Aqualung - Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)

Author's note: This song inspired me to write this chapter. Without this, there would be no new chapters for a while. (Thank you, dear writer's block, and I blame you for this short and crappy chapter.)

"All I'm saying is," Kim insisted as she put on the thin bolero above the dress with his help, "that you keep telling me I'm safe here and you'll protect me from whatever danger you can think of, but in reality I'm nothing more but a prisoner."

He couldn't believe she had seriously said that. "No, you're not," he assured her, letting his hands rest on her shoulder for just a few more seconds. Her heart was beating faster after he touched her and he loved to hear that sound. It meant she was alive and well, and right now he would have gone to a great length to keep her safe. Did he overreact this? Maybe, but he couldn't care.

Ever since she had moved into the penthouse, her scent was all around the place and it slowly drove him insane, testing his patience over and over again. Deucalion honestly wanted her to love him; he wanted to see the same look in her eyes he hadn't seen since she was a teenager. Back when she was struggling with her schoolgirl crush on him.

When Kim took a step away from him, and he felt his hands slowly slip off her shoulders, he was snapped back to reality. "Yes, I am!" she exclaimed desperately. "Even though we agreed I can work with Chris you always find a reason to keep me from doing what I want. Days, Duke. It had been long days since I left this goddamn place."

"This is exactly why we're going out for dinner," he said calmly.

"Dinner won't solve anything and you know that. Why can't you trust me when I say I can defend myself?"

She made him feel weak and humble when her words almost drew a series of sorry out of him in response. "Kimberly, it's not about you not being able to defend yourself," he started, hoping she would understand that he didn't want to hurt or patronize her. "The Darach probably knows about your connection to us and I can't risk losing you again."

"Again? The last time you 'lost me' because you turned into this homicidal monster," she shouted.

"Can we stop talking about all this?"

"Avoiding the topic won't solve the problem, you know."

"I'm aware of that, thank you, but now I'd like to have a nice evening with you without these ridiculous fights about what's happening around us."

"How romantic."

Deucalion put his hands on the back of his neck as he tried to understand her. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked quietly. If he could only took those few steps to look into her eyes without infra-red, without making her know there was a way he could see. Just one look; convincing her probably wouldn't take more.

"Why are you keeping me locked up?" she asked and her voice was surprisingly soft.

After taking a deep breath, he asked, "Kimberly, do you want me to beg you to drop it for tonight?"

"Would you really do that?"

"I would, but only because I love you," he admitted. It was true; it was all true. For this woman he, the feared Alpha, the Demon Wolf, would even drop to his knees and beg her since his emotions clouded his mind lately.

Deucalion heard the woman's soft sobbing as she tried not to cry. If things weren't so complicated between them he would pull her into a hug without hesitation. He had done that before and it always worked. "I don't believe you," she said hoarsely. "I don't think you're capable of honestly loving anyone except yourself."

Honesty was a trait he greatly respected in a person, but this time he had no idea how to react. It was shocking, really; finding out she really did see him as a monster and didn't know how much he loved her. Within a second he made his final decision and let his eyes turn bright red as he walked over to her and sank his claws deep into the back of her neck.

Deucalion knew it was Kimberly's last day before she packed her belongings in her car and left to start her new life as a university student. He hoped his sunglasses would hide his bright red eyes, but he had no other choice but using his werewolf sight. There was no way he would let her leave without seeing her for the last time for God knows how long. Maybe he was becoming obsessed with her lately, yes, and maybe he was thinking about ways to keep her around.

With whatever had been happening to him, keeping her close, using her as a living, breathing anchor seemed undeniably important. Probably she had no idea how much he needed her now, but Deucalion was more intelligent than to try and force her to stay. Even if he had thought about the possibility of turning her into a werewolf, he couldn't do it.

He had already killed two of his Betas and there was no proof he wouldn't kill her as well. If losing her like this hurt so much, killing her would probably kill him as well. So now all he could do was watching her in infra-red, following her all day long just to see if she was okay. Kim spent the rest of the day meeting friends she was about to leave behind in a small coffee before walking around the city for the last time. Once she was alone again on a small playground, Deucalion thought about talking to her.

One last time, one last try to see if she was willing to talk to him again so he could say goodbye. She was sitting on the grass, her eyes glued to the ground in front of her while she was playing with the necklace he had given her for her birthday a few months ago. Now that she was alone Kim didn't look happy and he hated it; he hated see her like this because he loved her smile.

Long minutes later a familiar scent alarmed his senses - it was a werewolf. The moment he spotted him Deucalion knew the werewolf was a Beta of his, another man he used to trust before the incident in Beacon Hills. The closer he walked to Kim, the stronger the Alpha's protective instinct became, and he didn't hesitate to attack when the other man got too close to the girl.

The Beta wasn't strong enough to have a chance against him. One quick move to break his neck and that was it - the man collapsed on the ground. From where she was sitting, Kimberly didn't see it and had no idea what happened. He knew it was better this way. She deserved a normal life, one she could never have by his side.

Kimberly's breathing was heavy and her wide eyes were watching him after he pulled out his claws. "Oh my God," she said slowly. "You killed him because of me."

"I was protecting you," he corrected her quietly.

"But... Duke, why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't want to see me and I respected your wish enough to stay away from you."

He watched her take a step forward. There she stopped, thought for a moment, then stepped back. Just when he thought she would soon turn around and leave the penthouse, Kim looked up at him and said, "I love you."

"What?"

This time there was no hesitation. She took a deep breath and she walked up to him, putting her hands on the back of his neck as she kissed him. It didn't last long, but it was still long enough to make him understand she meant every single word. "I love you," she repeated quietly after she pulled away. "I was a real bitch when I pushed you away. I mean, who knows, if I stayed by your side and helped you, maybe you wouldn't be who you are now."

"Don't blame yourself, Kim," he whispered into her hair after she buried her face in his chest.

"I'm not blaming myself, I'm just thinking." she replied. "But... you could see. You can see!"

"Only as a werewolf but at least there's a way I can see you.

Deucalion knew it didn't mean things were back to the way they used to be before. Still, she knew a part of the truth, and probably now understood why he wanted her to stay so badly. And she loved him. These three words meant everything at the moment, gave him back the hope he had lost a long time ago.

Author's note: Thank you guys for the reviews, favs and alerts! There's a poll on my profile and it will stay for a while. About this chapter: it's bad, I'm aware of that and I'm sorry, but I've been under a lot of stress in the last couple of days and the writer's block decided to stick around for a while. Anyway, I hope you could enjoy this chapter.