Hi, kittens :) this is the last chapter. There's an epilogue left that I will post probably next weekend. University is starting again on Monday, for me at least, so I wish all who go back to school the best. Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter and enjoy this one.
*gives you all giant snowflake cookies as bribery*
Klaus does not let me watch his change. He locks himself in the cellar and I stand listening to his screams.
When it grows quiet I open the door and he nearly tears my arm off. There's effort in containing a raging beast.
When he comes to, covered in my blood, he screams for an entirely different reason.
X|X|X|X
It gets easier. Not much, but some.
There's still pain, yet he learns to channel the energy into control.
He prefers my wolf form to welcome his. The familiarity of shape and species calms the wild urge to kill and defend. My submission helps too.
I don't threaten him. In fact, I welcome his dominating personality. Carefully guiding his brash animalistic actions into productive activity. The forest becomes our training grounds.
Time recognises us as a pair. A pack. He takes this role of alpha seriously, in and out of wolf form. He struggles to be aware of his wolf's brash nature and how he'll control it in time.
X|X|X|X
The forest is hot and humid, so much so that my pelt is heavy with the air.
Klaus's huffs sound just behind me as we crash through vegetation, even the mighty Original can suffer from the accursed summer heat. Yet he follows me, keeping close but far enough away that I feel like I'm faster. Which I'm sure I am anyway.
It's a game of opportunity, of admittance. There's a measure of pleasure that comes with being chased by the man you love and I know he enjoys the chasing just as much.
My head twists and I catch a glimpse of brilliant blue. Of fur peppered in light and dark.
Log!
The sound is sudden enough that I trip over my own paws before I can come close to falling over said log.
Klaus bounds forward in a blur of silver and snow to brace the majority of my shifting weight. It's nothing more than a bump of shoulders to veer me from a possible trip to the forest floor.
There's a spark of amusement in my mind that I'm sure isn't mine.
Without thought my gait slows and Klaus continues in front of me. I watch his tail swish from side to side, the movement almost enough to draw my attention away from my confusion.
Tentatively, I search my mind. There's a familiar hum, that's actually quite foreign, but I won't get excited until I'm sure. Very sure.
I prod at it and feel a swell of content exertion. Could be my own. But as I watch Klaus deftly leap over a branch, I can't help but hope. We've slowed enough now that our gait could be considered a trot.
Abruptly, I sit down. Plopping into the mess of leaves and moss, so suddenly that Klaus will probably not notice for a moment.
I stretch my mind, watching the wolf before me skirt around shrubbery. Nose probing at fallen leaves, ears twitching at the calls of birds. Tail swaying, feathers and clouds, a mismatch of midnight and snow.
Klaus…
It's a whisper of a thought, the gentle call of caution that flowed from my pounding blood.
He pauses in his stride and turns. Head cocking to the side in an adorable fashion I'll never admit to his face. After a moment he starts to lope back to me, eyes sharp and steps sure over the shrubbery. There's an elegance he's mastered in his fight for control, an elegance I can't help but feel that mirrors his human form.
When he reaches me, he stops and uses his nose to nudge me. It's gentle, encouraging, questioning.
In my mind concern surges.
Stopfaststop runhot tired tiredhurt tiredresthurt where rest helpwhere-
Klaus circles me and I continue to watch him. Entranced by the litany of emotion and thought.
No injury. Tired reststop hot rest. Hurt nothurt tired-
Klaus…
His head snaps up and he stares into the forest, teeth bore and hackles rising.
Of course. He doesn't know. He wouldn't know. Still abundant happiness fills me.
Slowly, I rise from my position and approach him, trying to fill my mind with as much reassurance and affection that I can. I think of our shared kisses at the breakfast table, the laughter I coaxed from him while trying to cook something and it failed miserably.
His body twitches and I slide my head against his side, bumping my nose at the underside of his snout.
Klaus.
He shifts at the attention, tail whipping back and forth as he lowers his head to bump with mine.
Leah nothurt rest hot Leahhappy where resthotsummerrest Leah Leahcomfort hot run rest-
You're thinking too fast.
There are images mixed into his thoughts, they're chaotic and woven together in a tapestry of colour and sound, taste and smell.
He doesn't seem to understand how we're doing this, if it's really happening or whether he's imagining it. I shove my own thoughts at him, memories of conversing with Sam's pack, with Jacob's pack. They're bittersweet and are coloured with old pain, but they hold the key to my explanation.
When I joined Jacob I lost the ability to hear Sam and Paul, Quinn, all the rest, but my connection to Jacob and Seth remained – a new bond with a new pack.
Klaus rolls the information around his mind, tinting it with curiosity and cautious excitement. The barrage of thoughts and questions that follow are too fast and too many to pay attention to.
I share with him a mental image of us and Hayley. Our pack.
His mind quiets into a single thought.
Family.
X|X|X|X
He's better at it and he takes advantage of this fact.
We're lying in a clearing, stretched in the lazy afternoon sun. My belly is pointed at the sky and next to me Klaus rests with his snout inspecting a patch of dandelions.
There's a flash of colour in my mind, followed quickly by laughing voices. I recognise Elijah and Kol, although they seem younger here. The blonde girl I recognise from Klaus's drawings.
They dash out in front of me into a line of trees. I wait, knowing the time will come.
There are three loud thuds as my siblings leap over the fallen tree. I grin and charge into the brush. I'm faster than they are, I know I am. So focused, am I, on catching up with my siblings that I no longer pay attention to their footfalls, Rebekah's hearty giggles.
Really, I shouldn't be surprised that when I bound over the log, a near victorious grin stretching my face, something grabs my ankle. I plummet down to earth with a squawk and land face first.
Above me my siblings erupt into laughter. Someone sits on my back. Kol, I think.
"Got you, little brother." Elijah.
I struggle a little, scowling at the ground. "Get off."
"Rebekah, quick-"
I recognise my sister's leather shoes as soon as they cross my path. She takes a deep breath and screeches (actually sings, but it's god-awful so it should be not be called singing).
"Wishes on your eight and tenth birthdate, brother!"
Flowers fall around me in a myriad of colours, Kol and Elijah join in and the not-singing.
The memory is pulled from my grasp and I tilt my head from the sky to Klaus. A whine pierces the air as I make my displeasure of having the memory taken away from me known.
He's much better at controlling his thoughts, his memories. I'm had more practice and still he is better.
Klaus huffs a breath and nudges me.
You're turn.
I fall over to the side, nearly lying on top of Klaus. He does not seem to mind, merely lifts his head to take a playful bite at my twitching ear.
Before I can stop myself, I reciprocate the action. Klaus shakes against me and growls, the ear pressing flat against his head to get away from me.
I relay how unfair it is that he gets to tease me but I don't get to do so in return. Klaus answers by puffing air into the shell of my ear. I twitch and roll my head so the ear is pressed to the ground.
The memory I share is quiet and less active. I recount a day with dad out by the lake, mom on the shore by our campsite preparing the fire, and Seth in his carrier fast asleep. It's not a birthday party, not like the ones the other children on the reservation have, but it's great anyway. We sleep under the moonlight, my childish form curled between the warmer ones of my parents.
Klaus shifts from under me and curls around me. He places his heavy head against my neck, making a deep guttural sound that vibrates against my fur.
I shift into the embrace, closing my eyes and welcoming the soothing laps of comfort from his mind.
We can go camping. He relays after a moment.
We practically camp every day, out in these woods.
His amusement is thick in my mind. I mean, go camping somewhere else. We can live off the land, sleep under the stars.
Why?
Do you not want to?
I frown internally, growing suspicious. Klaus sounds much too eager. What are you planning?
There's an infinitesimal pause. It is your birthday next week, liebling.
I blink my eyes open and stare at the flowers surrounding us. Being with you is enough.
Please, his mind caresses mine. Let me do this for you.
Uttering a whine I close my eyes once more. Only because you asked.
The warmth that statement evokes in him is enough to make me bark out a laugh.
X|X|X|X
Klaus kisses me with the mutual glow of moon and firelight, burning us in the darkness.
"Yes," I say against his lips, grinning. "Yes,"
His own grin makes the kisses difficult; it's a clash of teeth.
Even wrapped around him, as if even a lick of space was terminal, I can't get close enough.
"I love you, so much." My voice is broken from the kisses and laughter.
He pulls me away to lean his forehead against mine; our eyes meet in the dull light. "And I love you,"
My eyes burn and my grin grows wider, painfully so. "Of course you do, fiancé."