Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 320

Aurora’s P.O.V

Hesitantly, I unlocked the door to my room and opened the door wide…and kept it like that.

I didn’t get it…Ashton was my half-brother, my savior…then why did I feel uncomfortable letting him into my room?

Ashton walked past me, a little bounce in his step, like he was relieved, like the air in his lungs had just turned sweeter. I followed behind, slower, and the second my foot crossed the threshold, that uneasiness returned—heavier now, pressing into my ribs like someone had quietly stacked weights there when I wasn’t looking. The room looked exactly as it always did, but somehow... foreign with him in it. Ashton’s presence changed the shape of the air, filling the space differently.

I watched him take it in. The soft lighting. The old book Caleb and I had never finished on the bedside table. The blanket we used to fight over. His gaze lingered on the little things, innocent curiosity in his eyes, but I couldn’t stop the cold feeling that slithered down my spine.

Caroline had been here before. Mia, too. Neither of them ever made me feel like this—this sort of… invasion. Not even when Mia had carelessly sprawled herself across the bed one afternoon, humming to herself while I folded laundry on the floor. That had felt normal. Comfortable. Like it was part of my world.

But Ashton… Ashton didn’t belong in this world. Not here. Not in this space that still echoed with Caleb’s laughter, his sleepy grumbles, his scent that clung faintly to the old throw pillow he always favored. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall, watching him like he was a shadow I didn’t remember inviting in.

“This place is… nice,” he said after a beat, turning to face me. “Warm. Feels like it’s lived in.”

“It is,” I murmured. My voice came out quieter than I intended, a bit too weighted.

His smile softened. “I’m glad you said yes. I wasn’t sure you would.”

“I wasn’t sure either,” I admitted before I could stop myself.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push. Instead, he walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back just slightly. “I once told you that hope was our enemy, remember? Back then, when everything was just a mess and we didn’t know where we’d end up.”

“I remember,” I said, my voice catching on a memory I hadn’t expected to feel.

Back then, we were all prisoners to Lucas’s sick fantasies, and Ashton and Maggie had been trapped with him for almost half a decade with no one even bothering to reach out to them. I could hardly fathom what that kind of loneliness would’ve felt like. And now he was here, grounded in a space that wasn’t built for him, surrounded by memories he didn’t make, emotions he couldn’t quite understand.

He turned to me again, his eyes softer now, like he could sense my discomfort. “Are you okay with this? Me being here?”

I hesitated—longer than I should have. Then I nodded, slowly. “Yeah. I think so.”

But I didn’t believe it. Not entirely.

Because this room—this place—it was still Caleb’s in all the ways that mattered. And even though he wasn’t here right, his presence hadn’t left. And maybe that’s why Ashton’s presence now felt like a ripple in still water—gentle, but disruptive.

Maybe that’s why my heart wouldn’t settle, even though I was standing perfectly still.

“I thought your room would be a lot larger,” Ashton murmured, his eyes scanning every inch of my space like it was something worth studying. He looked genuinely intrigued, his fingers lightly brushing the edge of the desk as he walked deeper into the room.

“I mean… You’re Aurora, the future Luna of the pack. I figured you’d have a whole wing to yourself or something. This is—” he paused, turning back toward me with a playful smirk, “—almost exactly the same size as mine.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. His tone wasn’t mocking or rude—it was just pure curiosity laced with a hint of surprise. “Almost all the rooms in the pack house are equally sized,” I told him gently, folding my arms across my chest as I leaned against the door. “Alpha Camden thought it was better that way… so no one would feel like they were being left out or seen as lesser. It’s about unity, not hierarchy.”

Ashton raised his brows, clearly impressed. “That’s… really thoughtful of him,” he said, nodding as he took a few more steps in and turned around, taking it all in. The room wasn’t extravagant. It was simple—cozy, even. The walls were painted a soft ivory, and there were specks of gold woven into the drapes that caught the sunlight just right during the day.

My bed, tucked neatly against the wall, was made with thick, knitted blankets I liked to wrap myself in when it got too cold or when my thoughts refused to settle at night, especially on the nights that I wasn’t wrapped up in Caleb’s warmth. There was a small bookshelf in the corner, overstuffed with worn-out paperbacks and journals that held more of me than anyone ever saw.

Ashton smiled as he made his way toward the bed. “Well, I like it. It’s warm. Yours looks way more lived-in than mine does.” He was already reaching to sit down on the edge of the bed when—

“What are you doing here?”

The voice was sharp and cool like a sudden draft, slicing clean through the room from the doorway. It made Ashton freeze mid-motion, his hand hovering over the bedpost.

My heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, I turned my head, and there he was—standing just outside my room like a shadow stitched into reality, arms crossed, jaw tense, eyes fixed on Ashton with a glare that made the temperature drop several degrees.