Chapter 1
After the ecological collapse wiped every animal from the face of the earth, humanity found their replacements within their own kind.
Simona stood by the floor-to-ceiling window. Dressed in a faux-fur coat of dappled grey, her silhouette looked sharp and elegant against the leaden sky. She turned to face her friend and the "dog" who had dropped by for a visit.
"Simona, just look at him!" Francesca chirped, hugging her pet. Chad sat submissively at her feet, naked and on a leash. "How can you stay so indifferent? You need someone to look into your eyes with that kind of devotion. This mansion of yours is far too empty."
"You know I prefer the silence," Simona replied, her voice calm but firm. "The responsibility for another soul isn't something I’m looking for."
"Nonsense! It’s not responsibility; it’s status. It's comfort. You just haven’t met your 'breed' yet."
Simona shifted her gaze to Chad. Her eyes held nothing but blatant skepticism.
"Do you sleep with him?" she asked bluntly.
Francesca flushed, immediately launching into a defense. "Simona, everyone does! Besides, he *wants* it. If you’d seen his old posts online... he was miserable without a woman’s touch. I literally rescued him from loneliness. Poor little puppy."
Simona’s lips thinned slightly. "So, I take it you aren’t planning on marrying a human, then?"
"Of course I am!" Francesca exclaimed, stroking Chad’s head. "One doesn’t preclude the other."
Simona slowly moved her eyes back to the naked man on the floor. "Won't he be jealous?"
A heavy silence hung in the living room. Chad lowered his head even further. Francesca quickly recovered her smug composure.
"Jealous? Simona, you clearly don't understand their psychology. He’s happy just to be a part of a woman's life. To him, my future husband will be the pack leader—the 'alpha.' He’ll be glad to serve us both. His past life was full of bitterness; now he has hierarchy and care."
Chad flinched. He hunched his shoulders, trying to become invisible against his mistress's boots, his fingers nervously scratching at the floorboards.
"Hierarchy," Simona repeated softly with a skeptical smirk. "It sounds like you’ve just found a more sophisticated way to make him miserable."
The friend opened her mouth to argue but faltered. Simona stepped forward, placing her fingers under Chad’s chin, forcing him to lift his face.
"Look at those sad eyes," she said quietly. "He hoped you would always be his alone."
The young man froze as his eyes met hers.
"I think owning a pet is hardly humane if you plan on juggling it with a human marriage," Simona said, releasing his face. "But it's your business. Tell me, though... would *you* accept your future husband's dog? If he brought a former femcel into the house on a leash?"
Francesca turned pale and gave the leash a nervous yank. Chad let out a sound that resembled a bitter, stifled laugh.
"That’s completely different!" Francesca nearly shouted. "You’ve always been too blunt. Men and women are different worlds. If a husband brings a 'bitch' into the house, it’s a threat to my hearth. Femcels are devious. But my puppy... he’s just loyal. He knows his place."
She cast a look of near-disgust at Chad, Simona’s words clearly festering in her mind. Chad merely pressed his lips tight and stared at the floor. Francesca turned toward the exit, dragging him behind her.
"You just don't know how to love, Simona," she snapped over her shoulder. "Sitting here in your silence, judging us. But mark my words—when the loneliness finally hits, you'll remember what I said."
