Stealing Cupid's Bow (17 page)

The space felt like a great chasm between them. “Alexander…I’m really sorry I took your bow. I was bringing it back. That’s why I’m here.”

He said nothing.

Her words caused no change in his expression. “I am sorry,” she said again, tears forming in her eyes. The impact of what she had done was penetrating now. She had really made a muck of things. “All those people…. How badly have I screwed them up?”

“Badly.”

“What do we do about it now? How can we fix it?” She sniffled, her sinuses beginning to fill up. “What a mess.”

“That doesn’t even begin to describe it. Do you know, at this very moment, your cousin and her bakery are surrounded by aggressive, fighting men? One of them tried to drag her off with him. She’s locked herself inside.”

She gasped. “No! We have to help her!”

“Help her? Why should I help her? You did this. It’s exactly what you wanted.”

“No! It’s not! I wanted her to be happy! To be loved.” A tear streamed down her cheek. “She could get hurt, Alexander!”

“She won’t. They were starting to fight with each other, so I sent Cole over there to prevent any bloodshed. He’s waiting for my order before doing anything else.”

That gave her some relief but the image of Jane cowering in her bakery was upsetting.

“Why are you so determined to interfere with other people’s lives? So determined to try to force love into being? I already told you what I know from my centuries of experience. It may as well not exist.”

“I can’t believe you are saying that. You, the god of love. If
you
don’t believe, then there is no hope for any of us.” Anger crept inside her, lending energy to her words.

“There’s no reason to believe! Even my own marriage to Psyche didn’t work out. What is it that makes you continue to believe in it? Why do you keep hanging on? And why shouldn’t I just hang up my bow and enjoy what this world has to offer? What good do all the damn arrows do anyway? Who cares if I help it along if it doesn’t last? People will just keep getting hurt. If it did exist, it wouldn’t need me in order to happen.” He turned away from her, breathing heavily, and stalked toward the edge of the roof.

She was shocked for a split second but then followed him. The light was beginning to dawn. There was a frustrated and hurt man inside of him. A man who had been burned by love and had his faith shaken just like any human. Him, the very soul of love.

She couldn’t believe it. Were the gods not so different from humans after all? “They don’t always get hurt. It can be as wonderful as we all dream,” she said in a low voice.

He exhaled heavily and didn’t answer.

His attitude made her angrier. Did he really need a pep talk? “You yourself told me before that it’s rare.”

“Okay, so it
practically
doesn’t exist. Close enough. You’re lucky I took care of Brad when I did; otherwise you would have been hurt even more.”

She froze in place. “What do you mean?”

Alexander ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself, and looked away. He hadn’t meant to ever tell her. Those last words came out without him even thinking.

“What did you do? What did you do!” Her fists were clenched.

His back stiffened. There was no turning back now. He would have to tell her. “I shot the arrow that made him fall in love with that girl.”

Raine’s mouth fell open, and she began to shake her head. “No! Why? Why would you do that to me, Alexander?”

Tears were running down her cheeks and her nose sounded stuffed up. He hated to see a woman cry, and he especially didn’t like it when Raine cried. His compassion flared and misery stabbed him deep in the gut.

“It was a direct order from Olympus,” he told her.

“Mount Olympus?” she echoed. “But then, Brad and I would still be together if you hadn’t interfered?”

“Yes, and no,” he said, already knowing it wasn’t a sufficient answer.

“What does that mean?”

He walked to the edge of the roof to look down at the city and she followed him. He had not wanted to be the one to deliver this blow. It would just add to her pain but she deserved to know the truth. She was watching him with pleading eyes and he knew there was no he could let her go on thinking that they would have been together if not for him.

“He had already been seeing her for two months,” he finally said. “At least, as far as I know, that’s how long we were monitoring him before I decided it was time to go.”

She seemed to deflate as the words hit her, and she looked down at the floor. He stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders. A few quiet tears rolled down her cheeks but other than that she stood there in silence. He waited patiently for her to absorb it. After a few moments she lifted her gaze back to his. A breeze lifted a strand of her dark hair to dance across her lovely cheek, and her eyes glittered like peridot from the welling of tears.

“I think I already knew that,” she said.

His brows rose in surprise. “You did?”

“There were a lot of signs,” she said, “but I wanted to ignore them. I wanted the dream to be real. Actually, I’m glad you confirmed it.” She sniffled and wiped her face with her hands.

He pulled his handkerchief from his pants pocket and gave it to her. “You are?”

“Yes, at least now I know I wasn’t crazy to have all the suspicions I did. I’m trusting my gut from now on.”

“See, you should listen to me,” he said gently. But instead of the agreement he was expecting, she became offended.

“I cannot believe you!” she said. She lifted a hand and looked like she was about to swat him but then changed her mind. “Just because I got hurt doesn’t mean I’ve given up on love. It doesn’t matter if Brad didn’t feel it for me. I know it’s real because I felt it. I expressed it; I lived it. That’s proof enough that it exists. And you know what? It was worth every second.”

She said it like a dare, challenging him and, gods help him, he found he liked her fighting back. She completely disregarded what he said and was pushing him, shaking his beliefs. This was a whole other side of Raine he hadn’t seen yet.

He stared at her in amazement. “Even with all the pain you felt afterward? All the tears that soaked your pillow were worth it?”

“Yes, they were.” The words seemed ground out from her and her green eyes glistened with steely truth. “And if you never speak to me again, I will happily cry tears like that for you. We felt it the other night, Alexander. What we had between us was real. I’m falling in love with you. And that is something I’ll never forget.”

His breath caught at her admission and a warmth lit in his heart, like a match in the darkness. The feelings had consumed him as well. She loved him. The realization of it melted his frigid stance.

She took in a deep breath and lifted her chin, continuing her tirade. “I would rather live in a world where something so glorious is possible than one where it isn’t. When two soul mates find each other it is ten times more glorious than anything any of us know. I’m sure of it. So, I’m not afraid to keep loving. And I’m not afraid to love you.” She was serious; he could see by the flares coming from her aura. Deep emotions coursed through him. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, tell her he felt the same way. But her betrayal held him back.

Her insight about failed love was a whole new perspective he’d never considered. How did she always manage to surprise him? He’d never heard anyone say such a thing in his existence. He’d never imagined that people felt that way. Especially those who had been wounded by his work. It was hard to wrap his mind around it. He stepped closer. “So let me get this straight. To you it was all worth it? Even though he didn’t love you the same way? Even though it ended?” He cut a hand through the air for emphasis.

“Yes.”

Nothing about her wavered where she stood toe-to-toe with him and he found it rather sexy.

“Even though we might never see each other again?” he said in a low voice.

“Yes.”

She was strong underneath the tears and the pain. Strong in ways he’d never imagined, or valued, before.

Alexander raised his hands to cup her cheeks, his expression softening. Her aura at this moment was the most beautiful and brightest he’d ever seen. It radiated purple and pink, the colors of spirituality and love. So mesmerizing. They were colors he normally saw at weddings between the bride and groom. He had worked for so long to create them in humanity. And here they were, strong and vibrant in this one woman. She inspired him.

“You know I’m telling the truth,” she whispered.

Although he might be ready to give some thought to her beliefs he wasn’t ready to commit to them yet. He let his hands fall to his sides.

She searched his face with her eyes and he saw them lighten with some new, sudden understanding. “Oh my goodness. I’ve figured it out,” she in an amused tone. “You were an idealist before your divorce.” She poked his chest with a finger.

He stepped back. Affronted by such treatment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She advanced on him again, finger still extended. “You are! That’s what the problem is.”

He continued to step back to avoid being poked and she continued to follow him. “You think that just because sometimes things don’t work out, that love doesn’t last forever, that none of it is worth it. And you know what? Just because you’re a god doesn’t mean you can’t get hurt like everyone else. Just because you and Psyche didn’t work out doesn’t mean it will never happen for anyone else.” She sucked in her breath, eyes wide, and snapped her fingers as if the magical answer had been delivered to her. “That was the first time you were in love, wasn’t it?”

He bumped into a wall when he stepped back again, which startled him, but he covered for it by crossing his arms in front of him and frowning down at her. Before he could formulate a starchy answer, she continued, speaking more rapidly now.

“That’s it isn’t it? She was your first love and you had your heart broken. That’s why you’re so cynical!” She looked gleeful as though she had figured out a complex puzzle.

“I do not have to stand here and listen to this.”

And, although he could have been anywhere in an instant, he remained standing where he was. There was something about her that fascinated him; he didn’t actually want to leave. But, instead of entertaining her train of thought, he ended the conversation by changing the subject. “And if you want my help cleaning up the mess you made, we’d better get started.”

“What? You’ll help me fix everything?”

His sidetrack worked. “Well I can’t have anyone thinking
I
made this mess.” He refrained from saying
and if it continues much longer, word will get out that I was foolish enough to let my bow be stolen by a mortal
.

He spoke Donovan’s name and had the wind carry the summons off to him. It blew warm and soft as it picked up the word and carried it away, playing with Raine’s hair as it left.

Raine turned her head this way and that apparently hearing the echoes on the wind as it went.

Within seconds, Donovan appeared through the doorway holding Alexander’s bow and quiver.

“Did you load the other arrows?”

“As you requested,” Donovan said.

Alexander busied himself with unbuttoning his shirt.

“What was that?” Raine asked.

“He can speak through the wind,” Donovan answered her.

“It’s more than that. I control it,” Alexander corrected, “in many ways. A useful skill for any archer.” He turned to Donovan. “Did you get a fix on Blake Jordan?”

Donovan nodded. “They’re at Green Hills Chapel. It’ll be on your way.”

Alexander shook his head. “Celebrities. Why do they have to run off and get married first? Why can’t they just go straight to their hotel room like everyone else?”

“You got me.” Donovan shrugged.

Alexander handed his shirt to Donovan and allowed his wings to unfurl after pulling the quiver and bow over to rest diagonally across his chest. He could feel Raine’s eyes on him, running over his body, and the corners of his mouth lifted with amusement. He liked the affect he had on her.

He pulled her close against his side and wrapped his arm firmly around her waist. It was dark now and unlikely anyone would see them in the air.

“What…?”

Her words cut off as he beat his wings powerfully and lifted them from the floor. He had the wind pick up around them to support his lift off and headed toward the edge of the building.

She clenched his arm in fear and squealed, “No, no, no! I can’t; I don’t like heights.”

But he paid it no mind. “You have nothing to fear,” he said. His wings folded into a sharp V they dove straight down toward the street.

“Aaaaahhhhhh!” Raine shrieked. She wrapped her arms around Alexander’s neck, clutching herself as close to him as she could. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it didn’t help, she could still feel the vertigo.

They were falling! Falling straight to the street below. Terror filled her mind.

And then he made a great curving swoop, his wings beating a couple of times to level them off into a glide.

There was a strange shaking motion coming from his chest. She pried one eye open to see. His lips were sealed tight to hold back the laughter, but he didn’t do as good of a job concealing his smile. The corners of his mouth were curved up and his eyes were dancing.

“This is not funny!” she raged.

But he only laughed harder.

It was irritating that he was amused at her expense. But, she grudgingly supposed she deserved it after all she’d done and said to him. Flying with him had to be a much better alternative than being smote by him.

They were gliding away from the Strip now and she heard Alexander speak to the wind and ask it to arrange itself in an updraft to support them. As they continued to glide smoothly, her terror decreased fractionally, which was better than nothing. It still bothered her that there was nothing between her and the ground except Alexander’s arm. Which, considering whose arm it was, should have consoled her, but it didn’t.