world at large. While werewolves were very out and fae were kind of out, it was incredibly illegal for anyone to go public with a species that wasn’t out unless it was decided by the leaders of that species.
Meaning, if I wanted to out the nagas to the human world, I could.
I wasn’t enough of an idiot to do that.
Being the last nagini had its perks, as sour as they tasted when I had to use them. I was considered a leader of my species.
Easy to be when there’s only one female and eight males left. Not many nagas to rule and no one else to rule.
I sighed, looking at The Board. While the searches ran, I needed to find something to do. I printed several of the photos, then recopied some of the most important information onto a small card and pinned it with Raphael’s bounty. With a string, I connected Raphael to the brother of that one woman. Since that was all I could do, I fell back into my office chair and groaned.
“These can hurry up,” I mumbled, moving my mouse around the screen. I had no one to call, no one to kill time with. Paden would be sleeping by now, and Carter was definitely locked away from the sun to get his own sleep. Cassius wouldn’t take my call unless I promised it was work only, and I wasn’t prepared to give this to him yet—should, but didn’t want to—not while Raphael’s face was on The Board, and I had no idea if it meant anything.
I used to have more friends—used to. None of them lasted very long. I was pretty sure Paden was the longest friend I had in my life, even though I’d known Cassius the longest. Cassius was a complicated mess. He was never my friend, nor was he ever really an ally. He was a colleague and a fuck buddy—the second part of that was thoroughly scratched out now.
I should have never slept with him to begin with. Tequila does bad things to people.
I need more friends.
I snorted. There was a time when everyone wanted to be my friend. Thank the gods, that time was long ago.
Checking the clock, I decided I would try to get some sleep. It was seven in the morning, and watching searches try to find anything in situations like this was like watching paint dry. They would be done by the time I woke up.
I locked up my office and went to my bedroom, decorated in rich browns and reds, the way I liked it. There were flares of splash colors, and it reminded me of home. It was the only room where I let myself get sentimental and decorate it like any normal person would. Before getting into the bed, I went to my bathroom and brushed my teeth, letting my fangs drop to brush them as well. They were hidden behind my human canines, and they signaled I was just as venomous in human form as I was in snake form. Once I was satisfied with that, I washed my face, wondering if I always looked so damn tired.
Probably.
I opened the medicine cabinet and hit a button hidden in the back of the bottom shelf. A small hole opened up behind me and revealed my second safe room. I rarely forgot to check it before bed, and when I did, it was because I was exhausted. Tonight, after messing around with Sinclair and breaking into his place, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep unless I knew it was ready for me. None of the food inside was expired, and the guns were properly loaded. Three vials of my venom waited to coat any weapon I could need, hanging from the walls inside.
Glad I checked, I hit the button again, and it closed. The button read my fingerprint, which was the best security I could have for it. If I had decked it out with a retinal scan like my office, I would have gotten killed a long time ago. This was the safe room I had to get to the moment I woke up, and I couldn’t fight with finicky technology in those situations.
I fell into my bed and controlled my breathing. My room was fifteen degrees cooler than the rest of my house, and it wasn’t because I hated the heat. It forced me to get tired, and eventually, sleep claimed me.