I didn’t say anything, there wasn’t really anything I could say. But as the uncomfortable silence continued, I decided to try to find the right words. “Well, I know Max cares about you a lot, but true mates are forever and complete. There was nothing he could do.”

She nodded, “I know, but just because my head knows doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t hurt.” I hugged more tightly around her shoulders. I had never had any unrequited love in my life, but I could imagine the pain.

After a few silent moments I changed the subject to what I really needed to know. “Why are you hanging out with the evil twinly duo?”

She blinked a few times. “You mean Cristy and Shalone?”

I shrugged. “I have zero cares about their real names. They’re Orange and Lemon.”

She snickered. “Yeah, I get that.” There was a pause then, as if she was trying to figure out how to explain her friendship with the twins. She started with a sigh. “When Maximus came back from feeding, we were trying to find you and Braxton. Tyson and Jacob were going crazy, they had Quale up against the tree by his throat, threatening, screaming. It only got worse when Max returned.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “He went ballistic. It took us a really long time to calm him down, and the only one who could was … that vampire he’d fed from. Apparently, everyone knew then that they were true mates. I, of course, was the clueless outsider as always.”

“Damn, I’m sorry, that’s tough.” I hated being in the dark, feeling stupid. I knew Mischa would be no different. “But you have a mate out there too. Don’t forget that happiness is yours to find, so don’t give up.”

Her eyes were so green; even ringed with red she still looked amazing. I had no doubt there was going to be a supernatural completely captivated by her one day.

“I’m pretty much off men at the moment.” Her voice was hard, before breaking right on the end again. “And I have to tell you something…”

I tensed, her breathy whisper was worse than the hard voice. She was not going to be imparting good news.

“Part of the promise I made the twins … I have to go with them into the Romanian prison, and they said that if you didn’t come also, that they couldn’t guarantee my safety. That sometimes supes got lost in the prison system and were never seen again.”

It was a direct threat, but I could tell that Mischa didn’t really see it that way.

“Fuck!” My arm fell off her shoulders as I jumped to my feet. “Why, Mischa? Why the hell would you agree to go into Krakov with them?”