Devilish Mate

14

“I always hated your sister,” Brandy muttered. “Can I touch them?”

I nodded, and she lightly ran her fingers over the silver feathers. It sent a weird tingle through me and felt way too intimate, but I kept myself from squirming at her touch.

“Holy s**t. An angel.” She gazed upon my wings with such reverence, it made me feel self-conscious, and I quickly tucked them away again.

“I hope this doesn’t change anything between us. I know my whole life as Hannah was a lie, but...”

“No way. You’re still my best friend. Sure, you didn’t remember who you were for a while, but so what? Our friendship was never fake. Everything we had was real.”

Warmth filled my chest as relief settled over my shoulders. “Thank you, Brandy.”

“Of course.” She wrapped me in a tight hug. “Now what’s going on with Lucifer?”

My back stiffened at his name and the rush of emotions that came with it. “It’s...complicated. We’ve had a bit of a falling out. Hence why I needed to get away.”

“Well, I’ll help you however I can,” Brandy said, as she went back to making the salad. “If you need to crash here for a while, that’s fine. Technically you still live here anyway. Your friend Zel can take the couch.”

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do. I have a lot to think about. But thank you for the offer.”

She nodded and waved me away. “Dinner will be ready soon. Why don’t you go to your room and take a minute to clean yourself up? I love you girl, but you look like a hot mess.”

Her brutal honesty made me laugh, and I looked down at myself and realized she was right. After two days on the road and a lot of crying along the way—and no showers either—I could really use some freshening up.

I headed up the stairs toward my room, except once I stepped inside, it hit me then that nothing about this life was truly mine anymore. Not like it had been.

This room was the smallest one in the house, big enough for a bed and not much else, but that had never bothered me. I’d just been grateful Brandy had let me stay with her. I didn’t have much stuff either, and all of it seemed like something from a dream now anyway. I’d earned the money and purchased it all myself, but everything felt like trinkets from another life. A double bed with emerald green throw pillows. Piles of books. Cute little houseplants that desperately needed to be watered.

On my dresser was a framed photo of my parents. Or rather, the people Jophiel had said were my parents. I picked it up and studied it, but I had no memory of any of these people. With a huff, I slammed the frame facedown on the dresser. Probably a damn stock photo.

I pressed my palms to my eyes, willing back the tears I didn’t want to cry. I’d done enough crying already and I was damn tired of it, but I didn’t know how to move on from this either. I’d come back here in the hopes of returning to my ordinary life, even for just a short time, but that life was a lie. These things weren’t mine. They belonged to Hannah. And Hannah wasn’t real.

How could Jophiel have done this to me? Not just once, but again and again?

The more I tried to ignore my memories of those other fake lives, the more I saw and remembered. Other homes where I lived by myself, with few friends or other connections. Jobs that tied me to one spot and kept me too poor to do much of anything. Relationships that never went anywhere. I even had a dog once, a little mutt with big brown eyes and a shaggy coat. What happened to that dog? I had no idea.

Jophiel had kept me close-by and completely clueless so she could control me. Supposedly for my protection, but that didn’t excuse her behavior or her actions. That didn’t make it right. Nobody should be able to take over someone else’s life like that.

And she’d kept me from my mate.

I was still upset with Lucifer, but she had no right to keep me apart from him for so many years. She’d taken his memories too, I remembered now. We should have had a chance to grieve our unborn daughter together, and instead we’d been torn apart and made to forget. Now we had the memories back, but we were both too broken to deal with them.

Brandy called out that dinner was almost ready, and I realized I was supposed to be pulling myself together. I stared at myself in the mirror, noting my stringy blond hair and the dark circles under my blue eyes. I really was a mess. I tried to clean up a bit, changing my clothes, brushing my hair, throwing on some deodorant. The best I could do without taking a shower.

As I headed down to dinner, plastering on a fake smile for my companions, I felt more lost than ever. What in the world was I supposed to do now? Where did I truly belong? And who was I, really?

8

Hannah

I

n the morning there was only one place for me to go—my flower shop.

I’d crashed in my bedroom overnight, though I’d barely slept. I’d been too plagued by nightmares and memories to get much rest. Now I covered my mouth with a yawn as the Lamborghini approached the familiar little shop with its dark green awning and elegant white script spelling out the name Elegant Thorn. Thorn. My last name. I’d always been amused by how perfect it was for the owners of a flower shop, like perhaps the name had influenced my parents’ profession somehow. Now I knew the last name was completely fake. I wondered if it amused Jophiel to give me that name, or if she was just that uncreative and went for the obvious. Probably the latter, knowing my sister. I was lucky she didn’t name me Hannah Blossom or something.