**Hi!

I am so so sorry for the wait. Writer's block really is a bitch!

I really hope you'll enjoy this one!!**

"Something feels different about you." Hope softly says as they're walking hand in hand to the headmaster's office. 

Josie stops walking almost immediately, her eyes meeting her girlfriend's only for a second. The brunette looks uneasy for a moment, and she quickly looks away, biting her bottom lip in the process. 

"I don't feel different." 

The high pitched tone of Josie's voice is a clear sign that the brunette is lying. Hope somehow feels disappointed that her soulmate is trying to hide something from her.

"Oh, please don't feel like this." Josie rushes out.

Hope frowns. "I… How-"

"Hope… I feel what you feel, remember? It's so strong now. This is crazy." Then the brunette sighs, and her eyes drop to the floor. "I feel different." Josie's voice is small, barely there. "I wanted to hurt my father earlier."

Hope takes a deep shaky breath. She knew that. Actually, the tribrid is still wondering how her newly turned girlfriend managed to not rip her own father apart. The control Josie showed that night is out of this world.

Hope uses her free hand to gently move Josie's chin until the brunette is looking at her.

"You, Josette Saltzman would never do that." Hope says, as she gently caresses Josie's cheek. "I know how strong the urge is to harm when we're in wolf form. Josie… you have no idea how strong you actually are. Any other person would have ripped him apart way before you even started to growl."

Josie's soft brown eyes are filled with vulnerability when they meet Hope's. "You really think so?"

The tribrid smiles. "Could you lean your face closer to mine?"

The brunette gives her soulmate a confused look, but still does as she's asked. When their faces are close enough, Hope leaves a soft kiss to Josie's nose, her lips lingering there for a couple of seconds. Actually, she leaves her lips there until Josie's arms go around her waist and pull her close. Then, the Mikaelson girl's lips go from the brunette's nose, to her cheek, then to her jaw, only to end up on her neck. There, she feels Josie shiver when her lips ghost over the freshly healed claiming mark. 

A sudden clear of throat makes them freeze. 

"We're waiting for you." Alaric says, his voice firm.

Hope makes a move to break their embrace, but Josie is clearly not ready to let go. The brunette's hold on the tribrid's waist tightens, actually it's almost too tight, almost bruising. 

"Josie, it's enough." The Mikaelson girl tells her girlfriend, tone soft, yet demanding.

It takes a couple of seconds, but then Josie's hold gets loose and she steps back from Hope. The brunette feels completely lost, like her body and mind are not entirely her own anymore. Like she has this rage and fury, and the only thing that makes it go quiet is the soft voice of her soulmate. 

Hope's hand slips into Josie's, and she gently guides her towards the office's door, but not without glaring at the man who interrupted them. As soon as they enter the office, all eyes are on them. Hope's aunts give their niece a loving smile, and Caroline looks beyond relieved to see her daughter safe and sound. 

When the vampire quickly makes her way to her daughter, Hope takes her hand back, wanting to let Josie get a much needed hug from her mother. The Saltzman girl looks almost panicked when their hands aren't linked anymore, but when she's in the arms of Caroline, the look fades away. Hope smiles when she feels a wave a love crash through their link. 

The Mikaelson girl gets closer to her aunts, getting two quick hugs in the process. Quickly, her attention is taken by the numerous books scattered on the desk. 

"We've been reading all night." Freya says as she places a soft hand Hope's tense shoulder. 

"Do you have answers for us?" Hope asks, her eyes glued to the papers on the desk.

Freya sighs. "Only theories, I'm afraid."

The tribrid closes her eyes tightly. She hates feeling powerless. Being a powerful supernatural means that she's mostly in control of what happens in her life, and when she's not… Well, it makes her feel angry.

"What's wrong Hope?" Josie asks, quickly getting out of her mother's embrace. "You're angry, what happened?"

Before the auburn haired girl has the chance to answer, Josie cuddles to her side. Hope's cheeks take a faint shade of pink at the brunette's display of affection. Not that she'd complain though. Her aunts look at them with teasing smiles, and it makes Hope roll her eyes. 

"They don't really know what's happening, they just have theories."

"Oh." Josie drops, before burying her face in Hope's neck. "What are their theories?"

The question is asked quietly, intimately in Hope's ear. 

"I-I don't know yet."

Josie sighs, and then she pulls away from Hope. The auburn haired girl is torn between whining at the loss of contact, or being relieved Alaric is no longer glaring at them. 

"Why don't we start?" Caroline suggests. 

"Sure." Hope says, her tone cutting. "Why don't you start by telling us how the fuck did Josie turn into a wolf last night?"

"Language, Hope." Freya scolds her niece. "My theory is that the claim gave Josie a beautiful gift. Your wolf needed its own mate, so it made one."

"A gift?! This is a curse aunt Freya!" Hope roars.

Keelin protectively places herself in front of her wife. "You calm down now, Hope!"

The tribrid glares at them, but she doesn't say another word. As she slowly calms down, Hope feels Josie's feelings overwhelm her. She was so angry that she pushed her soulmate's feelings to the side without realizing it. 

Nervousness.

Fear.

Hope looks to her right, and her eyes immediately make contact with Josie's brown ones. 

"I didn't kill anyone. Your theory makes no sense." Josie says, her voice shaking.

"Well, if we follow my theory and that it was a gift, it does make sense." Freya says, slowly walking closer to the two teenagers. "The werewolf curse is what binds the transformation to the moon. Also, it's part of the curse that the person who has the gene must kill to activate it." 

Hope frowns as she starts to understand where her aunt is going with that. She also does her best to shut off the nervousness she feels through her link with Josie. 

"So Josie would be like a Crescent wolf, she could transform at will, like me." Freya nods. "What triggered her shift? Because I'm pretty sure she didn't choose to shift." Hope turns to Josie. "Right?"

The brunette vigorously shakes her head. "I could have done without the whole bones breaking thing." Slowly, a soft smile appears on her face. "I loved running around with you though."

Hope's anger disappears as soon as those words reach her ears. It's as though all the tension leaves her body all at once. Without really realizing it, she had been worrying in the past few hours. The fact that Josie actually liked being a wolf is enough to put a stop to her persistent worries. 

She remembers the beautiful brown fur of Josie's wolf, those same brilliant brown eyes as the ones she always loved on Josie. The way the Saltzman girl had been so in control that Hope hadn't even questioned whether or not she was herself. 

"I think it has to do with you starting your own shift. Since the two of you are linked, your shift triggered hers."

Hope's attention quickly goes back to her aunt. "Okay, but what does it me-" 

"I'm going to bed." Josie drops all of a sudden, interrupting her girlfriend. 

Alaric crosses his arms and shakes his head twice. "No, you are not. You have classes, and we still need to discuss-"

As her father talks, Josie closes her eyes and brings her hands to her head. Slowly, she starts massaging her temples, doing her best to get her anger under control, but his words are dangerously making her blood boil.

"I wasn't asking dad. I am going to bed. My head is pounding, my whole body is sore and I haven't had sleep last night." She sighs loudly. "This can wait until I wake up later."

Josie doesn't give her father another chance to speak, she quickly moves to the door, getting out of the room under the eyes of everyone she's leaving behind, including Hope. The brunette just can't hear them talk about her like that. She feels like they're talking as if she's not there, Hope being the only one actually acknowledging her. Her irritation kept going up everytime any of them would open their mouths.

She goes straight to her room, never looking behind herself to see if anyone follows her. As soon as she's inside the safety of her bedroom, Josie slams the door behind herself. The noise in her head refuses to be quiet, and the buzzing in her body refuses to stop. The brunette needs to be alone.

"Josie?" Hope asks after knocking on the door. "Can I come in?"

No, her mind screams. "Yes."

The Mikaelson girl carefully steps into the room, gently closing the door as soon as she's in. Their eyes meet, and Josie expects Hope to ask her what happened, why she suddenly left, why she left without her. The tribrid simply observes her though, not saying a thing. The brunette knows her soulmate must be very aware of what she's feeling right now, but it still makes her uneasy to have Hope look at her with such intensity. 

"I wanted to check up on you." Hope carefully says. "I think you need some alone time to process all that's happened, I mean… That's probably why you stormed out of the office earlier. I'm willing to give you that time Josie, but remember that I promised you that I wouldn't push you away anymore. I expect the same from you."

Josie didn't even feel herself tearing up, but sure enough there's tears sliding down her cheeks. Her two hands are clenched into fists, and her eyes are no longer meeting Hope's.

"Rest well Josie, and come find me when you're ready."

Hope's little smile is answered by Josie looking away, still refusing to meet her eyes. The brunette only lifts her eyes again when she hears the soft click of the door, meaning that Hope is gone.

Oh. Hope is gone.

Suddenly, Josie seems to feel that like a million bricks on her shoulders. A moment ago she was dying for Hope to just leave her the fuck alone, and now she wishes the tribrid would just walk right back in. 

All her feelings are ready to make her heart and mind explode. The brunette closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths, she needs to calm down, but with every breath, the pressure seems to increase. 

Josie screams, she screams at the top of her lungs. Letting all her frustration out. 

Then it's as if she blacks out. Next thing she knows, the brunette is on her knees in the middle of the room. Her desk was thrown to the floor. Paper, books and several other items are all over the place. 

She wrecked her room, and she doesn't remember it at all.

Just as she's getting to her room, Hope falls to her knees, suddenly overwhelmed with a strong wave of emotion. She feels pain, so she knows that the emotions Josie is feeling right now are negative. The auburn haired girl wraps both of her arms around her stomach to try and relieve herself of some of that pain, but it doesn't work.

With difficulty, the tribrid stands up again, but not without stumbling a couple of times. She walks the couple of steps left to her room while leaning on the wall to make sure she doesn't fall. As soon as she's in her room, Hope falls to her knees again. It feels as if someone is actively trying to rip her heart out of her chest. 

There's a knock on her door.

"Hope, sweetie are you here?" Freya asks on the other side of the door.

"Come in." Hope manages to groan. 

In a second, her aunt comes crashing into the room, her eyes wide with worry. The blonde woman quickly gets on her knees in front of Hope, taking her niece's face in her hands to force the auburn haired girl to look at her.

"What's wrong? What's hurting sweetie?"

Hope closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "It's n-not me. It's J-Josie."

Freya's eyes flicker to her wife standing behind Hope. "Go see what's happening to Josie."

"No!" Hope roars, pushing the blonde woman away, and struggling to get up again. "Leave her alone."

"She could be in dan-"

"She's not. She's just… upset." Hope lets out, sitting on her bed. "She needs alone time to deal with this."

"This soulmate bond means neither of you will be alone again Hope." Freya softly says.

Hope darkly chuckles. "Unless she moves to another country. Then this stupid mark doesn't mean shit."

"Hope-"

"Just go aunt Freya. I wanna be alone."

The blonde woman opens her mouth, seemingly to protest, but her wife lays a soft hand on her shoulder, gaining her attention. As soon as Freya is looking at Keelin, the werewolf shakes her head, silently asking her to drop it. The Mikaelson woman seems totally defeated, but she still nods before looking back at her niece.

"We're here if you need us Hope. Just reach out, don't hesitate."

Hope nods, but she avoids her aunt's eyes. She's still clutching her stomach, as if it would relieve the pain she feels in her heart. When she's finally alone, Hope moves to lay on her bed. She takes her blanket and wraps herself in it until only her head is poking out. She curls herself into a ball, and then she lets her tears fall. 

She wonders how it came to this. She spent the whole night playing around with Josie, then they shifted back and Josie was cuddly and loving. Then, they had that conversation in the office and… Hope shut Josie's emotions off because she was angry. It was all her fault, and now she couldn't do anything about it. Just wait until her soulmate is ready to face her again. 

The Mikaelson girl doesn't know how long she stays in this position. She just knows that when she looks outside her window, the sky is dark again, meaning she wasted the whole day in bed. 

Hope drags herself out of bed and goes to the bathroom, leaving the door open. She feels totally miserable right now, but Josie's feelings are not as intense as they were that morning. Hope stands in front of her mirror for a moment, and without thinking about it she takes her shirt off. 

Josette Saltzman

The black ink is like a balm to the wound of Hope's heart. It won't ever go away, and it's theirs. Neither of them can deny what it means. The tribrid traces the letters with the tip of her finger, each letter making her feel a little better, a little less alone.

She's tracing the 'Z' when there's a rapid knock on her door. Hope turns her head towards her bedroom, and frowns as the door opens.

"Hope, I nee-"

It's Josie. It's her soulmate. 

Hope walks back into her room as Josie quickly walks closer to her. The tribrid makes a move to put her shirt back on, but the brown eyes quickly shine bright gold. Josie is quickly close enough to touch Hope, so she grabs the shirt and throws it to the other side of the room. 

Josie's glowing eyes are quickly mirrored by Hope's. The brunette walks closer, and Hope takes a couple of steps back. There's a voice in the back of the tribrid's mind that screams at her to take control, to not let Josie dominate her like this. But, there's another part of her that is relishing in the way Josie is looking at her. 

Then, Hope's back hits the wall and Josie's smirking down at her girlfriend. That's when the tribrid understands, and accepts their new dynamic. When they're humans, Josie's in control. When they're wolves, Hope's the one in control. 

Josie's eyes are still glowing, and she looks down at Hope with a predator smile as she presses their bodies together. Deep down, Hope  is telling herself to stop this because neither of them is totally in control of their actions, their wolves took over as soon as Josie laid her eyes on Hope's mark. However, her mouth is not her own anymore, and she's not strong enough to overpower her wolf when it's so close to getting what it wants.

Even in this state, Josie remains soft and gentle. She uses her hand to brush Hope's hair away from the right side of her neck, gaining full access to the soft flesh hidden behind it in the process. Then, she doesn't waste anymore time. She leans in and leaves hot and wet kisses all over Hope's neck, nipping and sucking the skin. 

Hope totally knows what's to come, but she stills hisses when her soulmate's teeth sinks into the sensitive skin of her neck. She feels the teeth deep into her flesh, and it lasts for a couple of seconds. It lasts until Josie's wolf is satisfied with the mark it left. 

The tribrid expects this to be over now, after all she herself got control over her wolf as soon as the claiming was through. However, when Josie's pulls back, her eyes are still bright gold, and Hope is pretty sure hers are not back to blue either. She doesn't get to look into her soulmate's eyes for long though, because the brunette crashes their lips together, and then Hope is a goner. 

She lets it all happen. 

She lets Josie kiss, suck and even bite her lips, leaving them red and swollen. 

She lets Josie strip her of every piece of clothing that was left on her body. 

She lets Josie touch every part of her body.

She lets Josie take everything she wants.