“Anything else?” he asked. “Or can we talk about something Wagner brought up on his call?”
“Nothing else from me.”
“Good, then tell me about what you plan to do about Nakul,” Hasan said simply without judgment or anger. Just a simple question, which if I answered wrong would blow up in my face.
“I plan on taking him back to the prison,” I told him honestly. It wasn’t the entire truth, but enough of it to hopefully get him to not ask any more questions.
“Not kill him on sight?”
Ah, fuck.
“Don’t fire me for this,” I started, considering just what I could trust Hasan with. “He hasn’t tried to kill me, and he hasn’t tried to leave the state. He’s been…following me around since the breakout. He saved my ass earlier today with Levi and those werewolves. When Wesley showed up, I thought I was fucking done for. Raphael and I were completely outnumbered. He disappeared before the pack got there. We saw him again at the car, and I brought him to Cassius’ home. He’s secure right now.”
“So, you’re just going to take him back to the prison tonight.”
“Eh. Maybe tomorrow—”
“Tomorrow? Kaliya, showing your family—”
“He knows something about what’s going on. He tried to warn me right before the breakout. His memory had been manipulated. Once I’m positive the threats have been eliminated, and no other northern cell block inmates are in the city causing problems, I need to know what he knows.” I had to see this thing to its end, or I would be stuck wondering just like I was with Raphael. I couldn’t let answers slip through my fingers.
“Then we can have him examined at the pri—”
“This was done to him at the prison, Hasan. I’m positive it has something to do with the visitors they’ve been letting in. I don’t think this just was Wesley. Aren’t you getting it? Whoever Tarak and Eliphas let in decided to have a good time spelling people to try to kill me, and I can’t let that slide. I can’t let that go unanswered. I need to get to the bottom of this because it’s not just them being spelled. There are a few others trying to kill me because the price is good enough for them. Someone wants me dead.” I was ranting into the phone, running a hand through my hair as frustration and anger swirled in my chest. “And I can’t stop until I find out why they thought this was a reasonable way to try. They broke out the entire fucking prison, Hasan. I bet I was never supposed to get out of that prison alive.”
“And you know Nakul is part of this how?” the werecat growled on the other end.
“Because they asked him to kill me. He can’t remember who asked him. He has bits and pieces as though they couldn’t completely hide the memory. He turned them down, but he knows some of these motherfuckers can get a huge reward for killing me, like new identity, no record kind of good. We’re not talking about a mortal identity, either. Supernatural.”
“Ah…” I heard a seat creak. “Okay. As long as you have valid reasons, I can spin this for the other Tribunal members, but I probably won’t need to. Nakul has come up a lot since the breakout. My fellows have tried to tell me there’s no love between the two of you but—”
“He killed children,” I said with a hatred I still felt for my uncle. Nothing was going to ever erase that hate, but I was resourceful enough to put it aside when I needed something. I wasn’t going to let it consume me when I could use Nakul’s loyalty to our species for my own survival. “He butchered families. If Cassius had let me kill him years ago instead of making him stand trial, he wouldn’t fucking be among the living. I didn’t hesitate in the task. I was stopped. There’s a difference.”
“Good. Now, I expect you’ll interview him tonight, find someone to look into his memories, then take him back to the prison to complete the investigation. Am I correct?”
“You are. Unless someone comes out of the woodwork and tries for the kill, I should be able to wrap this up in a day or two. The investigation could take longer because I haven’t found everyone yet, like Kartane, but I can get to work on it for your Investigator.”