Who: Karl and Hope What: What should be just a small outing turns into a very Karl and Hope moment When: July 14 Where: Skagway Rating: Lowish
Nick and Mia had promised they were okay with watching Nita for a few hours. Hope had asked at least a dozen times to make sure that they were truly okay with doing that since this was their cruise too, but eventually she had been practically pushed out of the door. When they finally were on land, Hope relaxed enough to actually want to have a good time with just her husband.
“I know I should be annoyed with the cold, but it’s not that bad.” She was sure Alaska in the winter was the pits. She held Karl’s hand as they walked around the small town. They had opted not to do an organized excursion. It wasn’t really either of their things - having plans made for them - plus this gave them the chance of being able to go back if something went wrong with Nita. Hope always enjoyed exploring towns and cities without structure anyway - you learned more about the place that way.
They had gone to a few shops and then ended up in a surprise art gallery. It had been very unassuming on the outside, but on the inside if you didn’t know better, you might think you were in New York or L.A. There were some pretty inuit art here and Hope was thinking about getting a piece when she felt a rush.
She turned in against Karl like she wanted a hug from him and pressed her face against his shoulder as she let out a sharp inhale that might sound just a little like a moan - hence pressing her face into his shoulder. She might be suddenly distracted, but she had enough wits about her not to draw that kind of attention to herself.
Karl didn’t know if the two of them would make it off the ship, and appreciated Nick basically shoving Hope out the door, even if it did earn his Pack mate a growl. Nick, in his turn, just grinned and shut the door.
“Well that’s why you have your werewolf husband with you, to help keep you warm,” he chuckled, his mouth brushing her ear.
He enjoyed their excursion and when they walked into the gallery, he may have thought Jackpot! without saying it. Karl almost said something to Hope, but then his wife’s head was buried in his shoulder. He didn’t have to ask the reason at all.
“Hope?” Karl tried to gauge just how strong the rush was.
She made a sound against his shoulder that was an acknowledgment she heard him, but also she needed a second. Hope knew she should focus on it, but for moment she just let the rush take over. It felt great and while fight nights were a nice monthly thing to look forward to, this wasn’t the same sort of chaos at all. Once she let the feeling settle over her and she resisted the urge to push Karl into some dark corner and have her way with him, she concentrated.
“Three people. One inside, two outside…” She could see what they wanted. There was one in particular that was very excited and he was exuding the most chaos. He might be the most dangerous too if things went south. Hope let her palm run across Karl’s very nicely toned chest. Maybe she could have had a little more self control, but they were baby-less and she was indulging a little. “...there are diamonds upstairs. Jewelry.” And the three men wanted them.
Karl waited patiently, one arm around his wife’s waist and one around her shoulders. He knew her well enough to read her thoughts. The fact she hadn’t pushed him into a back alley showed great restraint on her part, much to the disappointment of her werewolf husband.
As she spoke, Karl listened to her intently, both hands on her hips, holding her tightly to him. And he grinned when her hand went across his chest, his one hand dipping to gently cup her ass.
“Jewelry you say? Feel like seeing if we can beat them to it?” His eyes glittered. “And if we get distracted after, I’m sure Nick will understand.” Actually Nick had texted Karl telling him to take whatever time he and Hope needed.
He was not making this easy, what with all the holding and touching he was doing. She didn’t actually want him to stop it, but it still made things harder than it would have been otherwise.
She lifted her head up when he suggested it. Of course she wanted to do that. The look in his eyes alone would have had Hope agreeing. She bit her lip as she looked at him. “We are definitely getting distracted after.” She’d be unpleasant to deal with if she didn’t get the release she was craving and no one would want to deal with her then.
Hope managed to extract herself from Karl with only some lingering touches which might have been a testament to how Nita’s birth helped lessen some of her more intense impulses. The fact she’d have to balance the chaos coming from the men as well as her husband now while still helping Karl and not having her way with him in the middle of the floor was an enticing challenge Hope was looking forward to.
“How do you want to play this?”
Karl wanted to keep his arms around Hope so he could carry her back quickly if she became overwhelmed by the chaos. It wouldn’t be the first time, but Karl felt relief when she extracted herself.
“Well, we could try a ‘damsel in distress’ situation. Or, pull a fire alarm. Really, we just need to do something distracting so we have a chance to get in there first.” Karl considered other possibilities. Most of them he dismissed right away. He wished he had time to case the place, but it wouldn’t be the first time he stole something on the spot.
He looked at the other group. “What can you pick up from them?” That might help them decide.
Hope took a breath and tried to concentrate on their thoughts. It should have been easy, but one of them had a lot of pent up rage in him that he kept pulling Hope’s attention from the others like the dessert area of a buffet with a child. She took a second breath and forced herself to direct her attention to the two less obvious ones.
“One is desperate and the other… guilty.” She could sense the guilt more now that she was focused on it. She looked at Karl. “I can distract them.” Or at least two of them, but they were human so Hope didn’t think Karl would have a trouble with big and angry if they came across each other.
She kissed Karl on the lips and as she pulled back, her eyes were sparkling. A trip to Alaska sounded nice, yes, and maybe they should have just been content with that, but… well, this was far more fun than just sightseeing. As she backed away from her husband, her mischievous expression held a promise for later.
A moment later and Hope was running toward the men. It helped she was so tiny - men always thought she needed their help. “Help! Please! Anyone?!” The two men Hope anticipated went up to her and she started babbling about a mugger and losing her purse and otherwise just being hysterical which she thought she should get an award for.
If Karl didn’t need his wife to distract, he probably would clap at her performance. He slipped into the gallery and strode as if he belonged. Which, in his suit, nobody questioned. Thankfully, he had time thanks to his beautiful wife.
He strode as it to examine a piece, and glanced around. Nobody paid any attention to the handsome and well dressed man. Karl found the stairs and quietly made his way up to where the jewelry was. Hopefully Hope was okay. Karl hated to leave her, but he knew she could take care of herself. Plus, Karl moved fast.
One of the best things about being a woman was you could do ridiculous things like suddenly ‘faint’ and most men took you seriously. The male race really was drawn to the whole damsel thing weren’t they? Maybe it was all the knights in shining armours that we read to them.
Hope made a scene of swooning and one of the men ‘caught’ her in a panic. She realized though as she ‘slowly came to’ that she only had two of the three men. She felt a sudden rush of worry, but she knew Karl could handle himself. Plus she couldn’t focus too much on the chaos if she was going to pull of hysteria and it was hard not to just revel in what the men were exuding.
Karl made it where he needed to be and then heard footsteps. Fuck. He could smell a scent from earlier, which meant Hope managed to distract two of them. Studying the room for a few seconds, Karl noted the security and the jewels locations.
He opened the door as though he belonged there, coming face to face with one of the would-be thieves. Too bad Karl would get them first. Without much thought or noise, Karl punched the man hard enough to knock him out in one punch. Thank God for werewolf strength.
With that done, Karl eyed the jewels and this time, took no time to steal three, while leaving two on the unconscious man. Hopefully the owners would assume he stole the others. For good measure, Karl stole one more, slipped out and walked back to the gallery.
Thankfully her slipping a little when she felt the chaos vibes from the second floor helped her sell the swooning, but she also could sense that Karl was 'done'. When she noticed Karl, she did her best damsel sigh of relief. "Oh! My husband! Thank you gentlemen for helping me." She miraculously found her feet again and ignored the way the two men looked disappointed she had a husband. Real altruistic of them.
She semi-limped to her husband as the last part of her show and threw her arms around him. Her eyes semi-closed as she could feel the energy off of him and it was delicious. Hope leaned in and whispered, "I need you."
Karl emerged and walked over to his wife. “Gentlemen,” he said, as though he hadn’t just punched their friend in the face.
“Let’s get a little ways away from here.” Karl picked up Hope and walked her a few blocks away and planned on giving his wife exactly what they both wanted.