Alphahole

An alphahole is a male love interest who is dominant, arrogant, and often emotionally closed off, but whose actions clearly show he is deeply possessive and protective of the heroine. He is an alpha male taken to an extreme, often saying or doing cruel things before his vulnerability is revealed.

Readers are drawn to the tension of watching a powerful, seemingly uncaring man be brought to his knees by love, and the payoff is the intense, explosive passion that comes when he finally yields. The appeal lies in the fantasy of being the one person who can soften a man no one else can touch.