I tended to stay near the table of food whenever I wasn't dancing with someone.

And luckily the boy from earlier, Marcus tended to stay around me as well and had offered me all of the dances we had so far.

Which honestly I was grateful for, he was easy to talk to as we got to know each other more and saved me the stress of choosing a partner for each dance.

I would try to initiate small talk with some of the other slaves and pets whenever Marcus would, but since socializing wasn't exactly my strong point, I just went with the next best thing.

Food.

And well, why wouldn't I when all of it was so delicious?

I finished off the chocolate-hazelnut truffle I had grabbed, my eyes absent-mindedly gazing into the crowd of vampires.

I had been doing that all night, just looking into that crowd, hoping that I would see him.

But I haven't. Not since the first dance.

It felt weird... Not seeing him...

It didn't feel like how it usually felt whenever he would leave me alone in his room.

Instead, it just felt like a small ache that wouldn't go away.

I had honestly debated saying his name in order for him to come find me, but I decided against it.

He was probably having fun with Layla and I didn't want to ruin it because of some feeling I was getting.

So I just left it alone and tried in vain to distract myself with food, and somehow hope that I could look up and meet his eyes again.

I let out a long sigh, rolling back my shoulders as I began walking back towards where Marcus was.

There was only one more slow dance before the ball was over, which I was partially happy about because my feet were beginning to hurt in these shoes.

Plus the part of my mind that was focusing on how tired I am was just longing to curl up in Nico's arms and fall asleep.

I felt my nails dig into my skin as my hands balled into fists.

I needed to stop thinking about him. It was only making me feel worse.

But of course, I had to tune back into reality and realize that I had been subconsciously walking closer to the vampires.

I inhaled a harsh breath as I immediately halted.

OK, now I really needed to stop.

I didn't even know what I was trying to stop myself from doing just now...

Whatever.

I turned myself around, taking a couple small steps.

Nico probably didn't want to have to be dealing with me right now anyways. For now, I just have to stick it out until the ball ends.

Which shouldn't take that long... hopefully.

My body stopped walking, and I actually had to fight myself from looking back.

I did, however, turn my head upwards in almost excitement when the lights dimmed.

Well, that happened sooner than expected, but I'm not complaining.

I was about to continue on my path to find a partner, but a hand softly set on my shoulder stopped me.

I immediately felt as If I knew who it belonged too, and part of me didn't want to turn and make sure in fear that I would be wrong.

It would make more sense for me to be wrong than right.

"Khloe."

My heart began to race as soon as he spoke my name.

I was right.

His hand trailed down my arm as I turned to face him, lifting my hand with his own.

My cheeks burned as he leaned down a bit, placing a soft kiss atop my hand.

Well, there goes me trying to not think about him till the end of the ball.

"May I have this dance?" He asked fairly confidently.

I had to take a second to fully process this and make sure that this was real.

Nico seriously just asked me to dance...

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't force anything to come out.

So instead, I just nodded.

A smile reached his face as I did.

All of the courage I had gained about my dancing, drain from my body as he set his hand on my waist.

I had to force myself to look up, remembering what he had said about eye contact. Which hadn't really been a big issue for me when I had danced with anyone else.

I don't even know what I was so nervous about, It's not like I hadn't danced with him before.

Nico didn't waste any more time and lead me in time with the music.

I had almost forgotten how fluid his motions were and how easy he was to follow compared to the other boys I had danced with. I had also forgotten how much I enjoyed dancing with him.

"You seem surprised," He spoke.

My eyes flickered to the side for a short moment.

Was he expecting me not to be?

I let out a short laugh to ease my own nerves, "I just wasn't expecting you to ask me to dance."

His lips quirked up, "Yea. Me neither, but the last dance is considered the most important, so I wanted to make sure that you had a good one."

I faltered a bit in my steps once he spoke.

"Its the most important dance and you're wasting it on me?" I questioned.

Although I appreciated what he had said, I didn't want to be the reason he didn't get to dance with another beautiful vampire.

After all, I was still just his pet.

His smile quickly fell, followed by one of his brows raising, "Wasting?"

My entire body tensed up, realizing that he didn't like what I had said.

"I-I mean, if this is the most important, you should be spending it with someone... um more deserving of spending it with you?"

He didn't say anything for a long while, just blinked at me like he was processing something.

So of course, my mind decided to panic and try to elaborate further.

"I just thought that you would prefer someone... else, someone prettier or someone-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," He intervened, "Khloe you're undoubtedly one of the most beautiful girls here. I can honestly tell you that you're currently outshining every vampire I've seen tonight and if I didnt want to share this dance with you then I wouldn't have."

I just stared, dumbfounded.

I didn't know where to even begin with what he had just said. But he thinks I'm beautiful?

Part of me was very happy by what he had said. He actually wanted to dance with me.

Apparently, Nico took advantage of my rushing mind and twirled me effortlessly before I could think to do anything about it.

His smile returned as his hand set on my waist once again, seeing the surprise on my face.

"Any more questions?" He asked.

Yes, many. But I didn't even know where to begin.

That thought paused in my mind as I realized that Nico had been moving us over to the group of vampires as we danced.

"Aren't people going to think that you dancing with your pet is weird?" I asked.

I already knew how Lord Bronwyn would feel about it, and I'm guessing that some of the other vampires around us probably think the same thing.

Even I thought that it was weird.

"Yea probably," he began, "They would all think that it was repulsive, but like I said, you're outshining everyone. As far as I know, they all probably think that you're a vampire at first glance."

Yet again, I was at a loss for words.

I couldn't fathom how Nico held me so high in his mind, and yet here we was, telling me.

I didn't even believe what he was saying, but I didn't want to disagree with his either.

Either way, it made me feel happy. I felt so unreasonably happy about what he had said.

And the fact that it came from him made that feeling even stronger. No one had ever said something like that about me.

I looked back up at him, being met with his calm smile that had been showing up more and more lately.

The smile that I felt could make me melt.

My own small smile came upon my face as I let go of his hand, crossing my wrists behind his neck like I had seen some of the other dancers do.

"Thank you for this," I whispered, knowing that he could hear me.

He responded by crossing his arms behind my waist and pulling me closer to him. All while keeping in time with the music.

I felt him falter ever so slightly as I laid my head on his chest, completely relaxing as the music continued.

I came to this ball expecting that it would have a very little effect on me, but these events had me leaving the ball with a completely new feeling aching in my chest.