Chapter 174. A Place to Call Home

Aurora’s POV

The weight of their gazes pressed down on me, twin sets of piercing eyes scrutinizing our every move, our every breath. The two Alphas, towering figures of authority, sat before us, their expressions unreadable, their silence a vice squeezing at my lungs. I swallowed hard, my fingers twitching at my sides. Maggie, Ashton, the others—we were all standing in a row like criminals waiting for judgment. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, the room suffocating with tension as we waited for someone to speak first.

“Tell us everything,” one of them said finally, his voice a low command that brooked no argument. “Every detail that might matter.”

A long pause. I could feel Maggie trembling beside me, her breath uneven. When she finally stepped forward, her voice was quiet, but the words she spoke sent ice through my veins.

“He kept them,” she whispered, as if saying it too loud would summon ghosts. “The skeletons. Of our mothers. He... he preserved t