Page 71 of Love's Ace

He was the one who cut me off this time, his lips catching mine and drinking down the last of my words along with the tears gathering at the corner of my mouth. He kissed me until I was breathless, until a soft, hiccuping sob tore from my chest and he gently pushed me back.

“I mean it, Theo. Now. Tomorrow. Every day. Every second.I mean it.”

Chapter 25

Wren

Imean it.

I’d told him in the graveyard, but it madesensethat he didn’t understand then.

Somanythings made sense now that he’d opened up to me. Even though his voice had been hollow, broken, completely devoid ofanythingwhile he spoke.

Even though his body had been a fine, tremoring line that betrayed that tone.

I understood now—I understood, and I realized it just made him all the more beautiful to me because he was still here, he was sostrong.

Every broken part of him made him perfect, notless. More.

More…mine. He’d always been mine.

I’d never felt so sure of something in my life, but I knew, as much as I knew the feel of my bow in my hand or the wings on my back, that Theo was something I was meant to keep. It didn’t matter how it happened, or what brought us together. I didn’t give a shit if the emotions running through me were madewith some artificial concoction that Aiden liked to hold over our heads.

None of that mattered. The why didn’tmatter.

The only thing that mattered was Theo.

Theo, who was looking at me with wide, hurt eyes and a split lip.

I’d felt every blow, every kick, every punch. I’d felt his terror spike and fade into a calm acceptance.

I understood that he’d given himself over to what was happening to him so he wouldn’t give in to what he was becoming… and I knew he didn’t understand how strong that truly was. I’dneverseen a human resist becoming an Enmity the way he had, the way he continued to do. He thought he was something horrible, some man always destined to become a monster, but he wasn’t.

He wasgood. He wasstrong.

He was strong enough to tell me about his past, even while he was trembling… and he was strong enough that he stood under the hot spray of the shower even though I could see the raw, naked fear in his eyes.

I brought the washrag back to his skin and started to clean him again. For a while, he didn’t say anything—he just watched me with that careful gaze, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like he was waiting for me to change my mind and tell him I didn’t want to be near him because of who he was and where he’d come from.

He spoke when I wrapped my arms around him to wash the sweep of his back. The brush of my fingers against the top of his ass made him shiver, and his body rocked against me almost of its own accord.

It just made me pull him closer, and his head dropped to my shoulder automatically.

“You don’t have to touch me like that, Wren. I understand if it’s too…”

He trailed off, and I could still hear it in his voice.

Pain.

Doubt.

Fear.

It made something ugly swirl in my chest for just a second—a spark of fury that nearly stole my breath away and told me to find the asshole who had done this and make him pay.

Instead, my eyes flicked up to Theo’s dark gaze, and I fell to my knees in front of him.

He was afraid that I thought he was sullied, something spoiled. Something not worth touching.

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