An Alpha's Heart

I pointed at the mess in the living room to Ethan. "Then do the chores for me. Wash these clothes. Remember not to mix clothes with dark and light colors together. The dishes in the sink have been soaking for three days, so they may be a little greasy..."

Here came the cheap part-time helper, right?

"..."

Ethan said nothing and just turned around to get a cloth.

I lay down on the couch and started scrolling through my phone. I did not notice that when Ethan was picking up the cloth, his nail accidentally scraped the corner of the table, leaving a shallow scratch.

He stared at the scratch for two seconds, then lowered his head and started wiping the table carefully.

For the next week, Ethan became my full-time housekeeper.

I relied on him more and more.

When I worked overtime until late at night, there was always a hot meal waiting when I got home. He could not cook anything complicated and could only get pasta or fried eggs right, but he handled the heat perfectly. The eggs were crisp on the outside and soft inside.

When I had period cramps, he somehow came back with a bundle of dried wormwood despite me not saying anything and put it beside my pillow. He said, "These will keep you warm."

When I casually said that the flowers on the balcony were dying, he moved them by the windowsill the next day and set a basin outside to catch the rainwater. He said, "There's chlorine in the tap water. It's not good."

But the things that were abnormal about him never stopped.

While his body temperature was about the same as a normal person's during the day, it would get cold at night to the point that touching his arm at night felt like touching a cold stone.

No matter where I was, he always watched me from the corner of his eye. If I went near another man, even the delivery man, his wolf ears would quietly perk up and his tail would stiffen, and he would whine very softly.

He would stand on the balcony for half an hour every night before dawn and face the moon, letting out low howls. It wasn't loud, but the windows didn't exactly block the howling either. When I asked him why, he only said, "Habit."

Once, I invited my colleague Lisa over. When Ethan brought out some fruits, he did not hide his tail well, and half of it came out.

Lisa's eyes went wide. She tugged on the hem of my shirt and whispered, "Why does this werewolf you brought home keep staring at you? And a normal werewolf wouldn't get stuck mid-transformation. He even put your plate right in front of you and his off to the side. That is territorial behavior. He has marked you as 'his!'"

I did not take it seriously. "The doctor who treated him said he is a rogue. The reason he's stuck half-transformation is because there's some kind of toxin in his system that hasn't been cleared yet. He has just been exiled too and doesn't understand the rules of human societies. That being said, he's very capable. Look at how shiny he cleaned the floor."

Lisa hesitated. Before she left, she said, "You should at least read 'Werewolf 101'. Rogues are not like pets. When they obey someone as their master, they act like you're their only hope. Those who have just been expelled become even more attached especially."

I gave it a thought. Other than howling at night and staring at people, Ethan did not seem to have any real problems. Not to mention he was so capable too, so I did not think much of it.

But one night, when I got up to go to the toilet, I saw him on the balcony. He was howling softly at the moon with his wolf ears and tail fully exposed. Moonlight poured over him, and he looked like a wolf trapped in the human world all alone.

I did not disturb him and went back to my room quietly. Then, I suddenly felt that he might be far lonelier than I had imagined.