Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 433

Caleb’s P.O.V

I was panting hard as Damien and I came tearing through the trees, feet pounding the dirt until the scent of earth and grass hit my nose. My eyes shot up, and there he was, Alpha Camden, standing like a mountain at the edge of the border.

“Father,” I called, my chest heaving, “what happened? Why are you out here?”

His eyes cut toward me, sharp, urgent. “Get ready,” he barked. “The soldiers spotted them, an entire army of rogues. They’re moving this way.”

Damien’s voice broke in, rough with disbelief. “How many?”

“Too many,” Camden answered, but then he froze. His face went blank for a second, and I felt it too, that hollow silence where there should have been voices of the soldiers warning us.

I clenched my fists. “They’re gone,” I said through my teeth. “The soldiers, they’re all dead.”

My father’s jaw tightened. “Damn it…”

“No, listen.” I stepped closer, grabbing his arm so he’d hear me. “Alice told me this. The rogues, they burn. Fire weakens them, kills them faster than anything else. We need torches, as many as we can get.”

Damien blinked at me. “Torches? You’re serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious!” I snapped, my voice louder than I meant. “You saw what just happened. They’ll rip through us unless we’re ready. Fire is the only chance we’ve got.”

Alpha Camden narrowed his eyes at me, testing if I was bluffing. “And you trust Alice’s judgment on this one?”

The question caught me off-guard since my father should’ve trusted Alice more than me, but I brushed it aside for the time being.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to nod. “I do. If you don’t, then look around you. We don’t have another option. We can’t let those undead rogues take down our people!”

Damien glanced between us, restless. “Then say the word, Alpha. We’ll light the whole damn forest if we have to.”

Father finally exhaled, his hand tightening on my shoulder. “Fine. We’ll gather torches. But if this fails—”

“It won’t,” I cut in, meeting his eyes. “It can’t.”

“Then we do anything possible to stop them,” my father said, but his voice felt…off.

I tightened my fists, my throat dry. “They’re probably coming closer,” I muttered. “We need to light those torches and get ready.”

Alpha Camden’s gaze fixed on the dark line of trees in the distance. “Then let them come,” he said. “We’ll see how to deal with them.”

But even as he said that, he didn’t move or order to do anything. Damien and I shared a worried looked before I turned back to look at my father again.

I stared at him, waiting for him to move, to do something, anything…but he didn’t. He just stood there, calm as ever, like the chaos meant nothing. My chest tightened, and I glanced at Damien. His eyes mirrored my own, wide with confusion and worry.

Something wasn’t right.

“Why aren’t you doing anything?” I demanded, my voice rougher than I intended.

Alpha Camden’s lips curled into something that made my stomach sink. “Doing anything?” he repeated slowly, almost amused.

“Yes!” I snapped, taking a step closer. “The rogues are nearing, the threat is clear. The warning howls went out a while ago! You’re Alpha, you should be…”

“Should be what?” he cut me off sharply. Then, his smile twisted into something cruel. “Those dead rogues may have burned, yes… but tell me, Caleb,” his eyes narrowed at me, piercing… “how will you kill the living?”

I blinked at him, stunned. “What the hell does that mean?”

Damien growled low under his breath. “Stop speaking in riddles, Alpha Camden. If you know something, then—”

A sudden scream cut him off. One of the soldiers behind us fell to his knees, clutching his head. Another followed, and then another, cries of pain echoing through the clearing.

“What’s happening to them?” I shouted, spinning toward my father.

He only tilted his head, still smiling that awful smile. “The living… are harder to kill than the dead. You’ll see.”

“Father, stop this!” I roared, my hands curling into fists. “What on earth is happening?”

Damien stepped forward, eyes blazing. “What did you do to them?”

Alpha Camden’s laughter was soft at first, but it spread, cold and mocking. “What I had to do. Power comes at a price, boys. Don’t look at me as if you’re innocent of wanting the same.”

Suddenly, his eyes flashed an eerie green, and my entire body went still.

“You…you’re not my father.” I shook my head, taking a step back. “Who…who are you? What did you do to him?”

“Me? Nothing much,” he said simply, eyes glinting. “I’m just preparing. Preparing all of them.”

“Preparing them for what?” Damien barked.

My father…no…whatever this was, took a step closer, lowering his voice like he was sharing a secret. “Preparing them for the ultimate sacrifice.”

I felt my heart hammering in my chest as the soldiers’ screams rose around us.

Right then, the moon went completely dark. The eclipse settled in so suddenly that everything was enveloped in darkness, pitch black, like someone had blown the flame out of a candle. The whole world seemed smothered in that darkness, thick and suffocating. The soldiers who had been groaning and clutching themselves suddenly froze, stiff as stone.

“What the hell’s wrong with them?” I asked, stepping forward, my voice shaky even though I tried to sound steady.

“Hey!” One of the soldiers, Marcus shouted, waving his hand in front of one of their faces. “Can you hear me? Talk to us!”

The wolf didn’t respond. His head jerked up suddenly, eyes glowing an eerie white, lips curling into a smile that made my skin crawl. He wasn’t the only one…one by one, they all looked up, their eyes the same ghastly white.

“What the fuck…” I whispered, my throat dry. “Why are they smiling like that?”

Shane suddenly cursed loud, his voice breaking. “Fuck!” He pointed upward with a trembling hand.

“Look at the goddamn sky!”

I spun around, tilting my head back, and that’s when I saw them for the first time. Shadows with no bodies, floating and twisting in the air like smoke given shape. Wraiths. They moved like they were alive but hollow, empty. And just as quick as I noticed them, they vanished into the darkness as though they had never been there.

“What the fuck were those things?” Damien barked, his voice breaking.

“I…I don’t know,” I stammered, my chest heaving. “I think…those were the wraiths…”

That’s when I heard the scrape. The sound of claws dragging against the ground. I turned, and my heart nearly stopped. The men with those white eyes, wolves I’d trained beside, fought beside…were now stepping toward us, slow, deliberate. Their claws had extended, glinting faintly in what little light there was.

“Dad…” I croaked, because my father was at the centre of it all. His face was twisted in that same eerie smile, cunning and cruel like I’d never seen before. “Dad, it’s me.”

But he didn’t stop. He didn’t even flinch. His lips pulled back further, teeth flashing as he growled low in his throat.

Shane grabbed my arm. “Caleb, snap out of it! That’s not him anymore!”

“Don’t you fucking say that!” I yelled back, but my own voice cracked.

Damien shouted at the others, “Form up, now! Everyone, get your heads on straight, or we’re all dead!”

“Caleb,” Shane hissed, his grip tightening. “Look at them. They’re gone. Whatever those things in the sky were… they took them.”

I shook my head furiously, my chest burning. “No. No, that’s my father. He’s right there. He can hear me…I know he can.”

But then he lunged forward with a snarl, claws swiping through the air, and I barely stumbled back in time.

“Shit!” Damien yelled, his own hands extending to claws. “We don’t have time for this!”

The others began to growl too, stepping toward us in unison, slow and menacing, their eyes glowing that eerie white, void of anything else.

“Caleb!” Shane roared, shoving me behind him. “Either fight or run—decide now!”

I clenched my fists, staring at my father’s face, that smile, those eyes that weren’t his anymore. My throat closed as I whispered, “Dad…”

What have we gotten ourselves into?