CHAPTER 224

CHAPTER 224
AMARA

The afternoon sun had thrown in the towel and vanished behind a thick blanket of clouds, leaving the wind with a mean bite that sliced straight through my thin sweater.

I hugged myself tighter, already regretting every life choice that led to me leaving the castle dressed for spring when it was clearly still winter’s last petty revenge.

Goosebumps raced up my arms like they were late for a meeting.

“Here,” Dominic said, shrugging out of his hoodie in one fluid.

I opened my mouth to protest—habit, mostly—but he cut me off.

“Vampires don’t feel the cold, princess. Take it before you turn into a very sad, very blue Luna popsicle and Alaric has to thaw you out with his brooding.”

I sighed and accepted, tugging the hoodie over my head.

It swallowed me whole—sleeves dangling past my fingertips, hem hitting mid-thigh like a dress—and smelled faintly of whatever ridiculously expensive cologne Dominic wore: dark cedar, smoke.

“I’m better than you.”

Warmth enveloped me instantly, cozy and smug.

“Just make sure you take it off before his highness sees it,” Dominic added with a smirk, falling into step beside me.

“I don’t think he’d be thrilled about you wearing another man’s scent. Although honestly, I can barely smell anything over his on you these days. You’re basically walking around in an Alaric-scented fog. It’s like he marked you with a permanent Sharpie.”

I lifted my wrist and sniffed experimentally.

“Do I really smell that strongly of him?”

“Yep. You still smell like you—sunlight, sugar, that vanilla shampoo you hoard—but it’s like your scent is wearing his as a very possessive perfume. Useful, though. Anyone with a nose will know exactly whose Luna they’re looking at. That’s probably one of the reasons he makes sure his scent is all over you.”

He shot me a meaningful sideways glance.

“Territorial wolf thing. Very caveman if you ask me.”

Heat crawled up my neck.

“I didn’t ask you.”

He just chuckled, low and amused.

Behind us, the ten bodyguards—yes, ten—trailed in a loose, professional formation.

Far enough to pretend they weren’t breathing down my neck, close enough that I could feel their watchful eyes on every step, every breath. I’d gotten used to one or two shadows since the necklace incident, but ten felt like overkill.

Like I was a priceless artifact being transported instead of a college student trying to get coffee.

Cassie, walking on my other side, kept throwing glances over her shoulder at the pack of very serious wolves in human skin.

Finally she leaned in, dropping her voice to a dramatic stage whisper that was still perfectly audible to supernatural hearing.

“Okay, real talk,” she hissed.

“This is creepy. Like, next-level creepy. I can’t even have a normal conversation with my best friend without feeling like we’re being surveilled by a small army of very attractive men in black. I feel like I’m in a bad spy movie and you’re the president’s daughter. Do they have earpieces? Are they narrating this to Alaric right now? ‘Target is consuming caffeine, repeat, target is consuming caffeine.’”

I snorted into Dominic’s sleeve.

“Alaric just being protective.”

Cassie gave the guards another long, assessing look, then leaned even closer, voice dropping to mock-conspiratorial levels.

“Protective?” Cassie echoed, voice dripping with sarcasm as she threw another glance over her shoulder at the ten very serious wolves trailing us like a private security detail on steroids. “Girl, this is a full-on procession. I’m surprised they’re not carrying you around on a portable throne like some ancient queen who’s too delicate to walk. Or fanning you with palm leaves while chanting your praises. Or—honestly—sacrificing virgins to the coffee gods just to guarantee your latte comes with the perfect foam-to-milk ratio and a little extra caramel drizzle because the universe owes you after all this nonsense.”

She paused for dramatic effect, one hand pressed to her chest like she was about to faint from the sheer extravagance of it all.

“But then again… it’s probably for the best that Matt finally spilled the tea last night about this Master guy. The freaky vampire king who wants your blood like it’s a rare vintage Bordeaux and you’re the last bottle on the shelf before the apocalypse wine sale ends. So yeah—congratulations, babe. Life has officially jumped the shark, flipped the table, set the table on fire, and then danced on the ashes while screaming ‘plot twist!’ But don’t worry.”

She patted my arm.

“I’ve got your back. If this Master creep shows up, I’m going full feral. I’ll throw my entire collection of half-dead succulents at him. And maybe a lamp. I’m basically a lamp-throwing savant now. It’s my new cardio."

I laughed—real, startled laughter that made my chest loosen for the first time all day.

“You’re going to fight an ancient vampire with houseplants?”

“Desperate times call for desperate succulents,” she said solemnly.

“Plus, if I die, at least I’ll go out dramatically. And my plants deserve to be avenged. They’ve suffered enough.”

Dominic chuckled from my other side,

“I like her. She’s vicious. And she has excellent taste in weapons.”

Cassie whipped her head toward him so fast her ponytail nearly took out my eye.

“Wait—hold up,” she said, squinting at him like she was trying to read fine print on his soul.

“Are you’re one of them too? Full-on werewolf vibes? Like, sprouting fur, dropping to all fours, howling at the moon

“Please,” he drawled, voice dripping with wounded dignity,

“I am vastly superior. I’m a vampire, darling.”

Cassie gasped—loud, genuine, her hand flying instinctively to her throat like she was suddenly remembering every vampire movie she'd ever watched.

“Vampires are real?” she squeaked, eyes bugging out as the realization hit her like a brick.

“Like, full-on blood-sucking, sparkle-in-sunlight-if-you're-basic, immortal night-stalker vampires? Oh my god. My life is officially a paranormal romance novel written by a caffeine-addicted toddler."l

Werewolves? Fine. I can handle. But vampires? That’s next-level. That’s ‘I need to start carrying holy water in my Stanley cup’ level.”

“Sparkle-in-sunlight?” he repeated slowly,

“Ouch. Low blow, tiny terror. I’ll have you know I’ve never sparkled a day in my immortal life. That’s a slanderous stereotype pushed by a certain franchise that shall remain nameless—"

He leaned in slightly, voice dropping to a velvet purr laced with pure mischief.

“But yes, darling. Full-on blood-sucking, night-stalking, eternally fashionable vampire. No glitter. No brooding in rain-soaked forests unless it’s for aesthetic purposes. Just timeless elegance, impeccable taste, and the occasional dramatic monologue about the fleeting nature of mortality while sipping something red from a crystal flute. Werewolves? Adorable in a ‘big puppy with commitment issues’ way, sure. But vampires? We’re the upgrade. No shedding. No howling. No chasing cars unless the car is a vintage Aston Martin and the chase is metaphorical.

I’m basically the luxury model—black card, velvet coffin, eternal-night aesthetic. You should be honored to breathe the same air as me.”

Cassie narrowed her eyes, stepping right into his personal space with mock menace, chin tilted up like she was about to declare war on an entire species.

“Listen up, Twilight,” she retorted,

“My best friend is a werewolf-witch hybrid. My boyfriend is a full-on furry who turns into a giant wolf and still manages to be annoyingly sweet about it.So spare me the ‘vampires are superior’ superiority complex. So I don’t need your glittery, velvet-coffin-having, ‘I’m superior’ vampire bullshit. I’m team werewolf all the way.
Im team werewolf all the way."

She leaned in closer, voice dropping to a venomous hiss.

'And if you ever come near my neck with those fancy fangs—or even look at it funny—I will personally ensure you spend eternity regretting the day you were turned. I will stake you with a rusty spoon. I will garlic-bomb your coffin until it smells like an Italian restaurant exploded. I will sign you up for every multi-level marketing scheme known to man—Young Living, Herbalife, LuLaRoe, all of them—and make sure you get stuck selling overpriced essential oils door-to-door for the next five hundred years. You will never know peace. You will never know quiet.

Dominic raised both hands in surrender, grin wide and delighted.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, tiny terror,” he purred.

“Your blood probably tastes like anxiety and spite anyway. Far too bitter for my refined palate.”

Cassie gasped again—louder this time—and turned to me.

“Did you hear that? He called me bitter! I’m not bitter. I’m complex. Like a fine wine. Or a very aggressive kombucha.”

I laughed so hard I nearly tripped over my own feet.

“You two are going to kill me before Master even gets the chance,”

We rounded the corner toward the coffee shop just as someone—Jesse—shouldered past me hard enough to make me stumble.

Dominic’s hand snapped out with vampire speed, catching my elbow before I could go down.

“The hell?” he growled, already stepping forward, fangs glinting for half a second before he reined it in.

Jesse didn’t even break stride.

She kept walking with her two friends, glancing over her shoulder at me with that same weird, smug little grin she’d been wearing lately—like she knew something I didn’t and enjoyed watching me figure it out the hard way.

Cassie’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“Okay, who’s the walking red flag?” she muttered, watching Jesse’s retreating back.

“Because if looks could kill, she’d be serving life without parole. That smile says ‘I poisoned your coffee and I’m not sorry.’

Dominic jaw tightened as he watched Jesse disappear around the corner with her friends.

“She’s a fucking bitch,” he muttered.

“Jealous as hell that Alaric chose you over her. She’s never gotten over it.”

“Hey,” I said softly, bumping his arm with my shoulder to pull him out of it.

“It’s fine. Let’s go.”

“It’s not fine,” he grumbled

“That look she gave you? That wasn’t just petty jealousy. That was something.”

“It’s fine,” I said again, bumping his arm lightly with my shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

Dominic growled low in his throat—

“It’s not fine,” he muttered under his breath, eyes flicking back toward the direction she’d disappeared.

“That look she gave you? That wasn’t just petty jealousy. That was something.”

I slowed my pace, glancing at him sideways.

“Like what?”

He hesitated—

“Like she knows something we don’t,” he said quietly.

“Or like she’s waiting for something to happen. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t even smug. It was… expectant. Like she’s holding cards we haven’t seen yet.”

Cassie, walking on my other side, immediately perked up, eyes narrowing as she looked between us.

“Okay, cryptic vampire boy, spill,” she said, voice dropping to that mock-serious tone she used when she was half-joking and half-ready to start interrogating.

“Is this ‘something’ the kind of something that ends with pitchforks and torches?"

Dominic huffed a short, humorless laugh.

“It’s the kind of something that makes me want to triple the guards on you, princess,” he said, voice dropping low enough that the words felt like they were meant for my ears alone.

“Jesse’s not just jealous. She’s vengeful. The kind who smiles while she’s sharpening the knife. That grin she flashed you? That wasn’t petty. That was fucking off. Cold. Calculated. Like she’s already picturing the moment she gets to twist it.”

He paused, eyes flicking back toward the direction she’d disappeared, jaw tight.

“And when people like her smile like that,” he continued, quieter now,

“it usually means one of two things: they’re waiting for an opening… or they already have one.”

My stomach dropped like someone had cut the elevator cable.
He didn’t elaborate.

He didn’t have to.

The shift in him was immediate and unmistakable: posture straightening, eyes sharpening, every casual line of his body replaced by the quiet, coiled alertness of a predator who’d just caught a scent he didn’t like.

He didn’t say another word about it,