Page 15 of Love's Ace

But this?

Needinghim?

The urge I had to turn back, to look over my shoulder and make sure the thread between us was still shining bright?

It wasn’t…

I couldn’t…

“Fuckingwait up, you asshole.” Theo’s voice sounded behind me, and I felt air suddenly rush into my lungs in a near dizzying wave.

The relief didn’t stop me from answering curtly.

“No one said you were invited,Theo.”

Now that the tension in my chest had eased, a part of me was annoyed that I’d felt it to begin with. I didn’t bother turning when he called out again, striding forward instead, like I had any idea where I was actually going.

It was hard to look for an Enmity to fight when there was one so obviously behind me, and I—

A hand suddenly landed on my back, and instinct took over. I whirled and pulled a blade at the same time. The edge of the knife pressed against the catch of Theo’s jawline, and his dark eyes were wide as he stared at me.

Maybe my reaction had been a bit over the top, but his hands had landed just where my wings sprang free. I’d seen cupids with their backs torn open, their wings forced out. I’d seen feathers and blood and death and…

“I couldn’t breathe,” he hissed, and I wasn’t sure if the faint pink on his cheeks was from embarrassment or fear at being caught the way he was. “You broke something in my chest when you shot me,asshole.”

I wasn’t about to tell him I’d had trouble drawing air myself… but a small part of me was realizing he hadn’t been trying to tear my wings from my spine. I withdrew my blade slowly, my eyes flicking to the small trail of blood seeping down his neck.

I refused to feel guilty about it when I could have done much worse.

“You were already broken, right?” I slid my knife back into its holster and looked over my shoulder.

Hunting. I’d come out to hunt.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Theo stared at me for a moment, the bruises under his eyes so visible in the low streetlight. He looked…tired. Pale and exhausted and whollyhuman, save for the slight tinge of darkness around the edges of his pupils every now and then. He looked like he was ready to collapse.

Liability. He was a walking, talking, annoying liability.

I turned without speaking, but didn’t miss the crunch of his boots on the ground when he followed me.

I couldn’t hunt this way. There was no way I’d be able to fight and watch my back to make sure he didn’t attack me if something snapped and he transformed… though he didn’t looklike he’d be able to do much more than faint if a strong breeze came along at the moment.

It was a good way for him to be—weak, incapable of hurting me. Incapable of taking care of himself.

Which was why it made no sense for me to turn to the left and duck into a small diner when I saw the lights glowing.

Theo hesitated behind me. I heard his boots catch at the doorway, but I didn’t bother to look back.

By the time the server offered me a seat, he’d caught up.

“This is a shitty way to hunt.” He waited until we slid into a booth to speak, and I glanced up at him with a frown. Theo had pushed himself into the edge of the bench, crammed into the corner so he could see as much of the room as possible. He was drawn in on himself like he was afraid everything around him was going to hurt him if he couldn’t see it. I didn’t know if it was the transformation swirling through him and making him paranoid, or if it was just life and the scars it had left behind, shaping him into the man he was.

It wasn’t my business.

“No, but hunting with you following me like a duckling would be impossible. I’m hoping if I feed you, you’ll go back to the hotel and sleep until I figure out what to do about…” I gestured between us to the thread. “All of this.”

Theo’s eyes dropped to the red line, and my body tensed. I’dseenthe way it incensed him before, when he was looking at the connection between the two men I’d caught him trying to kill. He just stared at ours, though, and when he brought one finger to trace around the base at his chest, I shuddered. It felt like someone was plucking a song I couldn’t understand behind my ribcage, playing a rhythm against a heart that didn’t have a beat. My reaction made him look up.

His mouth opened, then snapped shut again. Theo frowned when he picked up the menu and looked it over. “I hope you know you’re buying, birdbrain. I don’t have any money.”

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