Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 379

Aurora’s P.O.V

They didn’t look back as Ashton gently pulled the door open for them. Maggie’s arm was around Avery, whose eyes were still swollen from crying. The soft shuffle of their footsteps echoed in the room like thunder in a cathedral—too loud for a moment that should’ve been hushed. No one said anything as the trio walked out, leaving behind the heavy silence and Caleb and Caroline.

My eyes met Caroline’s after the door clicked shut, and her expression was carved in something that looked like guilt, but it wasn’t heavy enough. She stood near the foot of the bed, arms wrapped tightly around herself as if trying to make herself smaller, less visible.

“Where was I found?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, but it shattered through the room like glass breaking.

Caleb, who’d been sitting on the edge of the bed, slowly came closer to me once again. His eyes met mine, filled with something I couldn’t name—shame, maybe, or disbelief that he had let me get hurt. But it wasn’t their fault, and I still had a lot to find out.

“Shane found you,” he said after a long pause, his voice hoarse. “At the base of the stairs. You… you weren’t moving. You had blood on your—” He stopped himself, jaw clenched like the rest of the sentence tasted like acid.

“Did Shane really say that? That he found me at the base of the stairs?” I frowned, the pieces of the puzzle not really fitting in.

Caroline blinked, and tears began to well up in her eyes, and before I could ask what was going on, she broke down in tears.

“Aurora,” she croaked, stepping toward me, one hesitant foot in front of the other. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t feel anything. I should’ve known. I should’ve been there. But I was…” she swallowed, “I got drunk. Really drunk. I passed out, and—and when I woke up, you were already gone.”

I didn’t move. I didn’t speak. My mind was a mess of confusion and possibilities. What she was saying…it didn’t really make sense. How could she be that drunk? How could Caleb? They were werewolves!

“I know that’s no excuse,” she continued, voice trembling as her fingers gripped the hem of her shirt. “I know it makes me feel horrible. I just—God, I didn’t feel a damn thing when you were hurting. I let you down.” Her eyes were wide and pleading, as if she was begging for me to understand.

“Caroline—” I started, but was cut off.

Caleb stepped forward, his shoulders slumped like he was carrying a hundred years of regret. “She’s not the only one who let you down,” he said quietly, avoiding my gaze. “I should’ve noticed something. Anything. I usually don’t even drink like that, but last night was… different. Maybe we had too much, I don’t know. Everything feels... foggy. Blurred at the edges. Like someone smudged the whole night out of my memory.”

I finally looked at him—really looked at him—and saw the fatigue, the pain, and that strange, distant confusion that made my stomach twist. “You don’t remember anything from last night?” I asked.

He shook his head slowly. “Pieces. Shadows. Nothing clear.” He rubbed the back of his neck like he was trying to wake himself up from a bad dream. “But I do remember waking up and seeing Shane carry you in, your head hanging, your face pale. And I remember the way my heart just... stopped.”

I blinked slowly, my fingers twisting the edge of the blanket as I stared at the polished wooden floor of my room, my heart racing in a way that made my breath feel heavier than it should. Caleb’s voice was murmuring something in the background, a question maybe, or a gentle reminder to eat something—but none of it was registering. My head was pounding, not from pain, but from the pressure of holding something in that was threatening to burst. Finally, I looked up and met his eyes, the confusion in them too calm for what I was about to say.

"Caleb," I said, and even I heard the urgency trembling in my voice, "something isn’t right at all."

He froze mid-step and turned to face me fully. Caroline looked up from her seat too, eyes wide, her lips parted like she’d been about to speak. But I didn’t give either of them the chance.

"I know what happened last night. I remember it clearly." My voice was firmer now, edged with something bordering on disbelief, not at them, but at everything that was swirling in my head. "And I didn’t fall off the damn stairs."

Caroline gasped quietly. Caleb took a slow step forward, brows furrowed. "Aurora…how can that be possible? Shane said—"

"I don’t care what Shane said!" I snapped before I could stop myself, my frustration bubbling up too quickly. "I didn’t fall. Something happened. Someone… someone was there. And I need Shane here. Now. I need to know why the fuck he lied to you all!"

Caleb’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re scaring me, Aurora.”

“Good,” I hissed, trying to breathe through the heat building in my chest. “Because I’m scared too. I need Shane. It’s an emergency.”

Caroline shot a look at Caleb, silently urging him to do something, anything. Caleb reached for his phone and started dialing, while I sat there with my arms clenched around myself like I was trying to keep from falling apart. He brought the phone to his ear, waited… then frowned.

“He’s not picking up,” Caleb said slowly. “I’ve called him three times now. It’s just going to voicemail.”

My throat tightened. “Try again.”

He did. Twice. Still nothing.

"Okay, you need to tell me what’s going on," Caleb said, crouching down in front of me now, his tone low and steady. "You’re acting like something else happened last night. Did it?"

I met his eyes, felt the lump in my throat harden, and I whispered, “Yes.”

He held still. So did Caroline.

“I think…” My voice trembled. “No, I know something happened. But I need Shane here because he might have seen it too, and it must have freaked him out as well, that’s why he lied about where he found me. I can’t—I just can’t explain it without knowing that I’m not going crazy. I need him to tell me that it was real.”

Caleb looked between me and the phone still in his hand, then stood up abruptly and paced. “Aurora, you’re seriously freaking me out. What do you mean something happened? What are you not telling us?”

I looked away, shame and fear mixing in my stomach. Ashton…Maggie…Avery…my supposed family…my blood…

How could I explain to them that Avery was the one who hurt me? That I think Ashton and Maggie are up to something dangerous, even though Alice managed to clear his name?

“Because if I say it out loud, and no one else remembers it... then maybe I am losing my mind. Maybe I dreamed it up. But it felt so real. I swear to God, Caleb, I felt it in my bones. There was someone in the house last night…in the woods.”

Caroline stood, the blood draining from her face. “What do you mean? Who was in the house?”

I shook my head slowly, eyes starting to sting. “I don’t know. I can’t say it just yet, that’s why I need Shane. Just… the feeling. The weight of it. The intent. And then...” I let out a sigh, my heart hammering against my ribcage. “Shane... he was the last one I saw before everything went dark.”

Caleb slammed his hand against the dresser, the sharp sound making me flinch. “Damn it, why isn’t he picking up?”

That’s when something snapped. “Caleb…why aren’t you using the pack link to contact Shane?”