NALEDI’S POV
“Get Caellum on the line, please.” I fired off orders to Korah, who did as she was told, no questions asked.
Marcus walked into the sitting room, and I felt whole. I hardly felt the restrictions of the shadow spell these days. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
Of course, I knew it had something to do with my body getting used to functioning as a human but the problem remained that I wasn’t a human.
The last thing I wanted was to mistake myself for being what I wasn’t and slip up in a critical moment because I forgot I had some valuable werewolf-exclusive skillset at my disposal.
“How did it go?” Marcus asked me and my thoughts fizzled away.
A bile rose in my throat in replacement. “Terrible.”
If my words weren’t convincing, I reckoned my face was. “That bastard takes bastard to a whole new level,” I said, writhing in anger.
“My lady, the Alpha is on the line,” Korah spoke a little too late.
“Naledi. Are you alright?” Caellum’s face popped on the TV screen, looking as worried as possible. One would think he held a torch for me with how much he looked like that these days.
“I’m good. Did you lock up the borders?” I fired like a rocket ball.
Caellum pursed his lips. “How did you know about that?”
“Because Luka told me. I need you to release the borders. It’s hindering my plans.”
The others looked at me like I had grown a second head. I didn’t blame them though. I wasn’t wired up today and the billion-dollar conversation we had was nowhere near the bugged office.
“Luka is exporting women to be trafficked by the Yakuza group. There’s no way I will let him continue with that atrocity right under my nose.”
“I know. I just freaking shot a woman in the head for daring to kill Luka. I need those borders open if I am going to have a clean shot at taking him down.”
Now he was looking at me like I’d been possessed.
“You killed a woman because she was trying to kill Luka? Luka Donatello?” Marcus mirrored the expression of every single person in the room. Including Caellum. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Because she was trying to kill him. And that’s a privilege exclusive to me.”
Now they thought I had gone nuts.
“There’s no way in hell I’m lifting the ban. I can’t let any more people get hurt, Naledi. This is my territory and it is my duty to protect it from sickos like Luka who are committed to destroying it.”
Now I had it. “If you are so committed to protecting the lives of the people you hold so dear, then maybe you shouldn’t be here. Maybe you shouldn’t be right there, seated in your office and calling bullshit when you can walk down to that freaky man’s club and fucking save the day!”
“Naledi.” A warning. One I didn’t heed.
“I don’t care what you think or how you feel about it, Caellum. You handed this case over to me and we agreed you would respect my decision at every turn regarding this case. And this is my decision. Open up the borders.”
“Marcus. Korah. Leave the house and shut the door behind you. I need some time alone with this one.”
I heard the door shut behind them while I stood akimbo, waiting for whatever he had coming for me.
“Tell me what happened today and leave no single detail out.” His words were law, and I could see he had no room for nonsense.
And so, I did. I recounted my day with Luka, leaving no detail out.
By the time I was through, Caellum seemed angrier than he was before I started.
“And you think that is the right call? Granting him free rule to export his freaking human cows wherever the fuck he wants?” He asked, exasperated.
“I need to gain his trust!” I gritted, tired of the back and forth. “I already killed an innocent woman to get him to finally take me seriously and you think I would let this opportunity go down the drain?”
“You don’t seem to get it, do you? You don’t freaking need him to trust you. The only thing you need to do is be around and monitor the lunatic while I decide how to go about things!”
“You are crazy, you know that? We’ve gone over this, Caellum. This is a job you handed over to me. Can you just trust me?! It’s fucking exhausting going over this with you over and over again!”
“Of course I trust you! If I didn’t, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!”
“Then prove it. Open the fucking borders.”
“Naledi.”
“Will you do it or not?!”
“Those women. Those women will be sold like animals. Killed even. Or made to do something worse. Will you take responsibility for that too?” He asked, breathing heavily.
I scoffed in disbelief. “Do you think I don’t know that? I fucking saw the horrors first-hand! I fucking had to kill her because I knew that after what she’s done, she was better off dead at my hands than at the hands of that monster!”
“Do you know how it felt to hit her heart with that bullet when it could have been Luka? How it felt to do that in the eyes of the other women he has abused, imprisoned and trafficked for his sick benefits? Do you know how it feels knowing I might have made the greatest mistake of my life by letting him live?!”
“When I shot that woman, I began a plan that I must see through. When I took her life, I took on a mission to end the life of Luka and everything he holds dear. And if it is going to take your opening that border to enable me gain his trust and see it through, then you better get that border open.”
I hissed as I spoke, breathing like a wounded lion, while Caellum watched me from the screen. Suddenly, the screen went black. He ended the call without uttering a single word.