Freya's been explaining the claim to them for about fifteen minutes. Hope's been bouncing her leg the whole time, desperately trying to ease her mind while occupying her body. Josie's been holding Hope's hand the whole time, and it's the only thing that kept the Mikaelson girl from standing up and pacing around.

"How do you suggest they do it?" Caroline asks, nervousness clear in her voice.

Freya glances at Hope, then at Josie, just to let her eyes go back to Caroline.

"Well… we could have Hope do it while being fully in control of herself. She could try biting Josie, and see if her wolf is satisfied with that." Freya sighs and her eyes go to Hope. "But, I don't think it'll work."

Hope is frowning now, nervous about what her aunt is surely about to suggest.

"Our best shot is to trigger Hope's wolf. I think the wolf won't be satisfied until it claims Josie."

"You're treating my wolf as a totally different individual." Hope says because she's not sure she understands. 

"It kind of is. Since you're not in control when the wolf takes over, it means it's not really you. However, it seems you share Josie as a mate. Let it claim Josie, and it'll calm down." 

"It's not a good idea." Hope says as she shakes her head. "What if the wolf hurts Josie? We can't be sure it won't hurt her if it's not me."

Freya sighs. "I told you. The wolf considers Josie as its mate, it won't hurt her."

Hope feels so far from sure about what her aunt is saying. Suddenly though, a thought strikes her. She quickly turns to look at the brunette still tightly holding her hand. Josie's eyes are a little wide, and she looks a little lost.

"Jo… what do you think?" Hope softly asks. "We'll do whatever you wanna do, okay?"

Josie turns her head, and soft brown eyes meet tumultuous blue ones. 

"I don't want to get bitten twice." Josie says with a wince. "I say we do what your aunt Freya thinks is best."

Josie's words make Hope's whole body tense up and she quickly avoids her soulmate's eyes to look at the floor. She feels like she can't breathe anymore. Fear is take a hold of her. 

"Hope, look at me." Josie says, but the Mikaelson girl doesn't look up. "Hope Andrea Mikaelson, look at me!" 

Josie's demanding voice startles Hope, and she quickly looks up at the brunette. Josie's tone of voice was stern, but her eyes are as gentle as ever. The Saltzman girl lifts a hand and gently places it on Hope's neck to make sure the auburn haired girl doesn't look away again.

"I trust you Hope. I trust all of you, understood?" Josie says as she looks Hope straight in the eyes.

Her words have little to no effect on Hope, and it makes Josie sigh and look down. She knows there's one thing that could help the tribrid right now, and the idea makes her a little uneasy, but she's willing to do it. For Hope.

"How about… we go to the flower field together?" Josie suggests as she looks back at Hope with a soft smile. "You could run around for a few hours, get some pressure out."

Hope's eyes brighten. "Y-you'd be okay with that?"

Josie's smile widens. "Yeah. Let's go."

The two teenagers stand up, but Alaric is quick to stand in their way.

"Where do you think you're going? We're trying to settle everything down right now."

This time, when Hope's eyes flash gold, it has nothing to do with a loss of control. Hope does it on purpose. If Josie's father doesn't get out of their way, she might do something she'll regret later.

"Dad, step aside." Josie says, her voice not so gentle anymore. "We'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Alaric, let them go." Freya says to the man when he still doesn't move.

He finally steps aside, and Hope makes sure to shove his shoulder with hers as she passes by him. He was being so annoying. Josie squeezes Hope's hand, gaining the tribrid's attention, and then she gives her a glare. The Mikaelson girl rolls her eyes before giving her soulmate a shrug.

They walk hand in hand to the secluded area behind the Old Mill where Hope usually shifts. The tribrid takes her clothes off quickly behind a tree, and then starts the change. Her mind is so preoccupied that the shift lasts longer than it normally would. When it's over, Hope quickly runs to Josie. The brunette is curled up on the ground, sobbing. Without hesitation, Hope cuddles her. 

It takes a while for Josie to actually calm down this time, and it makes Hope whine in helplessness. When the Saltzman girl finally stops crying, she reaches out and holds the white wolf close. They stay like that for hours, even after Josie tells Hope she can go and run, Hope prefers to stay cuddled up with her soulmate. 

"Hope!" Josie giggles after the wolf licks her face. "Come on, go run for a couple of minutes at least. We came here so you could release some pressure."

Hope whines, but after getting a little push from Josie, she takes off running. She runs as fast as she can, wanting to come back to her soulmate as soon as possible. After about ten minutes, Hope stops near Josie and leans her head to the side, as if to ask if it was enough.

"Another five minutes, okay?"

The wolf barks and takes off running again. This time, it's Josie who calls her back, but the tribrid is all too happy to run back to her soulmate's side. As always, Hope shifts back behind her tree, quickly puts her clothes back on and goes straight back to Josie. The Mikaelson girl is surprised to see that the brunette already stopped crying when she picks her up. There's still fresh tears on her cheeks, but they are no longer falling from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry my shifting took so long today… I just couldn't seem to focus." Hope says as she's carrying a very sleepy Josie in her arms.

The Saltzman girl yawns and buries her face in Hope's neck. "It's fine."

"Do you mind sleeping in my room tonight?" Hope asks softly. "I'd feel better knowing you're next to me after the awful day we just had."

Josie lifts her head to look at Hope. "I wasn't planning on sleeping in my room tonight."

Hope smiles and looks down at the girl in her arms. "Good."

They quickly get to the tribrid's room after that, and as soon as they get there, Hope settles Josie down on her bed.

"I'll just… take a shower real quick, okay? I'll be back in like ten minutes." 

Josie yawns again as she settles under Hope's blankets. "Okay."

As promised, Hope's shower takes a little less than ten minutes. She quickly pulls her wet hair in a messy bun and puts night clothes on before stepping back in her room. She fully expected Josie to be asleep by now, but the brunette is still very much awake when Hope sits on her bed. 

"Hope…" Josie starts, her eyes not meeting Hope's.

The Mikaelson girl gets a little worried. She gently pushes some hair away from Josie's face, and then let's her thumb strokes the brunette's still healing cheek.

"What is it?" Hope says, barely above a whisper. 

Josie lifts her eyes to meet Hope's gaze, and now they're full of determination.

"I want you to claim me."

Hope frowns. "What? Like, now?" Josie nods, and Hope just knows there's no way she'll change her mind. "Okay, if that's really what you want. Let me go fetch your parents and my aunt."

"No!" Josie sits up in bed and she looks panicked. "I don't want them around. I-it doesn't feel right to do it with them around. It feels way too intimate."

"But… Jo, your parents only agreed to the claim because they'd be there." Hope argues.

"Hope, please. I trust you." 

Josie's words are like a knife through Hope's heart as she suddenly remembers the heavy secret she's keeping from her soulmate. 

"I can't." Hope says as she shakes her head. 

"W-what?" Josie's voice breaks. 

"I've been keeping a secret from you. I can't go through with the claim unless I tell you about the secret." 

And then, Hope tells everything to Josie. Well, everything she knows, which is not a lot. She tells the brunette about the curse, the merge, and what it's all about. She watches with a sinking heart as Josie's face falls, and her eyes fill with fear. 

A silent tear fall from Josie's eyes, and the brunette quickly wipes it away bitterly. She chuckles darkly.

"I guess the dream I had the other night makes sense then. " Her eyes meet Hope's again. "Hope… You still want to be with me? Even if I'll probably die in a couple of years?"

The tribrid frowns, she can't believe Josie is even asking that. As gently as she can, Hope pulls Josie close and kisses her. It only lasts a couple of seconds, the press of their lips together. Then, Hope pulls away. She watches as it takes a couple of seconds for Josie to open her eyes. When Josie does open them, they're full of tears. So, Hope does the only thing she can think about, she kisses her again, and again. She kisses Josie until the brunette is smiling, and even giggling a little.

"Well, now that I got you smiling again, I want you to listen to me very carefully Josie Saltzman." Hope waits until she's sure Josie is listenening. "You are my soulmate. Not Lizzie, not Landon and not anyone else. You're the only one I'll ever want to be with. And believe me when I say, the Merge is never gonna happen. I won't let it happen."

Josie's smile gets a little bigger. "I should have known you'd say something like that. You're Hope Mikaelson, a little curse isn't going to stop you."

Hope smiles back. "Damn right it won't!"

Josie shakes her head playfully before leaving a soft peck on Hope's lips. Then, a wave of shyness goes through her and she avoids Hope's eyes. 

"Tell me Hope… Do you wanna be my girlfriend? I think that since I'll have your mark on my neck, we'd better be a couple, you know?"

Hope smirks. "I was wondering how much time it'd take you to actually ask me."

Josie shrugs. "And I was wondering if you would take me out on a date. I guess you're just not that romantic."

Hope's eyes go big. "Come on! With everything that happened, when would I have had the time to ask you out?"

The brunette laughs at the tribrid's scandalized face. "It was a joke Hope. But, you didn't answer my question."

The auburn haired girl's whole face softens. "Of course I wanna be your girlfriend."

"Good. Now that it's all out of the way, let's do the claiming thing."

Just like that, Hope feels nervous again, but still she nods. Josie gives her a comforting smile before she slowly takes her hair away from her neck. As soon as her neck is exposed, Josie sees Hope's eyes change color. Now, she's a little nervous too. She knows that deep down, Hope and her wolf are both her soulmates, but still. Hope gently tugs Josie closer until the brunette is straddling her. Now that the tribrid has full access, the brunette expects the biting to happen, but it doesn't. 

Hope's hands are on the hem of Josie's shirt, and then gold meets brown. It's as if Hope desperately wants to ask a question, but her current state prevents her from doing so. Josie wonders for a moment what Hope wants, and the tribrid clearly gets frustrated. When Hope slowly starts to lift Josie's shirt, the Saltzman girl understand what she was trying to ask.

"You want to take my shirt off?" Hope groans. "No, you want to see my mark." Hope nods. "Okay, do whatever you want."

When Josie ends up in only her bra, she feels a little naked. However, Hope's eyes never travel near Josie's breast. They go from her neck and directly to her mark. The gold of the tribrid's eyes only seems to shine brighter when she looks back up. It's as if she needed to be sure about them being soulmates before actually claiming Josie.

As gently as she can, Hope pushes Josie's head to the side, fully exposing her neck. She doesn't hesitate for a second before sinking her sharp teeth into the soft flesh of her soulmate. She hears Josie's whine of pain, and she feels Josie's nails painfully dig into her arms, but Hope's can't bring herself to pull away yet. 

It takes a couple of seconds, and the taste of her soulmate's blood on her tongue to make Hope pull away. Gold slowly lets blue take over as Hope blinks a couple of times. When she sees the blood on Josie's neck, Hope panics.

"Josie! You're bleeding so much." Hope gently lifts Josie and settles her back on the bed. "Oh my god, let me just… I'll go get something to put on the wound. Like a bandage or something."

Josie doesn't even have the chance to answer before the tribrid disappears in the bathroom. Hope comes back a few seconds later, holding antiseptic and bandages. The sight of her soulmate being so concerned shouldn't bring butterflies to the brunette's stomach, and yet… She still had a hard time believing Hope Mikaelson actually cared about little Josie Saltzman. 

"Does it hurt?" Hope asks not touching Josie yet.

"It hurt when you bit me, but now… not that much." 

Hope still frowns, and very carefully starts to clean the wound on Josie's neck. The brunette winces as soon as the cloth makes contact with the wound. It still like a bitch actually, but she didn't want to tell that to Hope. No need to alarm her girlfriend, or make her feel guilty about something that had to happen.

"Do you think your wolf is satisfied now?"

The tribrid's cheeks turn red. "Yeah. I know it is."

They stay silent after that. Josie wincing from time to time, and Hope gently cleans the wound. The only time Josie actually moves is when Hope finishes bandaging her neck. She snuggles herself into Hope's side and hums softly.

"We're gonna be okay from now on, right?" Josie asks.

"Yeah, we will." Hope swallows with difficulty as a blush covers her cheeks. "I think you should put your shirt back on now."

Josie giggles. "Your wolf was begging to take it off, and you ask me to put it back on?"

"Josie…" Hope whines.

The brunette moves away from the Mikaelson girl as she rolls her eyes playfully.

"Fine."