Chapter 374: Alphas’ Final Decision
Evaline:
The moment I stepped into the study, my heart began hammering in my chest. All four of the brothers were there, and the atmosphere inside was thick enough to choke on. Still, I kept my eyes fixed on River.
He was standing with his back to the desk, a sleek tablet in his hands, his attention locked onto whatever he was scrolling through. The soft glow from the screen painted sharp shadows across his face, making him look more like the Boss I had once known than the mate I had grown used to over the last few months. His presence filled the room, commanding and unyielding.
I didn’t let my eyes drift to the others - not even to Kieran, though I felt his gaze on me the instant I crossed the threshold. It burned against my skin, heavy with something I didn’t want to ponder on at the moment.
I stopped several steps away from River, my hands crossed in front of my chest to keep from fidgeting. For a moment, I considered saying something first, but the tension swirling between us was a storm I wasn’t sure I wanted to step into. He still hadn’t looked up. Seconds stretched like hours.
Then, with deliberate slowness, he set the tablet aside on the desk and raised his gaze to mine. The expression in his eyes - cold steel wrapped in calm calculation - hit me like a punch to the gut. There it was again - the Alpha. The boss. Not the man who held me at night or whispered my name like a prayer.
He didn’t speak. Neither did I.
We stared at each other, still and quiet, the calm before some inevitable, violent shift. Even the faint sound of Oscar flipping a page in some file felt deafening.
Somewhere to my left, I caught Draven muttering under his breath - "Stats, this is suffocating" - and his voice snapped through the silence like a whip.
River exhaled, breaking the spell. "I have come to hear," he began, his voice steady and low, "that you have got too much free time on your hands these days, Evaline. Enough to focus on things that shouldn’t have you... or any other student... involved."
His words were quiet, but the rebuke in them was unmistakable.
My jaw tightened. I turned my head just enough to cast a glance at Kieran. He was looking anywhere but at me now, his focus firmly on the far wall as if he had suddenly found it fascinating.
I let out a small sigh, forcing my attention back to River. I was ready... ready to explain, ready to defend myself, ready to make him see reason. But before I could even open my mouth, his voice cut clean across my thoughts.
"It’s time for you to start training."
I blinked at him, stunned. "Training?"
"Yes," he said simply, his expression unreadable. "Combat training. Your second year at Silver Moon starts in four months, which means combat classes begin. You don’t have a wolf, nor do you have prior physical combat experience. You need to start now to at least keep up with your classmates."
My lips parted, but no sound came out.
He went on without a break. "And that’s only the first part. You have recently discovered healing powers you barely understand. That, too, requires training. Kieran will handle that. Oscar and I will train you for combat."
He tilted his head slightly, his voice dropping to something that sounded like a challenge. "If you are that bored, Evaline, perhaps you should start focusing on your own powers instead of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong."
I just stared at him.
This was their answer. This was what they had decided together. Not a discussion. Not a compromise. A decision. A lesson.
If this had been any other day, I might have been grateful for their offer - training for both combat and my healing powers was something I actually needed. But right now, all I could see was the way they were using it to control me. To stop me. To redirect me.
My nails bit into my palms.
I didn’t feel like saying anything at all - not to River, not to Kieran, not to any of them. It might have been River’s voice delivering the blow, but I knew this was all four of them acting as one.
Slowly, I turned on my heel.
The shock of it rippled through the bond. I felt it - River’s sudden flare of frustration, Kieran’s guilt, Oscar’s faint disbelief. Draven’s curiosity, sharp as a blade.
I walked past Draven without sparing him a glance, reaching for the door. My hand was on the knob when his voice stopped me.
"Eva."
It was quiet but clear, carrying a softness that didn’t belong in the room full of hard edges. "I’m coming with you."
I froze, then pivoted to face him.
He stood halfway out of his chair, his expression soft but his posture tense. For a second.
My glare must have been sharp enough to slice through him, because he stopped mid-step, surprise flickering across his face.
"Don’t," I said, my voice low but fierce. "Don’t step anywhere near my room."
He blinked at me, caught off guard.
I turned my head slightly, sparing the others a glance - Kieran with his lowered eyes, Oscar staring at me, River’s jaw tightening as he watched me. My voice carried, loud and clear, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
"None of you are welcome."
And then I opened the door and walked out.
The hallway outside felt colder than the study I had just left. My heart was still hammering in my chest, my hands trembling as I gripped the edge of my dress.
I didn’t know where I was going yet, only that I needed to get away from them before my anger cracked into something worse.
Behind me, the heavy door of the study stayed shut, no one following. But through the bond, I could still feel them.
For a fleeting moment, I wondered if I had just made a mistake. If walking away like this would make things worse.
Then I straightened my shoulders.
No.
If they thought they could cage me with training, they were wrong.