Page 10 of Love's Ace

It didn’t matter what that costume looked like—he’d tried to kill me when he ran that arrow through the both of us.

I wasn’t going to forget it.

Chapter 4

Theo

Everything had been ablur since the burn in my chest started, and this was the first time since I’d woken up on the street that breathing didn’t feel like I was trying to inhale fire.

Something was… off. I was so groggy it took me a second to realize I was restrained, that jerking up only made my shoulders ache because my wrists were wrapped in some kind of fabric, tying me to a headboard I didn’t recognize in a room that wasn’t mine.

“Hello?” I sounded raspy when I spoke, and I waited for the pain in my chest to pick up again. When it didn’t, I tried to force myself into a sitting position so I could at least look down.

Now that my mind felt a little clearer, everything was coming back in tiny pieces.

Small fractions of thought. Broken shards that threatened to rend and sunder. My lids drifted shut as I tried to collect them into a whole.

Something catching me as I left the alley where I’d just killed the man who’d tried to jump me… That thing taking me to the ground before I stepped out of the shadows, before I’d even hada chance to stop my hands from shaking with the knowledge that I’d just killed someone and…

It was all sharp teeth and red eyes and…

There was a man with wings. Aman with wings.

An arrow…

And…

My eyes shot open and searched the room. It took two tries to clear my throat enough to shout, and when I did, I wondered if I was signing my own death warrant. “Listen here, you fucking freak. Let mego.”

If I sounded angry enough, frightening enough, would it help?

It helped on the street, but I hadn’t let myself be on this end of a rope since…

I shuddered, and the sudden sensation welling up in my chest wasn’t anger. It was something raw, something clawing and violent, pinpricks of needling terror rushing just beneath my skin and threatening to kill me with a thousand tiny cuts.

I didn’t like it, and it made my chestburn. That sensation from earlier—the overwhelming anger, the fear, the frustration that turned to uncontrollable violence—it threatened to spill out and completely consume me again.

It took me a second to realize why my heart was speeding, why my next words came out in a trembling tone.

I was afraid.

“Fuck you. You can’t just tie someone up andleave.”

I hated the way I sounded. I hated that I could feel the words bleeding from my throat and into my chest, breaking me apart from the inside out.

And I hated it even more when a voice from the corner of the room spilled through the air.

“You know, for someone who was trying to kill me a few hours ago, you sound pretty… tragic.”

My head whipped in the direction of that smooth, amused tone, and my eyes narrowed then focused on the red line drawn between us.

Red line… lights so bright… an arrow, and then men, and I…

My body started thrashing of its own volition, and I didn’t recognize the growl that tore from my throat. He took four quick steps across the room and brought his hand to my shoulder, shoving me back against the bed.

I felt it again, that sweet burst of relief I’d noticed before when he touched me. The clawing panic in my chest receded, and I felt…

Content.

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