Chapter 67

Ophelia was giddy with excitement as she watched Amanda break down from the rejection. Her plan worked. He was finally rid of his mate and now there was nothing in the way of them being together. She knew she had to play her cards just right for him to pick her as his luna. As much as she wanted to run to him, she knew that he needed some time. Time to realize that Amanda wasn’t the right wolf for him. In time he would see that Ophelia was the girl he needed. And she would be right there reminding him, once he was ready.

Tristan just sat back and watched the fireworks. He was shocked that her plan had worked and he rejected his mate. He would need to keep that spell that she found for safekeeping. He would need it in the near future.

Right now he was formulating a plan to get his girl away from that miserable Lycan. Tristan would show that Lycan that he was no match for Tristan. He would have his Vita back, it was just a matter of when.

Hudson’s head hung low, not wanting to watch the woman he loved go through the rejection. He could hear Tab in the background yelling at him. “How could you? How could you be so selfish?” But it was just noise to him at the moment. His wolf wasn’t happy with him, but he understood why he had to do it. Now he just needed to be patient.

Tabitha cried out at Hudson for being a fool. She couldn’t watch her friend go through this. A part of her blamed herself for being selfish and wanted more time with her mate. She turned to Marco and buried her head into his chest and cried. They were both still bound but she needed to feel him, she needed his touch to calm her down. Bad thoughts were running through her head at the moment. She needed him to keep her from going crazy and doing something she might regret.

Amanda just rocked back and forth, she repeated the same words over and over again: “He rejected me. He rejected me.” Her heart couldn’t take any more pain. She was ready for them to just end it all.

She heard Willow call out to her.

Amanda?

But she didn’t want to listen. Where was she when she needed her most? They could have together used the power that was in her and rid the world of these horrible people. But her wolf refused to help. And now look where she was—strung up, weak and pathetic, just waiting for them to finish her off.

Amanda closed her eyes. She was ready.

There was a bright light that appeared in front of her. She winced at how bright the light was hitting her eyes. She could just barely see a figure walking through the light. Was this her guardian angel? Were they going to take her to a better place?

“Amanda,” a feminine voice called out to her.

As the figure got closer she looked vaguely familiar.

“Amanda, you need to stay strong. Listen to your wolf. She has been with you the whole time. Remember who you are, remember where you come from.”

Amanda felt warmth and love from the woman standing in front of her. Amanda’s lip started to quiver.

“Mom?”

The woman smiled as she nodded her head in confirmation. “Amanda, it’s not your time. You need to be the strong girl that your father and I know you to be.”

“But how? Hudson rejected me. How am I going to get through this without my mate?” she cried out, dropping her head as the tears ran down her cheeks.

Her mom lifted her chin and smirked. “I understand you feel like your heart has been broken. You heard his words, you felt the betrayal of him voicing the rejection. Listen to your wolf, she’ll never steer you wrong. Your father and I are so proud of you. We are always with you, never forget that. And always remember you’re a Jenkins through and through.” Her mom leaned in and kissed her forehead gently before she disappeared.

***

Ruby tapped her fingers anxiously, hoping Hudson was able to hear her message through the mind link. Hopefully, her message got to him before he did something foolish. She lifted her nose and smelled the air. Ruby sighed with relief when she smelled the members of the pack getting close.

Reinforcements.

Ruby walked down the steps and started to walk out to the driveway as she waited for them to shift back into their human form. The first to appear out of the forest was Luna Cynthia and Alpha Benjamin. Then slowly, one by one, more appeared. Ruby’s heart filled with joy as she watched her pack move in unison toward the house. Her brows furrowed as she saw someone unfamiliar to her walk with them.

“Pack’s here,” Ruby called out behind her.

Deak and everyone else walked out to the front porch. Gretchen stayed close to Zachary unsure of what to expect.

Luna Cynthia walked up to Ruby and hugged her. “How are you holding up?” she asked.

“As well as can be expected. Luna, there’s something I have to tell you,” Ruby started but before she could say anything more, Luna stopped her.

“I know that the kids have been kidnapped. We ran into Colson over there and he was able to fill us in on what happened,” Luna Cynthia said.

“We are on our way to the Howler’s Pack. According to Colson, his sister has been behind most of this. I just can’t believe that Samuel would allow this,” Benjamin told them.

Colson shook his head, “The pack has always been against the mixing of the factions. He’s just as much at fault in this as my sister is.” He admitted. He turned to look up at Gretchen who hid behind an older man, blocking him from getting a good look at her. His wolf let out a growl, but he knew that he had a long way to go before she would ever trust him.

“Persephone and Tristan are behind this as well. The coven they belong to believes in that same logic,” Vita explained.

“You think they’re working together in this?” Benjamin turned to ask Colson.

“Not likely, I know my pack has a problem with Amanda being a hybrid. But I never thought they would work with a coven to get rid of her,” Colson admitted.

There were growls all through the pack as they heard what Colson had said. They were ready to fight for their future Luna and bring her home.

“Well, if they’re working together we need to be ready for both. Vita, what do you have available for us to use?” Madeline asked.

Zachary turned to his mother to object, but she lifted her hand to stop him. “Son, I would rather die fighting than wither away as an old lady.”

Zachary sighed but nodded. They all turned to look at Vita.

Vita smirked as she rubbed her hands together and said, “Step into my office.”