized and welcomed her.

The door closed behind us, and Kaara started telling me about all the things I needed to know. But some other things she couldn’t tell me, as some powerful magic bound her tongue.

“I remembered his name, but I didn’t remember mine,” I said.  

“Fia,” she said, tears in her eyes, “this is a good start. You’ll remember all. Before we get home, you’ll remember all of them. We’ll go home soon.”

“I won’t leave without him.”

“I know. We’ll get him back.”

“I feel connected to him. Who is Gabriel to me?”

“Your mate. He fell to the past on Pandemonium for you.”

A flash of light flooded my mind again—

Gabriel had come to my chamber to demand I unhex him.

“How do you know I put a spell on you?” I’d asked.

He’d puffed. “I want you all the time! You fill my mind, even when you aren’t around. I’ve never been like this before. You put a harness on me and you hold the leash! It’s unethical and nasty to do that to anyone, and I’m an Archangel!” His darkened, lust-filled eyes glared at me, and I’d been shocked speechless, which was rare. “Your every touch sends flame to my blood, and the fire is still coursing in me right now, burning and tormenting me.”

Another memory came forward—

We’d prowled through the ruins of the City of Nine and headed toward Akem’s jungle, and he had told me, “Fiammetta, let’s put all the cards on the table, once and for all. I know about your amnesia. I’m here for you. I’ve come across light years, over several universes, and fallen into the past on Pandemonium for you.”

Then a slew of memories exploded in my mind, overlapping each other.

Gabriel had roared in rage, cutting his way toward me and leaving a trail of bodies.

His last kiss had burned into my soul. He’d gazed into my eyes. “Remember me, baby. Remember I’ll come find you. I’ll always find you.”

So, I remembered him. I remembered that I’d left him to fend off the horde of vampires and Akem’s creatures alone.

I gripped the back of a chair to support myself, so I wouldn’t fall apart.

Kaara hugged me. I didn’t push her away, but I had a feeling this was the first time she’d embraced me, because this was the first time I’d truly opened to her.

Her warmth and solidity comforted me, but then she gasped and trembled, dropping tears onto my shoulder.

“Could you see my memories, Kaara?”  

“I felt them. I’m an Empath.”

I believed she’d never admitted to being an Empath, or my magical markings would have indicated that important information. 

“He asked me to remember him,” I murmured.

I wanted to remember more.

I concentrated hard and pushed deeper into the past, and again, pain blasted in my skull, as if someone had put a metal splinter into my head to keep me from unveiling anything else. I would try again tomorrow, but Gabriel didn’t have many tomorrows.

And what if I forgot tomorrow?

“I can remember feelings now,” I said.

I remembered how it had felt to be in Gabriel’s arms and the incredible pleasure when he’d thrust inside me. I wanted that again. I wanted that more than anything.

“What if we’re too late for him, Kaara?”

“We won’t be. We’re going to get him back, you’re going to reopen the portal, and we’re all going home.”

I clung to Kaara Nightshades. I was no longer alone.

Kaara grabbed me tighter. “I’m here, Fia. I—we’ll always be here for you—Gabriel, Marrok, and me.”

“We’ll all go home, and I won’t allow anyone to stop us.”

But first, I must get my mate back.