"Your father is telling Ruka not to do anything funny with his little girl and to make sure you score more," I glared at him when he laughed saying 'little girl' to which he raised his hand in surrender, "His use of words not mine. Doesn't he know how mates work?" he asked me.

"He knows how people have soul mates but not how the mating process works," unlike me dad had never gone in depth of how supernaturals were.

"Hmm, I guess I have to drop the bomb once you go to the castle," he grinned at me.

Yeah, that would be better, I thought. I didn't know how he would react to it if I told him. Mom was too modern when it came to such things, but dad was a different story.

I was brought up in a way where I was supposed to stick to my virtue by keeping myself untouched until I was married and dad would expect that. But none of us expected for me to have a soul mate so that was a huge thing. Humans being someone's soul mate was a rare thing.

"When will I be seeing you next?" I asked as I hardly saw him around.

"In two days, Benjamin's families are visiting the mansion and there's a party being thrown for his niece as it's her birthday," he smiled ruffling my hair. I saw Ruka walk towards us.

"We'll be leaving in few minutes, love," he informed me and I went to speak to my parents, wishing them goodnight in the process. Dad had asked me if I was cold as I had a scarf around my neck and I had to hum for an answer. Mom gave me her baked Choco chip cookie in a jar and George hadn't come back home as we left the place.

Aiden and Lizzy had carpooled with us as their car broke down while Andria and Shane had gone with Sebastian and Louis. The car ride was noisier as expected and Ruka didn't mind it. He had one of his arms resting on the edge of the window and his face relaxed as the wind blew on his face due to which his hair constantly moved. He was a heartthrob and I smiled like an idiot thinking about it. We went through the forest, the cool air making me shudder. It was dark and the only source of lights was the headlights of the car.

Reaching the castle, Ruka took all the three boxes not letting me carry it and went up to our room.

"These are cute," Ruka murmured holding a book in his hand as he read. We had changed our clothes coming back and Ruka was looking at my things as I brushed my teeth. The book was a little diary I had made when I was in my third grade and I didn't know it existed that is until Ruka found it inside a teddy's stomach which was hidden discreetly.

"What happened?" I asked curiously when I saw his amused face, I didn't even remember what was written in it. He shook his head to it.

"I'm going to keep this one," he said walking towards his closet and keeping it inside.

"Your cousin," Ruka started as he sat on the bed cross-legged. I knew this topic was bound to come soon, "He's interesting."

"Sorry about that," I apologized and sat next to him.

"You have nothing to be sorry about it, love. I am suspecting your aunt likes to adopt half breeds of supernatural," he said taking my hand in his, "Eric said you wanted to tell talk about something. What is it, sweet?" he asked me concerned.

"Oh yeah, I had a dream. A recurring one," I said.

"Recurring?" he repeated a little surprised and I nodded, "Go on, Eve."

"It was a dream where I was in the middle of the forest. It was scary so I began walking and found a lake but it was really dirty. Then the scene changed to my school and found a dead body lying on the floor. By then Jessi woke me up. I'm a horrible storyteller," I concluded.

"Hmm that's strange," he said in deep thought, "We'll be going to Lark's mansion next week. She will know if your dreams hold any meaning."

"Where is the stone of fury? I mean the Ruby," I asked him curiously and he came me a crooked smile.

"Curiosity killed the cat," he said and continued, "Last time you were in the forest due to the curiosity of exploring an enchanted lake. You aren't Dora, love."

"But it leads me to you," I pointed it out and he smiled.

"It certainly did. Alright then," he replied back, looking deep into my eyes and I perked up ready to hear what he was about to say, "I've given it to you," was the simple line he spoke.

"Huh?" was my response. Did I hear it wrong? "You never gave it to me," I said perplexed. He raised his hand and reached near my neck, pulling the chain lightly towards. This felt like déjà vu.

"This," he said softly raising the pendant and I looked at it for my eyes to go wide in realization.

"You gifted me one of the lost stone?" I asked dumbstruck. It was the chain Ruka had given me as a birthday gift last year with the pendant. The stone was red and a tiny one. I was expecting the stone to be big but this one didn't match my imagination and was caught off guard due to it.

"Observe it carefully," he instructed me and I looked at unblinkingly but nothing happened as seconds passed. I was going to ask Ruka when I saw something flicker. The stone felt warmer and began sparkling, "Only an angel can do this. I modified the stone with few witches help. You don't have to worry about anyone noticing it. You and I are the only one who can see the blood red stone while to the others it appears as a white diamond."

"This is amazing," I said in awe looking at it shine and glow. We were interrupted by my phone ringing next to me. Looking at the screen, I saw it was the Eric and picked it.

"Hey Eric," I spoke.

"Hey, Evi sorry to intrude but just a quick notice, don't pick any calls now. To be specific your dads, okay then bye," he said in a hurry.

"Why? What happened?" I asked him confused. Ruka was listening to the conversation intently.

"You remember how I told you that I would drop in a word to your dad? Well, I did tell him but George happened to add what he saw on your shoulder today. He's just sinking the information now that his little girl is not little anymore."

"Oh dear."

"Chris is a cool dad and isn't overdramatic about the situation. So don't worry about it, Eve by tomorrow morning the atmosphere would have subsided. I have work to do, so cya," he said before hanging up. Hitting few buttons I put the cell in switch off mode and kept it aside. Precaution was better.

Ruka and I were now in Benjamin Arrows mansion. I was standing and talking to one Benjamin's elder sister. She was kind and polite during the conversation. I later excused myself and went outside for some fresh air. I met Eric during the cake cutting but later went missing as he had work. The previous day, I spent my time in the library looking through books that contained information about the stones but I didn't find anything much about it. I hadn't completed the book on the tainted and had read only the first five pages of it.

Looking up the sky, I noticed it was going to get dark soon. I was going to go back until I heard a little scream.

"No!" I went around the bushes and saw two kids of the age around six and eight.

"I'm not giving it away," the girl said clutching something in her hands protectively. Taking a closer look I saw it was a fawn colored rabbit.

"Simi, let it go," the boy said, "Mom doesn't allow pets because grandma is allergic to it. If you take it home, it's going to turn into dinner."

I saw the little girl's blue eyes turn all teary and she sniffed, "But if you leave it here someone might take it away," she protested. I felt my phone vibrate as a notification of a message and was about to leave that was until they decided to drag me in the conversation.

"Can you please tell her to leave it, miss," the boy said and the girl called Simi looked up to me with a sad look. I would have spoken to her mom about it but the boy said his grandmother was allergic to rabbits and didn't know what to say.

I sat down so that I could talk to her properly, "Simi sweetie, if your grandma is allergic you shouldn't take it home. Don't you love her," I asked softly, "Maybe you could give it to someone and visit it when you want hmm?"

Simi seemed to think about it for a while as though her life depended on it and then spoke, "But who will keep it?" she asked me furrowing her brows and then I saw her eyes lit up, "You can keep it."

"I?"

"Yeah, you are sweet," that was the logical answer she came up with. I turned around to see the boy gone. Great. I was about to say something but she began sniffing again.

"Alright, I'll keep it," I said taking it in my arms and she smiled at me widely. That was a quick change of mood. She then went on making plans of how and when she would come to see the rabbit as we walked.

"I was looking for you. What are you doing holding a rabbit, sweet Eve? " Ruka asked coming towards us, "Hello, darling, your mother was searching for you," he said to Simi and she turned to talk to me,

"Take care of him, okay," she said before bouncing off to where her mother was. I saw Ruka raise one of his brows at it.

"We are taking it home," I said sheepishly.