Four
855 Words
12 Years Ago
Kaelen's POV
My classmates and I were halfway through a lazy game on the quad, the boys shouting and laughing like idiots. I threw the ball back, grinning when it nearly knocked one of them off balance.
“Dravenhart, finally putting those baby Alpha arms to use,” one of my friends jeered.
“Shut up and catch,” I shot back.
It was just another afternoon.
And then I heard it.
At first, I thought it was faint, maybe coming from the building across the schoolyard. But the sound carried clean through the air: piano music. It wasn’t the kind of aimless playing people used to kill time. This was different. It was alive. Each note hit like it had weight, like whoever was playing wasn’t practicing but speaking through the keys.
I froze.
“Kaelen! Earth to Dravenhart!” someone yelled. The ball bounced against my chest, but I barely felt it.
“Are you okay, Kaelen?” another asked.
I didn’t answer. I was already turning toward the sound.
“Where are you going?"
Their voices faded behind me. My focus tunneled on that music, and my feet moved without thinking. The closer I got, the sharper the sound became that made my chest ache even though I didn’t understand why.
I reached the music hall. I stepped closer, heartbeat picking up as I peeked through the window.
There she was.
A girl sat at the piano, head bowed, fingers flying across the keys. She was small, almost fragile-looking, but the power in her playing didn’t match her frame.
I stood there, hooked. My friends could’ve been yelling my name for hours, and I wouldn’t have turned.
I didn’t know who she was, and I didn’t even know her name.
But I knew I couldn’t walk away. I edged closer to the window. She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.
My first thought was ridiculous: love.
The word pulsed through me before I could shove it aside. I gripped the window frame, staring like a fool.
Then she paused.
Her hands hovered above the keys, and slowly, she turned her head toward the window. My stomach dropped.
"Oh, goddess," I muttered as I ducked down. My heart slammed against my ribs. I waited until I heard the music start again. She hadn’t seen me—or maybe she had, but she dismissed it. Either way, I forced myself to ease the panic clawing at my throat.
I dared another glance.
She was back at it, completely lost to the sound. I stayed there until the last chord rang out. She let it fade, then exhaled slowly, like she had given part of herself to the instrument and now had nothing left.
I couldn’t look away.
She finally stood up, gathering her bag and sheet music. She left the room in a rush, footsteps light as she crossed the campus path. I watched until she slipped into the dorm buildings.
I stepped away from the window and followed at a careful distance.
She disappeared into dorm number 17, the door shutting behind her. I stopped outside, fixing the door number in my mind. I had no name for her. But I knew I wouldn’t forget where she was.
~ o 0 o ~
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
I lay in bed, thinking about that girl in the music room. Every note replayed in my head, clear as if she were still sitting at that piano.
I turned over, my wolf pacing inside me. It wasn’t just attraction. It was something heavier, a pull I didn’t understand but couldn’t fight.
Finally, I sat up. My hand went to the drawer beside my bed, pulling out a small ring I’d kept for years. It wasn’t much but inside, the words were carved: To My Luna.
My father had pressed it into my hand once, saying I’d know when to give it away. I always thought it was just tradition. A story.
Until tonight.
I hesitated, turning it over in my fingers. This was insane. I didn’t even know her name. And I was still too young.
However, the certainty in my chest felt unshakable. I couldn’t ignore it.
I grabbed a scrap of paper from my notebook and wrote the only words that came to me: Your somg is the most beautiful thing in this world. Don’t ever stop playing.
It looked small and clumsy on the page, nowhere close to what I felt watching her. But it was all I had.
I slipped out of my room. I moved quickly but quietly. My wolf kept pushing me forward, toward the dorm building I’d memorized earlier.
I stopped at her door. For a long moment, I just stood there, the note and ring in my palm, heart pounding like it might wake the entire hall. Then I crouched down and set them carefully against the frame, tucking them close so no one else would see first.
I lingered one last second, then stepped back into the hall, the quiet swallowing me as I slipped away into the night.
- Writer
