It couldn't be. Her senses went blank and face became emotionless. Never once did she blink in that gap of five minutes when her mind was trying to figure out a rational explanation for this. How in the world was it possible?
Her father, the famous William Osborne was well-known for the misery he'd inflicted on his enemy packs, one in particular, the Moonstone pack which shared its border with Evelyn's with only a ten feet distance between the two territories.
She'd heard stories about the previous alpha of their pack and how he was overthrown by William. They said the son of the previous alpha took over the throne when he was just fifteen.
He was a fierce warrior and a quick learner. Every alpha, despite of their age, praised and feared him and soon he became the most feared alpha among the seven cursed packs. His mere name was enough to bring terror to the wolves who dared to betray their alpha and his that name shook Evelyn vigorously from inside.
"M-Michael A-Arnault?" Evelyn tried to confirm with her hesitant voice. Jasmine just shortly nodded as a reply and a few smirks made their way onto the audience's faces.
'There's no freaking way in hell that I'm going to be mated with Michael Arnault. He's a reputation to maintain and I can't interfere in that. Now I know why he's such well built and muscular. He's Michael freaking Arnault!' Evelyn was beyond shocked and her fear didn't seem to be going easy on her. She couldn't stomach the fact that she was destined to be Michael Arnault's mate.
William was going to kill her. No he was going to kill her in the most painful way! First she got kidnapped and ruined his plan of mating her with alpha Asher's son and then she submitted to the person, the one and only Michael Arnault who he abhorred more than anything unpleasant in the whole wide world.
Evelyn gulped down the lump forming in her throat and in the process she choked and started coughing hysterically.
Jasmine came by her side and rubbed Evelyn's back to soothe her but the gamma female didn't leave the chance to poke her.
"What's wrong princess? Caught something in your throat?" She said in a mocking tone and a light chuckling broke among the crowd.
Evelyn couldn't care about it much in that state of mind. Her brain was literally stuffed with chaos as she tried to figure out her fate in this place. Mating with their alpha was not an option and under any circumstance she'd have to run. That was the only way.
Her coughing seemed to drop down and everything inside of her was quiet and stilled like it used to be. She gasped a bit of air to soothe her insides down and regain more of herself. What had she gotten herself into?
The gamma female eyed her up and down in disgust as if Evelyn was some sort or virus before spitting out, "You're not even fit to be a luna, you're just a pathetic piece of—"
"You don't want to finish that sentence." The warning and the source of it made the air around them thick and heavy.
Evelyn could smell and sense his aura lingering in the air surrounding her. Everyone was lost in their own train of thoughts as she processed that voice in her memory. The gamma female slowly backed away without meeting her eyes and Evelyn sat still on her seat without sparing the alpha behind her a glance.
She couldn't meet his eyes. After what she'd found out it was impossible to not be intimidated by him. He was not that bad actually, he was the worst! Life had thrown Evelyn into a pit without a rope to climb out, without a warning but if destiny and Moon Goddess allowed, she'd escape it all.
"Stop thinking! Your thoughts are annoying enough." The alpha growled behind her.
That ought to enrage Evelyn. It was her head, she owned it and if it bothered him so much he could just un-hear her thoughts.
"How about you minding your own mind pervert!" Evelyn yelled forcing herself on her own two feet and swung around in a swift twist.
"You can't talk to him like that." The beta growled from behind his alpha and was quickly shushed by Michael.
He gave his beta a glance before looking back at Evelyn with emotionless eyes. He was the most cruel alpha, and this wasn't a fantasy in which she just happened to be a naive little luna and surprisingly his redemption. This was reality.
Evelyn looked at him trying to find an answer that'd been in her mind for a while and she tried a last feeble attempt to get him out of her hair.
"How do you tolerate me? Doesn't it burn your eyes to look at me and hold back your rage? Doesn't it hurt to see a face that remind you of the man you detest the most and yet you can't destroy it? Doesn't it hurt to be emotionally attached to someone who you'd been trying to use as a weapon in war just a night ago?"
Evelyn closed the proximity between them with each question. Every wolf was fuming with rage behind her and others were possibly questioning her sanity. But there he was, still unmoved and standing his ground. He was so still and pale it seemed almost impossible to get an emotion out of him.
"Doesn't it hurt to breathe the same air as me?" She was inches away from his face or his chest as she had to crane her neck high to meet his dark forest green eyes. She wasn't so intimidated by his manly strength as much as she was by his eyes. Those captivating eyes but she wasn't ready to make a deal with the Devil yet.
Much to her surprise, he gripped the both sides of her arms and brought her impossibly closer to his torso. In that moment when not even a minute space was left between their two bodies, it felt as though everything else in that hall had vanished and the only ones standing were them.
Not a sound was uttered, it was pin drop silence as they just stared at each other. Most of Evelyn's focus was on her heart that was hysterically pounding in her chest and the sound of which was constantly drumming in her ears.
All that moment she kept thinking what his next actions would be. She'd been able to predict William's actions when he was mad but Micheal was the most unpredictable person on this planet, especially in anger. And Evelyn knew that as a fact because he instantly grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her face above harshly and captured her lips in his, completely ignoring the gasps that made their presence in the room behind them.
He was kissing her dominantly as her wrists stayed gripped in one of his. There was nothing gentle about that interaction, he was being too harsh but all she did was let out a moan in his mouth.
She didn't know what to do and kissed him back without a warning—her wolf's fault. It was a stupid action and the one that caught him by surprise too but he kept claiming her lips as his dominantly, unaffected by anyone and anything.
And then suddenly when Evelyn gave him the access to her mouth he pulled back in a haste, and an irritated groan left from her wolf. It wasn't until then that she realized how much she'd wanted him to continue that kiss.
His lips pulled up into an awfully teasing smirk at her reaction. She'd pouted like a little child when he pulled back instead of deepening the kiss.
"Tell me little wolf, how does it feel to be mated with a person your father is willing to kill at all costs? How does it feel to feel this eager towards a kiss with a person you're told to hate growing up?" Her brows scrunched up in anger. It was just a game and she was too late to notice.
Evelyn angrily pushed him backwards and wrapped her arms around herself. She hated him. He was an impeccable traditional definition of a jerk. She knew a guy like him would probably be a player but to fall to this extent. She was the one to enrage him but out of all possibilities she hadn't expected this one.
This earned her a chuckle from him, and a heavy one because of his deep voice. "Aww . . . you look so cute like a child who'd been robbed of their favourite ice-cream." His laughing seemed to have no end and Evelyn was much irritated by it so she began walking off to her room.
There was no point of being here after all of this.
"I'd love to see the look on William's face when I tell him about his dearest daughter becoming my mate." He ended his chuckle and seemed to be in a serious thought for a moment.
Evelyn stopped dead on her tracks when she realized what he'd said. He was going to tell her father. No way in hell she could let that happen!
"You're not going to tell him anything." Evelyn's tone was dead serious and fear was crystal clear in her eyes. William would not be happy about this.
"You know, it's not a high school affair or an ordinary relationship you can just hide from your family. It's a mating bond." She rubbed her temples furiously at his statement.
She knew she couldn't hide it but how would she explain it to him that she couldn't be in this relationship with him without the living room turning into a pool of blood.
A loud growl erupted from his chest and Evelyn knew it was his dominant wolf scolding her for thinking like that but she couldn't care less about what he thought.
"I will not mate with you." His eyes glowed lethal at her sentence, he wasn't going to take it well but she tried to be reason with him. "If my father found out about us—"
"William can burn in hell! I don't care what he thinks!" He stomped towards Evelyn and she slightly flinched at his remark made on her father. He was beyond angry as he approached her and dominant and possessive as well.
"Your father can't touch a hair on my head so don't even think about me getting hurt." Evelyn gave him a questioning look which perplexed him as well. This guy had no idea.
"I'm not worried about you!" She screamed and his eyes demonstrated a little bit of hurt but was quickly veiled by nothingness.
"You're an alpha, you have a whole wide pack behind you but if I made a mistake, it's me and him and no one by my side. My family is too much of a coward to protect me and I sure as hell can't depend on you." She looked between him and the ground.
It was the truth, if he got in trouble he had a whole pack who'd care for him but who'd mourn her death? She'd be vanished into thin air in the snap of a finger and no one would even find out.
"He's your father. He may be many things but he wouldn't for goddess's sake kill his own child." Evelyn just scoffed and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to stream down her face. Her past was a dreadful piece of her life, a place she wouldn't wish to visit ever.
"You know nothing about my life." She was looking up at him when a tear dropped down her cheek, taking him by surprise.
Evelyn quickly turned around and rushed upstairs with her emotion all over the place. She endeavoured to hide her face from the audience but at this point surprisingly no one was there except for his beta, Jasmine and that gamma female.
She didn't spare any one of them a glance and cried her way upstairs. As soon as she got inside her room, she locked the door and broke down right there on the floor.
If that proud gamma female was right about one thing, it was that Evelyn wasn't fit to be a luna. She was weak and emotionally damaged. She came with a lot of baggage Michael didn't know about and she hoped he wouldn't ever find out. She was truly nothing but some damaged goods.