Page 16 of Love's Ace

I let go of the insult for the moment and shrugged. Iknewhe didn’t have any money, because I’d gone through his pockets while he was tied to the bed.

I’d still brought him here. It was better than getting killed while trying to hunt because he wasdistractingme.

Chapter 6

Theo

Ishouldn’t have followedhim to the restaurant. I knew that, but the instant he’d closed the door between us, I could feel something in my chest counting down like a time bomb. It was like I could sense every step he took away from me, and each one left my nerves burning brighter, left that fire starting to spark and war in my chest again.

It made things inside me twist, and the anger that tried to claw its way to the surface drove me to my feet before I could think.

I was going to follow him. I was going to hunt him down. He’d done this to me—he’dbrokenme in a way I hadn’t felt broken before… because he’d made me feel, for just a moment, like I could breathe for the first time.

And now he was leaving me.

I was going to kill him. Iwantedto kill him.

But that fury was quelled the second he came into sight, and when my hand brushed his back, the fire extinguished into nothing but smoke.

I wasn’t going to tell him I wanted to follow him because everything hurt when I couldn’t see him. I wasn’t going to tellhim about the blackness rolling around in my mind, threatening to consume me.

But I was fine with letting him buy me food at a shitty little diner. It was probably going to be the best meal I’d had in months. I’d been so caught up in trying to survive that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had something warm in my stomach. Just wrapping my hands around the mug of coffee that the server brought sent soothing streaks up my arms and made me settle into the seat I’d crammed myself into.

It definitely had nothing to do with the man sitting across from me with his purple eyes narrowed and his pretty face set in what had to be a permanent scowl.

“Don’t people notice what a freak you are?” I muttered the question as soon as the server dropped off our plates, with my mouth half full of toast. He was neatly cutting his food into bite-sized portions, and he didn’t bother to look up at me when he spoke.

“No.”

That wasn’t an explanation.

“People don’t just have purple eyes. They don’t just sprout wings. You’re telling me no one cares?”

He finally took a bite of the steak he’d ordered, and waited until he was finished chewing to answer me. Soprim.“Most humans can’t see the supernatural. I have blue eyes, and they don’t notice the wings. I’m just an ordinary man.”

I stared at him. His eyes were a violet so deep it made the burning thing in my chest furious, and the image of his wings was still burned behind my lids, even if he didn’t have them out right now.

“Right.” I picked up my fork and started shoveling food into my mouth. It took me a second to realize that Wren had stopped eating and was watching me with his brows drawn together.

I was torn between asking him what he wanted and telling him to fuck off, but he spoke before I could.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

“I—” I forced myself to stop and swallow before I spoke. “I don’t know. Things have been fucked for the past few days. I told you, I can’t remember much.”

More than a few days.

Things had been fucked for the past few weeks… and they honestly hadn’t been much better before that. But I wasn’t going to tellhimthat. He was just waiting to cut the line between us so he could finish what he’d started in that alley when he came to kill me.

And maybe he’d had a bit of a reason to do it. Maybe I’d been about to murder those two men, but…

I frowned at the memory of them and the anger that tried to knock around in my chest at just the thought. Somewhere beneath it all, I could realize it had been wrong. I’d killed people before, yes, but… those men had just wanted to help. Even when it was dangerous, and even when it was obvious that they shouldn’t have. My lips turned down in a frown.

“Those guys… from the alley?” Wren’s mouth pinched at the mention of them. “They’re okay? I didn’t… hurt them, did I?”

I didn’t think I had. I’d tried, but…

“They’re fine. I checked on them after I tied you up.”

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