25
The Angel

 

 

 

The damned spaceship from her empire popped out of nowhere to take her away from me. She jumped right to it and couldn’t wait to get away from me fast enough.

She no longer needed me.

I’d thought once we solved her memory issue, there’d be no barrier between us. Given time, I could even persuade her to go with me to deliver the Furies’ message. It should be a quick errand, then we would go to her home planet together.

It turned out that the witch had a commitment issue.

That was why she’d acted cold then hot then cold again these last few days.

I’d casually asked her about her plan while we’d lain in bed in her Witch Tower, her head resting on my chest, her soft, warm body on my feathers.  

“Go home and reclaim my birthright,” she had said.

There hadn’t been any mention of me in her future plan. She’d never had a place for me in her new life.

“That’s all you want?” I had asked.

She’d arched an eyebrow. “What else would I want?”  

I’d contained my bitter disappointment. “That’s a good plan.”

But I hadn’t expected her to want to leave me so soon, not like this.

This hurt. This goddamn fucking hurt!

She stared at me, icy mask on her face.

She was back to being the Wickedest Witch I had first known, who had treated me like a completely stranger. I was worth no more than dust to her.

A sudden rage filled my chest.

All those nights when she’d dismissed me right after our hot, sweaty sex flooded right back, like salt on a wound. Athena Fiammetta Faya was still heartless.

Maybe I should reconsider our relationship!

Even though she was the best fuck I’d ever had, I should not be tied down, either. I would keep going to the next galaxy, then the next, to explore, or conquer. There was always something brand new out there. Furthermore, I needed to resume my course to hunt down the Dark Lord after the Furies’ task. That difficult wicked witch would only slow me down.

The universe was a big place. I would find her replacement somewhere in no time without investing anything and without giving any piece of me. She was actually doing me a favor by running off. She made all this easy for me.

Yet my male instinct roared furiously at me. She’s wicked, but she’s still your mate!

The image of our tangled limbs in bed played before me. When I’d pumped my seed into her depth, I’d rejoiced like never before. Our mating bond—a blue flame like a living cord—had snapped to existence.

Had I gone through so much trouble falling into the past to a doomed planet for her, only to lose her?

Just as I snapped back and completely realized what was happening, a teleport beam locked on her.

“No!” I screamed and lunged, but I was too late.

As I flicked my furious gaze at the screen, Queen Faya sailed faster than lightning toward a blue shimmer—the StarGate.

“Captain, they’re going at warp speed.” Racer’s voice buzzed in the shuttle.

I turned the Red Dragon to chase her. I no longer cared about my pride, the mission, or the whole universe. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight. I wouldn’t let her just disappear from my world.

She was mine.

But then, the magical band on my left wrist flared, excruciating pain rendering me immobile.

My vow to the Furies was preventing me from pursuing my mate.

Daisy’s words echoed in my mind. “When you cross the portal, you’ll deliver my message before you escort your mate to her home.” 

A sequence of blood red runes rose from the band, showing me the coordinates to the Furies’ true loves.

I felt sorry for Daisy, and I wanted to help her.

But what if I would never see my mate again?

Pain pierced my heart.

And what if she wasn’t safe in her own empire, considering how she’d fled the realm in the first place? And without me, who was going to protect her? Kaara wasn’t with her, either.

Yet I couldn’t go after her, chained by a vow.

I slumped back into the pilot’s seat, and no one dared look at me or say a word.

My angelic heart had been torn into two halves, and the witch had taken one with her.

Akem laughed himself hoarse inside the engine. He couldn’t get out, but he’d heard all and seen all.

Kaara stepped to my side. “She had to go home.”

I didn’t answer.

Fiammetta wanted to go home more than anything, more than she ever wanted me. If I truly loved her, I shouldn’t focus on only what I wanted. Then I realized that I’d never told her that I loved her, though I’d fallen for her before I’d known she was my mate.

The Wickedest Witch’s heart was hard to warm up and harder to gain. Even if she knew my feelings for her, she didn’t love me back.

She’d left without glancing back.

I should let her go. Let her have what she desired the most.

I turned back to maneuver the Red Dragon, docked it in ThunderSong, then gave the command of it to Marrok. Once my crew uploaded the supplies for them, the aliens and wolves would take off. 

I gotta act like an Archangel. I was the Captain of the finest spaceship.

I ordered my crew to set the ThunderSong on a new course.

The great ship whirled into the air and sailed in the opposite direction from Fiammetta’s Queen Faya.