AN: I wrote this last week for AU week, so it has been posted on my Tumblr. But here is part I of the Tarzan AU I wrote, in which Klaus was raised by wolves in Montana, and Caroline was the feisty heiress that ran away from home and met him in the wild.
Part I
New York, 1895
Her skin was being stroked to a fever.
Caroline arched her back as lips pressed just below her navel, and she let out a pleased moan and buried a hand in his hair, trying to direct him to the part of her that had grown flush and moist. A low growl had her looking down into blue eyes and, meeting her gaze, Klaus turned his mouth to her hip, teeth digging in just hard enough to make her yelp in surprise, but not break skin.
"Behave," he told her, before he pressed a kiss to his bite and began to explore her skin once more, his thumb coming up to stroke her, which made her grip tighten in his hair.
"You hate it when I behave," she replied on a gasp. "You didn't marry a well behaved woman, remember?"
"I married a hellion," Klaus replied, his full lips quirking into a smirk. That smirk widened, showing his teeth in a feral grin, as he began to move back up her body. That look – more wolf than man – made a shiver of awareness race down her spine, and her fingers released his hair so her hand could fall to his shoulder. He pressed kisses to her neck, and when she felt his teeth graze delicate skin, she arched it so he could access more surface. "I remember. But I can always tame my hellion."
"You can sate her," Caroline purred, and when he turned his face up towards her, she used her own teeth, taking his bottom lip in a nip that made a growl rumble in his chest. "But tame? We both know that won't happen."
Their eyes clashed for a moment, and the way his darkened at her words took her breath away. He grabbed her legs, and she let him guide them around his waist. The way he lifted her so easily – muscles honed by years spent running the wilds of the west – always made her feel desire.
As did his love of claiming her anywhere but in their bed.
"The bed is for lovemaking," he had murmured once into her heated skin. "When I take you like an animal… then I want you to feel it."
And she felt it now, as he pressed her back into the wall. His lips attacked her throat again, and she knew that it would leave marks – he loved it, leaving the physical sign that she was his. He thrust his cock deep into her, and Caroline could only let out a gasp and clutch at his shoulders, her fingers digging into skin hard enough that her own mark would be visible for days to come.
"Still think I can't tame you, Hellion?" Klaus asked, his voice raspy against her ear.
"If I didn't want you to do this," Caroline replied, her voice just as hoarse, and her breath catching as his thrusts hit her just right. "If I didn't want this… you wouldn't be doing it."
Before he could respond, she angled her head and took his lips in one of the deep, carnal kisses she had learned from him, back when he was still more wolf than man running wild with a pack.
And that really hadn't changed, but for her he would put on an act and pretend to be civilized.
Everywhere but here, in the privacy of their bedroom, where he claimed her as his mate.
Her feet touched the ground, he knees nearly giving out, weakened by pleasure as she was. But Klaus' grip kept her upright, and he pulled out her, so he could turn her into the wall. The length of his body pressed against her back, pushing her breasts flush against the wall, and he pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot just below her ear, before he nipped the lobe.
"Behave," he muttered, and then he thrust into her again. One of Caroline's hands reached behind her to clutch at his shoulder while the other tried to find purchase on the wall.
"Dammit, Klaus," she muttered, as he drove her toward the peak but never quite pushed her over, the angle just not quite right. "Finish it!"
"Then say it," he purred into her skin, and she could feel his smirk. It made her want to shriek in frustration.
"No," she shot back.
"Then you'll just have to remain unpleased… as I reach my completion like this."
In response to that, Caroline actually did let out the frustrated shriek. It just made him chuckle against her, his thrusts continuing. When Caroline moved a hand down with every intention of leveraging it between her body and the wall to find her own completion, Klaus grasped it with his own and pressed it to the wall, entwining their fingers together.
"No cheating, Love" – a swivel of his hips made her moan. "Just say it."
She would have smacked the wall with frustration, but with one held beneath his and the other still clutching his shoulder for support, she could only let out a low, violent curse that incited another chuckle.
"Fine, you ass, you tamed me."
Her words incited an instantaneous reaction, making him spin her around, his eyes wild and victorious. He would have lifted her again, but Caroline had other plans. He was so surprised by her quick reaction, that he was in the chair at the small desk before he realized that Caroline had shoved him. She followed him down and straddled him, claiming his lips with hers in a hungry kiss. He went still for a moment; the animal within trying to decide how to react to his mate taking control.
Then Caroline took his lips between her teeth again, meeting his gaze head on, and he let out another growl, his hands falling to her hips and lifting her so he could thrust into her again.
She had snapped his impressive control, and his movements now were meant to drive them both to the heights of pleasure as quickly as possible. Caroline closed her eyes, only for teeth on her throat to make them pop open again and meet his wild gaze.
Klaus always did like looking in her eyes as he drove her wild. He said she never looked more like a wolf, than when she was in the throes of passion.
When she final came, she leaned forward, her teeth digging into his shoulder to muffle her pleasure. Klaus didn't bother with that; her husband was utterly shameless in his enjoyment of their pleasure.
They remained seated in the chair for several moments, both of them gasping for breath, sweat slick between their bodies. Caroline finally sat up straight, pushing her wild hair out of her face.
"You admitted it," Klaus informed her, his expression so smug and pleased that Caroline could only roll her eyes.
"Perhaps," she replied, running a finger along his collar bone. "But I suppose it's only fair, since everyone knows that I tamed you."
She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips before retreating to the bathing room off the main bedroom, Klaus' disgruntled expression making her smirk.
"I'm not tamed!" he called at her back.
"You wear a necktie for me," she retorted over her shoulder. "Say what you want… but you're tamed."
When she finished cleaning herself up and entered the bedroom once more, Klaus was holding up a necktie, a look of concentration on his face as his valet moved around the room.
"Should I tie that for you, sir?"
"Let me, Maddox," Caroline interrupted, drawing the attention of both men. Both of them looked at her, Maddox with startled surprise, Klaus with keen interest. She knew why of course; the dress that her lady's maid, Greta, had helped her into had a neckline low enough to show just a hint of cleavage, emphasized by the jewel that hung there. It had been a gift from Klaus; she wasn't sure where he had gotten it, but he said the aquamarine color the stone reminded him of her eyes.
"You heard my m – my wife, Maddox. She likes to dote on me."
Caroline rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile at the way he corrected himself before calling her mate. Had it been one of the fancy ladies or rich gentlemen they socialized with, he would have proudly declared Caroline his mate, just to make them uncomfortable. But in front of the servants, he was far more respectful of their sensibilities, doing his best to use human terms rather than those of wild beasts.
"Perhaps I should leave the damn noose off," Klaus murmured to her as she wrapped the cloth around his neck and began to arrange it. "Just to prove a point."
"Oh? Did I hurt the poor Alpha's feelings?" his growl made her giggle, and she ran her hands down the front of his waistcoat. "I like it when you wear the necktie. It makes me think of taking it off again."
Klaus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his body, sealing his lips over hers. Caroline hugged his neck and kissed him back – long, slow, lazy kisses that she could feel all the way in her toes.
"Sir, Madame?" an uncomfortably cleared throat and the pair broke apart, Caroline sighing while Klaus rested his forehead against hers.
"With the pack, we would never be interrupted," Klaus muttered darkly, his eyes clothes.
"With the pack, we would have been expected to just go at it in front of them. I'm willing to try many things, but an audience isn't one of them," Caroline murmured in response before pulling away from his hold. "What is it Jonas?"
The door opened so their butler could look in. There was relief in his gaze, when he saw they were both fully dressed and relatively neat.
"Mister St. Claire and a friend are here."
"You can tell Mr. St Claire to-"
"Await us in the drawing room," Caroline cut off whatever Klaus might have been about to say, giving him a severe look. "We will be down in a moment."
The door closed behind Jonas after he bowed, but Caroline didn't break her glare even after he left.
"You should be nice to Enzo. If it weren't for him, we would have never met."
"Because of his irresponsibility, you almost died, Love!"
"Because of my own irresponsibility I almost died," Caroline corrected, grasping his wrist and lifting it so she could trace patterns on his palm. "Because of Enzo I was close enough that you could save me."
She pressed a kiss into his palm and Klaus sighed. When she smiled and dropped his hand and left the room, Klaus followed. He had proven ages ago that he would follow her anywhere.
TWOF
New York, 1890
Caroline Forbes had decided to break her engagement.
It wasn't a decision that came easily. For the entirety of her life, she had been told that her greatest worth was in her marriage. Stefan Salvatore was, of course, the most eligible man in New York. He came from an influential family, and the alliance of their Merchant company with the Forbes shipping empire would result in nothing short of business domination.
But Caroline also had a certain level of pride. And that pride was being killed a little more every day as her fiancé made eyes at the woman who was supposed to be her best friend… and Stefan's future sister-in-law.
So, Caroline was going to break off her engagement. Whether or not Elena did the same was up to her, but she wouldn't live her life knowing that her husband wished another woman shared his bed.
She wouldn't.
Of course, when she had broached the topic with her father he had been… less than accepting of such an event.
"We all make sacrifices, Caroline. Marriage for people of our status is a business. You and Stefan get along well enough. Marriages have been built on less."
The marriage between William and Elizabeth Forbes was built on far less. Caroline often thought they were strangers who walked the same halls. How they had managed to be in the same room long enough for Caroline to be conceived, she would never know… but no one had seemed particularly surprised when there hadn't been a second child. It had taken years for Caroline to realize that she would never get a younger sibling, too naïve to understand the coldness between her parents until she was seven or eight.
And now they would sentence her to the exact same fate. A cold marriage, a cold bed and perhaps, if she were lucky, a child to care for.
But Caroline wanted more.
Lorenzo St. Claire was the youngest son of her father's oldest friend. With five elder brothers, he had no hope of inheriting the St. Claire metal works, and so when last Caroline had seen him, he had declared he was heading west to find his fortune in the wilds that were found there.
Any other man would have called Caroline mad, for declaring that she would travel with him. But Enzo was half mad himself, so he had grinned and winked at her and gotten her an outfit that would hide her curves well enough to keep her sex a secret.
And perhaps his loathing for Stefan had played a small part in his agreement.
But it didn't matter, because Enzo was giving her the escape she needed. A way out of New York; an adventure that would ruin her for any man, much less the well-respected Stefan Salvatore. Her friends would call her a fool, of course… but what did Caroline care for the opinion of the peacocks of New York society?
After all, she was the only child of a privately owned shipping company… and Caroline had decided the only man she would share that wealth with would be the man she decided she couldn't live without.
TWOF
New York, 1895
"Enzo." Caroline smiled at her friend and held her hands out to him. He took them and tugged her into a hug.
"Careful, Lorenzo," Klaus growled, and Enzo released Caroline with a chuckle and held his hand out to Klaus, leaving Caroline to look at the man that had accompanied him.
"Damon," she said, and the surprise she felt was not of the pleasant variety. The relationship between the Salvatore and Forbes family had turned sour after Caroline had fled the city rather than marry Stefan… but the relationship with this particularly Salvatore was even worse.
It was no secret that Damon held Caroline personally responsible for Elena's elopement with Stefan; after all, had his brother remained engaged and gotten married as expected, Elena would now be Damon's wife.
And Damon would never blame himself or Elena for something when he could hold someone wholly unrelated to him responsible.
"Don't worry, I'm not happy to be here either," Damon replied, a sneer curling his lips. Klaus stepped up to Caroline's side, and she recognized the look on her husband's face.
It was the look he had gotten while on the hunt – avid, and as though he had the scent of blood in his nostrils. He wrapped an arm around Caroline's waist, not caring that such displays of affection weren't meant for public consumption. Caroline didn't complain however; not only had she grown used to her husband's possessive acts, she had grown to enjoy them. She would never question his love and affection for her, not when he showed both so openly and without shame.
"I come here seeking your husband's assistance," Damon said, his gaze landing on Klaus' arm and his expression darkening. This time, Caroline didn't think it was distaste that caused the expression, but instead jealousy.
She wondered if he was thinking about the life he could have had with Elena. Caroline thought that such a union would have ended very poorly for both of them. Neither of them were capable of the compromise that would be required of them to be happy in marriage; both too used to getting their own way. Caroline had been very like that once, and probably still was in many ways… but for Klaus, she had been willing to make it work.
"I am not interested," Klaus replied after a moment, enunciating the words very carefully. He had looked down at Caroline, but she had tried to keep her expression serene. Now, he guided her to the settee, taking the seat next to her, so their legs were flush to one another.
"You haven't even heard what I need your assistance with!" Damon snarled, his hands clenching into fists. The act of temper made Caroline raise her brows, and she rested her hand on Klaus' bicep before he could leap to his feet and attack as Caroline knew he wanted to.
"Damon, calm yourself," Enzo said to him, his brow furrowing. He looked at Caroline and Klaus, a crooked smile on his lips. "It's not just for Damon, if that helps. I'm back here because they wish to expand further west – a railroad track. And as no one knows these wilds better than your husband, I wanted to seek out his assistance." Enzo turned his gaze from Caroline to Klaus, his smile fading and his expression turning uncharacteristically serious. "Look, Klaus, I met your pack, remember? And I know how important that land is to you. With you, we can ensure that your… wolf family suffers as little interruption to their daily lives as possible."
"Otherwise we just raze the whole territory," Damon added with a nasty smirk, ignoring Enzo's look of frustration. "But you're not interested. So I guess that's what we'll do."
Once more, Klaus tensed beneath Caroline's touch, and she gave Damon a dark look which he returned with a sneer.
"Why are you even involved in the railroad?" she demanded, raising her chin so she could give him a look that had made more than one lady of society retreat in fear. "The Salvatores have always done their trading to the east."
"The Salvatores do, but as I'm not in business with my family, I've had to look elsewhere for my fortune. The west is where the money is to be found, Mrs. Mikaelson. Now, am I wasting my time here or not?"
Klaus was still tense as he and Caroline looked at one another. She could see a war in his eyes – he wanted to protect the wolves that had been his family, but he also didn't want to leave behind the woman that had become his family.
Usually, Klaus was the one that chose to initiate display of affection in public – he loved to touch her, no matter where they were, or who they were with. It had caused more than one lady to gasp in shocked dismay, which had the benefit of giving Caroline a little thrill of pleasure. But today, she was the one that cupped his cheek, offering him her silent support in whatever decision he might make.
Klaus leaned forward, pressing his lips to her forehead, and then turned his gaze to Damon.
"When do we leave?"
TWOF
When Klaus had followed Caroline back to human civilization, it was with every expectation that she would be the entirety of his world – the brave woman that had dared the wilds of nature to land, quite literally, in his lap.
Instead, upon his arrival, he had discovered that he had a multitude of half siblings.
His mother, Esther, was dead by the time of Klaus' arrival, as was his father, Ansel. But his mother's husband remained, as did the Mikaelson children. Mikael could not offer him an explanation for how Klaus had wound up in the wilds of Montana, but he had allowed his children to develop a relationship with their long lost brother.
"You can't go now, not when we've only just found you!"
Rebekah would, of course, view his departure in such terms. Klaus had come to care for her greatly, but his sister was somewhat spoiled. She also did not hide her dislike of Caroline very well; Rebekah was used to being the center of her brothers' lives, but Klaus had made it very clear that his mate came first.
"We've had the better part of five years to know one another, Rebekah," Klaus replied, exchanging a wry look with Caroline behind Rebekah's back. "And I'm not leaving forever. We will help Salvatore and St. Claire, and then we'll return to New York."
"Mr. St. Claire is going as well?" Rebekah demanded, her expression completely dismayed. "But… he was supposed to take me to the Lockwood ball next week!" Rebekah rounded on Caroline, her eyes alight with anger. "Why are you not stopping them?"
"Because I understand why Klaus wishes to protect the pack lands, Rebekah. I have a soft spot for the wolves myself."
Without them, her husband would not have survived for her to eventually find, after all. And while Caroline was not so weak as to believe she could not live without him, her life would be missing a vital piece were he not in it.
"You act as though those beasts are your treasured family. We are your family, Nik."
"Rebekah, you are acting like a brat."
Rebekah froze at the deep voice, and her spine stiffened as her father entered the room. Caroline couldn't blame her; she reacted in much the same way when around Mikael. He was a hard, gruff man that Caroline didn't particularly like. But her own parents were dead, which meant that the Mikaelsons were the closest thing to family she had left, outside of Enzo.
For that reason, Caroline forced a polite smile for her husband's father.
"What are you heading west for?" Mikael asked, and Caroline felt almost taken aback by the genuine interest the man appeared to feel. While Klaus' siblings had readily embraced him, Mikael had been distant at best, and downright scornful at worst.
Klaus looked at Caroline with a raised brow, amusement in his eyes. He had never been bothered by Mikael's attitude, except for the times Caroline allowed him to see that it bothered her. It wasn't so much that Mikael disliked Klaus, but rather that he treated his son with such disdain while being completely courteous to Caroline herself.
"They require assistance with the wolves. Enzo apparently made it clear that killing the pack wasn't an option, and Damon Salvatore agreed to allow me the chance to speak to them."
"You can't speak to wolves, boy. They're beasts, and you should remember that."
"Of course," Klaus replied, and Caroline squeezed his thigh when he looked as though he might roll his eyes. Mikael's eyes alighted on her hand with disapproval, and biting back a scathing comment, Caroline made to move it. But Klaus placed his own hand over hers, holding it in place and gave Mikael a flat look. "But seeing as I'm a bit of a beast myself, you'll excuse me if I still choose to give my assistance."
"Caroline will stay here while you're gone, of course," Mikael stated, his gaze dropping to papers that he held in his hand. He rifled through them, clearly already done with the conversation, but Caroline was hardly about to play dead to her father-in-law.
"I'll be going with him, actually," Caroline replied coolly.
That got Mikael's attention, his gaze shooting up from his paper, and could looks injure, Caroline thought this one might actually kill Klaus.
"You cannot seriously be allowing her to accompany you," he said, his voice harsh. "Caroline is a lady, Niklaus."
"Caroline is my mate. She belongs at my side."
"Besides, while I'm always open to Klaus' opinion" – hint: not open to anyone else's – "this is one time when I made my own decision. We don't know how long this job will take, and I have no interest in being left behind for unknown periods of time."
"This is not some amble in the park, Caroline. The west is untamed. There are beasts out there, including those in human form."
Mikael's eyes darted to Klaus briefly as he spoke of beasts in human form, and Caroline felt her lips pull back into a smile that was more of a dangerous baring of her teeth.
"I met Klaus because I joined a caravan to Montana, Mikael. This will hardly be my first trip."
Oh, but he didn't like that reminder, that his perfect lady of a daughter-in-law was a bit of a beast herself. She hid it better than Klaus, of course, but he didn't marry her because of her ability to pour tea.
Klaus liked to say that like called to like, and that he had recognized the beast within Caroline from the very first day.
Mikael didn't have that same beast within, but the glare he levelled at his son before he left the room – retreat, rather than admission that he had overstepped his bounds – sent a shiver down Caroline's spine. Mikael might not have a beast, but she thought he very likely had a monster.
TWOF
Montana, 1890
"You're looking brown, Gorgeous."
Caroline sneered at Enzo's words, but she couldn't deny the truth of them. In New York, she had been hailed as the height of fashion. All of those women who envied her, and those men that wanted her, wouldn't recognize her now, dressed in a simple cotton gown, her hair tied back with a handkerchief.
And so very, very brown.
Caroline hadn't even realized her skin could darken like that. She'd always been careful to keep protected from the harsh sun – a fashionable lady was nothing but peaches and cream, after all.
In Montana, she had discovered that she freckled, dots dancing across the bridge of her nose that Enzo told her were charming. Caroline wasn't sure she agreed, but freckles were a small price to pay for what she had discovered in the wilds of the west.
Freedom.
"How is the laundry going, sister?" Enzo asked her with a grin. It was the identity they had created for Caroline – that of Caroline St. Claire, rather than Caroline Forbes. None of the men or women in the caravan had mingled with high society, allowing Caroline to travel with them unidentified.
"Better than when you tried to do it," Caroline replied with a quick smile. Enzo had destroyed one of her favorite frocks and left his shirts horribly creased the one time he had attempted to do the laundry. Caroline had, of course, never done manual labor in her life, but she had figured she couldn't do worse than her "brother." The assumption had proved to be correct. "Have you seen my sapphire necklace? The silver one? It seems to have gone missing overnight."
A gift from her father, Caroline only took the delicate chain off at night. She could have sworn she had been wearing it the day previous, but she had to admit that by nightfall she was exhausted, so she could have very well lost it and not realized.
"Sorry, Gorgeous. I'll keep an eye out, though. I came over because Doc needs some herbs. You've been spending so much time with him that you know them better than just about anyone. Could you go on a gathering mission? You wouldn't have to go any further than the river."
"Of course. Let me just finish this."
They had chosen their location partially based on its proximity to the herbs that Dr. Liam Davis had taught Caroline to identify. They would help with reducing fever and cleaning wounds. Caroline found learning about medicine interesting, but the doctor himself?
He was charming, but a little boring, and Caroline had been ducking his attempts to charm her for the past several days.
Caroline smiled to herself and shook her head thinking of Liam. He reminded her of Stefan in a lot of ways, really. They were both good men, but Caroline was beginning to realize that good man just wasn't going to be enough for her. She needed…
Well, she was a single woman that had run away to Montana under false pretenses. Clearly, she needed adventure.
She was cut up in thoughts of adventure and wandered far further than she meant to, not realizing that she was out of hearing of the camp until she heard a fierce growl.
Wolves, and Caroline looked around for an escape and realized she wasn't sure which way to go.
The growls grew louder, and Caroline could see their eyes glaring at her, so she did the only thing her body would allow her to.
She ran.
AN: So there is part I. I plan on having around 2 more, depending on how the writing goes. Let me know what you think!