Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers-Chapter 569: Her Visions

Evaline:

The first thing I felt wasn’t pain.

It was discomfort.

A strange, unfamiliar kind that didn’t belong to my body the way aches or exhaustion did. It wrapped around me like a dense fog, heavy and pressing, pulling me upward from the depths of unconsciousness but refusing to fully let me go.

I was caught somewhere in between... no longer lost, but not awake either.

Cold surrounded me.

It wasn’t the sharp bite of winter air or the chill of stone floors. This cold felt deeper, more invasive, as if it pressed against my very essence instead of my skin. It made me shiver, a weak tremor passing through me even though I couldn’t feel my limbs clearly.

The darkness clung stubbornly.

Then... came warmth.

Sudden. Encompassing. So starkly different that it startled something inside me... but also very familiar.

The warmth wrapped around me from all sides, solid and grounding, and I felt the cold recoil as if burned by it. The darkness loosened its grip, retreating inch by inch until I could finally breathe again.

My chest rose in a shaky inhale.

That was when my consciousness finally surfaced.

My eyes fluttered open, my lashes heavy as they struggled against the soft light filtering into my vision. Everything was blurry at first, shapes and colors bleeding into one another, but slolwy... it began to sharpen.

The familiar scent of cedar and night air reached me first.

Then warmth.

Then them.

My mates.

They were sitting on either side of me on a bed I recognized instantly, even through the lingering haze in my mind. The dark curtains, the shelf filled with all kind of herbs and potions records, the subtle sense of order and control in every detail of the place...

I was in Kieran’s private quarters.

The moment that realization settled, the men noticed me stirring.

It was almost comical how fast they moved.

Their bodies shifted toward me all at once, as if pulled by the same invisible thread. All three of them were holding my hands, and I realized the warmth that pulled me out of the darkness belonged to them.

I tried to push myself up, my elbows digging weakly into the mattress as I attempted to sit, but I didn’t get far.

Three pairs of arms wrapped around me from both sides, strong and unyielding, pulling me upright and then straight into their chests.

I disappeared into warmth.

It pressed against me from every direction - solid, protective, overwhelming. Oscar’s familiar steady presence anchored my left side, Kieran’s firm strength surrounded my back, and River’s arms wrapped around me from the other side, holding me so tightly I could feel his heartbeat racing against my cheek.

For a moment, I let myself melt into it.

The warmth chased away the last remnants of cold clinging to me, grounding me more effectively than anything else could have.

Then I realized I couldn’t breathe properly.

"-okay," I croaked, my voice muffled somewhere against a chest. "You are... you are going to suffocate me."

That earned me immediate reactions.

Three bodies stiffened... and three grips loosened at once.

They pulled back just enough for me to draw in a full breath, though none of them moved very far. Their arms remained around me, reluctant, as if letting go completely was out of the question.

Now that I could see their faces clearly, my chest tightened for an entirely different reason.

Worry was written all over them - raw, unfiltered, terrifyingly intense.

Oscar’s jaw was tight, his eyes scanning my face like he was checking for hidden injuries he might have missed. Kieran’s brows were drawn together, his usual composed expression fractured by anxiety. River looked the worst of them all - his eyes dark, sharp, and filled with something dangerously close to fear.

The memory of collapsing rushed back to me all at once.

The tree.

The images.

The pain.

And then their panicked faces... right before everything went black.

Guilt settled heavily in my chest.

Before any of them could speak, I moved.

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around all three of them as best as I could, pulling them into me despite their size difference. My voice came out thick as I spoke.

"I’m sorry," I said softly. "I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t know it would... I didn’t think-"

They reacted instantly.

"Don’t," Oscar said firmly.

Kieran shook his head, one of his hands coming up to cradle the back of my head protectively. "You don’t have to apologize for something none of us wanted to happen."

River’s grip tightened just a fraction, his voice low and steady despite the storm I knew was brewing beneath it. "You did nothing wrong."

I pulled back slightly to look at them, surprised.

None of them looked angry.

Concerned, yes. Tense. Probably holding back a lecture that could last hours.

But not blaming me.

Not even River.

That alone made my throat tighten again.

Oscar was the first to speak properly, his thumb brushing lightly over my knuckles. "How are you feeling?"

I paused, actually checking myself like he suggested.

My body felt... normal. A little heavy, like I’d slept too long. My limbs were slightly weak, and there was a lingering exhaustion deep in my bones, but nothing hurt. My power stirred quietly beneath my skin. It was present, responsive, not frayed or unstable.

"I’m okay," I said after a moment. "Just... tired."

The tension in the room eased slightly.

I saw it in the way Oscar’s shoulders lowered, in the way Kieran exhaled slowly, in how River’s grip loosened just enough to be less rigid.

Still, none of them fully relaxed.

Then River and I spoke at the exact same time.

"What happened down there?" I asked.

"What did you feel?" He asked. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

We both paused, staring at each other.

For a brief second, I almost smiled at the synchronicity... but the weight of everything that had happened quickly pushed that thought aside.

River sighed softly, rubbing a hand over his face before straightening. "I’ll go first."

I nodded.

"The warriors finished collecting samples," he said calmly. "Soil, stone, energy readings - everything. The entire tower and its nearby area has been sealed off. Now we will be going to analyze the findings thoroughly."

I absorbed that, relief mixing with unease.

"Good," I murmured. "That place... it shouldn’t be disturbed."

River watched me closely as I said that, but he didn’t comment.

It was my turn.

I drew in a steady breath.

"I don’t know why it happened," I began honestly. "I wasn’t trying to do anything reckless. The tree just... pulled at me. Not physically, but... something inside me, likely my power, reacted to it."

Their attention sharpened instantly.

"My power," I continued. "It sensed something lingering there. Not active magic. Not energy the monitors could pick up. Just... remnants. Like a scar left behind?"

I told them everything.

How the pull had grown stronger the longer I focused on it. How my power had surged on its own, pushing against something unseen. How placing my hand on the ground hadn’t been a conscious decision... it had felt inevitable.

Then I described the images.

The tree forming from pure darkness.

The witches.

The chants and runes.

The darkness trying... and failing... to break free.

The centuries passing.

The cracks spreading.

Carson.

His blood.

His sacrifice.

As I spoke, the room grew impossibly quiet.

I watched their faces change with every detail I revealed... shock giving way to disbelief, then to something darker and far more dangerous.

When I finally fell silent, none of them spoke immediately.

It was Kieran who broke the silence.

He stared at me with disbelief and confusion clear in his eyes. His voice barely above a whisper.

"...You saw visions?"