Page 79 of Love's Ace

I wanted to forget where we were, because I was starting to realize this might be the last place I ever saw after all.

I’d always thought I would die here… but I’d never imagined it could hurtthismuch.

His fingers on my throat spasmed, cutting off the rest of my air. My hands dropped from his hair to his waist, and I pulled him flush against me.

Heart to heart.

Breath to breath.

Soul to soul.

I brushed against his back, against that space where his wings usually erupted and showered me in feathers and safety.

Wren’s fingers on my throat spasmed again, and then went still.

When his tongue swiped against mine, I couldn’t stop the soft sob that escaped me, feeding into his mouth when he deepened the kiss. Wren’s arms wrapped around me, holding tight enough I couldn’t breathe for a completely different reason.

“I’m with you.” He murmured it against my lips, and those three words had the power to make me dissolve. He shivered as his wings spilled from his spine, and the feel of them made mesway and pull back. Wren was staring at me, and I watched as the black dissolved slowly from his eyes, leaving them a darker shade of violet than they’d been before.

But they were still there.

Still beautiful.

JustWren.

“Fuck.” I gasped out the word and fell against him. I buried my face in his neck so he couldn’t see the tears that I couldn’t seem to hold back, but I knew he could feel the liquid on his skin.

He gave me a few seconds before he pulled back, and his eyes trailed from the blood on my face to the mess I was sure was on my throat.

“Theo?” He started wiping at the streaks, looking for the injury beneath. “Fuck, are you okay? Did I—”

“I’m fine.” It was hard to tear my eyes from his face to look at the thread between us.

That vicious black was trailing back from him and inside of me. That was where it belonged. Wren looked too, his fingers grabbing the thread like he could stop it.

“Don’t.” I cut him off, taking his wrists and drawing his hands back to my face. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Are you…”

Are youyou?

Are you with me?

“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you? Are you sure you’re okay?”

I’d never heard Wren sound so lost, so vulnerable. I wanted to fall apart in his arms, but I couldn’t. Not when his eyes were wide and just a little wet.

Not when he looked so broken.

I took a shaking breath and looked around the room.

“Uh… I’m better than anyone else who was here. God, Wren. I thought you were supposed to make people fall in love, not be some kind of murder cupid.”

The confusion on his face slowly melted away as he glanced around. His eyes widened, then I saw them go dark. When he turned back to me, that dangerous edge was there again.

Fury beneath a shattered mirror, molten and ready to consume him.

“Was this all of them?”

I wasn’t sure. I didn’tremembereveryone that had run through me while Erin was the controlling factor in my life.

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