Sedona, 2016

"Iced water? Really?" Klaus swishes the glass in his hand, the ice cubes clanking the walls making a brisk sound.

"No matter what you say, dude, I'm not serving you alcohol anymore." Mason shrugs, "at this rate you'd be drunk before late afternoon," he lowers his voice, "and we so don't need a drunken wolf running around terrorizing this town. Plus you are driving."

Klaus snorts at that, but takes a sip at the water nonetheless, "I'll have you know my capacity for liquor is quite impressive. It's a decent substitute for anesthesia."

Discreet as they managed to keep, the pack still got into their fair share of battles during the years. It's not always a wise choice to just pop into the local hospital with bloody clothes and massive wounds on your body. Fortunately for them, werewolves heal faster than normal human and their tolerance for pain is significantly higher. So when it comes to the inevitable, several nights of good sleep and plenty of alcohol would do the trick just fine.

"Do you guys fight a lot?" Mason asks a bit concerned, "I used to run with a pack for some time and it was really just living like recluses in deep mountains."

Klaus shakes his head, "not particularly. But our pack is a fairly old one." Sneering, he twirls the glass in his hand, "and generations of enemies don't just vanish into thin air, do they? It doesn't help that we are still growing and like it or not this kind of power draws attention."

"What kind of enemies? Humans? Witches? Or those damned blood suckers?" Mason looks genuinely curious, "I'm pretty out of the loop. Almost spent my whole life here."

Klaus huffs a laugh, "you know how humans are. They only see what they believe and nowadays they hardly believe anything. More often than not the ones we run into just think we are a bunch of crazy hippies on a spiritual trip or something. Works fine with us."

Mason laughs out loud, "oh I can so imagine that happening."

Klaus shrugs in humor and continues, "and witches aren't so bad. They are sketchy for sure," he should know-if he isn't mistaken Ayanna is one, though she tried to hide it from him, "but they don't care much about wolves. Usually we just go our separate ways." He sets his glass on the counter, his face now grim, "it's the vampires that are really annoying."

"I never liked vampires." Mason makes a disgusted face, "although to be fair I haven't met that many. For a bunch of night creatures they blend in surprisingly well. But the ones I've encountered are not so pleasant to be with. Think they are superior or something. I mean, come on, you are dead. How superior can that be?"

"It's not the attitude that repels me." Klaus grins darkly, "with proper means anyone can drop their attitude, sooner or later." He ignores Mason's face that clearly says "you are being scary again", going on with his speech, "but vampires are fickle. They can never be trusted." He takes a sip of his water, chewing one of the ice chips with an ominous crunch.

"You look like you are speaking from experience." Mason watches him closely, as if deep in thought.

Klaus ponders for a while. It was a long time ago, but whenever he thought about it a cold rage still crept into his chest. "There was this vampire from Mystic Falls, Damon Salvatore." He spits the name out in disdain, "about fifty years ago our pack got into a fight with him. Turned out pretty bad for both sides. So eventually they agreed on a truce. Damon left town soon after-the humans were starting to get suspicious."

"I'm guessing he didn't abide by the agreement?"

Klaus sneers, "the minute he came back he decided to pick on our pack."

He still remembered those first days when Damon appeared out of the blue. When they didn't have any idea it was him. After one full moon they started to lose pack members. Every night there would be one of them going missing, and the next morning they'd find the corpse deserted in the woods, drained of blood. It was more like a sick game than a revenge, one they were dragged into blindfolded and defenseless.

The whole pack was shrouded in a fog of horror. Not knowing who would be the next, not knowing what they could do to stop it.

It was Caroline who found out about the identity of the murderer. Klaus hadn't known that she had befriended one of the vampire hunting council (a lot of them weren't aware of the council in the first place) in town but that connection got them the information they needed. Their old enemy from half a century ago came back and apparently had gone back on his own words.

"So what happened then?" Mason asks with a somber expression, probably sensing the direction this is going.

Wolves rarely hold grudges. They seek revenge on the spot, regardless of the price.

Klaus' voice is devoid of emotions, "I bit him on the next full moon."

"You? As in, alone?" Mason stares at him in shock, "and your alpha was okay with that?"

Klaus raises one eyebrow, slightly surprised that Mason knows his alpha that well just from their fairly short conversation. But Caroline seems to leave that much of an impression on people. "She wouldn't be Caroline if she'd just accepted." He fingers the rim of his glass, a small smile curling up the corners of his lips like a tiny ripple in still water, quietly spelling out something hidden deep beneath, "but we found our own ways of working things out."

They always did.

Mystic Falls, 2010

Klaus woke up with his body hurting all over. It wasn't just the dull ache of bones stitching back together after a full moon, which he would recognize even in a state of stupor-it felt almost like a safe blanket to him these days, signaling the end of another round of torture. But this time there was something different, burning sensations on his arms, legs and chest.

And with that came the memories of last night. He mentally grinned recalling Damon's face when he bit into his shoulder, cold fear snaking into his features ruining the ever-so-taunting façade. It was well worth the fierce battle he'd gone through and the few wounds he now bore.

At least he came out alive. Couldn't say the same about his adversary.

He slowly opened his eyes, pushing the covering sheet aside to examine himself. There were some bruises and scratches on his limbs, probably from when Damon threw him into his furniture, nothing serious. The only worrisome wound was the big gash across his chest and the deep hole into his side at the end of it-the asshole had sliced him with his fire poker, damn him-but it was already closed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." A cold voice sounded quietly from his right side.

Only then did Klaus realize he wasn't alone in the room. Turning to the direction of the voice he found Caroline standing at the window with her back to him.

"Nice job getting yourself all bruised and battered by the way. Very fatal-looking. Really earns you the sympathy points." Her arms were crossed in front of her chest like they always did when she was angry, but her fingers curled around her torso tightly as if holding herself, her knuckles dead-white.

Klaus sighed, trying to sit up, but hissed at the stab of pain in his side.

"Stay right there. If you dare move a finger I swear I'll wolfsbane you till you are literally putty in my hands." She finally turned around to face him. Despite the hostile tone and the cold expression she just looked tired, her face pale and hair a mess. "After all that's what you did to me."

"Love, I'm really sorry but I did it for-" Klaus rushed to explain, but Caroline cut him off with a single look.

"I know why you did it." She said quietly, her voice reminding Klaus of snow cliffs before an avalanche, silent and still like some vacuum space where sounds didn't travel, with cataclysmal energies boiling just beneath the surface, "for my protection. For the safety of the pack. For the perfection of your plan. I get it." she smirked humorlessly, "just like you knew I would shut your little plan to hell if I had a say in it. I would be worried sick for you. I would feel betrayed and untrusted and helpless."

The dim greyish light casting from the window outlined her face, and for the first time in so long Klaus felt chilled to the bones. He expected shouting and finger-pointing and foot-stomping, which he all deserved, but not this icy rage and…bitter sadness.

"We do know each other well, don't we?" Caroline huffed, pacing close to him, "but in spite of everything you knew, you still chose to do it." Her voice cracked a little, but she quickly recovered, not ready to forsake her mask just yet, "what were you thinking, Klaus? What were you thinking when you left me unconscious in transition and went on your suicide mission?"

Klaus stuttered a little, "well I…wouldn't exactly call it suicide sweetheart. It was a full moon. I had a fairly big advantage on him."

Caroline was now at the side of his bed. She looked down at him with fire in her eyes, her voice finally raising, "I found you at the side of the road, no more than half a mile from his house, bleeding like crazy and completely out of it." She threw her hands into the air, "what if he followed you? What if some human caught you in your wolf form? What if no one found you?"

"I knew you'd come for me as soon as the wolfsbane wore off." He never doubted it.

Caroline scoffed at him, "so after your stupid martyr act you trusted me? Well too little and too late." she turned to look outside the window, her hands balled into fists, "and plus, what if I didn't get there in time? It's going to snow. You could die from the loss of blood and cold weather. All while I waited to get rid of the wolfsbane that you put in my system!"

Klaus felt his own frustration rising. Her anger provoked him, but her hidden fear and desperation agitated him more. He shot back defiantly, "a shot of wolfsbane is better than a hand ripping out your heart, love. If I had allowed you to come with me as you initially planned the one lying here or even dying could have been you!"

"Allowed me?" Caroline exclaimed, her brows almost shot into her hairline, "I'm sorry I don't remember asking your permission to work with you as a team. I don't need your permission to fulfill my duty to the pack, to protect the people I love or to be there when my jerk of a boyfriend is facing grave danger!"

"If it comes to your safety then damn right you don't have my permission!" Klaus propped himself up with both arms, too livid to care about the stretching pain, "you are not allowed to die, Caroline. Not under my watch."

She inhaled deeply, her eyes flickering with blinding light like hot coals, "it's all about you, isn't it? You can take away my choices, undermine my strength, stab me in the fucking back all for the peace of your mind. Avoiding at all cost the faint little chance that you should be burdened with guilt. You are so afraid of losing the one person in this world that you just can't lose." She inched even closer, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears, "well guess what? So do I!"

"You are blowing this out of proportion, sweetheart." Klaus restrained his anger at the sight of her watery eyes, a sharp pain piercing through his raging heart, "I'm alright, don't you see?"

She pointed a shaking finger at his chest, "you call this alright? Imagine all…these," she gestured at his injuries, "on me, and tell me it's not a big deal."

Klaus clenched his jaw, the image she just put in his head burning like acid. Even the thought of these wretched wounds marring her skin, of her suffering more than her monthly ordeal hurt him beyond repair. But he refused to back down from their confrontation, not when the root of which was to prevent her from ever landing in this kind of situation, "one of us had to do it. You know we couldn't risk him discovering our ambush by bringing the pack."

"And you conveniently ignored my suggestion that we go together." Her lips were pressed into a thin line, a clear sign she wouldn't just let him get away with it.

"It was too dangerous." He closed his eyes briefly, somehow getting more aggravated at how the reason sounded feeble even in his own ears. But he had to draw the line somewhere.

As if reading his thoughts, Caroline shook her head in frustration, her nerves wearing thin with each second of argument, "how many times do I have to repeat that you don't get to decide for me? I have never pulled ranking with you before. I didn't ask you to defer to me or to obey everything I said. All I need is for you to trust me and respect me, the same way I treat you. But if you are too conceited or just too thick to understand this then let me spell it out for you," she bent down till they were face to face, her eyes blazing as she breathed each word, "I am your alpha!"

"And I am your beta!" Klaus exclaimed, his voice equally heated with so many emotions that he couldn't begin to sort out, let alone explain. He uttered the words so naturally like they were supposed to justify everything, like this sole fact could put all their current disaccord into perspective and solve whatever it was that separated their bodies even after a whole night of terror and a near-death experience.

But maybe they did. Because in the stunned silence their lips found each other like two magnets, grinding and rubbing and kneading with invisible electric sparks blasting all over the place.

She bit his lower lip a little too harshly, but he just opened his mouth without a single grunt. He knew exactly what she needed-what they both needed. Her tongue thrust into his mouth aggressively, sweeping the inside like a storm before taking his own tongue, sucking hard till it ached, a question that didn't require an answer. But Klaus gave it to her anyway-she could take his very essence with a mere touch. He licked her almost reverently, smoothing the hair that fell into her face, his move soft and gentle.

After several long seconds Caroline broke away first, but she didn't open her eyes. Klaus cupped her cheeks and she sighed into his palms, her eyelashes trembling under his intense gaze.

"I am sorry, sweetheart." He kissed her eyelids delicately, "for what I put you through." He couldn't begin to imagine how she must have felt. If their roles were reversed he'd probably have gone out of his mind.

Caroline finally opened her eyes, peering at him with a bitter smile, "I'm so mad at you I could punch you if you are not already injured this badly. On second thought, I reserve the right to punch you when you get better." She tilted her head a little to the side, leaning into his left palm, her eyes downcast, "but I know I can't ask you to promise you won't do this again, no matter how much I want to."

Klaus sighed, stroking her cheekbones. They did know each other well. He wouldn't be able to keep a promise like that.

Caroline looked up into his eyes, "so we'll just have to do this another way." The corners of her lips slowly came up forming a sly smirk, "and I believe after the stunt you pulled a little…punishment is in order."

In a swift move she was out of his arms, towering over him with her hands on his shoulders, "now, do as you are told." She pushed him back with little force but Klaus was more than willing to oblige. When he was again laying on his back she straightened up and ordered in an authoritative voice, "you don't move any part of your body other than breathing and blinking, unless I allow you to."

Klaus felt his whole body heated up almost immediately at her words. He gave her a salacious look, "Hm, kinky. I didn't know you had it in you, love. It's quite a turn-on." His voice became hoarse with expectation, "but I don't think we have a safe word yet."

Caroline's finger was pressed on his lips the next second, "and I didn't remember allowing you to move your lips." Her tone was light and her motions sensual, but her eyes were fixed on his, the commanding steely blues burning silently. Klaus knew she needed extra control after the night she'd had so he complied without another word. Caroline grinned in satisfaction, "good boy. As for the safe word," she licked her lips and winked at him, "the only safe word I'll accept is your hot come inside me."

A low groan rolled from Klaus' throat.

"Don't get so worked up yet." Caroline grinned, opening the top button of her blouse, "we are just starting."

Oh the little minx. Klaus sighed in his mind as he watched her slowly opening her buttons one by one. His eyes were glued to the thin line of porcelain skin revealing from under the navy blue fabric. Noticing his stare, Caroline huffed a little laugh and brushed her fingers down her cleavage on purpose, "do you want to touch me? Do you wish it were you feeling me between my boobs?" She pushed the outfit off her shoulders, her beautiful breasts clad in black lace bra finally bouncing out.

Klaus swallowed hard. He longed to feel her skin and flesh, hot and soft under his palms, now more than ever. He knew she wouldn't grant him the privilege, not today, but it only made him want it more avidly.

Caroline bent down to remove her boots before pulling down the zipper of her jeans, her eyes again locked with his, "now I'm going to show you my legs. I know you love my legs. I'm quite fond of them myself." She pushed the jeans down, inch by fucking inch, and Klaus felt the fabric grazing on his own bare skin, the sensations speeding up his already quick pulse.

"And now this…I bet you want to do it yourself." Caroline kicked her jeans away carelessly and bent her arms to her back, the posture making her ample breasts stand out even more, "but sorry, you just get to watch." She unhooked her bra and threw it to the pile on the floor. Her breasts stood proudly in the cold light from the window, their curves so exquisite his chest hurt just from staring. He could see her nipples were hard and there were two thin red lines under her breasts from the wire of her bra.

Klaus couldn't decide where he wanted to run his tongue over more. He heard himself panting, thirst for her body like a nomad in desert for water.

Caroline curled two fingers into each side of her matching black panties, her perfectly-shaped hip bones that he loved so much to stroke just behind her knuckles. "This is getting kind of boring, isn't it?" She pouted as if in thought, "let's have a change of view then." She turned her back to him, her waist swaying a little in the process and Klaus just stared like hypnotized. As if dancing to an inaudible tune she shimmied out of her panties, and her bottom, round and perk, came into sight.

This was sheer torture. Klaus let out another groan as Caroline tapped her fingers slightly on her ass. "Remember, don't move." She turned back to face him, her face now flushed in a beautiful rosy hue. Klaus' body was lit on fire as soon as he saw the view between her legs, that shiny streak of moisture below her dark blonde bushes.

Caroline noticed his reaction and looked down knowingly, touching the outline of her folds with a single finger, "look at that. I'm all wet." She knelt onto the bed, offering her finger to his lips and answered his feverish look with a slight nod. Klaus immediately sucked her finger into his mouth, devouring it with craze. Caroline moaned at the feel of his tongue, but pulled out too soon for his liking.

"Do you miss my taste? Do you want to sink your tongue into my pussy and lick it good?" She turned to the side to tug at his tented up boxer brief, "god I want your tongue in my pussy so bad. It hurts just thinking about it." She rubbed his cock idly through the fabric, eliciting a throaty grunt, "but I won't let you help me with it." She pulled the boxer all the way down his legs in an abrupt move and Klaus sighed at the relief before tensing up again as she straddled him.

Caroline bent down to reach something from the night stand, her nipples brushing his chest, making them both moan uncontrollably. She sat back up, holding a condom in her hand. "We both know I'm on pills," she tore up the packaging, and drew out the next words breathily, "but I want you to last longer." She put the condom on his rock-hard cock, pumping it a few times afterwards and Klaus had to hold his breath against the sensation to not come right on the spot.

Maybe the condom was a good idea.

With her eyes on his Caroline leaned forward, her lips just short of brushing his, their hot uneven breaths mingling, "now comes the hard question-pun intended," her hand went down to grab his cock, "do you want to kiss me, or do you want to get inside me?" She grinned devilishly, "see? I gave you a choice."

Klaus just stared at her, his eyes tracing her lips hungrily and for a moment Caroline seemed in a trance as she ground her pussy against his groin, a tiny purr of joy flowing through her lips. But soon she came to her senses and a blush spread from her cheeks to the upper half of her heaving chest, "clever." She stroked Klaus' jaw line, "you may answer. One word, former or latter?"

He breathed out his answer, making sure to graze his lips against hers, "both."

As soon as the word left his mouth Caroline kissed him without warning. It was a primal kiss, every swipe of tongue screaming her need for him and Klaus reciprocated with all his desire. Her hands crept into his hair as she dived in further, gripping his curls with just the right amount of pressure and Klaus hummed into her mouth, his hands itching to come up and touch her.

As if sensing his agitation, Caroline pulled back with a smirk, "nice choice." She licked her lips to savor the lingering taste and oh how Klaus longed to lick them for her. His cock jumped at the thought, making Caroline giggle, "eager much?" She held it firmly in her hand, "I should keep you waiting, only that I don't think I can hold back any longer."

She lifted her body up a bit to place his throbbing cock at her entrance, pressing the head half in only to let it slide sideways. The instant friction heated their bodies from where they touched and they both cried out as waves of need consumed them from head to toe. "Oops." Caroline popped the word out through her heavy panting, the mischievous glint in her eyes soon drowned out by a searing lust.

Once again she put his cock beneath her pussy, this time sitting down on it slowly, sucking him in inch by inch. Klaus squinted at the warmth enveloping him. She was so tight he felt like he would explode from the pressure. When she finally took him all in Caroline threw her head back with a long moan, the line of her neck so smooth and inviting Klaus had to press his arms hard into the mattress to stop them from moving.

After she went past the overwhelming initial sensations Caroline turned her eyes back to Klaus' face, studying him while leisurely playing with her own boobs, "you feel so big and hard inside me." she hummed in pleasure as she circled her left nipple with her thumb and then pinched it, "I bet you want to move. You want to pound into me, hard and fast. You want to pull all the way out and thrust back in."

Klaus' head was swimming from the scenes she pictured, her words only fueling his desire, making it almost palpable like sweltering lava burning all through his veins, leaving him hot and hollow. "Can't really do anything with the rules, can you?" he heard her saying, "luckily for me I know how to do it without moving a finger." Her body held still as she clenched around him, her walls squeezing his cock making him cry out at the sudden assault.

Caroline herself looked equally flustered after the little trick, her breath short and erratic, and Klaus could feel her dripping along the inside of his thighs. She leaned forward again, her hands propped at either side of his neck and started to ride him, each rock of her body pushing his cock deep into her core. Every cell of his being filled with euphoria, but at the same time screamed for more as tides of need, each more drastic and intense than the last, inundated him.

For a minute all they could hear were each other's groans and grunts as their sweat vaporized into the air, shrouding them in a steaming haze of pheromone. Caroline crushed her lips down to his, stealing a kiss before taking pity on him, "you can speak now."

Klaus sighed as she pushed her neck to him, exposing her throat against his moving lips, "allow me to move, sweetheart. You know you want to." He coaxed while sucking at her pulse point, enjoying the mewling sounds she made.

But Caroline shook her head stubbornly, pushing herself into him with a faster pace, her voice strangled and broken, "don't forget…this is your punishment." She leaned down and pressed her lips to the gash on his chest ever so gently despite her frantic movement, "you are to watch on the sideline, not able to do a thing." A drop of sweat fell from her forehead to a smaller scratch above the wound, sending a prickling pain straight to his heart.

Klaus ran his eyes along her body, from her bouncing breasts to the adamant angle of her jaw line, from her glistening pussy to her blue eyes storming with want and rejection, "you are so beautiful, sweetheart. I want to hold your boobs in my hands and squeeze them hard. I want to suck on your nipple for so long you beg me to take care of the other one." He watched as Caroline unwittingly started to follow his instructions, playing with her nipples with her eyes closed, "yes, right there. You feel so good, love."

"I want to grab those pretty thighs of yours. I'm going to part them even wider than you already have, showing me all you've got. And then I'll push into you so deep you'd feel me in your stomach and taste me on your tongue. I'm going to fuck you senseless until you forget everything and the only word left in your head is my name."

"Klaus…" Caroline whimpered as she rocked on him with all her might, her pussy clenching around him tighter and tighter, the broken moans out of her throat almost painful. Klaus felt his cock tensing in response, his balls full and heavy for the impending release.

"God I'm so close." Caroline all but sobbed out, her fingers going down to her clit, rubbing frantically, "I want your fingers on me, so bad. I need your hands to come." She opened her eyes in desperation. They were a deep blue now like stormy seas, only the water was boiling hot signaling the eruption of a volcano on the seabed, "but you can't move. I need you but you can only watch." She bit her lips to keep the resolve in her wavering voice.

"Then imagine that's my hand on you, sweetheart." Klaus let all of his pent up desires bleed into his voice, touching her with his mind and heart, "imagine me rubbing your clit at the base, just the way you like it. Imagine me pressing down and grind the callous of my finger against it. Pinching it when my cock is the deepest inside you." He felt the spasm of her walls and knew it was time.

"Come now, Caroline."

Her body jerked with one last loud cry and she was shaking nonstop, her walls clenching hard on him. He came seconds later, growling as she kissed him through the unseeing bliss.

He felt her pulling out after a few minutes. She discarded the condom before lying down next to him, careful not to touch his wounds. He snaked an arm around her, running his hand along her back, feeling his skin just drink her presence in after the painful deprivation.

"I didn't like it one bit more than you." Caroline said quietly against his side, "bear that in mind the next time you decide to do something like this."

He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, his heart heavy and yet light all at the same time, "I promise."

And this one he could keep. For as long as they lived.