He holds me for close to a minute, and I appreciate the comfort.

Eventually, I step out of his arms, wiping away a tear that’s managed to sneak out from the corner of one of my eyes.

“What you have to understand,” I say, “is that the Bargainer saved me. He cleaned up the mess, enrolled me in Peel Academy, hid my crime.”

Telling Eli this is a gamble. The shifter is one of the good guys. He could drag me away, dig up that old case, and let the system do its work.

I’m sort of banking on the fact that Eli’s sense of justice—pack justice—will align with my actions; people who do bad things to innocent shifters just sort of disappear.

“The Bargainer didn’t charge me then,” I continue. “I know you think he did, but he has his own code of ethics. Because I was a minor at the time, he wouldn’t allow me to do business with him like that.”

Now knowing what I did about fairies, true favors were kind of a big deal. The fae lived to take advantage of a situation.

Eli seems to understand this too. The werewolf raises his eyebrows.

“It was only later that I called him again. And again. And again. I came up with all sorts of favors just so that he could stick around for a while.” Because I was intrigued by him. Because I was infatuated by him. Because I wanted a friend who wasn’t scared off by my darkness—and Des wasn’t.

“He should’ve never made those deals with you,” Eli growls.

I play with my bracelet, rolling the beads round and round my wrist. “No, he probably shouldn’t have,” I agree. “But we’ve all given into our baser natures a time or two, haven’t we?” I say.

Eli grunts, looking out over the Bargainer’s property.

He rubs his face. “I wish you would’ve told me all these things long ago.”

Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. It does no use getting upset about it now.

“Did I ever have a chance?” Eli asks.

I glance over at the shifter. “I don’t know. But I do know that you deserve someone who can give you far more than I can.”

Stepping in close, Eli rests his palm against the side of my face. “That sonuvabitch is a lucky man.”

The words are barely out of his mouth when behind us, the front doors slam open.

I turn just in time to see Des striding out from his home, his wings visible. His stormy eyes flick to Eli, who’s still standing close to me, and I see a flash of possessiveness in them.

Reflexively, I step away from the shifter.

It’s broad daylight out here, which isn’t exactly Des’s favorite time of day. He was supposed to be in the Otherworld for several more hours. Clearly, something changed.

Did he think I was in distress? How would he even know that?

The ground shivers with Des’s power, his gaze intent on Eli as he stalks towards him.

I step in front of the Bargainer, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from whatever he’s thinking of doing.

He glances down at my hand, his nostrils flaring, before his eyes move back to Eli. “You have two seconds to get off my property before I make you,” he says to the shifter, his voice smooth as liquor.

Eli stares at Des’s wings for a long moment, looking stunned. Finally, he tears his gaze away. “I didn’t know,” he says.

I look between the two men. “Know what?”

The Bargainer watches Eli for several seconds. Then ever so slightly, he inclines his head. “Now you do.”

“Callie told me what you did for her when she was a kid,” Eli says. “Thank you for helping her,” he continues. “No more bad blood between us, okay? I didn’t realize the situation—any of it.”

Again, Des inclines his head.

Eli backs away, casting a glance in my direction. “Take care of yourself, Callie,” he says, raising a hand goodbye. And then he turns and walks off the property and out of my life.

My brow is still furrowed long after Eli leaves. Nothing about what just happened makes a terrible amount of sense.

I was expecting a confrontation of some sort between the two men, but instead I get apologies and understanding. I should be relieved, but as Des leads me back inside, my eyes drift to his wings.

That’s what Eli was staring at with such shock. The fae king’s wings. The same wings Des studiously hid from me in the past.

There’s something I’m missing, and I’m going to figure out what it is.

Before Des and I can talk about any of what just happened, I mumble some excuse about needing to go to the bathroom and slip away to my room.

Locking the door behind me—not that it would stop the Bargainer—I grab my phone and dial Temper, pacing back and forth across the room.

“Hey bitch, wassup?” she answers.

“Temper, you know a fair bit about fairies, don’t you?” I say, jumping right in.

Before we became private investigators, when Temperance Darling was just another misfit at Peel Academy, she had a minor obsession with fairies. When I originally met her, she’d wanted to be a diplomat stationed in the Otherworld.

“Mmmmm, fair bit might be taking it too far, but I know a few things. Why? What you need to know?”

“Eli confronted me and—”

“He found you?” Temper interrupts, her voice incredulous. “Already? Wow, girl you suck at hiding.”

“And how do you think he found me? Could it be because he tapped your phone?” I say.