The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

Chapter 7 - the merchant and the wolf

It was early in the morning when Cara awoke. She could see the first light coming through the window in the room. However when she became more and more alert she noticed some sort of dark energy coming from the bed.

Kaz had a bad day, she could feel it. Even as he was still asleep. She thought about it for a while but decided to break his orders and shifted to her human form, it wasn't night anymore so the chances of them being ambushed was pretty much nonexistent.

She made her way towards the door making sure her footsteps were quite. She listened for anybody in the hallway and when she heard nothing she slowly opened the door and made her way to the main room where she ordered 2 plates of waffles and 2 mugs of water for thee.

When she got what she wanted she paid the inn keeper and tip toed her way back to the room. When she opened the door kaz was pacing in the middle of the room and he immediately spoke when his eyes met hers. "I told you not to shift, I thought they kidnapped you or something."

Cara could tell he was serious by the worried look in his eyes. "you know they could never kidnap me without a fight, I brought us breakfast go sit down." Kaz did not look happy with her answer but nodded and made his way over to the table. Cara set down the plates of food and took her bag of thee mixture out of her shoulder bag.

She put the thee leaves in the hot water, slowly making them dissolve slowly. She then took out a little bottle of honey and put some in both the mugs. "no wonder they taste better when you make them" kaz said. Cara smiled and slid the mug in front of him.

when they were finished they packed everything up and kaz put the key to the room in his coat as they left. Cara was instructed to shift into the small wolf and under no circumstances shift back to human before they were back at the inn.

Kaz took elvis and venus out of the stable while Cara waited outside as to not scare the other horses. Then they made their way over to the merchants house. The ride did not take long and they soon arrived at a pretty sizeable house. In front was a guard waiting for them.

"name" he simply said. "kaz brekker" kaz answered. The guard nodded and opened the door for them. once inside they were greeted by the merchant. "good morning mr. brekker." Kaz nodded at the man as he came closer to them.

"shouldn't that dog be on a leash?" Cara let out a very quiet growl that only kaz could hear and he took a glance at her. "no, she is perfectly trained. She won't do anything without my command." Cara Felt the urge to roll her eyes 'you wish' she thought to herself.

"well come on then" the merchant said as he motioned for them to follow. They were lead into a bigger room with a desk in the middle. The merchant motioned for kaz to sit down but he refused. Cara knew it was because he anticipated an ambush at any time.

the merchant started talking to kaz but Cara wasn't listening to them, instead she was focused to listen to the rest of the house. She could hear a wife and child in the distance and she could hear the birds singing outside but no signs of other people.

she was sitting at kaz's left side and when she glanced up at his hands holding his cane she could see them trembling. She slightly leaned against kaz to let him know she was there. She felt his muscles relax ever so slightly.

"that's it then" the merchant reached out his hand and with a little hesitation kaz shook his hand for a deal well done. They made their way back to the horses and quickly left. When the house was out of sight kaz turned to look at Cara who was walking next to elvis.

"anything?" Cara shook her head and they continued walking back to the inn. By the time they arrived back at the inn it was getting dark. Cara waited as kaz took the horses to the stable again. When they entered their room Cara looked at kaz as he nodded signaling her it was okay to shift.

Kaz was looking through some papers when Cara pulled out her bag with food and water. "I think you have had enough social interaction with people today so.." kaz looked up and nodded at her before turning back to his papers and books.

Cara took her book and pencil and took a seat on the other side of the table as far away from kaz as possible, kaz glanced at her but did not say anything as he went back to his books. They sat like this for a few hours before Cara stood up put her book away again.

She shifted to the small wolf and took her place by the bed again without saying a word to kaz. She did not hear him get into bed anymore, she was tired and fell asleep almost immediately.

It was in the middle of the night when she awoke, she first thought they ahd been ambushed as she heard grunting and trashing on the bed so she jumped up ready for battle but she saw no other people in the room.

She turned to kaz and saw what was causing him distress, he had a nightmare. She didn't need to think to know what it was about. She contemplated her choices for a bit, if she woke kaz up there was a high chance he was going to be very and I mean very mad. She could act like she saw nothing and try to go back to sleep ... no her heart wouldn't allow that.

Waking up it is she decided so she walked over to the bed. okay how was she going to do this without him thinking he was being attacked by a wolf when he woke up. she couldn't shift as he made himself very clear the day before.

She tried nudging his arm closest to the edge of the bed but nothing. This man sleeps deep she thought as she nudged a bit harder. He was laying in the middle of the bed and since it wasa double bed she couldn't reach far enough to reach him.

she had completely accepted by now that she was going to have a very angry kaz when he woke up so she got bold. Putting her front legs on the bed to be able to reach him better. She nudged his side but still nothing. Either this man really has a sleeping problem or this si the first time he is getting some proper sleep she thought to herself.

Alright screw it, she jumped on the bed making sure to not jump on him. he was still moving around a lot while mumbling things. She nudged his side a bit harder then before and suddenly his eyes shot open moving faster then she ever saw a human move before he shot up almost knocking her off the bed. she quickly regained her balance and looked at him. his eyes were full of pain and trauma. "just what ARE you doing??" Cara quickly jumped off the bed.

She knew kaz was going to be angry but she still did not like it when the anger was directed at her. She was standing next to the bed while looking at him, waiting for him to yell at her. But it never came. "sorry I didn't meant o wake you up I had a .. bad dream." He looked down.

his cane had fallen over from standing against the bed so Cara quickly took it and put it back against the bed. she looked at kaz when she heard him say "come on then" she tilted her head. He had moved over in the bed and patted the spot next to him.

the tilted her head the other way and looked form the spot to him as if to ask 'are you sure'. "I can tolerate it when its not human skin, besides ... I might sleep better knowing I have somebody looking out for me." He said the last part almost as a whisper.

He laid back down not waiting to see what Cara would do and pulled the covers back up. Cara stood there for a few more seconds before she carefully jumped on the bed again, laying as far away from his as possible before slowly dozing off to sleep again.

When the next morning came the duo didn't say a word to each other. They packed up their things and once kaz got on elvis Cara made her way into the forest that stretched out next to the road. They were already on the road for an hour before Kaz saw another horse coming in the opposite direction, the rider was a scruffy looking guy.

He knew this was it as he slowly reached for a gun that was packed right behind him. however as he approached he could head screaming coming from the forest, It sounded like at least 4 more men. Then he heard growling in the distance.

the man before him on the horse was only a few horse lengths away from him now but the attention of the man wasn't on him anymore but on the forest. Suddenly the screaming stopped and the man turned his horse around but before the horse could take off a giant black shadow leaped out of the forest and grabbed the man by his shoulder making him release the reins as they both hit the ground.

The horse of the man took off into the field as its rider was unconscious on the ground, he hit his head pretty hard there. Elvis never moved an inch. Kaz almost smiled. "I knew you made for a good investment." Cara looked up from the man underneath her.

Suddenly she turned around and took off. Kaz immediately knew that what he had said hurt her. He didn't see Cara anymore until they reached the clearing in the woods again. He got off of elvis and The horse ran towards its owner with venus behind him. Cara quickly took of their saddles and put them in the little wooden hut. Kaz watched form a distance debating with himself as to what he was going to say to her.

Before he had a chance Cara shifted and took both of their bags with her leaving kaz with his cane that he already got from elvis before.

When kaz got to the slat to look for her his bags were in front of his room but Cara wasn't in hers. He put away the kruge and the key and made his way to the crow club where he was greeted by jesper at the door. "welcome back boss" Kaz grumbled something in response.

"where is Cara?" jesper asked. "I don't know." Was the answer he was given. "what do you mean you don't know?" jesper followed kaz into the club. "it means exactly what you think it means" kaz responded while still not looking at jesper.

"you said something bad to her didn't you." Of course jesper would immediately know kaz thought to himself. He didn't respond to jesper, not knowing a good answer. "you should apologize." Jesper said.

"I don't do apologizes." Said kaz. "wel you should start today then, all of the crows can see how much she means to you kaz. You cannot be a heartless bastard all your life." Kaz looked at jesper with a murderous look "yes I can, love is for the weak."

"who said anything about love?" Jesper grinned. "shut up and go back to the door jesper." Kaz responded before heading to his office of the crow club.

Meanwhile Cara was on the roof of the slat, looking up at the moon. The last time somebody called her an investment was in the pits. She knew kaz didn't mean it that way but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Especially coming from him.

She knew that what she was doing was dangerous, she was developing feelings for the bastard of the barrel. She knew how dangerous that was, especially since she knew his reputation and how things go here in ketterdam. She was in conflict with herself.

one part of her didn't care, she would protect him with her life and if that meant dying for him she would gladly give her life. However on the other side she knew how much it would hurt kaz, she did not want him to hurt more than he already was and if that meant her staying away from him then she would do so..

The morning soon came and cara woke up refreshed. She was closing the buttons of her coat when a knock came. "come in". she called out. She expected jesper to ask her how her trip went but when she turned around it was kaz who stood in the doorway.

Cara was the first to talk. "look kaz I am sorry, I shouldn't have stormed off like that. I knew you didn't mean it the way that I took your words .." kaz shook his head as he took a step closer to her closing the door behind him. He slowly walked over to her hesitatingly putting a hand on her shoulder.

She was taken aback of the gesture but didn't step away from him. "no I should be the one to say sorry, I have .. I am ..." he shook his head before trying again "I have never felt this ... connection with anybody before and I regretted saying that to you as soon as I said it." Cara nodded slowly not knowing where he was going with this.

"I want you to know that I won't be mad if you leave after this, I know that having a .. connection with me is a dangerous thing and the last thing I want is to get you hurt. Cara wanted to take his hand but she didn't have her gloves on so instead she slowly put her hand on his arm. "I appreciate your apologies kaz, I know that took a lot of you, I can see you haven't slept tonight." One of the corners of kaz's mouth went slightly up. "you look straight through me." He said.

"so mr brekker when is our next heist?"


(Authors note: I am trying to build the relationship between kaz and Cara as fast as possible while still trying to make it a bit realistic as we all know kaz is not one for love or relationships. I myself don't like to read stories where there is 20 chapters of buildup before anything happens so I am trying to avoid this in this story. Furthermore I want to ask the readers of this story that if you have any suggestions of moments that you think would fit well into this story to let me know as I will try to work them in. i have a main storyline in mind but I am mostly making it up as I go so I have a lot of room for suggestions. Thank you for reading my story!)