Nika enjoyed her job at the zoo. She felt safer there than at school or in the city – among the animals, she didn't have to pretend or explain her loneliness. Her favorite place was the greater kudu enclosure.

There was only one male there – enormous, majestic, with spiraling horns reaching almost a meter high, a long, slender neck, and dark fur with horizontal white stripes. He also had a distinctive white stripe on his muzzle that connected between his eyes. Greater kudus naturally lived in Africa, avoided open spaces and hunting, and were timid, yet this male looked at Nika differently.

From the first day she approached his enclosure and began reading the information sign, she felt his gaze on her. His large, dark eyes were focused solely on her. The zookeeper, the zookeeper, told her something strange:

"He doesn't want anyone. No mate. We introduced females, but he chased them away, not even letting them into his enclosure."

Nika smiled sadly. She looked into those large, wild eyes and replied in a low voice, more to herself than to anyone:

"Me neither... I'm asexual. Sex isn't necessary to love someone."

From that day on, the animal had acted differently. Whenever Nika came, he'd approach the bars. He'd only take food from her hand, and sometimes—to the workers' surprise—he'd lick her fingers with his long, rough tongue, as if trying to memorize the taste. He was beautiful and soft to the touch, and she was never afraid to stroke his neck.

She didn't know that he'd memorized every word she'd said. And that he'd repeated them in his mind every day.

Because this kudu was no ordinary animal. He was a hybrid—one of the zoo's mysterious inhabitants, unknown to anyone but the zookeeper. Hybrids could transform into human form while retaining some animal traits. At night, they learned, walked, and thought like humans. Despite this, they always remained connected to their wild nature.

Something strange happened during one of Nika's nights at work.

She was cleaning the huge paddock, spreading hay and tidying up the buckets. The male kudu had wandered off into the back, as he usually did at this time of day. Nika sighed, straightened, and reached for another bale.

And then she felt something behind her. Warmth. Breath.

She turned abruptly—and froze.

A boy stood before her. Taller than her, broad-shouldered, dressed in black jogging pants and a shirt, as if someone had prepared this outfit for him in advance. But he was anything but ordinary.

Spiraling horns sprouted from his head, shiny and heavy. A white stripe, just like a kudu's, adorned his forehead. White stripes adorned his back, and a long, muscular tail, flicking gently from side to side, emerged from his hips.

Nika collapsed onto the hay, gasping for breath.

The hybrid boy closed the heavy door behind him, like a cage, and with a metallic clang, turned the bolt.

He approached her without a moment's hesitation, sat on her lap, and leaned forward, inhaling as if memorizing her scent.

"Your scent..." he murmured. "I remember it from the first day... I promised myself we'd be together. Even if I'm different."

His tail wrapped around her hand, lifting her to his back. His horns brushed her cheek, and he growled softly, rubbing his scent into her neck and shoulders.

"My female... my wife."

Nika already knew this was no ordinary male kudu. This was someone who had seen her as more than just a caretaker from the start.

He was possessive, testing her scent because he was afraid she would leave him. He sniffed her, licked her, and looked into her eyes, those human eyes.

And the door was closed.