Chapter 199: Vampire Luna

I turned my head toward Ava, giving her a firm, quick nod. "You can go inside, Ava."

Ava didn't hesitate for a single second. She clutched the heavy straps of the travel bag tightly against her chest, darted a nervous, trembling look between Mary and me, and hurried up the wooden porch steps. The heavy front door clicked shut behind her, leaving Mary and me standing completely alone in the quiet courtyard.

I took a slow step forward, folding my arms tightly across my chest as my dark eyes narrowed into sharp, unyielding slits. "Fine, Mary," I growled, my raspy voice slicing through the still morning air. "Now that we are all alone, you can cut the sweet act. Drop the useless fairy tale and tell me the real truth right now. Why on earth did you actually help us back at the gatehouse? What is in this for you? I find it completely impossible to believe that you stepped up and saved my skin out of the goodness of your heart unless you have a dangerous hidden motive behind it."

Mary let out a soft, melodious laugh, tilting her head slightly as a delicate, amused smile touched her lips. "Why do you always assume I must have some dark, evil motive behind everything I do, Amanda? Just because we have had our share of differences in the past and ran into a few misunderstandings along the way doesn't mean we can never move past it. It doesn't mean we can't eventually become friends, nor does it mean that I am entirely incapable of changing for the better."

A white-hot surge of frustration flared up in my chest. My top lip curled back in pure, unadulterated disgust as I took another aggressive step toward her, my jaw clenching so hard my teeth ached.

"You call everything you did to me 'just misunderstandings and differences'?" I hissed, the bitter venom in my voice practically dripping into the dirt between us. "Are you out of your mind, Mary? You almost got me killed! In fact, you actively tried to murder me on numerous occasions! You repeatedly threatened to tear my life apart to get your pathetic revenge. You made me bleed, and you literally paid ruthless men to hunt me down and kidnap me deep in the wilderness!"

I glared straight into her eyes, my chest heaving with heavy, angry breaths as the memories of her past cruelty flashed through my mind.

"I won't even waste my breath listing all the countless times you humiliated me, degraded me, and tried to walk all over my pride in front of the entire pack," I snarled, pointing a harsh finger directly at her face. "And now, out of absolute nowhere, you just crawl out from whatever dark hole you've been hiding in and decide to help me out of a tight spot once? Let me make one thing crystal clear to you, Mary: just because you pulled off one nice little trick at the gatehouse today does not erase a single drop of the horrific things you have done to me in the past! And if this pathetic display is just part of your elaborate new plan to get revenge on me, I promise you right now, it will never work."

Mary didn't flinch or raise her voice in anger. Instead, a genuine look of sorrow flickered across her refined features. She lowered her gaze to the ground for a quiet moment, letting out a heavy, regretful sigh before looking back up at me with soft, pleading eyes.

"I knew you would still hate my guts, Amanda," she murmured, her tone carrying a heavy, quiet weight that sounded surprisingly sincere. "And I don't blame you for a single second. I completely agree that this sudden change feels far too abrupt, and I won't stand here and deny any of the awful, unforgivable things I have done to you. When I look back at the monster I was acting like, I feel deeply ashamed of myself. I know I can't undo the past or erase the pain I caused you... which is precisely why I decided to take this first small step today. All I ask is that as the days go by, you give me the chance to slowly prove to you that I am genuinely trying to change."

"I don't need your damn proof, Mary!" I cut in sharply, my voice booming across the empty yard like a crack of thunder. "I don't need anything from you at all! What I actually need is for you to stay as far away from me as humanly possible! I don't want your proof, I don't want your fake apologies, and I don't care what kind of saint you pretend to be from this day forward. I will never, ever trust a single breath that comes out of your mouth!"

Mary parted her lips, stepping forward with her hand extended as if to plead her case one last time. "Amanda, please, just listen to me for one—"

Before she could finish her sentence, a massive, deafening bell shattered the quiet of the morning.

The heavy, metallic toll echoed violently through the air, vibrating through the ground beneath our boots and ringing in our ears with a terrifying, emergency rhythm. The sharp, frantic sound blared across the entire territory without stopping, instantly plunging the surrounding streets, houses, and pack members into a frenzy of pure, c

haotic panic.