Chapter 2
1720words
I was about to meet the guy I secretly loved.
And my purpose? To create an opportunity for him and the girl he secretly loved.
Just thinking about it made my chest ache.
"Luna, you look absolutely gorgeous today! Axel won't be able to take his eyes off you!" Daisy circled around me, her fluffy long ears standing tall with excitement.
I glanced at her, the tip of my snow leopard tail flicking almost imperceptibly behind me.
"I'm just delivering water. Don't read too much into it."
"Oops, got it!" Daisy playfully stuck out her tongue, stuffing a bottle of water into my arms. "Here, take this too."
I looked down to see a sticky note attached to the bottle in Daisy's neat handwriting: "For Axel."
My heart skipped a beat.
She'd thought of even this small detail.
When Daisy and I reached the basketball court, the atmosphere was already electric. Sweat, hormones, and two distinctly different Alpha pheromones hung heavy in the air, clashing violently.
One was Axel's sharp, cold pine scent, and the other was Kane's warm caramel coffee aroma.
My eyes were instantly drawn to him.
Axel had just sunk a perfect three-pointer, sweat trickling down his sharp jawline. As if sensing something, he suddenly turned, those piercing wolf eyes instantly locking onto me.
The gray bushy tail behind him visibly twitched.
He walked straight toward me, his powerful Alpha aura making it almost difficult to breathe, though deliberately restrained to avoid overwhelming me.
"You came."
Those simple words carried a hint of barely perceptible joy.
Before I could respond, someone cut between us. Kane's handsome face wore the cunning smile typical of red foxes as he deliberately released his caramel coffee pheromones, targeting Daisy directly.
"Hey there, little junior. Come to watch me play?"
Hearing his casual tone, I glanced at Daisy.
Kane caught my look and raised both hands in surrender, though the amusement in his eyes remained.
The halftime whistle blew.
I was fidgeting with the water bottle, hesitating, when Kane reached out and deliberately snatched the sticky-noted bottle from my arms.
He shook the bottle, his tail sweeping the ground proudly, his tone deliberately provocative.
"This water's for me, right?"
My blood instantly boiled.
"What the hell?"
"No."
Almost simultaneously, Axel's icy voice cut in from beside me, carrying the low growl of a gray wolf before a hunt.
"Let. Go."
The temperature around us instantly plummeted.
At this tense moment, from the corner of my eye, I caught Daisy—the lop-eared rabbit I was supposedly protecting—mischievously winking at me.
A realization hit me like lightning.
This whole thing had been planned by her and Kane.
They were using this little drama to help me test Axel's feelings.
Kane shook his head helplessly, turning to look at Daisy, his eyes full of affection.
My cheeks instantly flamed, my ice-queen persona crumbling in an instant.
Daisy watched me fumble, giggled mischievously, then stuffed her water bottle into my hand and pushed me toward Axel.
My heart hammered as I thrust the water bottle toward Axel without even looking at it.
"For you."
He caught it smoothly, his fingertips brushing against the back of my hand, sending electricity through my skin.
I suddenly looked up, falling into his intense gaze.
In that moment when our eyes met, his powerful gray wolf tail silently wrapped around my wrist, gently encircling it before quickly releasing it the next second.
Wait, what??
His t-tail!!!
His movement was so quick it seemed like an illusion.
But I definitely saw it.
The sunset bathed Axel in golden light, casting an orange hue on his hair. That handsome face, which usually wore a playful smirk, now sported an unmistakable blush.
The shrill whistle signaling the end of halftime pierced the air, yanking me back from my chaotic thoughts.
As Axel released my wrist, he gave me an intense look, his eyes swirling with emotions I couldn't decipher. Then he simply picked up the water bottle, twisted it open, and gulped down half of it.
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he drank, a few drops of water trickling down his neck and disappearing into his sweat-soaked jersey.
After drinking, he handed the bottle back to me.
Huh? Why is he giving it back after drinking from it?
Seeing my confusion, Axel smiled. "Hold onto it for me. After the game, I'll take you out for food."
Me?
Just me alone?
Axel ruffled my hair, then cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and called out with a grin, "Make sure you record me looking cool this time!"
The second half of the basketball game began.
Axel and Kane returned to the court, but the atmosphere was even more charged than before.
If the first half had been minor skirmishes between two Alphas, now it was all-out territorial warfare.
In the air, Axel's crisp pine scent had intensified to something as sharp as whiskey, cutting through the senses like a knife.
Meanwhile, Kane's caramel coffee scent fought back, its cloying sweetness pressing in wave after wave, so intense it was almost nauseating.
The two pheromones clashed violently above the court, creating an invisible barrier that forced spectators to step back, wincing in discomfort.
Daisy behind me looked even worse, her fluffy rabbit ears drooping limply, her face pale.
"Luna… I think I'm going to pass out from their pheromones."
She huddled behind me, seeking shelter from me—a Beta immune to the chemical warfare.
I patted her hand reassuringly, but my eyes couldn't leave Axel for even a second.
As a Beta, I couldn't smell the pheromone battle, but I could clearly feel the intensity directed solely at me.
Axel's eyes were locked on me.
With every steal, every jump, every shot, he would find me between plays, those wolf-like eyes tracking me unerringly.
His gaze cut across the court like a predator locking onto its prey, that raw possessiveness pinning me in place.
It was pure animal instinct—a gray wolf wanting to claim his territory and mark what was his.
Despite the fact that Betas can't be marked at all.
I pulled out my phone and started recording.
I aimed the camera at the hormone-charged figure dominating the court, zooming in to capture every one of Axel's movements in perfect detail.
As if sensing the camera, the moment I pressed record, he spun past his defender, leaped up, his arm drawing a perfect arc.
The basketball swished through the net.
The crowd erupted in thunderous cheers.
And in the frame, his large gray tail… was wagging.
Not just twitching, but full-on wagging back and forth like an excited puppy, almost creating a breeze.
Me: "…"
I silently zoomed in the camera even more.
The tail wagged even more enthusiastically.
A small hand poked my waist, and Daisy's exasperated voice whispered in my ear.
"His tail is practically turning into a helicopter propeller, and you still can't tell he's into you?"
My heart skipped a beat, but I instinctively objected.
"He might be… uh… near his rut cycle."
The final whistle blew, ending both the game and the pheromone warfare.
Axel sealed his victory with a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
He ignored his celebrating teammates, didn't even glance at Kane's thunderous expression, and instead walked straight through the noisy crowd, directly toward me.
Each step matched the pounding of my heart.
Sweat glistened on his sharp jawline, and those gray wolf eyes still burned with intensity, locked firmly on mine.
He stood before me, his tall frame towering over me. Then he crouched down, bringing his eyes level with mine.
He picked up the water bottle by my feet—the one he'd barely drunk from—and absently ran his fingers over it.
"What'd you record? Let me see," Axel leaned closer, his voice husky from exertion, his warm breath fanning my face.
I handed him my phone, my fingertips brushing across his knuckles, prominent from exertion.
He took the phone and tilted his head back to drain the remaining water in one gulp.
A single drop escaped from the corner of his mouth, sliding slowly down to hang precariously from his chin.
As if possessed, I reached out.
My fingertips caught that drop of water, brushing against his warm skin.
He froze completely.
I froze too.
In that moment, I—a Beta—actually caught a faint scent.
It was my own cool cedar mixing with his spicy whiskey scent, briefly intertwining to form a heady, intoxicating blend.
"Luna, getting handsy there, aren't you?"
Daisy's teasing voice snapped me back to reality, and I yanked my hand away as if burned.
Axel didn't seem to mind though—his full attention was on my phone screen.
The video showed his perfect, game-winning three-pointer.
He watched with intense focus, his lips unconsciously curving upward. Those wolf ears that had been so intimidating moments ago now stood alert and perky, the tufts of fur practically radiating joy.
"Looking so handsome—beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder!" Daisy continued stirring the pot from beside me.
At this, Axel's smile widened, and that large gray tail emerged again, wagging happily behind him.
He handed the phone back to me, his eyes gleaming with barely contained delight.
Wait.
A thought suddenly hit me.
My video account used the default landscape avatar, and I'd never shared any personal information.
How did he know I was the one who recorded the video?
Just as I was about to ask, my phone screen lit up with an incoming message.
【Chuchu, have you hooked up with that Axel guy you're always drooling over yet?】
The screen's glow illuminated Axel's shocked expression.
"Dream guy? Me?" His fingers froze midair, his Adam's apple bobbing once as his earlobes turned bright red.
My heart skipped a beat, but I kept my cool, quickly snatching back my phone and locking the screen.
"Just spam," I said with a straight face. "Ignore it."
Behind me, Daisy covered her mouth, desperately holding back laughter, but her fluffy rabbit ears betrayed her, trembling uncontrollably.
Axel happily patted my head. "Well, let's go eat. I know this great little restaurant nearby."
