Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 387

Aurora’s P.O.V

Alice’s eyes narrowed, her expression growing more serious. I could tell she’d been waiting for this moment, the one where we finally talked about it. She nodded, the weight of the conversation settling over her like a thick fog.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,” Alice murmured, pushing her dark hair behind her ear. “Remember when I performed those tests on him to ensure that he was clean? His spells... they’ve been getting stronger lately, but when I checked for traces of dark magic after one of his more recent... rituals, I couldn’t find a single trace of it. He’s just…too clean.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Wait, what?” I asked, my eyes widening in disbelief. “But dark magic... it doesn’t just vanish. It’s like a stain on the soul. It clings to you, marking you forever. How could it just... disappear?”

Alice looked troubled, her fingers tapping restlessly on the table as she met my gaze. “That’s exactly what I thought. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Dark magic doesn’t just fade away. It’s almost like a permanent mark, a lingering shadow that can’t be erased, but Ashton... he’s clean. Too clean. Almost like he wasn’t the one performing the spell at all.”

I swallowed hard, the chill in the room pressing against my skin as a horrible thought crossed my mind. “Are you saying someone else is using him? That…he could be possessed as well?”

Alice hesitated, her brows furrowing. “I don’t know. It’s strange, Aurora. It doesn’t add up. I’ve checked and double-checked. If Ashton wasn’t the one doing the spell, then who was?” Her voice dropped lower, and she leaned in closer, her eyes locked onto mine. “I think we’re dealing with something much darker than we realize. These wraiths…they’re not normal, they’re not just any wraiths. They’re here with a purpose.”

I felt my mind spinning, the weight of Alice’s words pressing down on me like a heavy stone. My heart was pounding in my chest, my breath shallow as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. "How is that even possible?" I asked, my voice tight with disbelief. "I saw Ashton just this morning! He seemed…normal, like he was still himself. How…do you think he could still be possessed? That…something could still be wrong with him?”

Alice stood in front of me, her expression unreadable as always, though I could tell the gravity of the situation had fully registered in her. She wasn’t the kind of person to indulge in fantasies, and the way she met my gaze now only confirmed what she was about to say. "Aurora, the wraiths have a way of getting into people’s minds," she said softly, almost like she was trying to gently lower me from a dangerous height. "They manipulate, they twist, they corrupt. And now that they're involved, it's possible—no, it’s likely—that Ashton may not be in full control of himself or his actions."

My head felt like it was about to explode as I tried to process this new reality. "But why him? Why now?"

But it was Shane that answered the question. “What if it was never about why’s and always about the when’s? What if…Ashton and Maggie already knew about the existence of the wraiths?”

The words escaped me before I could stop them, and I couldn’t help the desperate edge in my voice. "What do you mean, they knew? You're telling me this could have been planned? That... that they were waiting for the wraiths to show up?" My chest tightened, and for a moment, I could barely breathe. "That doesn’t make sense, Alice. He wouldn’t—"

"Aurora," Alice interrupted, her voice steady but firm, "I know this is hard to accept. But the wraiths are ancient, manipulative creatures. They’ve been in the shadows for so long, pulling strings in ways we can’t even begin to understand. And now, with them coming into play, we’re seeing their influence bleed into everything." She paused, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You know exactly who these two wraiths are, don’t you? I think…at this point, we can tell just who those wraiths are without a single doubt."

Avery’s familiar green eyes crept into my mind…and I couldn’t deny the truth any longer.

Lucas…and Harmona.

My stomach dropped at the realization, and for the first time in a long while, I felt that sickening chill creeping up my spine. The pieces fell together in my mind with terrifying clarity. Ashton... he’d been different lately. Detached. Distant. It wasn’t just stress or something as simple as exhaustion. There had been a change in him, something deeper, darker.

I closed my eyes, my mind racing. "It can't be…" I whispered to myself, but even as I said it, I knew it was true. I knew exactly who Alice was talking about. Two faces came to mind, two people I had tried to ignore. Tried to tell myself it was just paranoia. But deep down, I had always suspected.

Alice was watching me closely, her expression never wavering. "You’ve known it for a while, haven’t you?" she asked, almost like a challenge, though her voice remained soft. "You've seen the way they've been acting, the way they’ve been distancing themselves from you and the rest of the pack. It’s not a coincidence, Aurora. It's them."

I felt like I was suffocating. My hands were clenched into fists at my sides, and I could barely hear the blood rushing in my ears. "No," I croaked. "No, it can’t be... not them." But even as I said the words, the truth was undeniable. I had seen it all along, and I had ignored it. My instincts had been screaming at me to pay attention, to dig deeper, but I had been too distracted, too in love with the idea of things being normal again.

"Aurora," Alice said, her voice breaking through my spiraling thoughts. "Lucas and Harmona died with too much anger and resentment in their hearts. I can only tell you the facts, but we have to find out the truth ourselves from now on…before it’s too late."

I shook my head, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "I don’t know what to do," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "I don’t know how to fight this."

"You don’t have to fight alone," Alice said, stepping closer, her hand on my shoulder. "But you have to face the truth. Ashton and Maggie…they might have known all along. And until we deal with these wraiths, things will only get worse."