Feral Bonds: Claimed By Rogue Alpha Brothers

Kieran:

"Talk," I said, my voice low but sharp enough to cut through anything unnecessary.

Jasper didn’t waste a second.

He moved toward the central table, placing his tablet down before tapping the screen a few times. His usual easygoing demeanor was gone, replaced by the focused and serious version of him.

"We started digging into Charles earlier this morning," he began. "Background, history, connections - everything we could find."

I folded my arms across my chest, bracing myself. There was something in his tone that told me I wasn’t going to like this.

"Charles’ parents died when he was two," Jasper continued. "In a rogue attack."

My brows pulled together slightly. That wasn’t unusual. Tragic, yes - but not uncommon in our world.

"He was raised by his grandmother after that," Jasper added. "He has no siblings, no other relatives. It was just him and hus grandmother living in their pack town."

I nodded once, silently urging him to continue.

"According to the pack members," he said, glancing briefly at the screen, "they were... normal. Quiet. Kept to themselves. His grandmother runs a diner. She’s well-liked since she’s a kind woman."

So far, nothing sounded suspicious. Nothing that screamed danger.

But Jasper didn’t stop.

"Charles, on the other hand..." he trailed slightly before continuing, "was an easy target."

My jaw tightened.

"Because he was an orphan?" I asked.

Jasper nodded before saying, "That, and his wolf. It was weak, abnormally so. He could barely shift, and even when he did, it only lasted a few hours during the full moon."

"They bullied him relentlessly," he went on. "And it was bad enough that multiple pack members reported seeing him come back home barely conscious - bruised, bloodied, sometimes even with broken limbs."

A heavy silence fell over the room.

"It wasn’t uncommon," he added quietly. "Apparently, there were times people genuinely thought he wouldn’t survive the beatings."

I didn’t say anything but the image formed anyway - a kid, alone and beaten over and over again. No one stepping in. No one stopping it.

It didn’t sit right with me.

Didn’t matter who he turned out to be now - no one deserved that.

But still... something about this felt off.

"Go on," River said.

Jasper nodded. "Last March, something happened... Charles disappeared."

I straightened slightly.

"He disappeared?" Elion asked, clearly as taken aback as the rest of us.

"For about a week," Jasper replied. "No one knew where he went. His grandmother was searching everywhere in panic. Many in his pack assumed one of the beatings finally went too far and this time he’s not lucky 3nough to survive."

I exchanged a quick glance with River, but before either of us could spoke, Jasper’s next words reached us.

"But then he came back a week later. And according to the witnesses, they never saw him in a worse condition before that day. It’s been told his entire face was bandaged, his arm was broken, and he had bruises all over his body. It was a miracle he even survived that."

I wasn’t sure exactly where this story was going, but I didn’t interrupt. Because Japser knew better than to waste time talking about that might do nothing to help us find Evaline.

"Apparently, he stayed inside his house after that and barely stepped out for months. It was just his grandmother taking care of him. And when he finally did, he seemed... different."

"Different? How?" I asked.

Jasper frowned as if he too couldn’t understand this matter properly, but he still went ahead and shared what he had found out.

"The people of his pack said that after recovering, Charles actually became healthier... even stronger. He no longer looked as helpless and weak as in the past. They even said that the change wasn’t too much to make them confront him, but still enough to make them blink twice."

I couldn’t decide where this set with me. It’s just like what Charles’ pack member said - this matter didn’t seem that important or abnormal, but there’s still something about it that didn’t sit right.

"What else have you found?" River asked, urging Jasper to continue.

"Mallory told me that the first time Luna met Charles, it was during summer vacation," he said. "She and her friends were dining in Lakeshire when she and Mallory saw him getting cornered by a group of teenagers and they stepped in.

That sounded like something Evaline would do.

"And then?" I asked.

"The second time they met him was at the academy," Jasper said. "And once again they witnessed him being cornered by his own classmates."

I didn’t know why but this entire situation made it seem like too much of a coincidence. Or was I thinking too much?

"Apparently, after this second meeting, Charles became friends with Luna and her group. And they protected him, making sure he wouldn’t be bullied anymore."

A silence settled over us. It was heavy and uncomfortable.

Because on the surface, none of this made Charles look dangerous. If anything, it painted him as a victim. Someone who needed help. Someone Eva would naturally be drawn to. Someone she would trust.

And that was exactly what made my instincts scream.

"Jasper," I said slowly, "you didn’t call us here just to tell us he had a rough time growing up."

His lips pressed into a thin line. "No, Alpha," he admitted. "I didn’t."

The air shifted instantly.

"What else did you find?" Oscar demanded.

Jasper glanced down at his tablet before looking back up at us. "I felt something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. So I decided to track down the people involved in those two bullying incidents."

My eyes narrowed.

"How?" It was Elion who asked the question.

"CCTV footage," Jasper replied. "Nearby stores, streets - anywhere cameras might have picked something up during the first encounter."

Smart.

"And?" I pressed.

"For the second encounter at the academy, I asked for Mallory’s help," he added. "I had her identify the students."

My pulse picked up. A part of me already knew that this was the part of Charles’ story where everything changed.