My darkness and ice couldn’t keep Akem’s foul power at bay. To beat him, I would need fire to burn though his darkness.

But how could an ice witch find a living flame?

If I didn’t fix the ward before the vampire horde came, they would butcher my army and me. Akem’s creatures would invade my Witch Tower and create carnage.

Why hadn’t they come? What were they waiting for?

A foreboding feeling gnawed my insides. Their delay only meant they were preparing something worse for me than killing me, which needed a more careful, calculated move.

I returned to my chamber. I paced. And I slumped into a chair with my face in my hands.

I was doomed. I’d also doomed everyone I’d thought I could protect.

By first light tomorrow, if I couldn’t get a new ward back up, I would dismiss my army.

I would ask Kaara to take them to the wolves’ compound. They would survive with the wolves. Kaara’s mate had urged her to leave with him.

She refused to abandon me.

I could no longer shield her or anyone. I’d thought it was best for her to stay in my tower, so when I found the portal, I could take her with me. I’d promised her I wouldn’t leave her behind.

But I’d failed her and everyone else.

They did not need to go down with me. And with the formidable Angel warrior joining the wolves, they would live another day, then another day. 

As for me, I alone would wait for the vampires and Akem’s creatures to come. They could kill me, but I would never let them capture me. Before I went down, I would destroy as many as I could before I slit my own throat with my ice spear.

My end was coming, as was my torment.

What a shame that I had to go down before I could have my vengeance on my mortal enemies who had cast me out here.

One needed to admit defeat when it was inevitable.

Something seared my eyelids and I raised my face from my hands.

The imprint of “the Wickedest Witch in the universe” on my finger rose, circling my hand in a ring of crimson flame, before it sank back onto my skin. 

Fire! My enemies must have used the fire magic to brand me. But why didn’t the flame burn me? Or maybe it couldn’t?

A spark ignited in my mind, like fire catching a twig in the wind. But before I could reach the fire and grasp it, the ember turned to ash.

What had I lost other than my memories?

The core of my very essence—the magic that defined me.

Realization hammered into my heart. Ice, storm, and darkness were all parts of my magic. They’d risen and preserved my life when I had first landed on Pandemonium, but none of them marked who I truly was.

I was something more.

My core magic that had been etched in my soul had been missing, but I couldn’t remember what it was, because I didn’t know who I was.

Only at this moment when my existence was greatly threatened had it crawled to the surface to reach me. It was calling me, but I couldn’t hear it.

I’d felt it while it had called me from light years away. It was powerful beyond measure. I was named the Wickedest Witch in the universe because of it—not due to my wicked nature.

Only with that missing magic could I build an unbreakable ward. And with it, I had a chance to go against both Akem and Desdemona.

Without retaining that missing piece of me, I wouldn’t find my way back to myself.  And I would never find a way home to seek justice and revenge and a new life.

Come to me. I conjured, coaxed, begged, and threatened.

It tried to reach me through time and space.

It was in the present, but I was in the past.

The Archangel had discovered and revealed this time and space dilemma.

How could I solve this paradox while I had no tools and no memories to aid me?

My sweet darkness twirled in my hair to comfort me and icy dust coated every inch of my skin to shield me. They couldn’t help unveil the soul magic that had once strung all of them together like a family.

They were as lost as I was.

Agony flowed in my veins, poison in my thoughts. 

A knock banged on my door.

“Fiammetta!” Gabriel shouted outside.

I sighed. This creature kept provoking me. I’d been trying to avoid him to my best ability since his presence punched me and confused me, and my body was filled with an electric charge whenever he was near, even though my mind forgot him every morning when I awoke.

And I wanted him in my bed, every second of the day.

I didn’t like losing control like this, even at my end.

He’d learned about my amnesia, as had Kaara. Even though they had killed the vampire to protect my secret, they could still turn on me.

I could not trust anyone.

“What do you want?” I hissed. 

“A word, please,” he said gently.

I hesitated. Even with the heavy door between us, I could sense my body’s need for him.

He was bold. No one else would dare to come to my door to demand a word. Not even Kaara. But somehow, my body purred at his audacity. 

I swung open the door and found myself glaring at a perfect specimen who emitted masculine arrogance and undeniable sexiness. His jaw was strong and stubborn. His sun-kissed face was aristocratic and too handsome for his own good, as if it were carved by the finest sculptor. An inked rune sprawled from his temple down to his neck, the rest of it concealed by the collar of his trench coat.

Had I explored his mystic tattoo when he had been naked with me?

I tore my gaze up before it tried to dip down to check his other body parts.

His green eyes brightened at the sight of me, and he liked that I appraised him, as if he was starving for my attention. His gaze roamed over me bluntly.

I flushed, realizing I wore only a thin gown. I could feel my taut nipples pricking against the soft material at the weight of his gaze.

His eyes grew hooded and darkened a shade as heat burned in them. His black wings arched behind his shoulders, wanting to display their magnificence. In response, my hips swayed.

As soon as I was aware, I stilled myself like steel, which took a greater effort than I’d thought. My will and my body were at war. I braced my hands on my hips, about to rebuke him for disturbing me. Then I noticed his gaze glued on the outline of my breasts under my thin gown.

I removed my hands from my hips and folded my arms over my chest to block his sight.

“Make it quick, Angel,” I said. “It’s my bed time.”

He leered at me. “You might want to invite me in. What I’m about to say is a private matter that concerns us both.”

“There’s no such matter.”

“Fine, I’ll say it here where everyone can hear my every word. But I have to warn you, Fiammetta. It’s a sensitive subject.”

He wasn’t bluffing.

I glared and left the door open as I stomped toward my closet. “You’ll wait here while I change.”

“You look fine with the gown,” he said. “I don’t mind you wearing it. This isn’t a civilized world. We don’t have a dress code here.” 

I scoffed. The way he looked at me—he’d prefer me naked. 

I could feel his gaze following me, focusing on my ass.

I commanded myself to walk as straight as I could and with dignity, but I quickened my pace.

The door to my chamber click closed, and Gabriel dropped himself in a chair, his wings rustling behind his shoulders.

Had I ridden him while he was in that chair? I blinked away the images, but my blood rushed with unchecked excitement. 

When I came out of the closet, I wore a thick robe that covered me from my neck to my feet, and I offered the Angel a cold, condescending smile.

He made himself at home on my most comfortable chair, his booted foot on his knee, his arms crossed behind his head. He sent a disapproved look at my thick robe, as if I needed his approval. 

The nerve of him!

I gestured for him to depart my chair. “You wanted a word, so talk. I don’t expect it to take so long you’d have to sit down.”

He smiled lazily and rose from the chair, like a powerful predator ready to pounce or mate. 

His smoldering gaze held mine. I could read the same thought in his eyes. He wanted to grab me, put me on that chair, and fuck me.

Was that what we had done the last time?

My markings had told me not to surrender to my lascivious need, for this Angel had insulted me greatly. Yet they didn’t offer any details. I was running out of space on my skin, so I hadn’t been foolish and indulgent enough to record my sexual escapades.

I heeded my markings’ warning.

If Gabriel dared to violate me, I would pierce his heart with my ice spear. However, my treacherous body was shouting for him to come and try. It wanted to feel his cock inside my pussy again.

How had it felt to have his cock fill me? How had he fucked? What was his preference?

Stop! I hissed at myself.

Had he come hard in me?

When he’d fucked me, had he propelled his glossy black wings?

I wanted to touch them.

With a long stride, Gabriel stalked toward me.

Electricity sparked in the air, and his male scent—sky, flame, and freedom—drifted toward me. I inhaled, then held my breath. 

What should I do now?

I wouldn’t withdraw at his advance. I wasn’t weak.

I raised a hand, palm up toward him. “Stay where you are, Gabriel.”

“I’m not a threat, Lady Fiammetta,” he said sweetly.

“What’s the true purpose of your visit?”

“I didn’t see you the whole day.”

“I’ve been busy! Did you come to disturb me just to tell me that you didn’t see me today?”

“And two days before today.”

This was outrageous.

His face turned serious. “I come to demand you remove your spell on me.”

What was he up to?

I frowned. “My spell?”

“Yes, your spell!” Now he hissed. “If you want to keep acting like you can’t be bothered with me, why don’t you do us both a favor and drop the spell you cast on me when you first claimed me?”

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

He puffed. “I want you all the time! You fill my mind, even when you aren’t around. I’ve never been like this before. I didn’t even think of the women when they left my bed. But with you, it’s completely different, because you send fever to my blood with your spell.”

I narrowed my eyes. How many women had he bedded? I wanted to kick him in the balls for that. And he thought he had the right to fume.

“You put a harness on me and hold the leash! It’s unethical and nasty to do that to anyone, and I’m an Archangel!” He glared at me. I was shocked speechless. “Your every touch sends flame to my blood, and the fire is still coursing in me right now, burning and tormenting me.” He flapped open his trench coat and showed me his erection under his trousers. Its huge bulge distorted the fabric.

I suppressed a gasp, but I couldn’t hide a glint in my eyes.

Gabriel had caught it all, and a ravenous hunger twisted his face.

I licked my lips and gave his hard-on another lingering look.

How would it feel to have my fingers around it?

Judging from its impressive size, I was afraid I wouldn’t even be able to fit it in my hand.

But we obviously hadn’t had any problems with his large size since we’d fucked almost every night. Had it banished the empty ache in me that I felt now?

I tore my gaze from his hard-on and met his darkened, lust-filled eyes. They dipped from my lips to my breasts. His hands were clenched at his side, as if he put great effort into not tearing off my robe.

I might let him do just that since the same heat was licking between my thighs.

“How long has it been like that?” I asked, then felt foolish. I wasn’t a damn witch doctor.

“It’s been like this ever since I met you in the jungle. It’s never gone away because of your spell. Don’t you realize how painful it is to be this hard all the time because I can’t help but constantly think of you? I can’t even get a release.”

“Why can’t you?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Men pleasure themselves all the time.”

“You know why, witch!” he scoffed, his forest-green eyes burning darker with lust and anger. “Your spell binds me, so pleasuring myself won’t get me off, unless I have you. But you won’t have me, even though you hexed me to torture me. No woman has had this kind of power over me in eons. And now I can only come when I have my cock inside you.”

My face burned. Had he always been so blatant?

He stopped his shouting and looked like a shark smelling a drop of blood in water and coming alive. He’d spotted my pale face turning pink.

This was quite humiliating. I was the Wickedest Witch in the universe. I shouldn’t be blushing.

I sneered. “Why didn’t you present your case earlier if I inconvenienced you so?”

“You let me fuck you before,” he said. “And now I haven’t touched you for three nights! You shut me out despite wanting to fuck me as well. Don’t bother to deny it, witch. I can smell your arousal miles away—it’s thicker than any scent in the universe.”

How crude and rude! No one dared talk to me this way. I killed for less.

I could feel fire spitting from my eyes, even though I was an ice witch.

“You won’t get a piece of me, Angel!”

“I don’t want a piece of you!” he said. “Lift the spell off me. Now!”

The idiot really believed I’d placed a spell on him to make him horny all the time. And even now he was fighting his attraction to me and grounded himself on the spot, so sure that he was fighting a good fight against my evil spell.

The irony was that I was also hot for him.

Suddenly, I wanted to play like I’d never played before.

For three years I’d been reliving the same nightmare while I held onto one single purpose—find a way out and get vengeance on my worst enemies. I doubted I’d ever been a delight on Pandemonium. I could easily confirm that by noticing how those alien beings in the City of Nine feared me. The nine clans wouldn’t come near my Witch Tower. My own subjects stared down when I passed them.

Even the brutal wolves shunned me. 

The only one who wasn’t afraid or wary of me was this Angel, yet he believed I’d bewitched him.

I paced around him, and he wheeled, never leaving his back to me.

He gazed at me with caution, lust, and longing, and the anger ebbed from him. He wanted me too much to leave room for his fury. And he wasn’t happy about it.

“So my spell is potent,” I purred. 

He growled in answer, looking hungrier than ever.

My heart stuttered. If he lunged at me and took me right now, I would let him. I would get down on the floor and let him fuck me, hot, dirty, and sweaty.

I bit my lower lip to keep my need for him in check.

If I wanted to play the game, I’d better live up to it.

“Give me a reason to do you a favor by lifting off my spell,” I said.

“A favor?” he asked incredulously. “You’ve made me suffer every second of every day on this planet. And you call removing your curse a favor? I am in hell because of you!”

I tilted my head and regarded him, and he swallowed, restraining himself from coming to me to take me into his arms.

“You didn’t look like you were in hell to me when you were on top of me,” I said, and gambled that I got it right.

His lustful gaze roved over me ravenously.

My panties were soaked.

“You’re doing this to me even now. Heavens, you make me want to force myself on you, and I’ve never forced anyone. It’s beneath me. That’s how much I want you. I’m fighting my own honor. You’re pushing me to the brink of insanity. Remove the spell, witch, before I turn a wild beast on you.”

I sighed. “We don’t want to turn you into a wild beast, do we? Stand still.”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m still. Just make it quick!”

“I have to warn you: you might feel great pain, as if I tear a handful of feathers off you, when I remove the spell. Are you up to it?”

He glared at me, eyeing me as the source of his hell. 

“Do you really want me to remove it?” I consulted him softly.

“Anything is better than your lust spell!”

“Fine, so be it.”

I stepped closer to him, until we were a few inches apart.

Electricity sparked between us, alluring, delicious, and addictive.

Gabriel gazed down at me, as if he had never seen anything as wondrous as me. I doubted anyone had ever looked at me like that, even though I had no comparison. His full attention was fixed merely on me, as if nothing else mattered. 

And he blamed it all on a spell I didn’t even know how to cast.

His scent of male musk and sky and flame called to me again.

It was a mating call, true, pure, and urgent.

His breath became ragged. He’d heard it as well.

“While I undo the spell, you can’t touch me,” I said, gazing up at him through my thick lashes. How I wanted him to touch me, yet the wicked me was testing his will. And if he failed, I could blame it all on him and hold that against him. “If you do, winged creature, the spell will stay on you permanently, and there’s nothing I can do after that.”

He hesitated for a second, his face pained.

He wanted to have a last taste of me more than anything, even at the cost of his soul. He wanted to fuck me one last time before I performed the ultimate act. He wanted it more than anything, more than the spell being removed.

Lust burned so brightly in his eyes that everything else paled.

I wasn’t in better shape either.

The ache between my thighs was unbearable. It needed to be soothed so I would stay sane. I fought not to stretch my body against him and kiss him and grope him.

He clenched his fists and struggled to get his words out. “Get—get on with it, witch.”

He passed the test. The Angel’s will was strong, as was mine.

I stepped half an inch closer and stretched up on my toes. My lips almost touched his neck, right beneath his earlobe.

I was playing with the burning flame.

I was the ice witch who loved fire. I blinked. Could I have fire inside me?

Gabriel arched his wings in agitation, his body taut like steel. And then he trembled, restraining himself from touching me. 

To be wanted like this was exhilarating and addictive.

Would I let him go?

But I was cruel.

I was the Wickedest Witch, after all.

“Didn’t I warn you to be still, Captain Gabriel?” I purred, my breath trailing down his strong jaw line, and his muscles twitched against his will. 

He looked like he was waiting for me to perform painful surgery on him.

“Quit playing!” he snarled. “Don’t taunt me. Or you’ll regret it.”

“Regret it, how?”

“I’ll fuck you, harder than you can take it. And once I start, I won’t stop.”

“What about the spell?” I purred again. “Do you want it to stay with you forever and ever?”

He gazed at me. “If I didn’t have duties and honor, I wouldn’t mind. I’d just fuck you to eternity until you can’t take it anymore.”

“I admire your honorable sense of duty,” I said, my tone growing serious. “But how do you know this is merely taunting you instead of performing the ritual for lifting off the spell?”

“When you placed the spell on me, you didn’t do all of this!”

“What did I do when I put my spell on you?”

He blinked, suddenly speechless.

Got you. Didn’t I?

“I wasn’t exactly paying attention to how you did it,” he muttered. “I was—I was distracted by you.”

“And now you’re not distracted by me?”

“Keep jerking me around and you’ll end up on the ground with me pounding between your thighs,” he said viciously. “Do you remember how you moaned at my wild thrusts? You especially liked me fucking you on the floor. Your nails scratched the floor all the way when you came.”

I swept a glance at the ground. Which part of the floor, near the window or the wall?

“And we fucked against the window. The height made you feel the thrill, and I promised to take you to the sky when my wings recovered.”

I licked my lips. Sky, stars, and freedom. Maybe it was the way we could escape Pandemonium. I had the Angel’s wings carrying the bridge of fire on my skin.

“And one time, I put you on the windowsill, bent your knees, and fucked you from the front. My wings wrapped around you to prevent you from falling. And that was your favorite fuck. You live for danger, Fiammetta.”

Involuntarily, I darted a glance at the windowsill. The wind seemed to call me to action. My breath shortened at the erotic picture he had shamelessly painted. My gaze returned to his face and I felt the hardness in my eyes softening. I liked that he retold me all the details I couldn’t remember but was dying to know.

He watched me carefully. “You want it again, don’t you?” he said hoarsely. “You want it badly.”

I stepped back to stop myself from throwing him onto the floor and riding him. Why did I even hold back? It was the end of the world. My end was coming soon.

But I had promised to remove the fake spell, so I would at least finish that. This great warrior would continue on after my demise and protect Kaara. So I’d preserve him and help him move on.

When I was at my end, I wasn’t that wicked anymore.

Gabriel looked regretful at my putting considerable space between us.

I stared at him mercilessly as I crossed my hands in front of his face and chanted. I picked up the language Kaara had spoken to me when she’d tried to stop me from killing Gabriel. He hadn’t understood it then, so he wouldn’t get what I was murmuring. 

And a song tore through my throat naturally.

Was this my mother tongue? How did I know the song?

And I sang.

I swallowed my tears at the beauty of it.

Gabriel was mesmerized, as if I were a siren singing to a sailor who wanted to go home.

Regret, pain, longing, and relief warred in his green eyes. He didn’t want me to remove the spell, yet he needed me to lift it off him so he could carry on his duties for his race.

I kept singing, tracing the melody to my past. If I went to the end, I would remember. I would—

A curtain dropped, and the last light was gone.

The rest of the lyrics vanished from my mind without a trace.

I was lost again.

An unfinished song. A broken heart. A shattered mind.

Agony echoed in the chambers of my head.

“Fiammetta?” Gabriel called softly.

“It’s done,” I said.

“That’s it?” he asked suspiciously.

“Why don’t you wipe away the spell yourself if you’re such an expert?”

“I just thought it should be more.”

“More of what?” I asked in a harsh tone.

My bones were weary. It appeared in my eyes as well.

Gabriel studied me for a second and said, “I should feel different.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“After your singing—that was more beautiful than anything I’d ever heard—I should feel lighter, unattached, and careless, like I were before.”

Next he would demand I be responsible for his eternal happiness.

“Too bad, Gabriel, you’re on Pandemonium.”

“I’m drawn to you even more,” he grunted. “My cock is still hard, actually harder. Your song seems to have enhanced the spell.” He stared at me accusingly. “You sure it’s working? Have you really unhexed me?”

“Do you think your dick is a full balloon that deflates that easily?” I asked viciously. “But you’re right. I might have forgotten a step.”

He snarled. “What step?”

I stepped to him and pressed against him.

He opened his fists, about to wrap around me.

“No, no,” I warned. “Once you touch me, the spell will return.”

“But you’re touching me.”

“I’m the one who placed it, so I can do whatever I want. As for you, you can also do whatever you want to, but at your own peril.”

“It’s not fair.”

“Fate doesn’t play fair, Angel. Deal with it,” I said, curving a hand around his shoulder, my other hand tracing along the ridge of his wing to his silky feathers.

Tiny electric sparks shocked both of us. Such wondrous pleasure!

He shivered as he let out ragged breaths, his hardness pricking against my belly, burning into my skin. The Angel clenched his teeth as he willed all he had in him not to grind his hips against me or trap me in his arms.

He cursed profusely.

My fingers left his wing, and I pulled back, concealing a smile.

“You trembled, didn’t you?” I asked. “That was the great pain I said you’d suffer when I removed the curse.”

“Don’t you need to do more?” he asked, dark longing in his eyes. 

“Like what?”

“Like touching my right wing the way you touched my left?”

“That’s unnecessary. However—” I purred.

He gazed at me brightly, waiting for another treat.

My icy gust filled with small crystals materialized and slammed onto his handsome, lust-riddled face.

“What’s that for?” he growled. 

Hadn’t expected that, had he?

“I just sealed the deal and removed the spell completely,” I said.

“You sure you didn’t make it all up?”

“Are you always this suspicious, Archangel Gabriel?”

“Only since I came to this planet and met you.”

I snickered and pointed at the door. “You’re good to go now.”

He looked very much like he wanted to stay. “So the spell will wear off?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“You’ll tell me when you’re no longer interested in me or any woman.”

He gritted his teeth. “So you’re making me impotent by unhexing me? That’s another hex!”

I dipped my gaze down to his bulging erection and gestured with contempt. “Does that feel like impotence to you? Your balls look very heavy to me.”

His eyes flashed. Oh, he was thinking of pinning me down and penetrating me.

“Off you go,” I said.

If he stayed another minute, we’d end up on the floor with him mounting me from behind or me riding him.

His nostrils flared at my dismissal.

“If this doesn’t work, I’ll be back,” he said. “And there’ll be consequences for toying with an Archangel.” 

“Threaten me again, winged creature,” I hissed.

He gave me a bitter, yet pining look and stormed off.

My icy wind slammed door shut behind him.

He was lucky I didn’t send my ice storm to chase him off and freeze his arrogant, insufferable ass.

But my magic couldn’t harm him anymore.

I started laughing. I giggled so hard I collapsed at the door and sprawled on the floor. I wondered if I’d ever laughed this hard in my life.

Lust spell. He thought I hexed him and made him my mindless sex slave. What could be more humiliating than that for Archangel Gabriel, greatest Captain of ThunderSong, and all-time decorated hero of something?

At his demand, I’d performed the removal for him, as if I could even remember casting the original spell.

The Angel had left with an unsatisfied appetite and a rock-hard erection, and no amount of cold water would help him with that. He would have to travel miles away, dragging his broken wings with him, to have a cold bath in a pond frequented by cannibals.

I was cruel.

I was still the Wickedest Witch.

I didn’t laugh again, despite the irony, amusement, and my own misery and his.

When I awoke tomorrow morning, I wouldn’t remember any of this.

Or my dark, delighted laughter.