Stealing Cupid's Bow (16 page)

He didn’t interfere with the scene just yet. If he left things alone, they might work to his advantage. It was possible Raine was nearby. If she was seeing what was happening to her cousin, she would have to reveal herself to come to her cousin’s aid, and then he would nab her.

But for now, there was nothing to do but wait. He gritted his teeth.

By the time Raine returned to the Palazzo, she was positively giddy. How could Alexander have ever turned away from a job so wonderful? Love was everywhere now because of her. She parked her cousin’s car in the self-parking section and made her way to the double doors leading up to the casino. Needing two hands to drive, she’d been unable to release any more arrows on the way. Her fingers itched to shoot a couple more before returning the equipment to its rightful owner.

She emerged from the stairwell into the casino and looked around at the various gamblers. How many glazed-eyed slot machine players were there trying to make the big win to compensate for their unfulfilling lives? And the cocktail waitresses who circled in their skimpy outfits with the weary look of crushed dreams. How could she not help them?

No, no. The bow had to be returned. She’d meddled with enough lives already. It was time to get a grip on herself. But the bow and quiver seemed to glow with warmth on her back that could not be ignored, as though it ached to be used some more.

How long had it hung unused on the statue? Decades? Centuries? The warmth seeped from her back throughout her body, as if the bow had a tangible life force of its own and was communicating its frustration and pent up energy to her. Her eyes misted.
It was too cruel
, she thought,
too cruel to lock up such a force for good again
. It pained her to think that by taking it back she was again sentencing it to solitary confinement, unable to carry out its true purpose, while so much darkness roamed free over the earth.

Doubt crossed her mind. What if there was a reason it was supposed to be locked up? There might be reasons higher than she could possibly know. Besides, she wasn’t a thief. The bow didn’t belong to her.

She decided to make a compromise to satisfy her torn will. Between here and the elevator she would hit as many people as she could and then, that would have to be that.

Grasping the bow and pulling an arrow over her shoulder she took aim at the first young cocktail waitress that went by. Walking slowly, she aimed at an elderly lady sitting by herself at a slot machine. Next she targeted a gruff-looking man at the craps table. They all needed love. Love could heal all the hurts in their lives and everything would be well again.

***

Alexander let out another frustrated breath. Too much time had passed.
Where is she? Where could she possibly be heading after this?
He punched a button on his console and made a FaceTime call to Donovan.

“Donovan,” he answered immediately. His face appeared on the car’s monitor but his steely gaze never left the screens Alexander knew he was monitoring. He was sitting in the leather chair at his desk where he surveyed the wall of security screens with his usual infinite patience. They displayed live feed from the security cameras around the hotel.

“Anything yet? A blip?”

“Nothing.” Donovan’s gaze flickered for the briefest of milliseconds to him. “She can’t hide forever, boss. She’s going to pop up again. And when she does, I’ll see it.” One of his hands rose into view. He was twirling a pen around his fingers as was his usual habit. Donovan could easily sit there for days, if necessary. Demigods were made of sterner stuff than mortals.

“Did you complete the cross-check on the archers?”

Donovan nodded. “All accounted for. Everyone is where they are supposed to be. It’s like I said, one of our own wouldn’t do it. They all know they are being monitored.”

Alexander grunted in acknowledgment. There went his last shred of hope that it was an archer with a vendetta against him and not Raine stirring up all this chaos. That maybe they were trying to find a scapegoat and divert his attention from what they were really doing.

“You were right, Donovan.” It killed Alexander to say it but he felt that he owed his right-hand-man that much. He had brushed aside Donovan’s misgivings about Raine from the start.

“You always were a soft touch when it came to women. Can’t say I blame you, though. She looks gentle as a newborn fawn,” Donovan replied.

“Still, I should have paid more attention to your instincts.” Alexander’s guts twisted a little. When had he ever had occasion to apologize to one of his men? Or to anyone? But even though it was uncomfortable, he was starting to feel better.

“S’okay. She could’ve fooled any of us.” The pen continued to twirl in Donovan’s hand, his focus undisturbed by the conversation.

But his words eased something in Alexander’s soul. “Then how come you weren’t fooled?”

“Because I’ve seen desperation like that before. Known it myself. There were flashes of it in her aura. It can be a powerfully motivating force.”

The truth of Donovan’s words sparked memories within Alexander. There had been countless other mortals throughout time motivated by the same desperation. How had he never regarded it before?

“It sure was nice to see you back at work,” Donovan commented after a few moments of silence. “You’ve been playing this businessman role for a while now. You do it well, boss. But, if you don’t mind me saying, it’s not quite you.”

It was the most forthright Donovan had ever been with him. The corner of Alexander’s mouth quirked up. “You may have something there,” he said, leaving Donovan’s conjecture open for debate. He’d just apologized to Donovan for not listening. There might be something to what he said now, but he wasn’t ready at this moment to agree.

Suddenly Donovan rose from his chair and his waist came in view of the screen. A soft beeping went off in the background. “We have new activity. Three new blips from right in the casino. I’m on it.”

“I’ll be right there,” Alexander barked.

Donovan disappeared from the screen as the tires of Alexander’s car squealed on the pavement.

She was almost at the elevator that would take her to Alexander’s floor. Although she’d gone as slowly as she could, to help as many people along the way as possible, she’d inevitably made it there. Sighing, she slung the bow over her shoulder and reached out to push the button.

Before could make contact, both of her arms were grabbed from behind. She gasped with fear. She was roughly spun around and saw it was Donovan who held her. He stripped the bow and quiver from her and slung them over his own shoulders.

The blood drained from her face as she filled with dread. What did the gods do to mortals who stole their things? If mythology was any indication, she was in for big trouble.

“I was returning them. I swear,” she cried.

Donovan gave her a baleful glare and then ignored her as he typed a text message on his phone.

When he was done, he grasped her arm firmly and dragged her back the way she had come. “Donovan, you have to believe me. I never meant to hurt Alexander. I was bringing the bow back. I just wanted to help my parents. That’s all.”

“Along with a whole lot of other people,” he drawled, his voice cold as ice.

Chagrin stabbed through her. They knew. “I don’t know what happened,” she confessed. “After the first couple of arrows I just couldn’t seem to stop. But I didn’t do any harm. It’s love. If anything their lives will be better.”

He stopped in his tracks and scowled at her. “You little idiot. Love is not a game. You know nothing about it. Did you even notice that half of the arrows you discharged were arrows of hate?”

She blinked in astonishment. “Hate?”

He pulled two arrows from opposite sides of the quiver, she hadn’t noticed before that there was a barrier in the middle separating one half from the other, and showed her the tips. One gleamed gold and the other was a dull gray. “The lead-tipped ones are arrows of hate,” he said succinctly as if speaking to a dimwit.

Her draw dropped open. She’d used one on her father! How many others had she used them on?

He continued talking, “Did you even know that one must be skilled at reading auras in order to discharge these arrows properly?”

“Auras?” A sick feeling was developing in her stomach.

“Yes, auras. You can’t just shoot anyone you want, anywhere, at any time. They have to be shot at exactly the right moment to have the desired effect. When the auras of both parties are aligned.”

She cringed but not for long. Donovan snapped back around and continued to walk at a smart pace, dragging her behind him, returning the arrows to the quiver as he went.

A terrible worry gnawed at her. What had she done? Obviously there was a lot more to shooting the arrows than she’d thought. Now she wished she’d stuck around longer to see what the results were, but she’d been in such a hurry. She prayed that her family would be all right.

Alexander obviously knew of her deception now. Her heart ached at the thought of having to face him. What would he be thinking now?

A familiar face floated into her awareness. Cutting through her tortured thoughts, it drew her eyes to a man across the casino.

Alexander!

The look on his face said everything. There was loathing there, mixed with a radiating anger that pierced her heart. And that’s when she knew.

She was falling in love with him.

Time seemed to slow down as he started toward them. Donovan was walking in the opposite direction, pulling her along, and hadn’t seen Alexander yet. With each step Alexander took, every sterling, glorious memory of him floated to her mind.

The gentle feel of his fingers on her cheek. The way he’d pulled her into his arms for their first kiss. How wonderful and complete they’d felt together making love and then after as they’d lain wrapped in each other’s arms.

One by one each delicate image was snapped by the look in his eyes. Things would never go back to the way they were before. Her betrayal had ruined every wonderful, warm feeling that had been growing between them. He would never feel the same way about her.

Suddenly, it was too much.

Her energy drained out of her, misery setting in. There was nothing left; her world was destroyed. Her parents would never be back together, she’d probably ruined Jane’s life and Alexander was going to hate her. She wished she could carve the feelings out from herself and be done with them. She pulled her eyes away from Alexander and turned to stop Donovan, to tell him that his boss was there.

But the brightly colored fletching of the arrows bouncing along on his back caught her eye. The lead-tipped ones were arrows of hate Donovan had said. Arrows of hate. They had to be the cure for love. What else could they be used for? Hate was the opposite of love, which meant they had to be the cure for her pain. She knew nothing of auras and, at this moment, didn’t care. Things couldn’t get any worse than they already were. How was it possible that she felt such heart-wrenching emotions for Alexander, whom she’d known only a few days? Feelings so much more potent than she’d ever felt with Brad. And that’s when she knew. What she felt for Brad hadn’t been love. How could it be? The feelings she had for Alexander overshadowed them tenfold. And there was no way she could live her life with Alexander hating her when she was already in this deep.

Moving quickly, she grasped a shaft from the right side, where she’d seen him return the lead-tipped arrow, and yanked it out. Closing her eyes, she turned the arrow so the tip pointed straight at her chest. Holding in a sob, she plunged it toward her heart.

It was stopped centimeters from its target, her wrist firmly caught by strong fingers.

On the other side of them, Alexander’s blue eyes drilled holes into her.

His jaw was clenched and he emanated anger. His lightly sun-kissed skin and gleaming hair burned into her memory. He was breathtakingly beautiful, like an avenging angel.

“That would have been a big mistake,” he said.

He pried the arrow from her fingers and returned it to Donovan. Alexander murmured something to him and Donovan strode off.

His glacial eyes returned to her.

“How would you know? I think I would be happier without these feeling for you. I see the way you are looking at me now, and I can’t take it.”

“And you thought using an arrow of hate would make that go away? It wouldn’t, because hate is
not
the opposite of love.”

“It’s not?” Dazed, she followed him as he led her through a door marked Staff Only to an elevator where he pushed the top button marked R. Dread, confusion, and anxiety consumed her. “They’re not the cure? Then why do you have them?”

His laugh was cold. “I thought they were, too. I used one on myself once. That’s when I discovered that they are as closely related as two sides of the same coin. Your feelings would just have intensified, binding you tighter, but in a twisted way. One filled with bitterness and resentment.”

She could hear, in the flinty tones of his voice, that he spoke from experience.

“It is, in fact,
indifference
that is the opposite of love.”

The elevator stopped its ascent and Alexander walked her through another doorway to the roof of the hotel

She understood now; it made sense. Love was the highest and deepest feeling. Hate also was an extreme. Whereas indifference was lack of feeling at all.

“Well then, what do you use them for?” she asked. He was still very, very angry. She could see it in the way he carried himself but she couldn’t help the question from coming out.

His eyes glittered dangerously but he went ahead and explained. “Sometimes hate brings with it an intense physical passion that opens the door to love. In certain situations it is better to use them initially to draw people together. In other cases they are truly used to cause people to hate each other.” He stopped walking and let go of her arm to stand facing her.