My vision blurred as tears stung my eyes and the realization of what I did sank in. If Faith kissed Eli against his will, how could I truly blame him? But I... I kissed Hunter back. That was my free will. I chose to kiss him.

"What do I do?" I sniffled, swiping a stray tear.

"Stay here with me-screw that-"He pushed himself up onto his knees and put his hands on my thighs. "Be with me."

I sidestepped him, moving away from his hands. "Hunter, please don't-"

"Why are you making it harder for yourself? Choose me. We don't have to try and change laws to allow us to hold each other in public. We can just exist together. It'll be easy."

I slumped into myself. He didn't get it... it seemed no one did. "That's what you don't understand..." I muttered, stepping off of the couch. "Existing without Eli is anything but easy. Yes, I care for you. Yes, I let you kiss me and yes, I kissed you back, but I'm in love with him..."

Hunter shifted, his posture becoming tense and mad. "And you're going to go down there and tell him what? That we made out?"

"We didn't mak-"

"My tongue was in your mouth and vice versa, sweetheart."

I whirled on my heel and stormed from the room-not because I thought he was wrong, but because I knew he was right.

Outside Eli's room there was giggles, music and whatever else, just like Hunter said. I felt sick and mad, it swirled around my stomach in angry churns. My hands shook and I entwined them briefly before knocking on the door. I knocked once, softly, but no one heard me over the ba.s.s of the music. I knocked again and again, until finally, the door opened. I was taken aback by the unfortunately familiar face.

"Ruby," Faith cooed with a drunken slur. "How nice of you to stop by, unfortunately this is an angel-only party."

I gritted my teeth and ignored the fact that she was only in her skimpy, black lace bra and white elite pants.

"I'm here to see Eli. My wedding is in a few days and there are a few things I would like done for it."

Her eyes thinned. She wasn't buying a word of it, but despite her blatant disbelief, she turned and leaned against the door frame, allowing me a quick peek inside. The room behind her was full of rowdy angels who held cups of strong smelling spirits. I found it interesting. Eli wasn't normally into those sorts of things. She stepped inside and closed the door. I stared at the chocolate colored wood, unsure if she was going to come back or not. I wasn't going to turn around, not with a conscience as dirty as mine currently was. I needed to clear it, to tell Eli and let him deal with it however he wants. The door opened again and my breath was stolen from me as his curious green irises drank me in. He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

"We haven't seen each other in days and that's the first thing you say to me?"

He frowned and exhaled. "Sorry, I've had a very... trying day, to say the least." He leaned closer a fraction and I held my breath. "Have you been drinking?"

When I didn't answer, Eli stepped past me and walked down the hall. Without a word, I followed. We stepped out into the air and instantly, I could breathe better. We walked for a little while, stuck in some uncomfortable silence and it wasn't until we approached the courthouse-the place I saw Faith and Eli kiss-that I began to talk.

"I told him to stop with the alcohol," Eli growled under his breath. "Unbelievable."

"I saw it..." I said, to change the subject."I was walking by and I saw it."

I glanced sideways at Eli and he stopped walking. I avoided his eyes, dropping my gaze to the ground.

"You saw Faith and me?"

Faith and me? Hearing those words come from Eli's mouth infuriated me and I glared at him from under my brow.

"Yes, I saw it. Were you ever going to tell me or were you going to party first and pray that I didn't find out?"

He crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "You think I'd keep that from you? No. I would have told you at some point-not while we were here-but definitely at some point. She kissed me, I had nothing to do with it."

I believed him, yet I was grilling him, treating him like he was guilty, and I hated it, but every time I looked at his lips, I saw them attached to hers.

"This afternoon I saw you two kissing and then I was told there was giggles and music coming from your room... I thought that you and Faith were-" I sighed, dropping the subject. It was now or never. I had to face the music and tell him the real reason I was here. "I can't hate you for it, it wouldn't be right." I turned my body in his direction and looked back down to the ground. "Not when I did something stupid to spite you..."

"You kissed him?" My mouth fell open. I didn't even have to confess. Eli knew.

Eli had witnessed me kiss Hunter before, but it was all for show. This time, we were alone. There was no need for it... I had wronged him. I immediately launched into panic mode.

"I saw you and Faith kiss and then he told me there was romantic music and giggles coming from your room. We started drinking and we kissed. I panicked-I didn't know what to do."

Eli's bright irises darkened as his expression turned murderous. "You believed that I had Faith in my room alone?"

I nodded and his jaw noticeably tightened. He stormed past me, toward my building, and I had trouble keeping up with him.

"This isn't his fault," I whispered hastily under my breath, struggling to keep my pace. I had to keep my expression neutral, so the pa.s.sing elites didn't a.s.sume anything. As we pa.s.sed, they eyed us curiously, but didn't stop us.

When we reached my room, he burst through the door without so much as a knock and Hunter rose from the couch, shirtless, and seemingly unfazed by the sudden intrusion. I quickly shut the door, concealing as much of the conversation from any potential pa.s.sersby as I could.

"You're pathetic," Eli growled at him, his fingers clenched at his sides. "You're going to feed her lies and manipulate her just so she'll sleep with you?"

"Technically, we've been sleeping together for months." He sauntered closer. "And I haven't lied to anybody."

"Yeah? Well, you sure as h.e.l.l haven't told the truth."

Hunter took another step toward Eli and I realized how quickly this situation could get out of hand.

"We can talk about this," I said in my calmest voice. "Don't make a scene and ruin everything we've come here to do."

They ignored me, of course.

"You feed her alcohol because you know she's not into you. You have no respect for her or anybody else. You know better than anybody that she'd never willingly have s-"

Hunter chuckled. "You think she'd never sleep with me? You should have seen her twenty minutes ago when she was all over me, her lips-"

Eli lunged at him, punching Hunter straight in the face. I jumped, my hand flying up to cover my mouth. Immediately, his nose bled and I froze, staring wide-eyed. What the h.e.l.l was I meant to do now? I couldn't control these two. They fought one on one and all I did was watch. I wasn't expecting it. Eli's fists slammed hard into Hunter's ribs and Hunter took them all before grabbing Eli's legs and taking him down.

Faintly, I heard footsteps tear up the corridor and jumped again as our door was kicked in. Xavier and Lyric jumped furniture to pull the two off each other. Eli was on top, driving his fists into Hunter's face. How they knew we were here was beyond me. Three elite guards came in behind them and I quickly plastered a fake smile on my face.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, forcing an innocent tone and a dumbstruck expression. "Hunter likes to spar with the angels sometimes."

I glanced awkwardly at Hunter, who strolled casually over to my side. I almost cringed as he wrapped a blood splattered arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him. It took all the strength I had to wrap my arms around his slim waist. Hunter ran his finger under my jaw and tilted my head up to face his. I peered sideways at Eli. His nostrils were flaring as he ran his tongue over the cut on his lip. His chest rose and fell in a heavy pant and while he was in pain, I had to force a smile. I looked back at Hunter. The second our eyes locked, his took on a c.o.c.ky gleam and he pressed his lips to mine, getting blood on me. I could taste the copper and I wanted to hit him. Hard.

"Thanks, guys," Lyric said as Hunter pulled away. Lyric helped the suspicious elites out the door. "We'll take it from here."

He managed to get the door shut and when it clicked, I pulled away from Hunter, wiping my blood covered mouth on my jacket.

Eli started for Hunter again. "You son of a-"

"Eli!" Xavier shouted, diving in front of him and pressing his hands against this chest. "You need to stop. This isn't worth risking all that we've done."

"All that you've done?" I scoffed. "Hunter, Eli, and I are the only ones who have sacrificed anything."

Lyric whistled loudly, so loudly it made us cringe.

"All right you hot messes, listen to me. You need to cut the c.r.a.p. Do you know where we are? We're in the G.o.dd.a.m.n snake pit and you want antagonize the snakes? You're crazy! The lot of you." He shook his head."This needs to stop. Eli, you can't fight Hunter over any of this. This is the plan that you and Aleksandrov came up with, remember? And Hunter, I'd appreciate it if you didn't go out of the way to p.i.s.s him off. You're with his girl. At least try to be respectful, and Ruby, if you could keep the girl drama to a minimum, that would be great."

He opened the door and strode out. Following suit, (and without a glance in my direction) Eli stormed from the room with Xavier in tow.

When they were gone, Hunter turned to me. "Well, that was interesting." His face was bloodied and swollen already. "He hits hard, I'll give him that."

We were supposed to be getting married in two days. Two days! And now my 'husband-to-be' looked awful. I exhaled. I was in no mood for his light-hearted jokes. I stormed to the bathroom to locate the first aid supplies in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. When I returned, Hunter was leaning against the wall, still looking smug. I threw the box of supplies at Hunter and squeezed his nipple between my fingers when I got within reach. He winced and tried to pull back but couldn't go anywhere.

"Why would you do that?"

"Hey, it wasn't entirely my fault, you kissed me back."

I squeezed and he winced. "I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about antagonizing Eli."

Hunter shrugged. "You know I don't like to miss an opportunity to p.i.s.s him off."

I let go of his nipple and he grabbed me roughly, pressing his body flush against mine.

"I didn't kiss you today and give you alcohol in hopes of tricking you while you were vulnerable." He gestured to the bed. "This whole thing wasn't about trying to get you to sleep with me..."

I nodded, still unsure how I felt. I pointed to the bed. "Go sit down. I'll get a wet cloth."

With the wet cloth, I joined Hunter in the living room. He winced and gasped in pain as I ran the cloth over his swollen face and doused his cuts with alcohol. The whole time I tended to him, he stared at my face.

"Will you quit it?"

"Nope."

I sighed. "You're so annoying."

"And it's all for you, babe."

When I finished cleaning up his cuts and Hunter climbed into bed, I headed for the couch. I would not be sleeping in the same bed as Hunter tonight. No way in h.e.l.l.

"I would have rocked your world, you know. It's not too late."

I turned to face him. He lay face up on the bed with an ice pack on his face.

"Just rest, Hunter."

Chapter Sixteen.

Hands touched me from every direction, pulling fabric, twisting my hair, and brushing powder onto my face. I wasn't paying attention... I was just going through the motions. I hadn't seen Eli since the falling out with Hunter. I visited his room plenty of times, but Lyric always told me he was out. The city wasn't very big at all and yet, I couldn't find him no matter where I went. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was avoiding me. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I didn't even look like me and the thought depressed me. I'd changed since being here and I didn't know if it was because (for the first time since my transformation) I had absolutely no control of my life. I was undertaking another transformation, but I wasn't sure if this one was going to make me as happy as the last one did. I had nothing to lose when I transformed last, but everything to gain. Now, I have everything to gain and everything to lose.

A knock at the door pulled me from my stupor and some lady rushed to open it. I felt a scowl automatically fix itself on my face when Cesare stepped in, dressed to the nines in an all-black suit. He smiled devilishly at me, but I wasn't in the mood to return it.

"You're marrying the love of your life," he said, stepping closer. "Smile a little."

"I'm afraid the amount of makeup I'm wearing doesn't allow me to smile. It cracks under pressure," I replied dryly.

"I bet your makeup won't be the only thing cracking under pressure today."

The helpers carried on with what they were doing, completely oblivious to our conversation. "No, if I'm lucky, your fake demeanour will cave also," I said.

He clicked his fingers and the girls rushed from the room. We were alone and I suddenly wished I kept my mouth shut.

"I know you were in my office."

"I'm sorry I don't know wha-"

"Do not lie to me!" he boomed, making me jump. I swallowed hard as he corrected a string of hair that fell into his eyes. His calm facade returned and he crossed the room to the refreshment table by the bar. I didn't like having him here in my room, in my personal s.p.a.ce, but he could do whatever he wanted. All of this stuff was his. He plucked a green grape off of its bunch and extended it to me. I shook my head. I wasn't about to cross the room and eat a grape out of his hand.

"This gown doesn't allow for much eating. Even a grape as small as that one will make these seams pop."

His lips curled. "I like your sense of humor. It's refreshing-irritating-but refreshing."

"If you don't mind, I have a wedding to get ready for," I said impatiently. He had yet to revisit his accusation about the office invasion and I wondered if he'd already forgotten about it. That wouldn't say much about his mental health.

"Ah, yes, the wedding. Tell me, who's giving you away?"

I frowned. "No one." And I didn't want anyone to.

"Incorrect. Eli is."

I started to shake my head.

"He's the one that rescued you and brought you to Sage, is he not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And he is the one that has cared for you and looked after you?"

"Yes."

Victory was as clear as day when it spread across his face. "Well, then. Mr. De Luca will give you to Mr. Reeves. That should be fun."