Love & Loss

Chapter 37

A/N: Yooooo so apparently my book got nominated for the fiction awards so go and shoot me a couple votes if you want!

Khloe's POV:

The blood moon had started hours ago.

And although it didn't affect Nico how it did last time, it definitely affected him a different way.

The only way I knew this was because ever since the moon rose, Nico has been a lot more insistent on being next to me at all times.

It might have just been because every other normal vampire in the city was high on bloodlust and he wanted to make sure I was safe, but I think we both knew that there was no way any vampire other than him was going to get close to me during tonight.

It almost seemed like he didn't even know how different he was acting.

He even insisted that we left our room and stayed in the kitchen for a while because he wanted to me in a more open space.

Even though I thought that his room had more than enough open space.

On top of that, he was oddly... quiet.

He hasn't really said much since the moon rose and more often than not had his eyes close.

It was obvious enough that he wasn't resting, but the only other thing I could guess was that he was just honing in on his other senses since they too became enhanced during this night.

From how Nico explained this to me, their more feral side existed outwardly during tonight but was just a lot more controlled.

If anything, I just found this whole thing interesting.

There were so many things about Nico and vampires in general that I still had to learn

Currently, we sat at a booth far in the corner of the room, Nico leaning against the wall with one bent leg on the booth and I leaning back against his chest.

Lily had taken the liberty of fixing up a couple of small finger foods for us before she headed home for the night, leaving Nico with the keys.

He then took the liberty of locking all except one entrance into the kitchen, making sure he knew when we were the only ones in the room.

Which we had been the entire night.

All of the slaves locked themselves up for the night, even the ones that serve the royals.

A precaution if anything, I guess.

I picked up one of the chocolates covered apple slices Lily brought us and popped it into my mouth while Nico rested his head on my shoulder.

I could tell that he was pretty bummed about not getting his wings this time around, given how much he knew I liked them.

Which I did, but I knew I had a long time to see them again.

After all, he did say after my birthday he would work on getting his wings without the need for danger or the blood moon, so I was fine with the absence of them tonight.

I turned my head a bit to the shoulder Nico was leaning on.

His eyes were still closed and his breaths even.

Gently, I drew my fingers across the side of his face, drawing away with his hair between his fingers.

The edges of his lips lifted as the arms around my stomach tightened.

His eyes opened barely halfway before he buried his face deeper into my shoulder, taking in a long inhale.

Suddenly, his head rose and turned towards the only available entrance, eyes furrowing into a glare.