Page 23

Chapter 23

Wren

“ Y ou’ve got to be kidding me.” Theo sounded as annoyed as I felt about the idea, but I knew it really was the only answer.

Had I asked myself a week ago if I would ever do anything this risky, I would probably have laughed it off until my sides hurt.

Now…

Well, now I knew there was only one place we could get the answers we needed. I knew where I’d seen books like Gethin’s before, and I knew what books Gethin coveted above all else.

If we were going to find information on how to save someone from transformation—if there was even a possibility of doing so—Aiden would be the one who would know. That book had jarred my memory, and now that I knew, I couldn’t let it go.

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to just stay at the cemetery? You know, where I can’t hurt anyone?” For the first time, Theo said the words without any spite or malice in his tone. If anything, there was the slightest bit of apprehension. He didn’t hesitate when I held my hand out to him this time. Even though he was talking to me, his eyes were focused on the ground in front of us.

“We can do this. I know you can do this.” I didn’t know that, but one of us had to believe in him, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to do it.

“What if you get caught?” Theo’s voice was even softer this time, but I could feel the way his chest constricted at the words, a sensation so painful it made my breath catch. “It obviously isn’t safe for you to go back, or you would have already. And it’s not like you can just drop me off somewhere and leave me. What if you got caught, and you had to stay away for hours? I don’t know what would happen if…” He cut himself off abruptly, but the tight line of his mouth told me he hated what he was saying, that he even had to think it.

“Until we can figure this out, I’m not going to leave you, okay?” I realized how that sounded the instant it came out of my mouth, so I quickly added. “I’m not leaving.”

The promise was a soft whisper, and my hand holding his was the only thing that stopped Theo from fully recoiling. I’d never met a person who was in just as much pain from a promise as they were from a blow, but I was beginning to realize Theo had never had a promise made to him that he could believe.

I didn’t know how to make him trust me. I didn’t know how to make him understand that I meant everything I said, that I didn’t want to hurt him.

Fuck, things really had changed. I’d changed. I’d connected soulmates more times than I could count—I’d seen love at first sight, fueled by the wings of lust and the promise of a bond deepening over time.

I’d never imagined the possibility that I’d experience it myself.

It was getting hard to deny the truth, though.

“We need a place close enough to Love’s Ace that I can keep an eye on it, so we know when it’s clear to sneak in. We’ll just have to be careful. Don’t worry—I found a house we can stay in this time.” Thank the gods for technology and the fact I could pay for a few weeks’ stay somewhere nicer than a shitty hotel. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about Theo running into other people then.

“Can we be that careful?”

We had to be more than careful. That close to the apartment building, there was every chance another cupid would see Theo at some point, but one thing I’d been trained on my entire life was the fact that cupids didn’t attack one another, that we never fought our brothers and sisters.

I knew if it came down to it, I would break that law if one of them found Theo and attacked. Breaking those laws had never been a possibility in my mind before. Now, it almost felt inevitable.

“We’ll be fine.”

I wondered if he could taste the lie on my tongue the same way I could feel the pain streak through his chest again.

“Wren…” Theo’s voice was still soft, trailing off like he didn’t have the strength to question me anymore. His eyes were still on the ground, the fear of looking up and catching sight of someone who would trigger his anger so palpable it was painful to see.

At least I could take that fear away, for now.

“Shh, come on. We can talk once we’re inside.”

“I—” I wrapped my arms around him and let my aura spread over both of us. As soon as his fingers skated the length of my spine, my wings sprang free like they’d been anxious to feel his touch, and I let out a soft, shuddery sigh.

I wasn’t going to get tired of how it felt. The way his digits, gently brushing against the base of those muscles, were nearly enough to make me dizzy. I took a deep breath and launched us into the air instead of lingering on the sensation.

Later.

Later, when we were safe… Maybe then.

Theo let out a sigh and pressed his face to the crook of my neck. He seemed to respond to flight the same way I did—his body relaxed against mine, his arms holding me tight, but the tension drained away the higher we took to the air.

It was almost a shame that it was such a short flight, because touching down on the ground in front of the house brought back the worry the cool air had stolen away.

Theo was silent beside me as I punched in the code I’d gotten on my phone to grab the keys, and he was quiet as we took the few bags we had—and my weaponry—to the bedroom, once we’d made sure there was no one else in the house.

It was better than the hotel rooms… and I had to admit it was almost a relief when I dropped my bow onto one nightstand by the bed and Theo threw his backpack onto the other. We hadn’t really discussed anything, hadn’t made what was happening between us clear…

But he wasn’t going to one of the other bedrooms. He wasn’t trying to put distance between us.

He actually collapsed onto the bed and threw his arm over his face as soon as he drew the bedroom curtain, and his voice came out muffled when he spoke.

“I know you know this isn’t safe.”

He sounded soft, and a little disgruntled. There was a moment where I hesitated, where I wasn’t sure what kind of response to give. I was used to replying to everything with sarcasm, with an air of apathy that would make anyone realize I didn’t give a shit about the danger.

I usually wouldn’t have.

But this was different, and I knew the reason why. Before, I’d only had to worry about myself.

And now…

Well…

I sat down on the bed and gently traced the curve of Theo’s arm where it covered his face, moving to thread my fingers through the brown strands of his hair and squeeze gently until I felt the tension leach from his body.

I never knew that touching someone could actually feel so good.

He slowly lowered his hand so he could look at me over his forearm, and I didn’t miss the faintest flicker of red in his dark gaze, proof that we had to figure this out sooner rather than later. Still, his expression softened when I carefully stroked through his hair again—these gentle touches were as foreign to him as they were to me.

“Maybe it isn’t safe, but it doesn’t feel dangerous right now, does it?” I kept my voice light, a gentle tease.

His eyes narrowed.

“Maybe not to you…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew what he meant. This proximity felt dangerous to him—the fact that he felt safe was dangerous to him. I’d felt all of it when we’d been together in the graveyard, every scar from his past blown wide and bleeding into me. I didn’t understand what had caused them, but I knew the danger he felt in letting someone close.

But he stayed still as I skated my fingertips across his brows until the drawn, worried expression smoothed out.

“We’re safe right now.”

You’re safe . I didn’t say it—I knew better than to completely call him out on what he was feeling. But I hoped he understood what I meant anyway.

“Whatever,” he grumbled… but when I moved to draw my hand away, his fingers caught my wrist and dragged it back to his hair.

We stayed like that for a while, though after a bit I stretched out on the bed and couldn’t resist when my wings sprang free and Theo started to carefully brush his fingers through my feathers the same way I carded mine through his hair.

He didn’t understand how it felt—even though I knew he could feel what I was feeling. He just knew that it felt good , that it sent little shoots of pleasure through my body every time he dragged his hand up and down.

Even though he’d seen Gethin and the pain he was in, I still hadn’t talked about Enmity and their penchant for trying to rip off a cupid’s wings.

He had no way of knowing that I was completely going against my nature, letting him touch me like this—and no way of knowing that going against that nature felt better than anything I’d experienced in my life.

After a while, the rumble of his stomach finally pushed me to my feet.

“It’s fine,” he muttered, half asleep, but I waved him off.

“I picked this house because it’s easy to have food delivered. Don’t worry, you can stay in bed.”

As soon as I said it, I paused, waiting for his usual accusations of me not trusting him around people to surface. Instead, he made a show of pulling the blanket up over his shoulders.

“Good. I’m still tired after yesterday.”

Yesterday.

One word shouldn’t have made my entire body burn, and the sensation of that burn creeping up my chest and to my cheeks shouldn’t have made Theo smile.

But of course he felt it.

And of course I noticed the upturn of his lips… His smile was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

A week.

It had been close to a week since I’d met him, and all of these little realizations felt so infinite, so impossible to refute or ignore.

Like they’d been permanent fixtures in my century of life that I was somehow just now noticing.

Fuck. Soulmates .

I was starting to realize a cupid didn’t understand at all what we were giving to humans. We could grasp the concept, the ins and outs, the mechanics… but the emotion?

The meaning?

The weight of it?

No, this was so far past anything I’d understood. Until Theo.

He stayed in bed until someone knocked on the door to deliver our food, and he was in the hallway watching as I double checked it was just the delivery person and not anyone who might pose a threat.

His smile was gone as I stocked the refrigerator, and he was frowning when I tossed a sandwich wrap on the table in front of him.

I already knew what was bothering him, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“What?”

He didn’t hesitate. “You heard Gethin. You’re probably going to get caught. They’ll tear off your wings.”

“It’s fine.”

“No it isn’t, you—”

“It doesn’t matter, Theo. We just won’t get caught. That’s all there is to it. We can—”

“Wren, I’m not worth all this. The danger, your wings. I’m just… not.” His voice was sharp and full of strain, pained when he cut me off. He wasn’t looking at me when he spoke—instead, he ran the sharp edge of his nail across the top of his hand, leaving behind angry red marks. “You’re good . I can tell that you’re good. And I’m… well…” The tip of his nail drew blood—red, tinged with the faintest swirl of black. “I’m me. I’m this. ”

I didn’t think as I closed the distance between us. I took his hand in mine, threading our fingers together and bringing the cut up to press my lips to it. The sting of my kiss burned through our connection, but I was more focused on the way his eyes widened in some strange mixture of fear and helplessness. I drew him closer—close enough that I could press a gentle kiss to his mouth.

“You’re worth it, Theo. You’re worth all of it because you’re you.”