Claimed by My Bully Alpha Chapter 470

Aurora’s P.O.V

I turned to Caroline, my voice soft but trembling with the weight of all the emotions swirling in my chest.

“Does this mean you’re back for good?” I asked, searching her face for even the smallest flicker of doubt, praying she wouldn’t tell me she was only visiting.

Caroline smiled faintly, but her eyes glistened with something deeper. She shook her head gently before nodding, and I couldn’t help but laugh nervously at the contradiction. “I missed home, Aurora,” she said, her voice breaking just enough to make my throat tighten. “But more than that… I missed my pack. I missed my sister. I don’t think I ever realized just how much until I was gone.”

I reached out and squeezed her hand. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear you say that. I’ve been so afraid that maybe we’d lost you for good.”

Her laugh was a little wet, almost choked. “You could never lose me. I was just… taking some time to grow, that’s all. But I’m here now. I’m staying.”

Before I could reply, people started coming up to us, one by one. It was overwhelming, the way their faces lit up, the way their words carried warmth I hadn’t realized I’d been starved for. Caleb slipped an arm around my waist as members of the pack congratulated us on the wedding, offering small gifts wrapped in bright paper, some bringing simple bouquets of wildflowers tied together with twine. Each voice blended into the next…“We’re so happy for you, Alpha.”

“You deserve this joy, it’s about time, really.”

I laughed, shaking my head as my arms grew fuller with trinkets and blossoms. “You’re all going to spoil me before the wedding even happens,” I teased, and Caleb chuckled beside me.

Then Avery approached, her smile brighter than the bundle of sunflowers she held. She wrapped me in a hug so tight I thought my ribs might crack.

“Congratulations, Aurora. I couldn’t be happier for you,” she whispered against my shoulder.

I pulled back and searched her face, my heart suddenly heavy with a question I couldn’t hold back. “Avery… How's Maggie doing?”

Her expression shifted immediately, her smile softening into something more careful. “She’s doing a lot better,” she said slowly, as though testing each word before she let it out. “Stronger, calmer… but she’s still not ready to face you yet.”

My breath caught. “Not ready to face me?” I repeated, my voice dropping to a whisper. “Does she… does she hate me that much? Or is this because of Jade?”

“No, Aurora,” she said softly, almost as if she was trying to convince me to believe her words as much as she believed them herself.

“It’s not because of Jade. Maggie… She feels responsible for what Ashton did. In more ways than one. She blames herself for not seeing it sooner, for not stopping him, for not speaking out when she should have. She thinks that if she had been braver, if she had stood up faster, none of this would have fallen on us the way it did.”

I frowned, my chest tightening as I leaned forward. “That’s not fair,” I whispered, shaking my head in disbelief.

“None of this was her fault, Avery. She didn’t ask Ashton to lie, she didn’t tell him to hide things, she didn’t make him the monster he turned out to be. Why would she put that weight on herself?”

Avery sighed, rubbing her palms together as though she was trying to find the right words.

“Because that’s who Maggie is, Aurora. You know her. She carries guilt like it’s stitched into her skin. She thinks she has to pay for everything, even the things that don’t belong to her. And right now, she thinks she has to step back, to take time away, to repent in her own way.”

I let out a shaky breath, frustrated but understanding, though it hurt me more than I wanted to admit. I looked at Avery, my lips trembling before I spoke. “Then tell her this for me,” I said, my voice firm though my eyes burned with unshed tears.

“Tell her that one day, when she’s finally ready, she’ll be able to come back and face me with no regrets in her heart. Tell her I’ll be waiting for that day. I’ll be waiting, even if it takes years. But she has to promise herself that she won’t let that guilt consume her forever.”

Avery squeezed my hand gently, her voice almost breaking as she whispered back, “I’ll tell her, Aurora. I promise I’ll tell her. And I’ll tell you something else too… I wish for that day just as much as you do. I wish with everything in me that she’ll come back to you, stronger, freer, and unafraid. Because that’s the only way she’ll heal… and the only way you both will.”

I nodded slowly, swallowing down the ache in my throat as I whispered, “I wish the same, Avery. More than anything, I wish the same.”