Chapter 11: Jared

"Happy birthday, Alice"

" Oh thank you Jared." Saying this the nine year old girl ran over to him, hugged him and gave him a sloppy kiss in the cheek. Jared found himself blushing. "Enough", he said playfully, grinning widely at her.

"Close your eyes. And no peeking", he said. She complied, covering both her eyes with her small fingers. Jared took out a box from his pocket. He took out a small bracelet and tied it to her wrist. "Now you can open your eyes", he said. She opened her eyes and looked at that bracelet in her hand.

"It's so pretty. From where did you buy this."

"Silly girl, I made it myself",he said.

"My Jared is so talented", she said and hugged him. Jared felt extremely happy to hear her call him 'My Jared'. She looked at him mischievously and said, " Catch me if you can." Jared grinned,

He phased into a wolf and caught her and began tickling her. They played this way for a long time. Suddenly they heard sound of footsteps. Jared phased back into a human. Alice's parents had come. They didn't know what he was. They would freak out and take Alice away if they knew that he was not a human. Alice also kept this a secret from her parents.

Seeing her parents, Alice ran to them and showed off the bracelet Jared gave her. They looked at the bracelet and smiled at Jared. "Did you thank him?", her mom asked. "Of course I did. Isn't it pretty. Jared said he made it himself.",Alice said . Her father suddenly took her hand and looked at the bracelet more closely. He let out a gasp and looked at her mother. Her mother also looked at the bracelet and looked at Jared. Jared was puzzled. They smiled at him and took Alice and left.

That was the last time he saw her. When he asked around, he came to know that they had left the town. He waited for her to come back to the town and to him. But she never did. All these years there was a gnawing hole in his chest. And he never forgot her. He always missed her.

.....

Jared woke up from his fitful sleep. He had been dreaming about her. He wiped his cheek and found tears. He had been crying in his sleep.

Werewolves were the most loyal animals. They had a pack and a soulmate. Once they bonded with one or once they found their soulmate, they were destined together. Losing your soul mate was like losing a part of yourself. Jared had found his when he was nine, and he lost her on the same year. Their souls had already bonded. That is why he never forgot her. And wolves bonded only once in their lives.

He was sleeping on the sofa in the living room, as Mina was sleeping on his bed. He heard murmur of voices upstairs. Mina was awake. Thomas was speaking with her. He had asked Thomas to speak with her as he felt that he could not do that. They had agreed to tell the truth about last night. But Thomas told him not to tell about their identity as she would be frightened. Jared had not told Thomas about his suspicions that Mina was Alice. He would keep that for himself unless he confirmed it.

He thought about the weird occurrences that happened yesterday. He had seen the scar on Mina's neck. It was similar to the scar on his arm. Alice had the same one too on her neck. About the light coming from the scar, it was definitely weird, he decide to think about that later.

Mina was in grave danger last night. Was that why he had that pain in his gut? Through that pain he was being guided towards her. Then what about day before yesterday. Was Mina in danger? He was led to Mina. She had been walking on the street at midnight. With a start, Jared realized that the erew had been there. Because he had come, the erew couldn't feed on her.

Why was this happening? Was it because she was his soulmate? No he was sure Alice was his soulmate. Then did that mean that she was Alice? Then why didn't she recognise him? Didn't she remember him? Maybe not. Then why did she scream out his name reflexively?

He heard footsteps coming downstairs. Thomas came down alone. Thomas signalled him to go upstairs. Jared hesitated. He wanted to talk with her and ask her many things. And he did not know where to start. Taking a deep breath, he went upstairs to his room and stood for a while on front of the closed door.

He was afraid that after asking questions he would find that she was not Alice. He was more afraid that she would be Alice and she didn't remember him at all.

He expecting the worse, knocked the door.