Page 3 of Love's Ace

I rolled over onto my stomach so my wings could burst from my back—they usually stayed tucked away, just beneath my skin in the form of a sweeping black tattoo that crawled from my shoulders to my ass. The feathers twitched, ruffling in something akin to irritation now that they were finally free.I almost swatted at them, menace that they were, but I simply dragged my pillow over my head instead.

I’d done my job… and if I hadn’t let the feathers burst from my back so I could fly home after, it wasn’t something they could bemadat me for. But they were, because the damn things seemed to have a mind all their own.

“I’m tired,” I grunted.

The muscles in my back twitched again. Maybe my wings couldn’t speak, but they were very good at getting their point across without words.

“I could rip you off, you know. Maybe I’d get some rest then.” It was a hollow threat. A cupid without wings was a sitting duck—they were our greatest asset, and the thing that connected us to our power, to our strength. If I ripped them out, the ink that made up my tattoo would bleed out around me, and I would be one-step up from a mere human… an immortal with never-ending pain trembling along my spine and no way to make it fade.

It was enough to drive anyone to the point of insanity.

Yeah, my wings knew my threat was completely empty, so they twitched again.

“Fine. Fine. You win.” I understood. The anger and bitterness I’d felt earlier was a thick, palpable thing in my chest. My wings wanted the night sky, the crisp air. They wanted to bathe in cloud and moonlight until it all faded away. Until, for a moment, the world was… peace.

Of course, they were just wings—the emotions were my own. My body knew the balm to my soul, even if I would rather have stayed silent and angry in bed.

When I stood, a small smile crossed my lips. I took a second to grab my bow and blades. I had no intention of giving another mortal a happy ending tonight, and I didn’t intend to let my feet touch the ground… but I never left the apartment unarmed.

“Let’s go.” My feathers rustled in excitement as I took off at a run and dove from my balcony, giving myself over to the rush of exhilaration as the wind caught my wings and I took off into the clouds.

Chapter 2

Theo

It burned. I wasn’tsure whatitwas, but it ripped from somewhere in the middle of my chest with angry fingers that tried to tear me apart.

At first, I thought something bit me. It was too big for a spider bite, though, too hot and furious for something so simple. I couldn’tseea mark on my chest, even though my body was flush to the touch, burning with a fever that made me tremble.

But that’s all it was.

Just heat. Just burning.

Just pain.

It was agony that nearly drove me mad, aching until I was driven out of my shitty little motel room into the cold rain that was pouring down in sheets. It wasn’t safe to wander the streets at night, especially not in the area where I lived, but I was too restless and reckless to care.

I’d almostwelcomesomeone attacking me. Fighting would take my mind off the pain trying to curl my limbs in on themselves, like it was trying to eat me from the inside out and fill me with fire until there was nothing left but ash.

It was a shame I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor—I would have broken and hauled myself to the ER otherwise—but the hospital didn’t give a shit about me. Knowing my luck, they’d hold me for a psych eval, and the only thing I’d accomplish would be a big fucking medical bill.

That’s how things were for people like me. That’s how the worldalwayswas for people like me, and I knew it wasn’t going to get better any time soon.

So… the cold rain was my only option. It soaked through my T-shirt, and I should have felt it penetrating the burn in my chest at least a little. I’d neverwantedto shiver from the cold before, but my insides were practically begging for it now.

I couldn’t feel anything but the flames licking inside my ribs and trying to make my heart burst.

I half ran, half stumbled into an alleyway and collapsed against the wall. Ignoring the way it scraped against my bare knuckles, I punched the brick in an attempt to alleviate the feeling pouring through me—desperate to distract myself from the scorching for even a second.

It didn’t work. Even when my knuckles turned red, and blood streaked down my wrist in pink rivulets mixed with the rain, the fire was still trying to eat me alive. It ripped up my throat in a scream that felt raw, and it took me a second to realize that scream had drawn attention.

I didn’t notice the two men until they were peeking into the alley.

“Ty, don’t—”

“He looks hurt, Alex.” He approached me with a warm, friendly expression, only biting his lower lip for a second before he spoke. “Are you okay? Do you need some help?”

The man behind him hovered like a shadow, smarter than his companion. It was completely ridiculous to approach a strangerscreaming in an alley, especially one who had blood running down his arms.

---