Josie and Hope are sitting in Alaric and Caroline's office, both looking down as Josie's parents scold them.

"You couldn't stay away from each other for a night!" Caroline says.

"You both knew it was for your own good." Alaric adds. "We don't know what's up with Hope's wolf. What if it hurts you Josie? And you Hope, how would you feel about hurting Josie?"

"I would never hurt Josie!" Hope says, suddenly angry. 

Josie reaches out and holds Hope's hand. The tribrid's attention stays on the two adults, daring them to imply again that she'd hurt their daughter.

"I had a nightmare." Josie says, her voice small. "I-I just… needed to be with Hope. Just to be sure…"

Caroline's face softens. "Oh sweetie, of what did you need to be sure?"

Josie's cheeks turn a dark shade of pink. "That she was still… my soulmate. That I was still hers."

Caroline and Alaric exchange a look, both of them clearly worried.

"What happened in your dream Josie?" Alaric softly asks.

Josie shakes her head. "Nothing much."

"Josie…"

"It's fine!" Josie insists.

Caroline sighs. "Okay. You two, stay away from each other, at least until Freya comes back with answers. Understood?" Silence, neither of them answers. "I said, understood?"

"Yes mom…" 

"Yes, Mrs. Forbes."

"Good. Now go to class."

Just like that, the two girls separate again. But, not without looking back at each other a couple of times. Hope knows it hurts Josie to walk away, she knows because she can feel it. Though, she wonders if her own pain is laced with Josie's at this moment. Walking away from the Saltzman girl is harder now than it's ever been before. 

The day passes slowly, and Hope takes every chance she gets to get even a glimpse of her soulmate. Sometimes they pass each other in the halls, other times they're sitting in the same room for a witch class. Hope decides to actually have dinner in the cafeteria, because seeing Josie from far away is better than not seeing Josie at all. 

But the thing is Josie doesn't show up at dinner. MG, Kaleb and Lizzie are all sitting a table, chatting, but Josie's not there. Hope looks around, but there's no signs of her favorite brunette. Quickly, the Mikaelson girl gets up and makes her way to her soulmate's twin, forgetting all about her dinner.

"Lizzie, where's Josie?" Hope asks, worry seeping in her voice.

Lizzie turns around and gives Hope an annoyed look.

"She said something about helping Raf with homework." Lizzie says, but then she frowns. "She should be here by now though…"

Hope quickly gets worried. "Where were they supposed to be?"

"The library I guess…" Lizzie replies, and then she stands up. "I'll go look for her."

"Yeah, me too." Hope says with a nod.

They start to walk out of the room, and then Lizzie gives Hope a weird look.

"You're not supposed to spend time together."

"I don't care!" Hope snaps.

"Calm down Mikaelson! They probably only lost track of time, Josie loves studying…"

"I'll calm down when I know Josie's fine!"

"Can't you feel her? You'd know if she was hurt."

Hope balls her fists. "I can feel her. There's nothing strange for now."

"Then relax."

As soon as they walk through the doors of the library, their eyes grow wide. Jed and Rafael are arguing in the middle of the library, and Josie quickly stands up to push them apart. Hope immediately feels Josie's anxiousness. The tribrid is about to make her way to them, and stop whatever's happening when the worst happens. Jed says the wrong thing, making Rafael so angry that he pushes Josie away with enough force to send the brunette flying straight into the wall. Hope watches frozen as her soulmate hits the wall and falls to the ground, unconscious. The tribrid feels the pain too, but it only gets her angry. 

The Mikaelson girl says a spell and all at once, both werewolves are pinned to the wall, both choking on invisible hands. Hope doesn't control her actions anymore. She tightens her hold on them, their faces slowly turning blue from the lack of oxygen. 

Lizzie grabs Hope's arm, to try and get her attention. That's when she realizes the color of Hope's eyes, they're shining in an intense gold. 

"Hope! Stop it!" Lizzie screams. "You're gonna kill them, please Hope stop!" 

Lizzie's scream does nothing to loosen Hope's hold.

"Think about Josie." Lizzie suddenly says, and Hope's eyes flicker to her. "She wouldn't want this. Look at her, she needs you right now!"

Hope blinks a couple of times, her eyes slowly turning blue again. As soon as the gold is gone, Hope lets the two boys fall. She looks around, only now understanding what happened. She looks at Jed and Rafael, both looking at her with fear filled eyes. Then, she looks at Josie, still unconscious on the floor. 

The tribrid decides to focus her attention on the brunette and quickly jogs to her. She's the only one that matters for now. Gently, Hope takes Josie in her arms as she kneels on the floor. The auburn haired girl carefully pushes some hair out of Josie's face. The brunette hit her head when she was thrown onto the wall, and she has a small cut on her cheek, but other than that she seems okay. 

"Josie… Wake up, Jo." Hope softly begs.

It takes a couple more times before Josie's eyes actually flutter open. 

"Hope?"

"Hey you... " Hope whispers.

"W-what happened?"

"You tried to stop Raf and Jed from fighting and you got thrown into the wall. You hit your head."

"Oh…"

"I'll take you to the infirmary." Hope softly says.

She carries Josie bridal style under the eyes of the two wolves and Lizzie. The brunette doesn't say anything more, she just leans her head on Hope's shoulder.

"Don't fall asleep Jo." Hope says, loud enough to startle Josie a little.

"I wasn't..."

Hope smiles. "Liar."

The tribrid's heart fills with a little bit of joy when a small smile plays on Josie's lips. 

As soon as they get to the infirmary, they're met with Caroline and Alaric. 

"Lizzie called us." Caroline says as an explanation.

"Give her to me." Alaric demands.

Hope tightens her hold on her soulmate. "No."

"Hope, give me my daughter." The man insists.

"I said : no." Hope growls. "You told me to stay away from her, and now she's hurt. I'm never listening to you again."

The tribrid walks into the room, not even sparing a last glance at her headmaster. She sits close to the brunette as the nurse looks her over. The woman gently spreads a cream over the cut on Josie's cheek, and looks to see if she has a concussion. Hope holds Josie's hand the whole time, and she's rewarded with a grateful smile from her soulmate.

"You don't seem to have a concussion Josie, but you shouldn't be left alone for now." The nurse says with a kind smile. "Any of you wants to check on this one?" The woman says to the three others in the room.

"I will." Hope immediately says.

"No, you two need some time apart." Alaric says sternly.

"Absolutely not. You think I'm letting her out of my sight after what happened?"

"You're not the one making the decisions here Hope." 

Hope stands up and glares at the man. "Try to keep me away then."

"Stop!" Josie snaps. "I'm gonna stay with Hope." Alaric opens his mouth. "I don't care what you think dad. I made my choice." The brunette looks at the tribrid. "Can you carry me back to your room? I feel a little weak."

"You didn't even have to ask." Hope says.

With one last glare at Josie's father, Hope turns around and gently picks Josie up. Her attention stays on the brunette the whole way to her room. She sees how Josie is lost in her head. She worries over the hit her soulmate took, over the little cut on her cheek. 

The Mikaelson girl gently lays Josie on her bed, and the brunette immediately slips under the covers. Hope watches her with a fond smile.

"You must be hungry." Hope says.

Josie shrugs. "Not that much. My stomach feels upset." 

"Yeah, I can tell." Hope says with hum. "Still, you didn't have dinner. I have some protein bars, please eat one, okay?"

Josie nods slowly. "Okay."

Hope quickly opens a drawer of her desk and gets a bar for Josie. She sits on the bed, next to the brunette. Josie shyly takes the bar and unwraps it. 

"Hope, I-" Josie starts.

The tribrid quickly cuts her off. "I don't wanna know." Hope lifts a hand and with her thumb she carefully traces Josie's cut. "You got hurt, and I couldn't stop it. I should have been there from the start. None of this should have happened."

"It's not your fault. Werewolves are unpredictable, I shouldn't have tried to stop them."

Josie's words have a weird effect on Hope. Deep down, she knows Josie wasn't thinking about her when she talked about werewolves, but Hope still feels like it includes her. The tribrid thinks about the fact she lost control again, she can't even tell how long she was gone for.

"Josie…" Hope says.

"What's wrong Hope?"

"I lost it again. When you got hurt… I could have killed them. Both of them. Lizzie… she's the only reason why I didn't. S-she reminded me of you."

Josie puts the protein bar on Hope's nightstand and gets closer to the older girl. The brunette takes Hope in her arms and buries her face in her neck.

"You stopped. It's the only thing that matters." Josie says, and leaves a little kiss there.

That's when Hope realizes she's tired of fighting. She's tired of fighting her feelings, of fighting against Josie. The tribrid pulls away a little, but only enough to be able to pull Josie in a passionate kiss. The brunette is taken aback for a couple of seconds before she melts into the kiss. Their lips slowly move together, it's their second kiss, but it's way more meaninful than the first. 

This time, the kiss isn't filled with fear and uncertainty. 

This time, it's filled with love and want.

Hope doesn't let the kiss last for long. Josie hit her head not too long ago, and she's afraid the younger girl would feel dizzy if they kiss for too long. Hope pulls away, but she keeps Josie's face in her hands. 

"I hope you didn't mind." The tribrid says with a little smile.

"Do I look like I mind?" Josie replies with a giggle.

Hope shakes her head with a smile. "Okay. Now eat."

Josie rolls her eyes playfully, but she still reaches for the forgotten protein bar. She takes the first bite and grimaces.

"Ew! Hope, how can you eat this?"

Hope shrugs. "It's not that bad."

"It literally taste like chalk."

"Don't be over dramatic. Eat it, it's good for you."

"I hope I'll get some cuddles for that… Maybe even another kiss?"

Hope shrugs again with a playfull smile this time. "We'll see."

*

The next day, both girls are being asked to the headmaster's office. They go together, their hands brushing each other on their way there. They exchange shy smiles too.

Josie and Hope didn't have the conversation they desperately need. Instead, they sank into Hope's bed and cuddled until they both fell asleep. 

And now, they're sitting in front of Josie's parents, under their intense and suspicious eyes. Hope has never wanted to disappear like she does now. The only thing that saves them from a very long and awkward conversation is when Freya appears in the middle of the room startling them all.

"Hello everyone!" The blonde witch says.

"Aunt Freya… you scared us!" Hope says. "You should call before appearing like that."

Freya rolls her eyes. "Fine, I will call next time." She sighs. "Does anyone wants to know what we found?"

"Yes!" They all reply almost at the same time.

"Well, turns out Hope's wolf is getting a little territorial on you Josie." Freya says with a smirk. "Keelin and I read in some archives, that when a werewolf gets a soulmate, the wolf needs to claim that person as theirs too. From what we read, that's supposed to happen after the two of get intimate though… So, did you two-" 

Hope's eyes widen. "No! We didn't."

Hope looks at Josie, and the brunette's cheeks are on fire. Then, she looks to her soulmate's parents and they legit look like they're about to murder her.

"Josie and I, we never crossed that line! I-I mean… We did kiss, but that's all. Just a couple of little kisses. Nothing too deep." Hope is rambling, and she knows that by now her blush must be matching Josie's. 

Freya hums and looks deep in thoughts for a couple of seconds.

"Maybe the fact that you got separated so early in your relationship made Hope's wolf angry. It accelerated the process, and now your wolf wants to claim Josie and make sure you're not separated again."

Hope frowns. "How am I supposed to 'claim' Josie?"

"By biting her on the neck."

It's the answer Hope feared she'd get. Because suddenly it makes sense. The way she's been obsessing over her soulmate's neck every time she got a clear view on it.  The possessivness, the need to mark… It happened at Josie's birthday, and again when they were training, and so many times after. Hope tried to push it down, to ignore it, but now she knows it's no use. The need will be there, and get worse, until she actually claim Josie.

The three adults in the room are loudly arguing about that outcome. Alaric is furious Freya would even suggest such a thing and Caroline tends to agree with him, but she's a little less angry than he is. Freya defends her point, knowing full well it's the only thing that can stop Hope's sudden absences.

Josie on the other hand is thinking real hard about what was just said. She's already Hope's soulmate, would it really make a difference if Hope bit her and claimed her? The brunette stands up from her seat, but only to kneel in front of the tribrid. Hope looks totally lost in her own mind. So, Josie gently takes the tribrid's face in her hands.

"Hope… look at me please." Josie whispers with a small smile. 

Hope does, but what surprises Josie is the softness in her eyes. The Mikaelson girl sinks to her knees too, putting them on the same level. Hope's hands mirror Josie's, and when she has the younger girl's face in her hands, Hope leans in. Josie immediately sighs and reciprocate the kiss.

Everyone stops talking, all of them staring at the two girls kissing on their knees.

Their lips slowly move together this time, and Josie's heart is beating so fast that Hope almost hears it. The tribrid tries her best to put as much emotion in this kiss as she can. She wants Josie to understand how she feels, because she knows her words would totally fail her right now. There's no point in denying anything anymore. Even her wolf wants Josie. 

Hope slowly pulls away, and waits for Josie to open her eyes again. When the younger girl does, they stare each other in the eyes. Without words, they agree on what to do next.

"We'll do it." Josie says, her eyes still on Hope.