Chapter 31:

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Night, Bells!"

"Night, Dad!" I called, nervously fiddling with the hem of my shirt as I heard Charlie move down the hallway towards his bedroom. I bit my lip, listening intently to the fading thud of his footsteps until they disappeared into his room with the closing of his door.

A small sigh of relief escaped my mouth, and I looked down to my hands. Tanya would be showing up any second and needless to say I was nervous as hell. Thoughts of our coming conversation had been buzzing around in my mind all night. I had barely been coherent during dinner, so less with it that Charlie had to call me twice to get me to answer a question of his.

I could hardly focus on a task—that included playing—as butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I continuously felt the tingling of wings while the thoughts of everything we needed to say went through my head. One of the major things on my list was her outburst at her home that she had clearly meant to keep to herself.

Mate.

The word sent a shiver up my spine; a shiver that was a mixture of pleasure and thrill. It was a feeling I hadn't felt with Edward before when he called me his mate over and over again when we were together. I felt nothing compared to what I felt with Tanya.

"Bella is our family and she is my mate."

The raw emotion in her voice had been plain and simple: possessive. It was the way her voice changed on the words "my" and "our" to make them come out harsher, firmer. She was drilling the idea into not only Edward's mind, but every Cullen in the room.

She was showing ownership—in a good way.

Tanya wanted them to know who I was with; who I belonged to. She was proud of having me at her side, of being able to call me her soulmate. It was partially what scared me—her complete and utter certainty in her words when I had no idea she was my mate at all, or that I was hers.

I bit my lip.

Tanya, by her words and no objections from the Denalis, is my mate. She is the one person I'm supposed to love in my life in such a way, and be utterly faithful to. I've owned her this entire time—just as she owns me—and had no idea about it…How did I go from one vampire family to another like this for a change in doctors?

I shook my head with a small snort, only to inhale sharply as two arms wrapped around me. I gasped, and jerked my head to look over my shoulder as Tanya kissed my shoulder gently, her arms wrapped around my waist lovingly. "I'm sorry to startle you, love," she murmured against my shoulder. She pressed another kiss against the skin.

I took in a breath; feeling instantly relieved. "It's fine," I assured.

She hummed, not really replying, and turned her head towards my neck. The tip of her nose barely brushed my exposed skin as she inhaled deeply. A small, content hum rumbled in her throat. "Have I ever told you how good you smell?" she asked quietly.

I shook my head. "Not exactly," I said. "However I have heard my scent is quite appealing to vampires several times."

She nodded, though her hold on me tightened slightly. "It is appealing in that sense, yes," she agreed. "However, I am not affected by it like the others. Your blood doesn't hold the same appeal to me, and I mostly smell your natural scent of frost and pine."

I angled my head over my shoulder just a fraction. My chin brushed the top of her hair. "That's what I smell like?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. It is quite intoxicating at times." Her nose nuzzled my jugular, not at all bothering me with how close her teeth were to my throat.

I bit my lip and let the question slip, "Is it because I'm your mate?"

Tanya immediately froze behind me. Her breathing became heavier. She swallowed, and slowly pulled her nose away from my neck. I turned my head more to the side in order to look into her eyes as she pulled back far enough for our gazes to lock.

The blonde vampire raised her hand to brush a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry for that—for how you found out," she murmured. "I had been planning on a way to tell you, but I just…I didn't exactly know how to."

I turned in her arms, gently pulling out of them, and moved to now be facing her as I crossed my legs. Like magnets, our hands grabbed each other in the middle and our fingers intertwined. I gently ran my thumb over the back of her hand. "How long have you known?" I asked. "How did you even decide I was your mate?"

Tanya shook her head with a small chuckle. "I didn't decide you were my soulmate, Bella," she corrected. Her head lolled to the side. "Did the Cullens tell you nothing about mating?"

I thought; biting my upper lip as I searched my memory. Slowly, I shook my head. "No," I said after a moment's hesitation. "They never really told me anything about it besides it was the person they spent the rest of eternity with."

Tanya nodded. "That is true," she said, "however that isn't all of it." She barely scooted an inch closer. "Each vampire has a soulmate, Bella, someone who completes them. They are the vampire's other half and we don't decide who it is—they are born as our mate that we will eventually meet.

"A vampire will know who their mate is as soon as they look in their eyes. The bond is instant after eye-contact, but only the vampire of the couple—if both are not vampires—will feel the effect of it immediately." She reached up and cupped my cheek with a small smile. "As soon as I looked into your eyes in that bookstore I knew, Bella. I've always known since the day we met."

To say I was shocked was an overstatement.

I was surprised, sure, but I wasn't completely shocked. It was like I had known about this, or at least anticipated this somewhere deep down in me. The knowledge of being mated to Tanya—in having always been her mate—wasn't as much of a shock as I thought it would be.

I wondered in the back of my mind if I had always known about the mating bond—at least to the best of a human's ability. It was a possibility as to why I even let her into my life in the first place, or the unmistakable draw I felt towards her from the beginning.

It seemed the bond was there the whole time.

I bit my lip, letting it drag out of my teeth as Tanya watched me intently. "So…this is like imprinting," I said after a moment. The sentence came out as more of a thought as the similarities suddenly connected for me.

Tanya's brow furrowed. "Imprinting?" she asked.

I waved my hand. "It's the wolves' version of mating. It's close enough to how the shifter and imprint feel about each other after a shifter imprints," I said dismissively. I looked down at our hands again, stroking the back of hers still. "How were you able to hide it for so long? If your instincts are anything like the wolves' after they first imprint…"

I shivered at the thought.

Tanya gave a low chuckle. "Believe me," she said, "there were several times I almost lost my control. Keeping the secret was easier said than done, Bella, very much so." She pursed her lips as a thought mulled over in her mind before she squeezed my hands. "You see, Bella, newly mated vampires are very high on instinct. Any normal mating instincts—like Carmen and Eleazer—are tripled tenfold. We are highly possessive and protective in the beginning; most vampires that mate with other vampires mark each other the instant they meet."

I furrowed my brow. "Are you talking about what you told me earlier about your 'instincts' towards me?" I asked, pulling one of my hands away to use finger quotes. "The whole wanting to have sex with me?"

She nodded, giving a small smile. "Yes…but I may have left out a little for that," she said, lowering her head sheepishly.

I raised my brow for her to elaborate. Hearing a vampire was so possessive of their girlfriend that they wanted to have sex with them all the time was hard enough, but what could she have left out?

Moving just a little closer, she continued, "Newly mated vampires are not just possessive and protective, Bella. They are…Well—for a lack of a better word—horny all the time and want to have sex with their mate even if it doesn't mean marking them."

I felt my brows rise slightly. "You want to jump me?"

She nodded, giving a slight smirk. "Of course," she said. "Not only are you an extremely attractive woman, Bella, but you are also my mate. You have no idea how many times I've had to keep myself from shoving you into the nearest room and ripping your clothes off."

"Ah…" It was the only response that I could think of, or even let out at the moment. In the back of my mind, I was trying to rack my brain for all the times that Tanya could have been having that conflict. The guy at the store was one possibility—the one she looked ready to kill when he wouldn't stop hitting on me. Maybe when we were in the café or on our first date, and definitely the first night she came here, but besides that I was drawing a blank.

That was three times in all I could think of, and she made it sound as if there had been at least—I don't know—ten times she had to control herself in the past few months. I admitted that swallowing the idea was a little…tougher.

Tanya took me out of my thoughts as she chuckled lowly. "In all honesty," she continued, "being alone with you right now is not helping much either. Edward and his family have made my instincts a little more…prominent tonight." As if she needed evidence, her eyes darkened just a shade as her eyes flickered down from my face to my chest and then back up.

I resisted the urge to groan. If this conversation was going to continue, a horny Tanya was the last thing I needed right now. I lifted my hand and snapped my fingers in her face, "Girl, focus."

Tanya shook her head and blinked rapidly, bringing her eyes to their usual gold color. The blonde offered a small apologetic smile and nodded. "Of course, my apologies." She took the hand that still laid in hers into her lap and began to fiddle with my fingers with both hands. "However, for obvious reasons I cannot mark you in such a way, and that results in making my instincts go haywire, because I cannot mark you in anyway—especially with the physical sign of a bite mark."

My eyes widened. "Bite mark."

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "The bites usually occur when both are near the climax. The pleasure will hide the pain that way."

I nodded slowly, letting the thought of Tanya biting me roll through my mind. While the thought of having sex with Tanya was honestly quite pleasing, the thought of her biting me diminished the mood a little.

I forced myself not to shiver and awkwardly cleared my throat. "So, let me get this straight," I said. "Vampires know their soulmate the moment they look into their eyes, and are immediately hit with the need to have sex with them, protect them and be possessive. And, to mark their mate they need to have sex with them and bite them during sex, but near the climax so that the pain isn't felt."

She nodded. "Essentially, yes."

I nodded. "I believe I understand."

Tanya smiled and tilted her head to the side with a slight smirk. "I hope this wasn't too…awkward for you?"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Tanya, what have I been saying the whole time I have known you and your family?" I asked.

She chuckled. "I know, I know. You have a pack of teenage frozen boys at home and are used to it." She gave my hand a squeeze. "But that doesn't mean you aren't going to feel awkward talking about something like this with me. I mean, you did just discover today that I am your soulmate, and you are mine—for which I still apologize for immensely. That really was not how I meant for you to find out that we were mated, and I—"

I cut her off by connecting our lips in a kiss. My free hand cupped her cheek, holding her in place. She didn't react for a moment surprised at my sudden kiss before her hand slipped out of mine to hold my jaw as her lips moved in sync with mine.

I pulled back after a few moments, and smirked when I saw the blissed glaze in her eyes. I chuckled, causing her to snap back to earth. "You know, you're cute when you ramble." I pecked her lips before I pulled away fully, letting our hands connect in her lap.

Tanya raised a brow. "Is that so?" she asked. A seductive smirk pulled onto her lips and she leaned forward. "If that is the case, then maybe I should ramble more often to have you shut me up, hmm…?"

As she continued to lean forward for another kiss, I leaned back and put my hand on her face—literally. I gave her a push as I shook my head. "Damn, Tanya, control yourself. Have you forgotten we're here to talk not fuck?"

She snorted, jerking her head away as she grumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously close to "yet".

I cocked a brow. "What was that?"

Her head snapped up. "Nothing," she said, offering a sweet smile.

I hummed, but didn't reply. Instead, I moved onto another subject, "So, how did it go after I left?"

Tanya groaned, rolling her eyes. Every thought of her sexual needs seemed to leave her mind as she turned and plopped onto the bed on her back. Her head landed in my lap to stare up at me. "It was like my house went from a zoo to a fucking circus."

I raised a brow. "Circus?" I asked.

She nodded as her eyes closed, raising her hand to rub her temples. "Yes," she grumbled. "After I got home, I found Kate and Rosalie in a brawl while Irina and Emmett were tip-toeing around each other daring the other to touch Rosalie or Kate. The others couldn't do much, and Edward was in my face about forcing you into a relationship that you didn't want or need as soon as I was in the doorway."

My right fingers began to glide through her hair, massaging her scalp as my other began to massage her temples. "How long did that last?" I asked.

She sighed, lowering her hand to let mine do the work. "A while," she admitted. "Edward wouldn't shut-up until I threw him out of the door, and I had to get between both Rosalie and Kate while Carmen and Esme came to a silent agreement and stopped Irina and Emmett from becoming involved. That didn't end the fighting, though. Now that you were gone, it was like all filters were off and everyone was screaming at each other."

"About what?"

She snorted. "A better question is what wasn't said," she grumbled. Tanya shook her head and took in a breath, letting out a small sigh. "It was mostly about you, of course; accusations of wrongful claims, treatment and shit. Several physical fights almost broke out from how heated things became so quickly…I don't think either of our families have ever been so undone before."

"I suppose I should be flattered in my ability to unravel both covens, then," I teased. My fingers pressed a little harder into her scalp. "Did you finally get it settled—to the best of your ability—I mean."

She nodded. "We did," she said heavily. "However, I wouldn't be surprised if the Cullens were more forward and verbal the next time you come over. I think they were waiting to see exactly where you were with us before they decided to take action." Her eyes opened to meet mine. "Rosalie was surprisingly persistent in calling you her sister."

I arched a brow. "Rosalie?"

She nodded. "Yes." Her eyes closed. "I believe that she has always been fond of you—at least in her own way. Her beast has clearly kicked her instincts into action today. I believe that the possibility of your vulnerability in your illness has made what affection she's had for you surface powerfully, and made her react slightly stronger than the others did in the sibling claim from her lack thereof in the beginning."

I cocked my head as her statement rolled through my mind. Rosalie being possessive of me because she never—well, fully—had me in the first place…It was slightly hard to swallow. The blonde woman had always taken what chance she had to glare at me, or outright curse my existence with her stare.

I was very used to the idea of Rosalie hating me, but the idea of Rosalie actually liking me and being fond of me…that was a whole new territory.

However, her actions today did support Tanya's theory. For example, she hadn't actually glared at me when they first came into the Denali home. She had just stared at me, but didn't sneer, snarl, hiss, growl or glare. It was possible she had just been so shocked in seeing me again that her instincts were trying to comprehend what to feel just as it was the other Cullens at the given moment.

Another example was both my episode and learning of my cancer itself. She had genuinely looked so shocked and—possibly now that I thought of it—even sorrowful at the knowledge of what had been my life for the past two years. Of course, being glad someone had cancer was a horrible thing, but her reaction was more than I thought I'd receive from her. Her voluntary actions of preparing me a small spot on the couch was also surprising after my episode. I vaguely remembered the blonde preparing it for me, and going to help me before she had backed off—most likely to the Denalis around us.

Everything Rosalie had done today was completely opposite of what I expected. The blonde seemed to truly see me as her sister, and was openly jealous of Kate's actions towards me in the Denali home earlier. And, if the behavior of both women continued, I wouldn't have been surprised if the two got into more fights in the future.

I scowled at the thought, only to snap back as Tanya let out a content sigh under me. A purr rumbled freely in her chest and a smile spread across her lips. "This is very relaxing," she murmured.

I smiled and bent down, giving her a quick Spiderman Style kiss on the lips. "I'm glad I could help…I already had my massage from Kate today, so I am fully relaxed."

Tanya grinned under me, bit her bottom lip, and hooked her hand behind my neck. She brought our lips together again, this time deepening the kiss while I continued to hover over her.

The kiss was only lips, a gentle pull on pull of skin. There was no tongue, no desperation, or need, or even sucking. It was a pure, gentle, loving kiss that seemed to last for only a few seconds when—according to my lungs—it was actually several long minutes.

We pulled back in unison, as if we both sensed my need for air at the same time. I took in deep breaths of air; not raising my head far above hers as she took in unneeded breaths. Her hand on the back of my neck began to move, letting her fingers slide into my hair where she massaged my scalp. Her other lifted from the bed to stroke my cheek gently, caressing my skin lightly with her fingertips.

A sharp, ragged breath came from her as she gasped, "I love you."

I froze at first. Her voice had come out breathy, low; so low that I had trouble discerning what she had said for a second. As soon as my mind registered it, however, I felt the warmth begin to seep through my body like a blanket gently wrapping around my shoulders.

I closed my eyes as the feeling consumed my body, taking away any thoughts of doubt I had left of this relationship. Every fiber of my being seemed to come alive in that moment, and I couldn't stop my words if I tried. "I love you too."