Page 45 of Love's Ace

“That’s none of your business. Why don’t you start reading, you little half monster? You’re already putting Wren’s entire existence in danger by being here… you might as well try to fix it.”

My jaw clenched shut. A small part of me wanted to defend him, to explain to Gethin what had happened, that the broken arrow, the fighting… none of this was actually Theo’s fault.

Not really.

But…

I shook my head instead and plucked the other book Gethin was holding from his hands.

“Try not to intentionally make him kill you, Gethin. I don’t know how you have these fucking books organized.” My words came out casually, but my shoulder bumped into Theo’s as I walked past him. He glared at our host for another few seconds before silently following me to the corner of the room.

I noticed that he peeled off from me for the first time since we’d woken up in each other’s arms, sequestering himself in a chair in the corner of the room and half hiding behind the book he held.

I wasn’t sure why, but I hated it.

A few hours later, Theo finally put down the book he’d been thumbing through and sighed. “Is this all you have?”

Gethin and I had been occasionally engaging in conversation, but for the most part it had been the rustling of pages and the gentle sensation of allowing my body to relax knowing we were safe while we were here.

“There’s another building out back with more books,” Gethin answered without looking up. “As long as you stay on the cemetery grounds, nothing is going to get you. Please, though, wander off. It would probably make things easier.”

The fact that he could sound so dismissive without bothering to look up was a special talent Gethin had perfected over the years. Even though I’d gotten to know him since I’d been assigned to check in on him, there were still so many parts of the man I knew I would never see, never touch. There were pieces of him he kept locked so deep in his chest that I had a feeling the scar tissue on his back had grown over them in the days since he’d lost his wings.

I lifted my gaze as Theo stood up, dropping the book he held loudly onto the table in front of Gethin before making his way to the door.

“So, just inside the fence?”

“If you really have to.”

I clenched my jaw—in theory, it would be fine. I’d be able to see him through the small windows of the cottage. He wasn’t going to go far. Nothing could hurt him…

And I still ended up standing before he’d even gotten the door unlocked.

“I’ll go with you.” At Gethin’s sharp look, I added. “I need to stretch my legs. We’ve been stuck in hotel rooms for days.”

Days.It was still hard to believe that was all this had been. It felt like I’d somehow been in a room with Theo for my entire life, and I was only just seeing him.

Soulmates, the word whispered in the back of my mind, but I waved it off. I still wasn’t sure all of this wasn’t just some fuckery that had happened because of the arrow and the Ardor.

My arrows were never wrong… but…

“Whatever.” Theo sounded sullen, but his dark eyes stayed on me until I made my way across the room and followed him out the door.

Gethin, thankfully, was silent as he watched us leave.

Chapter 18

Theo

Ifelt stifled sittingin the small room, listening to the sound of whispering pages and Wren and Gethin occasionally chatting in such a familiar way that it made me feel like I didn’tbelongthere at all.

It was worse because whenever Wren wasn’t looking, I noticed the way the man across from me raised his odd colored eyes and stared at me like he was trying to make me combust on the spot.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of what I was, or if he really was just an asshole. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t stand to be there for another second.

If I was being honest with myself, it was the distance I’d put between Wren and myself too. It wasn’t that I minded—I still wanted to cut the thread between us and run as far and as fast as I could—but at the same time, it was almost as painful being in the room without touching him as it was being out of his sight. The heat beneath my skin wasn’t strong enough to overrun me, but I could feel it lingering just beneath the surface, threatening me. Teasing me. Taunting me.

Reminding me what a different kind of heat felt like—reminding me how it felt when I was pressed along the length of Wren’s body and wringing myself out on the sensation of him spasming under my hands.

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