Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 337

Aurora’s P.O.V

Ashton…had helped me with Riley more times than I could count, and he had done so while expecting nothing in return…then…how could I doubt them so easily?

I sat back down at the edge of my bed, knees drawn close, the faded golden pendant resting in my palm like some ancient relic of a time when things were simpler—when my mother was still alive, when I still believed in the comfort of daylight and the innocence of silence. The metal was warm, whether from my body heat or something deeper, I couldn’t tell. I clutched it tighter. Maybe if I held on hard enough, her strength would seep into me, her resolve would bleed into my bones. Gods, I needed that. I needed her.

"Ashton didn't deserve this," I muttered to myself, voice barely above a whisper, cracking under the weight of everything we had seen—everything we had survived. "Neither did Maggie." My voice trembled with guilt and empathy as I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs.

But could it be possible that the book of magic they had stolen from Harmon was the root cause of this problem? Had they stumbled upon some kind of a forbidden spell? Had they not know of the consequences of these spells?

The image of Ashton earlier today—his face pale, soaked in sweat, hands trembling like he was holding back the tide of something far bigger than all of us—haunted me. And that spell… it wasn't right. It wasn’t like anything I’d seen before. The air around him had pulsed, not with magic, but with power, raw and untamed. It didn’t obey the laws I’d been taught. No incantation, no sigil work. Just willpower and pain. That wasn’t spell-casting. That was something else.

But I couldn’t ask. I couldn’t risk it. If I went to Alice now… if I told her what I saw, what I felt, there’d be questions. There’d be surveillance. And gods, if there's one thing I know, it's that people like Alice don’t just ask questions and walk away. No. They dig. They dissect. They destroy. And I wouldn’t let that happen to Ashton or Maggie. They've already lost too much.

I pressed the pendant to my forehead and closed my eyes.

Then there was Avery.

Sweet, cautious Avery—always watching from the sidelines, always trying to hold everything together with quiet hands and stitched smiles. I could feel her pain like it was my own, this quiet storm just beneath the surface. She didn’t talk about it much—Violet’s disappearance, the way things just snapped that day—but I knew. I knew she carried that same guilt I did. The kind that sits in your lungs and makes it hard to breathe. The kind that whispers, you should’ve done more. But how could we? How could I?

I let Violet slip away.

I don’t even know how it happened. One moment she was right there, in that room with us when we all started to run for our lives as the building started to collapse on itself. And the next—just gone. Like the wind had swallowed her whole. I should’ve seen it. I should’ve felt it. And ever since, I've been searching—through dreams, through memories, through everything that might carry her echo—but nothing. Only silence. And that silence has become a scream I carry with me, day and night.

I stood up and crossed the room slowly, walking to the window, brushing the curtain aside. The moonlight spilled in soft and cold, and the shadows… They danced again. Lucas and Harmona. Their names still tasted like ash in my mouth. Their games weren’t over—not by a long shot. I could feel them…even though they were dead and gone, I could still feel their essence. The way someone feels a storm before it comes—low in the gut, like a pressure drop. They weren’t done with us. With me.

“What do you want from me?” I whispered, voice breaking. “Haven’t you taken enough?”

The shadows didn’t answer. Of course they didn’t. They just lingered—soft and serpentine at the edges of my vision.

I returned to the bed, sat back down, and stared at my hands. Magic has always been a comfort to me, a way to make sense of the chaos. But now? It felt like every spell, every charm, every whispered invocation was a doorway I couldn’t trust anymore. What Ashton did today—whatever it was—shook me. It made me question everything. Maybe there are forms of magic even Alice doesn’t understand. Maybe Ashton tapped into something primal. Or maybe… maybe something darker is guiding his hand.

And still… I stayed quiet.

Because that’s what I do, isn’t it? I carry the silence. I bury the truth.

For them.

For all of them.

Even if it means burying a part of myself with it.