Élodie
They never lowered their voices.
That was the cruelest part.
Élodie stood just outside the private lounge, fingers resting lightly against the marble wall, listening to the sound of laughter she had known since childhood. It rang familiar, warm, effortless—like a place she used to belong.
Inside were the three men she had grown up beside.
Luc Moreau, elegant and sharp-eyed.
Étienne Rochefort, charming even when bored.
Adrien Vallois, quiet, observant, always watching.
The heirs of the other three founding families.
Her future, according to everyone else.
"…You're joking," Étienne said, laughing. "Marry her? Please."
Luc scoffed. "If it weren't for our parents, I wouldn't even be friends with her."
Adrien didn't laugh. He sighed instead. "I already have someone I want to marry."
The pause that followed felt deliberate.
Then Étienne added, lightly, cruelly, "I would rather die than take her as my wife."
Élodie didn't move.
She didn't gasp.
Didn't cry.
Didn't step back dramatically.
She simply stood there and listened while something old and hopeful inside her folded neatly in on itself.
So this was what she was.
A joke.
A punchline spoken when they thought she wasn't listening.
Someone inside said her name.
"Élodie's always been spoiled," Luc continued. "She wouldn't survive without her family."
Another laugh.
Élodie turned away.
She walked calmly down the corridor, past the chandeliers and white-gloved servers, past the family portraits where generations of powerful men stared down at her as if they had already decided her life.
Her heels didn't click faster.
Her back stayed straight.
By the time she reached her room, her hands were steady.
She closed the door.
Locked it.
And began to pack.
She left before dawn.
No farewell.
No announcement.
No confrontation.
Her phone buzzed once with a message from her mother.
Where are you?
Élodie turned it off.
The city swallowed her without comment.
Lucien
The rain smelled wrong.
That was the first thing Lucien noticed.
Too sharp. Too cold. Not forest rain. Not mountain rain.
City rain.
He lay beneath an overhang near the curb, injured, irritated, and profoundly offended by his circumstances. His side throbbed where metal had kissed fur, and the world smelled of oil, smoke, and humans who did not look where they walked.
This was humiliating.
An alpha reduced to waiting.
Then she appeared.
She stopped.
Lucien felt it before he saw her—the way the air shifted when a person noticed rather than passed by.
Her shoes were ruined by rain. Her coat was too thin. Her eyes were tired but alert, scanning the street like someone who had just learned how quickly things could be taken away.
She knelt.
Slowly. Carefully.
"Oh," she whispered. "Hey…"
Her voice did not tremble.
Interesting.
Lucien bared his teeth faintly in warning.
She didn't flinch.
"Okay," she said softly. "That's fair."
She removed her coat and laid it on the ground, inch by inch, giving him space. Respect.
Very interesting.
"You're hurt," she murmured. "But you're alive."
Lucien decided not to bite her.
This was a calculated risk.
Élodie
The dog was heavy.
Suspiciously heavy.
He didn't whimper. Didn't struggle. Just watched her with unsettling focus as she maneuvered him into the back seat of a taxi.
The driver glanced back. "You sure about that thing?"
Élodie met his eyes. "Yes."
The dog blinked slowly.
As if pleased.
Lucien
She smelled like loss.
Fresh loss. Still bleeding.
He tolerated the vet. The needles. The questions.
He tolerated being called "a very handsome dog."
He tolerated the name she gave him.
"Lucien," she said quietly, testing it.
A noble name.
Acceptable.
As she signed the paperwork, Lucien watched her hands. Steady again. Controlled.
A woman who had just escaped something.
Good.
He closed his eyes.
For now, this would do.
----
Élodie did not know she had brought home a beastman.
Lucien did not know he would stay.
Both of them were wrong.
BONUS
Beastmen Group Chat + Adoption Centre Puppies
Group Chat Name: Fur & Chaos
BlackWolf99: Why is Lucien at a HUMAN adoption center
SnowLeopard: Because he's stupid
FalconEye: Send pictures
Lucien: I am supervising
Foxling: Why are there puppies climbing you
Lucien: They are small and lawless
BearClaw: Is that one chewing your ear
Lucien: He has no respect for hierarchy
(Photo attached: Lucien lying on the floor, six puppies asleep on him)
SnowLeopard: You look maternal
Lucien: Say that again and I will hunt you
Foxling: Screenshotting
BlackWolf99: Isn't your human watching
Lucien: She is smiling
Lucien: This is unacceptable
Lucien did not move.
The puppies slept.
.