Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 449

Aurora’s P.O.V

I could feel the taste of blood in my mouth as my back scraped against the boulder, the sharp sting forcing a hiss from my lips. Maggie groaned beside me, clutching her side, but before either of us could recover, Ashton’s voice split through the chaos like thunder.

“Do you think you can stop me?!” he roared, his eyes wild, bloodshot with fury. “Pathetic little girls, meddling in things far beyond your reach!”

“Ashton!” I rasped, my voice rough, the iron tang choking my throat. “Stop this madness before it consumes you. It’s not too late.”

He barked a laugh, a cruel sound that echoed. “Not too late? Do you even hear yourself, Aurora? I’ve lived centuries perfecting power you couldn’t even dream of. Do you think a dagger…” his eyes flicked briefly toward where it had fallen far out of our reach…“or a ragtag pair of fools could undo me?”

“Where’s the dagger?!” I coughed out, turning to Maggie in desperation.

Her eyes widened in horror. “I…I dropped it, Aurora. It’s gone, it slipped when we hit the ground!”

Ashton grinned, the satisfaction on his face almost gleeful. “Looking for your precious toy, are we? Oh, how tragic. All your courage, all your little plans… and all it took was gravity to undo you.”

Maggie tried to scramble up despite her pain. “We don’t need the dagger to stop you! You’re not invincible, Ashton!”

“Oh, but I am,” he snarled, his good hand lifting, glowing with raw crimson energy. His voice dropped into that dark, venomous cadence, each syllable heavy with enchantment. “You will feel it now. You will know despair.”

Suddenly, invisible claws clamped around my throat, Maggie’s too, squeezing with vicious force. My breath caught, a harsh wheeze ripping from my chest as I clawed at nothing, nails scraping only air.

“Let… us… go!” Maggie gagged, her voice cracking, her face already reddening.

Ashton stepped closer, his eyes lit with sick triumph. “Beg for it. Beg me, and maybe I’ll let one of you live to remember how the other died.”

“You’re insane,” I forced out between shallow gasps, my vision darkening at the edges. “All this time… it was never about power, was it? You just wanted to watch the world burn with you.”

“Silence!” he thundered, his chanting growing louder, faster, the grip on our throats tightening until stars exploded in my eyes.

“Aurora, I…can’t…” Maggie rasped, struggling to push herself toward me, her body trembling violently under the invisible chokehold.

Ashton’s chanting grew louder, venom dripping from every word, his fury blazing. “Die with your pride, both of you!”

The pressure on my throat became unbearable, my lungs screaming, my chest threatening to collapse. My body fought, convulsed, every fiber desperate for air, but still I didn’t look away.

“Ashton,” I forced the name past my nearly crushed windpipe, my voice barely a breath, “you’ll never, win.”

And for the first time since the fight began, his face faltered.

I didn’t think, I couldn’t think…my lungs were burning, my throat felt like it had been ripped raw, and all I could hear was Maggie’s choked gasp beside me.

“Aurora, please…help!” she cried, reaching for my arm, but her voice was faint, fading, like an echo inside a cavern. My eyes landed on the dagger lying there on the cracked ground, gleaming wickedly, almost as if it was calling me.

And just then, a wolf lunged at Ashton, biting down hard onto his shoulders. A scream pierced the sky, his chants faltered, and the chokehold disappeared from my neck. I didn’t waste any time. I lunged at the ground, my hand closed around the hilt, cold and heavy, and before I could even register the weight of what I was doing, I screamed and drove it down into Ashton’s chest.

“Go to hell!”

His eyes widened in shock, a strangled sound clawing its way out of his throat as black blood sprayed from the wound. Caroline, in wolf form, growled deeper, her fangs buried into his neck, pinning him down as he writhed beneath her. He clawed at the ground, his hands trembling, trying to push me away. “Aurora… you…you fool…” he gurgled, blood spilling from his lips.

“I’m done listening to you!” I shouted, my voice trembling with both rage and fear. “You don’t get to keep us here, you don’t get to hurt us anymore!”

The moment the blade sank fully into him, everything shifted. The air grew heavier, cracks running through the very walls of the dimension like glass shattering. Maggie gasped, her voice breaking as she coughed violently, “Oh my God… it’s, it’s collapsing…Aurora…what did you do?!”

Caroline snarled, pulling away from Ashton as his body convulsed. I could see the life draining from his eyes, but he still managed to sneer, even in his death throes.

“You… think this… will save you?” he rasped, blood pouring from the corners of his mouth. “You’ve doomed everything…”

“Shut up!” I pressed the dagger deeper into his chest, my hands shaking so badly I almost dropped it. “You should’ve died centuries ago!”

The ground beneath us began to quake violently. Maggie screamed as she nearly lost her footing, clutching at her side. “Aurora, we…we need to get out of here! Everything’s breaking apart!”

I turned to Caroline, who was already shifting back, her body trembling, blood smeared across her mouth and chin.

“Get Maggie!” I shouted, my voice hoarse. “Don’t argue, just get her out of here now!”

“What about you?!” Caroline yelled back, her chest heaving, panic flashing in her eyes.

“I’ll get Riley!” I cried, already stumbling forward, my eyes locked on the faint figure lying at the altar. “Just move! Alice, get Avery!”

Caroline growled in frustration but obeyed, hauling Maggie up as the world around us groaned like it was tearing itself apart. “Aurora, hurry up!” Alice yelled, trying to get to Avery. “We can’t leave you behind!”

“You’re not leaving me, I’m right behind you!” I shot back, forcing strength into my voice. My legs were shaking, but I ran, my fingers reaching toward Riley who was sprawled on the fractured ground. “Riley…please, wake up…come on, I need you!”

But just as my hands touched Riley’s, it happened.

A blinding light, so intense it burned my eyes, exploded around us. I shielded my face, screaming as the world spun violently out of control. Maggie’s voice was lost in the chaos, Caroline’s growls vanished, and Ashton’s dying laughter echoed like a curse in the hollow of my skull.

“No, no! Not now!” I shouted, but the ground crumbled beneath me, and the entire dimension spiraled into nothingness. My last thought, as the light swallowed me whole, was Riley’s name on my lips.