Claudia smiled. "Simple really. Because I don't wanna do anything that you don't want me to do. I don't want to disappoint you or make you angry." She looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Being in a pack. It's like being in a family. We hear each other's thoughts, we look out for each other... something like what I have with my brother. Only in a larger group. But..." she looked hesitant as she settled back down beside Alex. She buried her face into his neck, taking in his scent. "...I'd have to run with them if they ask me to. I don't think I wanna be away from you..."

Alex smiled at her and kissed her tenderly. "Family is important and you are wolf you are meant to run in a pack. There are also times I'll have to be away here and there so it wouldn't be fair of me to tell you not to do it. It would be good to know you had the pack at your back if I wasn't around. Shade would be there but like right now he has his hands full training Sara. As long as running with the wolves doesn't take up too much time and who says I couldn't go once in a while too."

He chuckled to himself and nuzzled her neck and kissed her lovingly. He wondered exactly when he had become an advocate for werewolves and their kind. He didn't care. He loved his wolf girl and he wasn't going to make her miserable and if he was too selfish she would end up resenting him. "I love you Claudia." He moved on top of her again and he showed her just how much. He was pretty certain he was going to have to soundproof their room.

@kyrisse

Alex's answer seemed to please Claudia. "We have to make sure not to stay too long away from each other though. A few hours of you gone was already an agony for me. What more would it be if its days or weeks... or years," her eyes widened at the thought. It was simply not possible. It was something she was not willing to tolerate. "Do you think that'd happen? No, no, that's a stupid question. Of course that will never ever happen. I'll find you no matter where you are... I love you too, Alex." And after that, there were no more words as the room was once again filled with pleasured moans.

A few hours later, Claudia's breathing was even and steady as she drifted off to sleep.

---

"A werewolf? You've got to be kidding me, Alex. This is what you've sunk to? She has an exquisite face, I give you that. Probably wild in bed too. But can you really tolerate that smell?" A faceless man stood in the middle of a stone dais flanked by two stone pillars. One had Alex chained on it, a strange looking stake embedded in his shoulder. The other pillar held Claudia, the silver chains biting through her skin as it binded her tightly to it. The faceless man turned towards Claudia. "And you... you think you're good enough for us? You have the gall to think yourself on equal footing with the gods of men?

A flash of fangs. His spittle hit Claudia on her cheek.

Claudia knew what the man's intentions were. He had Alex immobilized. She had to do something before he gets hurt. She thrashed against her bindings as the man turned his attention back to his mate.

"And here I thought we were brothers, Alex. We're gods. We're on top of the food chain. But then you go and ally yourself with this wolf whore and suddenly all vampires are your enemy. That's bad form. Very, VERY bad form. This world doesn't need you anymore. The man pulled out another stake from somewhere in his coat.

"NO! NO! Don't touch him. Don't you dare touch him or---" Claudia screamed. Her features sharpened and her eyes turned golden.

"Or what, little wolf girl? You'll break out of your bonds and tear me apart? Come on. Those are silver chains and I made an effort to put some wolf's bane in it. I dunno if it works but you know... added security." He waved the stake around. "Don't worry, don't worry. It really won't take too long. He won't even feel a thing." And with that he lunged forward and buried the stake into Alex's chest.

---

"ALEX!" Claudia cried out as she sat straight up on the bed, a manic look in her still golden eyes.

Alex tightened his arms around Claudia when she awoke yelling his name.

"Claudia? Baby... It's alright you were just dreaming. Calm down." He pulled her to him and began kissing her shoulder, neck and by her ear.

"You are alright. I won't let anything happen to you." He could feel her shaking against him. He tried to exude calmness. "What was the dream about?"

@kyrisse

Claudia looked at Alex, her golden eyes anguished and unfocused. For a few moments, it didn't seem as though she can see him, her mind and her body still trapped in the nightmare she was just in. She could still fell the chains holding her in place. She could still see Alex's head fall forward as the stake drove right into his heart. She could still hear that cold laughter echoing all around. She felt cold. She felt as though the world collapsed around her. Nothing mattered. Alex was gone. Her life and her very existence no longer had any meaning.

It took her several minutes to finally realize that Alex was really there. She felt him trail kisses on her shoulder and her neck. Her eyes slowly focused and faded back to its original blue color. She cried out as she threw her arms around him, her whole body shaking. "You're here. You're alive." Her voice was hoarse and full of relief. She held his face in her hands and began kissing him.

When she had finally calmed down, she rested against his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around him. With a shaky voice, she told him about what she had dreamt about.

"I'm not going anywhere. You'll have to try harder than that to get rid of me!" He grinned. He could see the fear in her eyes and he held her tight. He knew he would talk to her about it soon. "Claudia, babe it wasn't real. I won't let that kind of thing happen. Trust me. I've been around a long time."

Alex's cell phone rang and he sighed in frustration and answered it. After a minute or so he said, "Okay". Getting off of the phone he called and told Shade where he was going. He knew this could be a dangerous mission and even if he convinced Claudia not to accompany him, which he highly doubted would happen he still might need Shade. "Baby, I have to go handle this mission for the council." He sighed and looked at her pleadingly. "Is there any way I can get you to stay here?" He got up and got dressed.



Sara was taking advantage of Shade and she knew it. She knew he wasn't able to resist her hyper libido anymore than she was. She felt totally connected to him in a different way than she had ever connected with someone else before. When his phone rang when they were laying in the afterglow talking about their lives. She became irritated that he answered it. "It's Alex," Shade said and then he took the call. "Alright, I'll be ready." He looked at his charge and gave her a funny look. "Get dressed, we are going on a mission with Alex and Claudia."

The excitement in her eyes was obvious and the tone of her voice would have had any other worried just a little bit. "Oh goody! I want to see what we do out there." Sara hopped up and got dressed as he was doing.

Shade grabbed her arm and she stopped and looked at him. "Sara" he said getting gruff with her. "Did you hear me? Claudia is going too. You are going to have to focus. If you do anything you aren't supposed to do Alex will stake you. You must obey every command he or I gives you. Do you understand me?"

Sara nodded in understanding. "I'll keep my distance from her and if I have no choice but to be near her I'll tell her to hit me if I start to get a little crazy." Shade nodded but chuckled a little. "That's probably a good idea." They went to the house to pick up Alex and Claudia. Once there Shade and Sara took the back seat and let them take the front.

@kyrisse

Claudia stayed clinging to Alex for a long while before his cellphone rang. She waited patiently for him to finish. knowing full well that he had been called to another mission even before he answered the call. When asked to stay, she vehemently shook her head. She was determined to stay by his side. "No. Where you go, I go. I'll try to stay out of your way though," she said as she stood up and got dressed herself.

She followed him out of the house but paused when she saw Shade and the new vampire in the backseat. He warily watched her actions before slowly approaching the car. She had half the mind to just run beside the car, her instincts telling her that there was danger in being cooped up in the metal box with the fledgling vampire. But the need to stay beside Alex was stronger and slowly, she got into the passenger seat.

Sara watched how uneasily and uncomfortable she was making Claudia. Part of her wanted to antagonize that for fun, but the part that wanted to stay alive piped up and said, "Claudia, my dearest love Shade reminded me I had better not get out of line and forget that I am forbidden to harm you. If I do something that makes you fearful for your safety I would like you to remind me of my rules and punch me. I figure that will help me remember my manners. Please don't take this as a time to take advantage of being allowed to beat on me while I'm not allowed to hit you back."

Alex glanced at Shade in the mirror eyes twinkling as his voice roared out in laughter at Sara's plea. He had not missed the my dearest love part and she blush on the large Indian's face confirmed what Alex suspected. Shade had already bedded her. He grinned as he started up the car. He looked at Claudia and the grin on his face must have put her at ease a little.

Sara looked up at Shade as he took her hand and squeezed it slightly. "What? I was serious, werewolves hit hard I understand. I might need a reminder not a beat down." Shade figured what the hell, and he pulled Sara over to him and he kissed her deeply for a few moments and whispered into her ear quietly and she sat there good as an angel the whole way. Unable to quit smiling at them Alex looked at Claudia and squeezed her hand lovingly.

After the hour long drive they pulled up to a building and Alex got out and Claudia kept good to her word and she went with him. Shade and Sara got out and headed around the building and found a place to peak inside without being seen. That way if they checked the car they wouldn't be caught.
@Kyrisse

Claudia gave Sara a small glance, listening to her without saying a word. It would definitely be a challenge being around Sara as she was not fond vampires, especially newly turned ones. But somehow, being with Alex, having imprinted on him and spending some time with Shade made a big impact on how she viewed their kind. She was, however, amused that she had been spot on about the new vampire's attraction to Shade. By the way the tall Indian blushed, she knew that their contact was much much more than kissing and holding hands. She looked at Alex and grinned back.

"I won't bite if you won't bite," she reassured. She reached out and intertwined her fingers with Alex's. Despite being surrounded by three vampires, she felt relaxed. The long drive, the silence, her hand in his. She almost forgot that they were on their way to some sort of dangerous mission.

As soon as Alex pulled up in front of a building, they all got out. Shade and Sara went to a different direction than they did. Once they were out of sight from the two, Claudia pulled Alex aside, a worried look on her face. She was obviously still thinking about the nightmare she had. "Alex... I don't want you getting hurt," she said plainly.

@Kyrisse



Alex smiled at her and said, "Well I don't really want to get hurt either. You just hang back and don't say anything. I worry more about you getting hurt than me." He kissed her quickly. "Stay back, there is likely to be gunfire. I need to rescue a kid and take out the mob boss'executioner. I don't suppose I could get you to go with the others, they are my backup and I would feel safer if you went with them." Seeing the look in her eyes he shook his head and told her to wait to come in til after he had things under control.

Alex walked a couple of buildings down and went through the front door. He made no attempts to hide. His senses told him that there were in excess of 10 people in the building, including the child. Alex had his business face on and he walked inside and there were immediately shots fired at him. When the gunshots stopped Alex stood there and scowled at them. "Really? You boys are supposed to be smarter than that. I'm here for the kid. Just give him to me and all will be done." Alex waited for about a second knowing they wouldn't give in to him. He sped over to the gunmen and broke their necks. The kid was a werewolf pup about 4 years old and he was very conscious that the child could be hurt and would be if he didn't stop the executioner.

"Why are you even here vampire? This is a wolf pup not a vampire. Why would you even care?" Alex didn't answer him.

Claudia nodded and quietly followed after Alex. She remained silent and stayed several steps behind him. He had barely opened the door to the building when she raised her nose to the air. There was a werewolf in the building. Extremely young and deathly scared. Her excellent sense of hearing heard his heart beating faster than it normally should. She glanced towards the building, feeling her temper flare up. What was a pup doing in a place like this? Why was he scared? Why was he being held against his will? She was half tempted to shift into her wolf form, barrel into the building and take the child out. Where was the child's parents? Have they been killed? Different thoughts ran through her head as she silently paced back and forth.

But as promised, she held back and waited for Alex to finish taking care of his business in there.

Alex kept his attention on himself and Alex never looked at the kid. He summoned Shade to get the kid out and he summoned Sara to take out the executioner while he took out the rest. Shade knew the kid was going straight to Claudia and he would come back in afterwards if he felt it safe enough to leave Claudia. Sara was ecstatic about getting her first kill, and on a bad guy to boot. Sara and Shade crept into the building keeping their eyes on their targets. Once they saw the time they attacked. Shade grabbed the kid and took out the man directly in front of him. Alex ran through the room ripping out throats and then he got violent when Shade took the child to Claudia. He didn't have to hold back.

Sara was already draining the executioner and then she ripped his neck out, fed and satisfied she dropped the man on the floor and wiped her mouth. Looking around she grabbed the next two that showed up. She knocked one out and tortured the other one. By that time Alex was just watching her and grinning a little bit.

"Alright, let's go." She walked by the last remaining gunman and he shot her and she watched the bullet pop back out and then she set upon him and all you heard were screams. Alex patted her on the back as they walked out the door and cleaned up before walking into the street. The street lights in this area were broken for the most part but he didn't want to take a chance on someone seeing them at just the right moment.

@Kyrisse

Claudia looked at Shade as he came out carrying a kicking, clawing and biting 4 year old kid. Shade did well to hold him securely but it was obvious that he was losing his patience by the look on his face. The child's instinct was probably telling him that it was a vampire carrying him and it seemed like he was not tolerating it too well. Not wanting to burden Shade any longer, Claudia hurried forward and took the boy. A look of relief came over the vampire's face.

Automatically, the little boy wrapped his arms around Claudia's neck. He was so small and he was shivering in fear. She reached up and stroked his head. "There, there. You're safe now," she assured in a soft voice. The boy, probably exhausted from fear and crying, immediately fell asleep in Claudia's arms.

Alex did not miss the maternal instincts of Claudia's that had immediately surfaced. He smiled and patted Sara on the back. Sara was on cloud nine. She was having a great first couple of days as a vampire she had almost forgotten that not so long ago she was human. She was having more fun now than she ever did as a human. Shade was smiling an aweful lot too.

Alex let his children have the front on the way home so the little one could sleep better. Claudia held the boy like he were already hers. "I think we should keep him. They killed his parents violently and he will need someone to keep him safe. His parents weren't part of a pack so, do you want to keep him? You could teach him how to be a good wolf and we can be his parents. Of course you would have to marry me first." He said as casually as if it were normal conversation. "Would you marry me?" He said slipping a ring onto her finger.

@Kyrisse

Claudia never imagined herself as a mother before but she held the sleeping boy tightly against her. At first, his breathing had been interrupted by hiccups from crying so long. But now it was slow and even. She looked at Alex when he began speaking.

"Well, we certainly can't just leave him at some random doorstep or an orphanage. I don't think the humans will take a liking to a werewolf pup," she looked down at the sleeping boy. "But I don't know anything about being a mother. What should I teach him? Will he want me to teach him anything. I..." her voice trailed off as she slowly looked back at Alex then at the ring he slid on her finger. She blinked. "You... want to marry... me?" she asked, a wondering tone in her voice.

@Kyrisse



"More than you can imagine." Alex reached over and kissed her deeply. "It was actually Kitty that put the idea in my head. Calling you Mrs. North and Mom just sounded right. I've known that I wanted you the first time we met when you walked into the club." Sara and Shade were listening and Sara got tears in her eyes she was so happy. Alex was thoroughly a nice guy in her mind.

Alex smiled and said, "So is that a yes? Could you stand being the wife of such an intimidating vampire as me?"

Claudia stared at Alex as he pulled back from the kiss. Marriage. She had once in a while thought about it but she never expected it to be offered this soon. And from a vampire, nonetheless. Her vampire. Alex was hers and she won't tolerate anyone trying to take him away from her. As his words sank into her, a wide smile curved the edges of her lips up. She would have thrown her arms around him but the little boy in them prevented her from doing so.

"Yes. Yes, of course, I will." She laughed, happiness overwhelming her. Giving him any other answer didn't even come across her mind.

Alex threw his arms around her and shifted her and the young boy onto his lap and into his arms. "I will love you always and I'll never let you go, I promise. And we'll take care of this little guy. Hopefully he can accept me as a father. Humans did this to him. I intend to make them pay. His parents were killed on order of the mob. The vampire council doesn't interfere often when it comes to werewolves but if it is a child they will make an exception. It is one of the reasons I work for them." He kissed her tenderly as she held the little boy in her arms.



"Darric? Darric are you home yet?" She let herself into the apartment and wondered what was keeping him. She was later than expected and she wasn't too certain what to do in a situation like this. She picked up her cell and dialled him knowing it was entirely possible he was wolf now and unable to answer his cell.

@Kyrisse

As soon as they got back home, Claudia busied herself with making the little boy as comfortable as he can be. She brought him into Alex's room and then paused at the door. It's no longer just Alex's room but theirs. A warm feeling spread through her at the thought. She pushed the door open and laid the boy down onto the bed. She tucked him in and surrounded him with pillows so that he didn't fall off. When she was satisfied, she turned to Alex. "Watch him for a while? I'm just gonna go grab a quick shower."

As the bathroom door close behind her, Claudia's thought drifted to how she suddenly has a small family. A soon to be husband and a little boy that seemed to have taken a liking to her. Well, given that he was surrounded by vampires, it'd be weird for him not to take a liking to me. I don't think I'll ever be able to have kids with Alex anyway, so he'll be perfect for a son. She chuckled as she removed her clothing. Her thoughts lingered on the idea of having a child with Alex. If we had met when he was still human...I wonder how a biological child with him would look like? Thoughts of making children made her think about how she felt making love to him. She felt herself heat up. At the rate we're going, he'll probably have me pregnant every year. Hmmm... If the little boy was still asleep, maybe she can ask Alex to come into the shower with her...

She poke her head out the door. "Alex... come join me in here?" she called out softly.

---

Darric's phone was on the kitchen table when Casey called it. It rang and vibrated and would have fallen off if not for a male hand catching it before it did. "I'm here, baby. You're home late." Darric stepped into the light, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. His hair was still wet, having obviously just gotten out of the shower.

Alex left his progeny watching over the boy. He slipped quietly into the bathroom and disrobed quietly. When he slipped into the shower behind Claudia she moaned already ready for him. He became frenzied with her moaning in his ears as her inhibitions lowered he became wilder and more aggressive. His eyes shone brightly in hers as his movements communicated what he wanted her to know. That he loved her and she was his for all time.



Casey smiled hearing Darric's voice and she went straight to him and when she saw the towel she ran her hands over his body teasing him as she did. "We were buying clothes for Alex's new progeny. A new vampire girl...Shade seemed to be hopeful that they would be a couple. I'm not sure how I feel about this though. That means Alex had to kill her though doesn't it?" The rest of her thoughts were distracted as she pulled the towel off of Darric. As she let her hands roam she asked, "How did your talk with Caius go?" She murmured under her breath.

@Kyrisse