Cal shares a dark look with his brother, then turns on his heel and heads back to the door.

"I need to go find Crystal," he throws a sharp look over his shoulder. "You two, behave yourselves."

We watch in silence a moment as Cal strides out of the room.

"And on that bombshell...he leaves us..." says Cupid, a touch of amusement in his tone.

Someone is targeting cupids?

The thought makes my blood run cold. I have friends that are cupids – Charlie, Crystal, Cal, Cupid.

"Should we follow him?" I say. "Find out what's going on?"

I look up at Cupid. He wafts his hand dismissively.

"Nah. It's Matchmaking Service business," he puts on a funny voice that is clearly meant to be an imitation of Cal, "And I'd rather spend my time with you, anyway."

Cupid puts his hands on my bare arms and pulls me around to look at him. He looks into my eyes, the flecks of green dancing within them. He smiles.

"Aw, look at you – you're worried about me, aren't you?"

"If someone's targeting cupids, shouldn't you be worrying too?"

He shrugs.

"The Matchmaking Service has been around for centuries. There's always some kind of trouble going on," a pensive look flickers across his face, "Come to think of it – most often it's caused by me..." I raise my eyebrows at him, "Seriously, don't worry about it. I'm sure they have it under control. Plus..."His grin widens. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I am pretty badass." he wiggles his eyebrows.

I let out an audible groan and slap him playfully on the arm - feeling the hardness of his muscles beneath my fingers.

"A pain in the ass, more like..." I say, the corner of my lip quirking upwards.

He laughs, then brings his hand up to my face and softly strokes my cheek with his thumb. His face falls serious. He looks down into my eyes as he looms over me. I feel small in comparison to him. His body heat engulfs me.

"Do you realise, we've hardly spent any time together since, well..." he says.

"The time we accidentally brought your mother back and she tried to kill us?"

He gives me a sheepish look.

"Not the best 'meet the parents' scenario ever, was it?"

I give him a smile. Slowly he moves his other hand to my waist, circling the cotton of my top with his thumb. It distracts me, my skin on fire beneath his touch. My breathing quickens.

"I...uh...We've had our training sessions..." I say.

His eyes burn into mine.

"You know what I mean...we've not had any proper alone time. Just you and me, no weapons, no interruptions."

He's right.

It's been over two months since the battle in the trial room. Since then the Matchmaking Service has been in chaos.

And since then Cupid has been allowed back in on a kind of consultancy basis. He's been assisting them. He even went overseas over Christmas to help Charlie out on her first assignment as a cupid.

"Well you've been busy with Matchmaking Service stuff," I say. "And I've been at school."

"Plus, my brother is always bursting in at inopportune moments..." he says, something unreadable gleaming behind his irises. He smiles, then cocks his head to the side. "But, it's not just that. I feel like you've been...I don't know...avoiding me, or something."

I sigh.

There's some truth in what he's saying.

After everything that happened between us, I've found myself holding back a little. It's not that I don't have feelings for him, I do. God, I do. He's my match.

My skin still feels like it's on fire every time he's around. And everytime he's not around, I want him to be.

But still, something restrains me, keeps me back.

Everything is different now.

Cal's words from when I was in hospital after the battle resound around my brain. I think of the forceful way he said it, the passion glimmering behind his silver eyes as they focused on mine. I keep thinking about that moment, though I'm not sure why.

Maybe because he's right.

Everything is different.

I'm different.

I look up at Cupid, feeling the familiar pull in my body towards his despite any resistance in my mind.

"The first time we kissed we resurrected an Ancient Goddess who tried to kill us all..." I say. "And..."

I bite my lip – trapping the next words before they escape into the open; the words that are gnawing at my insides. I'm afraid to say them aloud because I don't want them to be true.

And... you knew – you knew she would come to kill us when you came here to find me. So how can I trust you?

He strokes my face – and my pulse races.

"And what?" he leans closer, his eyes bearing into mine. "Tell me. Tell me what's going on in there."

He lightly touches my head.

I force a smile.

"Nothing..." I say.

He brings his face closer, a serious look in his eye.

"I get it," he says. "You're putting your guard up because when you let yourself feel something for me something terrible happened. But that's all over now, Lila. You're safe, you're safe with me, I promise."

His face is so close to mine that I could count his thick eyelashes. I feel his breath, warm, on my face. His eyes flicker toward my lips. And I want him to kiss me, I want to brush my lips against his, I want to run my fingers through his ruffled hair.

But instead of doing any of those things, I smile and take a small step backwards.

"I...um...I'm supposed to be meeting Charlie, over at the Love Shack," I say. My voice comes out a little croaky and I cough. "You...um...you want to come?"

Cupid hurriedly conceals a look of disappointment – disappointment that I share.

Why do I have to keep pulling away? Why didn't I just kiss him?!

Then he nods.

"Sure," he says. He gives me a winning smile. "How is our newest member of the oh-so-awesome cupid club?"

I take a breath, calming the fire racing in my veins. Then I swing the quiver of arrows off my shoulder as we head across the combat room side by side – me placing the arrows on a white weapon check in counter and swapping it for my satchel. We slip on our shoes.

"Fine," I say. "Missing her new cupid boyfriend, Klaus, though."

In one of the booths, behind the transparent wall to my side, I see a couple of Matchmaking Agents fighting invisible forces within their training simulations. We walk past them into the corridor, our footsteps clicking against the black and white tiles.

I feel my phone buzz against my leg – probably Charlie asking where I am – and it reminds me what else is in my pocket.

"By the way...why did you send me a Valentine's Day card?" I say. "It's January – it's not Valentine's Day for another month."

"Huh? A Valentine's Day card?" says Cupid. "I didn't..."