The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 12 - a sunny day

Cara woke up bright and early the next day. She decided she was going to ask kaz is it was okay to leave the slat again. It was a sunny day outside, something that was very rare in ketterdam and she desperately needed to go outside again.

She made her way towards his room thinking to herself that if he didn't answer she would leave him a note but when she knocked she heard him "come in" this man really never sleeps. She entered his room as he lifted his head up from what he was doing.

"do you never sleep?" she genuinely asked. "tried to but couldn't" kaz replied. Cara walked over to his desk. "I want to do outside today." Kaz cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't think that's such a good idea you are still healing and.." Cara placed her hand on top of his gloved one. "you cannot keep me in the slat forever kaz." He signed knowing she was right.

"where will you be going?" Cara smiled knowing she had won. "probably to the horses, I actually wanted to train my .. less controllable power to." Kaz stood up and walked towards a wall that was filled with books. "isn't that dangerous?" he asked.

"I don't think so, before I met you I had never used that power before kaz, it is as unknown to me as it is to you but back in the pit ... I felt like I was able to control it as long as I kept my emotions in check." Kaz slowly nodded.

"alright then, I will come check on you in the afternoon ... if that is okay with you?" he added the last part a little unsure. Cara knew it was because he was a little unsure about the relation between them and he was figuring things out.

"of course that is okay kaz, I think elvis would like to see you again." He smirked at her as she left the room. She walked downstairs and quickly took something to eat on the go. Cara took in the sunshine when she went outside.

the sun felt warm on her skin and as there was almost no wind it was a very comfortable temperature outside. She bought a bag full of apples at a stall on her way to the horses so give to them later.

when she arrived at the clearing the horses were grazing there. As she approached them they lifted their heads. She held out half an apple to each of them as they gladly took it from her hands. "a little bit of bribery for a successful training what do you think venus?"

The training went a lot better this time and Cara imagined venus would be done with his training after a few more sessions. She repeated some exercises with elvis even tho he didn't really need it.

soon it was mid-day and she sat down in the grass eating an apple while looking at the nature around her. "what do you think boys are we all ready for the next step in our training?" she said out loud to the curious horses.

she stood up and walked away from the horses before she started to mentally prepare herself for her big shift. She felt pain in her side as she shifted, probably ripping all of the stitches as her body grew. She had mastered the shifts of the wolves but the monster wolf was different.

she took a second to get used to everything, she never really had the time to feel her form and mentally settle in this form as the only times she had used it was in the middle of a fight.

she looked around, she could see the smallest details if she focused, she very faintly could hear the sounds of ketterdam, the industry and loud bells of the harbour. She brought her hands to her face and looked at the claws. Claws made to tear and kill.

she looked over at the horses who had lifted their heads and were watching her with great interest, not particularly being scared but they were ready to bolt if need be. She slowly took a few steps towards her bags in the grass not making any sudden movements.

she picked up her bag and took an apple out of her bag breaking it in 2 pieces. She slowly walked over to the horses. She held out the apples on her palms making sure to not hurt the horses with her claws.

when they both took the apples and she stroked them both on their necks. She took a few steps back. Cara could feel that the beast instinct in this form was very strong. It invaded her thoughts and tried to make her loose her focus. She remembered this from her smaller wolf so she started to press the instincts out of her mind.

'lets testthis out' she thought as she walked towards the trees. She saw a tree with a low hanging branch that looked like it could hold her weight so she jumped, completely missing the branch and jumping way to high and landing face first into the thick layer of leaves.

She quickly stood up and spot out leaves and dirt. 'let's forget that happened' she thought to herself. She went for a different approach now, she jumped and grabbed the bark of the tree, digging her claws of both her hands and feet into the bark.

she had jumped about 3 meters high in the tree and she slowly climbed a bit higher. She had a very nice overview of the clearing. It really was a big clearing in the middle of a forest. She jumped down and landed on both her feet.

she tried out all the things she could think off, she lifted some boulders and dead trees to try out her strength. She was satisfied with what she had achieved and learned from today. Not only could she control this form but she could potentially use it. As long as she stayed focused.

it wasn't long until she heard somebody approach, f course she knew who it was. As soon as he entered the clearing Cara saw him. He had his hat on but wore a less thick black coat than normal. She slowly approached him until she stood in talking distance from him.

"so I guess the shifting training went well? Are you okay with me coming closer?" Cara nodded her head and kaz took a few steps closer to her. He examined her and looked as if he was in deep thought. After a few seconds he said "you are definitely a good person to have on my side." He said.

Cara shifted back to normal and answered "I will always be on your side." Kaz smirked at that comment. "so, did you come to check if I was still alive or to spend some time alone with me?" Kaz looked almost amused. "both." He simply answered.

Cara held her hand out to him and he did not hesitate to grab it as she led him to the horses. Elvis walked up to kaz and snorted at him. "nice to see you to I guess." Kaz said as he wiped away snot from his face. Cara giggled at that.

"would you like to go for a ride?" kaz was stroking elvis. "yea sure" he answered and Cara took one of the saddles and placed it on the back of the big black horse and gave his bridle to kaz to put on. She then went over to venus to tack him up.

when she was done tacking venus up kaz was already on elvis. Cara looked at venus when she said "no throwing me off okay, don't embarrass me in front of THE bastard of the barrel." She didn't need to look at kaz to know he was smirking.

she got on and they walked off towards the edge of the clearing. "anywhere particular you would like to go to?" she asked kaz.

"actually yes" he said as suddenly he galloped off. Cara was soon galloping next to him on venus as they both enjoyed the sun. Her side was slightly bothering her but she could ignore the pain.

they soon got to the beach, it was beautiful. The sand glistering in the sunlight. they both walked their horses to the water and along the beach.

no words needed to be spoken for them to know that in this moment all they needed was each other as they watched the sun slowly going down. Cara couldn't help it but she was falling hard for the bastard of the barrel.

"we should probably bring the horses back and go back to ketterdam." Kaz said breaking Cara's daydreaming. So, they rode the horses back to the clearing and once they put all the tack away they both walked back to the slat.

The sun was almost gone by the time they entered the crow club. Kaz immediately head into his office as Cara stopped at the bar to get them both something to drink. When she entered the room and put the drink in front of him he looked grateful before taking a sip.

"so what are you working on?" Cara said to him. Kaz frowned. "the dime lions are growing in numbers almost every day, they have been seen on our territory and I need to find a way to teach them a lesson, but I haven't figured out how just yet."

Cara nodded. "we need to show them our strength" she said to him and he nodded in response but said nothing clearly not catching on to what Cara was thinking. "kaz, everybody knows the 'beast of ketterdam' no?" Kaz looked up.

immediately Cara knew he was going to say no so she spoke first. "I know you are trying to protect me but they will find out one day or another kaz. It is better if we show how strong we really are to make sure they don't hurt your gang." Kaz was quick to correct her "our gang."

Cara smiled and kneeled next to him. "it's okay kaz, I can take care of myself. You don't have to protect me from all the evil of the world." He made eye contact with her and she knew how much conflict there was in his mind.

he brought one of his gloved hands to her face and slowly put a strand of her hair that had fallen in front of her eyes back behind her ears. "I will not let them lay a finger on you." He said quitly. "I know you won't." Cara responded.

she slowly stood up "I will go and look over the crow club while you work here." Kaz nodded. "will you bring me a drink at least every 30 minutes?" Cara laughed. "sure kaz, I will check in every 30 minutes so you know I am okay."

As she went back down to the crow club she went to talk with the other crows who were hanging around at the place. Meanwhile upstairs kaz was already working out a plan to confront the dime lions.

he knew Cara was the strongest of the crows and he knew she could protect herself but he also knew that she would be targeted. He never felt this way about anybody and he wanted to protect her at all costs. He had admitted to himself he was falling in love with the girl.

he was fighting for her, fighting his trauma and fighting to make the barrel a safer place for her to live in. he wanted to spend every moment of the day with her and at night he laid awake thinking about what he was going to say to her the next day but once he saw her his courage disappeared.

tomorrow he would find the courage he told himself, tomorrow he would ask her. Suddenly the door to his office flew open revealing a very out of breath jesper. "boss, it's the dime lions. They are here in front of the crow club, there is at least 20 of them."