The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 13 - the next step

It took the crows around 1 minute to gather outside with at least 10 more dregs.

kaz stood at the front as Cara stood slightly behind him. "you are trespassing, this is dreg territory" Kaz said coldly.

A man came forward out of the dime lions, one of pekka's lieutenants. "you destroyed the pits so pekka is returning the favor." The man said smirked. "I pity you dregs, you don't stand a chance against us."

There was no emotion on kaz's face when he responded. "is that so?" The drags drew there guns and readied themselves for a fight.

The man in front of kaz laughed as he took his time to take his gun out of its holster. He pointed it at kaz "I would love to kill you here on the spot but pekka wants you alive."

Kaz smirked. "I don't think you guys will even touch me." The man was about to say something when he heard his gang behind him gasp. A low growl coming from behind kaz. A dark figure looming over them.

"it's the beast" the man said to nobody in particular. Kaz turned around and smirked at Cara who was standing on his right shoulder in her werewolf form. "yes, and she is my partner. So if you want to hurt me or my gang she will gladly take revenge."

Cara growled showing her teeth. Then all hell broke loose. A gunshot was heard and then the yelling started. Neither sides could use guns anymore as it became a first fight, but not for Cara.

She immediately thew the guy in front of kaz with as much force as possible while stepping in front him of. She looked around and saw Matthias fighting 2 dime lions she jumped over to him and bit one of the dime lions in his neck throwing him off of Matthias.

She then turned to wylan who was hiding near the club as she saw one of the dime lions approach him she jumped over some fighting people right on top of the dime lion. She picked him up by his shirt and threw him against another dime lion that jesper was fighting.

She looked back over the crows looking for her next target seeing that kaz was fighting 2 of them but holding his own, nina was already healing some dregs who who injured. She couldn't see inej anywhere.

so she took the nearest dime lion and lifted him up to her face before throwing him away from everything again making sure she threw them all hard enough to break bones but not to kill.

The dime lions were retreating it seemed but kaz was still fighting 2 of them she jumped over and grabbed one who was about to punch him. she lifted that one up in the air giving kaz a chance to hit the other one with his cane. She threw the man away towards his retreating gang.

She spotted the lieutenant from earlier who was on the ground with a broken leg. She picked him up as she knew kaz would want to have a word with him still. She took hold of the man by the collar of his shirt and held him so he was facing kaz.

"tell your boss that if I see any dime lion on my territory I will make sure they do not return to him is that understood?" the man nodded quickly. Cara turned the man to her and roared the most blood curdling roar she could muster before dropping him to the ground.

2 dime lions came to help him limp off as the drags watched them disappear into the fog of the street yelling in triumph.

"now I understand why kaz wanted to take you in so badly." Cara turned to jesper and needed to slightly look down to make eye contact. "glad you finally decided to show us the real power of a shifter." Jesper winked as he walked off towards wylan.

Cara shifted back to human form and walked over to kaz who was the only one still not making a move to go inside. "well I guess you do not need to make plans anymore to confront the dime lions, they made that easy for us."

Kaz smirked. "they will target you now." He said to her. "let them try." She responded.

Kaz had a black eye and blood on the corner of his mouth. "let's head back to the slat, I think we have deserved some rest don't you think?" Kaz nodded as he slowly walked off towards the slat with Cara next to him.

a few days had passed when kaz, jesper and inej head off to another heist. They were supposed to steal a rather valuable work of art from a rich merchant who was in town for a few days. They didn't need muscle as it was mostly a stealth mission so Cara was tasked to look over the slat while they were gone.

When she now walked through the slat she got greetings and nods from her fellow dregs who acknowledged the strength she brought to the gang.

she did some small errands around the slat as the day went by, kaz had told her that they should be back in the night. She knew kaz always put aside small things like reparations or little upgrades to the house so she did as many of those as she could before it became dark outside.

She was exhausted from working all day, she even went to the marked to get some stock for the food in the slat. So she decided to go to bed early tonight, she would most likely see kaz in the morning.

And so she did, however she did not expect that 'in the morning' would mean at 2am in the night when he entered her room. She quickly sat up in her bed ready to fight if need be but all she saw was a tired looking kaz. He looked as if he came straight from the heist with his black coat and black hat.

"kaz what can I do for you?" she asked the tired looking man. He looked a bit unsure. "I just ... wanted to see you." She smiled and motioned him over as he closed the door behind him.

"did anything happen?" she asked the man as he came to sit on her bed. He shook his head as he looked down to the ground feeling almost ashamed at the feelings that were tunning through him, he was kaz brekker he didn't need anybody ... but he came in here anyway.

Cara touched his arm. "it's okay kaz, I know how you feel." He looked at her with soft eyes. "you do?" Cara nodded.

"trust me when I say I find comfort in your presence to kaz, and I am so proud of you for how far you have already come with your trauma, I wish I could say I was as strong as you. The times I wanted to hug you .. but I told you I would never push you into anything and I will keep that promise." She smiled while resting her hand on his shoulder.

Kaz slowly stood up and removed his coat and hat as he put it on a chair. leaving him in a long sleeved shirt. He walked back over to the bed and sat down a lot closer to Cara who had moved over to the edge on the bed from underneath the covers.

they sat so close to each other their thighs almost touched and suddenly faster than Cara could process kaz had turned to her and thrown his arms around her, hugging her closely to him. there was still a layer of clothing between them and he was still wearing his gloves but he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

It took a second but she returned the hug and slowly rubbed her hands up and down his back comforting him. slowly she felt all his muscles relax, they stayed like this for a while before kaz released her.

when they made eye contact again Cara saw his eyes full of adoration, she did not know that was even possible for this man but she was sure of it. Kaz took her hand in both of his. "Cara I have a question, and its okay to say no."

Cara cocked an eyebrow and when kaz did not immediately continue she responded. "yes?"

"Cara will you be my girlfriend?" Cara immediately smiled at him, thinking of how cute he looked right now.

"yes kaz, I would love to be your girlfriend" and that's when kaz did another thing she did not know was possible for this man. He smiled.

They both talked for a little while longer that night, mostly about the heist and how it went. They got the art and are keeping it safe until they can sell it on the black market for a decent amount of kruge.

The next morning when Cara went downstairs she saw jesper sitting at the bar cleaning his guns so she joined him after she got her breakfast. "so kaz told me the heist went great." Cara started their conversation.

"yea it went okay I guess." Jesper did not seem to be in a good mood today. "are you okay jesper?" Cara asked with genuine concern. He looked at her and slightly shook his head.

"I had a fight with wylan this morning about kruge, he thinks I have a gambling problem." Cara cocked an eyebrow. "you don't?" Jesper shot her a glare.

"instead of moping here you should go talk to him, I am sure he didn't mean to cause bad emotions jesper, its wylan we are talking about here after all." Jesper smirked. "you're right, I guess I need a better sleeping schedule because it seems that I become kaz if I don't sleep enough."

Cara laughed "I don't think you can get more grumpy than kaz."

"speaking of the devil.." Jesper looked at the entrance to the slat as kaz entered.

He walked straight to them and Cara quickly poured him a coffee. Once he was next to them he nodded to jesper and turned to Cara.

He quickly put his cane against the bar as he placed both his gloved hands on her sides and gave her a peck on the cheek. "good morning" he smirked when he saw Cara's shocked face.

He picked up his cane, took the coffee in his other hand and took a sip from the drink. "thank you." He said as he made his way upstairs.

It almost took a full minute before the 2 people at the bar said something, it was jesper who spoke first.

"soo what just happened?" Cara was still shocked when she responded. "kaz asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday ..."

"he did what? Noo you guys are joking with me, who was that and what have you done with kaz?"

Cara shrugged. "I have no clue what just happened, I am as shocked as you right now."

They both laughed. "relationships are weird" Jesper said.

"yes, yes they are." Cara responded.

(AN: sorry for the shorter chapter, I have been pretty busy today and I am trying to figure out the story line to this book still so I am currently making it up as I go along.)