A/N: the rest of that scene, as well as a crap ton of other smut is up on my Patreon!!🥴🥴
Khloe's POV:
My eyes fluttered open, my consciousness slowly returning to me.
I was immediately met with the comfort of being in Nico's arms, mixed with the warmth from the blankets.
Closing my eyes, I nestled myself back against him, feeling his hold on me tighten before it relaxed.
Although the cool feeling of his skin felt different than before.
After a little closer inspection from my fingertips across his skin, I came to the realization that the reason for that was because he wasn't wearing a shirt.
My eyes shot open wide, memories from the night prior coming back to me in an instant.
Which, in turn, caused my blood to rush to my face.
The way he pleasured me with his movements, causing me to climax four times total before I couldn't go any longer.
That vampiric stamina of his was... wow.
My thighs pressed together at the thought, causing a small ache from between them.
The last thing I remember was him holding me against him, fingers trailing my back after he had given me my fourth.
I faintly remember feeling basically my entire body trembling from extasy before my exhaustion apparently overcame me.
Almost immediately, I looked down, realizing that I was apparently wearing Nicos white button up shirt from last night, the shirt itself reaching down to my mid thigh.
And according to what I could feel, Nico was only wearing a pair of boxers.
Those were apparently the only things the two of us were wearing.
Slowly, I turned my head up, knowing that Nico was probably already awake.
I moved to push myself up onto my elbow and quickly learned that quite possibly every part of my body was sore in one way or the other.
Which I guess made sense...
I blew out a breath at this realization, moving the rest of the way into the position that I wanted.
Unsurprisingly, Nico's eyes opened, now watching me intently as I moved myself up so we were face to face on his pillow.
I could almost immediately tell that he too had just woken up.
His perfect drowsy smile showed on his face once my head hit the pillow again, his hair laying messily on his face.
Although, I couldn't imagine mine was any better.
That fact became more clear as Nico reached to tuck some of it behind my ear.
"Good morning, sunshine," he said.
I mirrored his expression and his actions, running my fingers against his forehead before running them through his hair.
Then, hooking my hand around his neck, I pulled myself close so that my head was under his chin.
"Good morning," I whispered nuzzling against him.
"How do you feel?" he inquired, bringing a hand up to massage my scalp.
That alone caused a blissful sigh to pass my lips.
"A little sore, but other than that I feel great," I responded.
His hand trailed down to massage the base of my neck.
"Sore huh?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, but I don't really think that could have been avoided."
Nico let out an obviously sarcastic sigh.
"I guess I was just that good."
A giggle bubbeled in my throat as I leaned back, splaying my hands against his chest.
"Yes, Nico, you were amazing," I admitted truthfully.
Judging by the sudden color on his face, I guess he wasn't expecting me to so easily agree with him.
And then judging by him then quickly changing the subject, I guess he wasnt going to push it.
"Well, uh- How about we use the bathhouse today. That'll probably help your muscles feel better."
"I'd love that. How long do I have you today?"
"I'm not scheduled for anything until four, so I'm all yours until the- oh my god," he finished, looking down towards my neck.
My eyes widened as he rubbed his thumb against the skin there.
"What?"
The look on his face turned into something close to guilt.
"I guess I kind of uh," He paused, searching for the right words, "left a lot of marks."
I turned my head down the most that I possibly could, immediately seeing a variety of red and purplish hickeys across my chest and from what I could only assume to be all over my neck as well.
Another laugh passed my lips as I shrugged it off.
"Who cares," I began, "They felt good and will fade over time."
Nico seemed to accept my words, still looking me over as he sat up.
I sat up with him.
"If you say so," He remarked, leaning in to kiss my cheek, "I'll go order us breakfast and then get the water started."
I nodded, rubbing the cool surcafe of my ring with my thumb.
Though, when he turned to get up, I couldn't help but gasp at what I saw.
My hand even went to cover my mouth.
His back... It looked like he had been attacked by a wild animal.
It only took me a couple seconds before I realized that animal was me.
Nico turned his head to see what I was reacting too, but I was definitely focusing on what I was seeing
Dozens of red lines covered nearly every part of his skin, some I could even tell drew blood.
I looked down at my nails seeing that, yes, I drew blood.
And because of that, I became more horrified by the seconds.
Nico reached an arm forward to get a better look at his back.
"Oh yeah," He spoke casually, "I almost forgot about those."
It took me a moment of just processing before I could speak.
"Nico I-... I'm sorry I didn't know that I-"
"Sorry?" he cut off my obvious panic with a chuckle, "For what?"
I just pointed at his back, hoping that would be enough.
"Don't be. I thought it was insanely hot."
That alone sent my face ablaze.
"B-But I drew blood!" I exclaimed.
I think that's the first time I've ever caused someone else to bleed in my entire life.
"So did I." He stated calmly, gesturing to the bite on my neck.
"Well yeah, but-" I stopped once I felt him place his hand on top of my head.
"Vampires tend to draw blood while making love for the same reason that we feed from the people that we love," He explained, "If anything, you just made it better."
With that, he lifted himself with the bed, leaving me to think that over while he headed to the phone.
Honestly, that made me feel a lot better.
Still, one thing didn't make sense.
"But I thought vampires healed!" I eventually said.
He chuckled, "We do, but it's a voluntary action and I was definitely focusing on something else at the time,"
"Then why don't you just heal yourself now," I queried.
He turned to me and gave me a sly smile.
"Because seeing that look on your face is very entertaining."
My eyes rounded before a defeated pout took over my expression.
Nico just smiled again before picking up the phone and placing our orders.
Within a few moments, I accepted defeat with a long exhale, figuring that I should probably get out of bed.
My entire body ached as I made my way to the edge, only realizing after hanging my legs off of the edge that I might have a problem.
Judging by the soreness in my thighs alone and the strange raw feeling between them, I wondered if walking was going to be an issue.
Nico apparently already thought about this because as soon as he was done, he wordlessly walked up to me and scooped me up into his arms bridal style.
Before I could even think to protest, he spoke.
"It's my fault you're in this predicament, let me take care of you."
Marcus' POV:
A very long breath of relief passed through me as I entered into my room.
Luckily I was given the opportunity to take a break so I was going to make the most of that.
I'd be so bold as to say that I needed it.
My nights have been sleepless more often than not during these past few days and I was now starting to feel the effects of it.
Coffee only helped so much, but it never aided in nulling this odd feeling in my stomach that wasn't going away.
"You're back early," I heard Carlo say to my right.
I turned my head to see that he was sitting on my bed, one leg crossed over the other with his back against the headboard.
"Yeah," I said, smiling ever so slightly, "Nico doesn't have anything going on until later, so unless that changes, I've got a couple hours to chill."
I followed my words by jumping face-first onto the foot of my bed, feeling the ache in my back as I forced myself to relax.
My face scrunched in discomfort as I laid my head on my arms, turning to face him.
I left my eyes closed for a moment, feeling how heavy they were.
I only opened them when I felt Carlo's fingers skim my forehead, clearing away the hair covering my eyes.
"You look awful," he stated, a tinge of concern in his voice and in his eyes.
I just looked at him for a few seconds, reading the expression on his face and his touch that still hadn't left my forehead.
The longer I focused on that, the hotter I could feel my face warm-up.
Being around Carlo at this time simultaneously made me feel better and worse.
Breathing out a small laugh to ease the tension, I spoke.
"Gee thanks," I said, pushing myself up into a sitting position across from him.
He just looked me over again, his brows pressing together in thought.
He hasn't brought up his mission to retrieve Khloe in a few days.
Maybe that's why I was so stressed out. His deadline was inching closer and closer.
Meaning that my deadline was closing too, and I still had no idea how to solve this whole thing where everyone gets out alive and happy.
I haven't gotten any leads or intel that might give me a clue as to what Carlo might be plotting, which sent me completely on edge and bounding across the castle to locate either him or Khloe to make sure he wasn't doing anything.
Luckily he never was, but seeing that was always bittersweet.
I even debating talking to the Lord about it, to try to beg for some sort of ulterior ending to this, but concluded that that might do more harm than good to the situation.
Especially since I wasn't supposed to know about this in the first place.
"I'm serious," He began again, his eyes intently looking over my face. Probably at the darkness under my eyes.
Usually, I could cover those up with this weird cream I found, but that kind of slipped my mind this morning.
I shied away from his look, moving so that my hair covered my eyes again.
I was more than aware of how I looked as much as I knew how I felt.
For the past couple of days, I've been able to hide the guilt, fear, and exhaustion that this situation has given me, but I guess it was going to show itself eventually.
I didn't want him to notice just about as much as I didn't want him to worry.
But he seemed to be doing both.
I could see him out of the corner of my eye, his gaze hardening as the concern on his face grew.
I wasn't quite sure how to respond to what he had said. I didn't want this conversation to be about me.
I was the last person that needed to be worried about.
Although with all of this stress constantly building within me every passing day, and the lives that get effected based on which choices I make, this weight was beginning to become unbearable.
In all honesty, I felt like I was one 'Are you ok?' away from completely breaking down into a frenzy.
And the absolute last person I wanted to ask me that was Carlo.
He was the last person I wanted to see me like that, but with the amount of time that we spend with each other, that too seemed like it was going to become inevitable.
Mostly because I wanted to go to him for comfort and for someone to confide in but it was kind of difficult because he was the one that I was ultimately up against.
Not a single person knew my situation except him, so that left me with absolutely no one to confide in.
So I kept it all inside me, because I knew that if something went wrong, it would be on my hands.
And even if I managed to protect everyone by the deadline, if I manage to hold Carlo off from the job that he's trying to accomplish for my sake, I'll still end up being the one that ends up dead.
Every day that fact seems to become clearer and clearer, digging deeper and deeper into my mind.
But at the end of the day, that fact didn't matter.
What mattered was obeying and protecting the two people who helped me get away from Lord Bronwyn
I found a bit of irony that by repaying them, I'll be returning to where I started.
I didn't even realize my body had begun to tremble until Carlo spoke my name, forcing me out of my thoughts.
My fingers dug into my upper arms now that the look on his face had intensified.
I didn't say anything, just looked at him for a few seconds before looking away out of partial embarrassment.
"You've been doing that a lot lately," He said.
Still, I didn't look at him, just cleared my throat before I spoke.
"Doing what?" I muttered, honestly not knowing what he was talking about.
"Zoning out," He began almost immediately," Getting trapped in whatever's going on in your head and then resorting to this." He ended.
I looked at him to see that he was gesturing to the current state I was in.
Still, I kept quiet, not really knowing what to say in response.
I didn't need nor want him worrying about me.
It made everything easier for me without having to feel guilty about going against the people that care about me.
It was fine when we were hanging out alone, and I could get my mind off of things for a while, but in times like this, I just wanted to hide away from it.
"Marcus," he sighed out, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Talk to me? Please?"
I let out a small, admittedly underhanded laugh, trying anything that wouldn't just lead to me completely breaking down right there and then.
"There's no need to. You already know what's going on." I said, absently glancing at where he was touching me.
I wanted this conversation over as quickly as possible.
"I know your situation, but I don't know your thoughts. All I know is that youre so abnormally selfless to the point of ruining yourself and not letting anyone else know about the problem because you don't want to drag them into it and want to be able to handle everything yourself so that they don't have to worry."
I swallowed hard, honestly surprised that he gathered that much without me talking about it.
His hold tightened on my, his look turning sympathetic.
"I just still don't understand why you're so willing to throw your life away for something that might not be worth it."
"Do you know that for sure?" I snapped, causing his eyes to widen.
"Know what?"
"That it's not worth it. Do you know for a fact that Lord Vanderwood won't hurt or kill Khloe?"
He was silent in thought for a few seconds.
"No," He eventually admitted, "I don't know, but I can't see any reason as to why he would. My biggest guess is that he wants information"
I didn't see any reason either, but I've learned from the past that these Lords can be unpredictable and will more often than not take the most violent route to get something that they need.
Having miraculously lived through that kind of pain myself, the absolute last thing that I wanted was for someone I cared about having to go through the same thing.
And I'd never forgiven myself if I were to fail in protecting Khloe from that.
Knowing Khloe, and seeing her and Nico together, I could tell that they had a strong bond. If the Lord wanted some kind of information against Nico, I doubt Khloe would give it up so easily.
She was delicate but loyal to a fault.
Carlo seemed to read the resolve in my eyes.
"I don't want you to die, Marcus." He spoke in a way that made my heart clench.
I just stared at him, reading the sincerity in his eyes.
The lump in my throat grew with each passing seconds and it took everything I had to not burst into tears.
So, I said something that would hopefully end this conversation where it was.
"Then I'll find out a way where I don't."
The tightening in Carlo's neck told me that my words weren't really what he wanted to hear.
Dropping his hand from my shoulder, he lifted himself off of my bed and towards the door.
A spark of panic began to grow within me.
I didn't want to leave this conversation with him mad at me.
Luckily, he stopped, drawing in a long breath before he spoke.
"I'm going after her the night of the fifteenth." He said.
My eyes rounded, wondering if I heard him right.
Did he really just...
"What?" I asked, really needing some clarification.
He turned his head towards me, his hands landing in his pockets.
"My plan to retrieve Khloe is happening on the night of the fifteenth. Prince Nicolas will be out of the castle dealing with the Northern pack, Khloe will be alone," He shrugged, "I'd be an idiot not to take that chance."
My heart seemed to beat faster with this information.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, not being able to think of a possible reason why.
He just sort of looked at me for a moment.
"At the end of the day, it's your life at stake here. I guess I don't have the right to determine what happens to you as much as you do, so I'm giving you the chance to determine it yourself. You can either stop me or not."
My mind raced, trying to plug in this new information.
To some extent, I was relieved.
But on the other, his words somehow made this whole situation more real.
On that night I would either succeed or fail.
Carlo turned his head and continued walking.
"I'll be in the kitchen if you want to join me."