The Alpha's Girl

Eight

JARED'S POV

I sat in my room, my laptop on my desk as I attempted to get started on my now piling mountain of homework and essays due.

You'd think that being in my third year, I would have less homework but that's not the case.

Anyway, technically, my homework wouldn't be piling up if I hadn't neglected it to research Rory. Ever since Albert mentioned the possibility of her being a dormant, him and I had been trying to do research to find out her origins.

So far, we had been as lucky as someone attempting to find a needle in a haystack. It didn't help that all I knew about her was her name. I didn't know her last name and unfortunately, neither did Rebecca.

We had no luck and it was annoying. I didn't want to text her and ask what her last name was, I felt it would be weird.

She would know I was researching her and I didn't want to freak her out and have her running for the hills thinking she's met a creep.

I turned back to my computer. Why did I have this much homework? We only resumed three days ago. I ran my hand over my face in frustration.

Not surprisingly, my mind darted to Aurora again. We hadn't really spoken since our impromptu meeting at the café. I was nervous and didn't want to come across as clingy.

That didn't mean she wasn't in my mind 24/7. I tried to search for her mind and talk to her again but I was met with the mental block that was there last time.

She probably didn't even realize it was there. I wonder what other wolf abilities she had that she was manifesting without realizing it.

I managed to pull my thoughts from her and refocused on my work. Just as I was typing on the laptop, my door barged open.

I sighed, only one person would be so bold.

“Becky," I greeted without turning to look at her. Suddenly, I felt her arms go around my neck and a kiss on my cheek.

I raised a brow at my sister, fighting back the urge to smile.

“What do you want?" I asked, unable to keep the smile off my face.

“A girl can't say hi to her favorite brother again?" she replied coyly. I wasn't falling for that.

“Rebecca, I'm your only brother," I replied.

“Which is exactly why you're my favorite."

She released me and took a seat on my bed. I spun around on my chair to face her, my eyebrow still raised.

“Ugh," she groaned, “I need to borrow some money."

I smirked, “Now Becky, when you say borrow, when do you plan on paying back?"

My sister gave me a sheepish smile.

“Big brother," she began in what I'm assuming is supposed to be a baby voice, “you wouldn't really expect your baby sister to pay you back now, would you? I mean, I'm so little."

I smirked at her, amused at her antics.

“Sis, you're 19. You're not that little."

“I'm basically a child," she said as she dramatically flopped on the bed.

I rolled my eyes at her and went back to my work.

“Besides," she continued, “I need it for Rory."

Damn my sister, she knew exactly what to say to push my buttons. I slowly turned back around to face her.

“I'm listening," I said, not even bothering to hide that I was intrigued.

“I was planning on asking her out to a spa date, you know to pamper ourselves but it would be rude to invite her and then expect her to pay but... if you don't give me the money, she'll have to pay on her own."

I narrowed my eyes at her while she had on a satisfied smile on her face. She knew she had got me there.

“While we're there, I could find out information about her, maybe finally find out her last name or who her parents are," Rebecca went on.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine Becky, you win. How much do you need?" I asked, taking out my wallet.

“You should probably just give me your card to be safe. We might go shopping afterwards."

I raised a brow at her.

“What? Retail therapy is needed to help girls loosen up and spill secrets," she defended.

“You're not a detective Becky," I said sighing but I eventually just handed her the card. Truth is, I would have given her even without her mentioning Aurora but I wasn't going to tell her that.

“Oh, thank you Jare bear," she said as she came to hug me and place kisses all over my face.

I laughed, trying to push her away.

“Okay first of all, ew and second, you're welcome Becky," I replied.

“Oh and no male masseurs," I added. The image of a guy rubbing on my mate or my sister even wasn't pretty.

“Of course not.I would never. I'm gonna go text her. Oh and it's Becks," she said on her way out of the room.

“No it's not," I said back, knowing her hearing would pick it up.

My sister was like a walking tornado, bulldozing everything in her path. I knew I wouldn't have her any other way though.

I liked the idea of her hanging out with Aurora though, not just for the reasons she mentioned. I would love for my mate and my sister to be good friends. They are both the most important women in my life and I would be grateful if they got along great.

I went back to my work, wanting to finish up so I could go for a run. My wolf was feeling antsy. A part of me didn't want to go for that run because somehow, I knew my wolf would track Aurora and we'd end up curled up on her lap.

And somehow, I didn't think she'd appreciate it if a large wolf showed up at her doorstep to curl in her lap. Somehow, I imagined it would end in a scream.

Just as I was focused on my work, I heard a passing thought that definitely wasn't my own.

The image of a guy appeared in my head, blonde hair and brown eyes, a couple of feet shorter than me. His name, Steve also appeared.

Apparently, my mate thought he was cute. Wait, was I hearing her thoughts? Had the block been brought down?

I couldn't help but be consumed by jealousy which I tried to hide so I didn't overwhelm her. I couldn't help myself so I said “he's not that cute" to her.

I felt her surprise and shock at hearing another voice. I could see the wheels of her mind turning as she tried to make sense of what she heard.

“How do you know?" she said back.

“What?" I asked, surprised that she actually spoke back. Especially since she was on the verge of convincing herself she was crazy.

“How do you know he's not that cute? You haven't seen him."

Again, I tried to supress my jealousy. It would do no good in this situation.

“Your mind paints quite the picture princess," I said, unable to resist adding the pet name. What I really wanted to call her was sunshine but I felt like she would know who it was and call me a coward but I wasn't quite ready for that yet.

I wanted her to know me as a person before she knew any parts of me that might scare her off.

I could feel the familiarity she got at hearing my voice and I could see her try to figure out who was talking to her.

“Who are you?" she asked.

“You'll find out soon enough. If I tell you now, it might scare you off," I answered, telling her the truth.

Then her mind spiralled into a tangent of her convincing herself she was crazy because she was hearing voices. I wanted to tell her the truth so she could spare herself the torment but deep down, I knew she wasn't ready and it would make things worse.

“You're not crazy Rory and you don't hear voices. You're hearing one voice," I said instead.

“That doesn't make me feel any better. Normal people don't hear any voices," she replied.

“Maybe you're not normal," I said, trying to hint at the truth.

“Gee, thanks."

I laughed at that. She was funny. I loved that about her.

“I mean that in the best way. Besides, normal's boring. Why be normal?"

I knew I made a point with that and I could see her agree.

“When will you tell me who you are and how this is possible?" she asked and it took every ounce of self control I had not to reveal the truth then.

“Soon," I responded simply and then exited her mind.

It was tempting to stay and keep talking to her but I didn't know how much longer I would be able to say without divulging anything yet so fighting against my natural instincts, I left her alone.

I looked back at my abandoned homework and realized it wouldn't be getting finished today. I needed that run but preferably far away from campus so I didn't try to find this Steve guy and rip him limb from limb.

I was dressed in basketball shorts and a hoodie and I made sure to pack a spare pair of clothing. I left the room and went to my car.

“Hi Jared," Tate greeted as I came downstairs.

I smiled and dapped him up. Tate was a member of the pack and a very good friend of mine. We were both juniors at the university. He was dark skinned with hazel eyes and had the same height as me.

“Are you done with your report yet?" he asked.

I ran a hand over my face, a guilty look on my face.

“Seriously dude, what's going on? You've been pretty out of it these last couple of days. Are you good?"

“Yeah everything's fine," I replied instinctively.

“No disrespect, alpha, but I can tell that's total BS. Tell me what's going on," Tate said.

I sighed. “Look, I can't tell you yet. I still have some stuff to figure out first but I promise, it's not anything negative."

Tate looked suspicious but decided not to say anything.

“You going on a run? Need company?" he asked.

I wanted to say no but decided against it. Company is exactly what I needed. At the very least, it would guarantee I wouldn't do something stupid like run straight to Aurora or Steve.

“Actually, I would love some company," I replied.

“Cool, let me go grab a spare," he said and disappeared.

When wolves shift, our clothes tend to rip and tear so we developed the habit of always carrying spares with us. Either that or stripping completely naked before shifting which sometimes worked.

Tate showed up not long after. As we walked to the car, I decided that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to tell someone other than Rebecca or Albert what was going on.

When we were buckled up in the car, I turned to the other wolf.

“Can you keep a secret?"