Page 24 of Love's Ace

“Do you think you can hold yourself together long enough for us to move locations? If I take you out in public, are you going to attack someone?”

Theo’s head snapped up, and the burn of anger in his eyes should have been answer enough. His arms jerked when he pulled on his jacket and stalked over to me. “What’s wrong, Wren? Don’t you want to chain me to the bed and keep me tethered here like a monster?”

The low, near growling sound that escaped me wasn’t exactlypeaceful,and my hands coming out to shove his shoulders weren’t kind. But…

“I want to move from this fucking hotel before Aiden comes looking for us and takes your head.”

I wanted to protect myself.

I wanted…

I wasn’t going to tell him that I wanted to protect him.

Theo stared at me, but I didn’t miss the way his hand came up to brush where I’d shoved him, where my fingers had touched the bare skin above his collarbone.

“I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

Those dark eyes, swirling with crimson at the edges, dropped to the ground before he spoke again. “I don’t know whether I’ll hurt someone if we go out. I didn’t… I don’t…” I waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, I stepped forward. The motion made him jerk back, made him finally look up at me again. The red in his eyes was so bright it was nearly a crimson halo inthe darkness of the room. “Usually when I kill people, it’s on purpose. I didn’twantto hurt anyone last night, Wren.”

Usually when I kill people…

Was he trying to tell me that he wasn’t a good person, that he was just as much a monster as I thought he was? He’d already told me he’d killed someone. It made sense—it wasn’t like good, innocent people were attacked by Enmity.

Still…

I didn’t want to hurt anyone…

“Well then, we just need to make sure you don’t hurt anyone today.”

There was a simple solution to this, of course. If we ducked into the alley, I could easily fly him to a new location. The thought of letting him wrap his arms around me, letting those fingers that were so close to claws get anywhere near my exposed wings, made me shudder.

It was never going to happen.

Chapter 10

Theo

Ididn’t know whatto do. Wren was looking at me like I had answers, but I didn’t. I didn’t haveanythingbut a deep-seated fear that lived somewhere at the base of my spine and wanted to tear up along my chest. It whispered that I was just as much of a monster as he thought I was.

That fear chased around with loathing, because what happened last night was still playing in my head—I hadn’t slept because of it. I could barely close my eyes without feeling the sensations again, pooling just beneath the surface of my skin and threatening to break me.

Ihatedhim. I hated him so fucking much. He’d done it again without even touching me—without even being in the room. I’dfelthim last night, and now my brain knew what itcouldfeel like if I let myself give in to impulse, if I gave myself over to a person.

Icouldn’tgive myself to someone. So when Wren stepped closer to me, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I lashed out, and felt a small part of me recoil when my fingers hooked, the tips slicing through the air in a blur of black claws. “Just… fucking stay away from me, Wren. Don’t…” I swallowedhard. “Don’ttouchme. Maybe if you can do that, I can keep myself from attacking anyone while we run from the problemyoumade.”

The words came out on a wave of heat, and I felt a little better after saying them, because I watched whatever expression that was trying to build behind his eyes slowly slip away to a chill that penetrated to the center of my chest.

It was better.

It waseasier.

I wanted him to hate me too.

“Fine.”

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