The line went dead. Katherine's voice no longer occupied Antonia's ear, Klaus' lips moved from her earlobe to whisper, "What time would you like to leave tomorrow love?"
As soon as the last word left his lips Klaus suckled at her neck leaving her breathless as she welcomed the warm attack.
Her mind was going fuzzy, her head hurt trying to keep track of what was happening, her core was almost on fire, warmth was spreading throughout her body sending her head floating.
Antonia stepped forward and away from Klaus for a moment shrugging off her jacket letting it flop onto the marble foyer. The clink of her jacket's buttons on the ground echoed throughout the house.
The staff had gone home for the night, Hybrids still stood watch outside the mansion but no one was in the house other than them. Klaus and Antonia looked at each other just taking the time to appreciate what they both saw before them.
Antonia transfixed on his eyes, she stepped forward to Klaus. His cologne overwhelmed Antonia's senses. Placing a hand on his chest Antonia looked up at him through her lashes.
Klaus' larger hand wrapped around the one his mate had placed on his chest, "You're shaking love". It almost sounded like a question.
Antonia looked down at her hand in his, she was shaking like a leaf, "Oh" she murmured as she made a little fist trying to stop the shakes. She swallowed audibly, clearly the shakes had shaken her. The desire that they felt moments before was no longer present as concern coated Klaus.
"Today has been busy for you-"
"I feel fine, I'm probably just hungry or something" Antonia reasoned out loud putting a smile on.
Klaus huffed at being interrupted glaring at the wall instead of his mate, he continued when she finished her sentence, "Hybrids don't shake, not like that," Klaus informed Antonia who just shrugged.
"Today has been a busy day for you, and Abby wanted you to take it easy. That's my fault I should of-"
"Your fault?"
"Let me finish" Klaus said sternly.
Antonia huffed glaring at the wall, she pulled her tiny fist from his hand gesturing for Klaus to continue. Planting her hands on her hips Antonia listened to Klaus. Her pulling away despite them still standing incredibly close made Klaus' inner wolf irritated, that his mate wanted some sort of distance between them.
"It is my fault, I shouldn't have given you the task of helping out my Hybrids, so if you want to go tomorrow then you're going right to bed"
Silence.
"Love, I'm just trying to make sure you are taking care of yourself"
"I know I just didn't like that authoritative tone and the fact you think you letme do something" Antonia said snapping her eyes to meet his. Splinters of gold peaked through in Antonia's normally gray eyes.
"Please love"
"Fine, but I'm hungry. And we still have to figure out what time we're going to leave tomorrow" Antonia conceded as she started to make her way up the stairs.
"Where are you going, I thought you were hungry?"
"I am that's why I'm going to get ready for bed and you're going to get me a sandwich or something" Antonia sweetly said as she walked up the remaining stairs stopping at the top to call down that they would leave whenever she woke up in the morning.
The morning came faster than either of them had thought. Klaus' arms were wrapped tightly around Antonia's waist as she shifted feeling her body waking up.
"Klaus" Antonia softly said as she tried to free herself, "Let's get up" her voice a little louder now. She reached forward for the edge of the bed to pull herself from his grasp.
The still asleep man did not let up, keeping his iron grip intact. She had awoken feeling refreshed and even more in tune with herself and her inner wolf but this battle with her sleeping mate to let her be free in order to start her day was starting to tire her.
Antonia glanced at the clock on the bedside table, it was nearly 10. She started to pull harder on the side of the bed, "Klaus let me go" she said a little louder.
A chuckle soon reached her ears, her head snapped back to see Klaus laughing away at her.
"That was utterly adorable my love" Klaus said between laughs at his girl who was playfully glaring at him.
"Oh, come on let's get up, I'm excited to show you my home" Antonia said breaking into a smile. It felt very much like a normal thing, the moment felt very domestic and Antonia's heart beat fast at that thought.
Quick showers, clothes, breakfast, and a few commands to the Hybrids on duty today and the pair were off in Klaus' SUV. Klaus sat in the driver's seat, the wind coming through the open windows blew his slight curls back. Antonia couldn't help but reach out run her hands through his still damp hair.
The seatbelt stretched as she leaned across the center console resting her head on Klaus' shoulder. The music played soft as the sun beat down on the blacktop.
"I'm sorry, I was a little off it last-"
"Don't apologize my love, everything is in adjustment, we're both figuring things out" His grip tightened on the steering wheel but
"That was a lot more self-reflective than I thought you'd take that" admitted Antonia giggling as she glanced looked up at him.
The trip lapsed into silence as they drove, occasionally Antonia would point out things they passed, telling stories about the time she stopped there or just pointing out cows as all people do on road trips.
It was nearing four in the afternoon; the sun beat down heating the car that was slowly baking them.
The pair had pulled over at a little mom and pop sandwich shop. Once seated in the booth Klaus spoke after the waitress took their order, "This feels very familiar doesn't it? Sitting across from you, road tripping?"
"That's very true but don't be thinking I'll be going hiking anytime soon!" Klaus laughed remembering how irritated Antonia was climbing those hills not that long ago.
"Did you know there was something between us then?", Antonia asked poking the lemon in her water with her straw, "I mean we've never talked about how you knew really"
"I had my suspicions, there would be energy, electric shocks almost if you would when you touched me, but I didn't know for sure what it meant until Gloria mentioned something to me as we were leaving about energy between us and black magic in you", studying her face as he spoke it was evident that Antonia was taking it all in.
"You're very quiet when you process things love, speak to me, what are you thinking?", Klaus urged her.
"I'm just taking it all in, my life feels so complete right now, just exactly what it's meant to be, I used to think I would forever be stuck living the same low-profile life alone and now…"
"Now the world is your oyster, I'll take you wherever you want to do whatever you like, Rome, Tokyo?"
"I'm good with here for right now but maybe later?" She suggested wiggling her eyebrows.
Klaus' hand slid across the table grasping Antonia's in his, she looked up at him. "This feels pretty bloody right to me, what I felt when you touched me is a thousand times greater now, you've shocked my heart awake"
They met halfway over the table to share a sweet kiss just before their waitress came with their food.
After a sweet ending of lunch Antonia had managed to convince Klaus to let her drive who had surprisingly fell asleep once the AC filled the car for the last few hours. Antonia hummed a tune, one of her own original songs, that kept her sane during the last few hours until she pulled the car into the drive of her home.
The area North Carolina was quite residential and screamed suburbia. The little pale blue house was set back from the road hidden by tress steaming with traditional carpenter style.
Klaus watched Antonia as she traced the edges of the counters and tables making her way to the back of the house.
"I have so many fond memories here"
"Tell me about them" he gently urged her, hoping to get a glimpse inside who she was before.
"Outside on that tire swing" gesturing out the back window to the old willow tree, "I made the decision to find you. To search for you until I found you, my true mate" Her fingers danced on the glass as if outside was but just a picture. "I remembering calling out to the universe asking how I was supposed to go on living like this, alone, day after day all the same hoping no one noticed that I didn't change, and then a humming bird appeared in front of me. The little guy just … just stayed there flying in front of me for what felt like the longest time. Just looking at me, staring at me, I never felt so seen as I did in that moment" Antonia paused placing her hand over her heart as if trying stop it from beating so fast, "But then another one appeared and they went off together, I remembering feeling like I could breathe once they were gone. I had never seen a hummingbird in the backyard or anywhere near the area before that day. I took it as a sign that to get out of this continuous loop that was my life and to truly be happy I had to find you"
Her black curls flew out around her as she turned to see Klaus' face.
"My favorite thing to sketch are humming birds" Klaus offered as he thought about what she had told him. His eyes appeared glazed over as he started into Antonia's eyes. Pulling her into a hug as they relished in each other's presence.
"I wish I had searched for you"
"I don't I don't think I was ready for this, for us back then"
The rest of the day was spent going through her room, picking and choosing what she wanted to take with them. While Antonia was very much attached to her home, the things in it weren't too special or sentimental to her. Half the stuff was Katherine's anyways. All Antonia chose were a few novels, various pieces of jewelry and a few note books from her song writing days which they had packed into the car.
It was still sunny when they were finished so they ended up just lying under the willow tree sun bathing until the sun went down. Antonia with no surprise to Klaus fell asleep in his arms and he gently carried to the house her once he saw her shiver starting to get cold. On the way up the stairs the front door opened revealing Katherine who was just coming home.
"Katherine"
"Klaus"
"Tomorrow-"
"I'm tired and I know your ass isn't going to try to kill me because of our dearest so if you'd excuse me I'm exhausted from my long day. I'll talk to Toni in the morning" Katherine said as she sashayed away to her own room.
Huffing at the doppelgänger Klaus continued upstairs, nestled Antonia into her bed sliding in after her into his own slumber.
AN: sorry its been so long, ive dealing with my mental health. hope you enjoy
