The Huntress

Part 17:Keep searching

''She can't be alive!'' Zach exclaimed when he heard Laurel's theory and hit his hand by accident on the desk hard enough to make the laptop shake.

''Why not, Zach? Everything makes more sense if she's alive.''

''Because that means you went through hell for nothing! I still remember seeing your dead body and Thomas crying above it. I remember the witches telling me what happened. We spent months trying to figure out how to do the impossible, and when we got you out of that hellish prison, you were changed, without a will, without hope. If your mother is alive, it means that everything we've been through after her death was for nothing!'' said Lena, who didn't want the theory to be right.

''Can you prove that she is alive?'' Chloe questioned, the more sensible of the group.

''I don't know. Maybe I could try to track her down through our blood, but it might not work.''

''Let's try it.''

''What about the necklace?'' Zach asked.

''I won't give it to him yet. I want us to try to figure out where would be my sister, why, and who would have her and why my mother wouldn't get her.''

''Charles said that she is somewhere he doesn't have access to,'' Thomas explained to the rest of the group and sat around the big table.

''It could be a place where only witches are,'' Lena offered.

''Yeah, maybe. My mother wouldn't want to risk her cover and show up among witches,'' Laurel agreed, but her instinct was telling her that something was going on. Something she couldn't predict.

Suddenly she felt a terrible pain in her head. She barely had time to hold herself from a chair. He was in pain, and she could feel it, too. She was certain that from the moment she rejected him, something changed with their bond.

She tried to break the curse and let her mate leave in peace, but it didn't work. Instead, they were linked more than before. She had a scar on her cheek to prove it. The scar that Charles had caused to James last night. She hadn't felt it during the battle, but it was now prominent in her face. Of course, it would heal until the next day.

Thomas got up immediately and steadied her. Concern was written all over his face.

''I must find James,'' she said and thanked Thomas with her eyes.

''No, not now. You'll go to sleep, and we will start research. Okay?''

''Okay,'' Laurel agreed. ''I'll go back to campus. I don't want humans to get suspicious of me. I am missing a lot of classes these days, and Asher says that the teachers and the classmates have started asking about my whereabouts. I need to check on Asher, too. I'll see you tomorrow.''

Laurel left the house but didn't go straight to her room. She went towards the forest, where James' pack was. Zach had researched him and his pack while she was gone with Thomas. At least, now, she had a place to search for him.

She was near the borders, or so she thought when she heard someone breathing and approaching her fast.

''The patrol team informed me about a human girl crossing the borders, and I knew it must be you. You seem stubborn,'' said a male figure and jumped from the higher-level ground and landed two meters away from her.

''I need to speak to James.''

''I know, but he won't listen to you. Look, I don't know what happened out there, but you rejected him. I haven't seen him like that. Sometimes he's cold and stern and in a bad mood but never like that. However, I must thank you for saving his life. I don't know how much power is needed to save a life, but you seemed willing to try.''