Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 459

Aurora’s P.O.V

I looked at Maggie, my chest tight, my voice shaking not with weakness but with the weight of everything pressing inside me.

“I can’t believe this,” I said before she could open her mouth, my words spilling faster than my breath.

“I can’t believe that no matter how many chances I give you…no matter how many times I tell myself that maybe, just maybe, you could be better…you always prove me wrong. Every single time. I thought after everything that happened, after the betrayal, after the lies, after the pain Ashton dragged us all through, you were different. I thought maybe you were just… misguided, caught up in his games, tangled in his web. I thought maybe there was something worth saving in you. But now? Now I realize I’d be a fool to ever think that again.”

Maggie’s eyes flashed, and she took a step toward me, her voice sharp, rising, trembling with something that sounded like desperation. “Don’t you dare stand there and act like you know what I’ve been through, Aurora! Don’t you dare pretend you understand why I did what I did. All I did…” her voice cracked, but she forced it louder, “all I did was love him. All I did was love Jade! Do you even know what that felt like for me? For the first time in my life, I wasn’t invisible, I wasn’t dismissed. I was seen. I heard. When I was with him, it was like…like we were two broken people, finally finding someone who understood the cracks and didn’t flinch. He made me believe we could become whole together.”

“Whole?” I scoffed, shaking my head, my throat burning with rage and disbelief. “You call what you did to him love? You call manipulating his loneliness, exploiting his kindness, love? That isn’t love, Maggie. That’s possession. That’s selfishness.”

But before I could continue, Caleb’s voice cut through, sharp as a blade, silencing both of us.

“Enough, Maggie.” He stepped forward, his jaw tight, his fists trembling at his sides. “Don’t you dare romanticize what you did to him. Jade was never broken.” His words struck like thunder, his tone firm, unshaken. “He was lonely, yes…lonely because he hadn’t found his mate yet. But broken? No. He wasn’t. And you…” he pointed at her, his eyes blazing with something that was both fury and sorrow…“you took advantage of that loneliness. You saw his quiet, his searching, his hunger for connection, and you turned it into your weapon. You weren’t saving him, Maggie…you were using him.”

Maggie’s face twisted, pain and fury warring in her expression. “No! No, that’s not true! Don’t you dare reduce what we had to some kind of manipulation! He needed me just as much as I needed him! You don’t understand what it’s like to finally find someone who looks at you like you matter, like you aren’t just some shadow in the corner. He gave me that. He gave me light when I had nothing but darkness. And maybe I made mistakes, maybe I held on too tightly, but don’t you stand there and act like I was some monster who preyed on him. I loved him! I loved him with everything I had!”

“You loved yourself through him,” I snapped, my voice rising, pushing through the crack in hers.

“You loved what he gave you, not who he was. That’s the difference, Maggie. That’s the thing you’ll never understand. Love isn’t about filling your emptiness with someone else’s soul. It’s about giving, protecting, building something that doesn’t crush the other person in the process. And you, you never gave him that chance.”

Caleb’s voice dropped lower, steadier now, but the weight of his words pressed down heavier than ever. “If you really loved him, Maggie, you would have let him be free. You would have let him breathe.”

Maggie’s lips trembled, and for a moment, just a fleeting moment, her eyes glistened with something that looked like regret. But then her face hardened again, her voice sharp as a whip. “You don’t get it. Neither of you get it. You talk like you know Jade better than I did, like you knew his soul better than I did. But I was there. I was with him when he was at his lowest. Where were you then? Where were you when he confessed the things he never dared tell anyone else? Don’t stand there and act like I didn’t matter to him. Because I did. I mattered. More than either of you ever will.”

My chest ached with both fury and pity, but I forced myself to meet her eyes. “If you mattered, Maggie, you wouldn’t have to stand here and scream it. You wouldn’t have to convince us or yourself. Love doesn’t demand proof. It lives in the actions, and yours have spoken louder than your words ever could.”

Caleb’s jaw clenched, his voice cutting once more. “And the truth is, Maggie… Jade deserved better than what you called love.”

I folded my arms across my chest and watched as Maggie realized that her bluff wasn’t going to hold any longer. She stood there trembling but trying to hold her ground, looking around at everyone in the room. Her voice cracked when she spoke, but she forced the words out anyway.

“Aurora, please… I know what I did was wrong. I see it now. I swear I see it. Just give me one last chance, that’s all I ask. I won’t fail again. I won’t.”

I tilted my head, studying her carefully, because I needed to know if she actually believed the words she was saying, or if she was just trying to save herself. “One last chance, Maggie?” I said softly, but my tone carried weight.

“Tell me something then. Will you be able to stay away from Jade for good? And I don’t just mean keeping your distance. I mean no contact at all. No messages. No whispered words. Not even glancing in his direction. Will you leave him alone completely, forever?”

Her eyes widened, her lips parted as though the answer was right there, but nothing came out. She went pale, so pale that for a moment I thought she might faint. The silence stretched, heavy, suffocating. I raised an eyebrow, then nodded slowly.

“That’s all the confirmation I need,” I told her flatly.

“No… wait,” she whispered, finally finding her voice, but it was fragile, broken. “Aurora, please. That’s not what I meant. I…”

I cut her off with a sharp look. “Then answer me clearly, Maggie. Can you walk away from him completely?”

Her mouth opened, then closed again. Her hands twisted together at her waist, nails digging into her palms, but still she said nothing.

I sighed, shaking my head. “Exactly. You can’t.”

Maggie’s breath hitched. “What will happen to me now?” she asked, her voice trembling like a child waiting for punishment.

“You’ll be leaving,” I said firmly. “Alice will be returning back to the school where she teaches young witches magic, and you’ll be going with her. Avery too. Both of you will be under her care from now on.”

Her eyes filled with panic. “You’re sending me away? Just like that?”

I didn’t flinch. “The pack will fund your expenses until you turn twenty-five. If you get a job before then, you’re on your own earlier. But after that point, you’ll have to fend for yourself.”

Her jaw dropped. “So you’re really… you’re really kicking me out?”

“No,” I corrected her sharply, taking a step forward so she couldn’t mistake my words for cruelty. “I’m not kicking you out, Maggie. I’m getting you the help you need before you turn into another Ashton. Because if you stay here, if you keep clinging to things that were never yours to begin with, that’s exactly where you’ll end up, bitter, corrupted, and dangerous. And I won’t let that happen under my watch.”

Her lips trembled, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I don’t want to leave… I don’t want to be alone.”

“You won’t be alone,” I replied, my voice softening slightly though I kept my stance firm. “Alice will be there, and Avery too. You’ll have guidance, structure, and time to learn who you are without being consumed by obsession. That’s not punishment, Maggie. That’s mercy.

Maggie covered her face with her hands, sobbing quietly. “I never meant for it to get this far. I never meant…”

“You never meant it,” I cut in gently but firmly. “But intentions don’t undo damage. You need a fresh start, and this is the only way.”

Her body sagged, the fight draining out of her. She nodded weakly, though the tears never stopped. “Then I guess… I don’t have a choice.”

“No,” I said quietly. “You don’t. Not anymore.”