Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers

River:

My heart dropped.

The moment her words left her lips - soft, hesitant, but firm enough to carry their meaning - I knew exactly what she meant.

"Release you from the bond."

She wasn't talking about setting me free in some poetic way. She meant rejecting me. As her mate.

And the worst part? I had just found out that she was mine. My fated mate.

The sheer happiness that had swelled in me - Stars, it had been just seconds ago - was still sitting in my chest, raw and alive, when her words tore it open. I had been ready to revel in the truth, to thank the Moon Goddess and every force in existence for bringing her to me. But instead… she was already pulling away.

There wasn't even a word to describe exactly what I felt in that moment. Pain, yes. Panic, absolutely. Hurt - sharp enough to cut bone. My wolf whimpered in my head, the sound low and broken.

She must have seen it. My reaction, my silence… because her eyes widened, her expression shifting from guarded determination to something that looked almost like guilt.

"River, I-" She stopped, swallowing hard, fumbling for the right words. "I didn't… mean to hurt you." Her voice shook. "I just… I'm sorry, I-"

Her gaze darted to the ground, but I caught the glisten in her eyes. She was tearing up. And that did something strange to me. I wasn't sure if it was relief, that she wasn't completely unmoved, or if it only made the ache worse knowing she still wanted to push me away despite feeling this way.

"Then don't," I said before I could stop myself.

She blinked at me.

Slowly - so damn slowly - brgI reached out, my hand hovering before it touched hers. I didn't want to spook her, didn't want her to jerk away before I even got close. When my fingers finally wrapped around hers, her body went still. Not cold, not pulling away… just still.

The bond surged instantly. It was like my whole being recognized her on every level - mind, body, soul. The pull was magnetic, dizzying. My wolf howled in satisfaction at the simple contact, and it took everything in me not to close the distance completely, to not pull her against me and claim her lips until she couldn't breathe without me.

But I couldn't. Not like this. Not when her eyes still held that wariness, that distance.

So I kept my voice soft, careful. "I know you don't like me," I said. The words were bitter on my tongue, but it was the truth. "And I'm not asking you to suddenly change that. But don't… reject me."

Her lips parted slightly, but she didn't speak, so I went on.

"Give me a chance. Give us a chance." My thumb brushed over her knuckles, the small movement grounding me. "I'm not asking you to feel the same today, or tomorrow, or even next month. But… Moon Goddess gave us this bond for a reason. I want to prove to you that I can be the one for you."

Shock flickered over her face. Her eyes went wide, and her lips trembled slightly. I could tell she wasn't expecting this from me. Hell, I wasn't expecting it from me either. I had never been the man to speak softly, to ask instead of take. But something about her… she brought it out in me.

Even my wolf, usually wild and restless, was calm now, urging me forward. She's listening. Don't let her go.

I was about to tell her she could take all the time she needed, that I would wait as long as it took - when she cut in. Her voice was steady but her eyes… stars, her eyes looked lost.

"It's not about how I feel toward you," she said quietly.

I froze.

"What is it about, then?" My voice came out sharper than I intended, laced with an edge of desperation.

She looked at me then - really looked at me - and for a moment, I thought I saw something break inside her.

"You wanted to know my relation with Ethan," she murmured, each word deliberate. "I'll tell you."

My chest tightened.

And her next words slammed into me like a blow I never saw coming.

"He was my mate."

My head went blank for a second. Ethan - her mate. As I repeated her words over and over in my mind for a few times, a sudden realization hit me.

Was.

She said it so casually, but it hit me like a punch to the chest.

"Was," she repeated, meeting my gaze without flinching. "He rejected me just hours before you attacked Shadowfang Pack."

For a split second - before I could stop myself - relief bloomed in my chest. I hated myself for it, but it was there, sharp and selfish. I kept my face blank, unwilling to let her see.

But she wasn't finished.

"Now, I'm mated to two of your brothers," she said, steady but quiet. "Oscar and Draven."

The air thickened as the weight of her words sank into me. My brothers. My blood. I could feel my pulse in my jaw, in my temples, pounding harder with every second.

I barely had time to process that when she spoke again - words soft, but heavy enough to split the ground beneath me.

"And I'm pregnant… with Ethan's child."

The world stilled. My thoughts scattered like leaves in a storm. I stared at her, but I wasn't really seeing her - I was seeing every implication, every tangled knot these revelations created.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

She looked away first, and that alone told me how much she dreaded my reaction. I could feel my heart hammering, the mate bond thrumming with emotions I couldn't untangle - shock, disbelief, a strange, bitter kind of hope, and something dangerously close to jealousy.

Three sentences. That's all it took for her to dismantle everything I thought I knew.

And I wasn't sure if I hated her for it… or if I hated myself more for still wanting her.