JUST LIKE A DREAM

CHAPTER TWO: JUST LIKE A DREAM

Evelyn’s POV

My heart raced as Alpha Raphael sniffed me like I was something to be tested… or consumed.

The entire world seemed to shrink to that single moment as his breath neared my skin, his presence overwhelming, and suffocating. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t even breathe properly.

Worse of all…I was wolfless.

I had no wolf, no inner voice, or no bond to respond to his. Just silence where something sacred was supposed to exist. And in a world like ours, that made me nothing.

A quiet laugh broke somewhere behind me, then another.

“He can’t even feel anything from her.”

“Of course not, she doesn’t even have a wolf.” Someone in the crowd laughed.

“How embarrassing…” came another.

Their whispers cut deeper than claws.

I clenched my fingers into my dress, my nails digging into the worn fabric as I fought to stay still. To not crumble. To not give them the satisfaction.

Raphael inhaled once more, slower this time, as if trying to confirm something.

For a split second, just a second, I thought I saw confusion flicker across his face.

Then it vanished and was replaced by something darker.

His jaw tightened, and a low, dangerous growl rumbled from his chest, sending a chill straight down my spine.

And just like that, he turned his back on me with no explanation or second glance.

He walked away like I didn’t exist, like I wasn’t worth another second of his attention.

The silence lasted only a heartbeat before the murmuring returned louder this time, and even more harsher.

“I knew it.” Someone laughed.

“As if the Alpha would ever choose someone like her.”

“She really thought she had a chance?”

Each word felt heavier than the last.

My vision blurred, my chest tightening painfully as the weight of humiliation pressed down on me.

I couldn’t stay here.

“I want to leave,” I whispered, my voice barely holding together as I turned to Nora. “Please… I’ve been embarrassed enough.”

Nora’s expression softened immediately, her grip tightening around my hand.

“I know,” she said gently, glancing toward the entrance. “But we can’t.”

I frowned slightly, my breathing uneven. “What do you mean?”

“There are guards outside,” she explained quietly. “No one leaves until the ball ends. It’s the Alpha’s order.”

Of course it was. This was another cruel twist of fate.

I swallowed hard, nodding slowly even though everything inside me screamed to run.

So instead, I stayed stuck in a room full of people who saw me as nothing more than a joke.

My gaze drifted across the hall, searching without meaning to.

He was gone. Alpha Raphael was no longer in the ballroom like the storm had passed, leaving only destruction behind.

I exhaled shakily, unsure whether to feel relieved… or worse.

Because somehow, his absence felt just as heavy as his presence.

“You’re okay,” Nora murmured softly, brushing her thumb over my hand. “Just ignore them.”

I nodded, even though ignoring them felt impossible.

But before I could say anything else, the murmuring shifted again. The murmurings had slowed down as someone was walking toward us.

He was tall, composed, and controlled.

Unlike the Alpha, his presence didn’t suffocate the room, but it commanded attention all the same.

He was Beta Damien.

My stomach dropped.

Why was he coming here? Was he coming to say something? To… finish what Raphael had started?

I instinctively stepped closer to Nora, my pulse quickening again as he approached.

He stopped just in front of us, his sharp eyes settling on me with a kind of quiet assessment, not cruel, not mocking… but calculating.

For a moment, he said nothing, then he smiled.

“Evelyn,” he said calmly.

Hearing my name from someone like him made my chest tighten.

“Yes?” I managed to say say, my voice small and composed.

The room had gone quiet again.

People were watching and waiting, but Damien didn’t acknowledge them. His focus remained entirely on me.

“The Alpha has given an order,” he said.

My breath hitched. Of course he had.

My mind immediately raced to the worst possible outcome.

I had embarrassed him, stood in front of him like I mattered.

This was it. I was about to be thrown out publicly and disgraced.

“You are to move into the packhouse,” Damien continued.

I blinked. “…What?”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.

Nora’s grip tightened around my arm. “I’m sorry? what did you just say?”

Damien didn’t react to her tone. “His orders are to be carried out immediately, Evelyn will relocate to the packhouse.”

The words didn’t make sense, infact none of this made sense.

“Why?” I asked before I could stopped myself. It came out softer than I intended.

Damien’s gaze lingered on me for a second longer, as if deciding how much to say.

“Your presence,” he replied slowly, “had an effect on the Alpha.”

My brows furrowed. “An effect?”

“He was calmer than usual. His mood swings had taken a toll on him recently,” Damien said simply.

The word echoed strangely in my mind.

That couldn’t be right. I hadn’t done anything, i had just stood there… being humiliated all throughout the night.

“He has ordered that you remain close,” Damien added. “For now.”

“For now?” Nora repeated, her voice sharp with suspicion. “And what exactly will she be doing in the packhouse?”

Damien finally glanced at her, then back at me.

“That,” he said evenly, “will be for the Alpha to decide.”

A chill ran through me.

There was no reassurance in his words, no comfort, or even pity. Just control.

I swallowed, my thoughts spinning.

“I… I don’t understand,” I admitted quietly.

“You don’t need to,” Damien replied. “You only need to follow the order.”

Of course. Because in this pack, what the Alpha wanted happened no matter who it affected, or how little it made sense.

I looked down at my hands, still clutching my dress.

This night was supposed to prove that I didn’t belong here, and that I was right to stop hoping.

And yet, now everything was changing in a way I didn’t understand.

“Do I… go now?” I asked hesitantly.

“Not tonight,” Damien said. “Return home and gather your things. You will report to the packhouse tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? So soon?

My chest tightened again. There was no time to process this or even time to prepare. This was just another step into something unknown.

Damien gave a small nod, signaling the end of the conversation.

“Enjoy the rest of the evening,” he said, though there was no warmth in it.

Then he turned, and walked away just like the Alpha had done, leaving me standing there, surrounded by silence… and stares.

But this time, they weren’t mocking me, they looked confused, jealous, and suspicious.

“What just happened?” Nora whispered beside me.

I shook my head slowly.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

And that was the truth because nothing about this felt real. Not the humiliation, the Alpha, and definitely not the fact that somehow… like me Was being pulled into his world.