„Great, a she-wolf in heat. That's just what we needed," Francesco muttered.

I ignored him and questioned the werewolves. "What do you mean, she's looking for her mate? She lost him or needs to get a new one?".

"I think he's hiding from her," Iza spoke for the first time today.

"Why?" I wanted to know.

"Alpha can be... harsh," Roman said, wincing.

That didn't sound good, but maybe we could play it to our advantage.

"Can you get us to her?" I went straight to the point.

"We can tell you where to find her. But... Don't go there," Roman pleaded, looking Tomek in the eyes. "She's crazy."

"Can you vouch for us?" I suggested, studying their faces. Both werewolves looked away and went silent. I sighed.

"I... we... are lucky she has forgotten us," Roman mumbled, a shiver going through his massive body. He was afraid of his alpha. Fleck.

We spent the night by the fire. Lily disappeared into the darkness, but I doubted she went far. Tomek sat close to the flames, hunched over, hugging his knees to his chest, casting bewildered glances at his friends. He was shivering despite two blankets wrapped around him. Francesco was whispering to him, and the lad's tiny sobs subsided. To avoid listening in on them, I went to our feral guests.

The girl was cuddling into her mate, as he stroked her dishevelled, dark hair.

"How long do we have?" she breathed, turning her big, red-rimmed eyes on me.

"A couple of months," I answered, hoping Milena's estimations were correct. The girl shuddered. "By that time, we'll find the cure," I added. She hid her face in Roman's broad chest, and he wrapped his arm around her.

I sat down beside them. "What are you planning to do now?" I asked.

"I think we'll go back to our last base... start from there..." Roman stumbled on his words.

"Why not go back to your pack?" My question made Roman's face go dark.

"Alpha would not welcome us," he muttered.

"Because of the worm?" I ventured.

"That too, but..." he paused and glanced at Tomek. "We chose our allies. She doesn't approve of our choice. We'd get punished," he explained, a tremble in his voice. I nodded.

"It's rare for the alpha to be female," I wondered. "Is this your pack's tradition?"

"No. I think she's the first woman to be alpha. Like, ever. She... won this position..." Roman shuddered. "She's powerful. Don't piss her off," he added, his eyes darting to Tomek again.

"I'll do my best," I promised and dragged myself to my sleeping bag. I needed to rest if I wanted to keep true to my word.

* * *

The pack resided in an old palace, not far away from where we were now. The spacious building was surrounded by a vast garden and a high, brick wall, easy to guard from the emojis. The whole area could be viewed as a house, which made vampires need an invitation to enter. Neat for the wolves. Not so much for us. I'd have to get the mutts to invite Lily in.

Two guards stopped us at the ornate garden gate. They sniffed us and growled, showing their sharp canines. I smiled at them in return. Never run from an attacking dog if you don't want it to chase you.

"Hello. We need to talk to your alpha," I said, taking them by surprise.

"Alpha is not meeting anyone. Especially not some worm scum and a leech," one of the guards seethed through clenched teeth. I guessed Ilona didn't have the time for them either.

"We might help her resolve her problem," I offered.

"We don't need help from a travelling circus," he barked, his eyes going into wolfish yellow.

"Even if we can find what she lost?" I responded, meeting his gaze with a smile, hoping I could deliver on my bluff.

"The whole pack couldn't sniff the damn mongrel out. You think you're better?" the guard barked.

"Your alpha can judge for herself," I retorted.

"The bloodsucker stays here,", the guard snarled, showing off his pearly whites.

"We either go in all, or we walk away. Good luck explaining to your alpha why you made the decision for her," I threatened.

He hunched and let out a muffled growl. "Wait here."

A few minutes later, another wolf came and led us to a gym, packed full of dumbbells, benches, and exercising equipment I couldn't even name. Werewolves swarmed the place, all deep in their training. Not my kind of fun, but to each their own, I guess.

Ilona was furiously hitting and kicking a punching bag. She had long, white hair tied in a ponytail and a classically beautiful, young face that was currently contorted with anger and frustration. Judging by the force of the hits, fighting her would be a challenge. I could see how she'd become the alpha.

She whirled to us, her almost white eyes cold as ice. I did my best not to flinch and flashed her a radiant smile.

"Good day. I think we could help each other out," I cut right to the chase, before she decided to snap my throat.

For a moment, she looked puzzled, probably not accustomed to people not cowering in fear before her. She frightened even her own pack.

"Everyone get out," she barked, and all the wolves rushed to the door.

"So, what do you have to offer?" she asked sullenly when everybody left.

"I need to find the Cabal. You need to find your fated mate." Ilona frowned at the mention of her runaway partner. "I can find him for you," I continued, not giving her time to get angry.

Alpha snorted and started pacing the room, shaking her head and taking long breaths. She sniffed hard when she got close to my companions, and the men shrank back instinctively. The look she gave Lily could curdle the milk. She sniffed again in my vicinity and inspected me from head to toe. Her brows rose when I managed to hold her gaze with a friendly smile. She stopped right in front of me, too close for comfort, but I didn't step back.

"And how do you want to find Dominik?" she asked.

Now was the time to reveal myself. Not perfect, but I didn't have much choice.

"I am the seeing one. Give me something that belongs to him, and I'll see where he is," I responded, ignoring the suspicious looks of my companions. Francesco scoffed. Vampire uttered a little murmur, as if saying, "Ah, that makes sense".

Ilona let out a short, contemptuous laugh. I'd been expecting that. I touched the alpha's bare arm.

Before she could tear my hand off her, I spoke, "He really cherished the necklace. It was a gift from his mother."

She froze. "You spoke with him," she barked at me.

"Does it make any difference?" I answered, keeping my voice calm and low.

This caught her off guard. "If I bring him back to you, will you take us to the Cabal?" I asked, not giving her time to cool off.

"You want to bring him to this crazy bitch?" Francesco couldn't hold it in.

Before I could tell him to shut up, Ilona was holding him by the throat, beneath the collar, her fangs showing in a snarl. Tomek froze, and Lily looked at me as if asking for permission. The man's face turned blue.

Alpha growled at me, "Reign him in, or you'll too, lose your fated mate."

The vampire raised her brow.

"Let him go. He spoke out of his place, but humans don't have fated mates," I reasoned, fighting the urge to swing my axe at her.

Killing the alpha in the pack's den wouldn't do us any good. My heart was racing, but I stood still. For a long moment, she watched him suffocate, delighting in his suffering. I clenched my fists. I'd make her pay for this later.

She hurled him to the ground, and he got on all fours, coughing violently. Tomek helped him up. The vamp positioned herself between the lads and the wolf.

Ilona lost interest in my man and got back to me.

"You're barely human. You smell kind of like the witches from the Cabal. But not quite. Hard to tell because of that worm," she said. "And humans do have fated mates, they just don't realize it. They call it soul mates, the other half, all kinds of bullshit," she explained wearily. "He's yours. You should mark him," she added, casually pointing to panting Francesco.

Deep inside me, the darkness moved. Did the collar count as marking? Fleck, not the best time to revel in my sinister desires. Were they even mine, or was it the parasite's doing? I didn't remember being this possessive before the infection. Even when I caught my boyfriend cheating on me, I only threw him out of the apartment.

"Thanks for the lesson. Now, can we get down to business?" I did my best to sound matter-of-factly.

"Get me Dominik and I'll tell you how to find the witches," she said, matching my tone. She wasn't telling me everything, but I couldn't pinpoint it. "Take this," Ilona reached into her pocket and produced a small necklace I'd seen in my vision. "You can spend the night here, but I want you out at sunrise," she concluded and turned back to her punching bag. The conversation was over. Fine with me.

A young werewolf showed us to a ruined room in the opposite part of the palace. There was no furniture, so we set out our sleeping bags. Without a fire, we were left with eating cold, dried meat. I made myself cozy in the corner of the room, avoiding Francesco the best I could. It didn't work out. Over the smell of dust and sweat, his rainy scent ruined my focus anyway.

I opened my backpack and dug out a cheap deck of tarot cards, one that in the old times you'd buy in a souvenir shop. I completed the kitsch with a matching booklet with tarot interpretation rules for beginners. Lily laughed. Francesco snorted. Even Tomek made a small, chuckling sound. Fine, I should have expected that.

I knew nothing about tarot. My visions came to me when and how they wanted. The cards were only a means of focusing on the question I needed to answer. Silly but effective. I'd learnt this when I got drunk with my friend. She brought this deck and we were playing at divination. She spewed nonsense. I got all the divinations right. Including the one with my stupid boyfriend in bed with a blonde.

"How do we get Dominik to get back to Ilona?" Tomek asked with a worry in his voice.

"We'll point out to him that fated mates are just that, fated. They are destined to be together. Ilona will get him sooner or later," I explained. If that didn't work, I could always knock him out and drag him here by force, but I hoped it wouldn't come to that. Tomek would be upset.

Francesco's face went dark. Was he really my fated mate? A ruthless bandit would be a perfect match for a monster like me, I guess.

"Anyway, we need to find him first," I said, laying out the cards.

"You've got to be kidding," Francesco grunted when I took out Dominik's necklace and laid it down next to the cards. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a long moment, clearing my mind. I touched the medallion, striving to concentrate on Ilona's mate. It helped that I'd already seen him in a spontaneous vision.

I started the divination.