{IRIS}
Hatred rose without warning, hot and venomous, coiling tight in my chest—its fangs aid squarely at Caroline.
I hated the way Lord Val held her.
The way his arm curved around her as if she already belonged there.
As if she had always been ant to stand in that place.
The sight tore sothing open inside , dragging forth mories I had long buried.
Ember—the sa sharp, unreasoning fury, the sa violent urge to rip and destroy, surged through once more.
It was familiar in the worst way. Intimate. Like a wound that had never truly healed.
I hated that feeling most of all.
Because I had no right to it.
Lord Val and I... there had never been anything between us. I knew that. I had always known it.
What I felt for him was nothing like what bound to Lorcan—that was instinct, fate, sothing written into blood and soul alike.
And yet—
Lord Val had saved my life.
He had pulled from death, from ruin, and given a second existence when I had nothing left to offer the world. He was my patron. My shelter. My second breath.
I wanted to be useful to him.
I wanted to repay what I owed.
To stand at his side and matter—even if only in so small, unremarkable way.
But watching him now—holding Caroline, drinking from her, marking her with a claim that was unmistakably his—I felt sothing ugly twist inside .
I wanted to be her.
Even if all he did was drink my blood. Then at least I was useful to him.
All I ever brought him was disappointnt.
Why...?
Why was it always like this?
Why did everyone choose soone else?
My mate.
My pack.
And now Lord Val.
Each na echoed through my mind like a tolling bell, each loss layering atop the last until the weight of it pressed down on my ribs, making it hard to breathe.
They had all slipped through my fingers.
I had belonged nowhere.
I swallowed hard, my nails biting into my palms as I stood there, unseen yet painfully present, watching the world remind —again—that I was unwanted.
Abandoned.
The word burned.
I had felt it before, that familiar cold settling into my bones, dragging mories along with it. The silence after my pack had turned their backs. The empty space where a bond should have been.
The slow realization that no matter how fiercely I tried to belong, I was always standing just outside the circle.
Always looking in.
Why...?
The question echoed uselessly in my head.
Why did fate keep offering hope only to rip it away?
My gaze drifted back to Caroline, to the way Lord Val’s grip tightened around her.
She’s mine.
The word replayed itself rcilessly.
Why could it never be ?
Why was I never chosen?
The ache in my chest deepened, spreading until it hollowed out from the inside, leaving nothing but a quiet, seething despair.
I stood frozen in that mont, caught between fury and grief, I looked away and run towards the dorms.
====
{CAROLINE}
"Whoa... really? Vladimir?"
Valerius’s laughter was sharp and careless, echoing through the hollow grounds like broken glass scraping stone.
It was that sound—mocking, amused, utterly unbothered—that tore out of my stunned paralysis. My heart lurched as though it had been yanked back into my chest.
"Well, look at that," Valerius continued, clapping once as if this were so grand performance ant solely for his amusent. "Seems Vladimir finally found himself a human blood bank."
The words struck harder than the fangs ever could.
My gaze flickered to the other two vampires. They remained on their knees, trembling like whipped animals, their arrogance reduced to pitiful obedience. Their eyes were downcast, not daring to rise to Vladimir’s face—nor to mine. Fear clung to them, thick and palpable, coiling through the air like fog.
Valerius strolled toward Vladimir with infuriating leisure and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, as one might congratulate a friend.
"Well then," he said pleasantly, "if that’s the case, we’ll leave the little human to you."
His eyes slid toward , and he winked.
A slow, deliberate wink.
Before I could summon a retort—or even breathe—he stepped backward into the shadows. Darkness swallowed him whole, his laughter trailing behind like a curse etched into the stone.
The other two vampires vanished as well, dissolving into mist as though they had never been there at all.
Silence crashed down.
That was when the weight of what had happened finally struck .
I shoved Vladimir away with both hands, my palms colliding with his chest. He did not stumble. He barely moved. Still, I glared at him as though fury alone might wound him.
My fingers flew to my neck.
The wound was gone.
Not even a scar remained.
Heat rushed to my face as mory flooded back—his mouth against my skin, the sharp sting that had lted into sothing frighteningly different.
I could still feel it: the slow drag of his tongue as he sealed the wound, the intimate care of the gesture sending a shiver straight down my spine.
I hated that I rembered it so clearly.
"What the hell did you do?" I shrieked, my voice echoing too loudly in the open air. "How dare you bite !"
My chest rose and fell rapidly. I didn’t understand my own reaction—why my heart was racing, why my hands trembled as though I had been wronged in so unspeakable way.
This wasn’t the first ti a vampire had drunk my blood.
During training, it had happened before.
But this—
This was different.
I felt... strange.
It wasn’t the bite that angered .
It was what it made feel.
Vladimir regarded in silence, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, a softness touched his features—so subtle I might have imagined it. A faint smile curved his lips, nothing like the predatory grins of the others.
"I’m sorry," he said calmly. "It was the only way to make them leave you alone."
"Huh?" My brows knit together as confusion warred with indignation. "Leave alone? By turning into your human blood bank?"
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