Devilish Mate

3

Golden light shot out of her skin, illuminating the room and knocking me back. As I stumbled and threw up a hand to shield my eyes from the light, Hannah ran toward the broken windows. She charged right through the jagged holes before leaping off the balcony into the night without a backward glance.

I hurried toward the railing and gripped it tightly, watching as Hannah flew away on silver wings.2

Hannah

I

was flying. On my own wings. How was that possible?

I’d been overwhelmed by the knowledge of my own death at Lucifer’s hands, the thousands of snippets of memories crowding my brain, and this rush of power inside me that I couldn’t control. In my panic to escape it all, I’d run toward the penthouse balcony. Some instinct had made me jump off, but I didn’t fall. No—I’d done the opposite of falling. Flying. And only when I was soaring through the night sky did I realize I was gliding on silver wings.

My wings.

The wind ruffled through my feathers as I swooped on air currents without any thought, and I marveled at the feeling of freedom and power. It was enough to calm me for a few seconds, and I allowed myself to exist in that brief moment. It felt...right. Familiar. Natural.

But then the memories flooded back and filled me with anguish and pain. I’d died. At Lucifer’s hand. My own mate had killed me! Sure, he had a reason for it, but he should have told me about his plans first. Or given me some kind of warning. Something. Even if I could forgive him, which I wasn’t sure was possible, I’d never be able to forget the feel of his own hands suffocating me to death.

Anger and agony filled me at the thought, and golden light shot out of my skin again, lighting up the night sky as if I’d turned into a star. Power pounded through me, and then a rush of memories that were not my own overloaded my brain. Flying through the darkness of Hell on black wings. Running barefoot through a vibrant garden and laughing. Looking up at Gadreel as he yanked out the spear from my chest. Holding a small naked baby boy in my arms.

I shook my head as I tried to bury the memories deep inside me and find my way back to the present. Lucifer’s horrible act had unlocked something within me, and now I didn’t know who I was anymore. If Hannah had died, then was I Eve? Lenore? Someone else with wings—an angel?

Flying was the only thing that made sense to me, that my body somehow knew how to do instinctively, so I kept moving, pumping my wings to rise higher and go farther. Every time a new question or memory popped into my head, I flew harder and faster, outrunning my panic, unable to stop and succumb to my thoughts.

A figure made of darkness itself suddenly flew in front of me and then coalesced into the form of my mate. Lucifer’s shadowy black wings spread out behind him as he blocked my path, looking devilishly handsome with his dark hair blowing in the wind and his green eyes bright with worry. My heart panged at the sight of him, both with love and with pain.

“Hannah, stop!” He took my hand in his, but I yanked it away.

“I can’t!” I cried out, as I swooped away from him. “What the hell is happening to me? Who am I?”

“I can explain everything if you come back to the penthouse with me.” He sounded so calm and reasonable, and that only made me more angry. How could he be calm when everything inside me had imploded?

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I said with an angry flap of my wings, sending silvery streaks of light through the night air. “If you have an explanation, tell it to me right here, right now.”

Lucifer let out a long sigh before he spoke, his words slow and deliberate. “You’re an angel named Haniel. Your powers and memories were taken from you by your sister, Jophiel, for your protection. My memories of you were taken too, and I only got them back on Halloween.”

Haniel. An angel. Yes, that made sense. But the rest… The pain in my chest flared. “Jophiel did this to me? How?” Darkness trailed off his wings, making him blend into the night. “She had your best interests at heart, I believe, but that doesn’t excuse what she did—to either of us. I’m still processing all of the returned memories myself. I hoped your resurrection would restore you to your full self, but it seems it only restored your powers.”

My full self? An hour ago I’d been human—or so I’d thought. Now I’d died and been reborn, and discovered I was actually a freaking angel. Except I was also all of these other people from my past lives also. It was enough to make me want to scream.

“How do I get the memories back?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“You’ll have to make Jophiel return them, as I did.” A villainous smile teased his lips. “She didn’t want to do it, but I can be quite persuasive.”

I pressed my palms against my face, filled with so many emotions, powers, and memories I felt like I might explode. Now I’d learned my own sister had betrayed me too? And taken not only my memories but my powers? No. It was too much. I already had hundreds of past lives vying for attention inside of me, and I didn’t know who I was anymore. Was Hannah even real? Who was Haniel? I had to find the truth about who I was as Haniel. I knew that, deep in my core, even if I couldn’t explain why.

I lowered my hands and took a deep breath. “I need to see my sister.”

“Of course. But before you go, I will warn you that you may not want those memories back.” Lucifer’s mouth twisted and he looked away. “The truth of what happened might be too painful to bear. Even now I wonder if I was better off not knowing.”