Prey

Chapter 14

Xander's POV:

A long sigh passed my lips as I opened my door, returning from a very lonely breakfast.

For the first time in a while, for some reason, Nico wasn't there.

And usually, that wouldn't be as much as an issue since I still had doe, but this time she was...

I turned towards the couch I had set her on last night, seeing how she still wasn't awake.

She hadn't even moved.

It had been nearly 14 hours since she passed out and she hadn't budged.

The worry that spun in the back of my head pushed itself forward just slightly as I shut the door.

She was an incredibly light sleeper, and always woke up whenever I started getting ready.

Yet there was no inclination whatsoever that she'd woken up at all.

I don't think she's ever slept for this long, and even listening in to her body confirmed that she was fast asleep.

Although last night's... fiasco had never really happened either.

That mixed with the fever that seemed to come out of nowhere.

After she passed out and ended up falling onto me, I didn't know what to do.

Nico wouldn't help, but even if he would, bloodloss wasn't exactly the problem.

I looked her over as I carefully approached.

The couple of blankets I set over her were still tucked exactly how I put them last night.

I didn't exactly have the maneuverability to set her in the cage, so I did the next best thing and put her here.

With closer inspection, I spotted the way her hair clung to her forehead due to sweat, and the occasional discomforting twitch in her eyebrows.

Her breaths were coming slow yet heavy from her mouth, trembling ever so slightly.

This definitely wasn't normal.

My head turned away, wincing as soon as my eyes fell upon her neck.

The neck that was now sporting a very specifically shaped bruise.

My hands balled tight as a pain stung my chest for just barely a second.

God, what the hell was Doe doing last night?

She knew that things were dire now and yet she decided the best thing to do was to square up a vampire.

Not only that, but she smirked.

I don't even think she noticed the look that was on her face but seeing it made my stomach drop.

Was she insane or something?

She had to have known... Both of us know how Layla reacts to some sort of thing.

Did she have a death wish?

The look on her face last night didn't even come close to matching the emotions I could smell on her.

She was terrified, immensely so.

More so than usual, and honestly so was I.

Yet she goes and does that, the scent of her fear mixing with the unmistakable, burning scent of her hatred once Layla had her.

God, what was she thinking?

She HAD to have known what Layla's reaction would be.

And I feel like it could have been one-hundred times worse if I didn't stop her.