Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 443

Aurora’s P.O.V

I stared at the dagger in my hand, the green light still pulsing like a heartbeat that wasn’t mine, and before I could even steady myself, Ashton was suddenly in front of me. His hand shot to my throat, rough and merciless, and he lifted me off the ground as though I weighed nothing. My fingers clawed instinctively at his wrist, the edges of the dagger digging into my palm, but his eyes… gods, his eyes burned more hate than his grip did.

“You ruined everything!” he screamed at me, his voice breaking in ways I had never heard before. His face was twisted, his teeth clenched, but through it all I saw the tears spilling down his cheeks, raw and unhidden.

“Do you hear me, Aurora? Everything! You took him from me! You…” His words cut, jagged and cruel, but behind them was a grief so deep it made my chest ache even as his fingers crushed my windpipe.

“Ashton—” my voice cracked under the pressure, little more than a rasp, “I didn’t…”

“Don’t you dare lie to me!” he roared, shaking me once, hard enough that the dagger nearly slipped from my hand.

“Lucas is gone! He’s gone because of you! Do you know what you’ve done?” His voice cracked again, and that was when it hit me, that was when I understood, the tears weren’t rage alone. They were mourning. Lucas really was gone.

“Ashton,” I coughed out, every word cutting my throat raw, “I didn’t want this… I didn’t.”

“I don’t care what you wanted!” His grip tightened and my lungs screamed for air. “You killed him! You took my father away from me!” His voice rose with every word, cracking and breaking, like he was shattering from the inside. His jaw trembled and he shook his head wildly.

“He was my father, Aurora! Our father!”

I felt the sting of tears in my own eyes, but it wasn’t because of guilt, but from rage. “Our father?” I choked out, desperate, my vision blurring. “What kind of father tries to use their own child as sacrifice?”

“Sacrifice?” Ashton barked out a laugh, bitter and hollow. “You’re just a pawn! Sacrifice is too noble a word to use for you! You—” His words stopped short, his body tensing. That was when I noticed it, the way the air around us seemed to shift, colder, heavier, like the weight of death pressing down. My gaze slid past him, and I saw it.

A wraith. Harmona.

Its hollow skeletal eyes burned with a fury that made my blood freeze. Its shape towered just above Ashton, its clawed fingers reaching like it could rip him apart at any second.

“Ashton,” I tried to force the words through my crushed throat, pointing with my eyes since I couldn’t move my hands, “behind you…”

“Shut up!” he snarled, snapping his head closer to mine so I had no choice but to look at him. “Don’t try to distract me! My mother would never hurt me. But you…I would let her rip you apart limb from limb.”

“Ashton!” Maggie’s voice rang out, but she stood frozen a few steps away, her face pale, her body trembling.

“Do something!” Ashton roared at her, his voice breaking with desperation as he kept his grip on me. “Don’t just stand there like a coward, take the dagger! Take it from her now!”

Maggie’s eyes flicked between me, Ashton, and the wraith looming above him, her hands shaking as she reached forward but then pulled back. “Ashton, it’s…”

“I don’t care if you’re scared! That’s our mother, Maggie!” His voice cracked again, and more tears spilled down his face, dripping onto my skin. His anger was eating him alive, but underneath it was raw, unbearable loss. “Do you want us all to die? Then take it!”

“Ashton, listen to me!” I croaked, my voice breaking with every word, “you don’t understand…”

“I don’t want to understand!” he cut me off, his forehead pressed against mine, his voice trembling. “I just want him back. Do you hear me? I just want him back!”

Maggie finally shouted, “Ashton, the wraith…”

“Shut up and take the dagger, Maggie!” he screamed, his voice echoing with more pain than command. “Take it before she, before it…”

But his words drowned in the wraith’s piercing screech that filled the room, and for the first time, I saw Ashton’s fury falter. His eyes widened, his grip on me tightening as if I was the only thing tethering him to this moment.

“Ashton,” I whispered through the little breath I had left, my own tears spilling now, “please… look…”

And that was when his gaze flicked up, just enough to see the hollow eyes glaring back at him. But even faced with the wraith’s fury, Ashton didn’t look scared. Instead, he looked directly at her. “I’ll avenge him, mother,” he told Harmona’s wraith. “I’ll bring him back, no matter what.”

I watched Maggie hesitate like a caught animal, her fingers curling and uncurling at her sides. Ashton didn’t give her a moment to find her voice before he leaned in close enough that I could feel the cold of his breath on my cheek.

“You will die for what you did,” he said, low and certain, so certain it sounded like a verdict. “You and your whole pack. Painful. Slow.”

His hand slid around my throat like a glove, and for a second all I could hear was the hard thump of my own pulse and the metallic whisper of his words.

“Ashton…please…we don’t need to…” Maggie started, her voice breaking, but he cut her off with a small, contemptuous laugh.

“Save your pity, Maggie. This is final.”

“I’m not asking for pity,” Maggie said, louder now though her voice shook. “I’m asking you to stop. This isn’t the way.”

Ashton’s fingers tightened and I felt the air leave me in a shallow gasp.

“You think you can take down an entire pack on your own?” I forced the words through the pressure, tasting iron. “Ashton, think…”

“Think?” he sneered. “I’ve thought long enough. And as we speak…the pack is on the verge of collapsing, Aurora. Your precious mate has probably already become a bloody pulp by now.”

My heart thrashed against my ribcage at the mention of Caleb. No! He had to be fine! He just had to be!

Ashton weight pressed into me, and the world narrowed to the dagger still help in my palm. But something didn’t make sense. Even with my mind focusing entirely on keeping me alive…I couldn’t understand why he kept asking Maggie to get the dagger when he was right in front of me…

He pressed until I thought the skin at my neck would split. Maggie’s steps were uneven as she approached; I could hear her shoes scuffing against the floor.

“Maggie!” He snapped once again. “Take it! Take the dagger before it’s too late!”

There it was again…asking Maggie to take it. It meant one thing…for whatever reason…Ashton couldn’t touch the dagger.

“Ashton…maybe we shouldn’t—” Maggie tried again, but Ashton turned to look at her, snapping at her for being weak and pathetic.

That was his mistake. He didn’t notice me moving until the movement was already done.

I jerked my arm, freed the dagger, and shoved it hard into his forearm.

“No!” Maggie screamed. “Aurora, you can’t…”

Ashton convulsed around the wound and let out a roar that filled the room, the sound more animalistic than human.

“You…you…” he choked, shoving me away. I hit the floor, scrambled to my feet, and stared.

I expected blood. Instead, his wound frayed and collapsed into dust. His arm crumbled like sand through a sieve.

“No, this isn’t…” His scream warped into something thin and unreal. “What have you…”

“Oh my god,” I gasped, horrified, “You’re just like them…like Lucas and Harmona.”

Ashton’s remaining hand spammed as he looked at his disappearing arm, then at me. Fear cracked across his face.

“You don’t understand what you’re doing,” he gasped, stumbling back. “You have no idea.”

Maggie fell to her knees, reaching as if to catch the pieces of him. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “He’s like them. He’s like those wraiths...”