Allison

Sinking into my bed I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my copy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , the cover was worn, the pages dog eared, and notes scribbled in the columns showing how much love this book has received. I must have read the play 1,000 times, there was just something about the power of love that they had for one another and willingness to go through all the odds of being together that just spoke to me. Anytime I needed something to distract me, I would go to Romeo and Juliet.

Within a few lines of the play I was completely engrossed, like it was the first time I had read their story, so when I heard a tapping on my window I about jumped out of my skin. Looking towards the window Tate was watching me with amusement in his eyes. I unlocked my window before opening it and hissing at him, "What the hell! You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here? "

"I wanted to see you before I left. So, I came over. " He shrugged, "Are you going to let me in?"

"You know we have a front door, you could have called and came across like a normal person." I shook my head and moved out of the way so Tate could climb into my window.

Once he was in my room, he pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around my waist. Then he gave me a quick kiss on the lips, smiled and said, "Well, what would be the fun in that. What were you reading anyway? I was out there for a couple of minutes just watching you wonder if you were ever going to notice. "

I looked at Tate and furrowed my eye brows at him and squinted my eyes, pulling back I said, "You are a creeper." We both chuckled, "I was reading Romeo and Juliet, my all-time favorite!"

"Really?" Tate questioned. "How can the story of love and death be your all-time favorite?"

"It's not just about love and death. It's about a love so true that they would do anything to be together. That they would give the ultimate sacrifice to be together. " I said flatly.

"Umm... I think that..."

"You know what?" I stopped Tate before he could say anymore. "Why don't we just discuss Romeo and Juliet, I can tell we are not going to agree, and I would rather not argue with you. We only have a little while before you leave for your meeting and then I am off to school. " I said putting my arms over his shoulders and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Come on, let's go!" Tate said. "I want to take you somewhere."

"Where?"

"You will see when we get there. If I tell you now you will tell me no. " He stated. Tate went to climb back out the window. Just as he got his leg up to slide out, I yanked on his hand, throwing off his balance. He tried to regain his balance by hopping a bit, but only managed to get closer to my bed before gravity finally won and pulled him over, "What the hell?" He said as I fell over laughing at what I just witnessed.

Tate just glared at me and a few minutes later I was finally able to compose myself enough to answer him, "If we're going to go out, we're going to be normal and use the front door." In time, closing the window and locking it.

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About half an hour later we are pulling up to a dark brick building in the middle of down town. Honestly this area looks deserted and I can't see anything other than a bar with a blinking neon light in the window that says Budweiser.

"Look, I'm not sure what you think we're doing, but there's no way I'm going into that dive bar. It looks like I will catch hepatitis in there. " I shook my head at Tate.

"We're not here for the bar." He started.

"Then what are we here for?" I glared at him and rambled some more, "I can't believe you pulled me out of the house at 10 o'clock at night to drag me to some run-down part of town. What were you thinking? This is crazy! You are crazy! " I spewed all of this out as we drove past the bar, I stopped long enough to pull in a breath which Tate took as his opportunity to speak.

"Are you done?" He asked me, I nodded my head. "Thank you. If you would give me a few minutes I would explain what I think and what I want to do and why I want to do it. "

"Sorry," I dropped head, so I was looking extremely insecure at my hands and not fully knowing why. A few seconds later Tate reached over and took my hand, so now I was looking at our entwined fingers. This was all Tate needed to do to calm my nerves, "I have no idea why I'm freaking out tonight."

"I know this is not like you. If anything, you are the level headed one. " Tate chuckled a bit. "What is going on in that beautiful mind of yours?"

I took a deep breath, "I don't know..." I started, "I think it's just a culmination of everything. I was expecting that we would have more time together before I left, but you jumped that meeting thing on me and that just blew apart my plans and I don't know how to handle it. " I was rambling again, "I like my schedules and plans. Then you just showed up and that threw me off even more, now we're out and about in a place that I don't know, doing god knows what! " My mind was spinning, and my mouth was spewing out words faster than I was actually able to process with my brain.

Next thing I knew, Tate had pulled his truck over and had turned toward me and pulled me close to him, wrapping his arms around me. His touch and scent instantly started to calm my frayed emotions, giving him a chance to finally speak. "Well... now that I have you somewhat calm and quiet, I will tell you why I wanted to come here."

"Where is here?" I said sitting up in the seat and looking out the windshield to the industrial looking area.

Tate chuckled, "You just can't help yourself, can you?" and he shook his head. "You know I absolutely adore you." I smiled and then he kissed me on the tip of my nose. Letting a breath out I stayed quiet hoping that Tate would finish explaining. "Okay, so... now that I have your attention. I wanted to go get a tattoo. "

"WHAT?" I yelled, my eyes bugging out of my head. I pulled away from Tate to look at him. "WHY? ARE YOU NUTS!?!? "

"I want to get one together, something that shows that you are mine and I am yours." He reached for my hands.

"I'm not getting a tattoo Tate. That's crazy! "

"Listen, you know we can't mark each other right now. It would make school physically impossible for us. This could be our mark until we're done with school and back together. "

"Aww ... that's kind of sweet. But why do you suddenly want to do this? We haven't even talked about marking each other. "

"Because I want something that I can have as part of me that will be linked to you." He said and with a quick look in his eye said, "If you don't want to get one you don't have to, but I am going to get one. One that I want you to choose for me. " Tate let go of my hands and climbed out of the truck. As he walked around to my door I finally took in the full scope of my surroundings. Three doors up there was a glowing neon sign that said Mountain View Tattoo Parlor and Piercings, honestly it looked out of place against the dark windows of its surroundings. It was the only business still open on the block.

Tate opened my door and I slid out of the truck, grabbing his hand. "OK." I said.

"OK?" He questioned.

"OK." I repeated and then added, "Let's get market." A smile spread across his face, and I gulped. A tattoo is not something I ever imagined that I would get, but then again, I guess you are only young, dumb, and impulsive once.

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Tate

We were finally walking into the Tattoo Parlor, my friend and fellow pack member Yusef was an amazing artist who worked and owned the place. It might not look like much more than a hole in the wall dive, but he took great care of the place. It was just a bit edgy, I liked it. However, I could tell that Allison was a bit overwhelmed. Even though she said she was good and that she would get a tattoo with me, she was tense. I could feel her anxiety pouring through the mate bond.

We walked in and Yusef was working on someone. "Hey!" He briefly looked up. "Whatcha up to tonight?"

"Just looking at getting a couple tats." I said nonchalantly looking at some of the art work that was displayed on the walls. The buzzing of the tattoo gun goes into the background.

"Ugh... give me about 20 minutes to finish up here and then I am all yours." Yusef comments, not looking up from the ass cheek that he is currently tattooing. "There are a few books up there with some ideas, unless you have something else in mind. Or you can look at some of the other custom pieces on the wall. "

"Thanks!" I said. I turned back to Ally, her eyes bigger than saucers as she looked around. "You know you don't have to get one, right?" I said to rub my thumb over the back of her hand.

Ally shook her head at me, "Oh, it's not that I don't want to get one. It's just so overwhelming. So many things to choose from. How do you pick? "

"Well you want something that is going to mean something to you. Or in our case to us. " I shrugged my shoulders and reached for one of the books that Yusef had mentioned before. Ally snuggled into my shoulder looking at the book in front of me as I thumbed through with my other hand.

We were just about done with the book when Ally said, "Hey, go back a couple pages." Slowly I leafed back through the pages and she points out, "What about these?"

"What about them? That's what you like? " I questioned wanting to make sure that this was exactly what she wanted and that it wasn't going to be something she regretted.

"Yeah, they're simple. And meaningful. " She said shrugging her shoulders, smiling with her eyes as she looked at me.

"I'm all for whatever you want, but why a sun and moon?"

"Simple, you are my sun. You brought light to my life. " I furrowed my eye brows not quite sure what to think. "You hate it, never mind." She flipped the page.

"No. Well, I don't hate it. It just threw me off that's all. " I said stopping her and turning the page back to the simple outlines that she had chosen. "Care to explain more?"

Ally rolled her eyes at me. "We are mates, which means we are supposed to balance each other out, right? So, what is opposite of the moon? The sun. " She explains. "You are the sun to my moon, the light to my dark. And the outline is simplistic, so colors just simple, the way our bond is supposed to be. " She started blushing a bit. "I know we aren't all that simple, but I want to think that one day things will be simple and straightforward for us. So that's why I like them. "

Looking at Ally as she explained her reasoning, I couldn't help but think about how much I was completely and utterly in love with her. Not only was she going to let me mark her with a tattoo, but one day she was going to be my Mate and I would mark her with my bite, just like she would do to me. I must have been too quiet for too long because then she said, "You don't like them, do you?"

"No, I don't." She frowned. "I love it!" I said. "Now where do we place them?"

"I was thinking about the inside of our arms. So, if we hold hands they will just about touch. " She was clapping her hands and had a smile on her face. "I would get mine on my left arm, you get yours on your right. Since I always hold your right hand. "

"Sounds perfect." Just as we finished deciding what we wanted and where we were placing it Yusef walked over to us.

"Hey Alpha. Sorry about the wait. "

"Hey Yusef, this is Allison my mate." Ally pulled on my hand and glared at me with a look saying, "what are you doing, you aren't supposed to tell anyone", "And that's just between us Yusef." I finished off.

"No worries. What happens inside these walls stays here. " He chuckled a deep hearty laugh. "Half the pack would be rogues if I played all their secrets. So, what can I do for you two love birds tonight? " He questioned.

I showed Yusef the simple tattoos that Ally had picked out and she told him where she wanted them placed. He looked at both of us and held his hand toward the back of the parlor where the chairs were. "Okay, after you."

After finishing the paperwork, which wasn't much just a couple of pages that needed to be signed Ally was sitting in the chair. Yusef was getting everything prepped so he could get started. Ally was visibly nervous and was chewing on her lip, jumping at everything Yusef did if he managed to get too close to her. "Ally," I said in a calm voice, "If you want to bail out you can." I was giving her a pass.

Before she could answer me, Yusef was spinning around with the tattoo gun in his hand. "You ready?" he said looking at Ally. "

"Ummm..." Ally visibly gulped, her eyes got big, and sweat started to form on her brow. "S..su ... sure." She finally stuttered out.

Yusef looked at me and we both let out a small laugh at Ally. I grabbed her hand with both of mine and reassuringly told her. "Say the word and you can back out. You don't have to do this to try anything to me. I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you or making you do something you don't want to do. Just say no and that will be the end of it. "

Ally took a deep breath, "Nope, I'm going to do this. I want to do this! You can start Yusef. " This time her voice sounded a lot more confident than her body language.

"Okay, the first few strokes are gonna be the worst. After that it will be easy. " Yusef explained and with the humming of the tattoo gun he started on Ally's Crescent Moon on the inside of her left arm.

Less than 10 minutes later Yusef was done with Ally's tattoo. "Allison, you're all set."

"Really?" She sounded surprised. "That's it?"

"Yup, all done. Alpha's turn. " He said.

"See Ally, wasn't that bad was it?" I questioned hopping into the chair after she got up.

"No, not at all. I was really psyching myself out there. There was nothing to it. " She said looking at her new tattoo. "I love it! Thank you, Yusef. "

"You are welcome, Luna."

Half an hour later we were walking out of the tattoo parlor after my six-pointed sun was completed.

"Thanks, Yusef." I said at the door. "Great work as always."

"Yeah, yeah. That was nothing. " He waved to us. "By Alpha, Luna."

I turned back to him, "Remember, no one knows. It's our secret. "

"Of course." Yusef said, bowing his head just slightly toward Ally and me.

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Ally and I silently rode back to her house. I shut my truck off and walked her up to her front door like any gentleman would do for his lady. If we got to her front door, I wasn't ready to let her go, I didn't know how I was going to be able to stand away from her for the next few days, since the night of the bonfire we hadn't gone a single day without seeing each other.

Ally pulled her keys out of her pocket and slid the key into the lock, turning it, I could hear the click of the lock releasing. Ally turned to me and I wrapped my arms around her, "How am I going to survive without you?"

Ally shook her head at me and smiled, "It's only a few days. I am sure you will be too busy to realize I am not there. "

"Never, I always notice when you're not there." I confessed. "I have fallen for you Ally. You own every piece of my heart. I hope you know that. " Looking into Ally's eyes I knew she was feeling the same way, I didn't need to hear the words from her, her feelings were written in the glistening of her eyes, the blush on her cheeks, and in the sound of her beating heart.

Knowing she didn't need to say anything for me to know that she loved me, she reached up and kissed me. As I kissed her back, deepening the kiss, she put her hands in my hair and pulled me closer to her. I wrapped my arms around her back pulling her closer to me. She pulled away from me, which left me feeling empty, and just a bit sad, "Good night" I whispered and started to turn. Before I could even take a step, Ally was pulling my hand, bringing me into her house behind her.

Ally pulled me through the house to her bedroom. There must have been a bit of a shocked look on my face because Ally said, "You didn't think I was going to let you leave after a kiss like that did you?" Ally then grabbed me and pulled me close to her again. "You are mine." She said with a glance in her eye before kissing me again. I could feel the hunger of her kiss, it was the same hunger I had. Without thinking we both let our instincts take over as we enjoyed our last night together.

There was a blaring alarm that woke me from my peaceful slumber. "What the hell? I don't remember setting my alarm. " Ally pulled from my arms and grabbed her phone, shutting the alarm off.

"It wasn't your alarm. It's mine. " She explained.

"What time is it?" I questioned.

"Five AM"

"What are you doing getting up at five? It's still time to sleep. " I pulled her back into me, not wanting to let her go, the feeling of her wrapped in my arms in the bed beside me, because there is nothing that could compare.

Ally snuggled back in, placing her head back on my shoulder. "Well, as much as I would love to lay here with you every day, we cannot. You have to go home and get ready to leave and I have things to do. " Ally kissed my chest.

I let out a slight growl, "Do that again and no one will be going anywhere." Ally must have taken it as a dare because she kissed me again, this time she also raked her teeth over my skin. I quickly flipped her, so she was underneath me, completely surprising her as she let out a yelp.

"Behave yourself Mr. Blackwell. " She chided.

"Oh, I intend two." I growled before I kissed her. We were lost again in each other, I took my time memorizing every inch of her body. I wanted to know every curve, every freckle, every scar.

Laying back in the bed, with Ally wrapped in my arms I moved to my side, so I was laying looking at her. Propping my head up with my arm, I could look into her eyes. Ally looked at me and smiled, "I love you." I said. Ally's eyes got big as saucers, I don't think she was expecting me to say that. "Now... you..."

"I love you too" She said cutting me off before I could finish what I was saying. And she smiled at me, taking my breath away. "Now not to be a buzz kill, but you have to go to your meeting, and I have to get out of this bed."

"But I don't want two. I want to stay here with you forever. " I whined, as Ally threw the covers off of us and rolled out of bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed she turned her head over her shoulder to look at me.

"Tell you what ... It's only 6:30, and you don't have to leave until nine, if you get out of bed now, I'll let you join me in the shower." She got out of bed, giving me a full view of her as she walked to the bathroom. Not needing to be told again, I jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom behind her. Ally was going to be the death of me.

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