Rosalie called an end to play time after a little over two hours. Much to both participants displeasure. She knew they were having fun but Emmett was looking a little rough with his clothes torn and small cracks all over his exposed skin. Bella looked like she had rolled in a mud puddle. Her white fur now a brown color because of all the dirt and grass she had all over her.
"Ok you guys. That's enough. Emmett you need to go heal yourself and Bella you need a shower because I'm pretty sure when you change back all that dirt and grass is going to stay with you." Rosalie told them.
"Aww mom! But we were having fun!" Emmett whined. Bella nodded her big head in agreement.
"Yes and that fun has come to an end. Emmett you know if you don't heal yourself soon you won't be able to at all. You could even get seriously hurt if you continue." Rosalie told him.
"You're right." Emmett said." We'll do this again right Bella?"
At Bella's nod he ran to the house. Rosalie then took Bella's dirty face in her hands.
"And you. I think I need the hose to take care of you. A shower isn't going to take all of this off." Bella huffed and ran towards the woods. "Wait I'll get you a robe so you don't have to put your clothes on over all that dirt."
Rosalie was back within seconds with a dark red robe in her hands which Bella took between her teeth carefully and went into the woods to change. As she come back out Rosalie started laughing at the sight of her.
"It's not that bad is it?" Bella asked looking at herself.
"Bella your hair is a dark brown and the only part of you that isn't dirty right now is your eyes. Come on you can shower in my bathroom." Rosalie said leading Bella into the house.
"Oh my what happened to you?" Esme asked startled.
"This is the result of wrestling with Emmett." Bella told her.
"Are you hurt? Emmett raced by to fast for me to check him over but are you ok?" Esme asked concerned.
"Oh I'm fine it's just a little bit of dirt. Nothing a good scrubbing won't take care of." Bella reassured her.
Bella followed Rosalie to her room where she showed her her en-suite and explained the shower to her. Bella took her time and scrubbed the best that she could. She would have to clean the bathroom when she was done and she was pretty sure she left dirty footprints the entire way through the house but she had a lot of fun with Emmett and hoped they could do it again sometime.
She finished up in the shower got dressed and then cleaned up the mud the best she could. She would have to get better cleaning supplies from Rosalie. When she walked into Rosalie's bedroom Rosalie was sitting on the window seat.
"You look much better." Rosalie told her.
"Feel better too. I made a mess of things though. Can you tell me where the cleaning supplies are so I can clean up all the dirt I tracked in?"
"Esme already took care of it so you don't have to worry about it. She said it was a small price to pay to see Emmett so happy." Rosalie replied.
"I'll make sure to thank her." Bella said as she sat across from Rosalie on the window seat moving some pillows out of the way.
"Did you have fun?"Rosalie asked.
"I had a blast. My grandfather was a lot more cautious with me. I think he was afraid to hurt me even though when I first shifted I was the same size as him."
"Wait your tiger grew?" Rosalie asked. Bella nodded in reply."I thought shifters stayed one size in their animal form? It that another tiger thing?"
"They usually don't. Is seemed my tiger grew in size with my body. The taller I got the bigger my tiger got. I shifted young. Most naturally shift when they are between 16 and 18. Unless there is an outside danger that triggers it early." Bella explained.
"Is that what happened with you? Was your family in danger?"
"No my grandfather theorized it had to do with the white tiger. Then again when he didn't understand why things happened to me he would just fall back on the white tiger explanation." Bella said with a laugh.
"Do know about the shifters around here?"
"I over heard your family talking about them but I don't know anything about them other than they are wolf shifters." Bella said.
"They live on the reservation. We have a treaty with them. We don't feed on humans or turn anyone into a vampire and they leave us alone. We're also not allowed on their land." Rosalie explained.
"The reservation? My father goes there sometimes to go fishing with friends. He mentioned going the last time I visited but we never had the time. I wonder if he knows about them then?" Bella said thinking back to anything Charlie had said about it.
"I doubt it. Even though they mix with outsiders they're very protective of their secrets. I wouldn't be surprised if the only way one of them figured out their people turned into wolves was to actually shift themselves." Rosalie said.
"That's how I found out I was a tiger shifter. It's a scary thing to discover. To think that they could be preparing their children for it and they don't is kind of sad."
"Would you ever want to meet them? We can contact them for you if you wish to speak to them." Rosalie offered.
"I would have to think about it. Right now I would have to say no. I don't like the idea of being around something that considers you their mortal enemy but that could change if I allow my curiosity to grow."
"The offer is there should you ever want it." Rosalie said grabbing a hold of Bella's hand and pulling her into a kiss.
Bella returned the kiss happily and before things could get out of control she pulled back and laid her forehead against Rosalie's and said."Hi"
"Hi yourself."Rosalie replied with a smile that quickly turned serious.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked concerned.
"I love you Bella."
"I love you to Rosalie." Bella promised. "What's wrong?"
"I want to talk to you about something important. It affects both you and me and us together." Rosalie knew she was rambling but she needed to get this out before she lost her nerve.
"Whatever you need to tell me we'll get through it together. Just like with everything else." Bella said.
"Bella you're my mate." Rosalie held her breath waiting for Bella's reaction. She wasn't expecting the confusion she saw spread across Bella's face.
"What does that mean exactly? What does it mean to be your mate?" Bella asked.
"It means that you're my soulmate. This is one those moment we talked about. A moment where fate puts something in front of you and you decide whether to accept it or not. Each vampire has one person that they are bonded with on a spiritual level. It's never happened between a shifter and vampire before that we know of so this is a different kind of situation. I feel the mate bond and have accepted it but you have a choice if you want to or not. I'm not trying to force you to spend eternity with me. I don't even know if you could. I just know that the second I looked into your eyes I knew that I was meant to be with you. I don't know if you will ever feel the same way about me but if you wanted"
That's all Rosalie got out as Bella pulled her into a crushing embrace. Pressing their lips together. Rosalie sank into the kiss and offered no resistance when Bella's tongue wanted to seek entrance past her lips. She grasped Bella's neck and pulled Bella down on top of her as she laid back on the seat. Her hands made their way down and grabbed the bottom of Bella's shirt starting to pull up but stopping when Bella pulled away.
"Wait. We need to stop." Bella said breathless.
Rosalie looked away as Bella got off of her as she sat up. "Yeah of course. We should definitely stop. I pushed you to far. I'm sorry."
"Rosalie no that's not why. I don't want to stop. Trust me it's the last thing I want to do but I need to tell you something too." Bella told her.
Rosalie met Bella's gaze and felt reassured as she saw the blinding love staring back at her. "Of course you can tell me anything."
"Rosalie I don't know anything about the mate bond but I do know that you're my imprint. That's the reason we can't continue because after we do the bond is unbreakable and I don't want to make that choice for you. I know you said you accepted the mate bond but I don't know the difference between the two. So this is me asking you. Rosalie Hale do think maybe you would want to spend eternity together?"
"Together?"Rosalie asked feeling her eyes burn with venom.
"Together." Bella agreed her own tears flowing freely.
"I love you so much." Rosalie said as her voice broke on a sob.
Bella pulled her into a hug and as Rosalie laid her head against Bella's chest taking comfort in the sound of her beating heart Bella promised."I love you to."