Chapter 60

Hudson searched all across the campus for Amanda, but he couldn’t find her. He ran his hands through his hair as Artemis his wolf growled with frustration. They tried her cell numerous times but it would go straight to voicemail. And none of their texts had shown that they’d been delivered. Where could she be?

“Colson, where do you think Ophelia could be hiding?” Hudson barked.

Colson was losing his patience just as much as Hudson was. He was getting tired of his sister's games. “I don’t know. We’ve checked everywhere on campus.”

“Maybe we should look at some of the spots in town, maybe she’s hiding there,” Tabitha suggested. She knew everyone was getting tired, but they all knew they needed to find Amanda before she did something she was going to regret.

“Yeah, wouldn’t hurt to check,” Colson admitted.

“I wonder if Vita and Deak are having better luck than us,” Marco mumbled.

****

Zachary wanted to hit his head up against a wall. Vita had called him and given him an update on their situation. He and his mother were going through all the older spell books that they could find to see if there was anything they could do to counteract the spell. So far they had come up with nothing.

It was starting to bug Madeline because she felt she was missing something, something that could help, but she was not able to remember. She huffed in frustration as she closed another book.

“Are you alright, Mother? Do you need to go lie down?” Zachary asked. He could tell that she was exhausted and needed her rest.

Madeline waved her hand nonchalantly at her son. “I’m fine. I’m just frustrated with myself. I feel like I should know the answer to this and nothing is coming to mind to help.”

Zachary gave his mother a small smile and nodded. “I understand.”

Ruby walked into the room with a tray filled with tea and snacks to refuel them. She wished there was something more that she could do, but she didn’t know a lot about witchcraft and wouldn’t know the difference between one spell and to another. This was some dark magic, pertaining to the mixing of factions, keeping mainly wolves and witches apart.

“I’m going to go make a quick phone call, I’ll be right back,” Ruby told them. Ruby walked into the next room and pulled out her phone, she clicked on the number that she was looking for and waited for them to pick up.

“Hello, Ruby, how are you doing?” Luna Cynthia said when she answered the phone.

“Hi, Luna Cynthia, things have been better. There’s a situation here and I wanted to see if you had any knowledge about it.”

“Oh no. How can I help?”

“Have you ever heard of a spell that can force a wolf to reject its mate?” Ruby asked.

Luna Cynthia sucked in her breath when she heard this. She remembered them enforcing this years ago upon the packs whose mates were not wolves. She’d thought that over the years as the packs had evolved that they would no longer use such brute force to tear two people apart whether they were a wolf or not.

“Yes, years ago when I was a little girl. I saw them use it to tear a couple apart, but I thought it had been banded from use. Ruby, who… wait, no not Hudson and Amanda. Please tell me it’s not them.”

Ruby sighed. “Hudson has a bracelet that has been imbued with the spell on it.”

It was quiet for a moment between them. Ruby could hear soft sniffles through the phone.

“So what do we do? He’s not going to reject her. I know my son. I know he loves her.”

“That’s why I was calling, to see if you knew anything that could counteract the spell,” Ruby explained.

“Let me talk with some of the elders and see if they know anything. How’s Hudson doing?”

“He’s holding up ok at the moment, they are concerned with him having Alpha blood that it’s going to intensify quicker,” Ruby admitted.

“He’s got a strong wolf hopefully, he will be able to keep control until we can find something. What about Amanda? I’m sure this must be rough for her.”

Ruby sighed. “She disappeared after an incident occurred and they are looking for her right now. Do you remember Hudson’s ex-girlfriend, Ophelia?”

“Oh goddess yes, I remember her. I was practically doing cartwheels when I found out that they weren’t mated. She was obsessed with Hudson.”

“I guess she still is. She’s been the one behind all the stuff that has been happening to Hudson.”

“I never did like that girl,” Luna Cynthia confided. “Her luck’s about to run out. Let me go and talk with the elders and see if they know anything.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Ruby said before she hung up. Hopefully, the elders would be able to shed some light on all this.

****

Tristan continued to block Amanda from getting away from him. “Who’s got you so angry?”

“Ophelia. When I get my hands on her, she’s going to wish she never knew Hudson,” Amanda swore.

Tristan let out a small chuckle; he didn’t see Amanda as a threat. All this claim that she was a hybrid, something special and she couldn’t do anything.

“What does she look like?”

“Short, with brown curly hair. A skank,” she said.

“I think I saw someone by that description running in that direction. Come on, I’ll help you look for her.”

Amanda shook her head. “It’s not necessary, I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but it would make me feel better.”

Amanda let out a huff. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go already.”

They started to head off in the direction that he told her that Ophelia had gone. Amanda was getting impatient, all the horrible things she wanted to do swirling in her head. A flash of Kimmy and her breaking her neck with just a flick of her wrist crossed her mind. It made Amanda stop for a moment. The next flash was watching the life fade out of the Lycan King's eyes when she squeezed his heart to death.

Amanda bent over as she put her hands to her head and screamed.

Tristan stood and watched as the power manifested through Amanda, growing as her emotions became too much for her to handle. Tristan was thrown back when the power was released, forcing a gust of wind that went sweeping through the campus.

****

Hudson was continuing to search when he felt a burst of wind push through him. He caught a scent on the tail end of it.

“What was that?” Colson asked as he looked around to see what would have caused something like that to happen.

Hudson let out a sigh. “Amanda.”

And he started to run.