Chapter 12:King of All Wild Things

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait, but as promised, I have not and will not abandon this story...just bear with me and I will get us there!

Cami's voice shook. "So Nik will be a…"

"A werewolf," Davina confirmed. "But only if he triggers the curse."

Cami took a deep breath. She hadn't been prepared for that eventuality. Dominik was just a little boy, an ordinary human boy whom she'd assumed would one day be an ordinary man.

An ordinary human boy… Just like Klaus had been once upon a time.

Cami's eyes moved to Klaus, who sat dominating the back half of the room, filling it with his brooding presence. He'd gone silent after Davina had answered their most important question…

Nik was indeed Klaus's biological son.

After Rebekah had convinced Marcel to give Cami Davina's location, Cami had decided she needed to go see the girl immediately. Of course, once Klaus learned of her plans he'd insisted upon going with her. Cami had cautioned that Davina might be less inclined to help, should Klaus come along, to which he'd replied that he was sure he could easily remind the girl how much she still owed him after her neat little daggering trick that had cost him years with his family. The look on his face had left little room for argument and, presumably, Davina had realized the same, as the girl put up little resistance when Cami and Klaus arrived seeking answers regarding Dominik's parentage. The young witch had dutifully performed a spell involving a lock of Nik's hair and a drop of both Cami and Klaus's blood. When it was over, Davina's face had softened, and she'd looked directly at Cami and said, "Your son…is Klaus's son."

Cami's body had sagged against Klaus's with relief, and he had supported her until she regained her footing. He'd moved away from her then, holding her at arm's length for several seconds before leaning down and brushing his lips across her forehead. Then he had retreated to the far corner of the room while Davina began to sort out how he and Cami had managed to conceive a child.

Hours later, long after the sun had slipped from the sky…after sifting through countless heavy, old books that smelled of things Cami was loathe to imagine and listening as both she and Klaus recounted the where and when of Dominik's conception, Davina was finally able to give them the answers they'd been looking for. Cami still didn't have it all straight in her mind though.

"So, Dominik is our son, but…explain to me again how he isn't a hybrid then?" Cami implored, brow furrowed.

"It's really quite simple now that I think about it," Davina answered. "Not that I ever had reason to think about it before…I don't think anyone could have foreseen this happening," she said, looking disbelievingly at Cami.

At Davina's look, Cami sighed and said quietly, mindful of Klaus's presence in the room, "Don't judge me, Davina…you don't know him like I do."

"Klaus Mikaelson is pretty much the bane of my existence, so yeah…I think it's a safe bet I'll never know him like that," Davina whispered, clearly repulsed by the idea of any intimate knowledge of Klaus.

Klaus cleared his throat, loudly. "Don't lower your voices on my account, ladies…I can still hear you, after all."

Cami colored at the knowledge that he'd heard her words. Ignoring the warmth in her cheeks, she focused on Davina. "Please, Davina," she begged, "My son…"

Davina sighed.

"Okay, fine. When you and Klaus…when you two, um…did what you did," Davina stumbled, clearly uncomfortable talking about Cami and Klaus's intimate night together with the two of them in the room. "You were in the safe place that I created, a place where magic was void. So, when your son was conceived, there was no magic. Now, we all know that vampires can't procreate, and for any other vampire being in the void would simply mean that their vampire curse would be weakened, suppressed, leaving only their human side, which is technically dead and therefore also unable to procreate. But Klaus…"

"Is a hybrid," Cami interjected, nodding her understanding.

"Exactly. So, even though Klaus was still a vampire inside that space, the curse itself was in a weakened state, unable to pass on to another person. But unlike any other vampire, in Klaus's case, because he's a hybrid, suppressing his vampire curse simply allowed the werewolf part of him to become dominant…and werewolves, obviously, are able to procreate just fine," Davina finished, still squirming slightly due to the nature of the conversation.

"But how could the werewolf curse pass on to Nik when the vampire curse couldn't?"

"Because being a werewolf isn't a curse per se. I mean, yes, once upon a time, it was, but now…your son was conceived a werewolf. He inherited a gene from his father, just like inheriting blond hair, or green eyes…or a bad attitude," Davina tossed the last bit, pointedly, in Klaus's general direction.

Before he could respond, Cami said, "So, the vampire curse was suppressed and couldn't pass on to Nik, but because being a werewolf is genetic, that would pass to him…so Dominik will be a werewolf, but not a hybrid like Klaus?"

"Yes, if he-"

"If he triggers the curse, yeah, I got it." Cami pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes until she began to see stars.

"Cami," Davina said, gently, "This could protect him. He'll be strong…less vulnerable."

Klaus moved toward Cami, and Davina stepped away, moving deeper into the recesses of the room.

Cami felt gentle fingers encircling her wrists, and she allowed her hands to be pulled down, away from her face. When they reached her sides, she opened her eyes and found herself staring into Klaus's serious, blue-green gaze. "Our son will be fine," he said, quietly. And then, more intensely, "I promise."

She didn't know if everything would be fine or not, but knowing that she wouldn't be bearing the burden alone was more reassuring than he could know. And knowing that he'd made the decision to share that burden with her before they'd gotten their answers here today meant more to her than she would probably ever be able to express to him.

"Come on, love," he said, softly, his lips quirking slightly to one side in a playful smirk that was so deliciously, uniquely him. "Let's go tuck our little ones in for the night."

"And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all." Klaus's voice drifted into her room from the nursery. Cami rolled onto her side and watched as he helped Nik turn the page, watched their son's chubby baby fingers stick to the thick paper as it bent and then snapped free, falling aside and revealing the next magical illustration. Her eyes drifted over her son's drooping lids, her daughter's already sleeping countenance, and her…

She raised up on her elbow…what was he, exactly?

He must have sensed her movement because his eyes immediately found hers. He stopped reading and held her gaze.

She lay there on her bed, watching him watch her for countless seconds. It wasn't until Nik's sleepy head bobbed forward, nearly landing in the pages of his storybook, that the spell was broken. Klaus's quick reflexes had allowed him to catch his son's tiny head in the palm of his hand, and he smiled softly as he slipped off of the toddler's bed and arranged the boy comfortably amongst the soft quilt and pillows.

Cami watched as he pressed his lips to the forehead of both his son and daughter before reaching over to switch off the lamp, plunging the room into near total darkness. She heard him rise and move away from the children's beds, but her heart rate picked up speed when his footsteps began to move toward her instead of toward his own room.

By the light of the moon, she watched his silhouette approach. When he reached the side of her bed, she remained silent, merely staring up at him and listening to the sound of their combined breaths in the dark.

"May I?" he asked, softly.

Mutely, she shifted her weight toward the middle of the bed, allowing him room on the soft mattress.

Permission granted.

Though, for what, she wasn't sure.

She felt the bed dip as his weight settled in next to hers. She lay on her side still, facing him, his hip pressed against the front of her thighs. It was the most intimate contact they'd had since that night and she shivered in response.

"I wanted to apologize to you," she heard his voice rasp, quietly, from somewhere above her.

"For what?" she asked, truly at a loss. It had been a good day. A great day.

"For taking too long to find you."

Oh.

"For not being there," he sighed. "For missing everything."

Pain lanced at her heart, for her, for the kids…but mostly for him. "Klaus," she started, but then broke off abruptly when she felt his hand land on the soft curve of her lower abdomen. She said nothing, merely tried to control her breathing and her racing heart. She stared hard into the darkness, trying desperately to see his face, her pupils dilating ever wider in an attempt to make his features clear to her.

He moved his hand up, sliding the material of her t-shirt with it, then slowly, his hand moved back down to press against her warm, bare skin. "Klaus…" she whispered, in warning.

His fingers pressed firmly into her skin, as if seeking something.

"He was right here…" he whispered.

Her eyes stung with tears. She could picture his face, though he remained hidden in the dark, the pained expression she would surely find if the room were to be suddenly lit. She could hear the thickness in his voice and could imagine the shine of tears in his eyes as he contemplated missing out on her pregnancy, on the first years of his son's life.

"Klaus," she tried again, placing her hand over his, cradling his warm palm against the place where he'd once created life within her. "You're here now."

No longer able to resist the pull of him, Cami sat up in bed, moving onto her knees and stopping when they were face to face in the darkness.

He could hear her heart beat, taste her warm, moist breath as it rushed across his parted lips. He wondered if she could hear his heart, too…it seemed to him it beat every bit as franticly as hers. She opened her mouth to say something, and he was lost. He launched himself into her and attacked her lips with an intensity he feared might frighten her. He knew they weren't ready, but he just needed her.

Cami braced herself just in time to keep from toppling over on the bed. She brought her hands up to his face, cupping his cheeks, and feeling the delicious scrape of his stubble against her palms as he moved his lips over hers. She gasped into his mouth as he sucked her bottom lip between his, kneading it with his teeth and then soothing her delicate flesh with the soft, wet heat of his tongue.

His hands moved over the curves of her hips, resting there for a moment, memorizing the dip of her waist and the sharpness of her hipbones. They slipped beneath her t-shirt, mapping the bare skin of her back, tracing over her vertebra from nape to tailbone. They followed the line of her ribs from back to front and then slowly re-discovered the gentle swell of her breasts.

Cami was breathing harshly. Klaus was wreaking havoc on her senses. She could only hear him, taste him, feel him… His tongue was telling her body secrets she didn't understand, but she wanted to, desperately. It was only when his palms slipped into the warm, sensitive curves of her underarms and lifted her up that the tiniest of alarm bells started going off in her head. She didn't want to hear them, so she kept her body pliant and moved as his body commanded. However, when he settled her back against him and she found herself straddling his lap she knew she'd better heed the warning soon or it would be entirely too late. Unable to help herself, she rocked her hips forward and back, just once, and moaned softly at the feel of him pressed against her right where she so desperately wanted him to be, but then she pulled her lips away from his, causing a quiet smacking sound to echo in the otherwise quiet room.

Klaus was so aroused he could hardly think straight, his hands tugged at her hips and pressed her pelvis against him, grinding her pubis down against his. Her hot breath hit him in the face as she gasped in response. "Klaus," she breathed. "We have to stop. The kids…" He listened as she struggled to catch her breath. He didn't want to hear what she was saying, but he did. "The kids are right in there…we can't do this, not here."

She pressed her forehead against his, and they both sat there catching their breath.

He removed his hands from the inside of her clothes, but then placed his hand on her back, running it up and down the length of her spine, soothingly. It was a rhythmic movement and, slowly, they both began to match their breathing to its cadence. Slowing, slowing…until they were both breathing near normally again.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, softly, mindful of the open nursery door and the sleeping children beyond.

His head snapped up. "Don't be sorry. Not for this. I'm not."

She smiled in the darkness. "I meant, I'm sorry that I stopped us."

"Oh, yes, well, for that you should be sorry," he teased.

"Aww…" she laughed, quietly, good-naturedly.

She shifted on his lap, attempting to separate their lower bodies a little bit, and he hissed in response, "Careful, love."

"Sorry," she apologized again, as she tried to move off of his lap as gracefully as the situation would allow.

As she settled back against the pillows near the headboard, he started to move to the edge of the bed. "You don't have to go," she offered, almost timidly. "I mean…we can't…finish what we started, but…you could stay," she finally got out. "If you want..."

He reached out and stroked his thumb against her cheek. "Oh, love…I want. But it would be a bad idea."

She nodded in the darkness. She knew he was right. She didn't trust him to stop them…and she trusted herself even less.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers one last time, briefly but firmly. "But at some point…we will finish what we started." And with that, he rose to his feet and strode quietly toward his own room. "Goodnight, Camille," he called, softly, as he left her room.

As she watched his shadow fade into the dark opening of his own bedroom doorway, a line from the book he'd been reading the children drifted into her consciousness…

"But the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go- We'll eat you up- we love you so!"

"Goodnight, Klaus," she whispered in reply.

**Quotes from this story were taken from the children's book Where The Wild Things Are