Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers
Chapter 156: He’s Getting Engaged

Chapter 156: He’s Getting Engaged

Evaline:

The knocking came again.

It wasn’t too loud, nor too demanding. Just... patient.

Dragging myself out of bed felt like moving through molasses. My limbs were heavy, sore, and weighed down by more than just sleep.

When I cracked the door open, the coomon room light spilled into my dark room, and I found myself looking at two very familiar faces - Mallory and Kyros’.

Mallory’s eyes immediately narrowed on my face. Her gaze scanned over my half-asleep, half-broken expression, taking in the dampness around my eyes, the sag in my shoulders, and the silence in my throat.

"Oh, babe," she said softly, "Did we wake you? You already went to bed?"

I gave a faint nod and rubbed the heel of my palm against my eye, trying to rub the weariness away. "Yeah... I was just resting," I murmured.

She tilted her head as she asked, "Are you okay? Did you eat dinner at least?"

There was concern in her voice. Genuine, warm concern. I didn’t want to lie to her, especially not tonight. So I gave her the simplest, most honest answer I could.

"I’m just tired," I said. "Really tired. And I had some fruit salad and yogurt in the afternoon... I didn’t feel like eating again."

Her frown only deepened at my response, but she didn’t press me. Not yet.

Kyros was standing beside her silently. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. When his eyes met mine, steady and calm - those warm ocean hues were filled with understanding, with patience, with silent support. He knew. He understood the storm behind my eyes without me having to say a single word.

It was him who gently nudged Mallory. "Let her rest," he said quietly. "She’s had a long week."

I expected Mallory to follow his cue and leave. And she almost did.

Almost.

She turned to go, then froze as if something struck her.

"Oh, wait!" Her eyes lit up with excitement. She spun back toward me, practically vibrating. "I totally forgot! I have news! And not the boring kind, but the kind that’s gonna shake up the whole Academy!"

I blinked, surprised by her sudden burst of energy. I couldn’t deny the flicker of curiosity. "What... kind of news?"

I didn’t fail to notice how Kyros tensed immediately beside her. His jaw ticked as he turned toward her, trying to usher her away with his body language alone. "Mallory, not now," he muttered in a low voice that almost sounded like a warning.

But Mallory was too caught up in her own excitement. "Oh, come on, Kyros! It might cheer her up!" She turned her eager grin back to me. "And you definitely want to hear this before it spreads through the Academy coming morning, Eva."

"No, she doesn’t," Kyros snapped.

But it was too late.

Mallory leaned closer, her voice dropping to a dramatic whisper. "Oscar Thorne and Jasmine Bills are getting engaged."

The world stilled. And I stared at Mallory as if I no longer recognized her or the words she was speaking.

I felt everything in me go still, like time had stopped. Like someone had punched me straight in the chest, leaving a gaping hole in my ribs where my heart used to be.

"What?" I asked in barely a whisper, not sure if I even said it aloud.

Mallory seemed oblivious to the bomb she had just dropped and kept going. "We saw them! Me and the others. We were coming back from Lakeshire and passed that high-end restaurant near Pinehill Street - you know, the fancy one that charges by the second you breathe inside."

She gave a short laugh, then continued. "Alpha River was there. So was Alpha Bill. They were shaking hands like some major deal had been sealed. Jasmine was practically wrapped around Instructor Oscar like a gift. Her hands were all over him as she kept laughing, smiling like she had won the biggest prize of her life. And Instructor Oscar, he didn’t even push her away!"

I couldn’t hear the rest.

My mind was already drowning out her words with a sudden, agonizing ringing in my ears.

Oscar... and Jasmine?

An engagement?

Jasmine Bills - she was the perfect daughter of a wealthy Alpha, beautiful and poised and everything I was not.

Of course. It made sense.

She wasn’t carrying another man’s child. She didn’t have a complicated past full of pain and secrets. She was perfect.

And Oscar?

He was a Thorne. The third of the Rogue Alphas. A respected instructor at Silver Moon. The academy’s golden boy.

Of course he would want someone like Jasmine. Of course River would want him with someone like her.

Kyros finally snapped. "Mallory, that’s enough!"

Mallory paused, blinking in surprise. "What? I’m just telling her what we saw-"

"That’s enough," he repeated, more firmly this time.

The sharpness in his voice startled her. Her eyes darted to me, and for the first time, she seemed to notice the way my body had stiffened, the way my hand was trembling where it gripped the doorframe.

"I-I didn’t mean to upset her," she stammered, confused and suddenly guilty.

"It’s okay," I said, my voice sounding hoarse and brittle like glass on the edge of a fall. "You don’t know anything."

Mallory frowned, clearly still unsure, but offered me a soft "Good night, Eva," before turning to leave, throwing a confused look over her shoulder at me and Kyros.

The silence she left behind was crushing.

Kyros lingered at the door, watching me with something that looked like sympathy, but he didn’t move closer.

"I’m sorry," he said.

I shook my head. "Don’t be. She didn’t do anything wrong. She doesn’t know anything and just wanted to share the new big gossip to cheer me up. You shouldn’t have raised your voice at her. Go and talk to her."

He nodded in understanding before speaking, "But don’t take her words seriously. What she just said was all based on her speculations. Nothings been confirmed yet."

I lowered my gaze, staring at the floor as I felt the back of my eyes burning and that familiar heaviness clotting my throat. "But it still hurts."

He was silent for a moment before asking, "Do you want me to stay?"

"No." I forced a small smile. "But thank you."

He didn’t argue. "I’ll be around if you need anything. Anything, Eva."

"I know." My voice cracked again.

He gave me a look - soft, protective - and nodded. Then, finally, he turned and walked away.

I closed the door behind him.

And let the sob shatter out of me.

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