"We need to talk."

"Excuse me?"

Motioning to the spare room behind them, Nate repeated the same words and left for her to follow behind. Excusing herself from the guys, Zara trailed behind him, curious to know what this was about.

Waiting for her to pass through, Nate closed and locked the door behind her. Curiosity bloomed inside of her when she turned around to face him.

"What's this about?"

"Take a seat, please." He raised his hand up and directed it to one of the chairs surrounding the conference table. "I think this conversation is long overdue."

Still not knowing where this was heading, Zara sat down. "What is long overdue?"

She quickly narrowed her eyes when Nate began to drum the table with his fingers. The steady thump as his flesh met the wood was loud in the deathly silence that had befallen on the two.

"You. This flower. Zara," a sigh left him and she felt the sudden need to lay a hand on his tense shoulders. "Remember what you told me a few weeks ago, about being here if I need to talk about things? Well, now I'm offering you the same thing. You know you can trust me, right? I thought we were friends — or at least getting to that point."

Zara nibbled her bottom lip as she continued staring at him, contemplating on whether or not to tell him. But she was tired of keeping this secret. Tired of not having someone to actually confide in.

And now, after a freak accident had thrown them both together, she could acknowledge that she had received something beautiful out of it. A friend.

Time for the truth to finally come out, she thought.

"I started—"

The door banged opened behind them, breaking the lock and startling the two. Zeke, one of the Alpha males in their team, stood at the door. His cat shaped eyes, which hid a dark chocolate brown gaze, were heavy with aggravation. As one, Zara and Nate got up from their chairs.

"What's wrong?"

"We need you two. Now."

Zara made her way to the door. A quick glance at Nate in front of her, showed that he too was brimming with aggression. As soon as they made their way out of the room, the scene before them made them come to a full stop.

The office was in chaos.

Phones were ringing while shouting was heard all around the floor. Some officers ran right past them, trying to get into the closing elevator doors while hurriedly putting their jackets on. Confused, she walked up to Zeke.

But the male left his post by the door and began to walk away, heading straight for his bag laying on his desk. Zara followed the male, only to change course when she saw Ivan, another male in their team, making his way towards them.

Nate was hot on her heels when she intercepted the Beta. She opened her mouth, about to ask what was happening, when Ivan tensely told her:

"Another body has been found."

– ☾ –

Closing the door to the SUV, Zara surveyed the scene before her. The rustic wooden cabin was closed off with tape and the forensics team were already there, scrubbing the area. Other officers were milling around, trying to not get in the way as they stood in groups.

She heard doors slamming close as the rest of the Aces team made their way out of the vehicles they had come in. She and Nate had ridden together while the rest had gone in another set of vans.

The commander was still taking precautions when it came to her, not wanting anyone but Nate to be near her when they stepped outside of the precinct.

At first, it had grated on Zara's nerves when she was told of this, not really liking the idea of having to stick to someone all the time. But now, she enjoyed having the company, especially after not having a partner for the longest.

Years of not having any kind of company had been long enough.

"We can start searching the area around the house while the forensics team finishes up inside."

Turning to Nate who was standing right beside her, she gave a soft nod and followed behind him. The other detectives in the team took the initiative to follow them as well.

She had barely taken a few steps towards the woods when the sound of retching made her stop.

Zara turned her head around towards the location it was coming from. She moved to the side, letting the others pass her. Once no one was obstructing her view anymore, she was able to see a patrol officer throwing up a few feet away from the house.

She waited for the young female Beta to finish emptying the contents in her stomach.

The pretty blonde rose from her bent position and with a shaky hand, wiped at the remaining flakes of food that still shone on her lips. Turning around, she jumped slightly when she saw Zara staring at her.

The woman smiled shakenly at her, the small tremble on her lips betraying her nerves. Zara knew how the cop was feeling, having been in her position when she had first started in the police force.

Nothing could ever make one forget their first murder case. Years could never erase the gruesome scene of body parts that have been shot, stabbed or hacked into pieces. Or remove the foul smell that still filtered inside of their nostrils.

One would think that they can handle death until the scent of the victim's piss and shit perfumes the air and they commit the smell to memory.

Taking a few steps towards the still shaken female, Zara smiled softly at her to try and steady the Beta's nerves.

"Hi," she softly crooned at the blonde, watching as those shoulders dropped slightly from their tense upwards position. "Were you one of the first responding officers?"

"Yes," the reply was strained and almost hard to pick up. "I'm officer Kate Hyu."

"Nice to meet you, officer Hyu. I'm guessing this is your first time seeing a dead person?"

Kate gave a small shake of her head, the sharp exhales from her mouth expelling the bitter smell of regurgitated food. Keeping a straight face, for the sake of not embarrassing the poor female further, Zara continued on with her questioning.

"Can you give me the rundown of what happened when you arrived at the scene?"

"Sure thing, detective. Officer Perov and I received the call around mid-noon by the local dispatcher, though this wasn't what we were given the call about." Small shudders traveled along Kate's arms.

A hot body pressed against Zara's back while the hairs on top of her head ruffled slightly from a small gust of wind. A deep breath revealed that it was Nate who stood right behind her.

His deep, throaty voice asked the blonde cop to continue.

"Someone had reported a break-in about a mile down that way," she pointed to the west of their current position. "When we passed by, the smell hit us. It was so faint, but still awful," Kate's whispered statement wavered as fresh tears lined her eyes.

A sob broke free, and the two gave her some time to steady the harsh gasps escaping from her mouth. Reaching up to wipe the tears away, Kate's large inhale seemed to calm the small shakes that traveled along her body.

"If we didn't have our windows rolled down, I doubt we would have picked it up. And considering that this neck of the woods isn't too popular seeing as how there aren't many houses around, it would have been days — or even weeks — before someone noticed.

"Perov called for additional backup as we went ahead and answered the call. By the time we finished taking the victim's statement, other patrol units had rolled in."

"How did Perov know it was a dead body?" Zara was curious to know. Not many knew what a dead body smelled like until they came face-to-face with one.

"He used to work in homicide back when he was stationed in Irvine. He said that after your first one, you can never forget the stench of it."

"Very true," Nate's whispered agreement brought a hint of mint to Zara's nose.

"So you went inside..."

"Yes, with a couple of other officers. We found the body in the —"

"Wait," Zara raised her hand, stopping the officer mid-sentence. "Body. As in... whole?"

"Almost, only the head was missing," Kate's forehead furrowed in question. "Is something wrong?"

Zara could feel how Nate had stiffened slightly behind her at the mentioned of the body, but she waved at the officer to finish her briefing. This was something that shouldn't be discussed with others outside of the team.

Things have been getting hot and heavy with the Prime Minister and the Council since no evidence of the killer has been found. It would do no good to involve other people — even fellow officers — into this unsolvable mockery.

"As I was saying, we found the body in the living room. The head was buried in the back, underneath the bed of roses."