Healing The Ruthless Alpha

Chapter 34

"... and done." I looked at myself in the full-length mirror in front of me. The makeup artist waited for my reaction but all I could manage was a blank expression as I stared at her work in the mirror.

My Luna Ceremony had come. Cahir didn't even give me the time to settle in or to wrap my head around all the many things happening in my life at this point. He just sprung the news on me and I couldn't refuse. I sighed out loud and it may have spooked the makeup artist.

"Do you – Do you not like it?" The lady asked. I caught a fleeting look of nervousness on her apprentice's face in the mirror. The younger girl stood behind me with her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

"It's alright," I answered the makeup artist.

The truth was that I could not focus on the person looking back at me in the mirror. Though my eyes were on the mirror before me, my mind was in a faraway place.

"If you don't like it, we can modify it to your taste." I could tell she was nervous as she twiddled one of her many makeup brushes.

"Is it too loud?" Her apprentice asked but I shook my head.

It took a great deal of effort for me to pull myself to the present to inspect the work that had been done on my face.

"Oh." I blinked to make sure the person staring at me was indeed me. "I –" No words came from my mouth after that. I couldn't say anything past that as I looked at my dolled-up face in the mirror.

Had I ever looked this good? Did I ever dream of looking this good?

The makeup artist and her apprentice had done a marvellous job in accentuating my best features. My eyes popped, and for the first time, I noticed how beautiful they were. She highlighted my cheekbones and my lips which I always considered dry looked luscious. The makeup was also calm, with neutral colours. Save for the pink lipgloss, all the colours she used were light and calm but she still managed to capture a beauty I never knew I had.

"I never knew makeup would transform me like this." I touched my cheek, careful not to ruin the hour that had gone into making me up.

"Transformed?" The apprentice looked alarmed as she exclaimed.

"I only highlighted your features with the lightest of makeup," the artist replied to me with a tight smile. "I felt it wouldn't be good for people to meet you for the first time with too much makeup. Do you think it's too much?"

"No, it's not." I touched my face again.

The art of makeup was lost on me as I invested my time in serving the wolves of Silver Moon rather than on my appearance, however, even I could see how light the makeup was. I'd seen how the girls in Silver Moon wore makeup and this wasn't anything close to theirs.

"I love it." With those words came a breath of relief that launched the two women into long talks and adoration for me and my 'perfect features.'

"Everyone will love you!" The apprentice assured me.

My mind drifted again after that. No matter how much I tried to calm my heart, how much I tried to stop my legs from bounding on the ground, I could not stop my nervousness. Anxiety made me hot one minute and cold the next and when the artist's apprentice assured me that the people would love me, I swallowed down bile.

What if they didn't?

I swallowed hard, wishing to be over and done with all this.

If the people didn't like me, what would I do?

I didn't want to be condemned to be hated even in this pack where I would be spending the rest of my life.

A Luna Ceremony. As an omega, especially one hated like me, I was never allowed to attend any of the hundreds of leadership trainings Silver Moon pack organized. Leadership had never been a part of my future but now, Cahir had thrust me into the limelight without preamble.

How the hell was I supposed to lead a pack as their Luna!?

What if the people of Alpha Blood pack hated me? I shivered, wrapping my hands around my shoulders as I swallowed for the nth time, unable to stomach the thought.

"The Ceremony starts in an hour so we will leave now. The girls will bring in your dress and shoes. Congratulations." The makeup artist and her apprentice had finished gathering up their products so they bowed themselves out, exiting the room with friendly smiles.

The urge to bury my face into a pillow and shout kicked me hard but I couldn't ruin the work the women had put in so I held myself. I didn't have to wait for long for my dress as it came in less than five minutes.

Thirty minutes later, I was dressed in a salt white dress that flared from the waist and stopped above my knees with white flats. The women that dressed me cooed and cheered at how pretty I looked but I couldn't see anymore, half blinded by nervousness.

Five minutes before the event started, I heard a knock on the door. Cahir entered after that, dressed in a white shirt and dark slacks. They looked like his everyday work clothes but Asena ate up the sight of his muscles bulging in his shirt.

My hands smoothed down my dress of their own accord as I stood to face him. The expression on his face made me nervous. His jaw ticked and he clenched his fists at his side, a look that I interpreted as anger.

I examined my dress to ensure it wasn't provocative. It wasn't. The dress was a simple satin and lace dress so why did he look like he wanted to rip it to shreds?

"I want to take that dress off you," he said in a quiet voice, walking towards me with purposeful strides. I shrank back, fearing from my clothes.

"W – Why? There is nothing wrong with it." I looked down at the dress again while I quivered from his presence sucking the air from the room.

"I want to see what's underneath." His tone did things to my body which I could not explain. "I want to see you naked, Sihana."

"But – But the ceremony is starting soon and – and –" I looked away with a face that blazed red. I must look like a ripened tomato now!

"The Ceremony –" He said in a quiet voice then he huffed, walking around me to pull open a heavy drawer.

Taking something out, he walked back towards me with sparkling jewellery in his hands. "You will wear these." His tone left no room for argument although I would not have argued. The jewellery looked beautiful and expensive, something no girl would turn down without good reason.

He put the neck piece around my neck and tried to put the hops around my ear but then he found out I had no piercing.

"I – I never got them pierced," I answered. For some reason, I felt shame in my guts.

"I see." Whatever he saw made his mood drop.

He took my hand and we exited the room with him still in a weird mood.

"The Ceremony is at the pack house," he said to me as we got into a sleek black car. I nodded in response to stop my jaw from dropping at the sight of the car.

We got to the pack house in less than ten minutes and the building standing before me made my jaw drop.

"W – Wow." I gasped at the magnificence of the place. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

How rich were these people to be able to afford a pack house of this size? I had to tilt my neck to see the top of the house and it wasn't just one or two like most packs. The pack house should be called the pack houses because there were five high rises of the same layout that stood next to each other in a semi-circle.

"Welcome, Luna Sihana, Alpha Cahir!" The crowd I didn't notice out front cheered.

I'd been too preoccupied with the lavishness of the pack dwellings that I missed the people rushing out of the many doors of the houses.

Then I saw them. Cameras.

I took an involuntary step closer to Cahir and he put his hand around my waist, tucking me into his side. The gesture calmed me a bit but my heart still pounded in my ears.

People poured out of the pack houses and they came with phones, taking pictures of me, but they were the least of my worries. What worried me were the men and women with cameras.

There were reporters rushing towards us and I felt myself sway on my feet.