Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 230

The ground trembled beneath the ruins of the old house, the earth groaning as though awakening from a restless slumber. Crumbled stone and splintered wood shifted, dust rising in thick clouds. Then, with a slow, eerie movement, the debris parted, forced aside by an unseen power.

From beneath the wreckage, a woman emerged—no, something that had once been a woman. Her silver hair, now dull and matted with grime and dried blood, clung to her gaunt face. Her skin, once smooth and luminous, stretched tight over her bones, her cheeks sunken, her lips cracked.

She took a ragged breath, a sound more like the whisper of dead leaves scraping against stone. In her frail arms, she cradled a child, no older than twelve, her small form limp and unmoving. The girl’s face was peaceful in unconsciousness, her dark lashes resting against pale cheeks, stark against the filth and dried blood staining her skin. The skeletal woman’s hollow eyes fixated on her, but there was no warmth, no tenderness in her gaze—only something darker, something insidious.

With a slow, deliberate step, she moved away from the ruins, the once-familiar grounds now foreign and desolate. The trees loomed around her like silent sentinels, their twisted limbs reaching for the sky. She trudged forward, her feet unsteady yet determined, the weight of the girl in her arms as light as the breath of the wind against her withered skin. The night whispered through the leaves, carrying with it the scent of damp earth and decay, but she paid it no mind. Her destination was clear.

Deeper into the woods she went, past gnarled roots and thick undergrowth, her skeletal frame moving with an unnatural grace. Her breath rattled in her chest, but she did not stop. She could not stop. Finally, she reached the riverbank, where the moonlight cast a ghostly glow upon the gently rippling water. With careful precision, she knelt, placing the child down on the damp soil. The girl’s fingers twitched ever so slightly, a soft whimper escaping her lips as she stirred, but she did not wake.

The woman tilted her head, watching, her lips parting in something that might have been a smile once, long ago, before time and ruin had stripped away the humanity she once possessed. Her fingers brushed the girl’s cheek, leaving streaks of dirt in their wake.

"You are all I have left now," she murmured, though the words carried no comfort, only the weight of something unspoken, something dreadful. The river whispered its own secrets, the current lapping hungrily at the shore.

Then, the skeletal woman rose to her feet, her gaze lifting toward the dark canopy above. There was something else she needed to do, something unfinished. The girl lay still, caught between the realm of dreams and the unknown fate that awaited her when she awoke.

She glared down at the unconscious child, her hands trembling with rage as she sucked in a sharp breath. Her body was weak, her mortal form already slipping away, but the fire of her vengeance burned stronger than ever. Her voice came out low and gravelly, thick with bitterness as she spat the words.

“Your sister… she is the reason everything fell apart.” Her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood as she clenched her fists, the weight of betrayal pressing down on her chest. “I wanted her to suffer, to feel the pain she inflicted upon me, but she is beyond my reach.” Her lips curled into a sneer as she exhaled sharply, eyes flickering with malice. “And if I cannot punish her…” She knelt beside the girl, her breath ragged as she let her fingertips trail along the child's cold cheek.

“Then I will make sure you suffer in her place.” 

A cruel smirk tugged at her lips as she let out a shaky chuckle, the sound filled with a twisted sort of satisfaction. “From this moment on, no matter how far you run, no matter where you hide, my curse will follow you.” She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper as she spoke with venomous finality.

“You will never know peace. You will never know joy. You are doomed to a life of misery, a fate worse than death.” A shadow passed over her face, the weight of her own mortality pressing down on her. She could feel the last remnants of her strength slipping away, her body crumbling under the strain of her waning power. 

Her vision blurred, but she forced herself to keep looking at the child, unwilling to let go until she had sealed her vengeance.

“Even if I no longer walk this earth… I will be watching.” Her breath hitched as her chest tightened, the inescapable pull of death finally taking hold. “I will watch you struggle, watch you break, watch you suffer.” The corners of her lips twitched, satisfaction flickering in her dying gaze. “This is my final gift to you.” 

With the last ounce of power she possessed, she extended her trembling fingers, pressing them to the child’s forehead. A pulse of energy surged from her, a dark force embedding itself deep within the girl's very essence.

The woman stood at the edge of the riverbank, her breath steady, her expression cold and unyielding as she looked down at the unconscious girl lying at her feet. The moon above bathed the scene in a haunting silver glow, casting long shadows that twisted and stretched like grasping fingers across the ground. The girl’s body was limp, her chest barely rising and falling, her face serene, as if she had simply drifted into a deep, undisturbed slumber. But there was no peace in what was about to happen. No mercy.  

With a slow, deliberate movement, the woman raised her foot and delivered a sharp, calculated kick to the girl’s side. There was no hesitation, no remorse. The impact sent the unconscious girl rolling down the muddy slope, her body tumbling awkwardly before it splashed into the dark, rushing waters below. The river, cold and unfeeling, swallowed her whole, its relentless current pulling her under, dragging her away from the shore. The woman remained still, her gaze locked on the spot where the girl had disappeared, waiting. Watching.  

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the water rushing past, the wind whispering through the trees, the distant croak of a lone raven perched somewhere unseen. The girl’s figure drifted into the river, the currents taking her somewhere unknown.

The woman did not move. She simply watched, her expression unreadable, as the girl’s body convulsed from lack of air. But then, the woman’s body began to jerk uncontrollably as blood poured out of her lips. Flesh became dust. Bones crumbled to nothing. And then, when all that remained was the faintest trace of her existence, something stirred in the darkness.  

A shape began to rise from the muddy ground, not of flesh and blood, but of pure, unrelenting rage. It took form slowly, its edges flickering like the dying embers of a fire. A shadow, darker than the night itself, hovered above the water’s surface, its presence sending ripples through the air, warping reality around it. Eyes—if they could be called that—opened within the abyss of its form, empty yet filled with something terrible, something ancient. Vengeance. Hatred. A hunger that could never be sated.  

The woman who had once craved immortality had found it in a way she had never imagined. Her mortal body shattered, leaving behind the wraith she had birthed—an entity of pure wrath, a harbinger of destruction, bound by no mortal chains. It remained still for only a moment before, as if drawn by an unseen force, it let out a soundless scream and vanished into the night, searching. Hunting.

While the child’s fate, was sealed forever…