Eventually Klaus unraveled his body from hers and slid from her sheets. As he dressed himself he briefly considered leaving a note, but his mind kept creeping back to her involvement in the Kol set-up and so decided against it. He knew he couldn't hold it over her head forever - his wolf and the soulmate mark scarred on his wrist wouldn't let him. Still, the sting of disloyalty from his mate burned, and he found himself quite happy to hold the petty grudge for a little longer.

The sun was shining through cracks in the drawn curtains and Klaus spend several minutes watching her sleep. She was so peaceful, so safe, and he was content to see the her skin healed and unmarred.

The threat had been contained and after a prolonged and bloody feeding session to recover from his cross-country trek followed by a dazed few hours in Caroline's bed, Klaus' top priority was to ensure that those responsible would pay. He didn't have to wait long.

Sharp ears listened to the quick crunch of the grass outside, and since Liz had already headed to work an hour prior, Klaus moved to meet the trespasser on the porch.

Tyler startled at the sight of him. "Klaus?"

Klaus had no time for pleasantries, and while violence was a primal instinct, it wouldn't do to have Caroline's sleep disturbed. Instead he joined his hands behind his back and observed the young wolf with stoicism. "Where were you?"

Tyler didn't flinch, but met his gaze with a sigh. "I was… Look I came as soon as I heard, okay? Is she alright?"

Long beats passed as Klaus debated the merits of tearing out his voice box. "Alive." He replied.

Tyler ran a hand through his hair before trying to side step to reach the door.

Klaus mirrored his step easily, placing a death grip on his shoulder. "Wouldn't try that if I were you."

"I'm her boyfriend." Tyler growled, trying to shrug it off.

Klaus suppressed the vicious growl from his wolf with a wide grin. Tightening his grip until red swells of blood spread through Tyler's shirt. He didn't flinch, though Klaus could hear the grinding of his teeth. "Let me make something very clear, mate. You are nothing." Klaus snarled as he lifted his hand, wiping the smears of red on his jacket.

"And what about you, huh?" Tyler spat, stepping back. "She doesn't want you, Klaus."

He moved quickly then, grasping a hand around Tyler's neck to press him up against the pillar. The younger wolf hissed and pushed back, and while his strength wasn't near the Originals, Klaus couldn't help but think that he'd have made a fine beta. If only he weren't such a treacherous cretin. "I'll ask you one more time. Where were you?"

Tyler eyed him warily. "I was with Hayley."

"You were with Hayley." Klaus repeated.

"Not like that! She-"

"Would you like to know what he did to her? Shall I show you? Maybe Hayley could help me demonstrate." Klaus kept his voice low and measured. His grip was tight on Tyler's neck. While every instinct was telling him to tear out his heart and be done with it, Klaus knew that it would only drive Caroline further away. With Tyler dead, she'd never get to see him for what he truly was. No, he needed Tyler alive, at least for a little longer. "You broke your sire bond. And here, I thought we had something special."

"I'd rather claw my eyes out than be sired to you."

"That could be arranged." Klaus smiled again, all dimples and terrifying glee. Then the smile fell away, and all that was left was glowering hatred. He'd been so close to losing his mate, all because Tyler couldn't keep a promise. "All I asked was that you keep her safe. I leave for half a day and she's taken. It was vervain, a little gore, some psychological torture."

"I didn't know Alaric would go off the rails."

"Neither did I, but I certainly wouldn't have left her side for another worthless mutt." Klaus growled back, mentally running through all the quiet ways he could hurt Tyler. The ones which appealed most were slow and bloody, but none would fly given their location.

"Watch your mouth." Tyler grunted.

"Or what?" He challenged. "You live because she wishes you to live and for no other reason."

It was Tyler's turn to smile now. He always was a hotheaded idiot. "All this, and she still wants me."

Klaus' wolf snapped wild and vicious in his chest. In a split second, his fingers were buried in the other wolf's throat, making satisfying gurgling sounds against his jugular. "Are you sure? All it'd take is a slip of the tongue for Caroline to know all about your little friend from the mountains." Without warning he retracted his hand, once again wiping the blood on his jacket. Klaus observed Tyler for a second, hunched over and grasping at his throat as it healed. "You're lucky she's alive. I'd have made it slow." Then he kneeled down to grab at Tyler's chin. When the other wolf met his eye, Klaus spoke once more. "Disappoint her again and I'll make you eat your intestines. Now don't forget about the other part of our bargain, hmm? Time is ticking." And with that, Klaus left.

Caroline skipped school in favour of driving to the Mikaelson mansion. She couldn't handle the thought of pitying eyes following her through the school day, nor sitting in the classroom where it had all happened.

She'd woken alone and disappointed in herself - she'd had Klaus so close, so exposed, and yet had completely forgotten to check his arm for a mark in the flurry of trauma. Still, with no sight of Klaus in her kitchen or his blood in the fridge that morning, Caroline steeled herself to finally lay her cards on the table.

Kol greeted her at the door - thankfully clothed this time, but no less irritating. "Hello beautiful."

"Is Klaus in?"

"I see his manners are rubbing off on you." He smirked making no move to step away from the door.

Caroline stilled, listening closely for a heartbeat or shifting fabric. She could hear noise from within the mansion - plenty of it, maybe seven or eight people - but she knew, she just knew that he wasn't inside. "He's not here." She breathed, more to herself than Kol.

"Worked it out, did you?" He grinned back.

He'd opened his mouth to give another snarky comment, but Caroline cut across. "Where?"

Kol rolled his eyes, but spoke with seriousness. "You tell me."

"I d-" Caroline started, but staring back at his unwavering gaze, she felt it. Not exactly, not with any kind of certainty past direction, but she simply knew that if she moved to her left, she'd find him eventually. With a half nod, Caroline turned and started walking.

She was well off the forest track by the time she felt him near. Another twenty yards or so, and then she could see his figure. "Klaus?"

"Caroline." He replied with his back to her. Then he was gone, leaving a flurry of leaves in his wake.

Caroline grumbled before taking off after him. She stopped just short of where he had slowed to a walk. "Are you not even the least bit curious as to why I'm here?"

"Curiosity killed the cat." Klaus muttered, eyeing the leaves above their heads.

"Good thing you're a wolf then."

"Quite. Need I remind you that one bite would be deadly?" And once again, he took off.

The next time she caught up with him, they were deep into the forest. The trees above danced in vibrant shades of green, and the singing of the birds was clear. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?" She asked, walking in quick paces at his flank.

"Usually when one walks away, they do not wish to be followed." He replied without sparing her so much as a glance.

"Yeah well, consider this payback." Caroline quipped, but Klaus made no indication of slowing. At wits end, Caroline reached for his hand. "Hey?! Stop! I need to talk to you."

Klaus retracted his hand like he'd been burned, but turned to face her all the same. His eyes met hers, and he couldn't help but engage. She was persistent as all hell and feisty too, but Klaus softened at the stress playing on her brow and the dark shadows under her eyes which undermined her facade. "You gave up the right to information when you decided to kill my family."

The truth about the stakes was right on the tip of her tongue but Caroline couldn't bring herself to tell him. What would he do for the last remaining white oak stake? Torture her? Starve her out? Maybe go after someone close to her instead? There were too many ways for that to go horribly wrong, and she wasn't prepared to hand over the one piece of leverage she had so easily. Instead she ground her teeth together and clenched her fists.

"For the last time, I didn't." She said. After a long beat passed, Caroline chortled, throwing her hands in the air. "But clearly you'll never trust me enough to believe me, so go ahead and tell me what can I do to acquit myself?"

Once again, Klaus was stunned into silence as she used his own words against him. While he had quite enjoyed brewing in the rage of betrayal, he hadn't thought through the aftermath.

Frustrated by his lack of reaction, Caroline stepped closer. "What can I do, Klaus? Because everyone is keeping secrets and acting weird and I don't need it from you too." Her voice cracked.

Neither moved. Under his gaze, Caroline felt exposed and uncomfortable, and as time passed she considered leaving him alone.

Then he spoke. "I want your confession."

Caroline shook her head, simpering at his request. "My confession? I didn't do anything. Confession about what?"

"Me." Klaus breathed, seeing the smile fade from her cheeks. Keen ears prickled at the upturn in her heart rate, and he found himself both gratified and tense because of it. "I want your honesty, Caroline. I want to know what you feel - what you want."

"That's ridiculous." She dismissed, but Klaus didn't move. Caroline found herself struggling for words, torn between quashing the conversation and desperately, desperately needing to understand the last few weeks. Taking in the challenging rise in his eyebrow, she relented. "If you'll be honest with me, I will be honest with you. No lies, no omissions. You want the truth and so do I."

"Okay."

"Do you have a mark?" She asked without hesitation, noting the widening of his eyes.

Klaus took careful steps towards her until she was within arms reach. "This doesn't sound like a confession, love."

Pulling her hands up to create some kind of barrier, Caroline shook her head softly. The last thing she needed was to catch the scent of him right now. "Please, Klaus. Please, God. Just answer the question and I will answer yours. Truthfully."

The way his jaw tensed told her everything she needed to know. "Bonnie was right." The weight of it dawned quickly on Caroline, and she ran a hand through her hair and swayed on her feet. "She was right, wasn't she?"

"What did the Bennett witch tell you?" His voice was measured, but Klaus drew his hands behind his back.

"Show me." Caroline demanded.

Klaus' nostrils flared in challenge."Tell me."

"And you'll show me?"

"Stop trying to bargain."

"But you just-" Caroline started, but with a snarl Klaus pulled back his sleeve. It felt as though the air had been drawn from her lungs. Wide eyes traced the raised, pearly white of scar tissue around his wrist. Her first instinct was to touch it, to feel the skin where her teeth had left such an impact. Her hands were already floating in the air before she gained the nod of his head in consent to touch.

Klaus bit back his words, instead measuring her reaction as gentle hands took his arm. The trail of her fingertips along his mark had him suppressing a shudder and by the way Caroline gasped, she had felt it too.

"Why won't it heal?" She asked softly.

"Because it is a mating mark. It's quite permanent."

"But I didn't mean to…"

"No. I didn't mean for you to either."

Caroline let go of his arm, crossing her own in front of her chest. "What does it mean?"

Klaus considered his word choice for a while, before setting his gaze on her. She was quite beautiful in the shaded bright of the forest, with sunshine finding a path through the leaves to catch in the light of her hair. All unmarred skin and pastel colours. "…My wolf wants you."

"Your wolf?" She repeated.

"I'm a werewolf."

"Yes. Your wolf wants me?"

"Yes."

"But you don't."

Klaus watched the faltering of her reserve, the tensing of her shoulders, the furrow of her brow. It didn't sit well in his chest, her melancholy. "I didn't say that." He answered quietly.

"Can I speak with him, please?" Caroline asked, and she could see the confusion play out in his face. "Your wolf." She clarified. "I can't get a straight answer out of you, so might as well try the canine."

"It doesn't work like that, love."

"Then how does it work? Explain it to me."

"I'm still working it out myself."

"But it's separate? From you."

"Yes."

Caroline nodded once more. When she had first been turned it had often felt like her monster was a separate being entirely. While in more recent days they'd become more synonymous, she could understand the sensation. Her heart rate slowed now that she knew that they could talk freely - that he wouldn't run away.

Reaching over, she lifted his arm to run a touch over his mark. Sharp electric tingles shot through her spine and she found herself quite partial to the feeling. Caroline stroked over again and again, before sighing out. "What does it mean?"

"You're mine." Klaus said quite simply, allowing himself the simple pleasure of her touch.

"I'm going to need more than that. What do you mean?" She asked, meeting his eye though her hand stayed covering his mark.

Klaus longed to reach out and touch her. Stroke fingers through her hair or breath in the spot on her neck where she sprayed perfume. His wolf did too, and in his chest he felt it alert and interested. Instead of giving in, he stayed very skill. "Mating marks are as ancient as werewolves are. They are the way that wolves find a compatible mate, a true equal, a soulmate, if you will."

"A soulmate." Caroline repeated, before smiling away her disbelief once more. "I'm not your mate."

"Fate would suggest otherwise." Klaus rebutted at her rejection. "I didn't chose you, Caroline. You were chosen for me."

"You tried to kill me." She accused, lifting her hand once more as if to check that his skin underneath was still scarred.

"Yes."

"And then you saved me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I knew it would hurt me if you died. I could feel it. So I…" Klaus trailed off. He could feel her confusion and it frustrated him to no end. "When a werewolf finds their soulmate, they mark each other. A biological instinct, a sign that they are taken and a permanent tie to another being. The magic is quite potent, but I'm sure you can already feel that. Why? I can't answer. It's a weakness, I suppose, that every wolf's heart lies within another."

Caroline listened without interrupting, but as he stopped the question came quickly. "And you think it's me?"

"I know it's you."

"No. That's ridiculous. I'm not even a wolf."

"I don't claim to understand the curse, but I was marked by you, Caroline." It was gnawing at him, the disbelief on her face and the constant rebuttal. "Tell me I'm wrong." Klaus said as his eyes flitted around the woods. He wondered what she was thinking. He longed more than anything to understand what this felt like for her, to see if the hollow she felt in her gut matched his own in intensity. "Tell me that you don't crave my blood above all others. Tell me that you don't feel when I am hurt, or happy or angry like I do you. Tell me that you don't feel tied to me. Think about it, love. From the second you sunk your teeth into my skin, we've been bound."

Caroline opened her mouth to speak more than once but struggled to find the words. Because she had felt it and still was feeling it. Even as she stood in front of him, she yearned for a taste. She could feel his aching sadness and the lingering electricity of their touches. Caroline wasn't a fool, and while people could lie, cheat and deceive to play with her emotions, the way she felt down in her core could never be trickery. "Will it feel like this forever?" She asked, trying to settle her fangs away.

"No. This is incomplete. The side effects are designed to produce a mated pair."

"You have to mark me?"

"Yes."

"And then?"

"It would be easier."

"But not gone." Caroline stated. Klaus tilted his head to the side just a fraction in confirmation. She studied him then. The dark clothing and array of necklaces, the scruff of stubble and bow of his lips. Handsome by any book. Tall and far stronger than his lithe form would indicate. "You… you really think I'm your soulmate."

"I know you are."

But of course it wasn't just his physicality, it was his being. His past. All the atrocities she'd heard of were enough to turn her stomach - and what of the ones she hadn't heard yet? His present too, the way he used and abused people. Keeping his own family in coffins, enslaving wolves and forcibly changing them into hybrids, not to mention his complete disregard for human life. Then there was the future. The terrifying future, and she knew nothing of what he had planned but was quite sure that it would be horrific.

Caroline watched him and tried to picture the figure in front of her committing all those crimes. Tried to rationalise in her brain that she wasn't safe, and that she shouldn't be alone with him. Still, she was helpless to the feeling of being completely and utterly secure when in his presence. "You've done terrible things. You're a murderer and a liar and-"

"I wouldn't hurt you. I won't." Klaus said exactly what she was thinking, and it frightened Caroline how well he could read her. "Those people you call friends - Stefan, Damon Salvatore - are they any different?"

"They don't do that anymore. I-" She was stopped by Klaus' groan."-There is no escaping this, Caroline! No spell on earth to undo it, no loophole, no running away. Thousands have tried."

"I have a choice. We all have a choice." She growled, squaring up to him without hesitation.

Klaus grinned wide at that, her irritation, her guts, her fire. "Do you? Can you live without me?" He asked, and the dark vein which flashed under her eye before she swallowed it back down gave her away. She was hungry - it'd been far too long since she'd fed from him not to be. He made no move to sate her, even when the twinges of burning started to creep into his own throat. "What did you want from your ideal mate, Caroline? Power? Ambition? Possessiveness?"

"Not being a murderer would be a start."

"But it doesn't bother you." Klaus reasoned. "You've never been scared of me. Not once."

Caroline didn't have a comeback to that. Instead, she closed her eyes and took in deep breaths before asking, "How much can you feel?"

Klaus didn't respond, but when Caroline opened her eyes she understood.

"You felt it. What he did to me." She whispered, lifting her hands.

His silence was confirmation and his gaze was broken by what looked to be remorse. All this time, he'd felt what she felt. Not just with Alaric, but for weeks. "Why didn't you tell me? How long have you known?" Caroline hissed.

"Since your birthday. Would you have believed me?"

"No."

"You would have told your friends."

"So?"

Klaus wanted to hiss back at her, to fight her for having meddling, conniving allies who would be quick to sell her out. But that would mean explaining exactly why that was dangerous and he wasn't sure if she could be trusted with that information yet. Not when his life was tied to hers by a mating mark. Not when she was such an easy target. Klaus had no doubt whatsoever that her so called friends would be happy to sacrifice Caroline if it meant ending him. No, best to keep that reality to himself until she saw them for what they really were.

The birds chirping in the trees broke the tension and Klaus took a moment to admire their beautiful surroundings before settling his attention back on her. "You've had enough answers for now. I want your confession."

"This can't be happening." She groaned.

Klaus smiled at that, playful in his laughter before stilling. "Tell me, Caroline. I want to know everything. What you feel, what you want. I just want you to be honest with me"

Long seconds stretched in the silence. Then, with a gentle shake of her head Caroline's brow creased. "I'm in high school. I'm building a life of myself. I have plans and a future and things that I want and none of those things involve you, okay? None of them."

Klaus and his wolf both felt the bitterness of her dismissal. With her words, they both sank into hopelessness and Klaus felt the desperate urge for violence to soothe his pain. "I see-"

"-No you don't." She interrupted, raising her voice. For the first time in weeks, Caroline didn't feel like it was too much. Her mind settled and things made sense. The cravings and the feelings and the desperate, desperate need to have him close. "I find myself wishing that I could forget about all of the awful things that you've done, or care about them enough to stop seeing you." The words flowed freely and Caroline kept her eyes trained on his for any hint of deception. "Because yes, I feel what you feel, and yes, your blood is the best frickin' thing I've ever tasted, and yes, I hate myself for the truth, so if you promise me that you're telling the whole story - everything you know - with no omissions, I will be honest with you. If you're being honest when you say that there is no way out of this - then I will be honest with you about what I want."

Klaus was thunderstruck. Some kind of hope caught tight in his chest, and while there was still so much to tell her, he was reluctant to change the track she was on. "I promise." He breathed back. "You are my soulmate, Caroline. No amount of magic can undo this. I swear this is the truth."

Caroline watched him for another second. Her mind was made up. Eyes flitted down once more to his arm which bore her mark and she was stirred by how it made her feel, her mark on his skin. She wanted to touch it again, to get lost in everything he offered and drown in how he made her feel. Safe. Wanted. Worthy. With his eyes trained on hers, she felt powerful, and Caroline wanted to feel that for as long as she could. Most of all though, she desperately wanted to taste his darkness and see how it mixed with her own - to devour flesh and blood and feel it soothe the hollow in her gut.

She took a soft step forward until she was inches from him. Caroline could feel his heat, his breath on her cheek, the power beneath the tense muscles he was holding in. She could feel him, right down to her core.

"Good." She whispered, before pressing slick lips against his own.