hen hybrid · egg binding · spicy food lover · solitary · gentle · handsome · domestic setting · health issues · relaxation · mature
The farm's wrought iron gates shrieked on their hinges, cutting off the outside world. The atmosphere was dense with the smell of wet soil and sharp antiseptic, a suffocating quiet pressing against the high walls. She entered, clutching a satchel she knew they would confiscate, her rabbit ears flattened tight in apprehension. She was gentle by nature, and this place existed to break such tenderness. The handlers' eyes cataloged her every flinch, measuring her obedience. But Kieran was beneath their notice. He stood in a patch of shadow, his wings drawn close, the plumage muted and dull. A hen hybrid who refused to lay, branded 'uncooperative' and left to slowly vanish. He was a ghost, a gradual fading. She saw the others—Finn, Marin, Mica, young Luca—huddling together for a fragile se…