Thirteen slowly set out her cheap tarot cards forming some sort of a cross. With a straight face she checked the meaning of each card in the booklet. This was beyond ridiculous. This was cringe. I had to admire her ability to ignore our sarcastic looks. When she was finally done she cursed under her breath. She took the necklace and closed her eyes, probably trying to concentrate. Or just putting up a show of doing so.

She rubbed her eyes with both her palms and carefully collected all the tarot gadgets, tucking them back into her backpack.

"Fuck. We need to speak to Ilona again. She didn't tell us everything. Dominik went to the Cabal," she said finally.

"Yeah, sure. You really want to sell that shit to her? She's going to eat you alive," Francesco blurted.

I thought she'd be angry, but she just looked tired.

"Wish it wasn't like that. But it does explain why the mutts couldn't sniff him out," she sounded confident. "I'll go talk to alpha", she got up slowly, putting her axe on her back.

"We should all go. We're all in this together," I said.

Lily nodded in agreement.

"As much as I hate this idea, I think the boy is right. If we want to convince this crazy bitch that it's not some trick, we need to show we believe it ourselves," Francesco admitted reluctantly.

The huntress looked at us gratefully and called for a guard to get us to Ilona.

This time the alpha was in a dining hall, not at the gym. About half of the werewolves were acting decently, appearing mostly human. The rest was more or less transformed, snouts and fangs biting into raw meat. My heart started racing. Suddenly there was not enough oxygen in the air. I looked around searching for the alpha - thankfully she was among the first half. However when I caught her gaze I had no doubt that she was feral.

Lily was unbelievably composed, I have no idea how she was pulling this off. I think she must be completely unhinged. Francesco was putting on a brave face, only his paleness betraying his fear. The huntress was radiating confidence and calm, that were absolutely the next level. This woman was made of steel.

"Sorry to bother you alpha, but you weren't completely honest with us and we won't be able to help you," Thirteen said plainly.

Some of the werewolves choked on their meal, some gasped. Impossible silence fell on the hall that just a second ago was bustling like a hive. Ilona's low growl gave me goose bumps.

"I told you all you needed to know," the alpha barked angrily.

"I don't agree. Your mate took your pass and ran to the Cabal. That's why your whole pack couldn't find him," the huntress retorted unfazed.

With one fluid motion Ilona was right before Thirteen, her fangs mere centimeters from the bald woman's face. The huntress didn't flinch.

Instead she bent closer to the raging wolf and said slowly, "Dominik is at the Cabal's hiding place. No amount of anger or intimidation is going to change that. So please stop growling and show us how to get there, so that we can bring you your puppy back."

For a moment I was sure Ilona would kill the huntress right there and then. After an eternity of tense silence, the alpha burst out with laughter.

"Nobody has ever stood up to me like that. You've got balls. You're right, my anger won't change a thing," there was sincere admiration in Ilona's voice. "I wasn't lying to you. I knew Dominik took the pass, but I didn't think he'd actually use it. But, if he did, that makes the situation difficult – without the pass I have no way of entering the Cabal's pocket dimension," she explained.

Before we could get upset, an older man with greasily hair came up to us. A dreadful scar marred the right side of his otherwise handsome face.

"Forgive me the interruption, alpha, but there is another way. The witches' portal," he said, casting down his sea green eyes. It was supposed to be humble, but I caught a glimpse of contempt and hatred.

"What's that?" surprisingly Ilona and Thirteen asked at the same time.

"An entrance used by the mages to get to the Cabal's dimension. It can only be opened with their blood," the man explained.

"So it's of no use. This woman smells of magic, but she's no witch," alpha barked.

The man tried to hide a smirk. "They have a wizard. I know his smell – he even looks like his father," he said pointing at me. My heart skipped a bit.

"You've met my father? You know where he is?" I asked, ignoring irritated looks from the women.

"He was the last wizard we brought to the Cabal. I thought it was strange he didn't really put up a fight when we came for him. Now I see why – he was trying to get the witches away from his son." the man responded, flashing me a friendly glance before looking down again.

"You've never told me about that, Jan." Ilona growled.

"You didn't ask, alpha," the man answered with false humility.

Ilona lashed out, her fingers turning into claws in midair. She hit him broadly in the face, cutting through his meticulously wrapped scarf in the process, revealing a loose collar with silver ornaments. Jan didn't try to shield himself nor dodge. Instead he silently took the hit and fell to the ground.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the portal," Ilona said without looking at Jan, implying that our conversation was finished.

Thirteen acknowledged it with a nod and without a word took us to our quarters. Jan stood up slowly, keeping his distance from the alpha. Blood was trickling from the already healing wound on his face.

I was exhausted but I couldn't sleep, thinking about my father. For my whole life I thought he was a bastard that left his woman with a child. But it appeared that I was horribly wrong all this time. Robert sacrificed himself to save me from the Cabal, whatever this meant. Probably from the vampires too.

It was long past midnight when I heard the door to our room open with a quiet creak. I sat up and saw a familiar figure slip through the door, carefully closing them behind him. He motioned to me to keep quiet. I thought my companions were fast asleep. Jan was about to sit down beside me when a knife touched his throat. Thirteen was standing behind him, slightly pressing the blade to his skin.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this night visit, wolf?" the huntress asked in a whisper.

"I just want to tell you a bit more about where you're going," the man answered calmly.

"Why wouldn't the alpha tell us herself? She wants to get her mate back, doesn't she?" Thirteen voiced her doubts.

"There are many things Ilona doesn't know." Jan responded.

"Ok, speak." Thirteen said, sheathing her weapon.

"And how come you know things she doesn't?" I asked.

"Because I used to be the alpha of this pack," the wolf sounded bitter.

Our conversation woke up our companions and they were listening in now.

"That collar? Is this what keeps you obedient to her?" Francesco asked suddenly, pointing to the man's neck.

"No, this just keeps me from shifting into my wolf form," Jan said sourly.

"So she overtook the pack by tricking you into..." Francesco had to know.

"No, she challenged me and won the duel fair and square. It was my own foolishness that got me into this position," the ex-alpha sighed.

"I knew she was the fiercest of my warriors. I saw her abilities and her anger grow. I should have stopped her. But there's never been a female alpha. We didn't have any laws prohibiting it or anything, it was something kind of unthinkable, I guess. Everyone knew a woman would have no chance against a man... So when she challenged me, I laughed. I underestimated her and you should never underestimate your foe," Jan stopped to think for a while.

"The duel... It was different from every fight I had, and I had many. I was an alpha for a long time, many challenged me, but I always won. But Ilona... she has no fear. Of dying, of getting hurt, of anything actually. She doesn't dodge, she doesn't hold a guard or shield herself. She just attacks and counterattacks. She's like some fucking whirlwind. I didn't know how to fight her and soon she wounded me so much I could no longer stand," the man said.

"She even had her claws coated with silver." He subconsciously touched the scar on his face. "This shouldn't even be possible, silver stops the transformation, and yet she can shift her hands at will. Frankly, the way she shifts, I've never seen anything like that. No one can just flow from one form to another," he was silent for a moment.

"Anyway, she won and should have killed me. But she showed mercy. That was what the pack thought, in the beginning at least. I was still recovering when she came to my sick bed. There were only the two of us. She gave me a choice. Either I would become her pet, wearing the silver collar, or she'd make me watch her kill my whole family." Jan shuddered at the memory. "I was sure she would keep her word, she was beyond mercy or remorse even before we dueled. So I agreed to her terms," he finished his story.

"Why didn't you just take your family and leave the pack?" Francesco interrogated. He must felt a connection with the enslaved werewolf, remembering his own predicament with the collar.

"We are wolves. Pack animals. We can't just leave our pack. Even if we did, alpha is always able to find us. And call us at her will. I don't even want to think what Ilona would do to us if we tried to escape," a slight tremble in his voice was a testimony to his fear.

"So, what was the thing you wanted to tell us?" I asked, trying to change the painful subject.

"The Cabal used to be formed of witches and wizards. But wizard blood, known as royal blood, has... special powers. Vampires hunted for the wizards fiercely, and they almost went extinct. The Cabal took refuge in a pocket dimension they created or discovered, I have no idea. It was half a century ago, or so," Jan recounted slowly.

"My pack was serving them as muscle. It's been a tradition. Some say it was the witches that created werewolves. Anyway, some twenty years ago the situation went dire for the witches. There was no wizard left in the Cabal's hideout. The Regina, the highest witch, was desperate to find a wizard, so that they could breed again. They can live for centuries, but they didn't want to go extinct," Jan explained.

"And then a wizard was discovered. A powerful one at that. I believe he was your father," the ex-alpha addressed me. "Regina ordered me and my pack to bring him to the Cabal at all cost. I was sure he'd put up a hell of a fight, so that even trinkets we received from the witches wouldn't be enough to subdue him. But he barely fought us. It looked more like he wanted us to capture him. At that time I thought he must be laying a trap for the Cabal or something," he remembered.

"So we put the magical chains on him and brought him to the witches. That was the last time they used our service. They cut all the contact with the outside world. I think they may be oblivious to all the changes that have happened here," he mused. "My guess is Dominik didn't receive a warm welcome. He got there without an invitation, with a pass that only an alpha should use. If he was lucky they locked him up to investigate more in a few years' time," he didn't elaborate on the unlucky scenario.

"The portal I'm about to show you tomorrow is a different thing. It's been created for the witches and wizards and can only be opened by their blood. I expect it leads to somewhere in the main castle, rather than the guardhouse the pass takes its wielder to," Jan elaborated.

"Do you know where they might be holding my dad?" I asked.

"As far as I know all magical prisoners were kept in the big, round tower in the main castle," Jan's response gave me hope.

We tried asking him more about the layout of the Cabal's hideout, but there wasn't much he could tell us. The werewolves were treated as servants and were not let into the main castle. We thanked him and he left.

The next morning we moved out with Ilona and Jan guiding us to the witches' portal. I was imagining something grand, straight from high fantasy novels. I was sorely disappointed, when the wolf took us a to a half ruined building, full of trash and worse things. The smell was hideous. We traversed a kind of two story courtyard and entered a hallway. Thanks to the missing roof it was light enough for us to navigate through the piles of rubble and trash.

I think this used to be some kind of communist era office building, that went out of use many years ago. Looks like the wizards were trying to blend into the society back then. In a ruined room there was one particularly sturdy wall, with no signs of cracks or even flaking paint. There were no symbols on it, no ornaments, nothing to suggest it was supposed to contain a magical portal.

"Put your blood on the wall", Jan pointed me to the right place. I hesitated for a moment but Thirteen approached me, took my left hand and cut my index finger with a point of her knife. The blade had silver engravings – so that's why she was able to threaten a werewolf with it. I made a small noise when the huntress gently squeezed to draw the blood and pushed it to the wall.

For a moment nothing happened and I thought this wasn't going to work. And then the magic started – a twirl of colors appeared on the wall, first slow and then getting faster and faster. I felt a bit dizzy.

"Let's go," Ilona said impatiently.

I was about to do just that, when I heard Jan say, "Werewolves can't use this door. We'll have to wait here, alpha."

Ilona growled menacingly. Her look at Jan made him blanch a little.

"Then I'll just keep your mate as a guarantee you don't pull a trick on me," Iona said, approaching Francesco with a speed of a lightning.

This time Thirteen was faster though. "No, you don't. He's mine," she said in a low voice, blocking the wolf.

For a second they were just trying to stare each other down.

"You're out of your fucking mind, if you think I belong to anybody," Francesco said. It was hard to guess which of the women he was addressing – possibly both.

"If I have to, I'll just stay with the wolf. Can't be much worse than you," this time it was obvious he was speaking to Thirteen.

He came out from behind her and walked to Ilona. She flashed a cruel and cold smile, and put her hand, claws out, on the back of his neck, visibly claiming him. Despite trying to put a brave face Francesco shuddered. The huntress' face went dark.

"If anything happens to him, Dominik will pay for it. And I will make you watch," she said, her voice low and menacing. Ilona just nodded.