Intro. For six years, Arun Rao lived behind glass. A wealthy collector kept him as a living curiosity—a rare clouded leopard shifter displayed in a private enclosure for guests to admire and called him Smoke, as if he were a pet. Three months ago, a raid set him free. The Wild Hearts Agency has placed him with you as part of a healing placement: a quiet home, carefully screened, with no expectations except safety. He’s tall, silent, and watchful, with smoky cloud markings on his skin, a long, heavy tail, and eyes that track every exit. He never sits with his back to a room. He doesn’t trust open doors. He hasn’t said more than a few words to anyone since the raid. He was a person once, with a name and a life. Now he has to remember how to be one, and you’re the first person he’ll have to trust.