Author's Note: I'm so sorry to make you all wait so long (note the sarcasm) but here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy, and tell me what you think.
Chapter 4
I'm Bella? I'm Bella? Is that all this girl could say to the woman who had just saved her life? To the woman who was her mate?
Tanya stared down at the brunette, beyond stunned by the girl's calm demeanor. Getting nearly hit by a car, getting rescued, and then getting yelled out really should have shaken a girl up more. In fact, any normal human would have been freaking out by now.
Then again, it was already clear that this girl, her mate, was anything but normal.
"Bel-la," the girl repeated slowly, as if Tanya couldn't understand her.
"Yes, little one, I heard you the first time," Tanya said with a roll of her eyes, her voice fond. "My name is Tanya."
"Tanya, huh? That's sexy on top of sexy," Bella murmured as she continued to stare up at the blonde woman.
"Thank you," Tanya said, lips quirking up in a half smile. "Now, may I ask what you were doing?"
Bella's brow furrowed in confusion. "I was about to fall asleep, and you saved me." Hadn't they already been over this?
"I mean besides that. Why were you standing on the side of this road? What were you trying to accomplish?" Tanya clarified in a soft voice as she studied the girl below her. While Tanya's baser side wanted nothing more than to lay on top of the brunette, to press their bodies together, to at least keep some kind of physical contact between them, Tanya knew that would be too weird. And while it appeared to be that this girl would be okay with nearly anything, Tanya doubted the people who might witness the scene wouldn't be so okay with it. So instead, she sat up, then moved off of the girl before Tanya could do anything too outlandish.
"I was going grocery shopping," Bella explained, still lying on the ground. Her eyes moved to connect with Tanya's once more, but the brunette made no move to get up.
"On foot?" Tanya asked, puzzled.
Bella nodded, and only got up because Tanya slid a hand behind Bella's back and pressed gently until Bella had gotten into the correct position. "Yeah. I needed to cross that street. But then I got tired."
Now Tanya was the one confused. "But isn't the grocery store that way?" Tanya asked, pointing in the opposite direction of where Bella was heading.
Bella's gaze followed her finger, then that gaze moved back towards the other side of the street. Now that Tanya had mentioned it, this place didn't look very familiar, and Bella had been to the store before. "Oh." Realizing she was even farther from the store now than ever, Bella sighed and stood up. "That means I have to go. I have a lot more walking to do then I planned," Bella muttered reluctantly. She really didn't want to walk; in fact, all she did want to do was sleep. But, most of all, she didn't want to leave the older woman's presence.
"I'll take you," Tanya said without a thought. There was no way she was letting her mate walk around alone, especially since said mate could easily fall into traffic and die.
"Yeah?" Bella asked, cocking her head to the side as she regarded Tanya with an unreadable expression.
"Yes. My car is this way," Tanya said, taking Bella's hand in hers as she started to lead the way. To her surprise, Bella pulled her hand away. Tanya froze, confused and hurt, as she stared at the brunette. What was this girl thinking? Was she shocked by how cold Tanya's hand was? Was she scared? Tanya actually began to feel nervous; so nervous, in fact, that Bella's next move took her completely off guard.
Without a word of warning, Bella flew at Tanya with a speed that surprised the blonde. Bella's arms wrapped around Tanya's neck, legs around her waist, and Bella clung to Tanya tightly.
"Mmhmm. That's what I thought," Bella breathed, so close to Tanya's ear that the blonde had to stop herself from shuddering with need. The vampire's instincts, which had been giving soft, quiet demands until that point, went wild. They demanded that Tanya press Bella against the nearest tree or car or any possible surface so that she could take the girl, bite her, claim her in every possible way. Tanya's nails dug into her palms, and she didn't dare breathe lest she give in and possibly even hurt the girl.
As Tanya was dealing with her inner turmoil, Bella pressed her face into Tanya's throat and breathed deep, making everything so much better. Then, Bella bit the slope of Tanya's neck.
It was such a shocking move, one that came from the human no less, that Tanya's instincts actually quieted, almost as if the instincts were as shocked as Tanya was.
"Knew it," Bella said, actually sounding a little pleased with herself, as she hopped off of Tanya. She then looked around, once again confused. "Where did you say your car was again?"
Tanya swallowed the pooling venom in her mouth, reaching up to touch the spot where Bella had bitten. "Why…?" Tanya started to say. But at that point, Bella had decided to start searching for Tanya's car on her own, actually even looking in traffic to see if there were any cars that had been stopped.
Protective instincts overruled everything else, and Tanya quickly picked up the girl, hands holding her under her armpits. "It's this way," Tanya explained, still carrying the girl as she walked towards her car. Tanya made sure to keep Bella facing away from her, as she didn't want to risk another biting episode; she was sure that, if Bella did that again, Tanya would lose all control.
They made it there in just a minute, and Bella regarded the car thoughtfully. "You're not very good at parking, are you?"
"Not when I'm jumping out of the car to stop a girl from getting killed," Tanya replied as she unlocked her car. She opened the passenger's side first so Bella could get in, and only when Bella was safely in her car with the door closed did Tanya move to the driver's side.
"Hm," was the only answer that the vampire got.
"Seat belt on," Tanya ordered when she realized that Bella hadn't buckled up. Once Bella did, Tanya started the car, and Bella immediately rolled down the window. She rested her arms on the car door and her chin in her hands, staring out at the darkening sky.
"What are you doing?" Tanya asked, focusing most of her attention on the girl. The human really was beautiful, and the way her brown hair flew with the wind in that moment made her even more desirable.
"Not sure," Bella replied.
Tanya sighed and shook her head. "You really are a strange one, aren't you?"
"You're not so normal yourself, Dream Girl," Bella replied, turning around to look at her with those unreadable dark brown eyes.
"What do you mean?" Tanya asked. For a moment, she was actually worried that Bella already knew the truth about her, or at the very least expected. And what did Bella mean by dream girl?
Bella just shrugged, making Tanya want to bang her head against something. Before Tanya could question Bella further, however, the girl fell asleep.
"You've got to be kidding me," Tanya groaned, but decided to focus on driving to the grocery store. After all, now that she met her mate, Tanya wasn't going anywhere. She had all the time in the world to figure out how her strange little mate's head worked.
She made it there within minutes. Turning the car off and getting out, she moved around to the passenger side and opened the door. "Bella, we're here. Time to wake up," Tanya said, lightly touching Bella's shoulder. "Bella." She shook the human, but the girl didn't stir. "BELLA." Once again, nothing, and Tanya couldn't stop herself from sighing.
Staring at the human for a long moment, Tanya reached out to brush some of the girl's hair out of her face and behind her ear. Her hand lingered, skimming along the girl's jaw. Her hand stopped after a moment, but Tanya couldn't bring herself to pull away.
Her mate was so beautiful, so tempting. And while having lived for over a thousand years had strengthened Tanya's control, all those years living without her mate also seemed to have made her control so incredibly weak when it came to the girl. Knowing that her mate was so close, yet still not hers, made Tanya's dead heart ache and her entire being scream for the touch and love of this incredibly strange human.
Tanya paused, realizing how close her lips were to Bella's. She had been so close to stealing a kiss, so close, without even realizing it. But she wouldn't, she wouldn't do it unless she knew Bella was okay with it. She wouldn't let their first kiss be anything but perf––
Bella lifted her head, her lips capturing Tanya's, and Tanya's entire body was flooded with heat. The kiss was short but also so very delicious, and Tanya felt herself craving hundreds of more just like it.
However, Bella let out a strange grunting noise, and Tanya realized that Bella had tried to get out of the car with her seatbelt still on. Tanya hurried to release the lightly flailing human, and then had to catch the girl before she fell right out of the car and onto her face.
"Do you go around kissing every person who helps you?" Tanya asked softly, her arms winding around the girl as she pulled her closer. Her forehead rested against the brunette's as Tanya searched her brown eyes once again, looking for answers. As far as she knew, humans didn't feel the mating bond. At most, they would feel a very subtle pull; nothing that would lead someone to kiss a vampire so soon.
Bella gave Tanya a look that clearly questioned the vampire's sanity. "No, that would be gross," she said, then looked around, frowning. "Where are we?"
"The grocery store," Tanya explained patiently, still not letting go of the human. She was about to ask why Bella had kissed her, but the girl once again sidetracked her by frowning in clear confusion.
"Why are we here?" Bella asked, as if she really had no idea why Tanya had taken her here.
Tanya couldn't even begin to explain how confused this human was making her. It made her want to scream her frustration to the heavens. But since that would draw too much attention to herself, she only said, "Didn't you need to go grocery shopping?"
Bella stared at Tanya with obvious befuddlement for a long moment, but then her eyes cleared with realization. "Oh yeah. Thanks." Bella pulled herself out of Tanya's arms and started walking in the direction of the grocery store.
"I'm coming with you, and then I'm taking you home, understand?" Tanya said as she caught up to the brunette, leaving no room for argument.
The brunette turned around to consider Tanya for a moment, walking backwards as she did so. She nearly fell on her ass as she tripped over what looked to be flat ground, but Tanya caught and straightened her. Then, Bella nodded.
"Good thing that you are, Dream Girl. I'm not too good with those types of things," Bella said in agreement. Giving no hint to what "those types of things" were, Bella then continued towards the grocery store.
"What? But…" Tanya started, but then shook her head with a soft growl as she rubbed her temples. For the first time since Tanya's human years, she felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. Was that even possible?
"Dream Girl?" Bella asked. Tanya looked up to find another of those adorable confused frowns on Bella's face as the human stood near the door waiting for her. Tanya realized that she hadn't been following after Bella, and quickly rectified that, walking at a fast human pace to get back to Bella's side.
Once Tanya was there, Bella grabbed a grocery cart and started feebly pushing it towards the aisles of groceries. Tanya, seeing the girl struggle, quickly took over for her, lightly slapping the brunette's hands away when Bella tried to reclaim her cart.
For a moment, Bella seemed to sulk as she walked closely next to Tanya, but then decided to speak. "So...are you into paper or plastic?" she drawled, curiosity shining in her brown eyes as she stared up at Tanya.
Why did Bella seem so interested in such a strange question? Maybe because the girl herself was so strange, Tanya reasoned. Deciding it best to play along for now, Tanya said "Plastic."
Bella nodded thoughtfully, reaching out to grab two cans of beans and put them in the cart. "Let's be on, then, shall we?" she said, walking forward, only to slip on the tiles. Tanya had no way of catching her without looking suspicious to the humans and cameras, so she could only watch helplessly as Bella fell flat on her face.
Leaving the cart behind, she rushed over to Bella and helped her to her feet. "Please, Bella, stay at my side," Tanya begged, keeping close as she steadied the human.
Bella gave her another strange look. "But if I stay at your side, how can I go to school?" she asked, truly perplexed. "You're clearly too old to join me." With that, Bella stayed to grab something else from the shelves; although she thankfully stayed within lunging distance of Tanya.
Really, Tanya had no idea what was going on in her mate's head. One thing was for sure, however; when Tanya got Bella home, she was going to do whatever it took to get invited in. Tanya wasn't going to leave without a very long and hopefully clarifying talk with Bella.
And maybe, the hornier part of her whispered, another kiss...or ten.
Tanya couldn't deny that she wanted those kisses, among quite a few other things. Maybe she could find a way to incorporate them together when Tanya got the human alone.
"Dream Girl, they have chicken boobies," Bella said, loud enough for anybody nearby to hear. "Should I get them?"
"Get whatever you want. And they're called chicken breasts!" Tanya called back, unable to risk looking up and meeting anyone's eyes. Had she been human, she would have been a dark, bright red.
Really, she needed to get inside of Bella's head. The sooner, the better.
