Can't Beat the Element of Surprise

As he settled the woman against him, she began to speak. He could hear the roughness in her voice as she told him about scouting a nearby canyon in the hopes of finding an interesting place to take Ruse. She continued, and every word she spoke after 'a brute found me' brought his jaws clenching tighter and tighter until his rows of teeth squeaked against one another. He knew what had happened without Dal going into the sordid details. Now that the sting of saltwater was out of his nose, he could smell the stench of sex upon her, mixed with the iron tang of blood.

Though Dalila had suffered the damage, Chimera felt as though he had failed her. Wasn't he supposed to protect them all? Wasn't it his duty as King to keep them safe from things like this? Gently, Chimera lapped some of the blood from Dalila's face, trying to rid her of the proof of what she'd gone through. It was only when she spoke again that his body stilled, stiff as a corpse. The man that had raped Dalila had admitted to being a Carpathius. The woman stammered and the dual-toned brute spoke softly, "What did he look like?" Once he had Dalila home and safe, he was heading straight to The Hallows. Artorias had some explaining to do and the blue man had better give him some damn good answers.

The battered fae asked him if he could help her wash up. Of course he would. She voiced her concerns, not wanting others to see her like this. "Don't worry," he attempted to soothe the woman. "No one will see you, love." The brute nuzzled her ear lovingly before he gently slid his head beneath her small frame. As careful as he could be, Chimera lifted his queen onto his wide back and gingerly walked her to the waters edge. Moving a few steps into the ocean, he crouched, allowing her to slide down beside him. He knew that the salt water would sting, but it would also serve to help cleanse her wounds for the time being.

Chimera stayed beside Dalila, using his big paw as a scoop to lift water onto her back and neck where he tenderly cleansed her of the superficial wrongs done against her. "You can hide for a time, if you'd like," he offered quietly. "I've a place that you can go and I can send Erystotle to you. We can say that you send a message with your dog telling me that you wanted to visit The Hallows or some other pack." He gave her ideas. Though they would wash away the blood and other things, she would still be damaged and others might demand an explanation. "A few days at least would let you heal enough so that Ruse won't question you." Their daughter was very observant and would likely notice the wounds and the stiffness with which her mother walked.

Concern was expressed as to conceiving the bastards children and Chimera's vision shook with fury, but he held it back, instead nuzzling once more into the woman's damp ear. "It won't happen," he assured her. "I'll make sure that you have everything that you need." The brute inhaled deeply, calming himself enough to tamp down his ire. "Then I'm going to find the one that did this, and I'm going to kill him."

"Chimera Klein"