She's Mine

Chapter Eighteen

Hope POV-

I wake up to the sound of the shower running. I reach over to Josie's side of the bed to find it empty. The water turns off and a couple of minutes later Josie walks out of my bathroom dressed in one of my favorite shirts and a pair of short denim shorts. She was drying her hair with a towel. "Oh, hey babe, wasn't trying to wake you," she sits down in her spot on the bed. I lean over and kiss her thigh before placing my hand on her leg, "Good morning," I know I have a goofy look on my face seeing my girlfriend wearing my favorite shirt. Josie smiles back down at me. "Last night, was," she pauses, "amazing."

She now understands why running in the woods is my stress reliever. It gets me away from everything. Away from my mind. "I'm glad I could share it with you." Josie places her hand on top of mine and squeezes. She quickly changes topics, "Can we please talk about imprinting? Why you keep putting off talking about it? I am telling you I want to, I want to be with you Hope," I look up into her eyes, they are pleading with me for an answer. I haven't told her that every time I am by her neck, I can hear her pulse and the desire to bite her is hard to fight off. Aunt Freya said that these impulses should lessen once we complete the imprint. "Okay, babe. But on one condition," Josie looks at me with a confused smile on her face. "I get a picture of you wearing my favorite t-shirt," I wink at her before she jumps off the bed faster than I expected and starts posing. "You want me to bite you, today?" She grabs my phone and hands it to me. "Yes, so you can't back out of this again."

I open up my camera as Josie poses for me. "There, beautiful," I hold up my phone for her to see. She smiles at the pictures before kissing me on the cheek, "Time to hold up your end of the bargain." Josie sits down on the bed next to me and swipes her hair away from her neck. "Jo, I don't know how quickly the effects will take place." She rolls her eyes at me. "Hope, you're stalling, I am ready." I lift my left hand and place it on the opposite side of her neck. I hesitate slightly before my teeth pop through my gums. I listen for Josie's heartbeat and it is still steady. She isn't nervous at all. I run my teeth lightly across her neck sending chills down her body before inserting my teeth.

Josie POV-

I am not sure what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't this. This, felt good. Blissful. Hope sucked some blood out for only a couple seconds before retracting her teeth. Her eyes shown golden before returning back to her beautiful blue. Hope sits back looking at me with concern, looking for any signs of regret on my face. "Hope, I am okay," I reach up to touch the bite mark. "Here, I can give you some of my blood, so it will go away faster." She doesn't hesitate before sinking her teeth into her own hand then offers it to me. I take her hand drinking some of the blood from her hand. The bite mark is already starting to close up and look less gruesome.

"Do you feel any different?" Hope places her hand on my cheek. "Not yet, probably will develop throughout the day. Guess we will have to keep testing it," I am still smiling. Hopefully, this helps Hope feel more in control of her emotions. "You should probably stay here a little longer before heading back to your room. Lizzie might freak out and come banging on my door if she sees I bit you." That made Hope grin. My phone buzzes on the table. "Jo, where are you? We need to start getting ready for the dance! I need your help! Don't make me come get you. I know where you've been living," I look back up at Hope. "I need a hoodie."

I head back to my room wearing Hope's hoodie to cover my neck. I walk in to see Lizzie doing her hair and make-up. "Hey Lizzie, I'm here," she turns around to see if Hope came back with me. "Okay good, we have to start getting ready, the dance starts in six hours." I help Lizzie with her hair and makeup before deciding to add some curls to mine. I walk into the bathroom and while Lizzie is preoccupied pull down the hoodie collar to see the bite mark is completely healed.

Hope POV-

I am looking in my closet trying to figure out what to wear. Aunt Bex gave me a couple of dresses that I can try on. I just want to look good for Josie. I decide to consult Aunt Freya. "Hey Aunt Freya, have time to help me pick out a dress?" A couple of minutes later Freya was projected into my room. "Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?" Aunt Freya can tell I am nervous. "I am okay, just, I want this night to go well. I have a couple of dresses Aunt Bex brought me so can you tell me which one would be the best? I also," I turn around to my dresser and grab a small jewelry box. I pull out a silver necklace with the Mikaelson crest on it. "Wow, Hope, that's gorgeous, she is going to love it. Guess she is family now since only family wears the crest. Did you finish the imprint?" I place the necklace back in the box. "Yeah, this morning, still no effects though but I guess we will see later-" Ow, I reach my hand up to feel my neck. A small burn mark appears. Freya looks at my neck, "I wonder if Josie just burned her neck." Guess we are able to feel what each other feels now. The burn starts to disappear, hopefully for Josie too. "Okay, I am going to go try on this dress and you can tell me what you think," I grab the dress off of my bed and walk into the bathroom to change. I come back out after a minute to show Aunt Freya. "Hope, you look beautiful, and I think Josie will agree." I turn to look in my body length mirror. Aunt Freya was right, this dress is really pretty. "Okay, so I will wear this. Thank you, Aunt Freya." I wish I could give her a hug right now. "Always and forever, come visit us soon! And bring Josie," Aunt Freya waves goodbye before dissipating.

Josie POV-

I grab the cream-colored dress out of my closet and put it on. I have about two hours before the dance starts, but Hope wants to go eat before we go. "Jo, you look great!" Lizzie is beaming at me. I can't help but think, "I hope Hope likes it." I turn around to head back to the bathroom when I hear, "I am sure I will." I turn around and pop my head back around the corner. "Lizzie, is Hope here?" I know I just heard her. "Nope, just us." I turn around and head back into the bathroom.

"Can you hear me, Hope?" I concentrate trying to will the message to get to her. I am not quite sure how the ins and outs of this works. Like if there are distance limitations, but Hope is only a couple of doors down. "Yep, is everything going okay?" I let out a small laugh. We are having a normal conversation with each other all in our heads. "Yeah it is, this is so strange." I continue trying to put my make-up on. "What is stranger is getting burned without burning myself." I instinctively reach up to touch where the burn was. Guess that answers that question too. "Sorry about that, dinner in 30 minutes?" I remove my hand from my neck. "See you in thirty."