Six

JARED'S POV

Peaches and honey, that was what she smelled like. I could still feel the scent wrap around me like a comforting blanket as I started the car.

I really didn't want to leave her but I had to get to the pack house. I now understood what Rebecca meant when she said she was raised human and I needed to find out how that was possible. Wolves typically didn't leave their pups in the care of humans.

I knew she was a wolf. Hell, if she wasn't, she wouldn't be my mate but somehow I didn't think she knew that she was or even knew wolves existed.

Either that, or she was pretending but I could get the sense that she wasn't. She was nothing but open during our date, if you could call it that. Ironically, her mind wasn't open to me this time.

I tried to search her mind for information about her but she must have been blocking me. I wasn't upset though. I liked a challenge and it just meant I had to learn about her the old fashioned away.

Aurora consumed my mind and it was a wonder I hadn't crashed the car yet. I wanted to know everything about her, from the simplest things such as her favorite colour to the most complicated things like how she ended up like this.

But I couldn't lie, I was worried. If Rebecca and I are right and she didn't grow up with wolves, that would mean she knows nothing about mates and probably subscribes to the human way of meeting the one; going on multiple dates with multiple people until you find them.

What if she didn't want to be with me? She mentioned a friend and I saw the look in her eyes when she briefly mentioned him. Somehow, I knew it was the same guy I saw with her yesterday.

Who was he to her? Am I going to have to kill him? Because goddess knows I could never stomach watching my mate with another man. But if I do kill him, do I risk her hating me forever? If he means something to her then she's never going to forgive me for hurting him.

I punched the steering wheel in frustration. How did I end up in such a situation? I'm not going to panic. It's too early to make assumptions.

I took deep breaths to calm myself as I managed to drive to the pack mansion.

When I arrived, I was greeted by Ezra, my beta.

“Hello alpha. We weren't expecting you back so soon," he said with a slight bow of his head.

Ezra was a wolf that had been in the pack for a long time. He was the beta of my uncle, the former alpha and when I overthrew him, I kept him on since he had been doing a good job.

He was 29 years old, so he had finished college and his main job was to manage pack affairs when I wasn't available.

He was about the same height as me with a muscular build. He had dark skin and curly brown hair.

Even though he greeted me formally, Ezra and I were actually good friends even though he was a few years older than me and we had an even better working relationship.

“Hi Ezra," I greeted, getting out of my car, “yeah I wasn't planning on being here. But I need to visit the archives . I need to do a little research."

Ezra and I began walking towards the building. He raised his brow, clearly intrigued.

“Research on what?" he asked.

I wanted to say what it was but something made me hold back.

“I'm going to keep this a bit of a secret for now Ez. I don't have all the facts but I promise when I do, you'll be the first to know."

Somehow, I wanted Rory to be my little secret. I wasn't ready to share her with the rest of the pack yet. If they knew about her, they would definitely be excited and even demand to meet their new luna.

I wanted her to be just mine a little longer before she belonged to them too. Selfish, maybe but I didn't care. Rebecca might be a bit of a pain but I knew I could trust her to keep this secret, at least for now.

“Are you sure everything is okay Jared?" Ezra asked, looking concerned.

“Yes. Everything is fine. I'll fill you in when I have more details."

He nodded then proceeded to give me updates on the pack activities. It wasn't a long update since I had been here yesterday but I still appreciated it.

“I'm going to go find Albert. I'll see you before I leave," I said at the end of our conversation.

“Alright. Good luck with your research," he said as we parted ways.

I headed to the pack archives where I would find Albert, our pack historian. Albert was the oldest wolf in the pack and possibly this side of the country.

He was so old, his age was showing in his features and that's saying something for a wolf. He looked like a man in his late fifties or early sixities, but in truth, no one could remember how old he was, even Albert himself. We just knew he was at least 300 years old.

He was the keeper of our knowledge and occasionally, we had wolves from other packs travel to come consult from him.

I entered the archives and went straight to where I knew I would find him, in his office with his face buried in a book.

“Hi Albert," I greeted, a smile on my face. I liked Albert. He was kind of like a father to me and since I took control of the pack, he had been very helpful with advice and words of wisdom when I needed it.

He raised his head to smile at me. He wasn't very tall for a wolf. He stood at around 5'11. His hair had turned completely white, leading me to suspect he had been blonde before. He had kind brown eyes and a mustache that he liked to twirl when he was deep in thought.

He had tattoos of his mate, kids and grandkids names on his arm and it was very visible in the short sleeved shirt he was wearing.

“Jared. What a nice surprise," he greeted, opening his arms for a hug.

“It's good to see you Al," I said as I hugged him.

“How's Nancy and the kids?" I asked.

Albert rolled his eyes like I expected him to. He always found it funny when I asked about his kids and called them kids knowing they were both older than me.

Albert had two children, a daughter who was about thirty-five and a son who just turned thirty. His daughter had joined another pack when she found her mate and I think she had twins. His son hadn't found his mate yet but stayed with his sister in their pack.

Despite being so old, Albert didn't find his mate early. And even after he and Nancy found each other, it took them a while before they had kids too.

Nancy had gone to visit and I knew Albert always felt lonely when she was away.

“They're fine. I miss them terribly but it is what it is," he replied.

“You know you could always go visit them right. You deserve a vacation too," I said.

“Then who will man the archives? Who will keep the information in check?" Albert asked as he always did whenever this conversation came up.

“The archives will be fine for a few weeks if you decide to take a break."

Albert shook his head. “Anything could happen during that time. I can't take that chance."

I sighed, knowing I was getting nowhere with him. We had this conversation multiple times before and it always ended the same way.

“Anyway, what brings you here alpha, I know this isn't just a social visit," Albert said.

I smirked at the historian. There really was no fooling him.

“I need your help. What can you tell me about dormants?"

“Dormants?" he replied, confused.

“Dormant wolves," I repeated, watching as his eyes widened.

“Any particular reason for the sudden interest in them?"

I didn't reply.

“Jared?" he called again.

I sighed. “Can you keep a secret?"

Albert furrowed his brows in confusion.

“I would like to think so," he replied.

“I've found my mate but I think her wolf might be dormant."

Albert's eyes widened at the same time his mouth dropped open.

“I'm sorry. What?" he asked.

“My mate might be a dormant wolf. I don't know how that's possible or if it even is possible but that's my working theory and I need you to tell me if it's possible," I said.

That seemed to snap Albert out of his daze.

“Tell me everything from the beginning. Why do you think she could be dormant?"

So I proceeded to tell him everything, from the first time I saw her, how her confusion felt to me, to Rebecca's assessment of her, and finally to my meeting with her.

Albert twirled the ends of his mustache as he absorbed everything I said.

“Forgive me Jared but have you thought about the possibility that you might be wrong and this girl isn't your mate?"

I growled loudly at that as Albert flinched. I had to reign my wolf in. Albert was just trying to look at all the angles. He wasn't trying to challenge me.

“I'm sorry," I said.

“No. It's fine. I shouldn't have said that. I just want to make sure you've thought this through. The chances of a dormant wolf aren't very high," he replied.

I closed my eyes as I tried to calm myself down. Albert didn't deserve any hostility from me. He was only trying to help.

“When you met Nancy, how did you know she was yours?"

He sighed. “When I saw her, it was like I had been in darkness but then suddenly, I could see the sun. Like I was blind and suddenly I could see. Like I became whole even though I didn't know I was missing a piece of me before her."

“That's exactly how I felt when I saw Rory. It was like drowning and suddenly coming up for air. Her scent literally feels like my own personal brand of heroin. She has occupied every single thought of mine since I laid eyes on her, hell even before I laid eyes on her. She's mine and I know it. I spoke to her in her mind and I know she heard me. I have never been more sure of anything than this Albert."

The old historian looked a bit taken back by my words but nodded.

“Okay. Hang on," he said as he walked away.

I saw him type away on his keyboard and I smiled because his kids and I practically had to force him to start using a computer but now he was a natural.

“Okay I've found something," he said as he stood up and grabbed a book from one of the shelves.

He flipped through and read through before raising his head to smile at me.

“You just might be right alpha," he said.

I raised my eyebrow at him expectantly.

“If a werewolf finds himself without his pack having never shifted before, his wolf and his abilities will lie dormant. Similarly, if a wolf finds himself raised amongst non-wolves such as humans, the lack of a pack bond will prevent the wolf from manifesting and the wolf will remain dormant until said wolf goes back to a pack environment."

As Albert finished reading, he looked at me.

“Are you saying what I think you're saying?" I asked.

“I'm saying, if she grew up amongst humans, then yes, she most likely is a dormant werewolf and if you want to wake her wolf up, you're going to have to get her to be among the pack," Albert replied.

I nodded. One thing was sorted. Now I just need to figure out why she grew up among humans and what happened to her parents. This would be a lot harder to figure out. Somehow, I doubted she knew the answer to this.

“Thank you Albert. This was really helpful," I said.

“Happy to help Jared. I'll probably try to do more research on dormant wolves. You've piqued my curiosity and who knows, we might find something that could help you."

I nodded, thanking him again. The conversation moved to other topics.

“How goes the search for an apprentice?" I asked.

A while ago, Albert had started looking for someone to take over from him as historian. He had lived so long and he didn't know how long he had left so he wanted to make sure there would be someone who could continue his work.

“Not so good. The work of historian isn't as easy as it seems. It involves a lot of reading, researching, heck, travelling."

I laughed, raising my brow at him skeptically.

“You? Travel?" I asked amidst laughter.

“Believe it or not, I wasn't always a hermit. I spent most of my youth traveling the world to gather information."

I guess that made sense.

“Well good luck Al. I should get going. Thanks for all your help," I said as I hugged the old man and stood up to leave.

“Anytime alpha. Good luck with your mate. I can't wait to meet her. I'm sure she's a lovely girl."

“You have no idea."