Kent in town
1275 Words
Kent Blackfang hated humans.
He hated their weakness.
He hated their fragile bodies.
He hated their crowded towns, strange customs, and endless rules.
Most of all, he hated the fact that he was forced to live among them.
Three weeks had passed since Moonfang Pack stripped him of his title and drove him from his territory.
Three weeks since he had lost everything.
The memory still burned like fire inside him.
Every morning he woke up angry.
Every night he went to sleep planning revenge.
But revenge would have to wait.
For now, survival came first.
The town of Hillland sat between rolling hills and thick forests. It was large enough to provide shelter but small enough that strangers attracted attention.
Which was exactly Kent's problem.
He was a stranger.
The moment he walked through the town square, people stared.
His appearance alone made him stand out.
He was taller than most men.
Stronger than anyone around him.
His golden eyes often made people uncomfortable.
Women looked at him with curiosity.
Men looked at him with suspicion.
Children often hid behind their parents.
Kent found it annoying.
Back in Moonfang territory, wolves lowered their heads when he walked by.
Here, humans simply stared.
It took every ounce of patience not to growl at them.
One afternoon he sat alone beneath a tree overlooking the town.
The scent of humans filled the air.
Hundreds of them.
The smells mixed together until they became unbearable.
A normal wolf would have left long ago.
Kent remained.
Because he had nowhere else to go.
The small amount of money he stole during his escape was running low.
Finding shelter became necessary.
Fortunately, luck finally favored him.
Near the edge of town stood a large cabin owned by Hillland's mayor.
The property was massive.
A wooden fence surrounded it.
Behind the cabin sat an old storage building that had been abandoned for years.
Nobody used it.
Nobody visited it.
It was perfect.
That night Kent quietly slipped inside.
Dust covered everything.
Broken furniture filled the corners.
Spider webs hung from the ceiling.
To a human it looked miserable.
To a rogue wolf it looked like home.
For the first time since his exile, Kent slept under a roof.
The next morning he woke before sunrise.
Years of Alpha training had made sleeping late impossible.
He stepped outside.
The air was cool.
Birds chirped in the distance.
Hillland slowly came to life.
Workers headed toward their jobs.
Shop owners opened their businesses.
Students walked toward school.
Kent observed everything carefully.
A predator studying new territory.
His eyes eventually landed on the mayor's cabin.
And that was when he saw her.
A teenage girl emerged through the front door.
Dark hair.
Bright eyes.
A cheerful smile.
She couldn't have been older than sixteen.
The moment she appeared, something about her caught his attention.
She looked completely different from everyone else.
Not physically.
There was simply an energy about her.
A warmth.
A kindness.
Something Kent rarely encountered.
The girl waved toward an older man standing on the porch.
The mayor.
Her father.
"Have a good day, Dad!" she called.
The mayor laughed.
"Study hard, Cassie."
Cassie.
So that was her name.
The girl smiled and hurried toward the road.
Several friends joined her along the way.
Soon their laughter echoed through the morning air.
Kent watched until she disappeared.
Then he frowned.
Why had he been watching her?
He didn't care about humans.
Especially not human teenagers.
Yet for some reason, his eyes kept following her.
The feeling irritated him.
Over the following days, Kent settled into a routine.
He spent mornings exploring the town.
Afternoons resting.
Evenings hunting in the nearby forest.
Humans never noticed.
To them he was simply another drifter passing through.
But despite all his efforts to ignore her, he kept seeing Cassie.
Every morning she left for school.
Every afternoon she returned.
Always smiling.
Always helping someone.
Always surrounded by friends.
Kent observed from a distance.
Nothing more.
One afternoon he watched her help an elderly woman carry groceries.
Another day he saw her rescue a frightened puppy trapped beneath a fence.
The animal immediately trusted her.
Even wolves were usually cautious around humans.
Yet the puppy ran straight into her arms.
Strange.
Very strange.
The more Kent watched, the more curious he became.
Humans usually bored him.
Cassie did not.
One evening he sat beneath a tree overlooking the mayor's property.
The setting sun painted the sky orange.
Cassie sat on the front porch reading a book.
A gentle breeze moved through her dark hair.
For several minutes she remained completely absorbed in her story.
Then suddenly she looked up.
Straight toward him.
Kent froze.
Impossible.
The distance was too great.
Humans couldn't detect him that easily.
Yet her eyes met his.
For one brief moment.
Then she smiled politely.
Not frightened.
Not suspicious.
Just polite.
As though she had spotted an ordinary neighbor.
Kent quickly looked away.
The reaction surprised even him.
Why had he done that?
He was Alpha Kent Blackfang.
Former ruler of Moonfang.
Terror of rival packs.
Why should the smile of a human girl affect him?
The thought annoyed him for the rest of the evening.
Days turned into weeks.
Slowly, Hillland became familiar.
The town no longer felt completely foreign.
People stopped staring as often.
Some even greeted him.
Kent rarely answered.
Still, he found himself spending more time near the mayor's property.
Watching.
Observing.
Learning.
Cassie fascinated him.
Unlike many people her age, she wasn't selfish.
She treated everyone kindly.
Teachers respected her.
Friends trusted her.
Even adults spoke highly of her.
One afternoon Kent overheard two women talking near the market.
"That Cassie is such a sweet girl."
"I know. The mayor must be proud."
"She's going to do great things one day."
Kent walked away before hearing more.
For some reason the conversation left him uneasy.
He didn't understand why.
Late one night, while the town slept, Kent sat on the roof of the abandoned building.
The moon shone brightly overhead.
Its silver light illuminated the entire valley.
Normally the moon brought comfort.
Tonight it brought memories.
Moonfang.
His pack.
His throne.
Everything he had lost.
Rage burned inside him.
One day he would return.
One day every wolf who betrayed him would pay.
The thought usually satisfied him.
Yet tonight another image entered his mind.
Cassie.
Laughing with friends.
Helping strangers.
Smiling at everyone she met.
Kent growled softly.
This was ridiculous.
He needed to focus.
Humans were irrelevant.
Revenge mattered.
Power mattered.
Nothing else.
And yet...
The next morning he found himself watching her leave for school again.
Cassie adjusted her backpack before walking down the road.
The sun illuminated her face.
For the first time in years, Kent felt something unfamiliar.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Something else.
Something he couldn't identify.
The feeling unsettled him more than any enemy ever had.
Because Alpha Kent Blackfang understood war.
He understood violence.
He understood power.
But whatever this feeling was...
It was completely beyond his control.
And that frightened him.
As Cassie disappeared into the distance, Kent continued watching long after she was gone.
Neither of them knew it yet.
Neither the exiled Alpha nor the mayor's daughter understood that their lives were slowly moving toward each other.
A meeting that would alter both their futures forever.
A meeting that would one day lead to the birth of a daughter destined to shake the entire werewolf world.
But for now, they remained strangers.
One hidden in the shadows.
The other living beneath the sunlight.
Both completely unaware that fate had already begun its work.
- Writer
