Taming A Predator

Chapter 68

Xander's POV:

I couldn't tell how this conversation was going to go. Two things that had never happened in my lifetime were hitting me at once while I made my way back to him.

One, the fact that I was about to scold him in general, and two, the new scent of pure, unfiltered guilt radiating from where he sat.

Usually when he felt guilty, he at least had it in his mind that he was a little bit in the right, he wouldn't do something unless that was the case.

It was somewhat written on his face the moment I rounded the corner.

"I take it you heard all of that?" I began, taking up a slightly pushy tone already.

He didn't give me any sort of answer, only dragged his hand down my face in a way that replaced the groan I'm sure he wanted to let out.

Fine. I had my answer anyway. There was no way that he wasn't listening.

"Did she know you were here?" I followed up with instead, figuring that might get us somewhere.

"I doubt it," He whispered, still not even meeting my eye.

I let out a disappointed sigh, moving to reclaim my seat so I could stare at him at his own level, and rest my arms on the wood.

"I cant believe you didnt tell her," I muttered under my breath.

She was in danger, we both knew she was in danger and he didn't feel the need to let her know.

That's when he looked at me, his head snapping to meet my eyes in a piercing glare.

One that I wasn't going to back down from this time around.

"Why would I tell her," He replied, making my answer come out rather loud.

"Why wouldn't you tell her?!"

For her safety? Her knowledge? So she could be careful?

The hand my his chin tightened into a fist, pressing against his lower lip.

"Did you tell Doe?" He decided to ask.

Which struck a cord in me, one that had me returning his glare.

"He's not after Doe," I spoke slowly, carefully.

She wasn't the one in danger. If she were, then I absolutely would tell her.

"He could be," He offered.

"He has no reason to be!" I bit back, fighting the urge to slam my hands against the table and rise to my feet.

"He has no reason to be after Khloe either, but here we are!" His growl tore through the air with his words.

I just kept his gaze as the silence overcame us.

He did have a reason. We both knew it. He didnt know that I knew it, but the fact that I did made me feel that much more urgent about it.

I knew my brother. I knew that he was scared. I knew that he didn't want to admit that. I knew that he wanted to handle all of this himself like he always wanted to.

But this was not the time to try to play hero. This was his limit as a vampiric prince. Especially when it comes to the girl that he supposedly loves.

The tension in the air began to fizzle, both of our thought processes leading us to the fact that a fight wasn't going to help anything.

I blew out a sigh, leaning back and relaxing my posture.

"Why didn't you tell her?" I reapproached calmly, trying to help him see that I was open for whatever he had to say. I wanted to help him.

I'd never seen anger switch to guilt so fast, and that look didnt match my brother in the slightest.

"I don't want her to worry," He hesitated for a moment, looking away from me yet again, " If I told her what was going on, then she'd revert from the confident and cheery girl that she's become here into being fearful and constantly worried about what every new day brings her. Especially if she figures out that I-"

His lips shut tight right after his tone began to waver.

But I got the gist, I knew what he was getting at.

"That if worse comes to worst, depending on how badly dad wants her, you'd be powerless to stop him." I finished for him.

Which was why she should know. If the situation was this dire, then she should know that shes at the root of it.

He only nodded, his eyes drifting across the table while a new wave of thoughts took over.

I could nearly feel his distress, his worry, his shame. It was all too much coming from a man like him.

I couldnt even begin to think of a way to approach this myself, and a selfish part of me was somewhat glad that it wasnt me dealing with all of this.

I wouldnt know what to do. Much like he didnt.

What was there to do when the single most powerful being in the territory was after something that you'd do anything to keep from him?

Helplessness didnt bode well with vampires. We had every failsafe to make sure we weren't reduced to such things and yet...

"Don't you think she has a right to know?," I snagged his attention, "I get that you don't want her to worry, but I think this is one of those situations where you can't avoid that. You're already worried, even I'm worried because this is something that we should be worried about. I don't know what he wants her for, but I can't imagine its good. If things happen to go awry and he gets her and she has no prior knowledge about the situation at hand and had no possible way to prepare herself or at least have a plan, then how is she going to feel?"

"Thats not going to happen," He grit, confident as he was ignorant.

"But it could. And we both know that."

He strayed away again, swallowing hard.

He knew that I was right.

And I could see that thought begin to make him crumble.

Ah fuck.

"Look, I'm not trying to tell you that you absolutely have to tell her, I'm just saying think about it. You know more about this situation than I do, and you know her better than I do. I just think thinks might be better if she knows."

He chewed on his bottom lip before looking at me with a new question.

"Why didn't you tell her?," He queried, "She came to you for help, and you knew what was going on, but you didn't tell her?"

I just shrugged.

I may have my opinions, but that didn't give me the right to undermine.

I guess a certain part of me hoped that he knew what he was doing.

"I thought about it, but it's not my place. I figured that you knew what you were doing," I spoke my thoughts.

He just slowly nodded, a slightly awkward expression showing on his face.

"Thank you... for being there for her. She doesn't open up to people easily, so it's good to know that she trusts you." He said.

A giddy warmth then began to replace the lingering angst within me.

"I'll keep that in mind," I began, not letting my elation show outwardly so it wasn't weird, "Think about it, Nico. I don't want to see this whole thing go wrong because Khloe didn't know what was going on."

Another nod was my answer. He really didn't want to talk about this.

"Good," I settled before listing myself off of the chair, "Then I'm gonna head out."

"Where are you gonna go?" He questioned

"I'm hungry so I'm gonna head to the kitchen unless you have something that you want me to do here."

He looked over the table.

"Not here but uh, keep an eye on her for me?" He asked.

I nodded with a grin, turning to hurriedly make sure that I can do just that.