Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 450

Caleb’s P.O.V

As soon as we reached the beach, all broke loose.

“Wait! You can’t hurt them, they’re family!” My voice cracked as the words left me, but the soldiers didn’t even falter. They came at us like a wall of steel, heavy fists and boots slamming into Damien, into Shane, into me. I barely had time to raise an arm when the air rushed out of my chest.

It was my father, standing in front of me with that cruel green and lifeless eyes.

“Dad, stop!” I gasped, only to feel the world tilt sideways as his fist connected squarely with my face. The crack echoed in my head, white spots bursting in my vision as the sand beneath me rushed up hard. For a second, everything went blank. My ears rang.

When I blinked through the haze, I saw Damien pinned to the ground, a soldier pressing his knee into Damien’s back while another pounded into his legs. Damien was spitting curses between gritted teeth, blood already painting his mouth.

“Get off me, you bastards!” Damien roared, trying to twist, only for another blow to slam him down.

Shane wasn’t any better. Three men had him pinned, his fists still swinging wildly even as they struck him down over and over.

“You call this loyalty?!” Shane spat through a mouthful of blood. “You’re nothing but dogs on a leash!”

My father’s shadow loomed over me again, cutting through the haze. He crouched low, his eyes flashing with that cruel, cold fire. “You’ve always been weak, Caleb,” he hissed, his fist drawing back. “Always choosing outsiders over your own pack.”

“Dad…please, stop this,” I choked out, coughing sand from my throat. “We’re not the enemy!”

His lips curled into a snarl. “Family doesn’t betray me.” His fist shot forward…

And then the world split open.

A sudden silver flare streaked across the sky, cutting through the heavy darkness like a blade. It hit the sand beside us with a brilliance so sharp I had to shield my eyes. My father’s fist never met my face, because he was screaming, staggering back, clutching at his arm like it was burning.

“What…what the hell is this?!” His voice cracked with fury and fear, something I never thought I’d hear from him.

I rolled onto my side, panting, my head throbbing, and forced my eyes upward. The shadows that had swallowed the sky were peeling away. The dark, suffocating blanket of the eclipse was breaking, and the moon, our moon…was glowing, silver and whole, as it finally came out from behind the shadow.

“Do you see that?” I whispered, half to myself, half to the world. My chest tightened. “The moon… it’s back.”

Damien groaned, blood dripping down his chin as he twisted his head toward the light. “About damn time,” he coughed, spitting red onto the sand. “Thought we’d never see her again.”

Shane shoved one soldier off with a sudden surge of strength, his eyes already reflecting that silver glow. “You hear that, bitches?” he shouted hoarsely, voice raw. “Your darkness is over!”

My father stumbled back, still clutching his burning arm, glaring up at the moon as if it had betrayed him. “No… no, this isn’t supposed to happen yet,” he snarled, his voice breaking. “Not now!”

I pushed myself up slowly, my body aching but my spirit lifting as the moonlight bathed us. My voice cracked but rang out all the same. “You can’t fight her, Dad. You can’t fight the moon goddess.”

Damien laughed bitterly through the blood. “Guess your reign just got cut short, wraith.”

Shane spat onto the sand, grinning despite his swollen lip. “Now it’s our turn.”

My father turned his gaze on me, his teeth bared, his eyes wide with something that looked an awful lot like fear. For the first time in my life, I saw him falter.

“Dad…” I whispered, my chest heaving. “This ends tonight.”

The air was still heavy, the sand beneath me felt damp from sweat and blood, but as more of the moon revealed itself through the eclipse, I couldn’t stop staring. Its glow spilled down on the beach like some divine judgment, and the second it touched my packmates, chaos erupted. One by one, they began to scream, clutching their heads like their skulls were splitting apart. I staggered to my feet, my body aching, and Damien was right beside me, both of us moving back instinctively as if distance might shield us from whatever force was pouring out of the sky.

“What the hell is happening to them?” Damien’s voice cracked, panic and awe tangled together. His eyes darted from one writhing wolf to another, his hands trembling though he tried to steady them by balling them into fists.

I shook my head, my throat raw. “I…I don’t know… but it’s not killing them. It’s…it's something else.”

Damien’s face turned toward me sharply, his jaw clenched as though he was holding on to some desperate hope. “Caleb, can you feel it?”

“Feel what?” I asked, confusion flickering across me, but then his tone shifted, lower, more urgent.

“The bond,” Damien snapped. “The mating bond. With Aurora. Can you feel it or not?”

I parted my lips, ready to tell him no, ready to admit that there was nothing…no spark, no link, no sign she was still breathing. The words caught in my throat though. My chest went tight, and then… It hit me. A wave of warmth, sudden and overwhelming, crashing into my mind like fire licking the edges of my thoughts. Her voice, her presence, her scent…all of it rushed into me at once.

“Aurora…”

It was her. Aurora. Not faint, not imagined, but real, threading into the marrow of my bones.

I stumbled back, grabbing Damien’s arm to steady myself, my eyes wide. “She’s here… I can feel her. She’s alive, Damien!”

Damien’s face broke, a wild grin splitting through his exhaustion, his eyes glimmering. “You’re sure? I need you to be sure…”

“I’m sure!” I cut him off, my voice rough, half a laugh, half a sob. “She’s in my head, damn it, she’s in my head, Damien!”

“Caroline…I can feel her too.”

And then the moon broke free completely, no shadows left to choke its glow, and in that very instant, the air in front of us tore apart. A crack, a shimmer, and then a full rupture, a portal yawning wide like the world itself had split open.

“Holy shit…” Damien whispered, his mouth falling open. “Is that…?”

Before he could finish, figures started pouring through. Our people…Caroline, Alice, Maggie and even Avery. Our friends, faces I thought I might never see again. They stumbled out of the light, coughing, gasping, some falling to their knees on the sand as if they’d been dragged back from death itself.

My heart thundered in my chest, my eyes scanning frantically. “Aurora!” I shouted, my voice breaking with desperation. “Aurora!”

Damien grabbed my shoulder, shaking me, his own eyes darting across the crowd. “She’s here. She has to be. You felt her, Caleb…you felt her!”

“I did…I did, but where the hell is she?” My voice cracked, fear twisting in my gut, because though the portal kept spilling out survivors, though relief washed over the pack at each familiar face, hers wasn’t there.

And that’s when I saw her.