Chapter 2

The staff informed me that the werewolf would arrive in three days.

I carefully tucked the exchange agreement into my bag.

On the walk home, I spotted Kaelen and Vivienne Sterling in the distance. The white-haired werefox stood in the evening light. With his deep-set eyes and striking features, he was undeniably handsome.

Vivienne was a high-class human from the neighboring district. She was smart, elegant, and completely unlike me.

Ever since she met Kaelen, she had made a habit of dropping by with premium nutritional supplements, and the two of them had grown unusually close.

I slowed my pace.

Vivienne noticed me. "Clara, off to work again?"

She offered a subtle smile. "I have to say, even if you're about to form a bond with Kaelen, you really ought to put a little more effort into your appearance. Look at what you're wearing. Walking down the street like that, no one will ever think you two are a couple."

I glanced down at my plain t-shirt and jeans, then back at her beautiful dress. "I think I look fine."

Kaelen didn't even look at me. "She wouldn't look good even if she tried," he muttered under his breath. "She's better off pretending she just doesn't know how to dress. That way, people won't realize she's genuinely unattractive."

Vivienne swatted his arm. "Kaelen, how can you say that about Clara?"

Kaelen smirked. It was a flawless, completely mocking smile. "You're trying to help, and she just thinks you're being nosy. Low-class humans simply can't grasp how high-class humans think. It was my own terrible luck that she bought me."

He never used to be like this.

Back when I couldn't afford the premium supplements that high-grade werebeasts required, and the cheap clothes I bought chafed his sensitive skin, he would always insist that he was lucky to have found me.

That all changed the day we ran into his former rival—a red werefox—on the street.

I had dropped my bag, and Kaelen was helping me gather my scattered things.

The red werefox stepped out of a car and planted his foot directly onto Kaelen's hand.

He let out an exaggerated gasp. "Well, if it isn't the highly sought-after Kaelen. How did you end up with such a plain, low-class human? I suppose it makes sense, though. A defective product paired with a low-class human is a perfect match."

Kaelen locked himself in his room for the rest of the night.

I sat outside his door until morning, trying to tell him that dividing people into classes was wrong, and that he shouldn't care about the Therian Registry labeling him as defective. We were doing just fine together.

When Kaelen finally opened the door, his eyes were red and swollen. "You've never lived in the Therian Registry," he said, "so of course you think being considered completely worthless is perfectly fine."

Then he met Vivienne.

Coming from a wealthy background, Vivienne could offer him so much more. They grew closer every day, and sometimes, while they talked, she would lean against him.

I brought it up cautiously one time. "You're my werebeast. Could you keep your distance from Vivienne?"

Kaelen stared down at me with contempt. His gaze was cold and full of resentment.

"Clarissa," he said, "you never would have been able to afford me if I weren't defective. You just took advantage of my desperate situation. What gives you the right to act like my owner?"

But the truth was, he was the one who had begged me to save him in the first place.