Prey

Chapter 11

Doe's POV:

For some reason, Xander kept me on his lap at breakfast as well.

I think he knew better than to try to repeat what he did yesterday, but he had to have been plotting something else.

And apparently, he was keeping his show of 'not feeding me'.

Which I really didn't care about. I preferred choosing what I ate over dealing with whatever repeat they give to the pets at this dining hall.

I subtly glanced over at what Khloe was quietly chewing on, nearly grimacing at the blandness of it all.

The food they served us here was basically the bare minimum we need to survive and also only food that enrich blood.

I'm sure my blood had done plenty of enriching in its time, what I needed was energy and strength.

Layla returned tomorrow after all.

I felt a quick chill run up my spine, my next breath quivering a small bit.

It always got bad the nights that she hadn't fed from me in a while.

I could just barely feel the fact that Xander turned his attention to me, showing that it had happened more outwardly than I had wanted.

And I guess that's when he decided it was time for him to start up some nonsense.

"So," He began, "I've been thinking about getting Doe branded."

I physically heard Khloe choke on what she was eating and if I'm sure I would have been the same way.

My eyes just went wide, wondering how on earth that popped into his mind.

There's no way he just said that.

"Why?" Nico asked, sounding almost disgusted by the very thought.

I felt him shrug.

He said something completely ridiculous and then just shrugged.

"Why not? The branding company is coming into town soon, so I figured that I could take the opportunity."

Branding company?

Please tell me that he just made that up.

If it's actually a real thing, and something that he knows about then that would mean that he was actually serious about this.

I felt my hands ball into fists, just imagining what that would feel like.

There's no way. There's absolutely no way he'd put me through something like that.

Even if it was for Layla.

Well...

"That's actually the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Nico simply responded, apparently much to the relief of the girl beside him, "What would you even get branded on her?"

A tiny bit of fear sank into me when he didn't hesitate one second for a response, and even started chuckling.

No... there's no way he was actually...

"I was thinking about my name going right down her back."

This guy had to be joking.

"Why don't you just tattoo that on her?" Nico asked, sounding like he too was trying to reason with Xander's thought process.

All the time I've been with Xander, nothing even close to this had ever come out of his mouth, and I knew this wasn't something Layla and him had talked about.