Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers

Chapter 460: When Grief Learns to Breathe Again

Evaline:For a long while after Rowan’s words, silence filled the room again... heavy, still, and suffocating.

I could hear the faint creak of wood beneath his boots as he shifted, the quiet rustle of the curtains swaying in the breeze. Outside, birds chirped faintly, the world cruelly normal while mine had stopped moving altogether.

When he finally spoke again, his voice was low, steady... the kind of calm that could cut through a storm.

"You know," he said, gaze resting on Draven’s unmoving face, "I understand why you don’t want to move. Why it hurts so much you can’t even breathe without him. Because I have been where you are, Eva."

I turned toward him, but he didn’t look at me yet. His jaw was tight, his eyes distant... like he was seeing a ghost only he could see.

He took a slow breath. "It’s been one and a half years..." He said, swallowing hard, the faintest tremor flickering through his composure. "I have been visiting her every week since then. Sitting by her bed, talking to her like an idiot, hoping she would wake up."

He gave a humorless laugh. "But she never did."

My breath caught. "Rowan..."

"So... I know exactly how you feel right now," he continued, finally looking at me. His gaze was unwavering - steady, deep, and full of that quiet understanding I didn’t even realize I had been craving. "That ache that never goes away. The constant voice in your head saying you should have done something more. The helplessness when you realize you can’t."

My lips trembled. "You... you went through all that, and you still-"

"Still standing?" He gave a small, sad smile. "Barely. But I learned something from it, Eva."

He reached out to hold my hands. "Lyra wouldn’t have wanted me to destroy myself waiting for her. And Draven... he wouldn’t want that for you either."

My throat closed up again, fresh tears blurring my sight. "I can’t just walk away from him, Rowan. Not when he’s-"

He shook his head, cutting me off gently. "You are not walking away. You are standing up."

Before I could respond, he added quietly, "Kieran called me, you know."

That made me blink through the tears. "Kieran?"

"Yeah." Rowan’s gaze softened. "He said they have all been trying everything to reach you, but nothing’s worked. So he came to me. He told me you needed someone who knew exactly what you were feeling, someone who’s lived through it. He drove me here himself. And before I came inside, he told me one thing... that they were all counting on me to bring you back."

I shook my head immediately, panic clawing up my chest. "No, I can’t leave him, I-"

His voice firmed, not loud, but sharp enough to still my protest. "Eva."

I froze.

He leaned closer, his eyes locking with mine, unflinching. "I promised Kieran I’d make sure that by the time I was finished talking to you, you would walk out of this room with me. And I don’t break my promises."

I opened my mouth to argue again, but he lifted a hand, silencing me before I could form the words.

"You are not the only one hurting," he said quietly. "Draven has three brothers, Eva. Three men who love him just as much as you do. They are breaking too. You have seen it... they haven’t slept or eaten properly in days. They spends hours sitting outside this room, afraid you’ll collapse. They are dying inside. All three of them."

His voice softened, but his words hit hard, each one sinking into the guilt I had buried beneath my grief.

"They have already lost one brother. And now they are terrified of losing you too. You are making them watch it happen all over again, Eva."ched into their faces, eyes red from sleepless nights, hearts broken but still beating.

When they saw me, their expressions changed... from shock to something else. Relief. Hope.

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

But when I stepped out of that room - when I finally breathed the fresh air again - it felt like the first step toward something new. Not an ending.

A beginning.

For Draven. For my family. For me.