Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 464

Aurora’s P.O.V

“Caleb…” I tried to intervene, but he cut me off without even looking at me, his eyes pinned on Jade like he was daring him to give the wrong answer.

Jade swallowed hard, his hands wringing together nervously as he shook his head. “I never said I was leaving forever, Caleb. I just…” He paused, trying to find the right words, his throat bobbing as he struggled. “I needed to know I had options, that I could start over somewhere. You know what I’ve been through. You know how hard it’s been just to breathe in this town. New York was… it was like this tiny little light at the end of a very dark tunnel for me.”

Caleb scoffed, his chest rising and falling with ragged breaths. “And what about us, huh? What about everything we’ve been through together? You think you’re the only one who’s been suffering here? We all have, Jade. But at least we’ve been honest with each other. You kept this from us.”

“Because I was scared!” Jade’s voice finally broke, loud enough that it startled me. His hands shook, and I saw the tears that had been threatening finally spill. “I was scared you’d think I was abandoning you, and I wasn’t. I’m not. But I need this. For me. For once in my life, I need something that isn’t about surviving but about actually living.”

I stepped forward then, not between them, but close enough so they could both see me. “Caleb,” I said softly, though the weight in my tone made him finally glance at me. “I get why you asked him that. I really do. But look at him… look at what this means for him. He’s not running away from us, he’s just… trying to breathe for once. Don’t you see that?”

Caleb shook his head slowly, pressing his palm to his forehead like he was trying to push back the emotions rising inside him. “I don’t know if I can do this, Aurora. I don’t know if I can watch everyone I care about walk away one by one while I stand here pretending I’m okay with it.”

“You’re not losing us,” Jade whispered desperately. “You’re not losing me. I swear, Caleb, I’ll come back. When you become the Alpha, I’ll be by your side. But I can’t grow if I don’t at least try this. Don’t make me feel guilty for wanting more than the pain I’ve already experienced.”

Caleb’s lips parted like he wanted to argue again, but no words came out. His eyes softened for a moment, and I caught it, that flicker of understanding buried beneath all his anger. I laid a hand gently on his arm, feeling the tension in him that hadn’t let up.

“We all need this time, Caleb,” I whispered. “Not just Jade. You. Me. All of us. We can’t stay the same people forever, not after everything we’ve been through.”

The room felt like it was holding its breath. Caleb stared at Jade, and Jade stared right back, his eyes red and pleading, his chest rising and falling in uneven breaths. And I stood there in the middle, heart pounding, knowing that this moment wasn’t about New York, not really.

I could see Caleb’s throat working, like he wanted to argue but couldn’t find the words, and for a moment there was this silence between them that was so heavy I almost wanted to look away.

I cleared my throat then, trying to break the tension that was practically choking the air, and I asked.

“So… are there any more surprises? Or is this the part where someone else decides to drop another life-changing revelation on us?” My tone came out sharper than I intended, but I was exhausted, my chest tight from everything piling up. Everyone glanced at me, some of them shifting uncomfortably, and finally Mia spoke up, her voice soft but steady.

“No more surprises, Aurora. Really. The rest of us… we’re just applying for community college. That’s all.” She tried to smile like it was nothing, but the way her fingers twisted in her lap betrayed how unsure she was.

“Community college,” I repeated slowly, looking around at each of them. “That’s it? That’s where all of this ends?” They nodded, some with quick shrugs, others refusing to meet my eyes. Caleb finally spoke, his voice quieter than I’d ever heard it.

“It’s not the end. Not really. It’s just… different now.” But even as he said it, I could feel the fracture spreading, the line that had been drawn between what we once were and what we had just become.

“Different,” I whispered, more to myself than to them, but the words filled the silence anyway. “So that’s it then.”

“No,” Caroline said finally. “We’re just moving away for a bit, but this is definitely not the end. We are and always will be…friends. Pack.”

And yet, the damage seemed to be done. We were no longer the same people who would stick together in any circumstances. We were now drifting apart in different directions, following different paths, harboring different goals.

But maybe that was okay. Maybe…this was life.