I had no qualms about slaying the ten-foot-tall Lamashtu. I’d killed more ferocious monsters on planets marked as Angels’ hunting grounds, but the witch’s cold, firm words stopped me.

As a native, she had to know this planet better than I did. Ages of breathing on the battlefield, alien planets, and deep space told me it wasn’t the bravest and strongest that always prevailed.

My companion called to the flying lizard before it flew away, “This one is mine. Go tell your master I’ve claimed him as my slave.” She then looked into the Lamashtu’s luminous, hungry eyes. “Go find your snack elsewhere.”

She challenged him but didn’t attack him. Instead, she swung herself out of the broken window, lithe as a feline. I stared at her ass and bare thighs in appreciation.

I squeezed through the opening after her.

“Why do you dress like that?” I asked with a frown as I landed behind her. She should have worn something more modest.

“To distract when I kill,” she said. “And how I dress myself is none of your business.”

“Many uncouth males could attack you.” 

“Like how you attacked me?” she sneered.

“You started it.”

“That’s why you’re still breathing.”

I snorted. The witch assumed she could take down an Archangel. Then again, she had iced my ass over inside my shuttle.

I wouldn’t give her a chance to do that when we got into a fight again.

The Lamashtu came around, charging at me with brute force. It was no different than fighting a bull for sport. The witch didn’t want me to kill that giant thing, but I was pissed. No one should disrupt an Angel when he was fucking.

I flapped in the air, my leg shooting out, connecting with his face. The Lamashtu staggered back, yowling in rage, and I heard the crack of a bone. Nice. That thing wouldn’t know how to fix a broken nose. And that was his punishment. But it might not matter much to the giant, since he was already ugly enough. 

“What did I tell you, slave?” the witch hissed. “Leave Akem’s creatures alone if you want to get out alive.”

“I wasn’t killing him,” I said. “But he needs to learn some manners.”

“You want a monster to be polite to you?”

“That would be a nice start.”

She snickered unkindly.

Two more Lamashtu appeared behind a two-headed black hellhound. The hellhound bared his fangs, drool dripping from his jowls. I wasn’t sure if he was drooling over me or the witch, but he wasn’t going to get either.

I retrieved an energy gun from my belt. The blast would take care of them all.

But suddenly I was worried. If I missed one, the beasts could lunge at the witch and hurt her. When had her wellbeing become more important than anything else? I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to sort out my confused feelings. I needed to fly her to safety first, if my wings were willing.

I didn’t want her to get even a scratch.

I spread my wings, but they didn’t obey my command. This was worse than I’d thought when my shuttle had crashed.

“Run to a safe place,” I told her. “I’ll keep them engaged and finish them off, and then I’ll come find you.”

The witch ignored me and threw her hands up. A storm of ice surged toward the hellhound and the Lamashtu and slammed them backwards.

“Disobey me again and I’ll leave you here,” she said, and ran.

She was surprisingly fast, but it took me only a few more seconds to outrun her.

The giants and hound had recovered and rolled to their feet. They gave chase, gaining on us.

I swept the witch into my arms and swung her over my shoulder.

She kicked my thigh, but I bound her feet. I only needed to take care of that ice spear of hers if it popped out. “I’m faster,” I said. “So I’m doing the running for both of us. If you want to get out of here, give me directions.”

“Turn left!” she called. “Fallen tree ahead!”

I leaped over the branches three feet from the ground with ease and grace, even with the inconvenience of my limp wings. 

“Left. No, right! Away from the poison fog!” she yelled, panic-stricken.

“Make up your mind,” I grunted, and turned right between two trees just as a trickle of red mist landed on my right arm and part of my wing.

The witch screamed, but it was I who felt the blasting pain. I leaped ahead, narrowly missing the fast-drifting fog. I looked over my shoulder after I put some distance between us and the red fog, and saw a flock of my shining feathers wither and drop from my wingspan. The acid fog had also burned through my sleeve and peeled off the skin on my left arm.

Angels had the gift of fast healing, but it would still take an hour or two.

The fog dashed toward us.

I cursed as I ran away from it at maximum speed.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be if you had moved away in time!”

I was resentful at my losing feathers. Her ingratitude wasn’t helping either. If I were someone like my High Prince, I would have dropped her. But I was one of the nicer Angels, so I contained my temper and kept my silence as I sprang.

As soon as I spotted a brighter area ahead, I knew we had reached the outer edge of the jungle. Yet danger was far from over. With my super hearing and sight, I spied a horde of mixed species waiting in ambush at the outskirts of the forest.

“There’s a surprise party out there,” I told the witch. “Friends or foes?” But I already knew the answer from her tensed body on my shoulder.

Behind us, the freaks were still pursuing us. 

“Let me down,” she ordered. “And get ready for battle, Angel!”

“Have they all come for your blood?” I asked as I put her down. “What have you done to piss them off?”

“You’ll defend me with your life!” she said, racing beside me.

“Let me know who I am defending.” 

“I’m Fiammetta—the greatest, Wickedest Witch in the universe.” 

I almost said, “If you’re that great, you probably won’t need me to defend you with my life.” But I was a gentleman, so instead I asked, “You won’t protest if I kill that lot ahead?”

“Kill them all if you can. They aren’t Akem’s creatures, so we won’t affront him.”

“Who’s this Akem that even you, the greatest, most terrifying witch in the universe, is terrified of?”

Fiammetta glared at me before glancing over her shoulder at the swiftly approaching red mist.

“If the fog gets onto us, it’ll kill us,” she said.

A morsel of it had withered a fraction of my splendid feathers. I would demand she explain its origin later.

“You do realize we’re sandwiched?” I asked. “Since you don’t want me to kill the Lamashtus and the hound, it’s going to tie my hands.”

“We’ll break through the east side of my enemies’ defense,” she said. “I’ll cover our scent and direct Akem’s pets to the Kruid cannibals and other gangs.”

“But how will you cover—?”

An icy gust pushed behind us like a wall of waves as we tore through a small horde of aliens in the clearing. Were they the cannibals?

The Lamashtus and hellhound changed their direction, hurtling toward another horde some distance from us on the north side. The clever witch had conjured the wind to confuse the beasts’ sense of smell and direct them to fight our war—the witch’s war.

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I was such a big fool, willing to safeguard her with my life.

Gray-skinned, yellow-eyed species rushed at us with claws, baring their iron teeth. 

“What are they?” I asked in disgust as I swung my angelblade to behead one. 

“I told you they were Kruids,” Fiammetta said. “They’re one of the cannibal races.”

“How many different kinds do you have here?” I asked incredulously.

“Food sources are limited,” Fiammetta said. “We eat each other.”

I winced and she glanced at me with a wicked delight.

“Now you’ve met the Kruids. Soon you’ll see the less brainy ones—the undead zombies. They’re quite a sight if you’re into colorful characters. But I don’t bother to remember who’s who anymore.” She waved a hand dismissively. “This time it’s the bloodsuckers who’ve sent their minions to ambush me. They’ll deny it if I confront them. They’ve been trying to get me to visit their tower. The Dark Prince wants an official meeting.”

Fiammetta lunged at a Kruid before he came at her. I shouted a warning, afraid she might get hurt. Her ice spear lengthened and pierced into his throat. The witch then yanked it out, whirled like the wind behind another Kruid, and sank her spear into his heart. 

She had no mercy.

The third Kruid found an opening and clawed at her chest.

Rage burst in me. I trained my energy gun at the offender and shot, intending to reduce him to a pile of dirt, but no beam blasted out.

“Use a blade,” Fiammetta called with irritation, leaning back out of the Kruid’s way and dragging her spear out of her previous victim. “Advanced weapons don’t work here.”

What kind of primal planet had I crashed into?

I attacked and ended the one who had dared to claw at Fiammetta’s chest.

I dashed like a dark flash amid the Kruids, cutting, swinging, and slashing, while I stayed close to Fiammetta.

All nine Kruids’ corpses littered the ground around us.

The third horde rushed toward us to pick the fight. They were mixed species, and some of them had to be ex-militants, judging from how they carried themselves.

“Surrender, Wicked Witch!” the ringleader shouted, waving a long spike.

“Take it,” Fiammetta said as she tossed her ice spear at the leader.

He was quick enough to dodge, but the spear pierced the face of the one right behind him.

With a roar, I lunged at the ringleader, about to cut him down, but Fiammetta landed her cool hand on my arm. “This is one of the battles we’ll have to run away from. More will be coming.”

“All for one witch?” I asked. “Why do they want you so badly?”

“Not all for me,” Fiammetta said, rolling her eyes. “They saw your ship fall, so all of the nine clans are coming for the spoils. We need to get out of here before the slaughter starts.”

I snarled. “I’ll kill the vermin! The ship is mine.”

“It’s mine now,” she said, “but my ship will be relatively safe in the jungle. No one dares to enter Akem’s domain except for me. And if I hadn’t claimed you as my slave and dragged you out, you would have been dead by now. You owe me a life debt and much more.”

“Really? Your slave?” I asked. “Hilarious.”

The Wicked Witch’s logic worked backwards. She’d forgotten I’d been the one who had kept her safe.

Maybe that was why all those freaks came after her—she had tried to claim too many, more than she could handle.

“Kruids, bloodsuckers, human ex-militants mixing with other aliens, and Lamashtu! Who else are your enemies, Fiammetta? Do you even have a friend? Why did you wander alone into the dangerous jungle?”

Piercing shrieks burst overhead.

I shoved Fiammetta behind me and looked up, my sword ready.

Three beasts with enormous red taloned wings flew across the jungle toward us.

Angels used to hunt dragons. These weren’t the same species, though equally vicious and large. The flying beasts wore female human faces. I didn’t know dragons had mated with mortals.

“You aren’t the only one with wings, Angel,” Fiammetta said.

“What are they?” I growled.

“Akem’s Furies. All three are here,” she said, throwing up her hand, and an ice storm shot up toward the shrieking freaks. Beneath the storm, darkness poured out of the witch and twirled up into the sky, veiling the Furies’ sight of us.

“Run!” Fiammetta called.

Again, I snatched her, placed her on my shoulder, and sprang forward.

If I were alone, I would take on the Furies, but I wouldn’t endanger Fiammetta.

I leaped over a broad stream, my wings tucked tightly and painfully behind me.

A horrific scream rose from behind us.

I looked over my shoulder just in time to catch sight of the Furies diving and snatching two escaping militants, who unfortunately weren’t in the range covered by the witch’s darkness.

The Furies bit them in half.

“They won’t come to the territory of the City of Nine,” Fiammetta said. “We’re out of the boundary of Akem’s jungle. Now let me down.”

The Furies swooped in a tight circle and flew back toward the high-canopied trees with another round of shrieking.

I didn’t let go of Fiammetta but raced across a maze of broken bridges.

From the moment my ship had crashed, I’d encountered one assault after another. I wouldn’t bother putting her down, then picking her up, and putting her down again. She’d better stay on my shoulder until we reached—

What was that?

A sequence of fluctuated glyphs beamed on her arm, forming a sketched map.

Was that why all of the beings had come after her—for the treasure map? My Archangel High Sense told me this witch had layers of secrets and was an expert at deception. I decided to observe more and ask less.

Though my male instinct roared for me to protect her at all cost, it didn’t make me trust this witch.

Another alarmed, dark thought rose from my mind. 

The witch had used powerful magic to fend off her foes.

She had to have bewitched me.

Angels could be loyal to a fault, but we were also a self-serving species. No way would I put a stranger’s life above mine, but I’d been driven to protect this woman above all. Lust had to be her primary spell on me. 

That explained why I’d been aroused beyond myself. I had never felt that kind of mad lust for any female. No matter how alluring they were, no woman could have turned me into a mindless wild beast who wanted only to fuck. And this witch wouldn’t even make first place in a beauty contest.

Even now, after the crash, several battles, and fleeing from the acid fog, I was still hard for her. My cock throbbed painfully in my trousers, aching for her, unsatisfied. I wanted very much to hurt someone for this frustration. I wanted to go back to kill the monsters who had interrupted my coupling with Fiammetta.

Angels would kill for far less.

I held back from demanding Fiammetta release me from her lust spell. My instinct told me there was more to her. She would only make me suffer more. When she’d first stomped her foot on my neck and then iced me over, I’d learned she was the vindictive type who would play dirty at every turn.

Hadn’t she called herself the Wickedest Witch in the universe?

Only a fool would show such a witch all their cards.

She could make my dick as hard as she wanted, but I wouldn’t let her have anything else beyond my body. She’d soon learn whom she was dealing with and then she’d apologize profusely, after she offered herself to me.

My mind kept playing how she’d moved on top of me.

Fiammetta fucked like an animal, and I wanted more of her.

A new group of mixed species bolted toward us with shouts, their weapons drawn. Two large black wolves took the lead, snarling at me.

I raised my blade high, my wounded wings tucking in, and charged toward them with a battle cry. Fiammetta had endless enemies. Defending her was making me the sole target of the monsters and savages on this hostile planet.

Were a few more fucks in the future worth all of the trouble?

My instinct still roared for me to safeguard her. Even though I realized it was her spell at work, I could not abandon her.

I would settle the score with her after I located my away team. 

“Don’t be so eager to kill, Angel,” Fiammetta said. “Those are my subjects. I wondered why they didn’t get here earlier to aid me. I should make one or two an example for their inefficiency. I’ve been too charitable.”

I lowered my sword.

“Show’s over,” I said to the approaching group. “You’re a tad late.”

They all glared at me.

A friendly planet indeed.

“Put me down,” Fiammetta ordered, her voice icy and indignant. “Now!”

Gratitude wasn’t in her vocabulary.

I surveyed the ruins ahead. All hostile hordes had vanished from our view. There was no threat at the moment, so I dropped her without much care.

Fiammetta glared at me. Her pale face, for the first time, flushed.

My cock throbbed.

Then a violet-haired, ember-skinned young woman in the ranks caught my attention. She stared at me as if she’d just seen the dawn of light for the first time. I approved of that. Many species were awed at the sight of an Angel. I doubted this mortal had ever seen wings as magnificent as mine. I tried to arch them high for her to admire more, but pain surged through me, so I let my wings droop.

“Who are you, stranger?” the violet-haired woman asked, her voice light and warm.

At least this one was courteous. I liked her instantly.

Fiammetta had half fucked me but hadn’t bothered to learn my name or who I was.

“I’m Archangel Gabriel,” I said, fixing my gaze on the witch to show my displeasure at her manners. “The most envied Captain of ThunderSong, the finest spaceship in the universe, the High Prince of All Angels’ most trusted advisor and his best lead warrior, and a decorated hero of the fiercest angelic civil war, which ended three months ago on the planet of Earth in the Milky Way galaxy.”

Fiammetta snickered. 

The violet-haired girl tried to repress her amused laugh.

The other barbarians still glared at me, probably pondering if I would be an extra mouth to feed.

The wolves growled, trying to show their dominance as well.

Shifters. I recognized them.

All of them were insignificant. I could crush any of them like bugs. They’d have to learn to show respect to an Angel, especially an Archangel like me.

“Now that my shuttle has crashed,” I said in a commanding voice I was born to use, “you’ll assist me in contacting my crew. As we speak, ThunderSong is desperately searching for her irreplaceable captain.”

“Good luck with your Thumb Song,” a horned female offered. Her species were all extinct. She had to be the last one.

“ThunderSong,” I corrected her.

The lot shrugged, and some sneered. They were lucky they had met the most good-natured Angel. My peers would strike them down for the slightest noise from their noses. 

The violet-haired girl, who carried herself like a born warrior, remained cordial. She tore her gaze from me and started briefing Fiammetta as we prowled through the ruins toward a city.

Evidently, she was Fiammetta’s right hand. Every now and then, she glanced at me, my wings, and my angelblade, approval and disapproval warring in her dark violet eyes.

As we put the ruins behind us, everyone relaxed, even the wolves trotting behind us. A few more blocks ahead, I spotted three guards at the perimeter of a new territory warded by magic.

Without anyone telling me, I knew we had reached the witch’s territory.

I looked up at a dark tower that dwarfed a half-burned city. A quarter of the top of the tower had been cut off, yet it was in better shape than the surrounding buildings.

“What the fuck is that?” I asked.

“The Witch Tower,” the violet-haired warrior said with mocking cheer. “Our mistress’ dwelling place in the City of Nine of the planet of Pandemonium.”

“Fuck me,” I cursed. “I crashed all the way to this shit hole?”

The girl sent me an unimpressed look, arching her eyebrow.

Fiammetta ignored me and strode toward her tower, ice light radiant on her skin.

The others flanked her, yet watched me as they passed through the ward and stepped into the witch’s protection.

No one warned me. So this was a test. Like that could stop a mighty Angel.

Tucking my broken wings tightly against my back and gathering my inner strength, I walked through the ward. To my satisfaction, I felt no resistance, but a tug of darkness, threatening yet sweet at the same time. The magic accepted me.

The barbarians looked stunned and unhappy. They had wanted to see the warding magic punch my gut with punishing force. I did not care for their callousness, but I wanted to see Fiammetta impressed. 

She didn’t even glance at me.

She didn’t look back as she entered the tall tower.