willing to put up with being hated for breathing.”
“I’m not a man hater,” I snapped. “Dick.”
“No, you hate everyone unless they’re useful to you for whatever reason,” he retorted.
“Back on topic,” I declared, not wanting to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole. “Last night, I ran into Sinclair. Mygi hired him privately, along with two people who must work for him, a fae and witch, to go after Raphael as well.”
“Gods, now we’ve got Sinclair in the mix,” he mumbled. “You know what the Tribunal said—”
“Yes. No more tangling with Sinclair, but he’s in my city, Cassius. He’s here. I can’t ignore that, and I had already started looking into it.” I didn’t mention The Board. Cassius knew about it. We had fought more than once over it, and I wasn’t looking for another fight. Right now, I just needed his help because he had the job I couldn’t take. “So, I broke into the place where he was staying to figure out why Mygi would put out a bounty, wait a week, then hire Sinclair. Something didn’t add up with that.”
“You found out what’s going on?”
“The company had some disagreements. Sinclair was hired out-of-pocket by someone in power at the company, and if he’s successful, he also gets the bounty. Would you like to know how much money we’re talking about?”
“Please.”
“Sinclair was paid ten million upfront for his time. The bounty is for ten million.”
Cassius did something I almost never heard and whistled. It sounded like birds whenever he did it, probably because of his fae nature.
“That’s a lot of money for one human,” he said softly.
“Right? It gets more interesting. I stole the intel the Mygi guy gave Sinclair and was able to get to Raphael before Sinclair and his goons could. At least one of them tailed us for a little while, the witch or the fae, maybe both, because it wasn’t quite sundown yet. That’s when this got a whole lot weirder.” I took a deep breath. “Raphael Dominic Alvarez isn’t human.”
“What is he?” Cassius demanded. “And why did the bounty say he was?”
“That’s the problem and the ultimate question, isn’t it? I’ve never seen or heard of something like it. I have no idea, and neither does he.”
“You want me to take this case, don’t you?” He sounded defeated as if I had just caught him in a trap.
“Yes. I need backup because I promise Sinclair isn’t going to walk away from twenty million, and his ego demands he not fail this, not for a company like Mygi. His reputation is on the line. He’s not going to let me hide Raphael away until everyone forgets about this, including Mygi, which could be a very long time.”
“And protective custody would only last so long,” Cassius added. “Mygi would probably just keep offering more until the Tribunal told them to stop what they’re doing…”
“Exactly. So, I need an Investigator…investigating while I keep Raphael safe. Maybe you can help me figure out what he is.”
“Why did they claim he was human?” Cassius went back to that, and I sighed.
“Because he used to be human. About ten years ago, he took some drug to get high with his friends. He woke up and realized he had killed them. Now, I don’t know every supernatural species that exists, I’m pretty sure no one really does, but…that’s not normal.”
“It’s not. How does Mygi factor in?”
“They captured him that morning before he could run for help or try to figure out what was happening. He spent five years being experimented on, then escaped. He’s been on the run for the last five. Based on what Sinclair was told, they tried capturing him repeatedly and failed. They were hoping someone on the outside and the heat of so many people looking for him would finally lead to his recapture.”
“You’ve got me. Keep him under lock and key, Kaliya. I need to push this up to the bosses and get their approval to investigate. Mygi is incredibly powerful politically and won’t like an open investigation into their affairs. This is going to have to be played carefully.”
“Yeah, but at least it would be something. I have to keep this guy safe, Cassius. I have to.”
“Of course. What does Paden say? You’re a dog with a bone when something catches your interest.” The dry chuckle on the other end let me know Cassius was now one hundred percent on my team for this, letting me relax a little. “I’ll let you know when