A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed this! Glad everyone seems to be enjoying it so far! Also, to my awesome beta westernbeauty, thanks so much for all your support!

Chapter Two

When she exited her hotel the next morning, Felicity was not as surprised as she should've been to find Oliver leaning against the black truck she'd seen him climb into a few days prior. He was parked near the entrance and it was clear that he had been waiting for her. She approached him with her chin up, her posture stiff.

"You know, I'm pretty sure I'd have a good case against you for stalking," she snapped.

Oliver's eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses but one corner of his mouth ticked in response to her statement.

"We need to talk."

She sighed, shaking her head. She hadn't slept. As exhausted as she had been when she'd left the cantina the evening before, his revelation about their Marked status had kept her up. She'd used one of the guest computers in the hotel to research what she could about the Marked. There wasn't much information available to the public, at least not on the surface, and it had been close to dawn when she'd stumbled on an underground message board for the Marked. Most of the posts had been from people looking for their matches. People posting descriptions and even photos of their own Marks, hoping that their other halves were out there somewhere.

But the board had contained other information, too. She'd had to read between the lines on some of the posts, but what she'd been able to glean from the messages was that being Marked wasn't at all the romantic notion that people believed it to be. From what people were saying, it held its share of danger.

That Felicity could understand. To be bound by a Mark she'd been born with to a man she had only just met certainly felt dangerous. But not – she'd realized – because she didn't trust him. In the moments that she had been with him, she hadn't once feared Oliver. It wasn't his physical presence that she'd been irked by. It was her immediate attraction to him. It was the way her heart had sped up and her skin had come alive at just the slightest contact. She hadn't even thought about those responses until after he'd assured her that they were Marked. She hadn't recognized the unnatural way she'd been drawn to him back in Phoenix. But as she'd sat in front of the monitor, her eyes blurry from staring so long at the small print on the screen, she'd remembered the way she'd felt the first time she'd heard him laugh. It had awoken something within her. And whatever that thing was, it was becoming more evident every time she saw him. Even then, standing across from him in the parking lot of the hotel, she felt her pulse quicken. She was finding it difficult to breathe properly.

She sighed, "Shit."

"Let me buy you a cup of coffee," Oliver offered, taking a step toward her.

She resisted her immediate instinct to step away, to keep a safe distance between them. One large hand touched her bare forearm, squeezing her gently, and then he took a step back. When he opened the passenger side door of his truck, she climbed in without hesitation.

She watched through the windshield as he moved around the front of the vehicle to slide behind the wheel.

Simply being Marked – and matched because of the Mark – didn't mean that she would be romantically involved with Oliver, she knew that. There were plenty of Marked couples that were not in any way romantically involved. It was believed that siblings could be Marked, other family members. Sometimes your match just turned out to be your closest friend. But that person was always, always, a key player in your life. Once a Marked pair had been joined, it was like a different world for each of them. Some of the stories that she had read claimed that, once together, Marked pairs were happier than they had ever been prior to finding one another. It was believed that, if you were Marked, your partner would be the one true source of happiness in your life. They would be your lifeline from the moment that you met until the day that you died.

And that, she had discovered, was the frightening part.

"How did you find me?" she asked when they turned onto the main road.

Oliver shrugged, "It wasn't that difficult. I followed the bus you'd hopped out of town."

She tried not to let that unsettling fact disturb her. Or the easy way in which he'd admitted it. Instead, she chose to remain silent until they were parked in front of a small diner where she'd had breakfast twice before.

"What do you know about the Marked?"

They were seated across from one another at a table in the back corner of the dining room. She hadn't heard him request something private so she was surprised to find that they were the only ones in that little section of the room.

In response to his question, she said, "Not as much as I'd like to know. You?"

"Probably more than I should."

His evasive answer was a direct retort to hers and she knew it. Sighing, she kept her gaze locked on his vibrant blue eyes and told him what she'd found in her research.

"How much of that did you know prior to last night?" he questioned.

She shrugged, "Just bits and pieces. I've never actually met anyone who was Marked so I never had anyone to ask. There wasn't as much available online as I'd hoped. And a lot of what I did find was really vague. What about you? What else can you tell me?"

Their waitress arrived then with coffee and Felicity ordered breakfast. Oliver didn't ask for anything beyond his coffee and she didn't question him.

"If you think you're going to intimidate me by watching me eat, think again."

He shook his head, a small grin making his eyes shine a little brighter. She felt heat settle in her cheeks.

"Tell me about yourself," he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest, "Who are you, Felicity?"

She didn't answer right away because she didn't know how. She couldn't be sure how far she could go, how well she really could trust him, because she knew nothing about him beyond his name. He claimed they were Marked but she hadn't seen his mark yet. While hers was clearly visible, Oliver's was not.

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything. Where are you from? What's your last name?"

She smiled slightly, "Boston, originally. And it's Smoak. Felicity Smoak."

Oliver sipped at his coffee in an introspective silence and she took the time to watch him across the table. His dark blonde hair was thick and just long enough that it stuck up stylishly, like someone had been dragging their fingers through the strands. She found herself immediately imagining what it would be like to be so privileged. The thought made her choke on the hot coffee in her mouth. She set her cup down roughly and stared at its contents. She was not supposed to be thinking about him that way and – if anything about their situation had been normal – she wouldn't have. When she typically met a man, even one she was physically attracted to right off the bat, she wasn't normally so imaginative. But what she'd thought about Oliver's hair had felt so real that her fingers were tingling.

"The guy in Phoenix, who was he?"

She answered his question easily, the words rolling off of her tongue as if she hadn't even considered telling him it wasn't any of his business. And, she realized, she hadn't. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

"Cooper? A mistake. Some guy that I let myself get close to but it turned out he was a possessive asshole who thinks that hitting a girl is how you make her want to stay with you."

He didn't flinch at her confession but she saw the way his expression hardened.

Her food arrived then and she was grateful for the interruption. She had no idea why she'd been so forthcoming with him. Lying was second nature to her. She'd learned to be evasive, to keep specific details of her past to herself, but she hadn't felt the need to do that with Oliver. It had been easy to offer up the truth when he'd asked for it.

"You're used to this, aren't you?" he pressed, "Jumping from place to place? Running?"

She shrugged, "It's what I'm good at."

She shoveled a bite of food into her mouth and avoided looking at him. His gaze was hot where it touched her but she didn't feel as if he was judging her or even if he was accusing her of anything. He was curious.

"How long has it gone on?"

She shrugged again. It was becoming a nervous tick.

"I was fourteen the first time I took off."

"Your dad?"

She shook her head, "Mom's boyfriend. My dad left when I was four."

He fell quiet for a moment and when she glanced up from her plate, she found him staring into his cup.

"What about you, Oliver? I know nothing about you beyond the fact that you possess amazing stalker capabilities and you drive a big truck. Where are you from? I know it isn't Phoenix," she asked.

He laughed, "I wasn't stalking you. And why would you assume I'm not from Phoenix?"

"Just this feeling I got. And yes, by definition, you were stalking. But I'll let it slide. Now answer the question. Where are you from?"

"I grew up in Coast City."

She knew the moment that he said it that it wasn't exactly the truth. It wasn't a blatant lie, something in her gut told her that much, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

"How long has it been since you've been back?"

He shook his head, "Not since I was about ten."

"How old are you?"

Felicity asked the question simply to keep him talking. She didn't particularly care if he was twenty-five or thirty-five, age was just a number.

"Thirty."

Another lie, she realized, and she immediately wondered when she'd become a human lie detector. She'd never been so sure of someone else's honesty or deflection and she couldn't help wondering if it was a side effect of being Marked.

She let silence settle between them as she took another bite of her meal. She caught a glimpse of the clock near the front door and took a final drink of her coffee.

"I've got to go," she told him quickly, "I've got an appointment to see an apartment this morning. Two actually."

Felicity got to her feet and Oliver joined her. He dropped enough cash on the table to cover their coffee and her breakfast before leading her back out to his truck.

"You don't have to drive me. I'm perfectly capable of walking," she assured him.

He simply shrugged and opened the door of the truck for her yet again. At least he had manners, she thought as she climbed up onto the seat. If he wanted to play chauffer for the day, who was she to argue?

Felicity pocketed the key to her new apartment as she stepped into the cantina for her lunch shift. Oliver had dropped her at the door, not saying when she would see him again, and she'd watched him drive off. She had had to suppress the surge of disappointment she felt at watching him leave. She really would have to find out more about what all being Marked entailed.

"Good morning, chica. Are you ready for a slow afternoon?"

She glanced up at Rosa's smiling face as she walked into the kitchen. They wouldn't open for another half hour but she had come in early to help Jorge and Rosa set up. Apparently, Sundays were the slowest day of the week and Felicity was looking forward to an easy shift. The night before had been hectic. She had no idea how Rosa and Jorge had gone so long without another server on staff.

"Morning. Yes, after last night, the slower the better. I won't even complain about lack of tips."

Rosa laughed, her warm brown eyes following Felicity around the room. She felt the older woman prepare herself to ask a question and she held her breath as she waited for it to come. She knew that Rosa would've seen her getting out of Oliver's truck if she'd been in the dining room at the time.

"How did your apartment search go this morning?"

She smiled, "Great. I have a small studio above the salon just across the street. Right in my price range. I won't need a roommate and its close enough that I can walk over."

"That's perfect! Is it furnished? You probably don't have much with you," Rosa started.

Felicity nodded before the other woman could offer to provide any additional furniture.

"Fully furnished," she lied, "It's a steal, really. They could probably get a lot more for the place."

And if it had been furnished, her statement would've been true. But the truth was, the built in bookshelves and the barstools that fit at the kitchen island were the only furniture provided. Felicity would have to look at the local thrift store for whatever pieces she could find to fill the space.

What had drawn her to that particular space was its nearness to the bar. Without a car, she was limited to only a few locations. But on top of that, the security it offered had been what had really pulled her in. The salon's owner had assured her that the new security system was top of the line and the only door into the apartment was secured with two deadbolts. The precautions had given Felicity peace of mind.

"Well congratulations, mi hija. I'm happy for you," Rosa told her, "I don't like the idea of you spending all of your money on that hotel. And if you're going to stay here in town you might as well get comfortable."

Felicity turned with a container of salt in her hand, ready to head out to the dining room to refill the shakers at each table, only to be stopped by Rosa's next question.

"And who was that handsome man that dropped you off, this morning? You didn't say that you'd come into town with anyone," her friend pointed out.

She sighed. She'd thought she'd gotten lucky and that Rosa hadn't seen Oliver drop her off. It wasn't that she felt as if she couldn't confide in the older woman, it was simply that she wasn't ready to. At least, she didn't think she was.

"I came here alone," she assured Rosa, "Oliver arrived yesterday. He's a friend."

Rosa didn't comment but something in the way that she looked at her made Felicity feel uneasy. It was the first time since she had walked into the cantina that she'd gotten anything but a good feeling from Rosa and Jorge.

"Well I'm glad you have someone here with you," Rosa said eventually.

The conversation ended there but as Felicity stepped into the dining room, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more that Rosa had wanted to say.

Tommy stood with his back to the side of the building, half hidden in the alleyway, but Oliver knew he was there as he approached. His brother was angry. He felt it in the air around him, but he didn't stop until they were standing opposite one another.

"Oliver, please. Stop this while you can. This is not going to work out for you," Tommy cautioned, "It won't work out for either of you. If she finds out what you are –"

"I can't walk away."

His brother released a frustrated breath and paced away from him. When he turned back, Oliver could see the familial concern in his brown eyes. He wanted to eliminate Tommy's worry but it was pointless to try to deny that what was happening was dangerous. He knew that Felicity would not be safe. She would never be safe with him at her side. But leaving her was no longer an option. Not now that he knew. Now that she knew.

"You're going to get her killed and you know that what they'll do to you will be worse than death."

Fury made his brother's voice reverberate in the space between the buildings but Oliver did not flinch.

"She is Marked, Tommy."

The pacing stopped as Tommy whirled to face him. The confusion in his expression gave way to worry. Oliver knew that he understood then. It had taken one simple explanation and Tommy was falling against the brick façade again, shaking his head. Astonishment replaced the worry.

"Your match?"

"You don't seem all that surprised. You knew?"

His brother ran a hand over his close-cropped hair.

"It's been circulating around. Someone was Marked. One of our kind. Unintentionally, of course. But no one was sure who it was."

Oliver felt himself stepping back but he wasn't conscious of making the decision to do so.

He had never heard anything of their kind being Marked. In all of his years, the rumor his brother spoke of had never reached him. As far as he knew, they were incapable of carrying the Mark. They were incapable of carrying on any kind of lasting relationship so it would make sense that their kind would be free of the Mark.

"You've always seemed like you were looking for someone. Like you were searching."

He gazed at his brother across the alley.

It was true that he had been looking for her. He had searched the earth, for decades he had been looking, but he had never known what it was he was looking for. He had been overcome with a need to find something, someone, but he hadn't been able to understand why. He had never been able to explain the need and he had never tried to. Tommy hadn't questioned him when he had gallivanted off to parts unknown. He had never questioned why Oliver chose to search alone. It was because his brother hadn't needed to ask.

"You never said."

Tommy shrugged, "It wasn't my place. You needed to discover it for yourself. And once you started searching, I knew I couldn't stop you. You would find her and then there would be no turning back."

"What do I do?"

"I guess you follow your heart, Ollie. She practically owns it now. You can't let her go."

When her shift ended at eight that evening, Felicity exited the cantina through the door in the kitchen that led to the alley. She had offered to take the garbage out for Jorge on her way out and as she dropped the two large bags into the dumpster, she felt the air around her shift and cool. She knew without turning that Oliver would be at the mouth of the alley waiting for her.

"Are you planning on following me everywhere for the rest of eternity now that you know we're a matched set?" she called as she turned in his direction.

His truck sat idling, the passenger window lowered. She saw him lean closer to the window. He was smiling.

"Maybe. Come on, I'll give you a ride back to the hotel to get your stuff."

She climbed into the cab of the truck without giving it a second thought. As they headed back to the hotel, she turned and watched Oliver.

"Where have you been all day?" she questioned.

He shrugged, "Around. I met up with my brother."

Her brow lifted.

"Tommy."

"Wait, Tommy is your brother? Wow, I don't know how I missed the similarities. I mean, you're not identical or anything, but I see it."

"Yeah, thank God. Listen, I know you've got keys to your new apartment, but you should stay at the hotel tonight."

Felicity waited for an explanation for his suggestion but he didn't give one. She had planned on remaining at the hotel, given that she was paid up through the following morning, but Oliver didn't need to know that. And he had no real right to make suggestions about where she chose to sleep. He may be her match, but that didn't give him the right to dictate her life.

"Where've you been staying? With Tommy? Why is he here, too?"

Oliver sighed, "You've got a lot of questions tonight."

"And I'd like you a little more if you'd stop being evasive and answer a couple of them."

He laughed, that same rough sound that had drawn her attention to him that first day in Phoenix. She didn't think she would tire of the sound any time soon.

"Tommy is here because he thinks I'm insane for following you. He understands now though. I told him."

"Oh."

She was just getting used to the idea herself and Oliver was already telling people. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with that but there was nothing that could be done about it now. He had already told Tommy.

He parked near her door and followed her up the stairs to the second floor. When she flipped on the lights in the small room, he closed the door behind her.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked, dropping her satchel on the bed she wasn't using and going to the phone, "I was just going to order a pizza or something."

Oliver remained by the door. She wasn't sure what was keeping him rooted to the spot but she found herself fidgeting uncomfortably. He was calm, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, and his eyes were gentle as he watched her. She picked up the phone to keep her hands occupied and called the pizzeria a few blocks from the hotel. She'd ordered from them before.

"And dinner will be here in twenty. You can sit down, you know."

When he dropped into one of the chairs at the small table with the spare bed between them, she found herself relieved. Uneasiness had settled over her as the realization that they were locked away in her hotel room with him blocking the door. She was pretty sure that he hadn't meant it to be that way, that he wouldn't force her to stay in that room if she'd wanted to leave, but the memory of a similar scenario shoved to the forefront of her mind and Felicity wrapped her arms protectively around her middle.

Not for the first time since she'd met him, she'd let her guard down too quickly.

Marked or not, Oliver was a virtual stranger. He'd answered so few of her questions, giving her nothing to go on, and she'd been uncharacteristically open. It was a quality she'd learned to tamp down. As a child, she'd always spoken so freely, something her mom had never appreciated, but after too many instances of being too loose with her tongue and paying the price, she'd learned to keep her mouth shut. Except, it seemed, where her match was concerned.

"I don't know what this means for us."

Her head came up at his statement. She blinked in surprise.

"I don't know either. I mean, it could mean anything, right? Maybe you're destined to be my best friend. I don't really have one at the moment, so that could be it. Or maybe it'll be something else. The question is, how the hell do we determine which is the right answer? I don't know you any more than you know me. I don't even know for sure that you have the Mark."

She hadn't meant to let the last part slip but the moment that it was out of her mouth, she realized that it had been bothering her. She'd believed him with absolutely no evidence. She had taken him at his word, had felt the truth of them in her soul, and she hadn't once considered questioning his claim. But she wanted to see his Mark. She needed to know.

"You don't believe I have one?"

She shrugged, "I didn't say that."

"But you want proof?"

"Wouldn't you?"

Oliver sighed. When he stood, she got to her feet with a little more eagerness than she'd meant to exhibit. They met in the middle of the room and when Oliver presented her with his back and began lifting his t-shirt, she swallowed hard.

"Lower right side."

Her eyes traveled over the patch of mottled, scarred skin that he'd revealed and she felt heat blossom low in her stomach. The small crude arrow was stark white even against a multitude of scars. There was no way to miss it. No way to deny that it was identical to hers. But it wasn't the scar that caused her sharp intake of breath. It was the dark edges of a tattoo that took up the expanse of his back and dipped into the waistband of his jeans. Her hand lifted of its own accord. He jerked in response to her touch.

"Felicity."

She heard the warning in his voice and chose to ignore it. Her fingers slipped beneath the soft cotton of his shirt and as her hands moved higher to stroke along the intricate design etched into his flesh, the material was pushed up and over his shoulders. The tattoo covered his entire back, shoulder to shoulder, neck to waist. It was dark and lovely and perfect.

"Wings."

She was startled by the breathy quality of her own voice. It was soft and full of wonder. She'd never heard herself sound so reverent before.

A sudden spark of electricity passed from his flesh to hers like static and she drew her hand away on instinct. He took a step, righting his shirt as he did so. She was confused when he refused to turn and face her.

"I should go."

There was a strain in his words that she didn't recognize. She opened her mouth to protest, to ask him to stay, but the request wouldn't come. Before she could blink, the door was closing behind him.

He sat with the truck running, the AC on full blast, both windows down.

He felt as if he was on fire, as if he was burning from the inside out. The path that Felicity had traced along his back ached, a deep throbbing that shook him to his core. He had hidden his wings for ages. He had never allowed anyone to glimpse the power that they possessed but when her delicate hands had followed the curves of dark ink, something within him had been awakened.

Felicity Smoak was his match. His mate. He only had to find a way to convince her.