Chapter 12

Sweat dripped from Hope's brow as she crouched down, though her intense focus never wavered from her opponent.

Rafael aimed a low kick at her. She shifted out of the way and grabbed his leg, her own swinging low beneath him.

The leg on which his weight rested gave way and he hit the gym matt. Hard.

Hope stepped back, heart pounding. Rafael planted his hands above his shoulders and catapulted himself back into a standing position.

He grinned at her as he took an offensive stance, his eyes glowing.

One corner of Hope's lips arched arrogantly. Her own eyes went up in golden flames.

(…)

It had been a long and intense sparring session between the two wolves that saw both of them flat on their backs, heaving, by the end of it. Hope welcomed the burn of her muscles and the rapid expansion of her lungs. She could feel the tingle of rushing blood spread through her extremities and it made her feel alive.

She had desperately needed the workout to clear her head.

"Are you okay?" Rafael asked her breathlessly after a few minutes as they both just lay on their backs, staring at the high ceiling of the gym.

"No. Are you?" She almost snorted cynically.

"No." Rafael himself chuckled darkly in response.

"It wasn't your fault, you know." Hope finally said softly after another few long minutes, as if reading her companion's mind.

"It sure feels like it was." Rafael's response was barely above a whisper.

"It was all on the Necromancer. He's the only one to blame here." Hope sighed. "But I understand how you feel. If I had just been… I should have…" She trailed off thoughtfully, unable to string the right words together.

"No, it wasn't your duty to save him or protect him. He was a tough guy. He could take care of himself. It's just… How could he have known it would come from me…" Rafael's brow creased in deep, emotional lines.

"It wasn't your fault." Hope repeated once more, with emphasis. "And when I find this guy… He will pay for what he has done." She set her jaw tightly at the thought of the gore she'd like to wreak upon the monster.

"I think we all feel that way, Hope. But he's all jacked up on dark magic now. I don't know how any of us can take him on." Rafael was just as eager to rip the Necromancer apart, but his sensibility reminded him that it would be a near impossible battle.

"We'll find a way…" Hope whispered and sighed, her head lolling to the side so that she could glance over at her friend.

Rafael rolled over onto his stomach and lifted himself up by his elbows, watching her in return. "So, how about you tell me about that long nap of yours. What was that like?"

Hope shrugged as she raised her brows in response. "Honestly, I can't really say much. I remember talking to Josie, telling her she's strong enough to defeat the darkness. But after that…" Hope waved her hands, palms up, indicating that she didn't have much more to add. "Things went black. I remember vague images of running through a forest in my wolf. I remember smelling Josie. I think she was with me at some stage. But the images are all random and nonsensical. I really have no idea what happened."

Rafael frowned at her and then raised one brow high up as he stared down at the girl. "You don't even remember biting her?"

Hope cringed. "Jade? Yeah I don't, but I heard all about it. I should probably apologize…"

Rafael shook his head then. "No, I mean Josie. You… oh damn, maybe I wasn't supposed to say anything."

Hope's eyes went wide as she shot upright in shock. "I did what?! Oh my god! She swore I didn't hurt her!" She quickly started scrambling to her feet, the urge to find Josie and beg for forgiveness overwhelming her in the moment. She needed to see the damage she inflicted. She needed to check if Josie was okay. She needed to make it right again. She needed…

"Hope, chill!" Rafael was quick to stand up with the scurrying girl. "You didn't hurt her, relax." When she cast confused and stormy pools of blue at him, he sighed and rested one hand on her shoulder in a calming and comforting gesture. "Look, you just nipped her hand. She barely had a bruise." He let his hand drop slowly when it seemed like she would stand still and listen to him rather than combusting with panic. "She just said… She said it felt like you were trying to mark her."

So much for not panicking. Hope took a step back, dazed and utterly shocked and confused and completely astonished all at once. "I DID WHAT?!" Her eyes were comically large, much like saucers, and her jaw slack as her mouth dried into a desert.

(…)

Hope stormed up the stairs and down the hall, searching for the correct numbered door. When she found the twins' room she didn't even bother knocking and simply threw it open without warning. "Where is she?!" She spat out desperately when she saw that the only person in the room was the blonde Saltzman twin, lazing on her bed with a magazine.

"Well hello to you too." Lizzie oozed out the words with her typical brand of sarcastic venom dripping from the syllables. Unbothered, she simply cast her eyes back down to her magazine. "I don't know. She's out with Jade I think."

Hope froze, closed her eyes, and silently counted back from 5 in her head.

"What's wrong with you?" Lizzie paused her reading as she watched the tribrid, starting to feel a little… curious, but not all too concerned.

"Nothing. I – " Hope spun for the door but quickly stopped again before she stepped through it, wanting to run off. She inhaled deeply and closed the door instead, then turned to the blonde witch. "Did you know that I bit her?"

"Whoa! I do not need to know about your sexcapades with my sister, Mikaelson!" Lizzie's hands flew into the air as if trying to stop Hope from talking and block out some sort of mental image that was thrown at her.

"Wha… Lizzie, no! What the…" Hope's cheeks burned red-hot as she felt like her brain might short-circuit. She started pacing the room. "Raf told me that I bit her. That my wolf bit her while I was knocked out."

"Ooooh right. That." Lizzie rolled her eyes and lazily stretched out on her side on the bed. "When you marked her, you mean."

Hope instantly stopped pacing and violently swung herself around to face the witch, her arms shooting into the air as if she was drowning and flailing for help. "I did not mark her!" She squealed.

Lizzie arched one perfectly manicured brow, clearly unconvinced. "Why else would you bite her then?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet tone, trying to further provoke the obvious alarm and discomfort that had enveloped the tribrid.

"I don't know!" Hope continued to flounder. "There could be many reasons! This isn't fucking Twilight Lizzie! Wolves don't just go around imprinting on people!"

"Reasons like… she tried to take your chew toy away from you?" Lizzie grinned mischievously. "Besides, who said anything about imprinting?"

"I… I don't…" Hope did a perfect impression of a goldfish and it made Lizzie grin like the Cheshire cat.

"Is that even a real thing for you wolves? Marking? Imprinting?" Lizzie asked and rolled onto her back, stretching out like an indolent cat would. "Because if it is, that's kind of… romantic."

Hope finally plopped down on Josie's bed opposite Lizzie and buried her face in her hands. "I don't know…" She mumbled through her fingers, defeated and frustrated.

There was a lot that she could say about how she felt and what she thought, but Hope didn't want Lizzie to be the first to hear it. She wanted to try and explain how, despite the heartache and the loss she had experienced, she had never felt so alive as she did after returning from Josie's subconscious. She wanted to explain how whenever she saw Josie there was a warmth that spread through every fiber of her being. She wanted to talk about how when she looked into Josie's eyes it was as if she could see all the constellations that ever existed in the entirety of the universe, and how even though the vastness of it all was overwhelming, there was no doubt deep in her soul about where she belonged. Her soul itself felt like it was vibrating in her chest whenever Josie came near her, and how when she was away all Hope could feel was a sickening void. How was she supposed to even understand it herself when there were no fathomable words to describe the longing for Josie her wolf forced through her whole existence in every second of every minute of every hour.

None of this was comprehensible to the tribrid. The only thing she knew for sure was that she was terrified.