by K. N. Banet
“What?”
“I think he was spelled or charmed,” I said, putting it together very quickly and deciding I was right. “He must have been. There’s no way, in a city this big, he would have beelined to me like any other prisoner with a grudge or a hit on me. He and I only saw each other when I did my walkthroughs, and I often didn’t go down and see him. He’s normally no trouble. I’ve even spoken to him once. He’s very sad but kind. He and I have no qualms or history.”
“That’s nice to know,” Raphael whispered. He took a deep breath, looking out his window and away from me while I tried to navigate through the rain. “So, let’s have a quick rundown. I’ve killed a redcap, trying to kill you. You killed a fae, trying to kill you. Nakul was asked to kill you and didn’t, but he also has no memory of who asked him to do it. Now, Wesley is running around, a werewolf who is more fucked up than other werewolves, and for some reason, he was able to get to us to try to kill you, all the way in Phoenix and at the top of a condo complex in his normal form.”
“Yeah, sounds about right,” I said, hitting the gas as if they were on my tail at that very moment. “Not very often I’m afraid, but I’ll give it to whoever orchestrated this nightmare. I’m terrified.”
“You’ve got me, and I’m stronger than all of them,” he said confidently. “I meant it, Kaliya. I’m in this with you. You went through hell and lost a friend when you helped me. Whatever the reason, you did that, so I’m in this all the way. No reason to be terrified.”
“You aren’t?” I asked, trying to look in his direction. I could always see him out of the corner of my eye, but I wanted to really see him. I wanted to see his eyes and his face and understand what he was really thinking.
“I’m worried. I’m scared. I don’t know any of these people. But I’m tough, and you’re skilled and have all the intel we can get our hands on. We can get through this.”
I let that sink in, then nodded.
“You’re right. We’ll make a good team.”
“Just as long as you don’t throw me out of danger anymore,” he said quickly, and I heard the bite of anger he must have been hiding.
“Sorry.” Not really.
“Sure, you are,” he snorted. “You don’t need to protect me, Kaliya. If I know what I’m up against, I’ve had a lot of practice at protecting myself over the years.”
Yes, I do. “You don’t think it’s even a little admirable that everyone’s trying to kill me, but I’m protecting you?” I asked, trying for a faulty, fake smile, trying to tease him a little and feel better.
“It’s a little admirable, but also just a little stupid,” he retorted. “I’m probably not skilled like Cassius or anyone else you’ve worked with, but I’m not incapable.”
“I know.” I just don’t care. “Look, I promised to look out for you. I’m sorry this entire mess is taking us away from what we’ve been trying to do for you—”
“We were at a dead-end anyway and have been since the moment we left the Tribunal,” he reminded me. “I’m not an idiot. I know you and Cassius have dug into everything you can and haven’t found anything. I know Mygi isn’t making this easy for us.” He sighed. “Do you think this might tie back to them?”
“I’m honestly hoping it doesn’t. It would be stupid for them to do something like this. I don’t know what sort of connections they would have with the prison, which I haven’t heard from since we left…” I rolled my tongue over my lip piercing. “We should drive back down there and question some people once we get word it’s secure. Korey, if she’s alive, will have already launched her own investigation, and that could really help us.”
“Good plan. I’m just following your lead.” He nodded once, and I smirked.
I kind of like this Raphael, the one who doesn’t argue a lot, goes with the flow, and helps me. He’s nice.
Oh, wait a minute. I thought the exact same thing about Cassius right before I started sleeping with him. Work together on a thing, then get drunk and fuck. Because that’s how I really need this to go down again. What’s the definition of insanity?
We pulled in front of my house in the wee hours of the morning. I parked in the repaired garage, glad to see the garage door was already installed and working. Leading Raphael inside, I felt a wave of déjà vu from the last time I brought him here, which had led to Sinclair attacking. He hadn’t come with me when I stopped by for repairs. I dumped him off with Cassius or went by pictures and meetings with my contractors.
“It looks done,” he commented. “Why haven’t we moved in?”
“Some of the contractors are magical and have been spelling the region for me as Cassius has. That takes longer than most of the construction. I’m also installing the same type of security the condo has. Instead of two safe rooms, it’s going to become a fortress when it’s on lockdown. Tying together the technology and the magic to work together is a pain in the ass,” I explained, looking over my new floors and the wrapped furniture everywhere. I was taking the chance to redesign some areas, and Raphael didn’t realize, but I had made major expansions to the main house, attaching it to the second building where the gym was. That way, if there was a lockdown, we both still had things to do.
This was why I never brought him. I was taking him into account when repairing my house. I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t help but plan everything in my life around whether he would be in it or not.
There were rare moments in life when I desperately wanted my mother. This was one of them. She was the only person I ever felt comfortable talking to about naga things. My dad and brothers were just like Adhar in a lot of ways—get a mate, have children, avoid danger at all costs. I loved them, but they weren’t her. She had understood and would have been able to offer me advice none of them would have ever considered giving.
I can’t think about this right now.
“Kaliya, we’re going to be safe here, right?” Raphael asked from the kitchen. I honestly thought kitchens were his favorite room in every building he walked into. He practically lived in them.
“As safe as anywhere. I need to make that call to Hasan. I’ll be in one of the back rooms. Scream if you need anything.” I looked in the kitchen and saw his thumbs up in my direction as he looked around. I almost smiled at how my kitchen was twice the size it used to be, and he seemed to really like it.
Stop, stop, stop. Got to stop thinking about this. Got to stop worrying about this.
My bedroom was one of the few rooms I didn’t change much. It was larger now, but the design was the same, the colors, warm and rich, and explosive, remnants of a home I never went back to.
I dialed Hasan and waited for four rings before he answered.
“I’m in a meeting. What’s your update? We’ve seen the storm in Phoenix and contacted a local witch in hopes she and her coven can track the source and find where Levi might be hiding.”
“I’m getting the okay to go on the offensive?”
“I was going to call in ten more minutes. We’re briefing with Korey and Eliphas right now,” he answered. “They’ve finally secured the prison to the best of their abilities.” He sounded disappointed in them.
“Perfect. I need everything either of them can learn about this,” I said quickly, walking into my office and frowning. Damn it. All that work in the condo, and it’s still in the condo—the wrecked condo. We’re going to need a good cleanup crew from the Tribunal once it’s over.
“We can make that happen come dawn. We’re still trying to account for any of the northern cell block inmates, and they were just saying they noticed Wesley—”
“Wesley’s in Phoenix,” I answered quickly. “We just had a run-in with him. I would have called you sooner, but I had to drive through the storm. He found his way to my condo. Raphael nearly threw him off the building. We got out because he’s enraged, easy to distract. I think he’s spelled. There’s no way he would have been able to focus enough to track me otherwise.”
“You should have started with that…” Hasan
muttered. “Putting you on speaker for everyone. She’s already run into Wesley, everyone, and believes he’s spelled.”
“What exactly did he do to make you think that?” Callahan asked, the male werewolf Alpha on the Tribunal.
“He took the elevator up to my condo.” That got a couple of curses and a gasp. Wesley, if he were just in a fit, would have never been able to focus enough to do that. If his mind was clear enough to work technology, he wouldn’t have tried to hurt a fly.
“Then I’m inclined to believe you,” the werewolf muttered. “Fuck. Hasan, we need to mobilize others in Phoenix.”
“Agreed. I can try to call in Coyotl. He lives south of the US-Mexico border, but he can get there by next sundown or faster. He might not answer the call, though. This isn’t the Duty, so he’s not required to. I could also send in any of my own children, but only one is in the United States, and the rest are dealing with the political fallout. I need your wolves to back off, but that’s a discussion for another night. What about the pack in Phoenix?”
Political fallout? I wonder if he’s talking about the werecat he saved from death row. Wouldn’t that be a good thing? And he has a kid in the United States right now? Fucking who? Hisao would have let me know one of his siblings was my neighbor or passing through, right? Unless it’s him…
“It is a discussion for another time and unrelated to the matter at hand,” Callahan agreed with a small growl. “We’ll mobilize the local pack.”
Callahan’s words knocked me off the train of thought about Hasan’s family. Mobilizing the Phoenix pack was much more pressing than wondering about the old werecat family who scared everyone.
“They’ll take over securing Wesley and getting him out of the city without incident. We’ve never briefed the human populace about the Last Change, but we can use this to introduce the topic and remind them we are monsters if they aren’t careful. It’s not going to play out pretty, so there will be backlash we can at least prepare for.”
“Perfect. One mess becomes other messes. Just what we need,” one of the vampires said softly, then coughed to cover something else up. “We’ll get the nest to send out their best to patrol the night streets. They can pick up anyone wandering around when there’s a Code Black in place.”
“Will they?” I asked boldly. “It risks exposure and their lives, and let’s be real, the nest here is a collection of lackadaisical party animals.”
“If I tell them to, they will,” he answered coolly, and I knew I should have been afraid, but I didn’t really feel like being scared of my bosses, and he could go swim up shit creek. I was the one who had to deal with the actual monsters. “Kaliya, I think we’re all agreed that with the lack of Lord Cassius at the moment, or any backup, we won’t have any problem with you bending the rules until this situation is resolved.”
“Agreed,” a couple said at the same time. I knew the witches—weird ones.
One continued on her own. “With the fact a majority of the escapees are dangerous criminals and subject to the death penalty due to their escape, your official duty will be to track them down and kill or capture them if needed. Whatever you discover in the process, you can report to us, and we’ll have someone on hand to formally build the case. That way, no one gives us any trouble about having an Executioner doing this and keeps other Tribunal employees out of harm’s way.”
“So, dig into whatever I need to and send it your way. Can do. Pretty good at it. Going to let the prison know I’m going to be rummaging through their shit?”
“They’ll know by the time you get there, but don’t leave for the prison before dawn while we continue to monitor the situation there,” the male witch said with a bite. “Also, if you find Kartane, just kill him. We don’t tolerate traitors.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Hanging up now.” I did just that, leaving them to their meeting. I had what I needed.
Free rein.
It was time to really get to work.
14
Chapter Fourteen
“What’s the news?” Raphael asked as I walked back out to the dining and kitchen area.
“I can pretty much do whatever I want. We’re going to the prison at dawn. The Tribunal is going to use the locals to help contain the incident. The werewolf pack is going to try to capture Wesley. They’ll probably report something about Nakul, something I need to be prepared for. They’re reaching out to a local witch and her coven to try to pinpoint Levi’s location, and the vampires are going to run patrols, keeping other supernatural civilians off the streets and possibly reporting if they see any criminals who need to be cleaned up.”
“Sounds like battle plans,” he commented, his face serious in the low light of my new kitchen.
“It’s the end of the world,” I reminded him with a shrug. “They need all hands on deck, mobilizing behind closed doors as we continue to see how perilous this situation is. In the last eight hours, we went from having the most secure location on the planet to a wave of criminals flooding the city. This could get a lot worse before it gets better. Actually, not could. It will get worse before it gets better.” Saying that made me realize I didn’t want him watching my back. I wanted him safe. I wanted him to stay right where he was, in my kitchen, looking too good for the circumstances. I didn’t want another death on my conscience and definitely not his. “Would you be pissed if I asked you to stay here and stay secure?”
“Yes,” he growled, his eyes turning black in a single heartbeat and his secondary scent filling the room. “Don’t do it. Don’t sneak off without me watching your back, Kaliya.”
“Fine.” I raised my hands, giving up on it immediately. The answer didn’t surprise me. Raphael was that guy who would do whatever was necessary for those he was loyal to. How I ended up being the person who got that sort of loyalty was beyond me, but I had it. That much was becoming very clear this dark, stormy evening. “It was a simple question.”
“No, it wasn’t. You would definitely leave me here if you thought I would get in your way and get myself or you killed,” he retorted.
“I don’t want you to die,” I answered softly, realizing honesty was the best policy right now. I had my secrets, but that was one I needed him to know. He didn’t need to know why. “That’s all. I love that you’re helping me, and it’s really nice of you, and thanks, but I don’t want you to die. I won’t make you stay here, though, if you don’t want to. Just wanted to ask.”
That stunned him enough to give me time to retreat, a raw vulnerability making my heart hurt a little. I didn’t even like this guy, but I didn’t want him to die.
I like him more than I want to admit. I hate his rigid sense of morality, but it’s respectable, and…
I wish I was the type of person he is.
Going back to my bedroom, I sat on the bed, sighing heavily. There wasn’t much to do until dawn, or the Tribunal got back to me. I had no idea what to do with the time, and I didn’t have anything to work with in this house. I listened to Raphael wander around, not really thinking about it, but kept a general awareness of him.
It felt like an eternity later, but he walked into the room and sat on the edge of my bed as if he belonged there. I tried not to let it bother me or give me any thoughts I didn’t need. His black clothing looked appealing, a stark contrast to the color explosion of my private space.
“What’s up?” I asked, looking at his back.
“Didn’t want to leave you in here alone.” He seemed to be staring at the door, a view he blocked. “I like talking to you, but it’s beginning to feel like we always argue.”
“We do always argue,” I confirmed, looking back at the ceiling. “We’re two different people from two different worlds with very little understanding of each other.”
I’m trying to get better, but damn it, I hate that you look at me sometimes like I’m a monster.
He chuckled darkly, but I didn’t know what was funny.
“Kaliya, I’ve always understood. I know I make y
ou repeat it and explain, but this entire thing has made me realize I do understand. I just didn’t want to. I was raised to believe differently and…”
“So, you’ve been playing dumb?” I raised an eyebrow. “Thanks. Every time you do, it makes me feel like I’m awful and deserve to go rot in some hell realm.”
“I know,” he mumbled. “I’m going to stop. Well, try to. Some habits are hard to break. I don’t think you’re a bad person, I just think you made tough decisions.”
“You used to,” I accused.
“Yeah…” he agreed, nodding. He was turned away from me again. “Then I heard you talk about stuff in the prison, the sympathy on your face when you thought about what those monsters did to their victims and how you wanted them all to burn for it. And Wesley? If it weren’t for you, I would have written him off as one of Nakul’s or that redcap’s type. A killing machine, a monster. Something or someone who needed to be locked away because he’s evil. It’s not easy for me to admit that, by the way.”
“I wasn’t going to assume it was. You were trying to throw him off the balcony, weren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Raphael admitted softly. “I never thought I would write people off. But you knew it was Wesley, and you were upset for him and how he was going to be hurt. I always knew I misjudged you, but I never realized just how much. Does that make me a bad person?”
“I’m not the person to ask. Look at me. The judgments you’ve made aren’t that far off.” I snorted as I sat up and moved to sit next to him. “I kill people for the ‘greater good.’ I make mistakes sometimes and get other people hurt, or worse, killed. I know my reputation, and I’ve earned it, but I have a job to do and a world to survive in. I’ll take the reputation if it means breathing another day. I’ll pour one out for those I’ve lost, then I have to keep moving.”
“And you’ve lived this way for over a century. I don’t know how you’ve done it.”
“A century isn’t very long when you know you have immortality in front of you. Well, it is for me, because I’m barely older than a century, but I know people who are thousands of years old. They look at me and see a young woman who barely has her footing.” I elbowed him. “I’m closer to your age than Cassius or Sorcha. Those two being fae? Who knows how old they actually are? Who knows how many years they’ve seen pass in the fae lands for it to only be a month or year here? Or maybe they’re there for a day and miss a decade here.”
