Lucien was unconscious in the backseat.

"Are you going to yell at me or are you just going to be silent the whole way home?"

Klaus adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, knuckles turning white.

"It's not like I was in danger. I was with Marcel."

He glanced at me with a disbelieving look.

"Okay the Lucien thing was pretty bad, but at least it wasn't Mikael."

"Be grateful it wasn't him." The muscle in his cheek twitched as he clenched his jaw. "You've done remarkably suicidal things in the past, but this is by far the worst."

"I'm sorry."

"We put up the barrier to protect those Mikael would use to lure us out. You spat in the face of that protection."

"It's not like Mikael knows I exist, much less what I look like."

"Do not underestimate my father." He warned darkly. "He'll taunt us first, people around us will start to go missing, or he'll make an appearance when we least expect it."

"Why do you call him that if all he does is torture you?"

His lips pursed. "He's done damage only a father could do. You would know that pain well enough."

"Mine didn't hunt me for a thousand years."

"He did hunt you."

He wasn't wrong. "Guess neither of them are winning the 'father of the year' award." I threw my feet up on the dash. "I don't have to worry about mine coming back from the dead though." Not after Dean salted and burned my pack's land.

"I heard what happened, when I was gone." Of course someone told him about it.

I groaned. "Not you too. Your siblings were treating me like I was made of glass. Camille kept fucking telling me to lay down."

That got a chuckle out of him. "I can imagine their frustration when you didn't listen."

"Yeah well. They can kiss my ass. I'm not fragile."

"It can be quite shocking, to see you in that state. They're so used to your sharp tongue and your fiery spirit."

"He just showed up. I wasn't expecting it. Then he said a bunch of horrible shit, and they were witness to it." Thank the gods the kids couldn't understand anything that was going on.

They didn't deserve to hear me being treated that way.

"The ancestors said that if he could find the tear in the veil, and he did the mating ritual with me again, then I'd be his again." I guess the one on Klaus would disappear. "He wanted to make me pay for killing him."

Klaus laid a hand on my thigh. "He would sooner find himself on the other side again before I let him touch you."

I laced our fingers together. "It just scared me is all. What if the tear is real and anyone from my old pack gets through?"

"They'd be wise not to come near what's mine. I will always protect you from those who wish you harm."

I let his words hang in the air, watching as the trees passed us by. "I want you to promise me something. That our kids won't ever have the lives we did. They won't fear us, not your anger, not my hunter side. We both had shitty parents. It ends with us."

"Easily done."

"No. It's not, but we're going to damn well try our fucking hardest. I don't care if you continue to run New Orleans and you scare everyone else, you don't bring it home, you understand me?"

"I cannot guarantee the compound will be off limits."

"Then make it that way. Sign the compound in Cami's name and have her move in. No more parties or anything like that."

He gave me a look. "You'll make any excuse to get out of socializing."

"I'm saying, we send out a message. No one touches our home and you won't retaliate. They'll listen if you're the one threatening them."

Klaus hummed. "Once we've dealt with Mikael, I will."

"Okay." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "One thing at a time. What about Lucien? You going to torture him?"

"Best not to worry about that, my love. He's done more than enough to earn my ire."

"Right but if you really think about it, all you're doing is keeping this cycle of yours going. You hurt him, he hurts you back. Then you retaliate and he does it back. What if he escapes? What if he targets the kids next?"

"He won't. I'll ensure it. An example is to be made of him. If word spread that he'd been able to take you under my nose, then my enemies would stop at nothing to get to me through you."

"And what about the De Martels? They were part of the plot in the beginning."

His thumb rubbed circles on my hand. "They won't be bothering us again."

What did that mean? "Elijah said there was an understanding."

"We buried them, they're alive, of course, but slowly desiccating. That was the price they paid for their lives."

I glanced in the side mirror. Lucien looked so peaceful, entirely ignorant to what he was about to endure. "He was kind to me, when we were separated. I'm sure a lot of it was just an act, but he was better than most of the people I hooked up with. Doesn't that earn him any kind of dignity?"

"Absolutely not." Klaus' grip tightened just a bit. "Any ground he had was lost the moment he harmed you."

What was I meant to say now? "There's nothing I can do to convince you." It wasn't a question. I couldn't explain why I wanted to save him, I had every right to, he'd certainly tried to kill me enough.

There was just something about him.

"Take them from me."

He glanced in my direction, a silent question written on his face.

"Take the kind memories. Take any want to help him."

Klaus pulled the car to the side of the road. "Are you certain that is what you want."

"Yes."

He grasped my jaw, forcing eye contact.