"Is everyone's paperwork processed and ready for the hearing?" Jeremiah shouts from the other room. "Including the additional paperwork that is now needed because someone let both the witness and a suspect get away?"

I exit the room where the holding cells are located and enter the main office of the DSA containment building. "The paperwork has been completed, oh fearless leader. I even remembered to put them in separate holding cells so that they can't kill each other before court. You should have heard them in there, each one accusing the other of being a narc. They sure as hell clammed up the moment I started asking about the Sons. Did you email the Chief?"

"I did. We are done for the night."

"Hell yeah."

Jeremiah begins to lock up the building while I hang up my badge, trailing behind me as we exit and head to the residence building.

"Admit it, Eden," he urges as we walk. "You missed this. You missed us. You missed the thrill of a mission and not knowing what might happen next."

"I missed the money. Do you know how hard it is to find a stable job when you constantly have to watch your back? I missed consistent pay. Not breaking up stupid poker games that get us nowhere closer to the Sons. Have you guys ever thought about saying 'fuck it' and just setting a reward out for whoever brings you information leading to the arrest of a Son?"

"And risk Dimitri raining unholy hell down upon this realm for daring to arrest his children without just case? I think not."

"It's not unjust cause! Who else has the magik to call upon an Ayngel, keep it in this realm, beat it to death, and then rip off its wings? A Son is the only viable option."

"It's not. You; you can do all of that! The fact that we have no proof that it was a Son and no proof that it wasn't you who did the killing is all Dimitri would need to rally his people behind him. Are you trying to start a realm war? Because that is how you start one."

I huff, biting back an argument. Jeremiah is right and I hate it. Unless we have actual evidence that a Son killed an Ayngel, accusing one is a dangerous thing.

"We just have to keep looking and we will find what we need to track one down." He holds the residence building door open for me. "Any plans for the rest of the night? Or should I say day? I just realized it's damn near four in the morning."

"That depends on whether I have to be up in an hour and a half to run six miles while some blonde prock lectures me on what a pain in the ass I am." I pull my key from my jacket pocket and slide it into the lock.

Jeremiah reaches forward, wrapping his hand around mine as I turn the key. Our eyes meet, a look of something soft and subtle in his, and he turns us so that my back is now pressed against the door. He presses his forehead against mine, bringing a hand up so that his thumb rests under my chin and his other fingers on my cheek. "Stop pretending, E, I know you missed this as much as I did. Not just the sex, but working together as a team. Can you honestly tell me you didn't think about me at all when you were on the run?"

I swallow. I had thought of him, but not in the way he wanted me to. I had tried to miss him, to miss the friendship we'd had, but all I could remember was the betrayal. The way he had made me feel when he showed me that the months he had spent getting to know me and telling me how he felt about me had been nothing but a lie.

"Why are you so determined to fight this? I saw the look in your eyes when I showed up at your apartment in Utah; you were thinking the same thing that I was."

"That it was a shame I hadn't aimed that dagger at your face? By the way, I'd like those back now."

"You keep saying that things between us have been and still are over, but is that what you really want?" He dips his head, his lips a breath away from mine. "We've played this little game in the past, and it always had the same ending."

I consider letting him kiss me, letting myself fall back into bad habits in hopes that it will finally bring my feelings back, but I don't. Even if I wanted to pretend to be human, Jeremiah is not who I would choose. I had made that mistake in the past, giving myself to him for a whole year, only to find myself heartbroken.

"I'm not playing a game. Have you forgotten what happened the last time we slept together? Maybe remind yourself of that and then get back to me on whether you're still desperate to get into my pants." I duck into the room, closing the door before he can argue.

I have just finished showering and changing into an oversized shirt and shorts when there is a knock at my bedroom door.

"I told you to remember last time, Jeremiah, and you still decided to c-" I stop mid-rant because the person at my door is not Jeremiah but his rather furious-looking girlfriend. "Oh, hey, Breya. Need something?"

She shoves her way past me, barrelling into my room. Thick waves of fury waft off her, stirring up the air and informing me that she is not here for a chat.

She has changed since I last saw her. She looks stronger. Her petite frame is more toned, and while she still towers a good four inches over me, her height seems more looming than it used to. She no longer resembles an overgrown child dressed in bright pink and vibrant purples. Her face is more mature and defined, and her once long, dirty-blonde hair has been cut into short locks right before her ears.

"You have some nerve!" she snarls, her damn near black eyes glowing with anger.

"You're going to need to be more specific than that. I have too much audacity these days, and I don't know whi-"

She slaps me, silencing my words before I have a chance to finish them.

I rub at the warm spot on my cheek, the pain already fading. "Can't say I probably didn't have that coming."

"How dare you! How dare you come back into this place with your nose in the air like you didn't betray us all. I befriended you, even after being told not to because you were just some worthless human. I thought Tulsa was an act of impulsiveness, but to find out it wasn't the first time? How long, Eden? How long were you two following around behind my back?"

"For the first year I was here, nine months of which I didn't know he was the Fae you had been seeing. Once I found out, I tried to stop, but I didn't. Tulsa was the first time it had happened in years."

"We were supposed to be friends!" A tear slides down her cheek, and she turns away, wiping it away before I can comment. She has never been a fan of showing what she considers weakness, and my seeing it would make it even worse. "Even after they told us why you had been locked up, I thought there might be a logical explanation. Then he told me about your relationship with that Vampyre and what happened in Tulsa, and I realized I didn't know you at all. Did you think he wouldn't tell me how you seduced him?"

"I didn't know, nor did I care."

"You knew how much I loved, I mean, how much I love Jeremiah, but you tried to take him from me anyway. Did it ever cross your mind what it would do to me? How I would feel? Did you even care how much it would hurt me? You are far more screwed up than I thought you were. How can you be so heartless?"

I shrug casually. "You can blame the DSA for the heartless part. Honestly, Breya, are you really that stupid? Are you really shocked that Jeremiah would do something like that? It's not like I am the first or last person he was screwed behind your back. He told you about what happened the first day we met, did he? What version did you hear? Was it the version where he was a proper gentleman who turned me down because he was in a committed relationship? Or was it the more realistic version where he fucked me the second we pulled out of the prison parking lot and kept fucking me for nine more months before I found out about you?"

"Don't you dare like to me, Eden! He told me ab-"

"He told you what, Breya? Some sob story he knew you'd fall for? Yeah, that's what I thought. The truth is, he knew you and I were friends, but he never said a thing. Had you not broken protocol and come into the sparring room that day, there is a good chance he would have never told me about you. Nine months. I shared a bed with that man for nine months; he never even hinted that he was with someone. And what did he tell you about Tulsa? I'm sure he laid it on thick about how I used my magik to seduce him. I'm sure he swore it was a moment of weakness and not something he had been begging for. Jeremiah is a pig, and everyone in this place, but you seem to know it. I dare you to find one person he hasn't tried to sleep with here. Hell, I was barely back here a day before he tried to undress me."

The redness on her face grows darker with each word I utter, and she clenches her fists at her side. "The Chief should have never let you come back. I don't understand why you even agreed to help. You could have easily taken him and Peter out, and we both know it. I saw how you handled them on the mat that day, and it wouldn't have taken much for you to remain on the run. So why come back? Why now? What is so crucial that you stopped running? Did you know Jeremiah practically jumped at the chance to bring you in? Even after everything, he still wanted to be the one to bring you in. Even after everything you did to us, he still wanted to make sure you were treated kindly upon arrest. He wanted to ensure that you returned unharmed because that is the kind of man he is. I can't believe I was ever foolish enough to think that being on the run might do you some good. You are the same selfish bitch you have always been."

"And you are the same pathetic excuse for a Fae that you have always been. Yes, I fucked your boyfriend. So what? He was on my ass the moment I agreed to be his experiment, and there wasn't a moment after where he wasn't. I let him in and shared my secrets with him, and he betrayed me. He told me he loved me. Did you know that? Did you know that we were in love? Or at least I was. Yes, I should have stopped fucking him when I found out about you, but I didn't, not for another three months. After I ended things with him and moved on, he still begged me to take him back. I might be to blame, but you know what? So is he. He loved every single second we were in bed together, and don't think for one second he wouldn't do it again. How about you think about that the next time you come in here acting like I am some succubus who tainted your pure little Jeremiah? Think about that the next time you sneak into his room begging for affection. Think about how, even though you're the one in his bed, he wishes it was me."

She takes a threatening step towards me, her open palm careening towards my face.

I catch her by the forearm, tugging her so her face is now inches from mine.

My eyes flit towards the hall, and I lower my voice, careful to speak softly enough that no one outside this room can hear me. "Your father took everything from me, and you just watched. You did nothing to stop them the night they dragged me out of this room, kicking and screaming. You could have told them that there was no way I would ever betray or hurt Garreth, but you chose to remain silent instead. Do not think for one moment that I have forgotten your role in what was done to me. I will never forget that. So don't come in here all high and mighty acting like you're some fucking saint. I let you get that first shot in because it probably was rude of me to fuck your stupid boyfriend. But I will not stand by and let you have a go at me before you feel like you've earned it. Now get the hell out of my room before I rip your heart out and feed it to you."

Breya backs away from me, not daring to lose sight of me before she is in the safety of the hall.

My phone vibrates on the nightstand, and I am tempted to throw the damn thing out the window. My fury has damn near reached its breaking point, and if one more thing inconveniences me, there is a good chance that I will burn this building to the ground.

This is an email from the court scheduler informing Jeremiah and me that one of the supes made bail. There is an opening with a judge in the morning, so we have less than three hours to prepare for court.