Claimed by My Bully Alpha (by Anna Kendra) novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Aurora’s P.O.V

That night, after returning to my room, a storm raged outside, howling through the trees and rattling the windows like it was trying to force its way in. The air felt heavy, thick with something I couldn’t quite name, pressing down on my chest as I sat curled up on the bed.

Every light in the room was on, pushing back the shadows, but no matter how bright it was, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from drifting back to Lucas and what he had done. He had kept my mother’s skeleton in my room–my mother’s old room–like some twisted trophy, a constant reminder of everything he had stolen from me. The image was burned into my mind, and no matter how much I tried to push it away, it clung to me, wrapping around my thoughts like vines strangling the life out of something.

I wasn’t angry that her skeleton had been destroyed when the house collapsed. If anything, I was relieved. That place–where I had suffered, where so many others had suffered–was gone, reduced to nothing but rubble and ash. And with it, the souls that had been trapped there, held captive by pain and cruelty, had finally been freed. I liked to think my mother was among them, that she wasn’t lingering in that dark, broken space anymore. Maybe now, she could find peace. Maybe now, I could, too.

But the storm outside didn’t feel like peace. It felt like a warning. Like something was still waiting, watching, biding its time. I pulled my knees closer to my chest, squeezing my eyes shut, but even then, I saw flashes of bones, of shadows stretching across cold walls, of Lucas’s smirk as he reminded me–without ever saying the words–that I had never truly been free.

I exhaled shakily and forced my eyes open, staring at the ceiling, at the light fixture swaying ever so slightly from the force of the wind outside. I wasn’t there anymore. I wasn’t trapped. I wasn’t powerless.

I repeated the words over and over, but my hands still trembled.

The thunder rumbled so violently that it rattled the windows, and as yet another streak of lightning split the sky, I felt my breath hitch. My fingers curled into the blankets, and

1/2

for a brief moment, I considered burying myself underneath them, as if that would drown out the chaos outside. The storm was relentless, each crack of thunder louder than the last, and I knew that if I closed my eyes, the darkness would swallow me whole with every flash of light. My heart pounded against my ribs, my body tense as I forced myself to breathe, to remind myself that I was safe. It was just a storm. Just noise. But my body didn’t believe it.

Then, a knock at my door. Soft, but certain. My head snapped toward it, my pulse quickening, and before I could even call out, the door creaked open. Riley and Caroline slipped inside, arms full of pillows and blankets, their presence like a breath of fresh air in the suffocating tension of my room. I exhaled, my grip loosening on the sheets as relief flooded through me.

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