When the dust had settled she'd taken a quick trip to Elena's to confirm that everyone was still alive. They were mighty puzzled as to how they'd managed to find a fake white oak stake, but Caroline had shared in a few confused sentiments and then returned home to spend Saturday alone.

It was a little after 7 when there was a knock at the door. Liz hardly moved as Caroline peeled herself from the couch to answer it.

She opened it without thinking, and was frozen still by the figure who greeted her.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you."

"Tyler?!" She called, launching herself at him. He caught her easily, wrapping familiar hands around her waist. Burying her head in his neck, Caroline breathed in the heat of him mixed with the faint floral of laundry detergent.

"Can I come in?"

Caroline grinned as she pulled him inside by the hand. A withering eye from her mother on the couch emphasised the home rule - door open - as she whisked him into her room. "Where have you been?" She asked, narrowing her door so they could have the maximum amount of privacy possible. The quiet, muffled conversation from a chat show drifted in from the TV next door.

She turned around to face him then, taking in the tanned skin and angular sculpt of his face as he sat on her bed. It'd been a while since she'd heard his voicemail about leaving town, but she still couldn't help feeling the sinking disappointment over and over again. Because it was her who had almost died, and somehow Tyler had upped and left without so much as checking in.

Still those kind eyes were the ones which she'd fallen in love with. There was history there, but beyond that was a person, all sarcasm and spontaneity. One who could make her laugh with quick words and animated stories. One who was always welcome for family dinners with her mom. One who understood her reality and accepted it unquestioningly. And she had been in love with him. Maybe still was.

Tyler looked up at her with an easy smile, and she truly believed that he was happy to see her. "Blue Ridge, mostly. I did it, Care. No more sire bond."

"Are you serious?" She grinned back as she sat down and ran gentle fingers across clothed skin just to feel him.

"Yeah."

"How?"

Tyler's face fell at that, and with a gentle shake of his head, Caroline knew not to pry. Some things were too painful to speak about. She knew that better than most. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good. How are you?" He smiled, shaking off the tension and pressing her to lie down.

Caroline welcomed the feeling of his hand running up her thigh. In the dim light of the room, his sharp features were even more pronounced as she pressed their foreheads together. "I'm good. Does he know you're back?"

"Yes. But it's fine, he still thinks I'm…" Tyler trailed off before leaning in to lay a soft kiss against her lips.

"What'd he ask you to do?" Caroline breathed back, stroking across his cheeks before settling a hand on his jaw.

"Nothing I wouldn't do anyway." He mumbled, connecting his lips with hers once again.

It was innocent enough at first, gentle, sweet presses as her hands stroked over his shoulders, feeling thick muscles shift underneath them. And it was easy - so easy - to fall back into it. Even if she had spent weeks being pissed at Tyler, he could show up with warm smiles and familiar touches and it still felt like it did before her birthday.

Caroline could understand what he did, but forgiving was more difficult. Having her body wrapped up in his, losing herself to slick kisses was easy though. She wrapped a leg around his hip to pull him closer, teasing fingertips under his shirt and eventually licking along his lips until a hand fisted in her hair.

She flipped them quickly, disconnecting their lips for a second to smile down at him. No amount of self-care could really compare to this - a hot body pressed against hers and feeling the heat of his hands work over her leggings. Caroline hid a moan against his mouth, stroking gentle fingertips along his jaw.

The fire came fast then. Weeks of no sex, countless hours of missing him and burning hot need swept through her. The rhythm of their kisses turned deep and messy. The sharp tingling that came from grinding her hips against his was delicious, but her stifled gasp at the feeling broke the spell.

"Hey! Hey, Care…" Tyler muttered, pushing at her shoulder until she sat up. "Your mom." He said somewhat gingerly.

Caroline nodded softly, shifting to sit away from him to cool herself down. How turned on she was was a little mortifying, and while she'd never actually have gone all the way with her mom next door, being told to stop didn't do much to heal her bruised ego. "Okay, okay. Just missed you."

"I missed you. So much." Tyler soothed.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she took a moment to look at him. While he was beautiful, Caroline couldn't help but feel an unpleasant hollow in her chest.

He met her eyes with a shared sadness and the air turned heavy. Despite the droning chatter of late night TV drifting in, the quiet was painful. Tyler broke it first. "I'm really sorry, for biting-"

"It's fine. It's fine, I know." Because she did know. She knew he couldn't help but follow an order - a sire bond order. At least that's what they all said, right? It's not like she'd ever know what that felt like, she just had to take his word for it. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was just that the way he'd run away seemed a lot like an admission of guilt.

Staring him in the face in the dim light of her bedroom, Caroline realised that Tyler had shattered something between them that wouldn't be mended by slick kisses and gentle words. She wasn't sure if it could be mended at all. Or if she wanted it to be.

"I know I hurt you." Tyler said slowly, and diverting his attention to his hands. "I just need a little bit of time to… wrap my head around it."

That hit her like a hammer to the head. "What do you mean?"

"I think we should slow down a bit, Care."

"I haven't seen you in weeks, how much slower can we go?" Caroline whispered incredulously. The last thing she needed was Liz getting involved.

"Care…" Tyler breathed, looking at the ceiling.

"Are you… are you breaking up with me?" Caroline spat, wide eyed as she too looked away.

"No." He replied quickly. Too quickly. "Kind of. I just need time. I love you."

"And I love you. So what's the problem? Did Klaus tell you to break up with me?"

"What? No!"

She watched him with weary eyes, chest tight and face flushed with embarrassment of yet another rejection. Tyler wouldn't look at her. In fact, he seemed very interested by literally everything else in the room except her form. With her heart hammering, Caroline pulled her cardigan tighter around her shoulders and took a deep breath. Don't cry. Do not cry. Don't cry.

"Please just believe me. I need time. Okay?" He said softly. She really wanted to believe him, but her trust was running in short supply. Caroline had the urge to go to bed and never wake up.

"Fine. Take all the time you need. I'm sure you can see yourself out."

At being dismissed, Tyler shot up and out without so much as a look over his shoulder.

Hollowed, shocked and confused beyond all hell, Caroline crawled under the covers and let herself cry into the quiet.

"Bonnie?" Caroline called, stepping through the front door. She normally wouldn't intrude, but the rain was pouring down outside and to be frank, it'd been the worst weekend ever.

"In here." Bonnie called from the living room. "Are you okay?" She asked immediately, twisting from where she sat on the couch.

Caroline briefly considered lying, but the confusion and anxiety was too much. The words were out of her mouth before she could doubt her own judgement. "Bonnie, if I ask you something could it stay between us?"

"Of course. What's up?"

"I need you to swear it." She continued, toeing her wet shoes off before sitting on the armchair opposite Bonnie. "No one else can know."

"Care, you're freaking me out."

She could see it in Bonnie's wide eyes, and in the way she leaned forwards in her chair. Genuine, real concern. But how much could she actually tell her? Would the mention of Klaus send her reeling? Fidgeting with the skin of her fingernails, Caroline decided to air on the side of caution. "Is there a way that you can like, feel someone's pain."

"Empathy?"

"No, no. Like, if you broke your arm and I felt it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bonnie answered.

Caroline considered finding faith and praying to God, but then with a deep sigh, tried again. "Since my birthday, I keep feeling things."

Bonnie's brow furrowed and she crossed her arms as she spoke flatly. "Things. You keep feeling things."

"Things that aren't mine. Pain, emotions, it's so hard to explain."

"Care, if you need someone to talk to-"

"No Bonnie. I'm fine, okay? I just… something really weird is happening to me since I was bitten."

"Tyler? This is about Tyler?" Bonnie asked, and Caroline couldn't help the way her face fell.

Then again, Tyler was a hybrid too. Caroline hated lying, especially to Bonnie, but given the gang's track record of Klaus murder plots, best keep her only source of nutrition out of conversation for now. "…Yes. I think so."

"It kind of sounds like wolf mating."

The room was silent but for the faint sound of the rain outside. "What?" Caroline asked, trying incredibly hard to keep her tone level. Mating.

"Remember in Twilight when Jacob imprinted on-"

"You've got to be kidding."

"Not really." Bonnie continued. She chewed her lip for a moment, before walking over to the old wooden bookshelf where Grams kept her histories. "I don't know much about it. It's a part of werewolf folklore - ancient, powerful magic. I didn't think it was real."

"It doesn't sound real." Caroline confirmed, because it totally didn't. But in a world of witches, vampires, werewolves, dopplegangers and hybrids, was it really that much of a stretch? Once again her heart was beating far too fast, and she found herself grateful that Bonnie was human and didn't have the hearing to pick it up.

"It's how powerful wolves chose their partners. Apparently."

"Their partners for..?"

"Life. Mating. Procreation."

Caroline thought she was going to throw up. Her stomach jolted, sinking far lower than it had even in her conversation with Tyler the night before. Klaus. Mating. "No way."

"Why? It's possible - Tyler's crazy about you." Bonnie replied, flicking through a dusty volume and oblivious to Caroline's freak out.

"Because I'm dead. I can't… procreate?!"

"Yeah, I know. I think you're supposed to have a mark or something, where he bit you. Do you?" She asked looking up expectantly.

"No. Nothing." Caroline replied quickly.

She raked her mind back. Her memory from her birthday was foggy at best, faded in a haze of pain and buried in the weight of her impending demise. She'd bitten Klaus' wrist, though. She was almost sure of it. Had she seen it since then? He was a hybrid, wouldn't his skin just heal anyway? She couldn't remember, but she'd certainly never seen a mark.

"I don't even have the right grimoires to check, but I'll look in to it for you. It's a long shot though, Care. Is there anything else going on?"

Yeah. I can only drink his blood. He's let me bite him without batting an eyelid for the last few weeks and by the way, I really struggle to keep my clothes on around him.

"No. Nothing, just feeling weird." Caroline mustered a faint smile and stood, shifting to slip her shoes back on. "But thanks, Bon. I need to go drop something off at the station, but I'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

Without hearing an answer, Caroline stepped out into the rain. She let the door close behind her and tried to just breath for a second. Werewolf mating.

As she went to reach for her car keys, swift hands wrapped around her head. A brief, fleeting second of panic sizzled through her, before her neck made a horrific crack.

Caroline's body dropped to the floor.

"Is that all you need?" Klaus asked, tapping his fingernails against the table.

"Do you have one?"

Klaus gave her a sharp warning look. "Is that all you need?" He repeated, and his tone left no doubt as to the repercussions of her prying.

"A binding agent. Doppelgänger blood could work…" Gloria kept talking. Klaus could see her mouth moving, but he was frozen in his seat.

Sharp, brutal pain had struck around his neck just for a second, and then it was gone and all he was left with was empty dread.

He'd left Mystic Falls for just a day, just one quick run to see what Gloria had uncovered on immortality spells. He had put in place a security detail for Caroline before he'd gone, but he hadn't imagined the pain - had he?

Klaus stood without a word and ran, sprinted to his car while dialling on his phone. Caroline, no answer.

His heart pounded in his chest as hot, fresh rage surged through his veins. The wolf in him was howling, wide awake and vicious to be allowed free reign. To take him to her quicker than any car could, Klaus let it loose without hesitation.

They'd hit the Virginia state line before the burning, fierce pain ripped through their hands.

He didn't think, when he ran. Not consciously at least. Not coherently. Klaus was stuck in a jumble of mate and Caroline and constant burning pain. Above it all, the unsettling panic of a pounding heart and muscles that wouldn't relax. Fear. When was the last time that Klaus had felt genuine, horrific fear?

His wolf didn't let him linger on it. Didn't let him linger on anything. Nothing stuck long enough to develop into a thought, just fleeting, half-digested concepts flying past at a similarly rapid pace to the trees and the towns and the hills.

Despite this lack of thought, Klaus could feel so much. He could feel his wolf, not buried inside his chest anymore, but in his own head. He could feel the fatigue, the likes of which he hadn't felt before. Most importantly, he could feel her. Her own rapid heartbeat, her fear, her pain, all things he'd experienced before. But now he could feel exactly where she was and followed nothing but instinct to get him there.

He was well into town before the flashes of the red brick buildings resonated, and it wasn't until he'd rounded the football fields of the high school that he slowed.

Just as he'd entered the school grounds, the pain around his hands and mouth stopped. Frozen for just a second, Klaus felt his stomach drop before keen ears picked up footsteps.

He moved quickly, not quite sure whether it was him or the wolf navigating the labyrinth of corridors. Then, without any warning at all, Caroline was in his sight.

Klaus launched himself at her, wrapping a hand around her waist and another around her mouth. There were others around - he couldn't see them, but was sure of their presence. Whether friend or foe, he didn't care to find out.

It was five corridors before Klaus set her down, shhh-ing into her ear to try and stop her weak struggling. "It's okay." He whispered, not entirely sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. She was there. Right there in his arms. Alive and kicking. And yet paranoia ran thick in his veins.

"It's okay, it's me." He stroked down her hair, loosening his grip on her to run shaky hands over hers. Her wounds were raw and gruesome, but still she let him ghost his fingers across them.

"It's okay. You're safe." Klaus muttered, allowing himself deep inhales of her neck. There was no one close, no footsteps to be heard, no other sound but her. Her breath, her heartbeat, the shift of her clothes as she lent back against him.

"Elena…" Caroline croaked.

As tenderly as he could allow when hot licks of anger brewed inside, Klaus turned her in his arms. Her mouth was healing too, but marred and speckled with wounds from ear to ear. Vervain - the scent of it strong even with its fading potency.

Letting wild eyes trail down her body, Klaus saw no other visible injuries, but the fury at the ones already sustained was enough. "We'll save Elena. You go straight home, you stay inside. Do you understand?"

Seconds ticked by and neither moved an inch. Caroline's eyes were wide and confusion coloured her brow.

"Do you understand me?" He whispered a little louder.

Beneath his hands, Caroline shook. "Thank you." She breathed, before she ran from the hallway.

Caroline had lost track of time, but was reluctant to glance at the clock on her bedside table and her phone had been long since discarded on her vanity.

Her wounds had healed quick enough with a top up of the remaining hybrid blood from her fridge, but slicing pain had given way to dull, aching numbness. It felt a lot like waiting on execution, sitting in the darkness and waiting for news. Who was killed because of her tonight? Alaric? Elena? Stefan? Who's blood was on her hands now.

Rather than let that guilt, or the ungodly pain and terror of the past hours swarm her mind, Caroline wrapped herself in her comforter and chose to focus on something - anything - else.

Wherever her mind wandered, it always came back to him. Because dismissing all else, the bloodlust and the gifts and the pain they'd shared, Caroline had known that he'd come for her. Not Stefan, not Tyler, Klaus. Waking up with her mouth burning with vervain and pencils impaling her palms, she had known so vehemently, unequivocally, that he was coming for her. And as illogical as it was, strapped down and tortured, she'd prayed for him.

The creak of the door should have made her jump, but Caroline already knew who it was. A quick glance through the darkness confirmed it, and he stepped inside without another sound.

"You're angry." She whispered, pulling her arms tighter around herself.

She could see - even in the darkness - the blood splatters which dirtied his jacket and shirt. The metallic scent of it permeated the air.

"Not at you." Klaus said. "Do you need..?"

Caroline eyed him from beneath the mountains of blankets she'd amassed. She considered it, the taste of him, but blood was the last thing on her mind. Then she considered pushing him on why she felt his pain, but it was clear from his stance that he was tired and in no mood for that. Neither was she. "No. No, I'm okay. Thank you."

"I'll leave you be then. Goodnight, Caroline." He said shortly, before turning for the door.

"Could you stay? Please." Caroline asked on instinct. Having him standing in her room was the safest she'd felt in hours. She watched the emotions play over his face, saw his uncertainty in the way he froze up. "I don't want to be alone."

His breath was audible. "I have to get back." Tense shoulders matching his tight voice.

"Please." Caroline whispered, tense and awaiting yet another rejection. Slowly, she opening up her cocoon of blankets in silent invitation.

Klaus' eyes trailed down and into the darkness. "I'm filthy."

"I don't care."

Another second, then Klaus was shucking his jacket to drape it over the stool of her vanity.

Caroline had to fight hard to keep the relief from her expression, but the almighty sigh she gave out probably gave her away. She glanced away as his shirt was also placed on her vanity, ignoring the slow creep of flush which inevitably rose on her cheeks. She found herself too worn-out to care. As Klaus slipped under the many covers, Caroline closed her eyes to hide the tears which threatened to leak.

He didn't touch her, and she didn't touch him. Neither spoke a word, though Caroline shifted down to lie beside him. His scent was stronger now and the heat which he expelled had her kicking at least 2 of the blankets away.

They stayed that way for long, long minutes.

Then, she felt gentle fingertips pressed up against hers. That touch, that tiny touch could never be enough. Caroline scooted herself closer and let him tuck her against his chest, her head cradled up against his neck.

It was so much, the heat of him and the intensity of the scent. The echoes of pain and the aching trauma. But pressed against him, she'd never felt safer. Tears fell freely, and he made no move to stop them. No words were exchanged. No further touches had.

As the sun started to rise in the sky, Caroline let herself sleep.

Klaus let his wolf hold its mate. For just a second, he let himself forget about her betrayal.