from his hands. Reading it over, I shook my head. “Idiots. There are two rules for the bounty hunting world. No humans and no killing. Bounty hunters have to take people in alive and let whoever put out the bounty deal with it. This breaks one of those rules.” I put it back down on his desk and shrugged. “It happens all the time, though, Paden. Why does this one bother you?” I didn’t take bounties on humans, considering it was a conflict of interest. Anyone else was fair game, but it left me confused why Paden showed me this one.
“I did a little background on the guy like I do when any human comes through. He was in college and set to join the human military once he graduated. That was ten years ago, over in New Mexico. The bounty came out seven days ago.”
“What happened in those ten years?” I asked, looking at the name on the bounty. Raphael Alvarez—who had he pissed off?
“No idea. He didn’t exist.”
That made me look back up at Paden, frowning.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. They put out a bounty on a ghost. No one has seen or heard of him in ten years, and his name doesn’t come up in any records across the United States, Canada, or Mexico. I know you hate bounties on humans and won’t do them, but I want you to look into this one. It seems off. There’s more to this story than someone looking for a human who might expose supernatural secrets.”
I sighed, giving Paden a look that would normally put the fear of the gods into someone. He just met my stare evenly.
“I’m an Executioner, not an Investigator or a human detective, Paden. The Tribunal has people for that—”
“But you’re here, and I know you. I’m just asking you to look into this. You don’t need to catch him and take him in yourself, just look into it. I don’t like that this brought a truckload of new people to Phoenix to hunt him down.”
“Has anyone gotten any leads?” Paden heard things, and if he wanted me to look into this when I had just gotten back from a business trip, he needed a damn good reason and needed to tell me everything he knew.
“Not yet. A lot of people bitching how they came to Phoenix, expecting to find something, but it’s a cold trail.”
“I’ll look into it, Paden, but you owe me big for this one. I mean it. This is one I’m holding you to.” I picked up the bounty and folded it quickly, sliding it into my back pocket. “Let me have a drink and settle in. I’m not going to make this a priority. I do have a life.”
“Still dating that Tribunal Agent?” he asked casually, an obvious change of subject.
“Cassius? No, we ended that five years ago. I never told you?” Frowning, I looked at Paden in confusion.
“You still hook up with him,” Paden pointed out. “When he comes through town.”
“And? The last time he came through town was three years ago.” I shrugged. “Last I heard, he was flirting with a possible engagement to some fae Lady, politics and shit. I knew Cassius wasn’t a forever thing, Paden. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”
Cassius was a good fuck and an afterthought in my life most of the time. Another one of the string of men I had been with in an effort not to deal with the problems only I could have.
“True. You were both pretty mean to each other.”
“I’m mean to most people,” I reminded him, smiling. “Now, I’m going to get a drink and kick my feet up. The business trip was a bust.”
“Yeah, I heard about what happened. They didn’t need you or the Kitsune in the end, did they? Also, strange of them to call two Executioners to a Trial. Thought protocol was only one.”
“It was a werecat. There was a chance she could have killed an Executioner before the job was done, so a backup had to be around,” I explained, starting to walk out of the office. Werecats were powerful and not to be toyed with. Everyone knew it, and most of us respected it. I only knew two personally and sitting in a meeting with either always made me a little jumpy. “Hasan popped his head out of whatever hole he’s been hiding in and put a stop to it. Some stupid loophole that needed to be closed, a small change in Laws. Considering he