I waited in my chamber, pacing and wringing my hands.

Would Gabriel come to me tonight? He’d seemed mightily pissed today because he wanted my sole attention and I refused to give it to him. His attitude irked me. I had wanted to dent his stubborn jaw with my ice.

My markings said my magic wouldn’t harm him.

I needed him in this dire time anyway. The vampire horde would come to my tower. Even though my ward could keep them out, they would besiege me. The wolves had allied with us, but all the other six clans had joined the vampires. The bloodsuckers had promised them the wolves’ compound and my tower after they defeated us.

Gabriel was the best warrior I’d seen. Even Kaara approved of and trusted him.

Now I awaited him like a nervous girl on her first date. My body craved him like a plant needed sunlight and air, yet I had no memories of how his touch burned me like a flame. 

There he was.

As soon as I glimpsed his massive black wings, I lunged toward my bed.

I shoved off my thin gown and lay bare on my side, my knee bending slightly to give the Angel an erotic view of my nudity.

Maybe it was overkill. I didn’t want him to know I’d been waiting for him. I pulled the blanket over my butt but only covered half of it. 

My ice light lit the room.

I blinked. I was attempting to seduce the Angel.

I breathed evenly, faking sleep. It would be interesting to see what he would do to an innocent sleeping woman.

My body burned in feverish want, the delicate, tender flesh between my thighs shivered achingly. It wanted to be filled.

Gabriel landed.

He didn’t make a sound, yet I’d heard the movement of the wind. He might think he was stealthy, but I was the Wicked Witch of ice, wind, and storm.

He paused at the window, but I could feel the weight of his heated gaze on me. My heart pumped in anticipation. But he didn’t move toward me.

What was he waiting for? I was here, eager and available, and my patience was wearing thin. 

As I tried to calm my heartbeat, panic arose in me. Would he leave, thinking I was asleep? I was digging a hole for myself with the game I was playing.

I let out a light moan as if I was having an erotic dream, and my body shifted to drop the blanket from my ass and positioned for him to see my shadowy valley.

Gabriel gasped. He strode toward me. I concealed a smile, feeling like a spider about to catch her unwise prey.

He dropped his sword onto the floor and sat on the edge of my bed.

I closed my eyes and evened my breathing, as if returning to my dream.

His big, strong hand landed on my belly.

I didn’t move, but my body purred at his touch, growing soft and warm.

I was surprised I could be so feminine.

Would his hand go up or down? I would welcome either. If his hand went down first, it meant he came for only sex. But if he chose up, he wanted more.

His hand lingered on my flat belly, circling leisurely before it slowly moved up to cup my breast, to feel its weight and softness. His thumb and forefinger kneaded my nipple. I muffled a moan and sighed, as if I was only half aware of what was happening.

Each caress ignited me.

I was aware how slick my mound was; I could feel the liquid seeping from my folds. I curled my hand to stop myself from reaching for his cock.

Was it big, hard, and strong? Was it gorgeous and erotic? I must have liked it before, or I wouldn’t be waiting for him. And my body wouldn’t covet him like this. I would find out soon. I would see his body beneath me or above me. My mouth watered, and I put great effort into keeping my breath nice and even.

I started this game. I had to see it through.

But my body had its own scheme. It wanted to betray me and rise toward Gabriel and purr for him. It knew no sublime games. It had only carnal desire. 

It wanted Gabriel to fuck me.

Gabriel leaned down to me, his breath trailing on my neck. His intoxicating male scent of sandalwood, sky, and wildness blanketed me. I took care not to inhale him too deeply.

His teeth grazed over my neck, tracing the column, hitting my every sensual spot. I wanted to swoon. Still, I remained motionless.

Only my toes curled subtly.

His teeth moved to my soft throat.

My body stiffened. I was a second away from summoning my ice spear. Then they left my throat. Gabriel let out a soft laugh.

Was he taunting me? Before I opened my eyes and threw him off, Gabriel palmed my pussy, rubbing it back and forth.

Sparks blazed all over me. 

I suffocated a moan of pleasure as he brushed open my folds and stuck a finger into my tightness. It thrust, in and out, quicker and harder. His lips caught my earlobe. I arched my back at the sensation.

Just when I was close to coming, he withdrew his finger.

I gritted my teeth and cursed him under my breath.

I decided to open my eyes and get fully involved.

But Gabriel moved away from me. I felt like hissing. 

If he wanted to leave now, would I stop him?

No matter how wicked I was, I would never force anyone to pleasure me.

Gabriel shrugged off his clothes with great efficiency. I wondered how many women he had bedded. Envy stabbed at me.

The pain surprised me and fascinated me.

Gabriel lifted my leg and lowered his mouth to my pussy, his warm breath stroking my folds. His lips grazed my mound as he kissed me. 

Oh yes! Gabriel, suckle it good. I wanted to cry out.

His wicked tongue flicked the peak of my sensitive bud. I couldn’t help but gasp and moan. 

Just when I could barely contain myself, his tongue thrust into my heated channel. Pleasure tore through me. I felt like I was moving amid the stars, dizzy and dazed, yet I was going home. I let myself be carried further—if I could find a way home this way—but Gabriel extracted his tongue, and in its wake was cold air and amber ash.

Come back! I cried, but the galaxies shrank into the distance, beyond my reach, and then faded into endless emptiness.

I formed my fist and was one second away from getting up and punching him in the face. But he moved again, not giving me the chance.

He lay sideways, pulling me against his hard chest. His arm wrapped my chest to secure me; his other hand placed his hard cock at my slick entrance.

With one powerful thrust, he drove all the way into my liquid heat, filling me gloriously. 

Then he stilled, waiting.

But I refused to wait. I started to move along his thick length and then slammed back to his hilt, harder than necessary.

Gabriel held my thighs, rendering me immobile.

Did he want sex or war?

I struggled free and wanted to fuck more, but his iron grip stopped me and trapped me the way he planned. 

He was unbelievably strong. His will battled mine.

I hissed.

“Now you’re the feral kitten,” he said. “I thought you were asleep, though I could hear your heartbeat drumming miles away.” He paused in amusement. “Don’t forget that you’re dealing with an Archangel.”

“Do you come here to fuck or—”

“—to fuck you and to speak with you,” he finished my sentence, but misinterpreted my meaning. 

I hurled ice and darkness at him, but they licked him, purring like a cat in heat.

“Your magic won’t harm me anymore,” Gabriel said in a velvet, conceited voice. “Don’t you know that already, Fiammetta?”

“Get off me and get out.”

“You’ll miss me terribly,” he said. “I can’t stop now. I intend to finish this.” He moved in me with powerful thrusts, and despite my fury, I responded eagerly. But then the infuriating man stopped again and pinned me against him. “If you want a piece of my ass, all you need to do is talk to me. You can say no, but you’ll never have me again. No matter how much I want you, and I’ve never wanted any woman this badly, I won’t come to you again.”

I was about to dismiss him, but my body was on fire to the point that I was afraid my body would wither if I let him walk away now. I was furious and ashamed at the weakness of my body, and I did not have the strength to shove him away and deny myself the bliss.

I felt every inch of his hardness. I liked it stretching in me and filling every empty spot in me. I needed to urge the male to move. His refusal to thrust in me was torturous.

While it was such a torment to be trapped by him, it also felt strangely delicious and exciting. This was the male who could match me in every way. His scent, breath, and hard body enveloped me like a safety net I couldn’t even dream of having.

He’d awoken a wild feline in me and made her purr with each casual stroke.

“I didn’t force you to service me, Angel,” I said, deciding to listen to what he had to say. I could always send him away if I didn’t like it. “You came willingly. You’ll have my ear for two minutes.”

He chuckled but it was void of humor. “You think I service you in bed like your whore? Have you ever had a normal relationship?”

As if I knew! “I had many great relationships before you.”

Suddenly, Gabriel was radiating with outrage. Was he jealous? If he knew I didn’t even remember my first lover, he was going to laugh himself to death.

“Your body responds to me like no other.” he said, containing his temper. “We’ve fucked almost every night since I fell onto this planet. Whenever you’re around, I want to mount you. And when I’m not with you, I think of you. I’m a direct man. It’s foolish to deny the chemistry between us. I’ve never felt this strong attraction toward anyone before you. I’m not asking a huge commitment or something from you, but I demand respect. At least show me the courtesy of recognizing me when you see me in the morning.”

Blood whirled in my ears at his words. I had no business being intimate with anyone when I needed my markings to remind me of my name each morning. And it wasn’t even my real name. My true name might be lost to me forever.

If I didn’t stop this affair with Gabriel, trouble would find me sooner than I expected. And when I fell on my back, all broken into pieces, I wouldn’t even know what had hit me. 

This weakness—this need for Gabriel—was going to undo me.

I wouldn’t allow that.

“Don’t ever treat me like a stranger or the dirt on the bottom of your boots again,” he continued. “You’re a natural at acting. If I didn’t know better, I would believe you’d never met me.”

I swallowed. I had let this male get too close to me.

I thought of tossing him out, but the fire still licked the needy flesh between my thighs, demanding to be sated. Gabriel’s hard length filled me gloriously. But he refused to give me the release I’d die for.

I tried to wriggle my body to get him to move, but he put more strength into restraining me.

My face burned in fury.

I would just have this one last fuck. After I sated the wildfire in me, I would scold him, throw him off the tower, and order him never to climb into my chamber again.

Just this one last fuck, and I’d be done with him.

“Fine, I’ll acknowledge you every morning. Now deliver!”

“Not yet,” he said. “Once you get what you want, you won’t talk. You’ll send me away. I still have some questions.”

“What do you want to know?” I said sharply. “Make it quick before I lose interest in you.”

He chuckled. “You won’t. Once a woman has a taste of me, she never walks away.”

“Where are your women now?” I sneered, struggling to contain my jealousy.

“I have only one now, and you’re her.” 

“I’m not your woman. Keep that in mind.”

“Then what are we doing here?”

“We screw each other. That’s all.”

“Deny it all you want. There’s something more between us.”

“Will they come for you—the women you left behind?”

“You sound jealous.”

“Keep flattering yourself.”

“I’ve never had a real relationship with any woman,” he said. “I’ve always been on the move, carrying on one important mission after another as the great captain to the finest spaceship ThunderSong.” When he saw I wasn’t impressed, he added with exasperation, “Anyway, even if I left some women behind, none of them can find me while I’m stuck in the past on this planet.”

My heart jerked, missing a beat. He had just confirmed what I’d suspected—I’d been shoved into the past, which was why I had failed to find my way back. But time travelling was another memory and mystery veiled from me.

I needed to study it and come up with a new plan.

“Here’s what I want from you,” Gabriel said. “I want to see the glyphs on your arm.”

I maintained a blank mask. “How can you see them?”

“So it’s true no one else can see your magical runes except me.” 

“I sense no magic in you, Angel,” I added with a tang of contempt. 

“Not the magic you think. I’m an Archangel. I’m as ancient as some stars. I can sense great powers in the universe, especially dark ones.”

He considered my magic dark and powerful.

“You had my wings on your skin before you met me,” he said. “How?”

“They aren’t your wings.”

“Show me the glyphs, witch,” he ordered. “And I’ll tell you if they’re my wings or not.”

“Why would I show you?”

Gabriel delivered a series of hard thrusts in me. I gasped in and writhed against him. Liquid fire licked white hot inside me.

“Show me your glyphs, and I’ll give you the fuck of the millennium.”

If he kept going with just a few more hard thrusts, I’d find a release and get rid of him, but the despicable Angel halted again and held me tightly to prevent me from moving along his silky, hard shaft. 

“The choice is yours, Fiammetta.” 

How dare he give me an ultimate!

The Angel was so sure he had me, believing I was just like one of his whores who couldn’t get enough of him. He was using sex to manipulate me.

Egomaniacal bastard!

If I didn’t need him to fight on the battlefield when the leeches came, I would have conjured my ice spear and pierced his whore heart. I would see what color and shape an Angel’s heart was. And I would mark the discovery on my skin.

Frost flowed out of me, and my darkness coiled around us like vines, snuffing out any light in the room. 

Gabriel whispered in my ear, “No matter who you are and what you do, witch, I don’t fear you.”

Even Desdemona was cautious of me. At least he respected me. That was why he’d given me time to consider a future date before this asshole Angel had blown everything apart.

I’d never seen fear, caution, or reverence in his green eyes when he looked at me. Only animalistic heat and fury meant to scorch me.

Maybe I should have taken the vampire prince to bed and killed the Angel.

Gabriel’s lips traced from my earlobe to my jaw in seduction, waiting for my answers.

Despite my anger and contempt toward him, my skin tingled and my sex ached for him.

“Show me the wings on your arm, baby, just for a second.” His rich, velvet voice was mesmerizing. “And then we’ll have some fun.” He moved excruciatingly slowly in me, teasing me. “This is so good, isn’t it, Fiammetta?”

“I’m not your baby,” I said. “Your demand is denied, Angel. Get out.”

He stiffened against me and his hand dropped from my belly, no longer pinning me.

I was suddenly free. For a second, we were at an impasse. He didn’t move in me, yet didn’t withdraw either. I didn’t glide along his thick, hard length as I wanted to. But I didn’t push him away as my will commanded me to.

We both wanted to keep fucking, but it was a matter of pride. 

Gabriel drew a sharp breath, and acidic words staggered out through his clenched teeth. “I’m not your whore, Wicked Witch. I belong to a proud race.”

He yanked out his cock, and my body screamed in fury.

“I’m done with this animal mating.” He kept spitting fire. “From now on, pleasure yourself or go find someone else to serve you.”

“That’s none of your concern,” I said coldly, rolling away from him.

He leaped out of my bed and fumbled in the dark for his attire. I’d extinguished the ice light in the room. He didn’t deserve my light.

It seemed he had no need of light. In seconds, he was dressed. He stalked toward the open window from which he had come in, not looking back once.

Like a huge dark owl, he leaped onto the windowsill and jumped, his massive black wings expanding like a midnight dream before he disappeared from my sight.

The night was dark, cold, coating my skin like grime. I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs at the frustration he caused.

I bolted up, pulled the blanket around my shoulders, and cried silently. 

I should not give in to dismay. I must have had much worse days, especially the day I had awoken in the jungle and found I had lost everything, or the days when I opened my eyes in the morning and couldn’t muster a shred of hope to keep going.

I couldn’t remember how I had felt, but I could imagine.

I had had a hot body to warm my bed for a week. And now that had ended.

He would never climb the tower to come to me again.

I would survive, as I always had. 

Tomorrow, I would go to the jungle. I wouldn’t let the vampires stop me. I would never cease searching until I escaped Pandemonium.

Like all things, even nightmares had to come to an end.

Now that I knew we were stuck in the past, I knew I shouldn’t look for the where of the portal, but the when. 

My markings beamed on my skin, one layer after another.

Tiny ice crystals formed on my fingertips, piercing my flesh. I dripped my wicked witch blood and inscribed in the air to remind myself to question the Archangel on his discovery or theory of being trapped in time.

The glowing words sank onto the empty skin below my elbow like a hot blade burning into me before settling in place.

I ignored the razor-sharp agony.

Everyone loved power, but they never knew the cost of having great, dark magic.