"This can't be true," I whispered incredulously, walking past Sandrino to push open the heavy, dark door that led me inside the castle.
I looked around the huge, high hall with wide eyes. Recognized the many old paintings on the walls and also the dark marble floor that led straight to another staircase in front of me.
"Aria", Gloria's voice actually sounded and where I thought before that I had just imagined her smell, I was now just completely shocked by her unexpected appearance.
"What are you doing here?!" I asked her reproachfully, watching her calmly walk down the stairs in front of me.
She looked so different than usual. Much younger and paler and instead of her usual modern pant suits, she now wore a long black robe, which made her one of them to me.
"The question is more what you are doing here," she replied coldly, glancing to my right where Sandrino was standing.
"I-" I started and stopped immediately because I was just speechless about all this. Where days ago I still thought I had a normal life, I had gone through more during this time than others in their entire lives.
I'd defied an alpha, been nearly raped by two sisters, kidnapped by vampires, and now, to wrap things up with all this craziness, I had my aunt in front of me, who suddenly became my natural worst enemy.
"I don't understand all this," I whispered, overwhelmed, and wanted to approach her because, despite her changed appearance, I still felt safe and familiar with her, but I could hardly put one foot in front of the other when Sandrino roughly grasped my wrist and held me back "Let go of me right now!" I growled at him, but he looked at Gloria, who just eyed me without showing any emotion.
"Where did you find her?", she turned to Sandrino, who was about to say something, but stunned I snatched my arm from him and spoke.
"Where did they find me?! That's all you want to know!" I yelled at her angrily, not recognizing her at all at the moment. It stung my heart not to be able to feel the love of the woman who raised me. "Who are you?!"
"I'm the queen of vampires," she said in her ice-cold voice and I felt warm tears running down my cheeks with every word she said. "I've always been like this, living away from the woods as a cover to prevent witches from attacking innocent people. But then one evening I found you lying on my doorstep... A she-wolf," she and I explained could with a heavy heart recognize the dislike for me in her voice.
"You were so small and weak and I had high hopes of turning you into someone who would be useful to us in the fight against the wolves, but as soon as this alpha shows up, you're his bondage like a female in heat!"
My ribs hurt, my heart was beating so hard against them and I had the feeling that I couldn't breathe from the shock, but I didn't want to just accept it all. I didn't want to believe that my childhood love was fake. Didn't want to believe it was all lies to shape me into something I never wanted to be...
"How come I never realized what you are?" I whispered dazedly, wiping some tears from my face with my cloak. "I can smell you. Your stench is unmistakable!"
"Because I'm a queen. I can disguise myself, honey," she smiled almost maliciously and slowly walked towards me, which made me want to back away, but Sandrino grabbed my wrist again and held me in place .
"Look at how broken you are, Aria. It's his fault," she tried to tell me something that was just plain wrong. "The Alpha left you and for what? For a spell that couldn't even really hold him captive. He let you down and who's back for you? I... I was always there for you!"
"He's looking for me," I breathed angrily at all this, clenching my hands into fists. "And he would never let me down!" I pressed between my teeth, which only made Gloria smile.
"If he means so much to you, why did you run away? I mean, I sent two of my loveliest children to look for you. They found you, didn't they?"
I remembered the two girls in the forest, but how did she know about them.
"Sandrino was there too. Hidden in a treetop and watching it all. Inside, you don't want that alpha, Aria. Don't let his dirty genes live on. He doesn't know it, but he's the last of his kind and it does I'm very sorry for you, but I can't allow this scum to multiply. Either you stay here with me forever and he lives his sad life alone, or I have to kill him and by extension you."
She pointed at my marker with a disparaging look, but I just shook my head and started laughing hysterically, so that she and Sandrino both eyed me as if I didn't have all the cups in the closet.
"You're misunderstanding something," I explained in a firm voice after my fit of laughter, noticing how my irises darkened and my wolf now took control. "It's you who have to make a choice! Either you let me go immediately and you survive, or Keno and Jamal will kill everyone too!"
They didn't take me seriously, why should they? They were sure of their superior strength and while Gloria started laughing at my words and Sandrino did the same, I unobtrusively touched my abdomen.
Never underestimate the power of an expectant mother who would do anything for her family... A normal woman would not have known the baby in her womb, but I was a wolf and I was also the mother of the next big Alpha!
These vampires could dress warmly.