She sat there on the floor for what seemed like forever, crying her eyes out before a subtle knock came at her door. Her back was leaning against the wall as she completely ignored the sound.
She didn't even take a glimpse of the person walking in her room since Evelyn had unbolted the door a few minutes ago and had a quite good guess who that person might be.
Small shy steps slyly made their way to where she was perched. She crouched down to Evelyn's level and sat beside Evelyn with her back leaning against the wall as she let out a sigh.
It was a feeble attempt to make Evelyn laugh and she would've hopefully under different circumstances but not now, not when her mind was crammed with billions of beatings that could be inflicted upon Evelyn.
No one knew about the abuses, not her family not Oscar and surely not Jasmine—just Evelyn, and Mr. and Mrs. Osborne did.
Though Evelyn couldn't calculate what hurt more; getting ferociously beaten for a silly thing or watching her mother stand away in a corner looking right back at her and doing nothing about it.
Mrs. Osborne was there at Evelyn's every punishment but she never took a step forward to her rescue. That was her fear.
When the luna never took a decision against the brutal schemes of alpha, who was she to dishonour him? Evelyn knew William would charge her guilty for treason without a second thought and she had no plans to spend the rest of her life rotting in a cell.
"I wish I was your mate." Evelyn looked at the girl with questioning brows who stared back at her with an innocent look.
Where did that come from? Evelyn scrunched up her brows in confusion.
"Well your mate's a coward. First he made you cry and now he sent me to check up on you. He doesn't even have the guts to come up himself and talk his feelings and he calls himself an alpha." Evelyn giggled at her friend's remark and she laughed back too. But they hoped silently he wouldn't be a part of this conversation, ever.
"Or maybe he knows that there's someone who can actually defy him." They laughed some more and then just like the silence after a heavy storm crowded the room and the smiles got lost in the gloomy chirps of unknown birds outside.
'At least they're enjoying their freedom.' Evelyn thought.
Jasmine lightly tugged at her arm dragging Evelyn's attention from outside towards her face and her beautiful ebony eyes. She'd make Evelyn reveal her darkest secrets by giving just a look of her supportive beauty and compassionate warmth radiating from her eyes.
"Why were you looking off yesterday at school?" She asked. Evelyn knew she couldn't avoid it anymore and even if she wanted to say it out loud, she was scared how Michael would react to all of this.
"I won't tell anyone." Jasmine quickly added and brought her little finger closer to one of Evelyn's, "Pinky promise." She promised intertwining their little fingers together like four year olds. That was a sweet and silly gesture but most of all it was a heartwarming thing to do and it made Evelyn smile once more.
"My father . . . he . . . um . . . he wants . . ." No matter how much Evelyn tried it was beyond her capability to form words in front of Jasmine. How was she supposed to explain it to her? Never had she done that in her life. Evelyn never had a heart to heart with anyone, she wasn't allowed that freedom at home.
"Your father . . . does he ab-abuse y-you?" Jasmine stuttered and looked at Evelyn with tears swelling up in her eyes.
Evelyn blinked back the cries in her lenses and the ones that threatened to escape her throat; she bit her tongue to stifle those screams. She didn't wish to answer that.
"He's planning my mating ceremony next month." Evelyn admitted between her sobs which earned her a loud gasp from Jasmine. She seemed far more dazed than Evelyn was when she'd first took the news into consideration.
"If Mike finds out—"
"I know." Evelyn interrupted her friend. If Michael found out William would have hell to pay.
Male alphas were known to be dominant, possessive and the more powerful they were, the angrier. A male couldn't bear the thought of his mate giving herself to someone else and vice versa.
Evelyn wasn't sure how Michael felt about her but if he was truly her mate, he wouldn't let anyone come near her until she was entirely his, his in every way possible and after. He'd cross every limit to make Evelyn understand that she belonged to him.
That thought was disturbing and at once scaring to her. What were his limits? Evelyn needed to know what extent he was willing to fight for her—would he fight for her when she'd given up every desire to be his mate? Most importantly, would he . . . would he force the bond on her?
Panic was clear in her eyes as Jasmine endeavoured to read her face and it didn't take her a long while to figure out what Evelyn had been thinking.
"He cares for you Eve. You might not feel the same way yet but wait till that bond comes back and strikes and you'll feel the same possessiveness and protectiveness over him as well. But you're going to have to let him in your heart." Evelyn gave her a doubtful look. Evelyn didn't know how this worked and she wanted to find out more.
"In males, it's quite simple. If the female submits to him then nothing else matters. Their wolf gets convinced that that female is entirely their. However in female, every emotion is heightened after the mating bond. If you want to feel for him like your wolf does you're going to have to take it like a human and let him in your heart and mind. And then when the times comes, when you're both ready, he'll claim you as his."
Evelyn found comfort in her words and she knew now that there was no rush but Evelyn really hoped Michael wouldn't lock her up in her room all day and night. She'd just unveiled her wolf and wanted to get along with her. But there was still a slight issue.
"They won't ever except me as their luna, you out of all people should know that after what happened downstairs today." Evelyn rebuked keeping her voice calm even though disappointment was dripping from her tone.
"Once you're his mate and our luna, you can kick anyone's butt you want without anyone so much as asking you why you did it." They both laughed at her statement.
Evelyn was glad to have someone in that house who didn't hate her for her father. Jasmine leaned in and pecked on Evelyn's forehead and began to leave.
"Sleep tight luna." Evelyn behaved cynically at her new title.
Evelyn didn't know anything about being a luna and what she'd seen her mother do so far in the house didn't help. In other packs it worked differently, like in the Moonstone pack where luna shared the equal power as the alpha and would go to fights and take care of the pack members like a mother.
All of it would be new to her. A new start.
******
Evelyn must've fallen asleep for she no longer remembered anything that happened in the past few hours and it was already midnight. Evelyn recalled going to bed early in the evening, she must've slept quite heavily.
"Yeah you did." Evelyn jumped at the sound and by instinct covered herself with the quilt she had over her body thinking as if it'd protect her.
'Wait, wasn't that voice . . . ?' She thought.
Evelyn peeked towards the source of sound after dropping the blanket on her lap and saw a seven feet tall and broad man towering over her, blocking away her view of the midnight sky. There was barely any light in the room so she could only perceive his figure as a silhouette that walked about in her room and was now leaning closer to her face.
Evelyn knew by his height, muscular torso and more importantly his scent that he was her alpha—besides who else would dare to visit her room in the middle of the night?
"Are you done thinking?" He whispered against her face and his breaths brushed her every worry away. His scent filled her nostrils and made her feel something in between her legs that she rather wanted to avoid.
"Why?" It was meant to be an annoyed question but rather it came out only as a half moan and even Evelyn could feel it.
She silently cursed herself for sounding like that.
A smirk made its appearance onto his face and his eyes showed a mischevious evil glint. Just looking at them made Evelyn feel horrific things—like her eyes were rolling in the back of her head, she had her thighs firmly pressed together, not to mention the pool that was forming in between her legs.
His closeness did these horrific things to her and she couldn't shake the thought of his soft lips on hers when they were just inches away.
He had been nearing her and had taken seat beside her, bending over on her body. It took everything in her power to not just crash her lips to his. Evelyn wouldn't make the first move, she didn't want him to think she had all these smutty feelings for him. 'Wait, he could read my mind, he's reading my mind!'
'Why did you do this to me Moon Goddess?' She squealed in her head.
His smirk only got encouraged as Evelyn's cheeks began to hurt from all the blushing. "As much as I prefer the idea of having your legs wrapped around myself, I think I'll have to postpone that."
He teasingly dropped kisses behind Evelyn's ear as he continued with the whispering. One of his hands was sliding above her thigh under the blanket and sent shivers all throughout her body. Her heart was pounding with the sinful imaginations created by her stupid mind.
"Don't be ashamed little wolf. If not me who else would you imagine doing smutty things to you?" He had such a deep voice that only his chuckle was suffice to make Evelyn moan.
"W-why were y-you h-here?" In her nervousness, Evelyn was stuttering like a child who'd just been taught to speak.
He inhaled her scent and when he felt like his lungs were filled and his soul was satisfied he drew back and looked down at her with his ever so unwavering dark forest green gaze.
"We're going for a run." It wasn't a request but rather a statement he dismissed with an authorative alpha tone.