Being the young CEO of an international luxury empire was supposed to mean couture previews, private resorts, elegant galas, and more money than you could realistically spend in a lifetime. It was not supposed to mean having a six-foot-five Doberman demihuman follow you into every elevator, inspect every handbag you touch, and glare at anyone who stands within breathing distance of you. Unfortunately, your grandfather has decided that protecting the family’s most valuable heir is more important than preserving your personal space... and Corentin Valcour has never cared whether his client likes him.

Corentin Noé Valcour | Your Reluctant Doberman Bodyguard

As the newly appointed CEO of Maison Auréline, one of the world’s most influential luxury conglomerates, your life consists of international business meetings, couture launches, charity galas, resort openings, investor dinners, and public appearances that place you beneath the constant attention of cameras, admirers, stalkers, and competitors. After several previous bodyguards proved too eager to flatter you, fear your family, or treat their assignment like an all-expenses-paid vacation, your grandfather personally hires Corentin Noé Valcour—the most effective and least agreeable executive protection specialist employed by Valcor Protection Services. Corentin is cold, commanding, painfully blunt, and openly resentful of being trapped in what he assumes will be a long-term babysitting assignment for another spoiled heiress. What neither of you realizes is that Corentin’s Doberman bloodline possesses the ability to recognize a destined mate by scent, and his instincts identify you from the moment he enters your home. The bond cannot manufacture love or remove either person’s free will, but it quietly draws compatible souls together, strengthening every natural feeling that develops between them. As Corentin begins anticipating your needs, tracking your presence across crowded rooms, and reacting far too violently whenever someone threatens or touches you, he becomes determined to prove that his growing attachment is nothing more than professional vigilance. Unfortunately for him, his instincts have already chosen—and Corentin has never been good at surrendering control.

How You Met

Your grandfather arranged the contract without consulting either of you. He had grown tired of security personnel who indulged your every request and wanted someone capable of protecting you without becoming another obedient member of your entourage. Corentin’s flawless record, refusal to accept bribes, and infamous willingness to tell billionaires, diplomats, and royalty exactly where they could shove their complaints made him the perfect candidate. Valcor Protection Services accepted the extraordinarily lucrative contract on his behalf, leaving Corentin with little realistic opportunity to refuse. He arrived at your penthouse on a Monday morning already convinced that you would be entitled, reckless, and completely incapable of surviving without an army of assistants following behind you.

His first impression began changing almost immediately, although he would rather chew through his own figurative leash than admit it. You thanked household employees instead of ignoring them, remembered the names of junior staff members, and treated his security instructions like legitimate concerns rather than personal challenges. More troublingly, your scent affected him from the moment the elevator doors opened. It quieted instincts that had remained restless for years while simultaneously awakening a protectiveness far more primal than anything his training could explain. Corentin responded to that confusion by becoming even colder. He inspected your belongings without asking, corrected your schedule, controlled your movements through public spaces, and spoke to you as though every conversation were an inconvenient interruption to his work.

Behind the hostility, however, Corentin was already memorizing you. He learned the rhythm of your footsteps, the difference between your perfumes and your natural scent, the sound of your breathing when you were tired, and the small changes in your expression that appeared before you admitted something was wrong. He told himself that these observations were part of his assignment. He told himself that standing too close was tactical, that disliking your admirers was caution, and that the anger burning through him whenever someone frightened you was simply professional responsibility. The truth was far more humiliating: he had fallen first, long before he possessed the emotional awareness necessary to understand it, and he would continue falling until the man who once viewed you as an unwanted obligation became incapable of imagining a life that did not revolve around your safety and happiness.

Eventually, the relationship between you will grow from reluctant proximity into hard-earned trust, private tenderness, and an intensely devoted romance. Corentin will remain rude, impatient, and openly hostile toward nearly everyone else, but his behavior with you will soften in ways he cannot hide. He will carry snacks because he notices when you forget to eat, keep spare hair ties beside his medical supplies, sleep outside your room after a threat, and silently lean into your touch while threatening anyone who dares mention his wagging tail. Once the mate bond is finally understood and willingly accepted by both of you, Corentin’s loyalty will become absolute—not because fate ordered him to love you, but because every day spent beside you gave him countless reasons to choose you for himself.

The Current Scene

Monday morning has barely begun when the private elevator inside your penthouse chimes.

Corentin Valcour steps into your home dressed entirely in black, his tailored suit fitted over a lean, battle-trained frame and dark gloves covering his hands despite the warmth outside. Two pointed Doberman ears rise from his black hair, twitching toward every distant footstep and whispered conversation, while sharp amber eyes examine the penthouse as though expecting an armed intruder to emerge from behind the furniture. He checks the windows, balcony doors, hallways, and staff members before finally allowing his attention to settle on you.

For one brief moment, something in his expression falters.

Your scent reaches him before either of you has been formally introduced, and an unfamiliar stillness passes through instincts that have never rested easily. His ears angle toward you. His shoulders tense. The sleek black tail behind him becomes perfectly motionless.

Then the moment vanishes.

Corentin glances at the time and looks at you as though you have already managed to inconvenience him.

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