Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers-Chapter 659: Fighting The Poison (I)

Evaline:

My question hung in the air, fragile and broken.

"...How did this happen?" I had asked, but the truth was... I hadn’t expected an answer. Not really. Because how could anyone explain something like this? How could anyone possibly know how the Great Evil had still managed to reach Kyros even after everything they had done tonight to stop it hurting anyone new?

For a moment, no one spoke.

And then...

"I think I know." Oscar’s low but steady voice cut through the silence.

My head snapped toward him instantly.

"What?" I asked, my voice barely holding together.

He exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair as if piecing the memory together.

"I think it happened during the ritual," he said. "When the witches were sealing the Great Evil."

My chest tightened.

"The Great Evil... it tried to escape." Oscar revealed and the room went still.

"What do you mean, escape?" Rowan asked, clearly surprised to hear something like that happened tonight and we were only learning about it now.

Oscar’s jaw clenched slightly. "For a moment, the seal wasn’t fully stabilized. So the Great Evil pushed back. Hard. Strong enough to slip through a gap before the witches could lock it down again."

A chill ran down my spine.

"And?" I urged.

Oscar’s gaze shifted briefly to Kyros before returning to me.

"It moved in the direction Kyros was hiding."

My breath caught.

Of course.

Of course it did.

"That’s when we noticed him," Oscar added. "It was heading straight toward him. So his hiding place got revealed."

Everything inside me went cold.

I turned toward Kyros slowly, but he looked completely lost.

"I didn’t even know what that thing was," he said, his voice shaky now. "I just saw... it. And then-" He swallowed. "It came toward me."

My heart started racing.

Kyros frowned slightly as he continued, "It felt... weird. Cold. Like something crawled over my skin. My wolf didn’t like it... it just... pulled back." He shook his head. "But it was only for a second. Then the witches dragged that thing back."

A second.

That’s all it took.

I closed my eyes briefly, my chest tightening painfully.

That was it. That exact moment, that fleeting contact... that was when it happened. It was at that moment when the Great Evil found its next target and marked him.

My fingers curled into fists at my sides as realization sank deeper.

It didn’t need time. It didn’t need proximity. It just needed a chance.

Maybe it had tried to latch onto Kyros to escape. Or maybe it had simply marked him as its next source of strength. Either way, the result was the same - Kyros was infected.

And time...

Time was not on our side.

A soft, broken breath left me as my eyes opened again.

Tears blurred my vision before I even realized they had fallen. They slipped down my cheeks silently, one after the other. And I didn’t even try to stop them.

"Hey-" Kyros said quickly, his voice filled with concern as he reached out. His fingers brushed against my face, gently wiping away the tears.

The irony of it made my chest ache.

He was the one who needed help. And yet, he was comforting me.

"Why are you crying?" he asked softly, his brows drawn together. "You are scaring me, Eva."

I looked at him. Really looked at him... and it shattered me.

Because he didn’t know. He had no idea what was happening to him, no idea what those veins meant, no idea what was coming.

Behind him, Rowan had gone completely silent.

But I could feel the same helplessness and pain in his eyes that mirrored mine.

Before I could speak, River did - "We don’t have time for this." His voice was sharp and decisive, and it cut through everything. "We should take him to Morwen. Now."

The words hit like a jolt.

Of course.

Of course that was the answer. Kyros needed help. Immediate help.

If there was even the smallest chance, the smallest possibility... we had to take it.

"We still have time," River added, his tone firm. "Not much. But enough to try."

Right. We still had hope, though fragile, but there. And I latched onto it instantly.

Yes.

There was still time to save Kyros. We had to save him.

My breath steadied slightly as that thought anchored itself in my mind.

Kyros wouldn’t end up like Draven.

He wouldn’t.

Not if I could do something about it.

And then... something inside me surged - my power. It rose suddenly, instinctively, like it had made its own decision.

Despite the way it recoiled from the darkness, despite the way it rejected the evil energy... it pushed forward, ready and determined to protect.

I didn’t think. I just acted.

I looked at Kyros and before he could even react, I grabbed his shirt again, pulling the collar down to expose the dark veins once more.

He sucked in a sharp breath. "Eva-you should stop doing this."

Ignoring him, I placed my hand over his chest, right over the veins.

"I’ll explain everything," I said, my voice firm despite the tremor beneath it. "But first..."

My power surged. Stronger this time. It was focused, controlled, not like before. Not like with Draven.

Back then, I didn’t understand what was going on. I thought those black veins were a bruise I needed to heal, not realizing it was actually a corruption that needed to pushed out of him.

But this time... I knew exactly what I was fighting.

"...I have to get this out of you," I said.

Kyros grabbed my wrist lightly, panic flickering in his eyes. "Eva, what is this? What’s happening to me?"

I shook my head, tightening my hold.

"Trust me. I’ll answer everything. I promise." I said softly but firmly. "I just need you to stay still."

The room fell silent again.

But this silence... it wasn’t empty. Instead, it was charged. Tense. Balanced on the edge of something that could change everything.

And I held onto that one fragile hope -

That this time...

I wouldn’t fail.