Nico's POV:

She stilled within my grasp.

My chest was already aching from the conversation prior and the fact that I was finally forcing myself to tell her what was going on made it worse by the seconds.

"After me?" She questioned.

I just nodded, taking a second to gather my thoughts.

"I don't know what he wants from you, or why he's targeting you, to begin with, but according to the slave he's been working with, he wants you in his grasp. All of his past attempts of reaching you have failed, but now he knows that I know that he's after you I-" My voice choked back the last words.

Khloe looked back, uncertainty and caution now written on her face.

"P-Past attempts?"

I cleared my throat.

"The night the slave drugged you was the first attempt. Apparently he was trying to retrieve information about us from you but screwed up the dosage. The second was... was the night that I was supposed to be gone. My father gave the slave a Master key and he was intending on taking you that night. I ended up catching him and retrieving this information."

I decided to leave Marcus out of this, for both of their sakes.

If he wanted to tell her that he was a part of this, then that was his decision.

He deserved at least that much.

"I thought at that point that I might have this under control, but my father was one step ahead of me and retrieved the slave. I'm not sure if he knows about what's going on between us or not, but the whole situation just makes me sick."

With each passing second, her realizations hit her harder and harder, that fear I was trying so hard to avoid showing itself.

Just seeing it crushed me, knowing that absolutely nothing that I was going to mention during this conversation was going to fix it.

"I'm terrified, Khloe," I finally admitted, "Never in my life have I felt so powerless against something, and knowing that my father could easily overpower me if it came down to it..." Just the thought of it broke something inside of me.

I took in a deep breath, trying desperately to control my sudden rush of emotions.

"I can't protect you from this. And even if I could, even if there was a small chance that I thought that all would be well, I don't think I want to risk it. I don't want to risk your safety on a small chance."

This conversation couldn't have come at a worse time. Just a few minutes ago I convinced her that this could work. That we could work and I'd make sure of it.

Yet it felt like everything I was saying now was completely contradicting everything I said before.

"I don't want to lose you and the constant feeling that I might just... eats at me constantly."

The lump in my throat became more prominent as silence consumed me.

Her eyes pointed down in thought, her brows pressed together through her fear.

I placed my hand over where hers grasped onto my shirt before she asked the one question that I knew was coming.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

Her voice held more desperation than anger.

"I didn't want you to worry," I began, "You've lived in fear enough in your life and I thought that I might be able to handle it before anything got this extreme. I finally accepted the fact that this was something out of my control. I didnt want to dump all of this on you without having some kind of plan in mind. I thought that keeping this from you would be better for you, but I realize that that wasn't my decision to make, and I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark for this long."

Again, a moment of silence.

The hope that she would forgive me was now one of my top priorities.

Luckily she still didn't seem upset at me, her prior feelings still being the ones that showed.

"A-and do you have a plan now?" she asked, finally meeting my eyes with more tears in her own.

She was looking at me like I was the last shred of hope that she had left in this situation.

The ache in my chest had grown so much that it was making it hard to breathe.

I had a plan. It was a last-ditch effort if I couldn't figure anything else out.

It was the absolute last thing that I wanted to do, but it was the only thing I could think of that was better than risking keeping her here.

Here where she was so vulnerable regardless of who was with her.

My next exhale came out trembling.

"There's a vacant house," I started, trying to will myself to get through this without breaking, "On the far east side of the city.

Far from the northern pack, and far from my father.

"You can stay there while I get this situation to die down and then go find a Lord willing to turn you. Take Marcus with you and you both can live your lives as free individuals."

I didn't want her to be alone, and I trusted Marcus enough to send him with her.

Still, the very idea of letting her go like that caused my bottom lip to tremble.

I still had no idea how long any of this would take, or if it would work at all.

Looking at Khloe, I could tell she wasn't fond of the idea either.

I pushed through and kept explaining.

"I'll cover all of the expenses, and I handle citizenship and population already, so keeping this a secret from my father wouldn't be hard. You'd be safe and be able to live your life how you should have lived it in the first place."

Despite how much I tried to explain this as a good option, my voice wasn't getting the memo.

Either way, I doubted Khloe would like it.

I could tell on her face that she wanted to dispute, but given the current situation, she knew that neither of us had much of a choice.

Her safety was my number one concern, and I was willing to sacrifice anything for it.

"Would you visit?" She asked in a barely audible whisper, her voice cracking towards the end.

God how badly I wanted to say yes.

Just to get that look off of her face for a moment.

"Not for a while," I answered, "I will after this dies down, but I don't want to risk your scent giving away the fact that you're still in my life. I'll write you every day though, and figure out an address where I can receive letters from you."

I can dispose of an envelope better than I could dispose of her scent.

I'd figure that much out if it meant that I could at least keep in contact with her.

More tears fell from her face, causing me to pull her into my chest.

Her arms wrapped around my back, clinging herself to me.

"And the tattoo?" She asked.

"Practice sweetheart," I said, running my hand down her hair, "I still want it. Now more than ever."

I just held her for a while, stroking her back while she sobbed, meanwhile my emotions got stronger by the second.

"How long... How long until this happens?" She spoke.

Given the time it would take to register the house and renew their records to regular citizens behind my father's back.

"Three days. Three days starting tomorrow."

I felt her give a small nod against me, her knees coming closer to her chest.

"I'm so sorry, Khloe. This was the last thing I wanted to have happen, but its the only thing that will guarantee your safety. I swear I'll do everything in my power to make this whole thing not last for that long."

The next words that I planned to have leave my mouth hesitated for a moment, finally being the ones that pushed my over the edge.

I barely felt a tear roll down my cheeks.

"And if it doesn't... If something goes wrong and I take too long with what I have planned, I at least want you to be able to live a normal life. You can achieve your dream job, you can find someone else who could give you everything that I couldn't."

The thought of never seeing her again. Not waking up next to her every morning, not being able to hold her and hear her laugh.

The possessive vampirism in me was screaming at the thought of her with somebody else, but I had no right to deny her of that.

"No," Her voice spoke out, effectively surprising me, "I'll wait for you, Nico. If you think that you can convince a Lord to turn me then I'll wait for however long that takes. And if that plan falls through... we can deal with it then. Okay?"

My eyes widened as she pulled back, feeling a tug at the back of my neck.

I looked to see that our rings had entangled with one another from the chains on our neck.

We looked up to meet each other's eyes after we noticed it.

Her eyes now had a slight determination to them.

A small, pitiful laugh exited my lips at this whole situation, my hands moving to untangle our rings.

As soon as I did, I unclipped hers and carefully slid it onto her finger.

A hidden promise to myself that I was going to make this work.

I was going to have her be mine for the rest of our lives.

Even through all of this, she was going to be my wife.

"Okay."