"I can't believe you're wasting my vacation time doing this," Dean called to Castiel.
"And I cannot believe you do not get this," Castiel moved over until he could peer over the door into the changing room where Dean was trying clothes on.
"You've seen me naked what's the deal?" Dean straightened in the midst of pushing off her jeans.
"Hm," Castiel wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Let me slip in there, and I think you will get my meaning."
Dean had mentioned needing to round out her wardrobe and replace her emergency clothes. Castiel had told her any face time he had in public helped him find that random woman that was destined to be his mate. Dean had then decided that she wanted to become a hermit. She had tried making excuses, but Castiel had told her not to worry.
Of course she didn't know that the "random woman" wasn't all that random and it had been her all along. Castiel watched her blush at his implication and nodded, "There is the draw honey."
"You're an exhibitionist aren't you? Or is it voyeur?"
"I am all of that when it comes to you Sugar," Castiel admitted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Meaning..." He turned to lean his arms on the tops of the swinging doors peering down at her with a comically exaggerated leer. "I will take you anywhere I can even in public."
Dean turned and tried to avoid his gaze in the mirror. She didn't like that his words were mirroring her own thoughts too well. She was so tempted to pull him into the changing room and ride him until he screamed her name—She tamped down on her treacherous thoughts and tried to pull her desire back in, but she could tell it had already wafted out enough to reach Castiel's nose.
{{I want you so much I do not even care if it is in a cramped little changing room,}} Castiel's thoughts were husky his desire a heavy weight inside her.
{{Cheater,}} she closed her eyes the jeans she was trying on halfway over her ass as she came to a stop. She put her hand out to steady herself on the wall as he didn't try to hold back his desire at all.
Dean didn't know he'd come inside the small room until she felt his hands grip the waistband of her jeans, and give them a small yank upward until he could help her fasten the button and zip them. It didn't sound nearly as intimate as it felt his arms around her his body pressing against her from behind.
From there his hands slid around to cup her ass and his breath hissed through her hair along the back of her neck. "These should work just fine," He breathed into the skin behind her ear.
"Thank you..." She knew that trying to sound calm at this point was ridiculous - her desire pouring out to fill the tiny room - but at her breathy reply she silently cursed herself. "I'm capable of dressing myself you know."
"I do not mind," Castiel's soft voice still breathed hotly across her skin, and she felt his fingers trail over the skin exposed above the line of her jeans. The new button gave him no problems, and she didn't offer any help when he tried to shimmy the jeans back down over her hips.
"Wolf..." she gasped as jeans and silk panties slipped down over her hips and his fingers tickled along her exposed hipbones and down the tender skin along her lower abdomen. She felt her legs give and he used his body to keep her upright still pushing with his hands at her jeans and panties.
Her fingers snatched at the lacy hem of her underwear even as she sagged against his solid frame. She tugged them into place as he crooned disappointment into her wild hair. "Behave yourself Wolf!" She whispered frantically on the verge of losing control.
"Do not worry. I cannot seem to get them down any farther while I am this close," He murmured as his body slipped away from hers.
Dean hesitated long enough to realize he was still standing right behind her waiting for something. She wished he was still supporting her, but she could still feel his presence behind her in the small room. She turned and fixed him with a look and his lips curved into a grin as he held his hands up in surrender to her murderous glance. "Out."
"If that is what you truly wish," Castiel whispered knowing very well that it wasn't. He stood there a moment longer before he exited and soon he was out of sight. Part of her was glad for the respite, but then again she wasn't in any hurry. She could be distracted, and was undoubtedly just as hot for Castiel as he was for her. She didn't think she could have sex in the middle of the store, but the dressing room was looking like a good compromise.
She got her own pants back on and left the changing room. She usually kept well within a size ten petite (damn short legs) but she always tried clothes on. She went back to the shelves of Levi's and checked over the tags inside the pants then took an armful of the black 519s. She paused long enough to examine the men's 550's before she grabbed Castiel his own armful.
She caught sight of Castiel in the lingerie section and she shook her head at his behavior. She was in line to pay for her jeans when he looked up to meet her gaze over the distance. He didn't scan the crowd for her, or even look back toward the changing rooms, he looked up from the clothes in his hand and straight into her eyes.
{{I can't shop for lingerie here,}} Dean let him down gently.
{{Why ever not?}}
{{Well underwear is perfectly fine, but they don't carry a bra over 34B.}} Dean watched his eyes move down to do more than a casual examination of her breasts.
"Can I help you ma'am?" The cashier called Dean out of her reverie.
"Just these thanks," Dean dropped the Levi's onto the counter as a distraction from the brilliant flame that had engulfed her face, and the clerk started to remove security tags from the left leg as she rung them up.
{{So I'm thinking a 34D?}} Castiel thoughts distracted her and she figured out how he knew where she was; if she concentrated she could feel the pull of his energy toward the lingerie section. She hadn't been around lycanthropes this long so it was a new experience, a learning one too. {{Leaning more towards a DD...}}
"Three hundred and forty-six dollars and sixty cents please," The clerk pressed a few keys as Dean pulled a wallet from the back pocket of her jeans and held out her debit card. "Go ahead and swipe your card."
Dean swiped the card through the machine on the other side of the counter. She put in her pin and went through all the questions: Did she want cash back? Was the total acceptable? Dean stuffed the receipt into one of the bags the clerk handed her and started toward the door.
Glancing over her shoulder Dean didn't see Castiel so she cast out her senses to find him, and looked back to find him walking right alongside her. "Tricky Wolf," Dean teased as they continued down the center of the mall.
"I still cannot believe you actually wear that cape deal," Castiel admitted.
"Ha!" Dean grabbed the edge of the hood and pulled it up off her shoulders to cover her head and some of her face. "Whenever the mood strikes me I guess."
"You are an odd kitty you know-" Castiel stopped just in time and without pause leaned in and nearly thought aloud, but I love you. As he thought it he tried saying, "Now where too?" To try and cover it up if she somehow caught the thought, but she gave no indication.
"To get you some more clothes," Dean made a face sticking out her tongue. "You're starting to smell."
Castiel had been borrowing Dean's larger sleeping shirts, and rotating the pair of jeans she'd bought him with a pair he'd borrowed from Charlie. "How unkind," He pouted and Dean blew him a kiss.
They stopped outside the Goth store and Castiel gave her a look. "Don't worry I won't even look at the spiked collars."
"Hm sounds promising," Castiel laughed as the loud heavy metal music coming from the speakers filled his body. "Wow, I imagine they like your riding hood here."
Dean gave him a look, "Riding hood?"
Castiel rolled his eyes. "Is that not the idea? Dean and her little red riding hood the Lumberjack that kills werewolves?"
Dean was glad the music was so loud (in fact if she didn't prepare herself the music was too much for her sensitive ears) it meant only lycanthropes would hear what Castiel had just said. "Watch your mouth Wolf," Dean wondered again if her tattoo would blaze.
Dean guided him over to the wall of screen tees. The store only sold shirts with obscure cartoon characters, popular metal bands and smart ass sayings. The later was Dean's favorite, but there had been the occasional shirt with gorgeous artwork that she had snatched up when it caught her eye.
The clerk at the counter was absorbed in a science fiction book on werewolves when Dean glanced over the counter to see. It took the girl a few minutes before she looked up to see Dean she was so caught up in the pages. "Yes? I'm sorry!"
"No problem," Dean gave her a smile. "Jewelry?"
"All over in that corner," She yelled over the music pointing in the far corner.
"Dressing room?"
"Same corner. We only have one let me know if you need to use it," The clerk shouted.
Dean nodded and made her way across the store her head nodding to the beat of the metal; it was almost a compulsion the pulse of the music throbbed through her body. She found an entire section devoted to lycanthropes with some scary looking silver piercings and other kinds of jewelry.
She looked over their assortment of metal spike-studded leather necklaces and bracelets. She looked up when she felt eyes on her, and Castiel was standing at the end of the aisle watching her. Dean gave him a grin and moved over toward the silver studs pulling a large hoop off of the wall that looked like it was multifunctional: belly button, nose, ear, nipples and...other areas.
Castiel stepped toward her and gave it a sniff his eyes widening. "Hm, changing room?" He didn't even want to comment on the silver hoop. Dean turned and caught the clerk behind the counter's eye and she nodded and moved toward them. "I have already seen plenty of things I want you to try on."
"I saw you looking at the lingerie again. You run into the same problem as the last store," Dean walked with him toward the dressing room as the teenager unlocked the door, and gave them both a cheery grin before returning to her post/book.
Castiel paused outside the door to pull what looked like a leather corset off of a rack of random clothes that looked like they were waiting to go back to their homes after being tried on and found lacking. "Hey, this is nice," Castiel wiggled the hanger and wiggled his eyebrows. "Come try this on with me."
Dean looked over her shoulder toward the clerk, but before she could object to Castiel he pulled her into the changing room and closed the door. "Castiel!"
"What?" Castiel held the corset out to her with a sad pout.
"I buy t-shirts here for a reason!"
"It's a large?" Castiel started making some very doggy-like whimpering noises and Dean laughed.
"Fine, but it won't fit," Dean tugged off her cloak, tossed it at him then pulled her own shirt off and Castiel applauded. "You be quiet!"
"What is that?"
"Hm, I find a three and a half foot sword is a little hard to get in and out of when I have to change my clothes a lot when I shop." Dean explained as she unhooked what looked like a girdle around her stomach. Castiel had thought he'd smelled silver on her but he couldn't tell where from just looking. She handed it over to him and the inside was lined with at least a dozen two-inch blades and four honest-to-god shurikens. She laughed again at his expression as he examined her arsenal, deposited it gently on the bench behind him and then pulled the top off of the hanger.
"Let me help you with that," Castiel's arms curled around to unhook her bra and Dean caught his mischievous eyes at their very close proximity. "What? Are you supposed to have it on? There are no straps on that thing."
Dean's body had already been warmed up in the last changing room they had been in together, but she let him gently remove her bra and tried to keep her distance. It didn't help at all that once he threw it over his shoulder all Castiel could think about was touching her. She closed her eyes as his hands cupped her breasts, "Castiel." She had meant it to be a warning but it came out as a moan.
"Sorry," Castiel whispered stepping back, and Dean growled very kitty in her throat at the loss. Castiel let out an unapologetic huff of mirth, reached down to grab the edge of his shirt to pull it off over his head and she had to take a deep breath to clear her head to keep herself from pounce on him. It was a tenuous few seconds before he covered himself with a new shirt in which Dean busied herself with pulling the new corset on.
Castiel stepped close again to help her zip the back of the corset, but Dean still had to adjust the laces in the front. "Here let me help with those," Castiel offered casually as he leaned in behind her to slip his hands into the front of the corset, and cupped her breasts adjusting them inside the fabric. While he held them she tightened the strings and then he eased his hands out. Dean bit her lip to keep the grin to a minimum as she caught sight of his expression when she adjust her own breasts inside the shirt, tightened the strings again and then tied them tight.
"That looks..." Castiel gave a soft incredulous shake of his head his eyes locked on to the amazing amount of cleavage the corset supplied her with. When his voice trailed off and his gaze continued to heat Dean crossed her arms over her chest, but instead of hiding the monumental amount of cleavage it only increased it. "Wonderful, that's how they're supposed to look - Corsets I mean…"
Castiel's eyes were almost like hands, and with the lycanthrope energy he never tried to contain she could literally feel his gaze. It was like when he'd touched her while she was talking to Charlie the other day, Dean was beginning to believe him when Castiel had told her he hadn't physically touched her.
"Sure you do. Are you sure it's supposed to fit this tight?"
Castiel nodded absentmindedly and Dean put her hands over the exposed cleavage. "Huh?" Castiel finally looked up to meet her eyes.
"Horn dog," Dean accused then tried to change the subject. "Does that t-shirt fit?"
"Its fine," Castiel nodded, grabbing the bottom hem of the shirt to pull it off over his head. Once again the move overpowered Dean with the glorious expanse of his chest. "You definitely know how to make a man feel good about himself," Castiel complimented as he reached to pick up his own shirt.
"How's that?"
Instead of putting the shirt on Castiel threw it around waist, catching the other side to pull her against him and her desire rushed out to ignite his (which wasn't all that far from inferno at this point). He turned the both of them, moving her back until he could trap her between the dressing room wall and his body. Castiel then abandoned the shirt for a much more pleasurable two-handed grip on her denim-clad ass.
"You look at me like you want to eat me," Castiel whispered huskily using his hold to lift her effortlessly. Dean wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his shoulders tangling her hands in his long hair.
"I do."
Castiel moaned at the sheer thought of the idea and pressed her into the wall ducking his head to capture her lips. "We have to leave here unless you truly do not care if we sully this dressing room."
"I don't care," Dean breathed as Castiel moved against her. His hand delved back down into the top of the corset to cup her breast. "Oh fuck I don't care-"
Castiel fumbled with the button of his jeans. She was pressed so tightly against him that he couldn't manage it in the small space. He growled in frustration and backed away to lower her to the floor. He stepped back and nearly ripped his jeans as they proved difficult in his maddened state.
Dean gave a soft laugh and leaned in to help him but instead stumbled forward as he vanished from the changing room. "Castiel?" Dean gave a sniff but there was only the residual scent of where he'd been. She tried sensing his presence with her kitty energy but he was nowhere in sight.
She moved to the door and opened it her eyes scanning the store. "Castiel!" She shouted over the heavy metal. A few of the closer patrons looked over at her curiously before she slammed the door closed again.
Castiel opened his eyes and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. There were few beings that could do something like this and would have the inclination. {{Balthazar!}}
{{Who are you to summon even the lowest of my demons?}}
Castiel went still at the strange mental voice and looked around for its source. The chamber he was in changed around him until he found himself in an office hewn into stone (if offices existed in Hell).
Now in front of him was a desk and chair. It was an amalgamation of mundane things like chrome and leather and more "traditional" things like human skulls and stretches of lycanthrope furs. Castiel barely contained a horrified shiver knowing from his vantage that the pelts were from the wolfman shift of the werewolf and that when a lycanthrope died they shifted back into a human form.
Oddly enough it turned out to be not a throne but a plush swiveling leather chair on wheels draped in at least a dozen different species of lycanthrope.
"Were you expecting someone else?" The being sitting in that comfy and horrifying swivel chair said in a very middle-of-the-road voice (no accent). He did a slow swivel to reveal a very normal looking man in a white-on-white business suit.
"Truthfully? Yes," Castiel knew he should be terrified but he wasn't he'd spent too much time in Hell to be afraid.
"I have a proposition for you canine," He murmured.
"I want to know who I am dealing with," Castiel had an idea but really, really didn't want to be right.
"The Morning Star...Father of Lies...Evil Incarnate...Take your pick," Lucifer shrugged. "I've had so many names I don't really care what people call me. You could try Master."
To that particular suggestion Castiel held his tongue because this wasn't someone to make a smartass quip to at least not within his realm. "What do you want?" Instead he went through names to call him discarding most of his first ideas because they would have been...mean?
"It has come to my attention that one of my lesser demons has been making deals without my knowledge," Lucifer began. "I just wanted you to know that demon has been dealt with."
Castiel nodded not knowing what that meant to him. It occurred to him that he'd been brought here for the last time and a chill of dread filled him. He wouldn't be leaving.
Lucifer closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and smiled. "I can see how Balthazar might have been tempted. You're like a fine wine." He met Castiel's gaze across the room. "You know she won't accept you. After a rejection that monumental the torments of your Hell would be even more horrendous. Unfortunately it could get quite addicting to feed on. I'll have to assign you to..." He mumbled to a stop as he went over names in his head.
With a surge of hope Castiel beat back the fear of losing Dean (his only real fear in being trapped back in Hell). Balthazar had mentioned his Master would be angry because he had to honor contracts made by his minions as if they were his own. They usually got to his ears before they were finalized and said minion was dispatched.
{{I know he would never make this deal with you. He's definitely gonna be pissed,}} Balthazar had told him before he'd made the deal to let him leave Hell. {{He wants you. He wants you firmly in Hell, and for that obsessed distraction he could lose the both of you.}}
"Send me back," Castiel bluffed as he recalled Balthazar's words it still gave him a thrill of fear for his mate. Dean wasn't a total saint - she'd killed a lot of lycanthropes – but they had been criminals in her society's view of law.
"Excuse me mortal?"
"Send me back please?" Castiel corrected like the occasions his mother would gently remind him as a pup of probably four when he and had forgotten to put please on a request.
Obviously Lucifer wouldn't have brought him here without a reason. Castiel would have found himself burning already, but the deal had to be honored. "I will make no deals with you." Although something small would be worth it to get information as to why the Prince of Evil wanted he and his mate's soul damned.
"You might want to," The Devil held his hands up as if to calm the animosity brewing in the quiet lycanthrope.
"And why would that be?" Castiel narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Do you think she'll accept that part of her blood? You'll go through the rest of your year, and she'll condemn you to Hell when you ask her for salvation," Lucifer was smiling so wide his human disguise developed a dimple in one cheek. "Already she's terrified of being in love with one of you. Already she worries she'll end up just like her mother."
Although he spoke all of Castiel's fears aloud only one word jumped out to him. "She loves me?"
"She's your mate of course she loves you," Lucifer scoffed.
Of course the love was a given, but Dean admitting that to herself was a large step in the right direction. She was worried she'd turn into her mother? Did she know they were really mates? Or suspect?
"When she denies you and you're back in my demesne you don't have to go back to eternal torment," Lucifer wheedled. "I've been looking for another servant and now I'm short two."
"Excuse me?"
"My loyal Cerberus retired his position a decade ago," Lucifer explained. "The position has always been held by the most powerful lycanthrope in Hell."
Castiel stared at Lucifer not knowing what to say. Truthfully there was an instant "no" on his lips, but then he wouldn't figure out what Lucifer was up to. With the Prince of Darkness now holding the contract Castiel had signed in blood knowing his ultimate motive was necessary.
"You know the prophecy has made you the most qualified," Lucifer stood and Castiel's gaze never left him as he moved closer. "That is, when you return to Hell."
"So it's true? The prophecy part of the Curse?" Castiel watched him move even closer.
"Of course," His eyes were flickering with fire but otherwise as emotionless as ice. "Do we have a deal?"
"Nothing you have said sounds like a deal," Castiel didn't like that this thing had no smell. There was nothing in this room as if his nose didn't work. Even Balthazar had smelled like brimstone.
"Give up your futile efforts and come be my guard dog," Lucifer suggested.
"No."
"No," Lucifer scoffed. "No?"
"It was just two letters. You would think such a small word impossible to misunderstand -" Castiel cried out as the ground opened up beneath him and fire jumped up to lick at his feet. It was only moments before he realized he wasn't falling into the bottomless pit but held above it by some unseen force (undoubtedly Lucifer's doing).
He'd noticed that while he was in Hell no one ever wore shoes. Granted most of the population seen was naked. Why the hell did the tormented have to be naked? Castiel had been in his room hewn magically in a sea of rock naked and cold. Was Lucifer just a Peeping Tom?
"I think I have decided what to call you."
"Is it Master?" He was furious and was poking the flames to jump higher to bite at Castiel's feet but he could heal the damage so far.
"Probably not. I think I'll call you Tom."
"Taunt me? I would not have thought you such a fool dog," Lucifer must have been good at reading the secret glowing in Castiel's eyes because his swarthy skin began to crack around the edges and the fire consumed his eyes making them glow.
Castiel kept telling himself he would find a way to get back to Dean. "Fuck you! I would rather be with her with the fear of your wrath in Hell for eternity for saying no than cut our time short by even a second," Castiel felt himself slip closer to the pit and he slammed his eyes shut.
"Maybe you don't understand what I'm offering here dog," Lucifer waved his hand and the ground closed up moments before Castiel fell to the ground. "Let me give you a taste."
"No," Castiel tried to get up as the Devil leaned over him. "Stop-"
With the barest brush of Lucifer's cool fingertips it came. A scream ripped out of the soft-spoken lycanthrope a sound that had no end. Power flared at the point of contact and slammed through Castiel's body, and it was as if all the fires of Hell were coursing through his veins as blood.
Lucifer straightened and took a small step back and - like Castiel had imagined - it the pain was gone. In its stead was a power so bone-achingly good it made returning to Dean seem irrelevant —Castiel let loose a howl so loud it shook dust from the chamber's ceiling but the noise didn't sound like his wolf at all it was the call of a beast altogether eerier than the lycanthrope had ever heard.
With a snarl Castiel called his wolf in an attempt to resist the satisfying energy but his beast only responded with the feeblest of whimpers. This new energy it wasn't the same, the feel of it was very different to Castiel's senses and it wouldn't obey him.
"NO!" Castiel howled that freaky sounding howl again trying with all his might to bring the power to bear and in response he felt something run claws along his insides and it wasn't his wolf. Like a newly infected lycanthrope Castiel felt the power start to overwhelm him pushing him to shift, but he didn't know what he might become. After the meager whimper of before Castiel couldn't feel his wolf's presence even thought it was all the lycanthrope had to use in this battle against his "taste" of being Cerberus.
The fear of what he might shift into helped Castiel to fight. It felt like the pull of a full moon which Castiel normally had almost no difficulty ignoring (after his death) something even Alphas had problems with.
If the usual fight against his headstrong wolf was considered painful whatever was now trying to overcome his willpower made the struggle seem paltry in comparison. It was like claws and hellfire. Castiel couldn't stop screaming as Lucifer laughed and watched him writhe on the ground in agony.
"This is something different than what you deal with, but it runs by the same rules," Lucifer began to explain to the incapacitated Castiel. "Your lycanthrope is a disease. Even though you're...what was it? Seventh generation? This Beast I've given you a nibble of is magic," Lucifer rubbed his thumb against his index and middle finger as if feeling the texture of something tiny. "Like fairy dust."
By this point Castiel had shut most of Lucifer's sarcastic tirade out too busy on focusing his control on the Beast's power. He didn't know if he could control the energy if he shifted because it was a close thing now with just the monster trying to get out of a body it didn't wholly own yet.
"See?" Lucifer crouched down to peer down into Castiel's sweating face. "Even without your full power you tame the Beast!"
It didn't feel like it was tamed. "Take it back!"
"You don't want it?" Lucifer asked innocently. "Usually the shell of my Cerberus takes control right away; it's pretty stubborn. I like that in my dogs." Lucifer grinned, "Let me take a moment to elaborate. I am also the Lord of Death...so the magic I use is powerful in ways you can't even comprehend."
"What do you mean?" Even in his current state Castiel still attempted to comprehend.
"Within the shell there is a fragment of each lycanthrope a piece of each soul that has held the position. It's kinda hard to live with I've heard." Lucifer shrugged. "You're powerful to exert yourself over all of them…even the original. I'll make a deal with you dog."
"No! No deals!"
Lucifer's frown was nothing but surprise and disappointment. "I can call the Beast and he will make the choice for you."
"No," Castiel barely got that out as the creature's power surged again. Only a more powerful lycanthrope could "call" a beast (force a shift). "You...cannot...Please stop. Please!"
"Hm," He made that cursed sound full of import. At the exhalation of insolence the pain stopped and Castiel looked up to meet the Devil's burning eyes. Lucifer's skin had returned to flawless with a surfer tan (even without sunshine for a long ass time) it seemed he had regained his cool and the upper hand.
"I will make you a deal."
"What kind?"
Castiel hesitated since one should never enter these sorts of deals easily or quickly. For a moment Castiel gave a silent prayer and Lucifer actually stumbled back from him. The sight was bolstering. "If I fail..."
"When you fail?"
"If!" Castiel went tense as the creature Lucifer had put inside him gave a great surge with Castiel's anger, and he had to struggle with all his power and still he felt it was diminished, sleeping somehow. "If I fail I will be your Cerberus but you will give me another year on earth."
Lucifer laughed so hard tears of blood escaped down his cheeks. "Do you think me a fool?"
"You really do not want to know what I think of you," Castiel shook his head and watched as Lucifer caught each tear before they rolled off his face.
As the Devil stepped toward him he leaned forward and held his hand out toward the werewolf.
Castiel's nose could hardly smell anything more than the faint metallic smell of blood his senses were definitely deadened. The Beast inside him however could apparently smell it, and Castiel's body convulsed as the personalities that inhabited the small bit inside him surged in an attempt to gain control and the werewolf grit his teeth and renewed his fight to suppress them.
"Here's the only deal that I will consider. I can be kind and even give it a little wiggle room," Lucifer smiled and Castiel wondered if there had been a more sinister expression anywhere. "I like wiggle room."
Castiel knew he would never see all the loopholes Lucifer could think up. "No," Castiel shook his head. "My deal or no deal."
{{Castiel!}}
Castiel went still as Dean's thoughts came into his mind. Was it really her? The question was quickly answered as Dean's kitty energy touched deep down where his wolf slept wringing a gasp from Castiel's raw throat. Lucifer gave him a dubious look.
{{Come back.}}
Like it was a security blanket Castiel's wolf clutched at Dean's energy against the sudden vicious onslaught of Lucifer's Beast. Castiel's body trembled as the power coursed through him the moment he tried to reach out to Dean.
"Don't be stupid dog you can't reach her here," Lucifer laughed his handsome features arranged in a grin.
Castiel could smell something now as Dean fed her energy to him in a tiny thread, and he knew he was still gaining his metaphysical strength back because he could smell the Dark One's fear no matter how feint. If he couldn't reach her from Hell why could he hear her?
"Father of Lies," Castiel hissed. "How can you have any honor if everything that comes from your mouth is a lie?"
"I don't always lie," Lucifer grinned as if that were one of the funniest things he'd ever said, but he didn't want to laugh aloud. "That's no fun at all."
{{Cas either you come to me, or I'll find a way to get to you!}} Dean's thoughts were worried and angry but thankfully not at Castiel.
"I have a deal you might like," Lucifer tried again.
"No," Castiel shook his head vigorously as Lucifer moved toward the closest wall.
Like the hole that had opened in the floor under Castiel a window appeared in the wall showing a stranger stretched over a rack. "You'll like this one I promise."
"If it is not my deal-"
"You come be my Cerberus..." He paused and at the name Castiel felt the Beast give a shove to his defenses that was unlike any that had come before wanting to heel to his Master.
Lucifer chuckled and Castiel knew the Father of Lies didn't have to be a lycanthrope to call the Beast inside him. Here was his Master and millennia of training had made Cerberus obedient above all else.
"If you fail with your mate you come to be my guard instead of your eternal torment..."
"What do I get?"
"I swear that I will not interfere."
Castiel felt his blood run cold at the creature's words. "Interfere?"
Lucifer finally turned to look at him the window behind him disappearing. "Do you not know what the word means?"
"I know," Castiel stopped trying to contact Dean, but held on tight to the lifeline of her energy. He hadn't noticed an increase in power when he'd joined with Dean, but then again he'd been trying his best to not remind her he was a wolf. Sort of.
Dean was! Castiel realized her Lumberjack mark was probably now warning her of all hostility toward her not just lycanthropes.
The words of the Novak Blessing/Curse shifted in the rubble of Castiel's disbelief. "He and his mate will rule over all lycanthrope..."
Could they win against Lucifer? Together they would become the most powerful lycanthropes in the world if the Blessing/Curse was true.
The two of them couldn't protect each other with whatever grew between them if Dean didn't understand why she had more power. Worse yet, they would never reach their true potential without the mating ritual.
{{I'm gonna start counting Wolf.}}
Castiel didn't know whether to laugh, cry or be terrified for them. At the moment terrified fit the bill spectacularly especially if Dean managed to find a way to him. If anyone could she would of that Castiel had no doubt.
She loved him.
"Not interfering means you stop bringing me here before my time is up," Castiel assured himself.
"Sure," Lucifer nodded. "The next time we meet will be in four months, twenty-two days-"
"I know," Castiel knew his time down to the millisecond. The countdown timer was a part of his very being done in brilliant blinking lights constantly there in the background of all his thoughts. Only Dean made him think of anything else she took firm placement in that slot in the back of his brain. She took up the whole damn thing.
{{One...}}
"Shit," Castiel grimaced as he spoke the curse aloud without meaning to. She was serious.
Lucifer merely laughed at the expletive, "Well?"
"Deal." Castiel held out his hand and Lucifer chuckled an officially notarized (by Lucifer ironically) contract appearing in his hand. Along the bottom was a familiar bloody scribble accompanied by a fingerprint with a smudge of blood in the middle.
"I've just added an addendum to your current contract. All I need is your thumb here in this margin..." Lucifer brushed the pad of Castiel's thumb with his power and just like Balthazar's had the first time this same contract had needed a signature the touch made the werewolf bleed. With much hesitation Castiel pressed his thumb onto the indicated spot.
Castiel had to close his eyes as everything went black trying his best to keep his power from growing frantic and fearful as he reached quickly back up Dean's energy.
"When did you get a Lumberjack mark?" Lucifer asked bewildered. At the question Dean's energy seemed to intensify and Castiel quickly put his hands over his face.
{{Help me get back to you!}} Castiel tried projecting to her as his head swam with Cerberus.
{{Cas think of me; my face, my voice anything!}} Dean's thoughts began to also drift to different things about Castiel and he tried his best to think only of her.
"No! Foul Beast!" Lucifer shouted and that's when Castiel felt he had linked them together to trap him in Hell.
Castiel was chilled to the bone to hear Lucifer's laughter and then he fell unconscious.
…
Dean knelt beside Castiel on the changing room floor. "Cas?" When he opened his eyes he didn't see Dean's mark on her face so hoped his had gone away. "Your eyes are silver..."
"Dean..."
"What?"
"I..." Castiel closed his eyes a moment then sat up, and Dean watched him in concern. He knew the questions would start soon. "I told you in not so many words I died. It happened nearly twenty years ago," Castiel saw her eyes widen, but she didn't let go of his hand if anything her grip tightened her relief still bathing him like a cool breeze on his face. "I was in Hell until earlier this year."
"How did you get out?"
"I made a deal with the demon tasked with my punishment. He was the one that summoned me before, and his name was Balthazar," Castiel ran his fingers over her knuckles as he spoke. "He gave me a year to find my mate. If I found her I got a second chance. If I fail I give up any chance to truly atone which basically means Hell for eternity with no chance at Heaven."
"Son of a bitch," Dean shook her head. "How long do you have now…I didn't realize…you…I…" Tears filled her eyes, catching on her gorgeous eyelashes and twinkling in the bare bulb lighting of the small dressing room. "Get your shirt back on," She order stiffly turning to grab it only to have Castiel grab her just above her elbow.
"Dean stop," Castiel turned her back toward him, taking her face in one hand and catching one of the tears as it tumbled free. "I want to be with you."
Dean shook her head, but Castiel argued with a vigorous nod and leaned in to kiss the other tear off her cheek as it slid down her skin. "How long do you have?"
"It does not matter…" Castiel shook his head.
"Yes it does!"
"You will still be on your vacation after I am gone," Castiel pressed his lips together wanting more than anything to rid her of her fears and let her know he'd already found his mate.
He had four months to get her comfortable in her own fur…Maybe not literally but definitely emotionally.
"Cas," Dean said her voice deceptively soft. "I need to talk to this demon," Dean's jaw was set.
Castiel smiled because honestly she didn't know how powerful she really was, or could become. Even without that knowledge she wanted to take on a demon for him. "He is now out of the picture," Castiel wondered if she should know about that development. Lucifer had agreed not to interfere so neither of them would have to deal with him if everything went well.
"So who exactly is handling the rest of this year?"
"The big guy…" Castiel found himself not wanting to say his name. "The bad one."
"Oh Castiel," Dean said aghast. "Fuck."
"He promised not to interfere," Castiel reassured her.
"Who Balthazar? Because Lucifer just took you for a couple scary moments and I'd sure-as-hell call that interfering."
"He just promised," Castiel smiled.
"What did you give him?"
Never stepped foot in the real Hell and already you know how Lucifer works, Castiel closed his eyes. "I promised that if I failed I would become his Cerberus," Castiel answered.
"Cerberus?" Dean's brow furrowed at the name. She knew the name belonged to Lucifer's three-headed guard dog. She had felt something when she'd cast her energy out for Castiel's. Something had stuck his wolf away deep down in the dark trying to figure out how to displace the animal.
"It was the only deal I could get from him…I tried to negotiate more time but he would not even contemplate that idea."
"You gamble so much just for a woman you've never met," Dean whispered.
"I was killed before I could find her. In retrospect I think I would have been forced to be a Pack Whore until I died of old age," Castiel leaned in to kiss her again capturing another tear with the tip of his tongue like a snowflake.
"So you're glad you got killed," Dean asked perplexed.
"It sounds like I am saying that I guess," Castiel nodded. "Plus I never would have met you."
"I'd say," Dean nodded. "What was I…Seven when you died?" A look came over her face and for a moment Castiel thought she remembered him.
"Can I just take you home and scatter your wits with a half dozen orgasms?" Castiel asked as she handed him his shirt.
"We have to go somewhere public…We can stay in the mall. There are some other things I need," Dean tried to ignore the need she wanted to fulfill at that very moment.
"Then I want you now," Castiel demanded as he wove his fingers into her wild hair.
"Castiel please…" Dean turned her face away, and Castiel felt his heart skip a beat (not in the good way).
"I thought I would never see you again baby," Castiel's voice came out softer than usual. "There was a moment when he gave me a taste of the power of Cerberus I thought the pain would never end…"
"Is Cerberus a lycanthrope?" Dean wondered aloud to distract him as she stood.
"Yes and no," Castiel shook his head. "The power hurt and it scared me but…it was nothing compared to that first terrified second without you."
"Castiel," Dean shook her head as she watched him stand his t-shirt forgotten again.
"Dean," Castiel moved to put his hands on her hips pulling her close. "I love you. I do not want to look anymore…"
"Wolf you can't-" Dean took a deep startled breath as it crashed over her like a warm tide. His love was a combination of desire, longing and fear of losing her.
"Do not push me away," Castiel leaned in to kiss her brow where her mark usually appeared. "If you stay with me for the rest of my time I will keep your eyes in my heart, and no torment will touch me in Hell," Castiel felt her body shiver in his arms. "I will be gone, and your life can go back to normal after I leave."
Castiel's desire was rubbing her in all the right places but his words were only making her heart heavy. Before today she had told herself she would be with him until he found his mate, and even if she found herself wishing she could be that mate the idea still terrified her.
She hadn't fully gotten to know her father before his death so Castiel was really the only lycanthrope to show her that they weren't all in need of a silver blade to the heart. Dean suspected that if she had never met him she wouldn't have realized just how far down the dark path she'd gone following Samantha's footsteps.
"Castiel I don't want you to go to Hell," Dean rested her head on his chest and noticed that it was hot to the touch. "Are you okay? You're warm."
Dean knew lycanthropes ran a little hotter than normal humans especially when they were using their power to heal or shift…
"I am much better than I was a few minutes ago," Castiel admitted.
"We can't stay in here it's the only dressing room they have…" Dean closed her eyes as Castiel leaned back in to kiss her lips softly.
"I think I could care less," Castiel rained kisses along her jaw line dipping down the curve of her neck with treacherous aims. When she'd asked if she should put a bandage over the bite at the juncture of her neck and shoulder Castiel had told her that her hair covered it fine. {{Should have known better than to listen to your advice Wolf.}}
{{I have no idea what you are talking about woman,}} Castiel licked along the skin of her neck.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Both of them growled in frustration. "What!"
"There are customers waiting sorry Sir," A woman's voice called through the door.
"Almost done give me a moment," Castiel called back, swooping to retrieve his shirt off the ground and Dean took the opportunity to give his jean-clad ass a slap.
Dean cried out as Castiel pounced on her, pulling her tight against him moving his mouth so close to the wound in her neck that his hot breath made her body grow tight. {{Do not think I will not tell that lady to wait.}}
{{You wouldn't—}} Dean gasped incredibly thankful for the loud music right outside the door as she cried out loudly and moved to press her skin closer to his lips. {{Let's go home!}}
{{Are you sure!}}
Dean held her hand up for her clothes, "Get your shirt on and lemme change-"
Castiel pouted, "I like it."
"I'm unarmed. At least let me figure out how to manage that before you make me go out in public in it."
"Fine, I will wait for you outside," Castiel grabbed up his t-shirts and escaped.
Dean wasn't far behind and Castiel took the leather corset as she approached the counter. "I can pay for that."
"So can I," Castiel said as if they were just sharing names on the street. He gave the clerk a smile as he put the last purchase onto the counter so she could finish ringing them up.
{{I fibbed,}} Dean moved toward the doorway to the mall's main thoroughfare.
{{About what?}} Castiel caught up with her near the food court.
{{Going home,}} Dean gave him a fleeting look and when Castiel started to object she gave him a wash of her desire like a warm wave in the ocean. His path swerved until he was brushing her arm.
{{You were having fun shopping with me before the Devil summoned you to Hell,}} Dean looked over at him as he took her hand in his. Dean thought a moment about walking down the mall holding hands with the man she loved and gave a squeeze of her fingers.
Castiel squeezed back as he laced their fingers together. "Where to now, and will it have dressing rooms?"
"No," Dean was about to exit the mall and walk across the parking lot to the movie theatre, but she paused outside the arcade. "Detour."
"I was hoping to play with you in a different way," Castiel murmured only a lycanthrope's hearing able to pick his voice out among the blaring music and chimes of the different games.
"One game...You pick where we go next if you win. If I win I pick," Dean paused as she felt a lycanthrope energy she hadn't before.
{{The little black child on that fighting game, and the blond one he's playing against,}} Castiel told Dean.
{{I know, I've been doing this a while,}} Dean stuck her tongue out and Castiel pounced kissing her around it. {{There's also a little girl in a blue dress and another black boy a little older.}} None of them were over ten the brothers were a strain Dean had yet to run into at this point: bear.
The girl was a swan and the blond boy a wolf. What a strange pack.
"Which game?" Castiel looked over at the fighting game the bear and wolf were playing.
"This one," Dean jerked a thumb toward a nearby shooting game.
"I can shoot a gun," Castiel nodded moving to the change machine.
"Hi," The swan girl looked up at Castiel with a bright smile. Her hair was so blond the white downy feathers around her hairline blended in perfectly. Dean would probably not have noticed if she hadn't known to look.
"Hey there sweetie," Castiel smiled and she showed them the cutest pair of dimples one in each pale cheek.
"I'm Tara," She held up a crumpled five dollar bill to let them know she was waiting for the change machine.
"Is that for your packmates?" Dean asked softly.
The girl looked at Dean oddly and she gave her a little sniff of her jaguar. "We're not a registered pack but we're all in the same class and we get along real well."
"They don't get mean with you do they?" Dean asked concerned. "It's my job to make sure lycanthropes obey the rules."
"My daddy says the law for lycanthropes is death," Tara stumbled over her disease. Well with swans it was different, they didn't really bite...
"Sometimes it is unfair but I try my best to do things peacefully I can't do such a thing to my kind," Dean knew she was mostly sent to kill lawbreakers but she didn't like to just do it without question.
Castiel bit his lip as the brief scent of her jaguar energy caused something to stir inside him. "Shit..." He whispered and Dean saw the lycanthrope children turn to look at Castiel.
Dean herself could feel a strange spike in energy. "What's wrong?"
{{I think I left before Lucifer could take the power of Cerberus,}} Castiel made eye contact.
"Here hon," Dean handed Tara the dollar in tokens she had in her hand. "We just remembered we have to go home. Enjoy."
"Thank you," Tara smiled again and they left the arcade.
{{Can you control it?}} Dean didn't resist as Castiel took her hand and squeezed. She could comfort him with touch.
{{I could in Hell and Lucifer had my powers blocked,}} Castiel gave her a soft smile. {{You really helped me there.}}
{{I'm glad I can do something,}} Dean walked with Castiel down the mall toward the section of parking lot they had parked in.
{{Well your kitty woke it up so keep that to a minimum,}} Castiel gave her a wiggle of his eyebrows. {{I think we need to go home and have sex.}}
{{That's what you wanted to do before;}} Dean laughed softly in his mind as she kicked the door open and exited the mall.
{{I am a simple dog,}} Castiel shrugged. He eased up on the door to his wolf and gave a feel for the Beast. {{If I act strange to you...Tom mentioned that the mantle of Cerberus came with a little sliver of each soul that had taken it before me.}}
{{Like being possessed,}} Dean frowned. {{Tom?}}
Castiel tried to explain his thought process about Lucifer's nickname.
{{I'd have just gone with something like Dick,}} Dean found her car by pressing the alarm remote button. {{Can you get him to take it back?}}
{{I will have to try but you never know if he will be in a giving mood,}} Castiel sighed.
{{It was his damn idea,}} Dean started the car as she put on her seatbelt. {{You get into contact with him. I'll talk to him.}}
{{I can do it,}} Castiel looked over at her as she drove out of the parking lot. {{Maybe I should drive. You follow the speed limit.}}
"Speed limit?" Dean frowned her forehead wrinkled as her eyebrows knit together. "What's that?"
Castiel's eyes were drawn as if by magic when her hair shifted to bare her neck. Her bite mark called out to him like an unfinished meal.
I should just let her mark me, Castiel thought to himself trying not to lick his lips as he thought about how she reacted to the bite. If I can mark her without her knowing she could do the same and the bond would be made—
Castiel shook his head and looked away out to the freeway signs and passing billboards. What was his issue? He would never purposely trap her like that.
God he was impatient. Their sex was phenomenal now and he felt himself grow hard just thinking about fucking her after they bonded—Shit, Castiel squeezed his eyes shut as he found himself staring at her neck again.
"Something is happening," Castiel hissed as he pressed his knuckles into his closed eyelids.
"What?" Dean asked in an anxious voice.
"I am experiencing stray thoughts not like me," Castiel took a deep breath and kept trying to concentrate on something else.
Suddenly there was a spike of fear and Castiel grabbed for the seat the grip of his fingers making the leather protest. "Castiel?" She was able to guide the car off at the correct exit.
"Do not be scared…please…it is not helping."
"You just told me you'd like to fuck me after gutting me," Dean murmured softly her voice very timid.
This time Castiel heard his words emerge his voice much deeper it's usual gravely timber like boulders. "What's wrong? You'd heal and I bet you'd like it too."
