secrecy breach.”
“Really? Do you think that guy walked all the way here, looking like that?”
“Walk? No. Run? Very possible. Wesley isn’t normal.”
The elevator dinged at the parking garage, and we ran for my BMW, jumping in. I started the engine and pulled out, glad to be getting away from yet another attempt on my life.
“I think we should go to Cassius’,” Raphael said as we turned onto the road.
“Nope. Fae. Can’t trust the fae right now,” I said evenly. “That stands. Every fucking one of them is conveniently missing. Remember?”
“That’s right. What about…Paden’s? He’s a good friend, and he’s a fae, not missing.”
“He’s got a wife he needs to keep on lockdown, and he’s an information dealer in his spare time. The Jackalope doesn’t pay his bills. I can’t give him anything that might jeopardize the position of the Tribunal, and details about a mass prison break that aren’t already public could very well do that.” I considered other options, sighing as I figured one would be better than the rest. “It’s not finished, but we’re going to my desert home.”
“The one where Sinclair attacked us?”
“Yup.” I hit the gas and got onto the freeway. Rain was pouring down now, meaning Levi had finished the spell, and the storm was at full strength. Going after him now seemed like a terrible idea. Wesley, Nakul, Erline, Dunter, Levi—how many other monsters would come crawling out from under the bed while I tried to regain any semblance of control over the situation?
“What was he? Wesley.” Raphael leaned back in the seat, getting comfortable.
“A werewolf.” It wasn’t that hard to figure out.
“No. Werewolves and werecats only turn into actual animals, big ass wolves or big ass cats.”
“Big ass sabretooth cats, but yeah, you’re right.” I shrugged. “Wesley isn’t normal.”
“Obviously,” he snapped. “Kaliya, this is where you start telling me what we’re dealing with, remember?”
“Oh shit, yeah. Sharing. That’s right.” I was frazzled, but I saw no reason why he couldn’t know about Wesley. “Wesley is a werewolf, but he’s not really a bad person or anything. Someone else turned him into that, dumped him in the middle of a small town in the Rockies, and a massacre ensued. He’s gone into what’s called the Last Change. Werecats and werewolves sometimes completely lose it and can’t finish going between the forms. They’re cursed beings, so it makes sense it would end poorly, right? They’re normally killed when it happens. They have no humanity, no reason. They’re mindless killing machines.”
“So…this just happens, and they’re killed when they’re found. But not Wesley?”
I could understand his confusion.
“Wesley has moments of clarity, of humanity no other werewolf or werecat has after experiencing the Last Change. He was found in the center of that small town, crying over a little girl he had killed.” I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t been one of the people to find him. What an awful sight that must have been. “They knew then something was wrong…with him, with the entire situation. The problem is, when he tries to remember what’s happened to him and who did it, he goes into a rage, freaks out, and starts killing again. Others have tried to probe his memory to discover anything, but it’s always a dead end. So, he’s kept in hopes someone could one day discover how to fix him because this wasn’t his failure. Not that he’ll ever live on his own again, but he’s just a victim.”
“Like me,” Raphael whispered.
“Like you,” I agreed softly. “I’m honestly pissed off he’s out. If he can’t be contained, he’ll need to be killed, and that helps no one. Certainly not him.”
“Why was he at the prison? Was it for security?”
“Yup.” I nodded sharply. “I would bet my life’s savings the breakout agitated him more than normal…” I trailed off, realizing my train of thought was wrong. There was another thread here, and it was something I could use. “No…”
“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