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

I ignored him and approached the werewolves.

"What do you mean, she's looking for her mate? She lost him or needs to get a new one?" I tried to clarify.

"Well, she didn't strictly lose him. I believe he's actually hiding from her," Iza's answered surprised me.

"And why is he hiding?" I wanted to know.

"I think he couldn't stand how Ilona treated him," Roman said.

That wasn't sounding good, but maybe we could play it to our advantage.

"We'll deal with that when we get to your alpha. Can you get us to her?" I went straight to the point.

"We can show you where the pack is, but we can't go there with you. They would tear us to pieces, cause we're infected," Roman explained.

I sighed. "This will have to do. We'll do the talking," I said wearily.

The pack was residing in an old palace, not far away from where we were now. When we arrived I immediately understood why the wolves chose this place. The spacious building was surrounded by a vast garden and a high, brick wall, easy to guard from the emojis. If they went about it cleverly the whole area could be viewed as a house, which would make any vampire need an invitation to enter. Neat. Not for Lily though. I'd have to get the mutts to invite her in. I wasn't going to leave her out of this.

At the ornate garden gate we met two guards. When we approached they sniffed the air and growled menacingly. I smiled in return. Never run from an attacking dog if you don't want it to chase you.

"Hello. We need to talk to Ilona, your alpha," I got straight to the point. This took them by surprise. Good.

"Alpha is not meeting anyone. Especially not some worm scum and a leech," one of the guards said through the clenched teeth. Apart from anger I felt bitterness in his voice. I guess Ilona didn't have the time for them either.

"Not even ones that can help her resolve her problem?" I asked gingerly.

"You have no idea of the alpha's problems and we don't need any help," he barked, and I felt he was on the edge.

"She's looking for her fated mate. And I can find him for her," I responded with confidence. I really hoped I was speaking the truth. My visions have already misled me about Francesco, so I needed to be more careful with them.

"And how are you going to do that? Whole pack couldn't sniff the damn mongrel out," the guard barked.

"Wouldn't you like to know that, ah. I have my ways, but I'll be discussing it with the alpha," I tried to sound like someone that knows what they're doing. I must have done good, because finally the werewolf grumpily agreed. Not fully though.

"The bloodsucker stays here. No way we're going to invite a leech to our home", he barked, just as I expected.

"Seriously? It's broad daylight, she's not your ordinary vamp. She's part of the team and either we come all together or tell your alpha that you chased away her only chance of finding her mate," I played va bank, counting on their fear of their boss.

I was right. After a few minutes another wolf came and took us to Ilona. I was expecting some kind of throne room or at least a reception hall. Instead we were lead to a gym. There were dumbbells, benches and all kinds of exercising equipment I couldn't even name. The room was full of people, everyone working out diligently. I was never a fan of this kind of training – I got my prowess from real fights. 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 classically beautiful, young face, that was currently showing anger and frustration. Judging by the force of the hits fighting her would be a challenge even for me. I could see how she became alpha.

She turned to us abruptly, her almost white eyes terrifyingly cold. I did my best not to flinch and smiled at her radiantly.

"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 fearing her. I got an impression that she frightened even her own pack.

"Everyone get out," she barked and immediately all the wolves rushed to the door. I was right about that fear.

"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 escaped partner. "I can find him for you and you could tell me where the Cabal is hiding," I continued, not giving her time to get angry.

Alpha snorted and started pacing the room, visibly thinking something over and possibly trying to calm down a little. She sniffed hard when she got close to my companions and they shrank back instinctively. The look she gave Lily was positively murderous, but she didn't say anything. She sniffed again in my vicinity and looked at me closely. I managed to hold her gaze with a friendly smile, which obviously surprised her. Finally she stopped right in front of me, too close for comfort, but I held my ground.

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

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

"I am the seeing one. Give me something that belongs to Dominik and I should be able to ... eh, see where he is," I responded, ignoring suspicious looks of my companions. I heard Francesco scoff. Vampire uttered a little murmur, as if saying, "ah that makes sense".

Ilona inspected me incredulously and then let out a short, contemptuous laugh. I was expecting that. In an act of stupid bravery I touched alpha's bare arm.

She reached to get my hand off her, when I spoke, "You really shouldn't have taken that necklace from him. He cherished it. It was from his mother."

She froze. "You spoke with him, you know where he is," she barked at me.

"That would work for you as well, wouldn't it? You just want to get him back. Does it matter how?" I answered calmly.

I didn't care if she took me for a con artist, as long as I could get the information I needed from her. 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 her? Don't you see the bitch is insane?" Francesco couldn't hold it in.

Before I could tell him to shut up Ilona was holding him by the throat, her pearly white fangs showing from under pale lips in a snarl. Tomek froze and Lily looked at me as if asking if she should attack. The man was suffocating.

Alpha turned to me, "Reign him in, or you'll too lose your fated mate," she growled. The vampire rose her brow.

"Let him go. He spoke out of his place, but he's not my fated mate. We're humans, we don't have fated mates," I said soothingly, fighting the urge to swing my axe at her.

Killing the alpha in the pack's den really wouldn't do us any good. My heart was racing, but I stood still. For a long moment she watched him suffer and finally she hurled him to the ground. He got on all fours, coughing violently. Tomek ran to him to help him up. The vamp positioned herself between him and the wolf.

Ilona lost interest for the men and got back to me.

"You're barely human. You smell kind of like the witches from the Cabal. But different somehow. Hard to tell because of that worm," she said and now it was me who was surprised. "And humans do have fated mates, they just don't realize it. They call it soul mates, the other half, all kinds of bullshit. But it's the same thing," she explained wearily.

"He's yours. You should mark him," she said casually pointing to panting Francesco. Deep inside me something dark moved at the mention of owning that handsome man. Shit, not the best time to revel in my sinister desires. Where they even mine or was it the parasite's doing? I don't remember being this possessive before the infection.

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

And not to run to Francesco to... do what exactly? Thankfully alpha didn't seem to notice the turmoil she caused in me.

"All right. We can have a deal. Bring me Dominik and I'll take you to the Cabal," she said matching my tone. I sensed there was something she wasn't telling me, but I couldn't pinpoint it.

"Take this," Ilona reached to her pocket and produced a small necklace I saw in my vision. "Do with it what you want, I just want my mate back. You can spend the night at the palace, but I want you out at sunrise," she made it clear our conversation was over.

Fine with me. I took my companions and we got out of the gym. One of the wolves showed us to a ruined room in an opposite part of the castle. There was no furniture, so we set out our sleeping bags. Without a fire we were left with eating some cold, dried meat.

Francesco was gloomy, hesitantly looking at me from time to time, with a mix of interest and hate.

"How are you going to bring Dominik to this crazy bitch? Knock him out or put the collar on him?" he asked angrily. "I bet you'd like that too", he added bitterly.

I felt he was right – I could enjoy that. The mere thought that I was becoming a monster was scaring me shitless. How long before I can no longer contain all the cruelty within me? How long before I hurt someone for real? How long before I hurt Francesco?

"I hope it doesn't come to that. I was rather thinking of pointing 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, pushing away the scary thoughts.

Francesco's face went dark, probably remembering being my fated mate. With all the hate and fear I caused in him the possibility of becoming mine had to be truly terrifying to him.

"Anyway, we need to find him first," I tried changing the subject a little. I opened my backpack and took out a cheap deck of tarot cards, one that in the old times you'd buy in a souvenir shop. To make the things look worse I then got out 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.

"You've got to be kidding," Francesco grunted when I took out Dominik's necklace and lay it down next to the cards. I ignored incredulous looks from my companions. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a long moment. I opened my eyes and touched the medallion, trying hard to concentrate on Dominik. It helped that I already saw him in a spontaneous vision.

I knew nothing about tarot. My visions were usually just coming to me when and how they wanted. The cards were but a means of focusing on the question I needed an answer for. Silly but effective. So I started the divination.