Page 84 of Love's Ace

“We’ll take care of it.”

Did cupids have a connection with the police?

I was about to ask him when the words caught on the back of my tongue. Something felt wrong.

Off.

I knew Wren sensed it, too, because his hand instantly went for the bow on his back.

“Theo, you should—”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I snapped it out just as the front door burst open.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but the sight of a human woman with crimson eyes running into the room wasn’t it. She snarled, all sharp teeth and black nails. Wren raised his bow at the same time someone else charged into the house.

This wasn’t an Enmity—it was a man, standing tall, with dark hair pulled back into a tail and violet eyes sharp and alert… and then going wide when they landed on Wren.

On Wren’s chest.

On the thread trailing from it, and straight into me.

“Wren? What the—” The woman he’d chased seemed to notice her pursuer was distracted, because she whirled and swiped at him, and I realized I was seeing exactly what was happening tome unfold before my eyes. Her shoulders snapped back, and the wings that sprang from her skin came in a burst of crimson and black fluid. She stumbled and snarled, and the loss of balance was enough that the cupid in front of her raised his bow.

When she dove for him again, Wren moved forward to help—and when Wren moved, I moved.

I should have realized it was all a mistake. I’d grown used to the way I looked—the black nails, the red swirl in my eyes.

But the cupid…

The cupid had no idea what I was, what Wren had done.

He fired an arrow, but it wasn’t at the woman in front of him—it took me square in the shoulder and tore a snarl from my chest that made my vision go white.

Wren screamed in pain, infury. And I felt that spark in my body again—that darkness trying to leap from me to him. Now that it had found a pathway, it seemedeagerto return to his chest, to eat away at him from the inside out.

I didn’t know if I could bring him back from it again, I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep him safe if he lost his head—not when there was another cupid here and they were trained to kill everything trying to ruin us both.

There was really only one option.

I took a deep breath and let go. If I took all that darkness into myself, it wouldn’tneedto go to Wren.

I felt it before I saw it—the black crawling up my arms, sinking beneath and swirling in my veins. I tried not to, but a scream tore from my chest, tapering off into a growling roar that sounded completely inhuman.

It was better this way. I was built for this. Some part of me wondered if I wasalwayssupposed to become this.

And Wren…

Well, Wren didn’t have to worry about what would happen if my darkness truly tainted him.

I charged forward, throwing myself at the creature on top of the cupid before I completely lost my mind. The best thing I could do would be to fight for Wren, to make sure he was as safe as possible. And maybe, if I completely lost myself, he’d find a way to explain it to the asshole who’d shot me.

When I heard a scuffle and Wren letting out a low, snarling curse, I realized that wasn’t happening.

They werefighting.

I was sure there were some kind of horrible repercussions for a cupid fighting another cupid. I couldn’t remember if I’d heard him mention it, or if it was something that I’d read… but I was sure of it.

The wordstopwas caught somewhere in the back of my chest when the woman in front of me snarled and swiped at me again, sending a streak of pain across my body that echoed the agony as the cupid Wren was fighting cut his arm with a knife.

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