Four

JARED'S POV

My first day of classes for the new semester had been uneventful. I couldn't tell you one thing any of my professors said. I spent the entire day thinking about her, my mate.

I thought it was pretty ironic how I was thinking about her only to meet her a couple of hours later. Life was definitely funny but I wasn't complaining. I was grateful.

Something was a bit off though. She seemed... confused when she saw me, like she didn't recognize me the way I recognized her. I immediately knew she was my mate, a wolf always knows. She should have known too.

After all, the first thing every wolf is taught is about their mates. We're taught that someday we're going to meet the other half of our souls, someone who completes us in every way, someone who will always be there for us, in good times and in bad, who will love us and who we'll love in return.

We're taught that when we meet this person, our souls will recognize each other even though we've never met. Our minds will instantly link up, allowing us to communicate telepathically.

When I saw her, my soul recognized her immediately, and I could tell hers recognized me too but it was like she herself didn't recognize me. That didn't make sense.

I searched for her mind all day, wanting to say something to her, to tell her about myself but it felt like there was a wall blocking me from accessing her thoughts.

That confused me even more. Why would my mate be blocking me? Wasn't she as excited to meet me as I was to meet her?

Just then a thought crossed my mind. What if she didn't want me? What if she took one look at me and was instantly repulsed by me? Oh goddess, what was I going to do if she didn't want me?

Although it's not a common occurrence, there have been situations where a wolf rejects their mate for various reasons. And as much as it hurts both wolves, you can't force someone to be with you even if fate has destined you for each other.

I remembered the guy with her yesterday. What if they were together? What if he was the reason she was rejecting me? I felt like I was going to be sick. The hair on my body started standing and I felt my claws elongating, my wolf desperate to be let out.

If it was up to my wolf, we'd scour the entire campus until we found her and then we'd carry her to a secluded place until we completed the bonding ritual. That way, she wouldn't have a choice than to be with us.

But the man was rational and I knew I couldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted to. I took deep breaths to calm myself down but just to be safe, I decided to leave class and not risk shifting in front of the humans.

I walked to my car and sat in the driver's seat, resting my head on the steering. I took out my phone and called Rebecca. I needed to know if she had succeeded in finding her.

She picked up almost immediately and I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke.

“Hello big brother," she said.

“Well?" I asked going straight to the point.

“Well what?" she asked.

“Stop playing with me Becky, you know why I'm calling."

“Okay maybe I do but you don't have to be rude about it. I'm doing you a favour here. The least you can do is be nice to your favorite baby sister who is helping you with your soulmate."

I sucked my teeth, reminding myself not to transfer aggression on her especially since she had a point.

“Hi Becky. How are you? How's your first day of college classes going?" I asked, a fake cheery tone in my voice.

“I'm doing great Jared. First day of classes so far have been a piece of cake. If all of college is like this, they might as well hand over my degree right now."

I rolled my eyes at her. She had no idea.

“Anything interesting happen today?" I asked once again leading the conversation in the direction of my mate.

“As a matter of fact, yes. Today after my first class, I happened to meet a very interesting girl. Tall, about 5'9, blond hair, blue eyes, very pretty, you might know her.."

“Rebecca!!" I yelled cutting her off.

She just started laughing. I swear, this girl was going to be the death of me.

“Okay okay, her name's Aurora, everyone calls her Rory and we actually hit it off. We exchanged numbers and everything and we're going to make plans to hang out. What are the odds that your mate would be in my class after you gave me a mission to find her? I didn't even have to look that hard."

I smiled to herself. Aurora, it suited her. She did kind of look like the Disney princess. I wonder if that was her parent's inspiration.

“Did you find out what pack she's from?" I asked. I was desperate to know everything about her.

“Actually, I got the sense that she's not from a pack," Rebecca answered.

“So she's a rogue?" I asked.

“This is going to sound crazy but I got the feeling she's human or I guess raised human because I can definitely sense her wolf but like very faintly... Like her wolf is laying dormant. I don't know if that's even possible but that's the best way I can explain it."

Dormant? What would make a person's wolf lie dormant? I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. It was times like this that I really missed my dad. He was always so wise on account of how old he was. I laughed when I thought of how he would have reacted to me calling him old.

“Jare, are you there?" Rebecca asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah sorry. I was just thinking about dad. He would have known something about dormant wolves," I replied.

“I miss him too and mom."

“Yeah. So you said you have her number?"

“No, I'm not giving it to you," my sister replied.

“What? Why not? I was the one who asked you to find her."

“Okay and I did that. I never said I was going to give you her number. That's against girl code."

“You met her today. You don't owe her any loyalty. You know who you do owe loyalty to, your alpha and older brother," I replied, annoyed by her antics.

“She's my future sister in law. Of course I owe her loyalty and besides, I can't just go out giving her number to random guys, even if they are her mate. How is she ever going to trust me if I just hand her number over to some guy? How would you even text her knowing you acquired her number like some creep?"

I sighed, massaging my forehead with my fingers. I was proud of myself for not losing my temper despite my sister trying to provoke me.

“Fine Rebecca. You've made your point. I have one last question to ask. Did you see or sense any guys with her? Did she seem like she was with someone?"

I had to literally force that part out because heavens know I wouldn't be able to keep my cool if the answer to that wasn't favourable.

I noticed she didn't respond.

“Rebecca!" I called again.

I heard her sigh. “Okay, you have to chill out here because remember, I don't have all the information. We literally just met."

“You're not helping sis. Just tell me," I said, a bit impatient.

“I caught a scent around her, a different scent, a wolf's."

“And you're sure it's not hers?" I asked.

“I didn't start using my nose yesterday Jared," she replied, the sarcasm dripping from her tone.

I rolled my eyes at her even though she couldn't see it.

“Listen, I would love to sit here with you and talk about your mate but I have class. I'll try to find out more but in the meantime, don't kill anyone. I love you. Bye," She said as she ended the call before I could respond.

I sighed. My mind was working overtime. Is there such a thing as a dormant wolf?And if yes, was Aurora one? And the scent around her, who did it belong to? My gut told me it belonged to the guy I saw with her. Maybe he was her brother or a family member. After all, it was unusual for female wolves to be away from their packs alone.

I didn't have all the answers but there was one place to start. I was going to meet the pack historian. He might not have all the answers but at least he would know about dormant wolves and if they even existed and if they didn't, he would have an explanation for why she didn't recognize me.

I looked at the time. I still had a couple more classes for the day but I knew I wouldn't be able to focus until I had some answers so that helped me make a decision, I was going to visit the pack mansion off campus.

Before that, I decided to grab a quick snack. All I had for breakfast was some cereal and I was famished. I drove to the cafe and got out of the car, locking it.

I walked to the door and when I opened it, my eyes landed on her. I couldn't believe it. The girl who had occupied my thoughts all day was sitting right there. She was focused on her phone but she looked stunning. Her eyes crinkled as she laughed at something funny.

I didn't even bother to order as I just walked towards her. I wasn't thinking about what I was going to say. All I knew was that I was going to talk to her.

“Is this seat taken?" I asked.

She looked up and her eyes widened on seeing me and I was once again taken aback by how blue her eyes was. It was like looking at the personification of a perfect day which was ironic considering running into her had turned my day around.

I could see she was stunned and didn't bother waiting for her reply. Fire and brimstone couldn't stop me from sitting here. I pulled up a chair and sat.

“Hi," I said, a smile on my face. It was like my head had gone blank.

“Hi," she responded with a smile that blew me away.

It's official, I'm whipped.