Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 446

***Aurora’s P.O.V***

Maggie turned to Jade, her hands trembling as if she didn’t even know which way to hold them, then back at me, her eyes glossy with pain.

“Aurora,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “I can’t choose. Don’t ask me to, please. I can’t choose between my mother and the one I love. You’re asking me to kill one of them, and I can’t…don’t you see I can’t?”

I clenched my jaw, stepping closer so she couldn’t look away. “Maggie, listen to me. Your beloved mother has slaughtered coven after coven, century after century. She hasn’t shown a shred of remorse, not once. Do you really think there’s a bargain left in her? There isn’t. The only way…” I shoved my hand toward Jade, who lay pale and weak, his chest rising and falling too shallowly. “The only way is to kill the wraith the second it takes full control of Jade’s body.”

Maggie’s breath hitched, and she shook her head violently. “No…no, there has to be another way. Maybe if I talk to her, maybe if I remind her of who she was…”

“Who was she?” I snapped, my voice sharp enough to make her flinch. “Maggie, your mother died centuries ago. What you’re clinging to isn’t her. It’s a husk. A parasite wearing her face.”

Tears streaked down Maggie’s cheeks as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Don’t say that, Aurora. Don’t you dare say that about her. She loved me once. I know she did. Somewhere in there, she still does.”

I grabbed her wrist and forced the magic dagger into her palm. “No. She doesn’t. Each time they exchange bodies, each time they covet more power, they lose whatever shred of humanity they had left. Lucas and Harmona have done this so many times there’s nothing human left in them.” I leaned closer, my voice dropping to a desperate whisper as I pushed the dagger into her hand.

“Because if they had any humanity left, Maggie, they wouldn’t have tried to sacrifice their own children.”

She staggered back, staring down at the dagger in her hand as though it had burned her skin. “I… I don’t know if I can. I can’t be the one to end her. What if I’m wrong, Aurora? What if there’s still something, someone…left inside?”

I swallowed the tightness in my throat, forcing myself to meet her broken gaze. “Then prove me wrong, Maggie. But if you wait, if you hesitate for even a heartbeat, Jade will be gone. And then it won’t matter what you believe, because you’ll have lost them both.”

Maggie’s sob broke the air between us. She gripped the dagger tighter, knuckles going white. “If I do this… if I do this, then I’ll never forgive myself.”

I held her shoulders firm, refusing to let her collapse under her own grief. “Then hate me, Maggie. Blame me. But don’t you dare let that wraith win. Don’t you dare let Jade die because you couldn’t let go of a ghost.”

She looked at me like I had just shattered every part of her world, but her hand tightened on the dagger anyway, her tears spilling faster. “You’re asking me to kill the only family I have left.”

“No,” I said softly, shaking my head. “I’m asking you to save the family you still have.”

Right then, Ashton’s voice cracked as he yelled at Maggie, his tone so raw and desperate it almost made the air feel sharp.

“Don’t you dare fall for her lies, Maggie! Don’t you dare! She’s manipulating you, can’t you see that? We’re family! Family sticks together, always!” His words were spat with such force that it was as though he believed volume alone would make them true.

I took a slow breath and stepped closer, my voice cutting through Ashton’s anger with a steady challenge.

“Family?” I echoed, narrowing my eyes at him. “If that’s what you call family, then tell me, Ashton…does that mean I’m not Maggie’s family? Does that mean Avery wasn’t family? That Violet wasn’t family?” My words came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t stop. “Because if we’re family, if that word means anything at all to you, then why didn’t Lucas stick with us? Why didn’t Harmona? Why did they keep choosing to sacrifice everyone else over and over again while still calling it loyalty?”

Ashton’s face twisted, fury flaring in his eyes, and he jabbed a finger at me like he wanted to strike me with it. “Don’t you dare twist this, Aurora! Don’t you stand there and spew your poison like you’ve always done!”

Maggie’s eyes darted between us, her lips parting like she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. I caught the faint tremble in her hand, the blade still poised but unmoving.