Some TO quotes here. I'm sure you'll recognize parts of the confrontation between Klaus and Kol.

This chapter ends in smut.

-48-

Klaus

Klaus slipped away from Kai Parker as soon as Finn and Isolde disappeared down the street, returning to the house in search of Kol.

He had a score to settle with his littlest brother and frankly he was wondering if it would be worth Isolde's ire to stake Kol just for the satisfaction of watching him temporarily dessicate.

It was far less than he would deserve after killing Marcel.

"What's the matter darling, feeling a bit listless without your daggers to threaten me into submission?" Kol asked the moment Klaus breached the tree line. He was laying upon the chase of an outdoor lounge chair without a care, hands folded over his stomach. Unfazed.

Klaus felt his irritation deep in his chest as he turned his lips up into a preaditory smile. "You know, it's funny how often a person's sharp tongue can end up cutting their own throat."

"Fortunate how connected I am to the one person you have no intentions of harming then." Kol smirked as Klaus strode across the lawn to get closer. "Unless you wish to find out what happens to Isolde when you stake me through the heart."

"Using our shared mate as a shield is beneath you." Klaus snapped as he came to a stand still at the foot of Kol's chaise.

"Perhaps." Kol conceded, heaving a large sigh, eyes darting skyward before looking back down at Klaus with his smirk back in place. "But it is effective. Let's not pretend you wouldn't do the same."

Klaus had to physically clench his muscles to keep himself from attacking Kol.

Progress.

Just a week ago he would've fought Kol into the ground for snarking at him the way he was - let alone doing so after having killed someone Klaus considered family.

Had he the daggers Kol would already be subdued.

But that was no longer an option.

That, and he was doing his best to bury the hatchet, so to speak, with his family. Unfortunately Kol seemed to be unconcerned with keeping the family strong and united by settling the infighting. If he were he wouldn't have killed Marcel when Emeric had explicitly said that Marcel's fate was Klaus' decision.

"Oh, you're angry, are you?" Kol's smile fell and gave way to a rueful glare as he sat up, spitting his next venomous words. "Well, join the party, I've been here a thousand years!"

Klaus' brow rose in question at the sudden mood shift, his own anger rising at Kol's tone.

"I'm not the bad guy in this chapter of our family's story! I'm the wronged! I'm the daggered, but never missed, and whilst you got everything that you wanted. I got a family who didn't care if I lived or if I died! Each time I was released you put me back! And for what? Because I was too hard to handle? Because you valued that boy over me, your own brother?"

"Oh, shut up!" Klaus growled, grabbing Kol in a choke-hold as he slammed him against the wall of the house. "WE'VE ALL SUFFERED! WE'VE ALL BEEN WRONGED. MARCEL WAS A CHILD. MY CHILD."

Kol was growling right back, the veins of his vampire face crawling to the surface as he threw Klaus off of him.

"He was nothing more than a passing fancy. Someone for you to play at fatherhood with for your own demented purposes. A boy to raise so he can be like you without destroying him like Mikael had done to you. Marcel was a mirror."

Klaus stopped moving altogether then, jaw clenched. Kol seemed to interpret his stillness and silence as an invitation to proceed.

"What would have happened when you decided the mirror had cracked, your perfect image split?" Kol stepped forward, ignoring the dent in the bricks of the house that was left by the impression of his body. His voice was less shouty now. "You would have killed him. He'd already betrayed you, Nik! He didn't come to find you after you thought he'd died in the fire set by Mikael. To add insult to injury he stole our legacy in New Orleans and made it his own. He was not family. He was not a Mikaelson. So if you're going to try and subdue me for killing the interloper before he could kill one of us then best get on with it."

Klaus glared at Kol for a long moment, mulling over Kol's tirade. He took a moment to calm himself before he spoke, vaguely aware that a pajama clad Elijah was standing at the back door to the house, watching the youngest brothers argue with keen interest.

He was likely deciding whether or not he needed to intervene.

"I'm not going to do anything to you, you idiot! Despite your behavior, you're still my brother!"

"Yeah, just the one you dagger repeatedly."

Klaus rolled his eyes so hard he thought he'd lose them in the back of his head. "I've daggered all of you! Each for your own good! If you don't agree with my motives, fine. I never claimed to be the bastion of temperance! But stop this drivel about being singled out and unloved."

Klaus stepped toward Kol and laid a hand on his shoulder, deciding that more than anything Kol seemed to need reassurance that he was a priority.

That was the reason for this entire tirade. For Kol killing Marcel. It was Kol's insecurity, made worse by jealousy.

Despite what Kol said about Klaus' reasons for wanting to raise Marcel (and Klaus did not wish to linger on the truth in Kol's words) it was clear that Kol was projecting his own issues with Klaus and the rest of the family onto the situation.

"You are a Mikaelson!" Klaus shook his brother's shoulder to drive the point home. "You're my blood. And I need you. I need you by my side. Even if I am cross over Marcel's death. All I've ever needed or wanted is my family."

"What does it even mean, Nik? Hmm? You talk about family- family this, family that. 'Always and Forever,' a promise that never included me–"

"'Always and Forever' has always included you." Klaus stressed, staring Kol in his eyes. "Why else would I keep you around even when you're behaving like a hedonistic, psychotic maniac up and down entire countries leaving trails of blood to our doorstep. Mikael found us more often than not due to your exploits. I had to keep daggering you to keep you safe. To keep all of us safe."

This was, evidently, the wrong thing to say and Kol narrowed his eyes into slits. He shoved Klaus' hand off his shoulder.

"So I'm the problem then?" Kol pointed to himself, fangs out as he hissed his next statement. "Who was it Mikael hunted? Who was it that killed Esther?"

Klaus didn't get the chance to respond, for Elijah had finally decided to step between them both with one hand gripping each of their shirts.

"That is enough!" Elijah's voice was just a decibel below a shout and it caught both of the arguing brother's off guard. Elijah rarely raised his voice. "Cease this senseless infighting at once, it does nothing but divide us in a time where we need our collective strength more than ever. Or have you both forgotten that our enemies are making moves as we speak?"

Klaus made rage-filled eye contact with Kol as he wrenched free of Elijah's grip.

"And here I thought we were passed this." Elijah quipped as Kol took a step back, breathing harshly. His vampire face receded back into his normal one.

"It must end. Kol–" Elijah addressed the youngest, one finger lifted to point at him as if to drive his point home. "For my part I am sorry we've made you feel as though you were unseen and forgotten by the rest of us. I will work to remedy this in the coming years but it will take time."

"Well." Kol began, some of the tension easing out of his shoulders. "Time seems to be the one thing we have in abundance. This family makes me want to fucking drink."

Elijah glanced over to Klaus as Kol sauntered toward the house. "I loved Marcel too, Niklaus. I mourn with you."

"I love my family, Elijah." Klaus spared a look of contrition toward Elijah, the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes, before side stepping him. "I counted Marcel as one of us but Kol is ours by blood. I'm willing to set it aside but this isn't over."

"I doubt it will ever be over. Bickering is what we do. What's important is we set it aside when it matters." Elijah told him, falling into step beside him as they went to harass Kol to share the alcohol.

Isolde

Elijah, Klaus, and Kol were all in the living room drinking when Isolde and Finn returned to the house, an hour or so before dawn.

"Where's Kai?" She asked, dropping onto the couch between Klaus and Kol, who were making it a point not to look at each other.

The tension in the room was palpable. Something had clearly happened while she and Finn were off talking.

"Came back and went to sleep a couple of hours ago, mumbling something about being abandoned by his roommate." Kol told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Where have the two of you been?"

"A park a mile east of here." Finn said, taking a seat on a piano bench that was off to the corner of the room. There was no other seating available with all of them spread out.

Isolde turned to Klaus, concerned. The hybrid was not usually one to let others do all the talking but he'd been silent thus far. She knocked her shoulder into his.

"Walk with me?" She asked him, masking her concern behind a cheery smile. "I saw something earlier that I think might interest you."

That got his attention. She was rewarded with a soft smirk and a faint brow lift. "Did you now?"

A quick walk later found them standing in front of a Joann's craft store, Klaus staring at Isolde in a huff.

"Oh come on–" She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the door, surprised when it opened right up and the lights came on as they entered. Isolde turned to smirk at him, grabbing his hand in both of hers. "At least it's not a Michael's?"

The look Klaus gave her was a mix of irritated amusement. Then he cracked a real smile so she counted that as a win. To Isolde's faint surprise he let her continue to drag him along until she found the paint section.

"Alright, what supplies do you need?" Isolde asked, looking at the shelves. "And do I need to go grab a cart? I thought we could pick some things and head to that park Finn and I found." She crouched and picked up a packet of ten oil paints. "Are you an oil painter or do you use acrylics? I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to painting, you'll have to walk me through it."

He didn't answer.

Klaus' silence continued until she stopped and looked at him with a raised brow.

"What's wrong? Don't feel like it?" Isolde asked, rising from her crouch. "That's fine, we can–"

"Why?" Klaus asked, eyes never leaving her.

Isolde cocked her head. "Why what?"

"There are limitless possibilities in this town and no people to bother us. Why the art supplies section of a chain craft store?" Klaus elaborated, reaching to take the pack of paints from her. She let him.

Isolde shrugged. "Things have been out of control, and control is something you need, right? Painting gives you that. So I thought–"

Again, Klaus proved how fast he was. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and his mouth on hers before she could finish her sentence. His kiss was soft, a stark contrast to how rough his grip on her was but Isolde couldn't find it in her to complain. Especially when he wrapped his free arm around her back and pulled her close until they were pressed against each other.

Isolde was vaguely aware of the packet of paints hitting the floor the same time she felt her back touch a wall. Klaus pinned her with his hips and drew back, nipping her lip as he went and she moaned when she opened her eyes and saw a smear of her blood on his mouth.

A jolt of desire ran through her when his tongue darted out to taste it. She could feel his own desire pressing against her belly and wondered if they were going to pick up where they left off before Mikael interrupted them and everything went to hell.

"I want you." Klaus' voice rumbled, his hot breath on her neck as he leaned in, one hand raising to cup one side of her neck, the other resting on her hip. His fingers dipped into the waistband of her shorts. "That is what you asked, was it not? That I tell you what I want?"

Isolde gripped his raised forearm, legs weak. It was a good thing he had her pinned to the wall.

Klaus pressed light, open mouth kisses from her collarbone to her ear, nipping at the lobe before he spoke again.

"I want you. Us. The future we would create together. I want it all." He pulled back again to look into her eyes and was startled by the conviction in those blue depths. "I think it's past time you tell me what it is you want."

What did she want?

Isolde took a moment to think about it before she answered him.

"I'm a simple woman." Isolde began with a soft smile. Klaus huffed a laugh. "I want my people to prosper. I want us. You and me. The others too. All of us together to be safe and thriving in a peace that we've earned by making our enemies extinct."

Klaus' smile was genuine, but the ruthless cunning in his gaze made her toes curl. "We can make that happen, love." The hand on her neck moved until it was gripping the hair at the base of her neck, taking control of how much she could move. "What else?"

"I want to be reunited with my brother."

"And?" Klaus prompted, his lips a hair away from hers, their noses brushing.

Isolde swallowed. "I want to merge with Ra and take down Apophis so he's never again a threat to this planet and those I care about. I–" Isolde stopped, realizing the next words that were going to come out of her mouth was something she really shouldn't admit out loud.

But Klaus was having none of it, he gripped her harder.

"Come now, sweetheart, let's have honesty between us. What is said here will stay between you and I. I swear it." His words were sincere and earnest, and Isolde believed him. "What else is there you want?"

"I–" her voice was low. So very quiet, like speaking it out loud would make it happen and she wanted it and yet didn't at the same time because of the consequences of such a thing.

"Tell me, Isolde. What is this desire you're trying so hard to shield from me?" Klaus drew back, as if sensing that this was no longer merely a game he was playing, that he'd just struck the nerve of something intense, something deep.

And he had.

His gaze darted between her eyes, as if trying to read her mind to learn everything she'd ever hidden there. He seemed to find something in her gaze that clued him in, and he dropped his hands from her body but did not leave her space.

"You're keeping secrets."

He didn't say it like an accusation - more like a revelation of something he should've already known but somehow he missed it. Understanding passed between them when she nodded.

His gaze was intense. "Well who better to share such things with than myself?" He spread his arms out by his sides. "Put your faith in me. Trust me." His voice was beseeching. "I assure you I won't disappoint."

Isolde thought about it for a moment.

Then she decided to take a leap of faith and trust in Klaus.

So she told him everything that was in her capacity to tell.

Niklaus

Klaus was silent on the back end of Isolde's revelations. The truths of Creation. Creation deities.

The impossible choice that had to be made after she would merge with Ra.

What she wanted to do when next confronted with Apophis–-and all signs pointed to that reunion happening quite soon.

"I'm going to tell everyone. I was planning on doing it before we leave today–"

"No." Klaus said, interrupting Isolde. He ran both of his hands over his face. "Not yet."

Klaus' head was spinning, cataloging and sifting through all the new information he'd received watching the false sun rise as he sat on a bench outside a craft store in a parallel dimension.

There was once a time he thought he'd seen it all.

Isolde had proven him wrong almost daily since she'd come into his life.

"But–" Isolde began, and Klaus once again cut her off.

"This stays between us for now." Klaus stood and turned to face his mate, placing his hands around her waist and crouching before her. "I will help you make it work, but I need some time to process it. The magnitude–" Klaus paused, still hardly comprehending all she'd revealed to him. "Once Elijah, Finn, and Kol know about this it's going to be absolute chaos. I know my brothers, they will want to help. They require action to feel useful. We need to have a working plan before they're included."

Isolde was biting her lip and he could tell by the way her heart was racing that she was feeling anxious… that she didn't relish the idea of lying to three of her bonds by omission. That was fine, he would gladly take the fall for it. It was he who was asking her to keep it between them for now.

"It's alright, love." Klaus tried to set her at ease. He leaned forward on his toes, his hands now cradling her face. Hers raised to his forearms, thumbs brushing the insides of his wrists. "We'll make it work."

He could–would make it work.

But he was going to need Anubis.

And a lot more sire bonded hybrids.

"You're not upset?" Isolde asked in a small voice that he decided he didn't like one bit.

He rocked forward and kissed her once, just to reassure her, before drawing back. "No."

He was proud, if he were being honest with himself. Proud that she'd trusted him when he'd asked her too. He now shared a part of her, for however limited a time it may be, that the others did not.

And he was glad to have a task-a goal to work towards. He'd always thrived under such pressure.

This was an opportunity to prove himself to her. To prove his commitment. Not that she'd ever ask him to.

"Let's head back. There's work to be done and we're running short on time to get a move on before Vera tries to bring us back from this world." Klaus rose to his feet, extending a hand to Isolde to help her off the bench.

Isolde hummed and placed her hand in his. "Yeah. I'd rather get to my brother and bring him back before my other siblings realize what I'm doing and interfere."

Klaus refrained from making a comment on that, knowing what he did about–

"You're hiding something too." Isolde stated once she was upright beside him, dusting imaginary dirt from her arse. He tensed and looked over at her.

She'd just spent the last two hours explaining to him things she'd never told anyone before… things only ten of the most powerful beings in existence knew.

Yet he still held secrets.

"I know An-Jack asked you to let him tell me. I wont say that it doesn't bother me but, well, if it's as bad as Finn made it out to seem then it's probably for the best. I'll trust that if it was something I needed to know right away you would tell me, Jack's opinion be damned."

She truly was placing her trust in him, wasn't she? It was an odd feeling. No one had ever placed the amount of trust in him that Isolde had.

How could Isolde not have been his natural mate before her brother's interference? It hadn't been long. The barest of blips in the sequence of his life. But now that he'd had her in it, he couldn't fathom existence without her. They fit together in ways he'd never thought anyone could fit with another.

So different and so similar all at once.

"Your brother wishes to be the one to give you this news. I imagine he will show you what he's seen himself and I believe that course of action is for the best. That is why I haven't said anything." Klaus admitted, watching her for any signs of anger.

He didn't wish to ruin everything they'd just established between each other.

"I trust you." Isolde nodded and walked past him, reaching out to take his hand. He threaded his fingers between hers–the verbal confirmation of her trust in him warming his chest. He had no idea where they were heading but relished the alone time he had. It would be fleeting. "Is there anything you do want to share about what you learned with Jack?"

Klaus mulled it over for a few moments before responding. He couldn't mention anything that would cause alarm bells to ring in Isolde's head. The memories that Anubis had shared all served a purpose; to show why he did not trust his siblings. Theon and Vera specifically. They were also meant to share who he was, as well, and to show them how far he would go for Isolde. How deep the well of his devotion ran.

"He shared some childhood memories of the two of you through his perspective." Klaus told her as they walked down the street - further away from Malachai's home. "He doesn't seem to be too fond of your other siblings."

It would be disingenuous to imply otherwise, and that would set off those bells. Isolde herself had told him as much after she'd killed Mikael. It was no secret that Anubis' loyalty was solely to Amunet.

Klaus watched Isolde's lips twitch upward. "No. He never was. If you saw some childhood memories I'm sure you have a decent understanding of why. To Em, Bis was sickly and weak. Worthless." Klaus could understand how that would affect someone. He'd suffered the same treatment, after all. "To the twins, he was weird and mean spirited. They treated him like a pariah and a villain in one—and don't get me started on Set." She scowled, then sighed. "Nothing I said ever changed their minds and then he was gone and he never had an opportunity to change their opinions himself."

It's not bloody likely Anubis intends to change their opinions now, either. Klaus thought.

Klaus was on the edge of a murderous rampage having seen only a part of what happened during their childhood and then the events that led to Isolde's loss of freedom.

Then later her isolation.

Theon was fortunate Klaus was confined to the prison world for now, because he would have gone after him the second he'd woken from that memory had he been able.

"Your shared bond with your twin is quite strong. I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it in my thousand years." Klaus said as they rounded a corner. "He is intense."

"Wow, that says a lot coming from you of all people." Isolde laughed, bumping shoulders with him and Klaus smiled at the irony.

"Takes one to know one, I suppose."

"I think the two of you will get along." Isolde told him, looking up at the sky as they walked. "You're very similar. I'm almost surprised he didn't bond you to him instead."

That surprised a real laugh out of him and he stopped moving abruptly, pulling her to him in a swift move that had her hand landing on his chest for balance.

"I'm sure his decision was, in part, due to my preference for the fairer sex." He leaned in and captured her lips to accentuate his point and was proud when she melted into his embrace. "I much prefer the twin I have, so I'd thank you not to give the other one any ideas."

Isolde pulled back just enough to mumble against his lips. "Hm. Are you sure? I can talk to him for you…"

"Impudent little minx." Klaus accused, tightening his grip on her.

Never one to back down from a challenge, and absolved of his guilt for withholding secrets from her, Klaus used all of his speed to pick Isolde up and race off towards a more suitable place.

There was something he'd wanted to do since the day he'd first met her… the day she saved him from his mother's vile machinations.

"I think here is good." Isolde's sweet voice rang in his ear. He was just about to ask her what she meant when, without warning, Isolde shifted and sent them both tumbling to the ground when Klaus was unable to accommodate it. They rolled for a moment before Klaus got control of himself and Isolde pinned him underneath her, her legs straddling his hips and rubbing deliciously exactly where he wanted her.

She looked down at him, her curls brushing his face. "Yes, this will do nicely. It's a pretty morning. Things are about to get chaotic. Let's enjoy the peace for a moment, hm?"

He glanced around. They were in a large field on the outskirts of the town. Klaus was cushioned from the hard ground by a blanket of moss and wildflowers all around.

"This is your location of choice?" His brows rose, a smirk playing on his lips. "Adventurous of you."

"You were ready to take me against a tree just yesterday." Isole reminded him, fingers brushing down his cheek. "At least here tree bark isn't going to rub my back."

Klaus grabbed her hand and pressed each of her fingers to his lips, giving her a look that could only be defined as sultry. "Fair enough, love."

Far be it from him to complain. The location didn't matter to him, so long as he could finally have the woman he wanted. The woman he'd been incapable of stopping himself from falling in love with.

He was going to claim his mate. Right now.

The wolf inside of him howled. The outdoors was his natural domain. Something about the smell of nature and Isolde mixed together and Klaus' instincts to claim surged forward with an urgency he could not ignore.

He flipped their position until Isolde was stretched underneath him, arse up.

"If you want me to stop, you need to tell me." Klaus told her, wrapping one arm around her midsection and pulling her up until she was on her knees. Her arms were braced against the ground. "Because I have every intention of laying my claim–the wolf demands it."

And his wolf was demanding it, pacing and growling and rippling beneath the surface. The wolf spurred Klaus' movements as his freehand clutched the waistband of Isolde's shorts. The last thread of his self-control hanging on, waiting for her assent before he was lost to his instinct.

He'd never had to fight the werewolf urge to claim before. He'd not been released from his curse long enough for such instincts to have become a problem. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be.

"Don't stop."

He needed no more than that.

Klaus shredded the shorts and tossed the torn rags to the side, overcome by the sight of his mate laid bare and glistening below him for the first time.

"Already so wet for me." His voice was more gravelly than usual, the effects of his own arousal. He reached down to shuck his trousers down to his knees, just to release his throbbing erection from its restriction.

"Klaus." Isolde said his name like a prayer and it drove him wild with need.

But Klaus wanted to savor this moment. Wanted to remember it a thousand years from now.

So instead of pushing forward, Klaus pulled back. He took Isolde with him, supporting her so that the curve of her back nestled into his chest, and brushed her hair to the side.

"Tell me you're mine." Klaus growled into her ear, sucking the lobe in between his teeth, relishing the way it made her tremble in his arms.

He needed to hear it. That she was his. That his claim was real and valid and she accepted that.

"Yours. I'm yours." Isolde cried as his feather light fingers stroked down between her breasts, down her stomach and abdomen. "Klaus, please."

"That's my girl." Klaus told her, biting back his groan as he dipped his fingers between her legs, finding that little bundle of nerves he knew she wanted him to touch.

Isolde mewled, her shoulders pressing back against him as her hips surged forward, circling in tandem with his fingers, looking for more pressure in just the right spot.

Her hand sprang into his line of vision and he watched with lust and fascination as she licked her own hand, then reached behind her until she found his cock. He shuddered when she wrapped her wet palm around him.

It was a battle of who could drive the other more mad, speeding up and slowing down until one was too far gone from pleasure to continue. Before he knew it, Klaus was thrusting into her hand with abandon, her breathy moans and spasms driving him past the point of wishing to savor the moment.

There would be plenty more opportunities from her out to learn Isolde... to tease and explore.

He was so close.

It had been so long. A thousand years wait for this moment.

To claim his mate.

"Mine." Klaus growled low. He pushed Isolde down, pressing her front into the ground and keeping his hand pressed against the middle of her back so she couldn't move. Her hands fell in front of her and she cried out as he slipped inside her in one swift movement. "You. Are. Mine."

"Yes, anima gemella. Yours." Isolde cried below him as he thrust into her with abandon, lost to the feel of her wrapped around him for the first time. "Mente, corpo, anima, cuore."

Her words registered to him and he shuddered at what they meant. The admission was there, in between them, and he found himself responding as he wrenched her back up.

"Mente, corpo, anima, cuore. Sempre e per sempre, amore mio." He groaned as he came in a rush, sinking his teeth into the back of her neck so deep, so brutally, with the werewolf claiming magic so close to the surface, that his mark would last forever upon her flesh.

Finally, they were one.

Italian Translations

Anima gemella = Soulmate

Mente, corpo, anima, cuore. Sempre e per sempre, amore mio. = Mind, body, soul, heart. Always and forever, my love.

Well these relationships are solid now. Lets GOOO.