Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 427

Aurora’s P.O.V

It was empty.

The furniture was still there, every last bit of it…but there was a kind of silence that only came from a place being devoid of any life.

“Ashton?” My voice cracks, the sound too small, too desperate. “Maggie? Avery?” I push further in, scanning every corner like maybe they’re hiding, maybe this is some sick trick. But no—nothing. The house is eerily empty, no trace of them. Just silence.

Caleb comes in behind me, his face pale. He looks around, his chest rising and falling hard.

“Aurora… oh, no. No, no, no.” His hands run over his face like he’s trying to wake himself from a nightmare. “Does this mean—they took Riley?”

I whip around to him, my head shaking violently. “No. No, that doesn’t make sense!” My hands clutch at my hair as if I can somehow squeeze the truth out of myself. “The full moon is tomorrow, Caleb. Tomorrow! Why would they be gone today? Why would they—” My voice breaks and I slam my fist against the wall. “This wasn’t supposed to happen yet!”

Caleb takes a step toward me, his eyes wide with horror. “Then where the hell are they, Aurora? Where the hell could they have gone? You think they took him early? Maybe they are just at the beach for a walk? Or maybe this is a misunderstanding?”

“That’s impossible!” I yell, though the words sound weaker than I want them to. “It’s not time yet. They can’t just… they can’t just change the plan. Unless…” My words trail off, my chest heaving. “Unless they knew we were watching. Unless they figured out we were onto them.”

Caleb’s jaw clenches as he grabs my shoulders, both of our emotions running high. “Aurora, listen to me—if Riley’s not here, if Ashton, Maggie, and Avery are all gone, then they’re already moving. They’re ahead of us.”

I shake my head, tears stinging my eyes. “No. No, Caleb, he’s just a kid. They can’t—God, what if they’re doing something to him? What if I’m too late?”

“You’re not too late,” he says sharply, though I can see the fear in his eyes doesn’t match the strength of his voice.

“We’ll find them. We have to. But standing here in this empty place—” he gestures around us, frustrated, “—isn’t going to save Riley.”

I swallow hard, my throat tight, and I whisper, “Then tell me what we do, Caleb. Tell me where to go, because I swear to God, I can’t lose him.”

He looks at me, silent for a long moment, then finally mutters, “We start hunting. Tonight. No matter what.”

I nod, even though the sickness in my stomach only grows, because the truth is clawing at the back of my mind, and I don’t want to say it out loud. They’re already gone. And they didn’t leave alone.

I froze for a second when Caleb grabbed my arm, his eyes wide with that kind of urgency that left no room for questions.

“Aurora, we need to get to Alice. Now. If something is really going on, the she will be the only one with all the answers,” he said, his voice low but sharp, almost like he was scared that saying it too loud would make it real.

“Alice…right…” I looked at him, my mind still a jumbled mess of emotions, too clouded for me to think properly. “Alice will know, right? She’ll know what’s going on…why everything is moving ahead of time. Right?”

He shook his head quickly, almost impatient. “I don’t know yet, but we need to get to her to find out. Come on, we have to go.”

The firmness in his tone made my chest tighten, and before I could argue, he was already pulling me toward the door. I followed, the sound of our rushed footsteps echoing through the hall as we pushed out of the building and into the night.

The cool air hit me first, and then… the stillness. I glanced around, frowning. “Why does it feel different out here? Like the air’s heavier or something?”

Caleb didn’t answer right away, just kept walking fast, scanning the familiar woods like he was looking for something we couldn’t see. “Because it is different,” he muttered. “Something’s shifting. Just keep moving.”

I jogged a little to keep up with him, my heart racing even though I didn’t know what exactly we were running into.

“Caleb, I really hope we’re not too late. What if—”

That’s when I noticed it. The light had changed. The familiar glow of the moon that usually spilled across the rooftops was dimming, like someone was slowly snuffing out a candle. I stopped in my tracks and tilted my head back, my breath catching in my throat.

“Caleb…” I whispered, pointing upward. “Look.”

He followed my gaze, his jaw tightening the moment his eyes locked on the sky.

The moon that had been almost full only a few minutes ago was now starting to darken around the edges…and it wasn’t just a cloud or any other object…it was something none of us had predicted…until now.

“A lunar eclipse…” he muttered under his breath, and I felt a sense of foreboding settle in the pit of my stomach as I watched the moon’s brightness dim, even if just a little.