"I was beginning to think you weren't going to come," Klaus said in greeting as his front door opened sure it was her. The storm behind her was still going strong but his eyes were more focused on another kind of force of nature.
"Come in Caroline," he suggested stepping back to make room for her statuesque form. As he did so he surveyed her, hair wavy and wet, her lips quivered a bit before she sucked her lower lip into her mouth as she nodded making his throat dry out at the sight.
Caroline tried not to react as she walked past him finding it hard to take a breath she assumed it had more to do with her wolf instincts than it did with the cologne he was wearing. She turned her head at the sound of the door closing behind her.
Her body following as she realized she had never truly been alone with him in this house before, usually there were parties or siblings and minions as she liked to call them but he preferred them to be referred to as members of the pack awaiting orders.
But not like this, she realized as she blinked rapidly Klaus appearing closer during the process she cleared her throat, "I wasn't going to." She confessed quietly feeling warmth wafting off of him. She shivered crossing her arms protectively as her mate surveyed her.
"Whatever it was that changed your mind I'll thank for a thousand times over," he voiced to her delicately gauging whether or not she was in an agreeable mood. His eyes met hers as he spoke in clear adoration of her outpouring in his stare.
"You should remove your clothing Love," Klaus whispered as his hands found their way to her arms running up and down creating friction, warming her, reminding Caroline of her rather adventurous journey here from her own lodging.
"I'm good," she babbled nervously pulling away as she waved off his suggestion.
Still Klaus approached her, "You'll catch a cold," he insisted, "I doubt you'll want to sit your first turn in a new pack, especially as their leader." Klaus entreated gently stepping back into her space so close he might have inhaled her.
"Your pack, Klaus," she returned loftily noting the irritation over his brow at her remark, she went to make amends, "I just meant," she went to explain as his hand came up as if asking for her silence. She promptly closed her mouth ceasing in her explanation.
"This pack is ours," he said shortly gesturing in between them with a sole finger as he did, "I am your mate," he added before she could interrupting like he knew she was bursting to, " But that does not equate to you belonging to me."
"We've had this discussion time and time again," he reminded them both sharply, "I would want you even if we were not mated." He said but her mind insisted that wasn't true even as he sighed in frustration as if trying to reach her someway.
Caroline frowned know to an extent he was right, this conversation was tired, "I'll light the fireplace for you," he muttered drawing her out of her thoughts. He scoffed internally at not even being able to hold her attention whilst stuck together in the middle of a rainstorm.
Klaus went to work pushing up his sleeves as he added more logs to the dulling fire more aggressively than he may have needed. She watched his work, observing the muscles of is back and shoulders as he moved. He was truly beautiful.
As a mate she could have done worse instead she was landed with an Adonis, she thought, her mind imagining how those same muscles crunched and contorted. How every full moon without fail he had turned since his sixteenth birthday, how they formed him into a wolf, begrudgingly her Alpha.
Though Klaus had made it very clear on multiple occasions that he was hers to with as she wished, there was never a mate more doting than her own. Despite how she felt she could never be certain about how they were to feel if they were normal beings uncursed by the mating game of a wolf.
Her mind drifted to their first encounter not long ago in the woods where he found her naked and alone having to transform in an unknown area as always. She chuckled internally at her recklessness, as an only child she discovered early on she wasn't like others.
Moreover she wasn't like other wolves, she didn't buy into cultivating a home or following a pack, no Caroline preferred to be alone. She was a traveler, a free spirit who was quite the enigma when it came to romance and realism wanting both.
"You're not from around here are you?" he asked surprising her as she woke his words uttered as he approached her just as naked as she was she recalled.
"How would you know," she replied, using what there was to on the soft ground to cover herself up from his burning and inquisitive stare.
"First reason, which is obvious to us both," he told her his eyes pointing at her, "Around here you are the one with the accent Love." he lifted his arm into a tree nearby scaring her for a moment before he revealed a bag hanging from a branch.
"Second reason," he continued gallantly cocking his head as his hand disappeared inside, "You're a wolf and the only wolves I know of around here are my own." He informed her casually, surprising he as he tossed her a black Henley.
"Might want to put that on before anyone else shows up," he told her as he span around to give her some time to cover her modesty. He whistled as he dressed in his jeans, Caroline's mouth was agape watching him, he was an Alpha.
Caroline had met other wolves before but not once had she ever met an Alpha, "It's Caroline, my name," she supplied unable to think of anything else to say as he turned his head back to look at her his blue eyes lingering reminding her of her state of dress.
Quickly she pulled his shirt over her head tugging it over her as she slipped her arms into the sleeves, "Would you like to come home with me," he asked surprising them both, "I'm sure you'd like a hot bath, some food or a beverage of some kind," he suggested lightly.
"Coffee?" he added when her silence continued he awkwardly cleared his throat, "I'm Klaus by the way," he informed her helping her rise from the Earth's floor gently. Their hands touching, creating shock wave that still followed between them.
Looking back now Caroline should have known her whole world was about to change and Klaus would be the cause of the Earth shifting underneath her feet. She ran her hands over her face reminding herself of where she was and just whom she was with.
Her hand twitched at her side reaching for him the same charge that pushed them together and pulled her away from him. She gave in to it. Klaus unknowingly pulling her to him Caroline went to remove her nude bow-tied flats that were undoubtedly ruined.
Her feet softly padding the hardwood drew his attention as she grew closer to him and the flames he had created for her. "Thank you," she mumbled as she rubbed her hands together standing next to where he was still squatting keeping watch for her.
"If you weren't so stubborn you would be a lot warmer," he baited finally looking from the orange fire to Caroline. Klaus took a deep breath preparing himself, shutting his eyes as he exhaled.
"I was showing gratitude at your kind gesture in a moment of weakness and instead of just enjoying the silent moment with me you had to point out that I refused to remove my clothes for you." Caroline said swiftly looking at the fire almost as if it fueled her.
Klaus smirked to himself as he rose, towering above her, she refused to admit he was right, "What made you come tonight Caroline," he asked curiously as he removed his shirt pulling it over his head giving her a view she hadn't seen since they met.
Caroline took a step back trying not to react further than that at his action or his inquiring brow, "You said it didn't matter what brought me," she pointed out.
"I've changed my mind, now humor me," he said his voice pure Alpha but gentle as he always was with her as he moved closer. She huffed looking at the ceiling as she felt his hands again moving up her arms removing her peach cardigan.
"What are you," Caroline asked as she felt his hands leave her body so he could slide his shirt over her wet body.
"I'm getting you to the right temperature," he said as his fingers worked deftly over the straps of her sundress removing them one by one. "Call me crazy but I prefer the pink on your cheeks to the cold blue that's overtaken them."
Caroline fought with herself once more at his proximity her shoulders rolling back defiantly only to give him a better view of the valley of her breasts in the process. "Why did you come here, Caroline, in the rain," he asked pronouncing each word with careful judgment.
"You asked me to," she reasoned as his hands slid behind her unzipping her dress she knew in a flash that he was taking full advantage as his hand slid down her back leaving a trail of bumps in its wake. She felt the dress puddle on the floor around her bare feet the combination of his stare and the cold of her body beginning to be too much to bear.
"Because you're so easily swayed by my inducements," he asked smartly as he pulled the rest of his shirt down feeling at her sides as he went until he reached the hem at her thighs.
"Why must you make it so difficult to talk to you, just talk?" she asked growing in her frustration though it was unclear to Klaus just where that frustration was pointed to, to him or to something else greater.
"Because I am not as easily manipulated as the men you've met before me," he retorted. Caroline scoffed and he sensed a bit of an eye roll as well before she shoved him off of her.
"Right, because you were quite the saint before you figured out what I was," she said recalling he did have a lover in his bed waiting for him when he brought her home the first time unawares as to who Caroline was to him.
Klaus watched her move away from him closer to the fire, "Back to this again," he groaned knowing he had brought this back onto himself but he couldn't help himself when it came to the blonde before him. "As soon as I figured out what you are to me I declared myself to you Caroline."
"I explained to you what we are, and if I recall correctly you only uttered these words to me in response, "I don't want this." I think overall I have been hospitable. I have done nothing but try to make you feel comfortable."
She turned only her head to look at him, "You have, I love it here," she revealed to him thinking of the people she had met here with him. She swore she heard him mutter something under his breath along the lines of, "Everyone but not me," making her own brow furrow.
She turned fully to face him moving slowly so as not to frighten him, making her way over to where Klaus stood. Her hand reached out daringly surprising him as her fingers trailed over the feathers of his tattoo.
Her nails dragging deliciously over his skin had him suppressing a groan as he clutched his hands at his sides shut. She continued her exploration of him his silence and reluctance to move encouraging her along with the twitch in the corner of his mouth upturning.
The only sounds were the cackling of the wood and sparks flying as their breaths became ragged, eyes searching for answers their mouths had yet to find a way to explain. "I came because I don't want to continue like this," she let go of a breath watching it hitting his flesh like steam stopping and starting his heart with each exhale.
"I mean you are kind of stuck with me," she clarified as his hand wrapped around hers, "You're right too." She added letting his hand take hers, "We are mates and that has nothing to do with love," she stuttered her heart quickening in response to the dilation of his pupils.
"Sex however," she tried to continue but words failed her at the look he was giving her. His eyes grew darker as she felt just how deep in her veins Klaus was. He pressed her hand to his lips kissing it as he drew her closer to him.
"I may be a wolf but I don't need to be to know that the wetness in-between your legs, has nothing to do with the rain outside Caroline." Klaus murmured as his hands softly caressed her face enjoying the catch of her breath as he licked his lips.
"However when it comes to sex between you and I. Know that I will call it something else more than mating, more than making love or a passionate heat season." He admitted, "Do you know why?" he asked disappointed when she shook her head no.
"Because I am already so irrevocably in love with you Caroline Forbes and I have just been waiting for you to realize it." If Caroline was stunned at his confession she didn't show it as her other hand rose in his chest reaching behind him arching his neck as she stood on the tips of her toes.
She pressed her lips to his in a small but firm kiss that felt to him as if they were waking up for the first time. He groaned this time unable to contain himself at her sweet taste encouraging her to be more adventurous with their first kiss.
His tongue greeting hers enthusiastically enjoying the moan he received in response, "You heard the, "I love you," part right?" he asked between heated kisses against the brick wall of the fireplace. Caroline nodded as she kissed him smiling inwardly as she felt herself at home with him.