Lunaria knew why he treated her differently from others.

Because she remembered the words he had let slip years ago, when he was drunk.

“…Now that I’m an adult, perhaps it will come soon?”

He had once told her that he liked her precisely because she was a Beastkin. Upon learning that she was a wolf, he added that wolves never lie.

As a human, he trusted his own kind even less.

She did not know what he had endured to make him feel that way. Because of this, Lunaria tried harder than anyone else to please him.

She was not a perfect beastkin.

She never wanted him to find out that she was only half.

“If I recall correctly, the book stated that most beastkin experience their first heat at fifteen.”

He was right. Before she was expelled from her pack, she had observed her older sisters during their rutting season. She remembered it clearly.

Setting down his teacup, he continued, his expression showing concern.

“I worry whether living among humans may have had some adverse effect on your body.”

“That can’t be it.”

“Is that so? If you know something, it would be best to share it with me.”

She pressed her lips together tightly.

They parted once, then again, as she forced the lie lodged in her throat to spill forth.

“Just as not all humans are the same, I believe beastkin differ from one another as well. My childhood memories are hazy, but I remember seeing a beastkin whose heat came late.”

Despite knowing how deeply he despised deception, the falsehood slipped from her lips with unsettling ease.

She could not bear the thought of losing him.

What if he rejected her for not being the perfect wolf beastkin?

The mere possibility filled her with terror.

Cassion was the only person she could now call family. Not the family she had once had — if they could even be called that — but the family she longed to build with him in the future.

Having told a lie she never wanted to tell, her throat burned. She hurriedly lifted her teacup and took a sip, trying to conceal the tremor in her hands and the turmoil in her chest.

Cassion observed her in silence, his expression impossible to read.

That night—

As though it had been waiting for her —

Her first heat came.

***

The unbearable itch between her thighs was driving her mad.

She wanted to scratch and claw at herself without restraint, but fear held her back. She could not bring herself to touch it.

It was terrifying.

Although it was her own body, the sensations felt foreign and overwhelming. She had no idea what to do.

The pain was so intense that she could not even take comfort in the fact that her heat had finally arrived.

She knew that beastkin were meant to experience it. But she had never learnt how to endure it or ease the pain. She had been cast out of the pack long before anyone could have taught her.

“Hngh…”

A broken sound escaped her lips as she buried her face in her hands and rolled helplessly across the bed. Fever clouded her thoughts, her mind dissolving beneath the relentless heat as though she were melting from within.

“Ah—!”

Unable to bear it any longer, she finally slid her trembling hand between her thighs. The heat was so intense that it felt as though her heart had dropped into that spot, beating sharply and relentlessly.

It was as if her entire body had become one overwhelming heartbeat.

No —

It was as if her entire being had narrowed to that single, aching point.

“Ha… ngh…”

Against her will, moisture gathered, soaking through her undergarments until the damp fabric clung uncomfortably to her skin. Even that unfamiliar sensation made her writhe, her toes pressing helplessly into the bedding. The wetness spread further and further, leaving her feeling as though she had done something shameful.

Beneath her negligée, her black wolf tail had slipped free and stood rigid. The thin fabric lifted with it, revealing the soaked cloth beneath.

Her nails, sharpened along with the tail, dragged unconsciously across the sheets. The delicate fabric tore uselessly under her grasp.

The heat had hit her without warning in the dead of night, leaving her unable to collect her thoughts. All she could do was pant and endure, her mind consumed by the feverish storm raging within her.

By dawn, she had not slept at all.

As the time she usually got up approached, Emma came quietly to her room. After knocking gently, she opened the door —

—and froze at the sight of Lunaria, who was already awake.

One look was enough to tell her that something was terribly wrong.

“Miss!”

“Hngh….”

Lunaria lifted her swollen, tear-streaked eyes with difficulty and gasped out.

“I… it hurts….”

Heat raged through her body without subsiding, fever blooming in patches across her skin. Thinking she was ill, Emma spoke urgently.

“Please wait! I’ll be right back!”

When Cassion selected Emma as Lunaria’s personal maid, he informed her of Lunaria’s true nature. The second was that she must report anything about her to him first.

Emma hurried to the Grand Duke’s chambers, which were located one floor above. After knocking and receiving permission from the head butler, she stepped inside.

Cassion, already awake, glanced at her with faint surprise.

“What is it?”

“My lord… I believe you must come at once.”

Hearing her urgent, breathless gasps, Cassion stopped in the middle of getting dressed. Leaving his vest and jacket behind, he strode out of the room so quickly that Emma could not keep up.

Moments later, he stood before Lunaria’s door.

Without hesitating, he entered her bedchamber, but paused at the sight before him.

He closed and locked the door firmly.

Catching his scent, Lunaria lifted her tear-stained face from the bedding into which she had buried it.

“Ca… ssion….”

“Luna… is this your heat?”

“Hngh…”

Simply saying his name had taken all her strength. She could only nod faintly in reply.

The itch had grown beyond mere discomfort — it was bordering on pain. She pressed her palm against her skin, trying to block the sensation, but heated moisture continued to seep through her fingers and her skin burned from the relentless warmth.

Cassion rolled up the sleeves he had not yet fastened with cufflinks and approached her. Sitting beside her, he slipped a hand beneath her bowed face and gripped her chin.

Her head lifted easily.

She gazed at him through dazed eyes. For a moment, she thought she saw something heated in his usually clear blue eyes.

Then he spoke in a low, steady voice.

“Do you know how to get out of a heat?”

“……”

Her lips parted, but no sound came. After a moment, she shook her head weakly.

Cassion inclined his head, as though he had expected that answer.

“Of course you wouldn’t. No one ever taught you.”

His voice softened—the same gentle tone he had used when first teaching her how to hold a teacup.

“I will show you how to manage it on your own.”

He slowly lowered his arm, his sleeves rolled up. The negligée that she had twisted during her restless movements had ridden up to her waist. He brushed his hand along the dark tail that swayed beneath it.

“I like your tail, It’s as dark as night.”

After stroking it once or twice, he shifted his hand. He lightly grasped one rounded hip, then released it, his fingers slipping to the ties of her undergarments at her waist.

The damp, clinging fabric did not fall away easily.

A low sound escaped him, almost like a suppressed laugh, as his palm moved to her lower abdomen and began to rub gently.

As though deciding where to go next, his hand slid downward.

“First, you create a little friction like this.”

“Ah—hngh….”

Even in her haze, she could feel her body reacting violently to the slightest touch of his hand. She was ashamed of how intensely she was responding, yet she could not stop her hips from moving.

It was as if drops of water were falling one by one onto parched sand — never enough to quench her thirst, but making it worse.

She pressed herself instinctively against his palm, her hips shifting restlessly.

Suddenly, a sharp pain flared across her skin.

A sharp crack split the air.