Love & Loss

Chapter 71

Nico's POV:

The air stung my lungs as I gasped for it.

It felt like I couldn't get enough of it no matter how hard I tried.

My heart was already thundering in my chest and my mind was rushing far too fast for me to make out a coherent thought.

Yet despite that, my body was moving, every muscle in my body aching as I rolled myself over and struggled onto my feet

A high pitched ring, as well as my own heartbeat, were the only thing I could hear, and my vision was blurred and unable to focus on anything.

I could just barely make out the slick sweat covering my body, the heat I was feeling making breathing even more of a chore than it already was.

That and the tight pain in my chest that immediately sent my pupils thinning.

My body was panicking. That's about all I could make out.

The awful tearing noise and shredding pain hit me at once, effectively causing me back onto my hands and knees with a hoarse cry.

My wings fell limp beside me as well.

Never in my life had it hurt that much.

The skin on my back was already sensitive, only telling me that I didn't any time to heal from the last time they sprouted

My uneven breaths heaved out of me and I tried to piece together some kind of reasoning, but no part of me could calm down enough to give any answers.

It almost felt like it was fighting it, rejecting whatever led me here.

I tried to force my body to move again, being met with a harsher resistance as my stomach violently twisted

I quickly clasped a hand over my mouth the taste of blood and bile hitting my tongue.

My eyes squeezed shut, trying everything in my power to just regain control over my own breathing.

I swallowed the burning in my throat, leaving my hand trembling against my face as I focused on just that

It felt like my body wasn't even my own.

These movements, these reactions, the completely helpless feeling shredding all of my thoughts.

Which all felt disgustingly familiar.

The trembling in my hand soon spread to my entire body, the feeling of collapsing all together becoming more apparent by the second.

I hardly noticed the hand gripping shoulder over the all too familiar feeling of a pheromone against my body.

I instinctively tensed, not expecting the opposite effect of what I was preparing for.

This pheromone wasn't as strong as the one I was used to, nor was it anywhere near as harsh.

The forceful effect of it never came, instead it felt like a cool mist spreading from the hand on my shoulder.

Little by little these conditions my body was going through disappeared, my senses eventually returning to me.

As soon as I could, I lifted my head, seeing the distressed expression of my brother.

His stance and shape of his pupils showing he was the one doing this.

A small bit of relief sparked through me at his presence as his pheromone caused the effects of the one prior to finally dissipate.

My muscles relaxed, my breathing was still heavy, but now my own, and my head was no longer rushing

I was only able to enjoy the feeling for a short moment