She’s mine, his rabbit said in his mind.She’s my mate.
He sucked in a sharp breath as the word rang in his mind. How could that be? He’d known her all of twenty-four hours…or so he could recall. How could his animal figure out something that life-altering in a single day?
She’s the one, his rabbit said again. Was this Fate in action?
Everything happened for a reason, whether he could remember what it was or not. Sometimes the reason was nothing more than making a stupid decision, but it was a reason just the same. He’d done something that led him to the bakery last night. But the catalyst didn’t matter, did it? He was there now, andthatmattered.
He brushed an errant lock of hair from his forehead and opened the door. Destiny wasn’t in the hallway, so he padded to the living room and found her perched on the edge of a pastel yellow chair, wringing her hands. Her anxiety was palpable, and he wanted nothing more than to take it away, to shoulder the burden for her.
The feeling was foreign to him, though. Was it because he couldn’t remember his past, or was it because he’d never felt such a connection to anyone in his life…because she was his mate?
“What can I do to help?” he asked.
Her jaw worked from side to side, and she pinned him with her blue-eyed gaze. “For starters, you can remember who you are.”
He inhaled deeply, holding her gaze until she looked away. She’d decorated her home in soft pastels. Paintings of flowers adorned the light gray walls, and a powder blue rug lay beneath her rose-colored sofa. The space felt welcoming, like home.
He sank onto the sofa adjacent to her chair and rested his hands on his knees. “What if I’m not supposed to remember? What if this is my chance to start over? To live in the moment because there’s nothing from my past holding me back. If the gods willed me to lose my?—”
She scoffed. “The gods didn’t give you amnesia. I did, and if I don’t fix it, my life is over.”
“You did.” His brow furrowed as he tried to recall what had happened. “I remember vampires, but I don’t know them. And you were there, but… I feel like you’ve always been there. I’ve always known you, haven’t I? We’re…”
“No.” She shook her head. “We met for the first time last night. The gods didn’t will this on you, believe me. I stupidly left a magical cake on the counter, you ate it, and it wiped your memory. You ran away before I could even attempt to help you, and now my magic has been stripped, but that doesn’t matter because I have no clue how to reverse what I’ve done.”
“Why…?” His mind spun with so many questions. Why was he there? Why did he eat a cake that wasn’t his? Why was her magic stripped?
If his rabbit was so certain of it, why did she not recognize him as her mate?
“You came to my bakery to meet Gaston. You do know him, from a long, long time ago. You needed his help with something. Do you remember what it was?”
There was that pleading look again, melting his heart even more. He closed his eyes, willing his brain to give him a shred of something, anything that would make her happy. “I’ve got nothing.”
“And I’ve only got two weeks to help you remember everything before I become human for good.”
“Why will you become human?”
She shook her head. “Performing miracles is the other aspect of my job in this realm, but it takes months to get them approved. Becoming human is my punishment if I don’t make it happen in the next two weeks, but this is a long story that we don’t have time for. We need to focus on getting your memories back.”
“Can you not ask your boss for help? Escalate it to a manager?”
She laughed dryly. “I tried. My boss is out to get me.”
“Maybe go over her head?”
“My boss’s boss is out to get me too. Angels aren’t supposed to make mistakes, and on the rare—or not so rare in my case—occasion that they do, they…I…have to fix it myself. Everything magical an angel can do is for the greater good or the good of the receiver, but I somehow manage to screw things up anyway.”
He drummed his fingers on his knees, a sense of resolve—of acceptance—settling in his chest. “There you go. You gave me amnesia for my own good.”
“Well, it sure as sugar isn’t for the greater good,” she mumbled.
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
He nodded, scooting to the edge of his seat. “Can I tell you what I know?”
“That won’t take long.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. That was rude and not very angelic of me.”
