Page 2 of Love's Ace

And fuck me if I wasn’t in the mood to find one at that very moment, to let myself get lost in the sensation of the fight, the danger of my sworn enemy. I could find a half-turned Enmity and slit its throat with no repercussions before it had a chance to beg me to stop. Our battle was the only thing that stood between a world of loving mortals, or one enslaved to the hatred the Enmity spread—a world of raving, mad monsters. Things that killed with deadly teeth and razor claws.

Sometimes when I killed them, I could still see a spark of humanity in their eyes.

And sometimes… I wished they’d just left me in my mother’s arms, so I could know the blissful ignorance of most humans in the world.

I’d been alive for a century, but it felt so much longer.

“Wren?” A voice caught my attention. My head snapped up from the arrow I’d been idly twirling between my fingers while I contemplated stabbing myself with it. I knew it wouldn’t help—I’d get a brief high, but the sensation wouldn’t last. My aura would remain a shimmering glow of gold.

I wouldn’t feellove.

“What is it, Angela?” I snapped my fingers and the arrow disappeared as a tall, slender figure stepped into the lobby of our apartment building. Her eyes were the same violet color as mine, and the long length of her satin curls fell to her waist. I’d yet to see an unattractive cupid, and I half wondered if that was part ofwhat made them choose us—the knowledge that we could have grown to be something beautiful, something so much more.

She smirked before reaching into the top of her dress and drawing out a vial. It swirled in a mixture of shimmering red and white, and for a second I wondered if she intended to take it in front of me. Instead, she tossed it in my direction without warning.

I caught the vial of Ardor against my chest and frowned. She’d thrown what was practically the most precious commodity amongst our kind like it was nothing.

Ardor was pure emotion in a bottle—it was the closest we would ever come to truefeelings. It was our reward for being competent in our jobs, and I think sometimes the leash that tethered us to stay. When taken, we could feel the soft, shining edges of humanity, the slightest hint of what our arrows did. For twenty-four hours, we were excused from our duties and allowed tofeel. Fucking became something more than perfunctory. Food tasted better—the sun felt warm on our skin. Touching someone felt like it would burn right through you, like it could shape you into something different.

It felt like…

I didn’t want to think that it felt like love, and I’d only used a vial of Ardor once before I realized it was better not to feel anything than to have a taste of something I couldn’t keep. It had been nearly a century ago, and the memory of thatwhat-ifwas still bitter on the back of my tongue.

This was the tenth bottle I’d earned, though I’d already traded a few of them away. Technically, we weren’t supposed to… but I hadn’t gotten in trouble for it yet.

“Nice catch, Wren.” Angela’s voice was full of snark, and I pushed myself to my feet with a snarl that would have made anyone else recoil.

“What the fuck, Angela?”

“Aiden came by to dish out our rewards. Since you’re Daddy’s favorite, of course you got one. I told him I’d give it to you since you weren’t here.”

Daddy…I hated when she called him that, but if Aiden was here, her actions made sense. She wouldn’t have taken the chance of stealing the vial for herself while he was in the building. He was a cupid too, but older than either of us… older than anyone or anything I’d ever met. I could see it in the near-white fade of his eyes, a soft lilac instead of deep, intense purple. He looked just as young as I did, and somehow older than any human I’d ever encountered.

Time was a strange thing.

“You know, we could share the Ardor, Wren. You and I… we could have a good night together, don’t you think?” Angela was smiling when she stepped forward, leaning into me so I could see the swell of her chest pressing against the black fabric of her top. I tucked the vial into the top pocket of my leather jacket and gave my chest a little pat to make sure it was secure. She watched the motion with eyes already gone dark with the realization that she wasn’t going to win.

Again.

“I just got off an assignment. I’m tired, Angela. Maybe later.” I lied like it was second nature and ignored the pout forming on her pretty features. I didn’t care. I pushed past her to the elevator at the end of the lobby and pressed the button before she had a chance to rethink her strategy. I knew she was only in it for the Ardor itself.

I didn’t even bother to look back as I stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut behind me. The sour expression on her face would look the same as it had every other time I’d turned her down.

There were times when I thought about moving out and getting my own place, but Love’s Ace was one of the betterperks my job offered. Aiden owned the building, and only supernatural creatures could take up residence. The top floor was sequestered completely for cupids who did their jobs well—I had an enormous bedroom, a fully stocked bar, a jacuzzi, and a balcony that had the best view in the city…

I didn’t want to think about my brothers and sisters who had lost one too many of their charges to the Enmity.

It paid to be good at the job, and I was one of the best. I didn’t care about the Ardor, and I wouldn’t let myself be distracted with the longing and addiction it seemed to produce.

What Iwouldbe distracted with was the way my body ached with exhaustion. I needed to go to sleep before Angela decided to sniff me out and try her luck again—she’d been at it for a decade, and Istilldidn’t have the urge to peel her out of her skintight clothing.

I groaned as I pushed open the door to my flat and immediately started shedding my weapons. I tossed my bow onto the coffee table and dropped the two blades I had strapped to my thighs onto the couch.

I didn’t even bother to strip before I collapsed against the cool silk of my bedsheets.

When I closed my eyes, the first thing I saw was that fucking couple fawning over each other like they’d seen the moon for the first time—it was ridiculous, because I felt my body twitch in response.

Not my body… just a particular space between my shoulder blades.

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