The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 11 - healing

When Cara opened her eyes, she was in her room. She noticed it was night time as her window was slightly open and it was dark outside. She was currently laying on her back, she hated laying on her back to she started rolling onto her side but immediately grunted out in pain when she moved clutching her side.

She heard footsteps downstairs almost running to her room. Her door was slammed open and there stood a frantic looking Nina. "you're awake!" she almost yelled as she walked over to the bed. "well I wish I wasn't right now" Cara responded as she rolled back to laying on her back as she still clutched her side.

"be careful, you lost a lot of blood." she said as she sat down next to the bed. Cara cocked an eyebrow. "you almost gave me a heart attack there, kaz has put me in charge of your recovery. We had some very scary days there. You lost a lot of blood and your heart was beating really slow for a good while..." Nina looked down at her hands.

"I am okay now, at least I think I am. I don't remember what happened exactly. I remember a bear ... and I remember a lot of pain ... "Nina smiled. "you saved us, without you I think all of us would be dead right now."

nina continued "when we were opening the cages a feral bear shifter entered the room, you bought us enough time to get everybody out and when we returned to help you had already taken care of him." Cara slowly remembered what had happened.

She remembered how scared nina and mattias had looked at her. "nina I am so sorry I didn't mean to scare you and Matthias ... I never wanted to scare anybody." Nina put her hand on top of Cara's "we were surprised that is all, we had never seen your true power before and we didn't know if u were ... in control. But if there is one person you did scare its kaz. By the time he carried you back to the slat he was completely soaked in your blood, he wouldn't leave your side when we patched you up the first day. He visited you at least 3 times a day for the last 2 days while u where unconscious."

Cara opened her eyes in surprise. "I was out for 2 days??" nina nodded. "yea, we have never seen kaz so stressed as the past 2 days. If he didn't need to keep running a gang and a club he would be here 24/7 ... speaking off, what is up between you two?"

Cara smiled. "in kaz's words we are 'more than partners', but we are taking it slow, I don't want to push him into anything." Nina laughed. "'more than partners' is such a kaz thing to call it." Cara giggled as well.

"so what is the status here?" she asked nina. "well your arm is healing nicely, you should try to move it slowly soon. It was broken but we are pretty sure the bones are already mended again now its just the muscle trauma that needs to heal. You have a deep wound in your side, that is where you lost the most blood from. We stitched those puncture wounds up and they are healing slowly, you shouldn't put to much stress on that. And then you have a lot of bruising and probably a lot of muscle soreness in your back, we think you got thrown against one of the cages."

Cara slowly moved the covers so she could see the bandages and bruises. Her eyes slowly widening at the amount of them. "I think kaz blames himself that he got you hurt on a job." Nina said slowly. "where is he?" Cara asked.

"he is currently at the crow club, I already send jesper to him after I heard your heart rate go up." Cara nodded. She slowly moved to sit up more and swung her legs off the bed. "don't strain yourself to much" nina warned her but Cara shook her head "I have to be fit soon again, I hate being useless."

nina shook her head "I see why you and kaz fit together, you are just as stubborn as him." Just as nina had said that a click of a cane was heard downstairs. "get ready, he is as grumpy as ever, I will bring you something to eat in a little bit" nina said quictly before she stood up and walked out of the door.

Seconds later the door swung open again and in came the limping man with jesper behind him. Man he really didn't look happy Cara thought as he approached her. Jesper was the first one to approach sitting next to her bed while kaz stood a bit behind him.

"you really gave us quite a scare there. This one – he pointed behind him – hasn't slept since the pits so man am I glad you are okay now. Now can you please tell him to get some sleep so maybe he becomes a bearable presence again?" Jesper said jokingly.

Kaz shot him a glare but Cara played along "glad to see you to jesper, I will tell the stubborn man to get some sleep soon." Jesper winked at her as he stood up again. "you better recover fast wolf girl, I missed what Matthias calls the most spectacular thing ever so you better recover fast to show me to." And with that he left the room leaving kaz and Cara alone.

Cara was the first one to talk "nina told me you carried me back here, thank you. I am sorry for worrying you..." kaz took a step closer "you saved us all back there, without you we would have all been mauled by that bear. It was my mistake I should have prepared better, I should have known there was a big fight that evening not a normal one I should have –" Kaz stopped talking as Car motioned him over. "it's alright kaz, I am fine, no harm was done."

he slowly extended his gloved hand as if he was afraid he would break her if he touched her. His hand stopped mid air but before he could retract it kaza took his hand in hers and slowly pulled him over to the chair next to the bed.

"I am sorry I worried you kaz, I am also sorry if you liked the outfit I ruined with my blood." Cara jokingly said. Kaz scoffed at the remark. His hands trembled slightly but Cara knew it wasn't from his trauma.

she slowly ran her thumb over the back of his hand. He looked down at their hands and let out a sign. "I was scared I would lose you." He almost whispered. Cara wanted to hug him, comfort him but she couldn't. "you won't lose me that easily, I will always come back to you."

Cara could see how tired the man in front of her looked.

"kaz you should really get some sleep now, I promise you I will still be here when you wake up." Kaz nodded but did not move to stand up just yet. "can I get you anything?" he asked.

"my book maybe, if I am going to be stuck here in bed I might as well be productive." Kaz nodded as he stood op and walked over to the table, taking the book and the pencil that came with it and gave it to Cara. "thank you again kaz, for everything. Really. I don't know what I would do without you." Kaz smirked and turned away from her towards the door.

then he turned back towards her and before Cara could register what was happening he placed a light kiss to her forehead before making his way towards the door. It was only for a millisecond but it meant everything to her.

right before he closed the door Cara managed to regain her ability to speak and quickly said "goodnight kaz"


a few days had passed and Cara had healed almost completely, the only thing that was left were the puncture wounds in her side. But even they were healing quite nicely and had almost completely closed now.

she and kaz had barely spoken since the evening she woke up but she couldn't blame him, he was busy with the gang and the club. Dealing with the aftermath of the pit as well. After he brought her here he went back and set the whole place on fire, burning it all down as it collapsed on itself.

it seems it caused quite a ruckus as a few very wealthy people lost quite a bit of money there. So meanwhile Cara got more comfortable with the other crows, answering their questions. She had also promised to show jesper her most powerful form once she was healed, she was not looking particularly forward to that though.

she was not allowed to leave the slat while she was healing, orders from kaz. She didn't like those rules but followed them anyway as she knew it was a big deal for him to know she was safe here in the building.

when it turned dark outside and most of the crows made their way towards the crow club Cara went upstairs to kaz's room. She didn't knock and just strolled inside. Kaz lifted his head thinking it was somebody with urgent new but relaxed when he saw it was Cara instead.

Cara walked past him and took a seat by the window. Looking outside. There was an unspoken thing between them that being in each other presence was relaxing to both of them, they did not need to talk just being there was enough.

After a little while Cara heard kaz behind her close a book and the clicking of his cane as he took a chair and moved it so it was directly next to hers. He took a seat and Cara was slightly surprised when he did not tense up by how close they were to each other.

"may i?" kaz asked motioning to Caras arm that was resting in her lap. She nodded at him not quite sure what he was planning. He slowly extended his gloved hand and took her hand turning it so that her hand was resting in his palm, both palms facing upwards.

"when you were hurt nina said you had a strong heart with a strong pulse" he almost whispered. He slowly removed the glove of his free hand making Cara tense up slightly as she wasn't sue what he was trying to do and she was a bit scared that whatever he was going to do would end up in a panic attack.

he held out the glove to her and she took it with her free hand. "I wanted to test something" he whispered as he slowly reached out his glove free hand towards her wrist where the crow and cup tattoo was clearly visible.

as he brought his pointing and middle finger together as if going to check for her pulse he hesitated only a few centimetres from her skin. They both held their breath as he slowly brought his fingers down onto her skin.

he closed his eyes and Cara was expecting him to start having a panic attack but that did not happen, instead when he opened his eyes another emotion was present there. Once they made eye contact Cara knew it was okay.

Kaz looked at his fingers touching Cara's skin. Slowly he started trailing the crow. He had expected to be taken back into the memories of cold dead skin, but instead he felt warmth rolling of her skin. Feeling her pulse underneath comforting him.

as kaz was so focused on trailing the tattoo and feeling human skin for what felt like the first time in his life he head a sniffle escape Cara. Immediately he snapped his head up. "why are you crying?" he asked worried.

"I am just so happy for you, and so proud of you." Kaz grinned and brought his other gloved hand to her face wiping the tear away.

he slowly brought their hands to his face and pressed a light kit to the top of Cara's hand. He then put her hand back in her lap and picked up his glove and put it back on. "you should get some sleep, you are still hurt and need to rest." He said.

Cara stood up together with kaz as they walked towards the door of his room. "wait" kaz said.

as Cara turned to him he quickly put a light kiss on her forehead. "goodnight Cara" he said as he smirked. Cara beamed up at him "goodnight kaz" she responded before leaving the room.