ROSE
I woke up to Greyson humming "Once upon a December" from my favorite movie, Anastasia.
I smiled against his chest and snuggled closer, contently closing my eyes as he played with my hair.
Suddenly, my eyes popped open when the rush of memories from yesterday came to my mind.
"GREYSON!" I jumped off him, my body nearly completely on top of him.
He gave me a lazy smile "Hi Pretty girl."
"Are you okay?" I rushed to his side "How'd you sleep? Does anything hurt? Are you in pain?"
He started to sit up and I pushed him back down.
He let out a short laugh "You're worse than my mother."
"Your mother's the best mother I know" I glared at him "So I take that as a compliment."
He started unraveling his bandages.
I gaped at him "What are you doing?"
He ripped the gauze covering his wound and I gasped when I saw the wound almost completely healed.
"Huh" Grey said "Guess it's going to leave a scar."
"How is that even possible?" I said, sitting on the bed for closer inspection.
Greyson's mouth quirked up in a smile "One of the perks of being a wolf is that we heal faster than humans."
I poked around the newly pink skin "So you would have been fine yesterday?"
"No," he shook his head "I most likely would have died if it wasn't for you."
There was a pause and he cleared his throat.
"Speaking of yesterday...." he started "I was wondering..."
I paused my prodding of his skin and lifted my head, surprised to see Grey at a loss for words and blushing.
"Yes?"
He huffed "You're really going to make me say it?"
I grinned "I'm really going to make you say it."
He snorted out a laugh "Minx"
I winked at him.
He sobered up "Can I please have my celebratory kiss now?"
I thought about it, tapping my finger against my chin.
"Sure"
His eyes widened and he broke out into a huge grin.
"Really?"
I nodded "Close your eyes"
He obeyed my command, somewhat eagerly.
I snickered quietly before leaning forward.
His breath hitched and then restarted in a faster pace, excitement practically coming out of his pores.
I quickly kissed him on the cheek, close to his mouth, before scrambling off the bed.
His eyes popped open when he heard my laugh.
"NO FAIR!" he cried, lunging for me "I EARNED THAT KISS!"
I squealed, tripping over my own feet and landed on the edge of the bed, right where I first started.
He pounced on me, ticking my sides.
"GREYSON!" I laughed, trying to swat his hands away "YOU'RE GOING TO BUST A STITCH!"
"Jokes on you" he continued torturing me "I don't have any stitches!"
"OKAY! I GIVE UP!" I said, tears streaming down my face from all my laughing "PLEASE STOP!"
He stopped but didn't remove his body from mine.
If anything, he leaned more of his body weight on mine.
My breath hitched and he smiled down at me, his green eyes twinkling in happiness.
"You scared me" I whispered, tangling my hands around his neck and pulling him closer to me "I thought you were dead."
His eyes dimmed slightly.
"I thought I was too" he whispered back "I'm sorry for putting you through that."
I kissed his chin "Just promise me you'll never put me through that again."
"I promise" he paused "For as long as no one tries to take you from me again."
I smiled.
"Close your eyes." I said softly, playing with the ends of his hair at the nape of his neck "Please"
He gave me a look and I let out a small laugh.
"Just do it."
He huffed before closing his eyes, his arms tightening on the sides of my body.
I brought his face closer to mine before leaning up and giving him a gentle kiss on his lips.
He groaned when I kissed him deeper, nipping my bottom lip and rolling us over until I was on top of him.
I smiled into out kiss before breaking away and rolling to my side of the bed.
He tried to roll with me but I stopped him with a shake of my head.
"Can we talk?" I bit my swollen lip "About us? About what being Mates mean?"
He gave me a soft smile before leaning forward and pecking my lips one final time.
"I'll never get tired of that" he murmured.
"I don't think I will either" I admitted.
He fell back onto the bed with a smile "What do you want to know?"
"How do you know I'm your Mate?" I blurted out.
His left arm flexed automatically and he smiled.
"Normally," he started "My tattoo would have already filled in and I would have given you more visuals, but..."
He sighed, mentally preparing himself.
"But what?"
He flexed his arm again "Do you remember when we first met?"
I nodded "You instantly annoyed me."
He snorted "Was it annoyance or curiosity?"
I paused, thinking back to when we first met a little bit more than four years ago.
I was the new girl to a class that have been friends together since they were in diapers. While everyone was cordial to me, you could tell that I was an outsider that was trying to intrude on something that I wasn't suppose to.
No one made me feel more like an outsider like Greyson though, always teasing me and pushing my buttons to the point where I more than fantasized about pushing him down our school's front stairs.
"It was annoyance" I surmised "With a teeny tiny dash of curiosity."
He gave me a look that said he didn't quite believe me.
"You made me want to pull my hair out and push you down the stairs." I admitted, a blush rising to my cheeks "But that was before. When you were less charming and...sweet."
"I admit I was a bit of an ass to you" He had the decency to blush "But if was for a good reason."
I raised a brow "And what reason would that be?"
"People were starting to notice you" His blush deepened "Guys were starting to notice you."
I snorted.
"It's true" he argued "And since I couldn't outright...claim you... the way I wanted...I did the next best thing."
"By taunting and teasing me?" I asked, shock lacing my tone.
He winced "It was supposed to be endearing."
I snorted.
"I did the only thing guys my age could do at the time" he admitted "By teasing you, other guys would know I was interested and back off."
"And they say girls are confusing" I muttered under my breath.
"Anyways..." he said, lacing out hands together "When I first met you, there was this instant tingly spark that my Wolf recognized."
"Tingly spark?" I laughed "Are you sure he just didn't want to pee?"
Greyson gasped in outrage "Dog jokes? We're making dog jokes so quickly in our relationship?!"
I snorted, laughing harder when he began tickling me again "I couldn't miss the opportunity!"
"Fine, I'll let that one slide" He poked my nose "But the next time, we're going into war."
"Bring it on" I challenged poking him in the nose too.
"Back to my story" he said "He recognized you and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure you noticed me."
He turned away, his ears turning pink.
I smiled.
"The men in my family, after meeting their mate, end up developing a tattoo" he said, turning his flushed face towards me again.
"A tattoo?" I felt my nose scrunch "Why?"
"Because of some curse" He waved his hand "But that's a story for another time."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Really" He said "That story in and of itself is mentally draining. All you need to know is that the Green family is no longer cursed and it is all due to Eva."
"Your brother's wife?"
He nodded.
"The Tattoo is the only remnant that the curse even existed" he flexed his left hand and frowned "It's kind of cool actually."
I grabbed his fist, holding his much larger hand in mine.
"And it's purpose is what?"
"Most of the Green men's mates end up being human" Greyson smiled "Since human's can't mark us like other female shifters could, the Tattoo is your way of claiming us."
I paused, digesting that information.
"What happened to yours?" I asked softly, knowing that this was a heavy topic by the look in Grey's eyes.
"I...I think my brother stole it" he said softly, like he didn't believe it was true.
I gasped "That Crimson tattoo!?"
"I didn't get a chance to see it up close" Greyson growled "But, coincidentally, that day was the last time I saw my tattoo."
We sat in silence for a bit, stewing in our own thoughts.
"Grey..." I called his name softly, turning on my side to face him.
"Hm?" He turned his head and gave me a small smile "What is it?"
I played with the edge of my pillow, biting my lip to try to organize my thoughts.
"Hey," He said, his thumb swiping softly across my bottom lip to halt my biting "Don't be afraid to tell me whatever it is you're thinking about."
I sighed "Do you think that Garrett is behind this all?"
He remained quiet.
I sat up quickly and face him "You do, don't you?"
"I want to believe he's not" he sighed "I want to believe that my brother, my twin, couldn't be capable of this. My wants, however, don't distract me from the the evidence that has presented itself so far. There has just been too many coincidences here to exclude him though."
"But why?" I questioned "This is my best friend and your brother. Why would be do this to us?"
Greyson shrugged, his shoulders getting tense.
I narrowed my eyes "What?"
"Nothing!" he said quickly, a little too quickly for my liking.
"You know something." I accused.
"No."
"Greyson..." I used my warning tone "If you know something and aren't telling me...so help you...I will kick your butt."
"He's in love with you" Grey blurted out so suddenly that I reared my head back in shock.
"What?"
Grey's shoulders tensed even further, watching my expression very carefully.
"Garrett's in love with you" He grumbled "Has been since the moment you two were partnered up in class together."
"He is not in love with me" I scoffed "I'm like his sister."
"But you really aren't" Grey said "At least, he doesn't think of you as one."
"How do you even know?" I raised an eyebrow "Did your twin telepathy kick in or something?"
He snorted "I don't need to be his twin to know that he has feelings for you."
"I just need eyes" he added, grumbling under his breath.
"Are you jealous of...Garrett?" I asked, shock coloring my tone.
He remained quiet.
I choked on a laugh "You? The Soccer Star Greyson Green is jealous of his Debate Captain brother?"
"He's your best friend and up until a couple of days ago, you couldn't stand to be near me" Greyson mumbled, hiding his pink face underneath our comforter "Being a soccer star doesn't mean shit if you're not standing in the bleachers, wearing my jersey, and cheering me on."
My smile soften "Who said anything about standing in the bleachers where you're mammoth sized jersey?"
He snapped his head up "What? You mean you wouldn't cheer me on at my games?"
I shook my head, giggling at his wounded puppy dog expression.
"Nope" I laughed "Soccer just really isn't my favorite sport."
His mouth dropped open.
"Now take me to a baseball game..." I whistled low, fanning myself "Then that's another story..."
He growled, launching himself at me and attacking my face with kisses.
"Okay!" I squealed, pushing at his broad shoulders "I yield!"
He stopped kissing my but held himself on top of me, his face close to mine and giving me a look of adoration.
My laughter died down.
"Having a Mate means that I'm finally at peace" He said softly, his big green eyes locking with mine "It means that I have a reason to smile every single time I wake up or go to bed. Having a Mate means that I can share my whole life with someone, even the bad parts, and know that they'll love me for who I am. Having YOU means that I'm the luckiest bastard in the whole universe."
My heart, which was usually under tight lock and key when it came to anything related Greyson, officially just broke open.
I grasped the back of his neck, tugged on his curly hair, and brought him closer.
His pupils dilated as I slowly brushed my lips on each side of his mouth before softly brushing them against his mouth.
"Tease" he croaked out, his eyes nearly glowing.
I smiled before pressing my lips to his.
This time, when our lips met, it was like something just clicked into place.
Sparks ignited from the moment our lips touched and when Grey deepened the kiss, the tingly sparks he was talking about lit up my whole body.
When he pulled back and gazed at my awed expression, he grinned, his chest puffing out in pride.
His cocky smirk making me roll my eyes.
To put it simply, it was out best kiss so far.