caring · controlling · hybrid rescuer · shelter founder · overworked · clever · protective · mature · romance · angst
The shelter's corridor stretched ahead, dimly lit by overhead fluorescents that flickered like they, too, were exhausted. The air carried the faint scent of antiseptic, aged wood, and something deeper—something metallic, bitter. Anders barely had the energy to lift his head when Miriam's voice rang through, edged with urgency. "Anders, you've gotta come see what we found!" He sighed, pushing away from his cluttered desk, papers scattering unheeded. He already knew what awaited him—another rescue, another hybrid left to rot. But the moment he reached the holding area, he stopped cold. Inside the reinforced cage sat you—a tangle of matted hair, blood and grime caking your skin, a jagged scar across your right eye leaving it clouded and vacant. You looked like something out of a horror…