The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 40 - fight ... for me

When Cara opened her eyes again she was laying in bed, she could barely see the people rushing around. There was one person in her line of vision that was still however. She slowly turned her head towards the person. She tried to say something but no words came out.

she had never felt this sick in her life, she was sure that this was how dying felt like. She was both on fire and freezing to death at the same time, every single muscle in her body aching. Her body protesting every action she did with it.

"I am here love" she knew that voice, she tried to look at him, she knew he was there but her vision just did not want to focus. A tear rolling over her eyes from the pain she was in, she wanted to scream but her body kept her captive.

suddenly she could hear a crash in the distance and footsteps rushing in. "keep your distance!" she could hear kaz yell as the door to the room flew open. Cara couldn't see who entered. "tell me what happened kaz, tell me what you know!"

Kaz let go of Cara's hand and stood up. Cara didn't see the faces of the people in the room but she could guess who they were by their scent. Kaz was here for sure, the person in front of him smelled like her uncle peter and next to peter was inej. Kaz shook his head, he leaned hard on his cane , looking defeated.

"2 days ago I was captured by another gang, it took me a while to realize but when they revealed where I was I knew they weren't after me. it was a trap, for Cara, they knew she would come for me. they brought in this guy ... I have never seen him before. I heard them speaking of a powder that was created, it brings sickness to the shape shifters but is harmless to everybody else. I didn't hear much about it but they were laughing about death...."

Peter took a step back, a knowing look on his face. He quickly regained himself but kaz had seen it. "you know more about this sickness, you must tell what you know!" Peter shook his head, a tear rolling over his face. He stumbled and placed a hand on the doorway to keep himself steady.

"this is no mere sickness you speak off boy, if this is what I think it is then ... we are in serious trouble." Kaz's face contorted in anger. "tell us then! How can we cure her?!" He took a step towards the old man and Cara was afraid he would hit him for a second but he did not.

"the sickness is what caused the population of shape shifters to be hunted to extinction. We were experimented on when the war was going on, it turned us into monsters. Some deemed we were to powerful ... something was created ... a sickness ..." Peter stumbled again as memories of his past came back to him.

"a powder was created, it would make the shape shifters sick. It would start with a terrible fever. The fever would rise and rise to the point where the patients mind would be affected. It would cause terrible hallucinations, strip the shifter of everything they know. They would lash out, become aggressive ... uncontrollable ..." Peter took another shaky breath.

"the sickness would spread quickly, unbeknownst to the army or the shifters within. Until shifters were deemed to dangerous, to uncontrollable and they were killed by their own comrades. This sickness is the reason that there are almost no more shifters in the world."

Kaz glared at peter, he had not given him the answer he wanted. "is there a cure old man?" Peter glared back at kaz. "I know of a few shifters who survived the sick ... myself included. We need to keep the fever down by all means necessary. If we are successful the body will heal. But we won't be able to stop the hallucinations. Once the body temperature becomes to high we need to ... we need to ... lock her up."

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Cara did not hear any more of their conversation as she passed out from the pain again. when she awoke again she could hear voices, she heard nina's and kaz's voice. She couldn't hear what they were talking about until she heard kaz sign and say "I will do it." Nina shook her head. "no kaz, I will do it, we can't have you ..." she did not get to finish her sentence however.

"I said I will do it!" Cara opened her eyes and tried to speak . "d-don't f-ight" immediately both their head snapped towards her. kaz being next to her side in a second. "its alright love, we are running a cold bath to bring your fever down." Nina scoffed and left the room. Kaz put his cane away. Cara could focus her vision on his face and see the worry that lied within.

kaz picked up a cloth and dipped it in a nearby bowl of water then brought it to her face. She flinched slightly at the cold touch. Kaz dipped the cloth on her forehead a few more times, her eyes closing again. he could feel her warm radiating off of her even through his gloves.

he knew the bath would be ready by now so slowly he pulled the blanket off of her. he averted his eyes for a moment. Nina had removed Cara's clothes leaving her in her underwear so her clothes wouldn't be soaked in sweat from the fever.

he regained his composure, he needed to be strong for Cara now he couldn't fail her now, not after everything. He slowly removed his gloves and placed them on a nearby night stand, his hands slightly trembling but he ignored it.

slowly he put his arms underneath her legs and back to lift her up. she was burning up, he had never seen or felt a fever this bad. he pulled her close to his chest, she looked so frail in his arms. He walked with her towards the bathroom where the bath was already filled with water.

slowly he lowered her into the bath, she hissed when she touched the cold water. Her eyes opening a little bit. She looked so weak, it scared him to his core. But he had to be strong, for her. he took a nearby cloth and slowly ran it over her skin. He could feel the waters gather around his ancles, the fear and trauma rising in his chest, making his stomach turn but he suppressed the feeling.

he knew the fever was bad but this was out right scary. instead of normal water turning cooler over this the water of the bath heated up. it did seem to help bringing the fever down at least a little bit. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"kaz if I don't make it..." he furrowed his brows, this was not something he wanted to hear right now. But he did not stop her. "if I don't make it ... please don't linger on me. I want you to be happy. You ... deserve it." Kaz shook his head. "don't give up okay, we will get through this. Keep on fighting this .. please." Kaz never begged for anything but he would get on his knees and beg her to fight this if he needed to.

after the water was no longer helping he pulled the plug that was keeping the water in the bath and waited until the water was all gone before taking a big towel and drying her off as well as he could. After he was done he picked her up again, once they entered the bedroom he saw that somebody had changed the sheets which he was grateful for and he placed her back into bed.

her eyes had shut again as she had fallen asleep again. not long after peter entered the room again. "how is she?" kaz shook his head. "I don't know what else to do, she is not getting better. I am trying I ..." Peter placed a hand on kaz's shoulder.

"I know son, all we can do is wait now. Keep her comfortable. We have to believe that she can make it through this. She is strong kaz, don't doubt her now." Kaz glared at the man, how dare he suggest he would doubt his little wolf, his Cara.

"let me take it over for a few hours son, you need rest. I have heard you have not slept since she has fallen ill. If her condition changes I will wake you I promise." Kaz glared at the man again but he could not deny that he was exhausted. He did indeed need rest and peter was the person who knew most about this, he would not let Cara die.

"but what if you catch it?" Peter shook his head. "if I do then so be it and you let me die son, but as far as I know you need direct contact with the powder to get sick so I am fairly certain I will be fine." Kaz nodded as he stepped away from Cara, picking up his cane and walking towards the door. Turning back to look at Cara once more before he closed the door behind him.

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kaz awoke when he heard a commotion in the house. He leaped off of the armchair and made his way to the bedroom. Nina and peter were trying to keep her down while she was trashing around, screaming. An almost animalistic sound hiding underneath her screaming.

"kaz, I need you to get the syringe out of my bag!" peter yelled at him. without a second thought he made his way to the kitchen where he knew peter's bag was on the table. He searched through it until he found what he was looking for and stormed back upstairs.

once he entered the room peter snatched the syringe from his hands and quickly found a vein in Cara's arm and pushed the needle in, being quick to push the clear liquid in and throwing the syringe to the side of the room after he was done.

almost immediately Cara stopped trashing around. "she is having hallucinations, we will have to lock her up somewhere, the sedative won't work for long." Kaz shook his head. "I already told you it's not possible, I will not lock her up." peter turned bright red from anger. "then you will get us all killed! Do what I say boy!"

Kaz wanted to kill peter then and there, but he knew Cara would never forgive him if she made it through this. So he just nodded. "bring her to the stable, I saw the foundations are already done, the roof will protect her from rain and the walls from the wind. I saw there are already heavy metal bars installed into the foundation, we could put her there. it's the best option we have"

Kaz picked Cara up and walked her downstairs and outside. It was already dark outside but he could see enough to bring her to their destination. He placed her down on the cold concrete, he would bring her blankets and pillows later he thought.

peter soon joined them, holding a chain with a collar. he attached the chain to the heavy metal pole in the concrete and moved to Cara before kaz stopped him. "not this again boy!" peter yelled at him. kaz's voice was cold when he answered. "let me do it." Peter handed his the chain.

Cara's eyes slowly opened at the sound of metal ringing together. "please forgive me love, please forgive me." he sat on his knees, tears rolling down his cheeks as he saw Cara's face contort into utter terror when he clicked the collar shut around her neck. He noticed it was made from the special metal so it would not break.

"I am so sorry love, please ... forgive me."

AN: I felt like I couldn't let you guys hanging like that on the last chapter, especially since I posted it early making you wait even longer. So I post this one early as well. It did not come out exacly like I wanted it to, man writing what kaz is feeling is hard but I did my best.