Love & Loss

Chapter 49

Nico's POV

I awoke with a strange feeling in my gut that I couldn't quite explain.

The only reason I ever woke up in the middle of the night was if Khloe was awake, but with some quick analyzing, I realized that that wasn't the issue.

She was sleeping peacefully in my arms, yet something still wasn't sitting right.

My heart began to speed as I felt my advanced senses begin to enhance, preparing for some unknown danger.

I hadn't felt like this since the night I found Khloe passed out in the kitchen.

Carefully, I pushed myself up, making sure not to wake up the girl next to me.

I thoroughly scanned the darkroom, my ears tuning in to anything that could be considered abnormal.

The hair on the back of my neck stood as I did.

I had to suppress the growl that was growing in my chest, an instinctual response to frighten any threat that I couldn't see.

Although keeping Khloe asleep was wildly more important to me right now.

Still, I was on high alert, mostly confused at to what could possibly cause my instincts to act up like this.

Nothing that I could think of could possibly hurt us here.

One half of me wanted to go and check out whatever it may be, but the other was completely adamant about staying and protecting Khloe.

Either way, I felt my nails slowly sharpen and my fangs slowly begin to itch, fully prepared for whatever the hell was going on.

My eyes locked onto the door the second I heard the faintest sound coming from the other side.

It was nearly 3 am. No one should be awake let alone out of their rooms.

Unless it was Marcus or Xander, but neither of those options were viable.

All hell nearly broke loose the second I heard the lock to my door click, my pupils thinning into slits within the blink of an eye.

Still, I stayed put, inhaling deeply through my nose to try to catch the faintest smell of whoever apparently had access to my room.

I couldn't contain the snarl that left me the second that stinging sensation hit me.

Whoever this was was intentionally masking their scent.

Which reminded me exactly of whoever drugged Khloe.

I felt her shift ever so slightly beside me, luckily not waking up despite my outburst.

Forcing myself to be still and silent, I waited.

Waited for whoever the hell was on the other side of the door to make his next move.

Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait long before the handle turned ever so slowly and the door opened.

I could have struck right then and right there, but I didn't.

I wanted to catch a glimpse of whoever this was before I dared to do anything.

Not even two seconds later, I saw a face peek through the door.

I could immediately distinguish him as a castle slave, one that I hadn't seen before.

The fear in his eyes the moment he noticed my presence followed by his panicked gasp was almost satisfying.

Then he did probably the worst possible thing you could do when facing a vampire hopped up on their feral instincts.