3.2 | Killer Instinct

04 | loyal

A / N

If Dimitri & Argos were brotp, it'd look like that gif above, basically.

Happy reading (& I promise the legendary naked dimitri shower scene is coming very, very soon...)

x noelle

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0 4

l o y a l

FOR A FEW seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Brooke stood there in frozen horror. Her eyes were fixed on the thorny rose and note, now opened and faced up, with the words looping over and over in her head.

I'm back. I'm back. I'm back.

Letting out a strangled sob, she pressed the back of her hand against her lips to stifle to scream that was threatening to break through. This terrifying turn of events made what Wayland did earlier absolutely child's play in comparison.

No, Wayland was nothing compared to him.

Distantly, she heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer and, for a few terrifying heartbeats, she stood staring wildly at the shut door. It was said that fear paralysed you, and that was exactly how she felt at the moment. She couldn't think of an escape route or a backup plan. All there was were thoughts swarming around in her head.

Was it him? Was he here? Would he –

She jumped when the door swung open and her knees almost buckled in relief when she saw that it was just Maude. The old woman shot her a strange look as she went to retrieve a box from the corner stock in the room.

"What's gotten you so jumpy tonight?"

Brooke swallowed. Her throat was painfully dry and she forced herself to breathe. Why did that seem so difficult right now? "Maude," she said at last, her voice so scratchy she could hardly believe it was her own. "Did anyone come in here earlier?"

"I'm not sure, honey. I've been tending the bar all night because Elise didn't show up."

"Oh," Brooke murmured, not knowing what else to say.

Maude paused in her tracks and her eyebrows knitted with faint worry. "Are you sure you're alright? You're looking very pale."

With jerky movements, she nodded and reached for her coat and bag. "I'm fine, just a little under the weather, that's all. Goodnight, Maude."

"You dropped that – "

She froze, spinning around quickly to see Maude looking curiously at the red rose on the floor. There was nothing in her expression that suggested she knew about the presence of an intruder who'd left the red rose in the back room, and Brooke thought it highly impossible that she did either. No, Maude and her Dad were friends, the old woman had watched her grow up and there was nothing in her behaviour that suggested any kind of menace whatsoever.

Quickly, Brooke retraced her steps and picked up the rose and note, shoving them into her bag. Her finger caught on the edge of a thorn, and she bit back a yelp when the sharp end sliced a bit of her skin clean off.

It had to be a rose with thorns, didn't it? Her stomach twisted with the realisation that he'd sent her something that she couldn't hold without getting hurt in the process.