Chapter 213 Vampire Luna

Chapter 213 Vampire Luna
My stomach dropped straight into my boots as the full weight of her words settled over me. My face twisted into a deep, stressed scowl as I flared my nostrils, sniffing the air furiously to try to catch whatever scent she was picking up on, but my senses caught absolutely nothing out of the ordinary at first.
Could she possibly be talking about me?
A sudden wave of ice-cold panic surged through my veins, making every hair on my arms stand straight up. A terrifying suspicion crept into my mind—what if Mary had known my secret all along? What if she had been sitting across from me this entire time just playing along, pretending to be my sweet friend, only to set a trap and expose me as a bloodsucker right here in front of everyone in the diner?
No, that doesn't make any sense, I reasoned frantically with myself, my fingers tightening around the edge of the wooden table until my knuckles turned white. The elder promised me that my true hybrid scent was completely masked. There is no way a regular werewolf could sniff me out... so how on earth could she know?
Refusing to let the terror paralyze me, I took a deep, deliberate breath through my nose, forcing my heightened senses to push past the overwhelming smell of Mary’s greasy bacon cheeseburger and the heavy aroma of my sweet coffee. I concentrated with everything I had, straining to catch even the faintest draft from the front entrance.
That was when the sharp, undeniable truth hit me like a physical slap across the face.
She was completely right.
A distinct, metallic scent hung faintly in the cool air near the front door. It was faint, but anyone with a sharp, trained sense of smell would easily recognize the dark, copper undertone of a vampire. The creature wasn't far away at all—it was standing just a few feet inside the restaurant. A bitter chill ran down my spine. Even after the horrific, bloody nightmare Alpha Damon had just staged in the central square this morning, an actual bloodsucker still had the sheer audacity to walk right into a crowded diner filled with pack members.
I quickly smoothed my panicked expression into a look of blank confusion, tilting my head as I looked at her. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," I murmured softly, keeping my voice as steady as humanly possible. "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary."
Mary paused, her sharp glare relaxing as she let out a soft, airy laugh, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Oh! Right! I completely forgot for a second that you're just a regular human," she chirped, her tense posture instantly melting away as she picked up her napkin to wipe her mouth. "Your human nose isn't sharp enough to catch faint scents like that."
She tossed the crumpled napkin onto her empty plate, looking down at the scattered crumbs of her meal with a satisfied expression. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter anyway," she added with a light shrug, brushing off her hands. "As long as that bloodsucking monster stays over there and isn't sitting right next to us, it's not our problem, right?"
I forced my lips to stretch into a wide, unnatural smile, nodding my head in quick agreement. "Yes, of course. Absolutely."
Mary slid out of the wooden booth, straightening her leather jacket, and I quickly pushed myself up from my seat to follow right behind her. We walked up to the front counter, where Mary pulled out a handful of coins to pay the waiter for our meal. Once the transaction was complete, we pushed through the diner door and stepped back out into the bright afternoon sunlight.
We walked side by side down the quiet side streets of the territory, the awkward silence between us filled only by the rhythmic crunch of our boots against the dirt path. It wasn't long before we arrived at the small wooden gate standing right in front of my house.
Mary turned around to face me, her dark eyes sparkling with genuine warmth as a bright, glowing smile spread across her face. "Well, I have to say, I had such a wonderful time today!" she gushed, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "I enjoyed this so much, Amanda. Honestly, maybe we should start getting breakfast together like this every single morning! We could set up a proper schedule and start hanging out way more often."
Inside my head, my jaw hit the floor. Is this girl completely out of her mind?!
A wild mix of disbelief and annoyance warred inside me. She wants us to hang out even more?! What is this girl's actual plan? The harder I tried to analyze her motives, the less sense any of this made. What was she really trying to pull by forcing herself into my daily routine like this?
Whatever her true intentions were, I knew one thing for certain—I needed to figure out a way to put some serious distance between us before she accidentally stumbled onto the truth about what I was.
I tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear, offering her another tight, polite smile. "Well... maybe some other time," I replied smoothly, adopting a soft, apologetic tone. "You know how chaotic things are right now. Alpha Damon is probably going to need me a lot this month, so my schedule is going to be completely packed."
Mary’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but she quickly bounced back with an understanding nod. "Fine, fair enough," she conceded cheerfully, stepping forward. "I'll just drop by to check up on you later, okay?"
Before I could even formulate a response, Mary leaned in and wrapped her arms around me in a warm, tight hug, placing a quick, friendly kiss directly on my cheek. She pulled back with a bright chuckle, stepping backward down the dirt path while giving me a dramatic wave of her hand.
"Bye, Amanda!" she called out over her shoulder.
"Bye," I murmured softly, raising my hand to wave goodbye as I stood by the gate, watching her figure slowly di
sappear down the road.