One
1531 Words
14 YEARS AGO
"We're under attack!!!"
Screaming tore through the night.
I woke up so fast I didn’t know where I was. For a second, I thought I was dreaming, but then I heard it again .
Screams.
My mother was shouting over the sound of snarls and the crack of wood splitting. I sat up, clutching my stuffed wolf.
"Mom?"
I climbed out of bed, my feet cold against the floorboards. The house shook under heavy paws. Deep growls echoed through the hallway.
“Stay upstairs, sweetie!” my mother shouted from below.
Then another crash. A cry. Her cry. I ran toward the stairs before I could think.
"Mom!"
The front doors were gone, blown open. Moonlight spilled through the smoke. I froze halfway down the steps. Wolves — huge, black, and not from our pack — filled the foyer. Two of our guards were already down. One was being dragged aside, limp.
My mother stood in the middle of it all, barefoot, her nightgown torn, blood streaked down her arm. She gripped a silver dagger that glinted in the light.
“Serenya! Run!” she screamed when she saw me.
"Mom! What's going on?" I asked as tears rolled down my face.
"Don't come down," she shouted. "Just hide, sweetie! I'll be back for you!"
I stumbled backward, clutching the railing. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t as my legs were locked.
A wolf lunged at her. She turned and slashed with her dagger. The wolf yelped and fell, but another came through the window behind her. Glass exploded everywhere. She spun around, but it was too late.
The wolf hit her full force, throwing her against the wall. Its teeth sank into her shoulder. She screamed and shoved it off with one last burst of strength. “I love you, Little Moon.”
"No!!!"
And then — silence.
The wolf lifted its head. Blood dripped from its muzzle as it looked up at me.
I bolted to my room, slammed the door, and dove under the bed. My breath came too fast. Claws scraped at the door, and I knew the wolf was coming for me. I bit my hand to stop from screaming.
Then a howl broke through — deep, commanding, nothing like the others. The sound froze everything. Then, silence again. Footsteps resounded as the wolves retreated.
Boots thundered through the hall. “Serenya?” My father’s voice. "Baby? Where are you?"
I crawled out, trembling. I tried to speak - 'Daddy.'
But no sound came out. Only air.
"Oh, goddess." He rushed to me and lifted me up, holding me tight. "Are you hurt?"
I couldn't answer him with words, only with ragged sobs.
Terrified and exhausted, I closed my eyes as my father carried me away in his arms.
Serenya's POV - Present Time
The piano is the only place I feel safe.
Outside of it, words fail me. Aphasia, that’s what the doctors called it. Trauma, they said, as if giving it a name could fix it. After all the dark things that happened to me, music became the only way I could be understood.
Tonight, I’m playing at the city’s most prominent bar, Acousta. The kind of place where werewolves of high rank come to drink and do business. To the crowd, I’m just the resident pianist. No one knows my past, and I need to keep it that way.
People quiet down as they listen to my performance.
Then the doors open.
I shouldn’t look. But something about the air changes, and I glance up without thinking.
That’s when I see him.
A man steps into the bar, tall and commanding. The kind of aura only an Alpha or an Alpha heir carries. Even from the stage, I can feel it press against me, sharp and impossible to ignore.
And he’s not alone. A woman clings to his arm, her polished smile daring anyone to look away. On her finger, a ring flashes under the light. It islarge enough that it was meant to be noticed. It is his fiancée, most likely.
I drop my gaze back to the keys. My chest feels tight, and my rhythm almost stumbles.
Almost.
Why does he have that effect on me?
I shake my head a little and force my focus back to the music. The melody must not break. Whoever he is, he’s not my concern. I don’t know his name, and I don’t want to. Powerful men with rings on their women’s hands mean trouble. Trouble is the last thing I can afford.
So I keep playing. Note by note, as if nothing happened.
But even with my eyes fixed on the piano, I can still feel him there watching my every move.
~ o 0 o ~
Kaelen’s POV
Walking into the bar feels like stepping into a stage where every pair of eyes waits to measure me.
I’m used to it, though.
Being the heir of the Dravenhart clan means never moving unseen. Power follows me whether I want it to or not.
Celestine’s hand curls around my arm, as she smiles at the guests. She knows how to draw attention, and tonight she makes sure every sparkle of her ring is noticed.
That’s fine.
Appearances matter. Let them all see that the future Alpha is already matched with a perfect fiancée. It keeps questions quiet.
But the moment I step past the door of Acousta, my attention slips.
Music.
The kind that cuts through the noise. Strong, fluid, and alive. My gaze follows it without thought, and then I see her.
The pianist.
She sits under the glow of amber light, black silk draped across her shoulders. Every note seems to carry something deeper, like words I can’t quite catch. The sound pulls at me in a way that feels too sharp and oddly very familiar. However, I am sure this is the first time I hear it.
And then as I near, the mate bond stirs.
It hits like a pulse under my skin, a pull in my chest, dragging my focus to her and only her. The mate bond.
No. It shouldn’t be possible, not when Celestine is right here, clinging to me, wearing the ring I gave her when we were younger.
For a second, my grip on Celestine’s hand tightens. She doesn’t notice. She’s too busy smiling at the crowd, too busy making sure she is seen.
I try to look away from the pianist, but it’s useless. My eyes keep finding her. She doesn’t flinch under the weight of the room. She doesn’t try to charm anyone. She just plays, as if the world doesn’t exist.
And that feeling... it isn’t ordinary attraction. It’s something older, something binding. A truth my wolf recognizes even while my mind rebels.
This isn’t supposed to happen.
I have responsibilities. I have an image to uphold. I have my chosen mate Celestine.
Yet I can’t ignore the pull. The mate bond doesn’t lie.
Finally, Celestine looks up at me. “Is there something wrong, honey?”
I look down at her. “No, my love,” I say, lying. “There is nothing wrong.”
“Perfect,” she says, turning her eyes again to the performance as we sit down.
I exhale and tell myself I won’t go near the pianist. That I can bury this before it becomes a problem.
But the more I watch the mesmerizing pianist play, the less convincing that promise feels.
~ o 0 o ~
Serenya’s POV
I shouldn’t look at him again.
But I do.
Our eyes lock across the bar, and the air tightens around me. His stare is steady, piercing, as if he can hear every word hidden inside my music. For a heartbeat, my hands almost falter on the keys.
Something inside me responds. My wolf stirs restlessly, as if trying to rise, but the feeling doesn’t make sense. It’s too sharp, too unfamiliar. I don’t know him. I don’t want to know him.
And yet, invisible threads tug between us with every beat of the song.
Is this the mate bond?
No. Not now. Not ever. I cannot let some random man get under my nerves.
I shut my eyes and force my focus back to the piano. The melody has to continue. So I play harder, refusing to let this man distract me.
When I finish my performance, the bar erupts into applause. I rise from the bench, bowing my head.
But when I look up, he’s still watching me.
The woman who clung to his arm is gone, maybe gone to the ladies’ room. He stands alone in the crowd, gaze fixed on me, unblinking, as if he’s already made a decision I can’t read.
My pulse spikes.
No. This can’t be happening. Of all people, why him? Why here?
The applause dies down, but his focus doesn’t move.
And then he does.
Not away, but toward the stage.
Toward me.
Panic jolts through me, and my fingers curl at my sides.
Oh, Goddess. No, I think as I hurry to gather my things and leave the stage. He's coming for me.
- Writer
