witches.” His words were still hushed. No one would hear us in our tucked-away booth in the back of the café, and no one could get a good picture of us from where we were.
“So? Someone needs to reverse the spell on him or let him…” I gave him my best glare. “Get it done, Alpha Wagner. For him, for you, for me. Call her today.” I stood up and walked out, letting the human whispers follow me. They all probably wanted to know who just chewed out the popular and respected Alpha of the city. He was the one who wanted a public space, probably to keep me from getting too rowdy.
He just learned that didn’t work with me.
I got back into my BMW and drove back to my condo. We had the window fixed and moved back in as if nothing had happened. The lawyer I kept on retainer kept anyone from asking too many questions and had the local police suppress my address to keep it from leaking to the press in relation to the Wesley portion of the incident. He’d been caught on security cameras, so the werewolves had to talk to the human police forces. I was certain the United States government also got involved. They had an entire agency to handle these things. Once humans got involved, I generally got out. It wasn’t my business anymore. I didn’t do the human-involved stuff, being one of the species they didn’t know about.
Walking through the kitchen, noting that Raphael wasn’t there, I headed to my office. He was probably in the gym. I gave him a lot more free rein now. He had earned it over the breakout.
Sitting down at my desk, I found his note and was glad to see I was right. He had gone down to the gym and would be back up in two hours. That gave me time to make the next phone call of the day.
Adhar picked up on video after two rings.
“It’s good to see you, Kaliya.”
“Did he make it there okay?” I asked softly. Phoenix to New Delhi for Nakul had been a twenty-six-and-a-half-hour flight with two connections. I flew him privately, splitting the cost with Adhar, but it was still long because of refueling stops. He was escorted by two witches from Monica’s coven, keeping him under, who would come back in a few days once Nakul was awake and knew what had happened to him. Adhar’s job—along with some of the other male nagas to back him up—was to keep Nakul from hurting anyone…forever. His sentence was changed to house arrest, and the Tribunal had quietly agreed to not publicize the naga’s absence from the prison.
“He and the witches arrived at the temporary home only a couple of hours ago. We’re going to be here only one night, then the witches will leave. Nakul is going to live with me.”
“That’s good,” I said, nodding. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Thank you for deciding to trust me again. And…” He looked like he had to swallow a bitter pill. “Good work in Phoenix. You did us proud.”
“Thanks.” I hadn’t been expecting that. Normally, Adhar yelled at me every chance he got.
“If not for you, someone would have killed him, and—”
“It would have been their right and duty,” I reminded him. “Don’t kid yourself. He’s dangerous, Adhar, but…maybe one day, he’ll be okay. He’ll never be free, but maybe okay.”
“I understand. Now, I must leave you. The witches were hoping to start when you called.”
“Good luck to you and them.” I hung up.
Taking one long deep breath, I sank back into my chair, then released a slow sigh. I knew what was next, I just needed Raphael to get back from the gym.
Once he was back, we didn’t talk much until we were back in my BMW.
“Did he really think after everything, a text saying he was back was going to be good enough?” Raphael asked, smiling a little.
“Apparently,” I muttered, shaking my head. No one ever said Cassius was the smartest man. He had sent it the night before, and I had told him to go to hell, leaving him wondering why.
The devil himself answered his door, and I immediately grabbed his shirt.
“Did you fucking hear what went down while you were gone, asshole?” I snapped at him. Cassius had no fight in him, though. He gave me a tired look.
“I heard about it after I sent the text. I’m sorry. Sorcha and I didn’t have a good