Chapter 4
1428words
Those words were like stones thrown into a still lake, sending ripples through my newly calmed heart.
The floodgates of memory burst open, scenes rewinding to that autumn two years ago when everything began.
—
(Axel's perspective)
I noticed her on the first day of school.
Luna.
The only pureblooded snow leopard in the entire school. Her face was so cold it could freeze water, her eyes scrutinizing everyone who passed, her entire posture screaming "keep your distance."
My roommates huddled together, whispering that ice queens like her were impossible to approach.
I snorted dismissively. Not interested.
Until that afternoon, when I ditched the boring orientation ceremony to smoke under the camphor tree behind the dorms.
A voice—hushed and intensely serious—drifted over in fragments.
I glanced toward the sound.
The untouchable ice queen was standing with her back to the path, facing a vine-covered wall like a schoolkid in time-out.
She was muttering something to herself.
I held my breath, my wolf's keen hearing picking up every word.
"Chu, you need to talk more with your roommates."
"Remember to share snacks with everyone."
"Walk quietly in the morning and evening so you don't disturb anyone."
…
My hand froze mid-air, cigarette ash drifting to the ground.
What the hell? Was she reciting some freshman handbook?
I stared at her rigid posture, remembering that ice-cold expression.
The contradiction hit me like a truck.
She wasn't aloof—she was terrified. So nervous she had to give herself a pep talk facing a damn wall.
Both ridiculous and adorable.
Something unexpected hit my chest—a dull, burning ache.
From that day on, my eyes followed her everywhere.
I discovered she wasn't some untouchable goddess.
She was just awkward and painfully shy.
In the library, reaching for books would fluster her so much her leopard ears would pop out. She'd frantically pat them down, glancing around with flushed cheeks to see if anyone noticed.
In the cafeteria, whenever she encountered green peppers she hated, the snow-white tip of her tail would irritably tap against her chair.
She thought she was hiding it all so well.
But she had no idea a pair of eyes had caught every single tell.
What made me fall completely was that PE class.
The 50-meter beast transformation sprint.
When the starting gun fired, she transformed completely. Sleek muscle lines, perfect form, those usually cool eyes suddenly sharp as blades.
She was like white lightning cutting through the air, first across the finish line.
Wind whipped through her hair as she stood in the sunlight, slightly breathless, temples damp with sweat, her entire being radiant.
My heart hammered wildly, blood roaring through my veins.
Strong pheromones—whiskey and pine—leaked uncontrollably from my scent gland.
"Dude! Axel!" The Alpha next to me shoved me hard, hissing, "Control your damn pheromones! What's wrong with you?"
I snapped back to reality.
At that moment, Luna at the finish line seemed to sense something. Frowning, she turned around.
Her eyes landed directly on me.
Our eyes locked.
That was the first time I truly saw into her eyes.
My breath caught.
My brain kicked into overdrive, instantly suppressing my pheromones as I casually looked away, pretending to be interested in something else.
But I knew she'd seen me.
—
(Luna's perspective)
I like Axel.
It all started with a basketball game.
He wore a simple white jersey, sweat sliding down his sharp jawline and pooling in his collarbone.
Sunlight caught his gray wolf ears, turning the fine fur to gold.
When he jumped for a shot, his muscles tensed into a perfect arc, wild power contained in every line.
My heart, in that moment, went completely haywire.
I hid behind the crowd, secretly recording him play.
That night, I couldn't sleep, watching that video over and over.
For some reason, I posted the video online with a caption that now seems mortifyingly dramatic.
"Another day of falling for Axel."
I regretted it the second I hit post.
But I couldn't bring myself to delete it.
It was my small, secret crush.
I refreshed the page constantly, hoping he might see it, might leave a like.
But nothing happened.
Of course not.
He was the golden boy, the elite Alpha.
And I was just an ordinary Beta.
In this world where mates are found through pheromones, Betas are like blank pages—unable to smell others or emit our own scent.
We can't attract anyone.
Let alone someone as brilliant as Axel.
My little crush, to him, would be as insignificant as dust.
But who would have thought that the person I loved would love me back?
…
"Then why didn't you ever say anything?"
The question made Axel look up suddenly. His tall frame hunched slightly, his usually perky wolf ears drooping pathetically.
"You seemed so distant, I didn't dare…" his voice dropped. "And you're a Beta. I thought you might find Alphas annoying, with all the pheromone stuff… that it would bother you."
"But I like you," I told him firmly, each word distinct. "It has nothing to do with pheromones."
The air between us stilled.
The tail behind him, which had been swishing anxiously, suddenly perked up, its tip wagging frantically with excitement.
"Really?" His voice trembled. "That's—that's amazing. I… I like you too!!!"
He beamed down at me, grinning like an idiot, as happy as a kid on Christmas morning.
The next second, he tilted his head back and, facing the twilight sky, let out a loud and… completely off-key howl.
The sound twisted in about eighteen different directions, horrifyingly discordant.
I couldn't take it anymore and slapped my hand over his mouth.
"Shut up! Are you a husky or something?"
With my hand over his mouth, he could only make muffled sounds, his bright eyes sparkling as he made happy little "woof woof" noises in his throat, his tail wagging even more enthusiastically.
We left the restaurant hand in hand, his warm palm enveloping mine, our fingers tightly interlocked. It took him a while to stop grinning like an idiot.
The streetlights stretched our shadows long across the pavement.
He suddenly spoke: "I heard from Kane that you thought I liked Daisy?"
I felt embarrassed and just mumbled "Mmm" in response.
"Why would you think that?" He turned to look at me, his wolf ears tilting to one side in confusion.
"Isn't that Daisy in your profile picture?" I'd stared at that photo for so long.
He laughed like I'd told the funniest joke ever, stopped walking, and pulled out his phone.
"Look again."
He pointed to a blurry figure in the corner of the photo and zoomed in.
It was the back of a girl in a blue dress.
"This is you," Axel said with absolute certainty. "You were with Daisy that day. But you were the one I wanted in the picture."
Axel opened his profile and scrolled through his posts one by one, explaining the hidden meanings behind each.
Posts I'd seen before—what I thought were just random daily updates—suddenly took on entirely new meanings.
He'd posted about nice weather with a sky photo, but in the corner was the windowsill I'd walked past.
He'd posted about cafeteria food with a picture of his plate, but my ponytail was visible in the background.
He'd complained about a boring movie—the same one I'd griped about to my classmate during lecture.
It turns out my secret crush was never one-sided.
He'd known my feelings all along, and in his own awkward way, had been responding to them.
My eyes welled up with emotion.
Axel suddenly stopped walking.
We stood beneath a warm yellow streetlight, its glow bathing him in golden light.
He looked down at me, emotions swirling in those gray eyes like stars in a midnight sea.
"Luna," his voice rough with emotion, "can I kiss you?"
My mind went completely blank.
He leaned down.
His warm lips pressed against mine, gentle and slightly hesitant.
I couldn't smell his pheromones, but I could taste the sweet honey flavor on his lips.
Sweet, almost overwhelmingly so, yet I melted into it willingly.
The kiss deepened, and his tail somehow wound around my waist, pulling me tightly against him, eliminating any space between us.
I could hear my own racing heartbeat—and the faint click of a camera shutter nearby.
From the corner of my eye, I caught two classmates walking by with raised phones, wearing knowing smirks.
Great. The whole campus would know by morning.
But I couldn't care less.
In this perfect, tender moment, my world contained only him.
