"His mate?"

I swear the entire bar turned to look at us as I attempted to hush Jace from another outburst.

She didn't care. "You told me you fucked the Alpha, but you didn't say anything to me about being his mate."

"I also didn't tell you he ate me out in my office this afternoon, yet here we are." I sucked on the straw to my drink as nonchalantly as I could while she started, jaw agape.

"Did he bite you there too?" she asked, nodding towards the mark that still lingered on my neck."

"Ask nicely and maybe I'll show you."

"You know your mother is going to have a fit."

"My mother doesn't need to know about my personal life and the bite marks related thereto."

"She does if they're visible, from your mate and it fulfills a generations-old prophecy?"

I rolled my eyes and focused on the ice in my glass rather than the over-confident stare I was getting from my best friend. I had texted her immediately once Caine left the office, and my blood had calmed from boiling to a warm simmer. The message was plain and simple:

Drinks. Tonight.

I didn't need to tell her when or where because she knew. After work at the same bar we always went to, the same bar I had met Tysriel at the night before. So either he had been vetting me more than he admitted, was stalking me as much as I expected, or he was just very, very lucky.

I did myself the justice of running home first, showering his scent off me again, and changing into something more formal than what I wore to work but far less casual than what I wore the night before— Jeans. A halter top. Ballet flats. Did I expect Tysriel to show up again and wanted to make sure the clothing I wore was easily accessible? I'd be lying to myself if my answer was no.

Unlike me, however, Jacelyn did not use her powers for the good of humanity, unless one counted her impeccable ability to ensure everyone's espresso order was made correctly at the cafe where she worked within a small local indie bookstore. I always told her she needed something more lucrative and she countered with reminding me there was nothing more lucrative than caffeine and books. I didn't argue.

But where I was blood, Jacelyn was darkness, and as much as I needed the sanguine power of the living to control my powers, she needed the night, and the longer the better. Which is why I wasn't surprised in her enthusiasm of my possibly being a mate to one of the larger and more powerful packs in the country.

"If he is my mate, I still need to accept it, if he even proposed the alliance, and even then there's pack politics and coven formalities—"

"You have to tell her before the meeting tomorrow."

If I had any drink in my mouth I would have spit it across the bar. As it was I coughed on air and it took me a minute to regain my composure.

Jace was kind enough to gently pat my back, even as she spoke. "You forgot about the meeting didn't you?"

"I didn't forget," I said hoarsely. "I've just been—"

"Distracted?"

"Busy."

"Too busy to remember the quarterly coven meeting, oh daughter of the High Priestess?"

I just shook my head. Shit.

"Don't tell me you already made another plan to meet with him Friday night."

"Not Friday night, per say. But he wants me to go up there, to his territory, this weekend."

"Alone? Fuck that, Ames. I'm coming with you."

"No you're not."

"Like hell—"

"You have a meeting to attend."

"And so do you." Jace scowled in response. That was how our conversations usually seemed to go, only generally there wasn't a male who may or may not be my mate pulling the strings of Fate in the background.

"It's strictly business," I lied through my teeth. "I will be going up, confirming the information provided to me, and come back to assess whether or not the case is worth our time." If I repeated it enough I might actually start believing it myself.

"You do know 'strictly business' means getting your own hotel room and remaining as neutral as possible, right? It doesn't involve staying at the Alpha's house, or in his bed, or on top of him, or—"

"Speaking of, are you still in contact with Marco?"

Now it was her turn to flush. Which meant my assumption was correct. "I mean, yeah. Sometimes. If it's any of your business."

"It is now. I need a meeting with the Dhamphir again."

"You mean Lilith? Like, Sabien's Dhampir, Lilith?"

"Is there another Dhampir I should know about? Unless you know of a way where you can get me a meeting with Sabien himself?"

"Yeah right," she scoffed. "You know as well as I that Sabien is too good for anyone like us."

"Exactly my point. Which is why we need Marco to play go-between with me and the Dhampir, and then she can say what she will to Sabien."

"If she'll even agree to meet."

"We'll figure that out when we have to."

"Fine. When?"

"Next week."

Now it was Jace's turn to choke on her drink. "That's going to be a hard pull, and you know it."

"But I also know you and your innate abilities of persuasion, and I know you are going to have a hell of a lot of an easier time getting in touch with her than I ever would."

Especially after the last time we met.

Knowing what I know now, it would be a whole different meeting.

Because after Caine left, and while Tom was giving me the time I needed to compose myself, I considered the case as it was presented to me, on a purely factual basis as opposed to anything having to do with my sex drive. I flipped through the very thin file, even still after my conversation with Tysriel and the few notes I could remember to add. I knew of Sabien's coven— I had to research them for that last case, the one that so happened to involve Tysriel's sister... I wasn't going to give myself the time to consider the coincidences of that.

But Sabien had no need to take over the pack's land, and definitely not in such a way as Caine was describing it. I had looked into them as much as I could before tracking down his Dhamphir, and because I dragged Jacelyn with me that was how she crossed paths with one of his commanders, Marco. Though their means would not register on any mundane legal scale, as a witch I understood their loyalties to their ways. But their territory was here, more local in the city, and not north where Tysriel lay claim.

None of it added up, but now my curiosity was going to get the better of me and I wasn't going to be able to say no. Not to Tysriel's case or to his invitation to his land. That's why the file was sitting on my kitchen island and not on my desk back in the office. I didn't want Tom to start getting involved— at least not yet. When there was something mundane I needed to be handled, that's when I would loop him in, but only on an as-needed basis.

In the meantime, I'd take advantage of the time there to find out what I could and then bring it to Lilith and see what information she may have regarding the same. There would be a good chance everyone would be lying to me, but at least I'd have the chance to hear them out before making the calls.

"Only if you go to the coven meeting."

I blinked at her as she pulled me out of my working mind and back to the conversation at hand. "You're using the coven meeting as leverage?"

"Of course I am." She knew she had my attention as she took a longer than normal sip from her glass, draining her drink to the ice. "I'm not going to be the one to make up excuses for why you aren't there, especially when it's going to be your own mother asking the questions. Especially when I know you'd be skipping town to spend time with the Alpha of your fuckin' fated prophecy? Absolutely not. You're going, and facing your own music and then we'll see how quickly I can get on the phone with Marco."

I could only stare at her with the most amused smile on my face.

"What?"

"You're going to make an amazing matron some day."

"Oh shut the fuck up."

"No, I'm serious. I'm impressed."

"Well, how's this for impressive?" She stood from her barstool and tossed down enough cash to pay for both of our drinks and a decent tip on top of it.

"What's the occasion?" I asked as she threw on her jacket.

"You're finally giving your mother a reason to shut up about the damn prophecy."

Once again, she wasn't wrong.