Page 4 of Gambling with Time

Her cheeks were pink and flushed, her lips still appeared well-kissed. And those combined made me want to finish what we started. Instead, I looked to Alastor for his answer, because I wanted to know too.

He released an exaggerated sigh. "Beautiful girl," he brushed her hair from her face, "we are all in love with you, and most of us are free with each other too. Bellamy marks people with his bite. At least he can if he has potent feelings for them. It is a link of sorts that he said can track any of us. Does it still feel the same?"

I sucked in a breath and held it, attempting to feel the connections inside of me. They were there, muted slightly but not gone. His words might feel foreign, but he wasn't lying.

"It is there."

"Good. We might be able to use it." He finished wrapping her wrist with all the tenderness of someone in love and then stood up.

"I can't be gone long. I'm only supposed to be feeding."

"Feeding?" Samantha asked, her brow furrowing. "Do you need to eat? You can use me." She stood up and tracked her fingers along her neck, like I was a vampire or something.

"I don't need your blood," I scoffed. "I need sexual pleasure. Are you offering that, love?"

CHAPTER 3

Samantha

My hand dropped from my skin as awareness spiked through me like adrenaline. Pleasure. Flashes of memory provided proof it wouldn't be the first time our bodies touched. But he shook his head and glanced away.

I almost scoffed out loud. A demon had refused an offer of blood, that something had driven me to even suggest. I had known he wouldn't hurt me. That made little sense, he was a demon. But I couldn't shake the images. He gave me the feeling that we were connected. I had felt it in front of the mage, too, and it had irritated him. He hadn't liked me watching Bellamy, the false prince. But even the title felt wrong.

All of it felt like I didn't know my own mind, like I couldn't trust my thoughts, but which ones? The ones that felt like memories, yet I couldn't remember actually living them? Or the reality the mage wanted me to believe?

"If this is a memory spell, how do we break it?" I asked, looking to Alastor, because he seemed to remember things we didn't, if he wasn't trying to fool us. Something told me he was trying to help, though.

"I don't know if it is a spell. If I could go to the dragons and ask questions about the ruby, we might know more." He sighed and tugged his fingers through his hair. "But without Raiden, they might not talk to me."

"So let's get the dragon," Bellamy suggested, a slight edge to his voice. One that felt wrong.

"How?" I asked. The dragon-shifter had been like a second hand to the mage, he'd still be with him, and I had a feeling if I went back, I wasn't leaving again.

A smile tugged over the demon's lips, revealing his fangs. "The mage has sent him to track you, so he will find you. We just need to have you in a place he would look."

We both looked at Alastor expectantly. Swallowing, he nodded slightly. "He has a warehouse, it is more like a home for him, where all his treasures are held. He might not search for Samantha there, but he could still remember it."

"Then take me there," I said.

Alastor watched me, an internal debate clearly guiding his thoughts.

"I won't run." Not if I would get answers. "Bellamy will go back to the mage, and you can take me to the dragon's home."

"Raiden, you call him Rai. He is your brother's best friend," Alastor informed me.

Tyler. He hadn't lost his mind when he was asking about him. It had been mine that was lost. "He helped you, Ty did, to get me here."

“Yeah, he has been helping all of us the whole time."

"I thought he betrayed me," I said.

"He said it was worth the risk," Alastor replied.

"Can you contact him and have him come too? If the dragon, Rai," I said, stopping to try out his name. "Was his best friend, maybe it will help his memories."

"Sweetheart, if Raiden forgot you, I'm sure he doesn't remember his best friend." Alastor absently reached down to pet Cer at his feet. The souls that were continuously floating around him had seemed to calm with the new plan. Or maybe it was the lack of threat to their master.

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