I heard her laughing. Was this hexing business a joke to her? Had she played me? I stopped on the stairs, fuming, wanting to return to her door and break it down.

What would I do after I tore her door off its hinges? The image of her tits pricking against her thin gown before she’d put on a thick robe flashed through my mind. My cock jerked in my trousers, aching.

Maybe I should use her taunting laugh as an excuse and go back to bend her over the chair she hadn’t allowed me to sit on and thrust my cock into her heated tightness.

I would have a quick fuck.

But then, I would be under her spell forever and be her mindless sex toy for eternity.

That wouldn’t be too bad, would it?

She was still giggling, the sound rich, silvery, and sexy. I’d never heard Fiammetta truly laugh before. 

She almost never smiled either. If she did, it was icy. Occasionally, she sneered. 

This laughter of hers was filled with lightness, devoid of menace, burden, or loneliness. And yet, at the end of it, I felt such grief, as if that was all the happiness left to her.

Though my frustration remained, my rage dissipated.

An unexpected tenderness rose in my angelic heart that usually didn’t beat for anyone. And the Wickedest Witch was the last person in the universe who could conjure a gentle feeling.

I shook my head and continued down the stairs until I was out of the tower.

The frigid air hit me in the face, but the chill couldn’t dilute the heat in my blood. It would be another torturous night while I waited for the spell to wane and expire.

I would give her a few days. If I still felt unbearably horny in her presence after that, the witch would pay.

The night deepened. A team of guards patrolled at the perimeter.

Kaara stalked toward me with her angelblade in her hand and gave me a curious, wary look. She didn’t like the chill air, but she didn’t hunch in the cold.

A gray wolf stood not far away from her, watching us. If I talked or looked wrong at his mate, Marrok would tear my throat out. He could try, and I’d like to see him try, but I liked and respected his girl, so I wasn’t going to get into a fight with him.

I gave the wolf a sharp grin, and he growled. Kaara darted him a glance, and the wolf no longer bared his fangs menacingly. He grinned at her.

They were vigilant since the vampires had breached the witch’s ward. The wolf king wanted to take his mate to his fortified compound, but Kaara refused to leave her mistress behind, and no one dared ask Fiammetta to abandon her tower and go live with the shifters. 

“I’ll take it from here,” I told Kaara.

I didn’t get laid, but she shouldn’t let the night go wasted. Even though when she and her wolf were at it, it would add more misery to my condition and send me into a bitter mood. 

“Did you come from her chamber?” Kaara asked. “It didn’t go well, did it?”

“It’ll go well,” I said. “I told her to remove her spell on me, and she did. She had to.”

“Spell?”

“She hexed me! Her spell made me her slave.”

Kaara’s curiosity and concern increased. “What type of slave?”

“She put a lust spell on me. I’m nearly out of my mind because of her curse.”

Kaara burst into laughter and bent over.

I hissed. “You think it’s funny? You’re just as bad as she is. And I thought you were probably the only being who still held on to a thread of decency and reason.”

The gray wolf snarled, ready to sprint toward us, and Kaara sliced a hand to stop him. But the wolf ignored her. He transformed into a man instantly, grabbed a long coat from a guard, shoved it on, and strode toward us.

“What’s going on?” he asked, placing his arm around Kaara possessively.

“Beware of the Wickedest Witch’s spell! That’s what’s going on,” I said.

Marrok sent his giggling mate a puzzled look. 

Of course, Fiammetta wouldn’t target him. But if she did, I’d tear the wolf’s heart out. I had no care that he was Kaara’s mate. And then I blinked at my uncalled-for jealousy and insanity. The spell was still potent. 

“Did Lady Fiammetta deny it when you mentioned the spell?” Kaara asked.

“Why would she deny it?” I said. “She’s the one who placed it.”

“Fia will never deny anything,” Kaara said, “no matter if it’s her doing or not. She doesn’t explain herself either.”

“Did she lift off the spell after you demanded she do it?” Marrok asked.

Men understood each other.

“She performed a ritual,” I said solemnly.

“Was that the half song and the giggling we heard?” Marrok asked. “Man, I didn’t know the Wicked Witch could laugh.”

The damned shifter had great hearing, too. I wondered how much he’d eavesdropped.

Kaara, however, looked sorrowful at the mention of the song. She fought back her sudden tears, but her eyes were moist. Marrok squeezed her to him, sensing her distress.

“What’s that song about?” I asked her.

“Lady Fiammetta doesn’t hex anyone. That’s not her style,” Kaara said. “If she’d bewitched you, you wouldn’t have been so grouchy. You’d be her happy puppy and do everything to please her and beg for it.” She gave me a long, meaningful look. “You don’t understand what’s happening to you, Archangel Gabriel. The sooner you figure it out, the better for you and for her. The First Seer once predicted that an Angel with black wings would come from light years away and fall onto this planet for the Wickedest Witch. And you fell.”

Her words sliced into my heartbeat like a blade of light.

Marrok laughed softly. “And I thought I was an idiot.”

“You still are. Let’s go to bed,” said Kaara.

Their fingers twined around each other’s and they jogged together toward the tower to spend the rest of the night fucking.

I glared at their retreating figures.

The wolves howled not far from the witch’s territory to signal they were staying on guard.