Eye Of The Tiger

Chapter 12

After Rosalie had left Bella had finished her homework ,ordered and ate enough Chinese food to feed a family of ten and then went to her room to read through her grandfather's journals.

Rosalie had been gone for a couple hours and the only difference Bella was feeling being away from her was a longing to be with her again. She had to physically stop herself from going to look for her the urge was so strong. She had never felt like this before and it was worrying her. She just hoped that her grandfather had written about a way to stop it because she didn't think she could live like this if it continued. She felt like she was going insane.

She first pulled out the volume that had the information about vampires. There was thirty volumes all together one being an index of which book each topic was located. The information on vampires wasn't as complete as she would like but her grandfather had explained to her that the information in the diaries was what was passed down to him from his father. So it wasn't concrete facts just second hand stories. That was still better than nothing though.

After reading for three hours about vampires Bella found out many interesting thing such as not all vampires had powers like she originally thought after the lunch conversation she overhead and that they didn't actually burn in the sun. She knew that every myth held a bit of the truth so she wondered exactly what did happened to their skin when they were out in the sun.

Bella thought she had found the answer to why she was feeling this way when she discovered vampires could glamor humans but became disappointed when she learned that they couldn't use it on shifters. That was the only thing that could even be close to what was happening and knowing it was not possible left Bella pacing across her bedroom floor.

If the vampire hadn't done something to her Bella wondered if it was maybe a shifter issue. Shifters violently reacted to vampires but the way Bella reacted to Rosalie was anything but violent. Her body heated at just the thought of Rosalie's body pressed against hers. Just thinking about the way Rosalie's breath felt against the side of Bella's neck caused goosebumps to cover her skin and a shiver to race through her body. No her reactions were definitely not violent.

So if this was a shifter problem what would that problem be? Exactly what did she look up? Her grandfather never talked about any of this but then again she was ten when he died and this wasn't a topic that would have come up.

A memory flirted through the back of her mind suddenly. It was of her grandfather telling her how he knew the first time he looked into Bella's grandmother's eyes that he going to marry her, that it was love at first sight. He had said that after that first look he never wanted to leave her side again.

Was that the same thing Bella was feeling now or was it just him teasing her grandmother. It was the only lead she had so she looked through the index stopping when she came to part of about families. Quickly pulling out the volume, Bella settled on her bed eager to read all about the complex relationships of a tiger shifter's family.

Most of the things she already knew but when she came to the part titled imprinting she knew she found her answer.

The entry described everything she was feeling. After locking eyes with your imprint your world would revolve around making them happy. Although it said it wasn't one sided it made no mention of what would happen if a shifter imprinted on a vampire. The warnings of what would happen if you were without your imprint made Bella sick to her stomach.

Being without them for days at a time caused you to become depressed and aggressive. Being ignored or outright denied caused the shifter to become impossible and outrageously jealous of everyone who interacted with their imprint. In some cases someone just looking at someone's imprint would cause physical fights. The only good thing she found was that being in the presence and holding the attention of your imprint lessened these feelings. So even though Rosalie might not return her feelings she would be alright if they were just friends.

The thought of being just friends with Rosalie was painful but she knew deep down that she would do anything to make Rosalie happy and if that was to give her just friendship she would.

Bella wasn't sure what to do about all this. Friendship was nice but how could she find out if Rosalie felt the same feelings Bella had. It would break her heart for Rosalie not to feel the same intensity Bella felt but she didn't know how to go about seeing if Rosalie did. It's not like she knew any vampires to ask and although she now knew there were wolf shifters close by she wasn't comfortable enough to go asking them.

Bella laid down on her bed. She tried to calm her thoughts to get some sleep. Looking around her room she tried to envision the changes she wanted to make. Charlie had told her she could change her room, the kitchen and the entertainment area and she wanted to start on that soon. Maybe she would go to the hardware store tomorrow and get some paint samples and see what else they had that would help her. Charlie wouldn't feel comfortable having her hire someone but she still wanted it to look good so she was going to try her best.

It was with that thought she drifted off to sleep.