Warning, there's some mild mature content in this chapter.

"What do you think?" Klaus asked.

Elijah shook his head. "I don't know, I can't think of a reason why someone would want her to stay away from you."

Klaus ran his fingers through his hair, he couldn't think of any reason either. Unless some old acquaintance of his was on board, someone who he have had a quarrel with. He certainly had plenty of enemies, but he couldn't imagine that any of them would be this stupid. What could they possibly hope to accomplish by threatening Viola, everyone knew that Klaus didn't care about humans. Even if someone would have seen him with her, they would have surely thought that he had just found himself a new toy.

Judging by what Viola had told him about her attacker, he was a human. But then again, Viola didn't know that there were other options, she didn't know about vampires. Sure her father had said that Kol wasn't a human, but Viola hadn't taken him seriously. Klaus wasn't planning to tell her the whole truth yet, not before she would trust him and feel safe with him. He had a lot of work to do before that would happen.

As strange as it was, she was physically very much attracted to him, he was sure of it, even if she couldn't see him. Perhaps she was drawn to him the same way than he was drawn to her; it was some kind of primal instinct. After kissing her the second time and tasting her blood, he was even more convinced that she belonged to him. He had never felt anything like it, the magnitude of his protectiveness and possessiveness of her confused him. Mine. That was all he could think about when he looked at her.

"Have you seen anyone you would recognize on board?" Klaus asked.

"No, I don't think so," Elijah replied, he seemed to understand where Klaus was going with this. "But maybe we should take a look at the passenger list."

Klaus nodded approvingly. "Good thinking. I'm sure you will have no problem to get your hands on it."

Elijah raised his eyebrows.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I can't leave Viola here by herself."

Elijah bit his bottom lip, it seemed as he would want to say something, but didn't.

"What?" Klaus snapped.

"Nothing," Elijah replied innocently. "I'll go and get the passenger list."

Klaus huffed to himself after Elijah had left, for some reason his brother's behavior really annoyed him. If Elijah had something to say, why didn't he just say it? But truth be told, Klaus knew exactly what Elijah wasn't saying out loud. His brother probably loved this, seeing Klaus caring about someone. A weakness. No, he didn't have weaknesses. What was she then? The truth was that he didn't know and it was driving him crazy. She was his; it was as simple as that. He would look after her and eventually claim her as his. What was it about her…

He sighed and poured himself a drink when a sudden scream made him to drop his glass. It was coming from the bathroom, Viola was taking a bath. She had wanted to freshen up before lunch, although Klaus had ordered it to the suite. He was in front of the bathroom door in a fraction of a second and yanked it open. Viola was lying on the floor on her stomach, she was naked. She was naked. What had happened? She was naked. Had she hurt herself? She was nak… Get a grip!

"Are you alright, love?" he asked and kneeled next to her.

"I slipped…" she muttered.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"I…No, I… Could you…"

Her face was red, she looked more than embarrassed. He picked up the towel she had apparently dropped on the floor and handed it to her.

"Thank you. Would you mind waiting outside?" she asked.

"Sure," he murmured and reluctantly walked out. Fortunately he stayed in front of the door, her cry of pain made him to zoom back in. She had tried to get up and fell down again.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked.

"My ankle," she replied.

"Alright, I'm going to lift you up."

"No, no, you don't have to…"

"Viola," he said firmly. "Do you rather want to stay on the floor?"

She hesitated and tried to wrap the towel around her.

"It's alright," he assured and scooped her up. Clearly she was uncomfortable, but he certainly weren't. He carried her to her bedroom and placed her on the bed.

"Which ankle?" he asked.

"The left," she muttered.

He sat down next to her and examined her left ankle, it was swollen. She flinched when he lifted her foot onto his lap and touched her ankle with his thumbs.

"It's not broken," he said. "Is it sore?"

She nodded. "Yes. I can't believe I was so clumsy…"

She didn't finish her sentence when he touched her ankle softly with his lips. He had no idea what the hell he was doing, her heart was beating like a drum. Her skin was warm and still wet; she was lying on her back practically naked. The animalistic side of him, the wolf side, demanded him to act, to claim her. Mine. She was breathing fast when he caressed her calf and kissed her knee.

"We shouldn't…" she muttered.

"Are you asking me to stop?" he hummed while crawling up her, tracing kisses all the way to her thigh.

"I…"

He was facing her now; he touched her bottom lip with his index finger. She blinked her beautiful eyes nervously and parted her lips, it was like an invitation.

"Tell me to stop, love."

She was obviously very nervous, but she didn't tell him to stop. Her body was reacting to his touch the same way than his was reacting to hers, there was like some kind of electricity between them. He would definitely find out what the hell this was, but not now. He leaned over and captured her mouth with his. Her lips were perfect, soft and full and she tasted like tea and honey. Mine. He tried to keep the kiss gentle, but his wolf side didn't agree, it wanted to truly taste her.

She opened her mouth as soon as his tongue touched her lips, like she would know what he was thinking. Her body was slowly melting against him as his tongue explored every part of her mouth. When he felt her breasts pressing against his ribs, he wanted nothing more than get rid of his clothes and the damn towel that was covering her body. Mine. She was kissing him back, a little clumsily at first, but she seemed to be a quick learner. He groaned when her tongue stroked his and she buried her fingers into his hair.

"Viola," he groaned and kissed the sensitive skin of her throat. She moaned when he sucked her pulse point. "Last chance, love, tell me to stop."

She didn't, instead she pressed her face against his chest and sniffed him. His eyes widened, but he didn't try to stop her, she kept inhaling his scent and sighed blissfully.

"You smell so good…"

He grinned; no woman had ever complimented his odor. He had no problem with that.

"Thank you, love."

He took her mouth with his again and was just about to get rid of the towel when Elijah's arrival ruined everything. Unfortunately Klaus hadn't closed the door to the bedroom.

"Good news, I have the passenger list…" Elijah started while marching in.

Viola's whole body tensed, like she would have just waked up from some kind of trance. She wrapped her arms around her and moved quickly away from Klaus. In that moment Klaus truly wanted to kill his brother.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Elijah said after realizing the situation. "I'll just…"

"Close the door," Klaus murmured tensely. "Viola…" he continued after Elijah had closed the door behind him.

"I would like to get dressed," she said quietly. "Please excuse me."

Klaus sighed and took her hand.

"It's alright; we weren't doing anything wrong…"

She shook her head.

"I don't… I can't understand… I don't want you to think…"

"I don't," he assured. "I respect you."

"Why?" she muttered. "After I acted like…"

"Hey," he said and moved closer to her. "We weren't doing anything wrong."

She was quiet for a long while, apparently trying to understand what had just happened. He wasn't sure if he understood it any better, but he knew that he wanted more. He needed more. The wolf needed more. He leaned towards her and kissed her cheek like a gentleman, although his thoughts were anything but gentlemanly.

"I'll get some ice for your ankle."