The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 29 - on our way

Kaz was walking up front of their little group. He had a compass with him to make sure they were still going the right way. Jesper, wylan and inej were right behind him. nina and Matthias were at the back, nina had not stopped complaining about the cold as she was playfully arguing with Matthias about his homeland.

Cara was a little bit away from the group making sure nothing was creeping up on them. they travelled for several hours until Cara saw something move in the forest close by so she went to investigate. However once she reached it she saw nothing out of the ordinary must have been wildlife.

She heard a whistle, somebody whistled loudly between their fingers, she knew this was kaz because he had shown her he could do that once. She turned her head towards where she last saw the group but they had disappeared behind a little hill.

She ran towards the hill and over it. She felt the snow underneath her paws change into something different and half a second later she fell flat on her stomach with her paws spread out to all sides. She was slowly gliding the way she was running.

they were on a giant frozen over lake. She heard the chuckles of the other crows and when she looked towards their direction even kaz had a smirk on his face. She tried to stand up but fell right back down.

She growled in frustration as she tried again but to no avail. Who knew that her biggest enemy would be ice. She tried to get grip by stretching her claws and finally she managed to stand up again. Carefully she took a few steps to find her balance on the ice. It was hard but not impossible.

Kaz motioned for the other crows to move again as they had stopped to see if Cara needed help. She moved slower than the crows on the lake but after the longest 30 minutes of her life and several more falls she finally made it to the other side where kaz was waiting for her.

"are you alright love?" She grumbled at him. he put his hand on top of her head and stroked her ears. She leaned into his touch for a moment before she pulled back. They needed to keep a move on.

They walked a few more hours until the sun began to set. They were now in a forest where there was almost no more snow on the ground. They found a small open space to make camp. The other crows started setting up their sleeping bags while Cara scouted the area.

she was not to far from the crows when she heard an animal nearby. She crouched down and stalked towards the sound and found that it was a reindeer that had made the sound. She stalked closer to it but it had heard her and ran off.

She sprinted after it, being much bigger than a normal wolf made her a lot faster and only a few seconds into the chase she was close enough to pounce on the animal, she went straight for its neck killing it instantly.

She proudly carried it back to the crows. "nice catch Cara" jesper called. She put the reindeer down and Matthias went right to work skinning it and cutting off pieces to roast above the fire. The crows all engaged into conversation while Cara say at the edge of the open area surveilling the surroundings.

jesper and wylan agreed to take the watch for tonight. By the time the reindeer was cooked and the crows ate it had turned dark. Jesper and wylan had made their own little fire near the edge of the clearing where Cara was sitting earlier so they had a good overlook over the area.

Cara was sitting near the campfire, she yawned. Nina and Matthias were on the other side of the fire, already asleep. She felt kaz's presence behind her and she turned her head to look at him. "you should get some rest to, jesper and wylan will watch over us tonight."

Cara nodded her head as she stood op and walked up to him. she felt him shiver from the cold a little, she had heard it in his voice as well. She nudged him and then walked over to where his sleeping bag was.

Kaz followed her and sat down pulling the extra blanket he had brought over himself. Before he had a chance to lay down however Cara positioned herself behind him and laid herself down. This way kaz could lay his upper body against her fur.

He turned to look at her and smiled. "thanks love." He sat himself against her as she positioned her paws underneath her body to keep them warm as well. She curled up around him, placing her head on his lap and her tail over his legs. She felt him stroke her head slowly as sleep overtook them both.

----------------

"must be nice to have a personal warmth generator keeping you warm at night." Cara opened her eyes and saw nina looking at her and kaz. Kaz was still snoozing away, his mouth slightly open. She saw the other crows were already up and doing whatever they were doing.

She nudged kaz's shoulder lightly, he stirred for a moment but did not wake up. she did not want to wake him up because she knew he didn't sleep a lot anyway and his sleep pattern was crap but she had to so she nudged his shoulder again a little harder this time.

He stirred again but this time opened his eyes slightly. "good morning love" he said quietly. His voice was deep and hoarse, she loved his morning voice. She pressed her nose against his cheek. She removed her tail from his legs and stretched out her paws as she yawned the sleep away.

she waited until kaz was ready to stand up and then helped him by pressing her head against his back lightly, that way he didn't need to put so much pressure on his back legs. He grinned at her gratefully.

It took the crows around an hour to break up their camp and once everybody was ready to go they set out again.

The day went mostly the same as yesterday, Cara kept her distance from the group to seek the high ground and make sure nothing crept up on them. they crossed another frozen pond which Cara absolutely hated.

it was late in the afternoon when kaz called her closer again. She trotted over to him. he pointed to a small hill in front of them. she couldn't call it a mountain but it was quite steep and it had some small placed where when you didn't watch your step you could seriously hurt yourself. "could look if there might be a cave nearby where we can stay the night? we are getting very close to our destination, it should be on the other side of the hill."

She nodded her head and then pressed her nose against his cheek for a moment before she took off towards the hill. It was indeed quite steep and she was very carefully with placing her feet down, she would not want to slip and hurt herself now.

a gust of wind hit her as she turned a corner, she sniffed the air. She smelled bear. Knowing that bears most of the time lived in caves she followed the smell and after a little while sure enough she found a cave. It went back quite far into the hill.

she squinted her eyes to see if she could look into the back of the cave but it was to dark to see. Suddenly a roar came out of the cave, looks like mr bear was home. He came charging out of his cave and nearly knocked Cara off the hill.

She steadied herself and jumped into the cave where she knew she could maneuver without needing to be afraid of falling off the hill. She bear roared again and jumped at her. this bear was surprisingly fast, Cara didn't calculate how fast he was as she bear clawed at her shoulder leaving Cara with a cut.

Cara growled and the bear stood op on his hind legs. Cara remembered this from when she fought the guy in the pits and jumped straight for the bears neck from underneath puncturing the skin, the bear struggled as it fell over but Cara did not let go.

After a minute or so the bear stopped struggling and Cara could hear its heart beat slowly fading away. She bowed her head in respect for the animal. Feeling bad for killing the bear, she would have rather scared him off if she could but she knew a bear would not give up its home and it would not be safe for the crows to pass this hill with a bear living in it.

She left the bear in the cave and made her way back to the crows. It had begun snowing while she made her way back and by the time she reached them she was covered in snow. Jesper was the first to approach her as she shook her body to get rid of the fur making it hit him in the face. "hey!" he yelled.

Kaz then approached her, he had of course seen a few drops of blood in the snow below her that had fallen from her hurt shoulder. "are you alright?" Cara nodded her head. As he examined the wound. When he concluded it was not life threatening he spoke again. "did you find anything." Cara nodded again and motioned for the crows to follow her.

She brought them to the cave. The crows immediately noticing the dead bear. "so that's what happened" kaz looked at her. if she could shrug she would have done so. "good job Cara, that will surely keep us warm tonight." Matthias said as he already took out his skinning knife.

The crows set up their camp once again while Cara went back down the hill to gather some dry wood for a fire, she shifted to her monstrous form so she could carry the wood back to the cave.

She nearly gave nina and Matthias a heart attack as she turned the corner of the cave but they quickly noticed it was her and lowered their guard. "I am still very glad you are on our side" Matthias said while grinning at her.

She placed down the wood at the camp and then turned back into her bigger wolf form. She noticed kaz was in a corner of the cave leaning against the cave wall. She approached him and when he didn't immediately say something to her she pressed her nose against his cheek.

He turned his attention to her and she stretched out a paw to point at his bad leg. "its alright, it hurts a little but its bearable. Let me see your shoulder." Cara sat down so the shoulder with the cut was facing kaz.

He slowly took off his gloves and examined the cut better. It had stopped bleeding a while ago but it wasn't far in the healing process. Kaz took Cara's bag and looked through it until he found what he was looking for, the container labeled 'wounds'.

He opened the container and carefully took out some of the mixture, applying it to the wound. Cara made a slight yelping sound as it stung. "sorry love' kaz whispered. When he was satisfied with his work he closed the container and put it back in Cara's bag.

Jesper had gotten a fire going and Matthias was already roasting bear meat above it when kaz and Cara joined them around the fire. Cara laid down facing the fire with her head on her front paws as kaz sat down next to her.

"tomorrow we will reach our destination. It is just a few houses, not more than 10. The plan is simple find out where the gang leaders live and bring them to the square in the middle." Cara turned her head to kaz, according to peter it wasn't that simple however he never told Cara the details. Kaz seemed to know what Cara was thinking as he continued his little explanation.

"Cara's uncle tried to revenge his brother once before, however he was on his own and the gang quickly overpowered him so he had to flee. But we have the advantage here. They don't know we are coming." Kaz took out 3 pictures. "these are the men we are looking for, we will split up. jesper and wylan, nina and Matthias and inej will capture one on her own. Bring them to the square where Cara and I will be waiting." All the crows nodded as they understood the plan.

after they ate nine and Matthias took their position at the front of the cave taking watch while jesper and wylan took a spot close to the fire.

Cara had positioned herself close to the cave wall laying on her side while watching kaz as he sat by the fire looking over some papers. After a little while kaz stood op and made his way towards her. "may i?" he sounded a little unsure.

Cara immediately positioned herself like she had done yesterday, paws tucked underneath her body as she lifted her tail to make room for kaz to settle in close to her. He put down his sleeping bag so he could lay on that and threw the blanked over himself before he say back against Cara's side once more.

Cara placed her tail over his legs again and pressed her nose against his cheek once more before laying her head in his lap. Kaz removed his gloves and stroked her head. "I never thought i would find love in my life." Kaz whispered so quietly only Cara could hear him. She lifted her head slightly and then pressed it to his chest pressing him deeper in her fur as if hugging him with her whole body.

"then you came into my live and you changed everything, you are patient with me. you understand me like nobody else does." Kaz paused for a moment. "who knew that the beast if ketterdam would be able to warm the heart of the bastard of the barrel." He placed his hands on either side of her head as she lifted her head to make eye contact with him. He pressed a light kiss to her nose.

They held eye contact for a moment longer before kaz removed his hands and Cara put her head back on his lap. "goodnight love"

AN: 2 chapters in 1 day! Crazy times! I just noticed that we had a huge spike in readers today thank you all for reading this story! I know a lot of people might not like my added shifters to an already established universe but thank you to everybody who is sticking with me. I know kaz is a little soft in this story compared to other fanfics but I truly believe that once somebody is able to break though his walls he can be a sweet man – in his own way of course.