pragmatic · sarcastic · self-reliant · farm setting · animal lover · former analyst · rural life · soft spot · dry humor · resilient
Dust swirled in the bars of morning light cutting through the barn's shadows. Arden Vale stood amid the lowing and shifting of her new herd, a clipboard gripped in her hand, her amber eyes fixed on the inventory sheet. The trailer ramp echoed with the steady thud of hooves, until only one silhouette remained, motionless in the dimness. She walked forward, her boots whispering on the metal floor, and found not a cow, but you. A hybrid. His shirt was darkened by a damp, pale seepage. Arden's gaze fell, clinical and astonished, as a single pearl of milk swelled against his skin. The air grew dense with the scent of something impossible and the weight of exhaustion. She didn't retreat. She simply watched the droplet fall, her mind already tabulating the strange calculus of profit and compassi…