The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 9 - making it official

"cara ... cara ... CARA." A whisper turning into a louder voice startled Cara awake. She immediately sprung up and when she noticed she was inches away from kaz who sat on the side of her bed she was so surprised that she jumped away from the situation and fell straight off the opposite side of the bed. causing a giggle to sound from the bed.

"kaz what the hell." Cara said as she got up from the ground. She had gone to bed soon after their conversation yesterday and hadn't even heard kaz come back to the slat. "as you are now my .. partner.. I think it is officially time to finish your crow initiation."

"crow ... initiation?" Cara looked at kaz. "it is time to get you your tattoo. He pointed at the place his own crow and cup tattoo was. "oh" was the only thing Cara answered. Making kaz's eyes fill with worry. "you do still want to be part of the crows right? You don't have to get the tattoo if you don't want to I just thought..."

"it's okay kaz" Cara answered as she lightly touched his arm to calm him. "meet me downstairs in 10" kaz said. He got up and walked out of the room. Cara quickly put on her outfit for the day and made her way downstairs.

when she got downstairs kaz was sitting at a table with 2 plates of waffles waiting for her. She joined him. "good morning" she said. Kaz looked up from his papers "glad you are in a better mood than 10 minutes ago." He said.

Cara smiled but chose not to take the bait but instead took a bite out of the plate of waffles in front of her. Once they both finished their plates they both got up went on their way. It was a cold morning so Cara had her gloves on to fight the cold.

"it's a 30 minutes' walk to our destination." Kaz said. "you really couldn't have picked a colder morning could you." Cara said. Kaz didn't reply as they walked on. After a few minutes kaz took hold of her hand.

"is this okay?" Kaz asked almost shyly. Cara giggled "of course it is okay kaz, is this okay for you? You know with your .." Kaz didn't let her finish that sentence "yes its okay, with you its different. I don't feel the bad.." Cara squeezed his hand as they shared a look.

kaz did not let go of Cara's hand until they were in front of their destination. Kaz went in first. As soon as the man saw kaz he nodded and motioned to the back of the establishment. They went to the back where kaz took a seat and Cara looked at the picture all around the room.

Soon the man from before joined them. "The usual one for the girl?" the man asked kaz. "yes, and her name is Cara show some respect." Kaz threw the man a bag of coins.

The man motioned Cara to sit down as she pulled up her sleeve to reveal her forearm. A few minutes later they started the tattooing process. It hurt – a lot. Kaz knew, he could see it on Caras face that it hurt. He wanted to murder the shop owner for hurting her. He wanted to hold her hand and be there for her but he couldn't. he had already pushed himself with holding her hand while walking.

it was true what he had said to her, touch felt different with her then with any other person but there was still the fear of panic. And the fear only brought on the panic, he needed to overcome his fear. He wanted to – for her.

She hadn't been in his life for long but somehow he felt like they were destined to meet each other, she was the only one who understood him and maybe the only one who was willing to put up with him. he knew he wasn't an easy person to get along with.

As he saw the hurt on Cara's face he vowed to himself to protect her to the best of his abilities. He was willing to give his life if she could be happy.

It was now that kaz finally understood something. He had been wrong, love is not weakness, love is a beginning, it makes you stronger. It gave him a reason to fight his pain, his trauma. It gave him a reason to be better.

he had send inej to investigate the pits a week ago and she had given him the information he needed. He now knew exactly when the fights happened and how many guards would be present. He just needed to figure out how to get the shifters out of there, stealing people was harder than stealing a painting or a valuable item.

Kaz had been so deep in thought that he didn't notice the man finishing the tattoo or Cara getting up and walking towards him. "Kaz are you okay?" she asked while lightly touching his shoulder. He turned to her.

"yes I am okay, I was just thinking .." Cara took a step away from him. "well come on then mr brekker, you can think more when we are back at the slat and I am sitting next to a warm fire." Kaz shook his head when he got up, a playful smirk on his face.

They got out of the establishment and started walking back to the slat. It did not take long for kaz to take Cara's hand again. "so what were you thinking about?" Cara asked him.

"I came to the conclusion that I was wrong about something." Cara giggled. "nooo the great bastard of the barrel was wrong about something? That is impossible." She playfully mocked him. He shot her a glare.

"I am ready to fight for it." He muttered. Cara squeezed his hand. "fight for what?" Kaz stood still for a moment before lifting their hands up. "fight for this." He said before starting to walk again. Cara didn't need to hear more than that, she knew exactly what he meant. She squeezed his hand again to reassure him.

"lets fight for it together."

(authors note: again yea sorry. I felt like I had to clarify what was going on in kaz's mind a bit more. it's a short chapter but It clears a lot up for how far they are in their 'partnership'. We won't rush things but like I said before I am trying to not make it a slow burner. I am still open for suggestions regarding the story, is there something specific that you would like to see them go through for example. Thank you again for reading this story, I know it puts a lot of people off with the whole added shifter thing but I wanted Cara to be something special, and the fact that kaz does not have a big problem with touching animals – looking at you milo – I thought a shifter would be a nice addition. Anyway I am rambling so bye!)