Her Forever

Rosalie

His lips were soft when they touched mine. The little pout he made before he kissed me was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. His lips continued to peck mine, tasting the last bit of my vanilla Chapstick. After a few pecks, he began to lick the bottom of my l*p, lingering longer the longer as I waited to respond. His lips parted, and mine followed close behind before he ever so gently inserted his tongue into my mouth.

He tasted like orange creamsicles. So fresh and warm, inviting even. He caressed my tongue with his until a slight rumble from his chest. My hands continued to stay on his chest while he teased me with more of his k****s. He trailed his mouth to my cheek, leaving small k****s in its wake. He traced his mouth down to my neck, and I let out a small m**n I didn’t know I was holding in. My body heated up the way he could make me feel. Never had this feeling before, I didn’t know if it was expected, but my body seemed to like it. My hands quickly went around his neck, and I pulled at his low ponytail and let his hair fall around his face. Small tugs made him g***n as he kissed a sweet spot between my neck and shoulder. My head couldn’t help but fall back to let him get better access.

His grip tightened around me, pulling me impossibly closer to him. My chest was flushed with his as he pulled me close. With my hand entangled in his hair and his hands around my waist, I felt so content, and it felt so right. I didn’t want this moment to end; I wanted to freeze it and never leave this moment. Falling hard and fast for a man that could have any woman he wanted and he settled for some broke computer programmer with a horrible past.

The car came to a stop, and he let out a grunt of dissatisfaction. He pulled from our locked lips and gazed into my eyes. His hand came up to my face, and the pad of his thumb danced across my cheek. “Stay with me tonight. Just to sleep, nothing more. I need to know you are safe,” he pleaded in his husky voice. Gazing back into his forest green eyes, I could feel the truth behind them. He wasn’t untrustworthy; he was genuinely concerned. He hadn’t tried anything before; why would he now?

“Alright,” I said with a smile. His grin met both sides of his ears as he gave me another squeeze.

We exited the car, and I went to my room to get dressed for the night. Washing my face for the night, dinner is long forgotten. I put on a large Blink 182 band shirt and oversized pink fuzzy shorts and walked into his room. He was already undressed, wearing basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. He motioned for me to come to the bed, and I crawled in with him, not hesitating a moment because it just felt right. A man who would fight off any of my demons without question deserved a little reward, even if it was just to cuddle with him in his embrace all night.

I hope Macararoni will be alright with me sleeping in another room.

I snuggled under his neck and felt him draw circles in my back with one hand while he played with my hair in the other. “You know,” he began. “You never answered my question,” he chuckled.

“What question was that again? It has been quite an evening,” I said jokingly.

“I asked if you would be by my side. Will you be mine?” His voice was nervous, and I felt him hold me slightly tighter.

“I thought it was kind of obvious,” I laughed. “I don’t go around kissing people or sleeping in their beds.” He smiled as he looked at me while I looked up at him. “So yes, I’ll be yours, as you will be mine, right?”

“Of course. We are each other’s,” He gave me the biggest grin. His hand went up to my face as we kissed for a second, third, and fourth time before blissfully falling asleep as I heard him mumble, “Mine.

***

Jack

As much as I wanted to stay tangled up in my mate’s arms, I had to meet Keith and Bruce in my office. My feelings were going wild as Rosalie let me not only k**s her but have her say that she was mine. Not all my secrets have been let out, but I knew she would be able to understand why I kept it from her in time. As long as we share the bond together, I pray she will not be harsh with my reasonings.

Untangling myself from her, I walked down to the office where Keith and Bruce stood. “What the hell happened?” I spoke in a clipped tone.

“We don’t know; he came out of nowhere, you know how Vampires are. Tricky little fuckers.” Keith crossed his arms as he leaned on the desk. “We just didn’t know that Rosalie’s foster dad was one of them. That would have been helpful to know.” Bruce nodded.

“The security cameras at the restaurant show that he was walking by the restaurant when he spotted her. I don’t think he knew she was going to be there; it was an utter coincidence. Bad luck, bad timing,” Bruce said solemnly with the shake of his head. He put the pictures of Derek on the table with circles around his face in the crowd. “He was pissed though, when he saw her.”

As he looked at Rosalie, Derek’s look was pure rage, his jaw was clenched, and his eyes glowed red. The Vampire didn’t know how to keep his anger under control in public, something that his Vampire Clan would be pissed about. Vampires were cold creatures but had set new rules in place almost 50 years ago to protect humans. They stopped their cruel treatments and were only allowed to feed on those willing or drink the b***d of animals.

“Why would he care about Rosalie? Why torture her? The practice of messing with humans is outdated,” Keith sighed in exhaustion.

“He is probably old, older than we think. Derek may not like the new ways and continues to practice the old ways. However, it is strange he kept her from a young age and kept her alive all those years. Older vamps would just play with their food for a few months then be done with it. He kept her for years and mutilated her,” Bruce spoke.

A growl left my chest, rattling the books on the new desk that was delivered this afternoon. Rubbing my hand through my hair, I tried to think what was it that had Derek so fascinated with her. Was she his beloved? “What do you guys know about Vampire’s beloveds?”

Keith’s head shot up. “No, she couldn’t be. Why would he mess up her skin like that?” Keith asked in disbelief.

“Vampires are weird,” Bruce spoke. “They force their love if that love is not returned. Since Rosalie is human, maybe she didn’t feel a bond with him? Or she isn’t his beloved after all but decided to take matters in his own hands to control her while she was young, to pressure her into when she became of age to accept a mark.” Bruce shrugged. “Then again, I’m no expert on that. We should ask the elders in the morning.” I nodded.

“Do we know where he went, at least? Did the trackers find him?” I spoke to both of them.

“He ran out of the state; he was fast and ran through rivers and streams to kill his scent, so he knows we are after him,” Keith sputtered.

“Good, we need security up and running at full force. Let everyone know. I’ll have the elders check the mark in the morning he’d made on Rosalie. That brand she told us about apparently is fading, and I want to know what it is.”

“The hell? The branding he made was some sort of mark, and it’s fading?” Keith’s eyes turned black. Everyone in the pack had been on edge since the attack only a few hours ago, and now everyone is protective of their Luna from being in any danger. We haven’t told anyone about her past; that will be something that she will share on her own time. They do know she has suffered, and someone wants to make her suffer more.

“Yes, I’ll have more answers tomorrow.” I spoke quickly and exited the room. Rosalie was still sleeping on the bed, curled up into a ball. I slid into the sheets with her, and she immediately grabbed hold of me as her life depended on it. Even though it was the bond keeping her close, I still wanted to keep winning her heart. Just because there is a bond doesn’t mean that your mate will love you. Stroking her hair helped calm my beast as we too fell asleep with our mate in our arms and me.

***

Rosalie was in her office typing away on her computer, creating another program so that I would be alerted anywhere in the world of a breach in our territory. She kept commenting how my phone would have everything I ever needed. My little mate was so bright, coming out with great ideas on how to help the security of her pack. The blue-lensed glasses she wore in the office made me want to bed her even more. Relationships going humanly were killing my beast in me, but I wasn’t about to ruin all the progress we made.

The thought of her playing sexy teacher or sexy secretary was going to get me into trouble. Quickly adjusting myself before I walked in, she looked up at me and smiled. Our hot make-out session this morning just wasn’t enough. Rosalie did do more than I thought she would ever do, though. She put her hands up underneath my shirt and rubbed her hands all over my body which I had to get her to stop by her disappointment. Thank you, mate bond. If we continued any further, I’m sure my beast would have marked her then and there.

After checking on her briefly, I headed out to the far south of the village where most of the elders or the oldest Werewolves lived. They became the historians of the pack, and when we were dealing with a new situation or something that had worked in the past to deal with anything political, I would go to them. Believe it or not, you can learn from your history.

Keith decided to join me; he started to have a real soft spot for his Rosalie. After last night’s attempted attack/kidnapping, he had taken upon himself to speak with the elders already this morning.

“Greetings, Alpha,” Elder Ellery spoke. She was one of the few women that wanted to become a historian; most would rather sit back and relax and help their children and grandchildren with pups.

“Good morning, Ellery.” Her red hair was still fiery even at her ripe old age of 500. That was the best thing about being a Werewolf, in my opinion. Not aging and immortality had its perks; it just sucks when your loved ones die in battle, and having to live without them is what hurts. Luckily the mate bond helps with that most of the time; you die with the one you love, so you don’t ever have to be alone. That is only if love is gained though, bonds don’t always bring love if you don’t tend to the relationship.

“We had the elders that are particularly well versed in Vampirism come earlier this morning to pull some old files. We have yet to put everything through the computer; we are hoping Luna will be able to help us since she is so capable,” Ellery smiled in delight.

“I’m sure she would be very pleased to help once she is aware of our kind,” I said solemnly. I didn’t like keeping secrets from her, but I just needed more time. I don’t think I could handle the rejection if she said she wanted no part of this world. However, I’m afraid she is already in it too deep with Vampires.

Ellery knocked on the door several times to warn the people on the other side of our presence. “Alpha, great to see you this morning,” Timothy stood up to shake my hand.

“Good to see you as well, ready to get down to business,” I sputtered. The quicker we sorted this out, the better.

Timothy sat down and pulled several old parchment papers from the pile. “Keith said that you saw a branding on Luna that was the same pattern both on the front of her chest and back, correct?” I growled when he mentioned her chest, even though it was innocent. “I’m sorry, Alpha, I didn’t know how else to describe it.”

“It’s fine,” I waved my hand.

“There was only one thing I found, and it’s old, ancient. I’m talking back to the time when the gods had full rule over the mortals.” The rest of the people in the room began to be silent as Timothy continued. “When Vampires were first created, they had almost unlimited power. They were able to conjure things and use witchcraft. Vampires were the ultimate weapon to help destroy or thin out some more evil humans or demi-gods. Once they had done their job, the goddess Hecate revoked most of their powers and created a new being: Witches. She thought that one being having unlimited powers would be cruel. The powers we see today are powers of compulsion; some can even practice opening locks, small levitations, and so forth when they are old enough and begin to tap into their own DNA from their previous ancestors. They have to be around at least 200 years to tap into these powers.”

“What does this have to do with the branding, Timothy? I growled. “I’m losing patience here.”

“Right, sorry.” Timothy looked down. I’m sure all this ties into what we are talking about, but I don’t need a boring history lesson when I could be sitting inside with Rosalie. “Does the branding look like this?” Timothy slid an old parchment across the table which had the shape of an infinity symbol with the letters, “Et Ecce Mae” above and below the emblem. I nodded to Timothy, and he rubbed his brow with his index finger. He let out a slight hum and continued.

“Et Ecce Mae, along with the infinity symbol, means ‘Mine to behold, forever.’ Long ago, before beloveds or mates were explained to Vampires, they would take hold of a human if they had feelings for them or thought to have feelings. Something in their demonic side takes over and becomes possessive over their human. They would keep humans locked up for years if their b***d was not ripe enough for the changing of becoming a Vampire. Their inner demon calls out to them to have them checked often, usually by taking a blade and cutting the skin.” Timothy dropped his head. “The branding is their pre-claiming. It warns off other Vampires and strengthens the compulsion to the human. Makes them scared to leave, obey them, fear them, and can never tell them lies. It is almost impossible to get away; I wish to know how she left.”

I stood up quickly, throwing the chair across the room, and pulled at my hair. Growling out, I looked at the rest of the members at the table. Keith and the elders dare not look me in the eye. “What else, what does this mean? It’s fading; the Vamp said it was fading.”

“Fading?” Ellery questioned. Several other elders stood up to grab other books off the shelves and started flipping pages hastily. Keith shrugged his shoulders at me in question, and I continued to stand. “Does she know that it was a Vampire that did this?”

“Not that I am aware. I guess it is possible.”

“Here,” Timothy pulled out a witchcraft history book and flipped a few pages on ‘bond branding.’ “This bond branding hasn’t been practiced for quite a while, but it can still be used. Special branding plates have to be made and blessed. How this Derek character got them is beyond me.”

“As fascinating as it all is, I still need to know: why is it fading?” I growled.

“The only way a branding bond can be erased is by a true mate’s bond. It must be fading because you came into the picture,” Timothy said with a smile. “There is hope; I’m guessing you could mark her, and the brand would completely disappear.”

“You guess? I need more than just a ‘guess’ Timothy! I don’t want to hurt her!” I spat.

“This is the only information I can give you, Alpha. I’m sorry. I can schedule a trip to visit the Vampire Council and see if they could shed some light on the matter.” Timothy gulped and rubbed his hands.

“Go. Today preferably. Take three other elders with you. I’ll let you know of your intention of meeting with them. They know our pack has alliances with them; you shouldn’t have any problems,” I grunted and started to head to the door when Keith stopped me.

“So, you don’t think Lee has any knowledge of Vampires?” Keith put his hand on my shoulder as we went to the door.

“Right, why?”

“Well, she might know about Werewolves now,” he laughed a boisterous noise, and everyone stared at him in annoyance. Staring at him in question, “because she just saw a bunch of naked men running around and shifting on the border cameras.”