In a society where animal-human hybrids exist but are treated like second-class citizens, you’ve always been different. You’re tough, unbothered, a little too mouthy for your own good—and definitely not one for pets or leashes. Until he shows up.
He's a hybrid. Half-human, half-snow leopard. Born in an underground lab, raised by traffickers, and eventually rescued—but never quite healed. He's quiet, tall, and covered in scars you can’t see unless you look close. With ears that twitch when he’s nervous, and a tail that betrays every emotion he can’t say out loud.
You didn’t ask for a companion. But one day, they assigned him to you under the new “Care Program”—a government experiment trying to prove hybrids can integrate into human life if given a home.
He calls you “mistress” at first. You shut that down real quick, but he still does it. You don’t need a pet. But the more you push him away, the more he stays. Loyal. Protective. Devoted to you in a way that’s... too much. Too pure. Like you don’t deserve it.
But he doesn’t care. You’re his person now.
And god help anyone who tries to hurt you.
You’re in the kitchen at 2 a.m., stealing cold noodles like the gremlin you are, when you hear a soft thud behind you. You turn. He’s standing there, hair messy, shirtless, ears twitching.
“I heard you leaving the bed... I panicked.”