THE OFFICIAL FIRST KISS

"I wonder what kind of payment a powerful Tyger as yourself would require?" Delta Felicity inquired, rather politely and cautiously. I had no idea Delta Felicity owned such a demeanor, but I guess that even adults had moments when they felt they had to be on their best behaviour. Funnily enough, it was in front of an 18 year old Tyger.

I pressed my lips together in a respectful attempt to not giggle at the situation. It was just Bell. For some reason, despite and black mercury floors we were stepping all over, or the dark shadows growing up our walls such that only the most magical calligraphy works on the wall remained brightly white, or the fumes flickering as if darkness was a fire...

It wasn't like Bell would actually hurt anyone, right? I took a side glance at Ben whose wolf was alert, but relatively calm compared to all the others. Harvey looked very concerned, his brows had creased such that he looked very much like Beta Gerald. Ki was smiling, the gentlest of smiles so I knew he was totally freaking out even worse than whenever I had contact with a vampire lord.

I looked about me and concluded that my wolves must be very brave. Mostly because they looked terrified.

I turned back to my Bell and wondered why. Was it the special effects he came with this time round?

{Fun.} Boo seemed to be in agreement.

I really liked Bell's magic. It was dark and deep like his voice. I liked the way it was so powerful it would break the natural laws of light and darkness. I liked that it was liquid and gaseous and solid all at once. I liked that it was him.

Yeah. The Bell right now was seriously OP.

Oh wait, was he always this powerful? Come to think of it... Hm... I tried to remember if something was different in this timeline. Should it bother me that the Bell I left in our original timeline was a relatively new Tyger King while the one I'm facing now... less than a week later, feels like he has been a Tyger for far longer than his 18 years. (And should this worry me?)

"You seem different." I told him. I stepped closer. Ben moved to stop me, but I waved him off, and because I'm the alpha (and my hair had flared so it was hard to get past all of it), Ben had to back off.

"Oh?" Bell's attention shifted back to me. His mouth turned up a little, but it wasn't his usual smirk.

I nodded the reached out to dust off the excess fumes, "You have a lot more..."

What would be the right word of it?

"A lot more clout." I told him.

"Hn." Bell said.

Did my mate just laugh? Heehee. I win! I felt my smile spread wider and realized I had been smiling all this while. When did I start smiling? No prizes for guessing... I smiled happily at my rose and moon.

{Mine.}

Bell shrugged, "You know, my 'clout' isn't just for show, Princess."

I nodded. Bell's power was amazing.

"Are you not afraid, Princess?" Bell asked. Was I supposed to be? And then I realized that this was just how Tygers talked in legends too. I shook my head, it's not like Bell was a real Tyger. I mean, he was, but he wasn't like the scary ones in the legends. Bell was just...Bell was just mine.

Bell leaned in and suddenly I felt his lips pressed on mine. It was only lightly, but long enough for me to feel the warmth of his mouth. He pulled back and smirked at the growling wolves around me, "My payment. A maiden's first kiss."

"But it's not." I blurted out.

There was a pause, just long enough for me to realize that it would have been infinitely better if I didn't always blurt out stuff like this.