Amorette practically threw herself off the bike the second he slowed a block away from Doug’s. Her life was falling apart. Her family’s lives were in danger, and she berated herself for being so caught up in the definition of his graceful form as he dismounted. He was Cupid. That had to be why she felt intoxicated around him. Valentine’s Day was manipulating her emotions. It was the only reasonable explanation. Otherwise, the truth behind why every molecule in her body craved every cell in his would irrevocably alter her life.
“Stay close,” Valentin said, pulling his bow from his back and dragging her behind him as he strode toward the building. Amorette wordlessly fell into his shadow, dreading climbing the stairs to face Cavitto and Doug’s unsympathetic eyes. Any attraction she felt for the Cupid vanished as they climbed closer to the apartment, fear crowding out any other emotion. Shedidn't want to see the man who hadn’t cared whether she lived or died. She didn’t want to see the dirty carpet that had almost soaked up her blood and brains.
Amorette wordlessly directed Valentin to Doug’s apartment, and they paused before the broken door, its twisted hinges preventing it from closing completely.
“You don’t have to come in with…” Valentin trailed off as his eyebrows pinched together. He studied her for a second, leaning toward the apartment as he listened, and then he shoved the door open so hard it cracked on impact. Amorette flinched, waiting for a storm of bullets to cut them down, but when the quiet held, she stepped around the mountain of the man shielding her. She wasn’t sure what they would find, but the nothingness that greeted her was the last thing she expected. The apartment was empty. No Doug. No Cavitto, just the damning silence that mocked her for hoping she could escape fate.
Valentin followed Amorette inside her ex’s apartment, acutely aware of both the fear coursing through her body and the rage pumping through his. That asshole had let someone point a gun at her, let them threaten her, bruise her, scare her. It was all he could do to keep the wrath contained beneath his skin. She was already terrified. He wouldn’t add to her stress.
“No one’s here,” Amorette said, trying not to stare at the bedroom, and Valentin couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and gripping her hip.
“I didn’t think they would be,” he answered.
“Then why come here?” She leaned into his touch, and he’d never wanted to kiss the emotions off a woman’s face so badly.
“I’m Fae.” Valentin forced his fingers to release her curves. No matter how his soul longed for her, no matter the heated desire radiating from her aura, the rules had not changed. She was forbidden. Not only for his job’s sake but for her future’s. As it was, he had already drastically altered her fate. The longer he involved himself, the more clouded her romantic future became. If he stayed too long, held onto her soft body that curved in all the most delicious places, she would lose every hope of finding a soulmate. He couldn’t do that to her. His selfishness would not destroy her happiness.
“My senses are heightened, and I can smell your ex’s blood on the carpet,” he continued, touring the apartment with clinical professionalism. “And the mildew in the bathroom, the dirt caked between his boot’s tread, the stale coffee in the cabinets, which is surprising considering your profession.” Valentin paused before the bedroom door. “I can scent your fear. It clings to your skin instead of the chocolate I’ve come to expect.” He avoided her gaze at his confession, clearing his throat uncomfortably as he changed the subject. “I’m now acquainted with Cavitto’s stench and can recognize every man who entered this building to threaten your life. Tracking them will be easy.”
He turned back to her, studying the surprise on her face. What he didn’t say was that while the scent of her skin on Doug’s sheets ignited his jealousy, he didn’t smell sex, and that pleased him immensely. Seemed Amorette had spent a passionless night here, and a dark part of him whispered if she ever slept in his bed, the intoxicating perfume of her orgasms would never leave the room, for he would make her come until she begged for a break.
“You can find them by scent?” Amorette asked.
“I was special forces.” Valentin shoved the image of his head trapped between her thighs out of his mind and extended a hand. “Only not with the United States Military.” She took it,and he led her from the apartment, following the trail Cavitto and his men so sloppily left behind. “There’s a lot I can do. Things you may not want to see. We’ll take care of the men watching your parent’s house, and then you can stay with them.”
“No.” She jerked his hand so hard, his torso twisted to face her. “This is my fight, my family, my life on the line. I’m going with you.”
“It will be dangerous. It will get bloody.”
She stepped closer, their toes touching as she stared defiantly up at him, and he clenched his fist to keep from gripping her hair and yanking her mouth to his.
“Good.” Amorette smiled a wicked grin, and his heart stopped beating in his chest. “I hate feeling helpless. I don’t like begging for my life on my knees. You make me feel safe, and I’m choosing to ignore all the rational thoughts warning me not to trust you. Help me be brave. Help me reclaim what was stolen from me this morning when a man who I thought cared sat silently by to watch me die.”
Valentin’s grip on her hand tightened reflexively at her words. “You’re already brave, but your wish is my command. I am powerless to refuse you.”
Heat flared in her eyes, and she shoved up onto her toes to kiss his cheek. It was an innocent display of thanks, but Valentin’s life changed in that moment. He knew what her lips felt like, and they would haunt him every day until his death. He had to deal with Cavitto quickly before he not only broke the rules but obliterated them into dust.
They raced unseen for her parent’s home, her chest pressed against his back, and Amorette let herself enjoy how he rode the motorcycle. How his legs flexed and bent. How his hands fisted the throttle, how his biceps pushed and pulled their speed around every corner with precision. He handled the bike with power, grace, and dominance, and she wondered if he would handle her with such intensity. Amorette was grateful she sat behind him. The vision of him throwing her onto the mattress and caging her beneath him flooded her cheeks with a scalding flush, and it would’ve mortified her to have him witness her body’s uncontrollable reaction. She’d never been so attracted to a man before, but this longing went deeper than the physical. Perhaps it was whyshe always missed Valentin when he left with his black coffee. They barely spoke, but he was right. They didn’t need words to feel fate threading them together. There was a reason he never strayed from her thoughts.
They slowed as they approached her parent’s neighborhood, and without warning, Valentin pulled the motorcycle off the road and hid it behind a small patch of trees.
“They’re here,” he said, helping her off the bike, and Amorette sobered so fast, her skin stung with the cold. Men were here, waiting to kill her parents if she failed to repay Doug’s debt. “Be careful with this,” Valentin continued, pulling his bow from his back. He removed two arrows from his quiver and handed her one. “I don’t want you unarmed.”
He led the way through the neighbor’s backyard, his footfalls too silent for a man of his stature. Amorette followed his lead, clutching the arrow as she attempted to mimic his quiet steps. It was so large it looked like a spear in her fists, and one soft swipe of her finger against the sharp tip told her all she needed to know. This weapon would rip a man apart, leaving no chance for survival. Amorette shuddered at the imagery and stepped closer to Valentin, suddenly concerned she wasn’t brave enough to face the violence in their path.
“There.” Valentin pointed toward the bushes in the neighbor’s backyard, and Amorette squinted. Nothing was there, and she opened her mouth to ask what he was pointing at when the leaves rustled. An armed man shifted into view, and with a stifled gasp, she gripped the back of his shirt.
“He really sent men after my parents.” Violence electrified her body. Fear had controlled her entire morning, but seeing Doug’s selfish actions threaten her innocent parents burned her from the inside out with vengeance. It was cruel enough that they almost executed her, but it had been her choice to date theasshole. Her family didn’t deserve to be hunted like prey. “Is there only one watching the house?”
“That I recognize the scent of,” Valentin answered. “My gut tells me there’s a second, but too many humans live on this street for me to pinpoint who it is. Are you sure you want to do this? You can wait with my bike.”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She wasn’t, but she needed to do this.
“Stay close.” Valentin moved into position and raised his bow. He looked like a god with his ice-blond hair falling perfectly over his forehead, his eyes narrowing in on his target, his back muscles flexing as he pulled the string taut. For a breathless moment, Amorette watched Cupid in all his glory, and then he loosed the arrow.
The golden weapon shot with unnatural speed, piercing its target’s heart with perfect aim. The man fell into the bushes, dead upon contact, and Amorette studied the sprawled corpse with mixed emotions. She’d witnessed this blond Adonis kill two people today. Men that were willing to torture her and her innocent parents, but he had killed them all the same. She waited for disgust to poison her chest at the sight, but it never came. Part of her wondered if maybe she and Cupid weren’t so different. Maybe they both got off on delivering justice?
Bang!A shot rang out so loud, Amorette’s world went silent with deafness. She ducked, waiting for the pain, but with a scream she barely heard, she watched Valentin collapse, crimson soaking his shoulder.
