Howling

It was Thursday, and though it'd only been a day and a half since she last saw The Shield, they were still at the forefront of her mind.

Her hands were shaking when she picked up the antique land line phone, so instead she cradled it between her ear and shoulder and placed the sangria she was drinking on the table in front of her.

Kenna had a very big soft spot for houses with views, and while Hunter's was one of her favourite places to visit— her's was always amazing to come home to. The house wasn't big, but it sat on the coast of Paradise Cove in California and she had a private beach all to herself… and because of that, it cost her an absolutely fortune.

The house itself was two levels. On the first was the kitchen and living, her master suite with sliding doors and an alfresco cabana, the laundry and an open viewing deck. On the second was two guest bedrooms and a sunroom facing the ocean.

She wasn't going to deny her privilege, but she was a very lucky woman.

Hunter picked up on the third ring.

"You're at home," he observed, having obviously seen the number she was calling him from.

"Yeah," she easily replied. "Can't spend all my time on the road, can I?"

"Should have come seen the girls if you were feeling like that."

Kenna tried not to snort at him. "I mean I need some alone time. I'll come back and see them again next time I'm over that way, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

There was silence on the line for a moment as Kenna thought of what to say. "I was thinking… the boys— no, more Ambrose… he doesn't trust me. Neither does Rollins, but it's Ambrose I'm worried about, 'cause I can't get a read on him. You put me in a position where Reigns defends me instead of them and that'll be the first crack." She paused again, and like Hunter knew she wasn't done, he stayed quiet. "It could be anything. But it has to be Kane and the New Age Outlaws, or else you won't get the WrestleMania match."

"I'm not going to ask Kane to hurt you…" Hunter murmured, but there was hesitation in his voice. "What are you comfortable with?"

"Attempted chokeslam. He won't do it, so I won't get hurt, but it'll add value."

"And how do you expect us to separate Reigns from the others?"

"I'll tell him that Kane's looking for me," Kenna mused aloud, "ask him to go check the building because I don't trust anyone else. He'll leave Rollins and Ambrose to look over me, I'll walk out to the ring, and he'll blame his 'brothers' for not stopping me."

Hunter is laughing on the other end of the line, short clips of it rattling around in her brain. "You really are a Helmsley, aren't you?"

"Learn from the best."

"Alright, I'll set that up for you and let you know whether there's any changes or not. Promise not to pull a Stephanie on you again," there was a teasing tone in his voice when he trailed off, and despite herself, a grin pulled at the side of her mouth. "Talk to you later."

For the next hour, Kenna's head wouldn't stop spinning with possibilities of how this would fuck up and be turned back in her face. Because it would, and there was no denying that.

She stood from the cabana chair and downed the rest of her sangria, slipped the chiffon pull over from her shoulders and stepped out onto the sand, reached behind her back to unclip her bra, and then she was walking towards the ocean with nothing but her underwear.

—

The ocean had a way of calming her mind. Surrounded by endless blue, soft white sand, wind and waves and gentle water— the whole reason she'd bought this house was because she needed some kind of way to slow down her brain.

But there was salt all over her skin and in places it shouldn't have been, so Kenna was trudging back towards her house ready for a shower and a movie. It was dark and her hair was drenched and the shower was warm when she stepped in, so when she stepped out, her skin was glowing pink and her collarbone length hair was silky smooth. Wrapping a white, fluffy towel around her torso, Kenna stepped into the pitch black hall and made her way towards the kitchen.

And when Kenna flicked the light switch on, her loud gasp and cuss had a smile forming on Dean Ambrose's face— because there he was, sitting on her couch like he owned her house. He was dressed in street clothes, dishwater hair hanging limp across his head, and in his hand was a cellphone and a piece of paper. Subconsciously, she clutched at the towel around her body tighter.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" she hissed at him, "How the fuck do you even know where I live?"

"Does it matter?" Dean shot back. His legs were spread wide open in a domineering position, arms slung back along the couch, and he looked very relaxed. "I'm not too good with technology, but directions are simple enough to follow."

But Kenna was seething, because how dare he. "Get out," she spat, "get out of my house, Ambrose, or I swear to God—"

"You'll do what, huh?" He snorted in contempt and stood, closed the distance between them with three long strides, and Kenna's eyes were pure fire, but he wasn't even looking at her. "It's a nice house. Good spot. Must'a had a lotta money to afford this place, huh?" His head turned back to regard her with a cool expression. "Hunter's money? Helmsley money? No offence, love, but you're a bit too young to be rich."

She could feel her nostrils flaring, but didn't give Ambrose the satisfaction of replying.

He didn't seem to mind. "I was watchin' you earlier, y'know? You were real deep in thought when you got off the phone," and by this stage her blood had turned to ice, but he didn't stop, "strippin' off for anyone to see. Nice body. Gentle swim in the ocean to… to what? Clear your mind? What's got you so bothered, princess? Is it Rome? Your brother?" Again, Dean trailed off.

"Get out of my house or I'm calling the police," Kenna maintained, and because he was too close, she took a small step backwards for space. He followed her.

"See, I don't trust people easy. I don't like people. Never have, never will, and right now, you're blowin' up my radar 'cause you're the most unpredictable one of them all. At least with the Authority, we know their style and their game plan," he spoke, quickly and lowly and all the while slowly advancing on her. "But you're not the Authority and you're definitely not The Shield. You say you want power, but if you have this house, why don't you just buy a portion of the company? Is it not your money? Is it because you don't want to waste money on something you won't keep?"

Kenna's blood had turned from ice to fire, and it was boiling in her veins, heating her heart, and she was suddenly very angry. Angry at Dean Ambrose, angry at her brother for putting her in this position, angry at herself for volunteering to do this in the first place.

She choked on air when her back hit the living room wall, the clutch on her towel tightening even more. "What do you want, Dean?"

"I want the truth," he hissed, and then he slapped a hand onto the wall next to her head. "I want the Goddamn truth, Kenna, so I'm gonna ask you once and once only— whose side are you really on?"

With her chest rapidly rising and falling, fear and anger glazing her eyes, Kenna's lips pulled back over her teeth to snarl her reply. "I'm on my own side. I came to the WWE for revenge, I came to take everything I could and turn it on it's fucking head, and I'm not leaving until I do that. Whose side am I on? I'm on Roman's side, because my brother has a certain infatuation with him that I can't explain, but I know that I can use him to make Hunter angry, just like I can use The Shield to make him angry. What this is is a mutual hate for him, a partnership, because you can get me to the top, but by God can I get you to the top as well. You use me, I use you, and that means that I'm on your side." Kenna raised her chin and tilted her head, narrowed her hazel eyes. "Whose side are you on, Ambrose?"

Dean looked at her for a long while before nodding his head. "Roman know this?"

"Call him, ask him," Kenna challenged, "I told him everything, but if you want to question him and go against him, that's on you."

His eyes narrowed. And then he grabbed her wrists, thrust them up against the wall, smiled as she tried to fight back against him, but her panting breaths and struggles were loosening the towel and she stopped, had to crane her head back to glare at the smirk splitting his mouth. The hands around her wrists weren't bruising her skin, really just holding her in place. She realised suddenly that Dean didn't want to hurt her— not in the way she thought, anyway. No. Dean wasn't here for anything but to send a very clear message.

"You fucked him, didn't you?" He laughed, "you fucked him and he fell right into your masterplan without even thinking about it. Must've been good, he must have been out of his mind to say yes to you…" Dean lowered his face, trailed his lips along her cheekbone to her ear, and his voice was so deep it sent a shiver down her spine. "Should show me, if you want me to be on your side."

And she couldn't deny that his dominance was starting to affect her body. Not when her skin was hot, not when she could feel heat starting to pool between her thighs. She'd been kissed by Dean before… she would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about it.

"What if I say no?" Kenna murmured, and slowly Dean pulled away so he could send her a smouldering look.

"You're not gonna say no."

Her eyes were half-lidded now, cheeks were heavily flushed, and when Dean looked a little closer, he could see the fighting glint being replaced by something much more wanting and he could easily see the desire.

So he leaned in until there was no space, his lips hovering just above hers, and then pressed his leg between her thighs, shifted until there was just enough friction that Kenna was moaning into his open mouth— and without really meaning to, Kenna thought back to the night where Stephanie had apologised, to where Roman had pushed his own thigh between her legs and how it had set off a different kind of fire inside her bones, and suddenly this felt wrong, this felt bad, and she turned her face away from Dean's completely.

"No," Kenna whispered. "He was more than just a fuck."

At those words, Ambrose paused, ducked to try and catch her gaze. And then he was smirking for an entirely different reason. "Oh, this just keeps gettin' better. You like 'im, don't you? That's why you're doin' this, that's why you're helpin' us. You fell for your own plan."

"Get off me," she said, but there wasn't much strength behind her words.

So without question, he dropped her wrists and backed away, slung his leather jacket over his shoulder, and simply began to walk for the door like nothing had even happened.

Halfway out the door, he paused. His gaze locked with Kenna's one last time. "Don't worry, Ken— The Shield have your back."

And then he was gone.

Her hands were shaking as she wiped at her mouth, and Kenna didn't have the strength in her to stop the tears starting to pool in her eyes. This was her home, her sanctuary, and Dean Ambrose had broken into her safe place and confronted her in the most frightening way. He'd seen her naked, he'd seen her unguarded, and she felt both disgusted and violated, because how dare he?

She was reaching for her mobile phone without hesitation, searching through her contacts until her finger hovered over Hunter's name. Because she should call him. Dean had broken into her house and had made her more vulnerable then she'd ever been.

But she kept scrolling, pressed a name she shouldn't have.

Roman answered almost straight away. "Hey, baby girl." When she didn't reply, when it was obvious that he could hear the way she was breathing, she could hear his concern and confusion. "Kenna, you alright?"

Sucking in a deep breath, Kenna tried to control her voice so it wouldn't shake. "When I asked for you to convince Ambrose and Rollins to join us, I expected you to convince them." She heard him murmur her name confused, but didn't care enough to stop. "Dean Ambrose just broke into my house to question me because he didn't trust me, because apparently you didn't convince him well enough. He pushed me up against a fucking wall after he'd obviously seen me naked and tried to jump my bones and only fucking stopped when I told him I had feelings for you, and you know what that makes me think? That makes me think you had somethin' to do with this, because why else would he do this, huh? Nothing else makes sense. This is my home, Roman, my safe place away from the WWE, and he just ruined that, so you can take this deal and you can shove it where the sun don't shine, because I'm done, Roman Reigns, I'm fucking done."

And before he could respond, Kenna ended the call and chucked her phone carelessly onto the floor, drew in a shuddering breath, and only then realised tears were streaking down her face.

—

She hadn't looked at her phone since Thursday night, and now it was Saturday evening and she'd still not picked it up from where she'd left it, but now she was staring at it because she wanted to. She wanted to know whether Reigns had bothered to fight for her or not.

Kenna was comfortable in some sweatpants and a loose cropped top when a rapture of knuckles sounded across her front door, and despite herself, she jumped.

Because she still wasn't over Dean breaking into her house.

When she didn't answer, the person spoke.

"Kenna, I know you're in there."

And of fucking course it was Roman Reigns, because why wouldn't it be?

"I'm not letting you in," she called back.

"Kenna, please…"

"Go away."

What she needed less than seeing Dean Ambrose again was seeing Roman's big puppy dog eyes, giving in to him. If Ambrose wanted her gone, he'd won fair and square. But Roman had stopped replying— and for a short second, she actually felt like he'd listened to her.

And then there was a tap at her alfresco sliding doors, and when she gazed across from the couch she was sitting on, Roman was standing there staring right back at her.

"Go away," she repeated, her lips curling over her teeth so she at least looked a little threatening.

"No." Roman shook his head and spread his arms a little, then crossed them. "Not goin' anywhere till you let me inside, baby girl."

And suddenly, very, very suddenly, Kenna's had enough of stubborn men getting what they want. She flung herself from the couch and stalked towards the sliding door with anger in her veins, and Roman seemed to sense it, took a very cautious step backwards as she finally opened the door. Her nostrils were flaring, her chest heaving, and Roman looked about ready to open his mouth.

Then— then she slapped him.

Her palm slammed right into his cheek and his head snapped to the side, arms flexing, and when he looked back at her… she slapped him again.

And then she slammed her hands against his chest over and over until he was able to catch her wrists, his breath coming out in a hiss when her nails dug into the backs of his hands, and he realised when she did that there were angry tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

"Ken…"

"Shut up."

He didn't. "I'm sorry. I had no idea what he was thinkin', okay? And if I'd known, I would have stopped him. Believe me, Kenna, I would have stopped him."

Her vision was distorted with tears, but she could see the sincerity in his eyes. He wasn't lying. His left cheek was a little bit red and some of his hair had fallen from the bun at his neck, but he was there to fight for her and all at once she knew that she hadn't meant any of what she'd said to him on the phone. She wasn't done, not at all.

So Kenna pulled her hands from his slowly and grabbed his neck, curled up into his body, and pressed her lips against his gently and with as much emotion as she could.

Roman Reigns was hers.

For now, at the very least.

i'm supposed to be asleep cause i have class in 7 hours, but i felt like this was too important not to finish in one go. i had to split this chapter and the next in half, so the visit from Kenna's idol won't happen until the next chapter because i wanted this one to have it's own shock factor. the title is from Howling by Cathedrals.

thank you Raquel the Writer for your comment, hope you enjoyed this (and thankyou quinzel harley for reading, i c u)

let me know what you think, because like i said- there's a visit from an old friend/idol, developments in Kenna's plan, and of course, some much beloved sexy times in the next update

much love x