The Alpha King and His Vampire Queen

chapter 8: Blood remember

The room went silent.

Only the sound of my breathing. Fast. Shaking.

Aaron’s hand found mine. His grip was warm. Solid.

"Mira. Look at me."

I couldn’t.

Because 200 years ago, I looked at him too.

And he smiled. Right before he killed everyone I loved.

"You're lying," I whispered.

But my voice cracked. Because it wasn’t a lie.

I remembered the ice. The cold. The 200 years of nothing.

The red-eyed man took one step forward.

"I waited," he said. "For you to wake up. For you to remember who you really are.

Not his Luna. Mine."

Aaron moved. Fast.

He was between us in a second. Teeth bared.

"She’s not yours. She’s never been yours."

The bond in my chest flared. Hot. Angry. Protective.

But underneath it... something else.

Fear.

Because what if a part of me still belonged to him?

What if the blood in my veins remembered him first?

"Then prove it," the man said. And he smiled.

The red in his eyes bled out, down his face like tears.

"Choose."

The floor cracked.

From the hallway, we heard it.

Chanting.

`sangue e acqua...`

They were here.

The witches.

`then.....`

The man in black didn’t move.

He just kept staring at me like I was a ghost he raised from the dead.

Aaron growled, low and dangerous. His body was in front of mine, shielding me, but I could feel his wolf shaking. Not from fear. From fury.

“Who are you?” Aaron demanded. His claws were half out.

The red-eyed man finally looked at him. He smiled again, but this time it wasn’t slow. It was sad.

“Don’t you recognize family, nephew?”

The words hit like a slap.

Nephew.

Aaron froze. “Uncle Varek... you died 200 years ago.”

Varek laughed. The sound echoed and made the women in white robes behind him chant louder. `sangue e acqua... sangue e acqua...`

“Death is a trick vampires learn early, boy. Especially when you’re the one who was betrayed.”

His gaze slid back to me.

“And you. My Queen. You ran from me. You let them chain you, burn you, make you forget.”

He took one step forward.

“But blood remembers. And tonight, blood will answer.”

The bond between me and Aaron _shattered_ with ice. Then it pulled, hard, like a rope tying us together was being ripped in two directions.

Pain shot through my skull.

Aaron grabbed my hand. His touch was fire. Varek’s voice was ice.

“Choose,” Varek whispered. “The wolf who doesn’t trust you... or the king who never forgot you.”

The lights exploded.

Screaming from the halls. The smell of blood.

And in that chaos, I realized something terrifying.

I remembered Varek’s hands too.

They were the ones that crowned me.

200 years ago.

*~~~~ to be continued ~~~~