Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 400

Aurora’s P.O.V

He turned slightly, just enough for me to see the pinch in his brow. “I know,” he said, quietly at first.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“Then why are we still having this conversation?” I pressed. “We keep him close. End of discussion. At least until we figure out what we’re really dealing with.”

Caleb nodded slowly, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit, and for a moment, I thought that was it—that we were on the same page for once. But then, something shifted in his expression. His entire body stilled, his eyes losing focus, like he was staring through the walls.

I narrowed my eyes. “Caleb?”

He didn’t answer. Not right away. His mouth parted just slightly, and I could see the subtle flicker of connection behind his gaze. The pack link. He was listening. Communicating.

So I waited.

The silence was thick, stretching longer than it should have. I kept my arms folded, refusing to fidget, even though every instinct inside me wanted to shake him and demand what was going on. Finally, he blinked. His eyes refocused on mine, and just from the way his jaw clenched, I knew something was wrong.

“What is it?” I asked, already dreading the answer.

His voice came low, careful. “The guards… They saw Ashton and Maggie leave the condo tonight.”

My stomach dropped. “What? In this weather?”

He nodded. “They weren’t supposed to. No one was supposed to be moving around tonight. Not with the perimeter already on high alert. But apparently, they left together, just after two in the morning.”

That damn time! Witching Hour!

“Did they say where they went?” I asked, trying to mask my frustration.

Caleb shook his head, frustration flickering in his tone. “No. The guards couldn’t exactly follow them—”

The sharp crack of thunder split through the air like a whip, and I jumped instinctively, my heart lurching. I rushed to the window, watching the sky tear itself open in jagged streaks of lightning, the rain pouring down in thick, relentless sheets. The storm was still going strong, and everything looked like it had been swallowed by chaos—trees thrashing, waves pounding the shore in fury. I turned toward Caleb, my voice sharper than I meant it to be.

“How the hell is anyone supposed to go out in this weather?” My hands trembled slightly, but I folded them across my chest to steady them. “This is madness. We can't track anyone like this. We can't even see.”

Caleb’s jaw tightened as he leaned back against the doorframe, his eyes tired, his clothes damp from his earlier run in the rain. “I know,” he said after a long pause, his voice low. “I know, Aurora. But the thing is… we didn’t lose them on purpose. The guards were right behind them. We were heading down the path to the beach, and they were maybe twenty steps ahead. Then the storm hit, the wind picked up, and—just like that—they were gone.” He looked at me, eyes narrowed like he was still trying to make sense of it himself. “They searched the whole stretch. Nothing. No sound. No movement. Just… vanished.”

A heavy weight settled in my chest. I blinked at him, trying to absorb what he was saying. “Vanished?” I echoed, my voice barely above a whisper. I stepped closer, the panic rising in my throat like bile.

“You’re telling me Ashton and Maggie just vanished—vanished—just disappeared? No sign, no fight, no screams?” My voice cracked, the word felt too absurd to even say out loud.

“And the storm washed away their scents.” He gave me a small, grim nod. “The rain came fast. Too fast. It wiped everything. Any trail they left… it’s gone.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, staring at the storm through the window again but not really seeing it. My mind was spinning. Something didn’t feel right. Not just the storm, or the vanishing, but everything.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I muttered, half to myself. “They were only a few steps ahead. And even if the storm came, even if it hit hard, they couldn’t have disappeared without a trace. Caleb, something’s not right. This isn’t just a freak storm—this is something else. Something is happening right under our noses and we’re too blind to see it.”

He didn’t say anything. Maybe because he knew I was right. Or maybe because he was just as afraid to admit that he was thinking the same thing.

I turned back to him slowly, my voice trembling now, quieter. “What if we’re being watched? What if this whole thing was just a distraction… and we walked right into it?”

Caleb didn’t flinch. But the shadow that passed over his face told me everything. He’d thought about it too. He just hadn’t wanted to be the one to say it out loud.