Kiernan O'Rourke

[Kiernan]

Name: Kiernan O’Rourke.
Nicknames: His name doesn’t really offer many options when it comes to nicknames but some have been known to call him Kier. Occasionally some within the pack will refer to him by his surname or even Rourke, neither of which really bother him.
Race: Werewolf; Bitten.
Occupation: Pack Fighter.
Gender: Male.
Skin Colour: Caucasian; slightly tanned.
Nationality: Irish.
Age: 241 years old, though physically he appears to be anywhere between his late twenties to his early thirties.
Clothing: Kiernan tends to opt for darker colours and fairly casual clothing. He is usually seen wearing dark jeans and a short sleeved shirt, t-shirt or wife-beater on top that show off his muscular arms. He is almost always sporting a heavy pair of boots and they are more often than not steel toe capped boots too.
Height: 5’10”.
Weight: 191 lbs.
Tattoos: Kiernan has two tattoos, the first is a tribal design which covers much of his back stretching out to his shoulder blades and lower back. The second is a scorpion also in a tribal design on his right bicep, the claws point up towards his shoulder and the legs wrap around his arm slightly with the tail weaving out behind it almost reaching his elbow.

Piercings: None.
Jewellery: Kiernan wears a chain with two pendants on it, one is a large Celtic cross the other a small Celtic half moon which actually belonged to his mother, both pendants and the long chain they rest on are pewter. He also has two rings both Celtic in design, the first has a plain band with an engraved Celtic knot in a panel across the centre of the ring, it is worn on the middle finger of his left hand. The other ring is a more intricate design which is actually two rings that sit one inside the other, the outer band spins freely around the inner band, the inner ring is a solid band of Celtic knot work and it is worn on the middle finger of his right hand. He can often be seen spinning the bands on this ring when something is bothering him or he is deep in thought.

Body Modifications: Given his position within the pack he also has a fair few smaller scars scattered over his body which vary in size from tiny marks made by stray claws to more noticeable slashes from well placed teeth, claws and even the odd blade. The most noticeable scars though are those on his left thigh from the attack that left him as a werewolf.

Wolf Form

Build: Highly muscled and built for fighting, with a solid torso. In his wolf form Kiernan is fairly intimidating, a rather imposing figure and one that leaves you in no doubt that he could easily tear you apart if he so wished.
Height: Quadruped - 4’11” Biped – 8’1”.
Weight: 307lbs.
Hair: Dark brown all down his back and sides fading to a lighter brown on his underside and around his face.
Eyes: Almost metallic blue in colour, piercing and can be a little unsettling to those who haven’t seen them before.
Defining Marks: A long sweeping tail, large ears and a large ruff around his neck and shoulders.

Pack
Pack: Rayne and Dante’s Pack.
Position: Pack fighter.
Territory: Rayne and Dante’s side of the city.

Hair[/u]
Length: About level with his jaw line mostly, though it has been known to get longer and hang to almost his shoulders before being cut.
Style: Most of the time his hair is left to its own devices, left to hang as it falls giving him a somewhat dishevelled appearance on occasion, some might even call it Irish hair which doesn’t always go down well with Kiernan. All he ever does to it is run a brush through it first thing when he gets up, apart from that as long as it isn’t in his way when he spars or fights he doesn’t really care.
Colour: Dark brown, can be mistaken for black under low light levels.

Facial Hair[/u]
Length: A light stubble most of the time, never more than a couple of centimetres of growth at its longest.
Style: He wouldn’t really consider it a style as such as he only ever has stubble.

Eyes[/u]
Colour: Blue.
Oddities: When the wolf is close to the surface or when his emotions get the better of him his eyes will take on the colour of his wolf.

Personality: Kiernan is not what you would expect at first glance, he looks like he would be a bit of a bruiser and while that may be true to a degree he is actually a gentleman. He was raised in a time when a man was expected to hold doors open for a woman and carry her things for her if they were too heavy. He has manners and he uses them. He is pretty much always polite to people unless they are considered an enemy and even then he won’t be outright hostile to them unless they provoke him. He is also what some might call chivalrous and won’t hesitate to step in to a situation where a woman is in trouble and needs help though occasionally he reads the situation wrong and gets a slap for his trouble but that won’t stop him from doing the same thing again in the future.

He is loyal to those he considers friends and family and will stop at nothing to defend them from harm. He will gladly throw himself in the line of fire to protect those he loves. When it comes to protecting others his own well being doesn’t even come in to it, if he can save someone from harm he will do it even if it means he gets hurt himself. Some might consider this a dangerous trait but in Kiernan’s eyes it is his duty as a fighter to put himself in the way to protect the rest of the pack. He would never hesitate to follow an order from any of the wolves higher up the chain of command than him no matter what that might mean from him, it is that unwavering loyalty that makes him a good fighter as he won’t worry about what might happen to himself as long as the rest of the pack are safe.

To those he knows he is friendly, welcoming and on occasions funny but those that don’t know him get treated with a small amount of wariness. He learnt a long time ago that trusting the wrong person can get you hurt or worse killed and it is a lesson he’s never going to forget. He has a need to make sure that those he cares about are happy and that means he will often go out of his way to make sure that they are. Then there is one particular wolf that he has an overwhelming need to protect and keep safe from the world: Vanessa. From the moment he met the English she-wolf he felt the need to protect her even though she hadn’t been pack at the time. That need has only strengthened as their friendship has grown to the point where he might even be considered over protective of her. Kiernan is aware that he cares for her more than anyone else in the pack but he hasn’t quite come to accept the fact that he loves her and has done for some time now. He is unwilling to do anything that might threaten their friendship and is afraid of pushing Nessa in to anything that she might not necessarily want so he has tried to ignore the truth and instead settles for being her unofficial bodyguard.

Weaknesses: As with all werewolves Kiernan is deathly allergic to silver, proximity with it makes him nauseous, contact will burn him and introduction of it in to his system can prove fatal. His willingness to throw himself in to danger for those he cares about could be considered a weakness as he often doesn’t think before he acts when others are in trouble and there is every chance he could land himself in hot water because of that. Vanessa is definitely a weakness for him, there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for the young she-wolf, he bonded with her strongly after their first meeting and he sees it as his personal duty to make sure she is safe and protected whenever he is near her.

Abilities: Lycanthropy has gifted him with the standard set of perks for a werewolf, enhanced speed, strength and agility along with heightened senses. He also heals at an accelerated rate and will not age past what he appears to be currently. He is also able to resist the call of the moon due to his age.

Aside from the abilities gifted to him through his lycanthropy he is a skilled fighter which is a good thing given the fact that he is one of the pack’s fighters. Growing up with three older brothers meant that Kiernan had to learn how to handle himself from an early age and against opponents larger than himself. This is something that has come in handy since he became a werewolf as while he might not be small he’s certainly not the largest werewolf out there. He keeps his fighting skills honed by training regularly with many of the other fighters in the pack. Over the years he has gained a simple understanding of first aid, he isn’t the guy you want performing surgery on you or anything but he knows enough to tend small wounds and maybe broken bones as long as there’s no need to reposition them. You might say he has basic field triage skills, he knows where his skills would be most useful and won’t hesitate to ask for help if he knows he’s out of his depth.

Not surprisingly he can speak Irish Gaelic and is still pretty fluent despite the fact that he hasn’t really needed to use it for many years. Kiernan has often thought about learning another language but hasn’t yet found the time to actually sit down and learn one.

Weapons: Kiernan carries a few weapons on him at all times, including but not limited to a pair of handguns (Beretta 92) which are always on him when he leaves the Four Seasons and a pair of knives which again are always with him when he leaves the pack home.

Prized Possessions: The pendant that belonged to his mother is one of his most valuable possessions, being the only thing that he ever had of hers. A dog-eared copy of Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which he tends to read at least once a year.

Home(s): The Four Seasons with the rest of the pack.

History: Kiernan was the fourth son born to a traditional farming family in Ireland, he was also the last child as his mother, Caitlaín, died due to complications during childbirth. His father Patrick was left to raise the four boys Diarmaid, Séamas, Fearghas and Kiernan, not an easy task but one that his father didn’t intend to fail in and thankfully he wasn’t alone as he had his own sister to help him look after the children. Life wasn’t easy for the O’Rourke boys without their mother, they weren’t starved for attention or love not by any means but nothing could replace a mother’s love. It was touch and go whether Kiernan would survive for the first few months of his life, not having his mother meant that his father had to improvise with feeding the youngest of his boys and it was far from ideal but he did the best that he could. Slowly but surely Kiernan gained strength and started to thrive under his father’s care, Patrick knew that he was lucky not to have lost the boy along with his mother and he did everything he could to make sure that his youngest son would grow up to be a strong healthy child.

Being the youngest of four boys meant that as soon as he started crawling and walking Kiernan had to learn how to take the rough and tumble that was the norm for the O’Rourke boys. Luckily Kiernan was a tough toddler and no matter how many times his older brothers knocked him down he got back up and went on about things as if nothing had happened. He was a relatively happy child and nothing really seemed to faze him, if he was aware that his upbringing was far from normal then he didn’t show any signs of it, at least not until he started to get a bit older.

When Kiernan was five years old his brother Séamas decided that he was going to be nasty to him and started shouting at him saying it was his fault that their mother was dead and how he wished that it had been Kiernan that had died instead. This understandably upset the young boy and not knowing what to do he went to Patrick and asked if it was true that it was his fault and Patrick spent ages explaining to him that it wasn’t in any way his fault and that it had been his mother’s time to go to Heaven and even though she wasn’t with them she was watching over them. Being so young Kiernan didn’t really understand what his father was trying to tell him and he kept asking questions that his father really couldn’t answer. For the first time in his life Kiernan realised that he was missing something big in his life that his brothers had all got to experience and he felt the loss of his mother strongly for the first time. Patrick felt helpless when he realised what his youngest boy was going through and knew he had to do something to allow Kiernan to feel connected to the mother that he had never gotten to know. They had never been a rich family or anything like that and they had few belongings that weren’t practical but Caitlaín had always had a couple of pieces of jewellery which Patrick had kept after his wife’s death and it was one of these pieces that Patrick decided to give to his youngest son in an attempt to help him connect to his mother, he gave him a small Celtic half moon pendant made from pewter on a long chain and told him to keep it a secret from his brothers as they might get jealous and try to take it from him. Kiernan told his father that he would keep it safely hidden away from them and that he would cherish it always.

Life settled in to a rhythm for the O’Rourke family with the older boys helping their father with the running of the small family farm and the younger boys playing most of the time. As with all families they had their arguments and with four boys fights were bound to happen and they did often but they were never serious and were usually forgotten before bedtime. As they got older the boys were all given chores that they were expected to do without the need to be asked, even Kiernan was given chores to do. Patrick wanted to make sure that he equipped his boys for life after they left home, he might have been raising them alone but he wasn’t going to let them grow up without knowing the importance of an honest day’s work. The boys respected their father and all of them tried their hardest to gain his approval any time they could which often meant that any fighting between the boys was over who would do what tasks which always entertained Patrick.

By the time Kiernan turned twelve the family was doing fairly well for itself and even though farming wasn’t easy the O’Rourke farm thrived with five pairs of hands pitching in to do the work but that didn’t mean that the family could let up on the work as Patrick knew all too well that things could change any moment and crops could fail or animals could succumb to disease and die. The boys had never experienced what life could be like in those hard times but that didn’t mean that they weren’t aware of them, they heard stories from those close to the family about the harsh winters several years previous that had claimed many lives as crops failed and famine was widespread through the country. Those weren’t the only stories that floated around the farms spread over the countryside though, there had always been myths about wolves deep in the woods but over recent years there were tales of these wolves taking livestock and even attacking people who dared to venture out under a full moon. Most dismissed these stories as just that, imaginings of minds that were trying to find someone or something to blame for their own bad fortune but there were those that believed the stories and thought that there really were wolves in the deep forests and hills.

Years passed with these tales coming up every so often but nobody ever seemed to supply proof that these creatures were real and there was never any evidence when livestock went missing except for traces of blood where the animals had been attacked. Wolves were rarely seen in Ireland anymore and the last one seen in the area had been over thirty years ago so Patrick didn’t see any need to worry and he made sure to tell his boys that. The stories faded in to memory and Kiernan and his brothers mostly forgot about them. Things were busy with the farm and with lambing season fast approaching there were more important things to think about than tales of wolves and lost livestock.

It wasn’t long before all that changed though. The sheep had started to lamb and as was often the case the family had to spend a vast amount of time out in the lambing shed helping the ewes that struggled with giving birth. It was always a busy time for the family and it wasn’t uncommon for them to actually fall asleep out there rather than walk back to the house and find a bed. All five of the O’Rourke men were out in the shed one night, the night after the full moon, as they had several ewes in distress and even lost a couple due to complications with the births, there was a lot of noise and the air was thick with the smell of new born lambs. None of the men heard the noises of predators lurking around coming from outside. It was only when an eerie howl went up and all the sheep reacted that they realised something was outside. Patrick didn’t waste any time waiting to see what it was and told his sons to arm themselves with whatever they could find handy. No sooner had he said that then the door of the shed erupted in to a shower of splinters as a massive animal burst through it, at first glance it looked like a wolf but it was easily three times as large as a wolf with cold intelligence shining in its eyes. It was in that moment that all five of the O’Rourke men realised that the tales of something prowling the countryside were true. The wolf wasn’t alone either, just behind it in the darkness there were others moving about waiting to get to what had drawn them to the farm.

The next few moments passed in a blur. The creatures suddenly launched themselves at the men and even though they had managed to find things to arm themselves with it didn’t seem to make any difference. They fought as hard as they could they were no match to the massive wolves that had descended upon them. Kiernan saw his father fall under the one that had broken down the door but was unable to get to him to help him as he had been cornered by one of the others that had followed their leader through the opening. He tried to fight the creature off with the rake he had picked up but his attempts just seemed to anger the beast more. In a move too fast for him to counter the wolf lunged at his leg and clamped its jaws around his left thigh causing him to cry out in pain as it bit down on muscle and bone. The wolf threw him through the air as if he was nothing and sent him crashing in to a wall hard enough to knock him unconscious.

When he came round Kiernan wasn’t sure how much time had passed or even if he was alive, all he knew was that he could smell blood and lots of it. The smell was heavy in the air and made him feel sick but that wasn’t all, he felt something else that he couldn’t really explain or even describe it was a feeling he’d never had before, almost a need to go out and hunt down prey. He laid there for a moment waiting to see if one of the creatures was still there and going to finish him off but there wasn’t a single sound to be heard, the utter silence was eerie after the amount of noise that had been present in the lambing shed just before the attack. There should have been some noise from somewhere but there was none. Tentatively he attempted to move expecting to feel excruciating pain from his leg at least if not from bones that had surely been broken when he had hit the wall but all he felt was a dull aching all over his body. The only thing he could think that could describe it was shock, he had to be in shock from just the sheer amount of blood he had lost from where the wolf had torn his thigh open but when he looked down at his leg he was surprised to see that it had already stopped bleeding and though his trouser leg was soaked through it looked as if the wound wasn’t as bad as he had suspected.

The shed was in near darkness as the oil lamps that had been hung up had either burnt out or been broken, though thankfully none of them had set alight to anything in the attack. Kiernan stood slowly and looked around him, even though it was dark he was able to see enough detail to know that there wasn’t a single animal left alive, in fact there were hardly any sheep left in the shed. It was then that he noticed the other bodies, those of his father and his brothers. He stumbled across to the nearest body, his father’s, and knelt down to check if he was still alive but it was obvious as soon as he got close that his father was dead, his throat had been ripped out. Kiernan as no stranger to death having grown up on the farm he was used to seeing the bodies of livestock that had either succumbed to disease or that had been the victim of an attack from a predator but this was different, it was his father, the man who had raised him and kept him safe, seeing him lying with his blood all over him was enough to make Kiernan retch, his stomach threatening to empty itself. Stumbling backwards from the body he tripped over that of one of his brother’s and went crashing through a partition of one of the pens hitting the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. Leaning against the wall he looked down to the body that he had tripped over and noticed that it was Fearghas or rather what was left of him, his brother missing a large chunk from his side. The sight was enough to make Kiernan finally lose control causing him to throw up the contents of his stomach. He kept going until nothing but bile was coming up and it was only then that he managed to stop. His face streaked with tears and his whole body shaking with a mix of shock and rage.

Kiernan knew then that he couldn’t stay at the farm as there was nothing left for him there. His entire family was dead as was every animal that they had owned but he knew he couldn’t sell the land either. It had belonged to his family for longer than even his father had been able to remember and once people learnt of what had happened he knew that no one would want to buy it for fear of it being cursed or the creatures returning. Kiernan stayed long enough to bury his father and brothers in the plot that already held his mother and mark their graves. Once that was done he packed what little items of value and money he could find and left his home not really sure where he was heading. He hadn’t told anyone what had happened as he knew none of them would believe him or worse they would blame him and lock him away or kill him so he just left keeping to trails that he knew weren’t well travelled and steering clear of villages where he was known.

By the time the next full moon came around Kiernan was miles away from home and he had set up camp in a small clearing he had found in some woods where there was also shelter that meant he didn’t have to go in to the nearby village and rouse suspicion as he knew strangers could do in the countryside. Kiernan had avoided contact with almost everyone since the night of the attack back home and in the last couple of days he had been even more concerned with steering clear of people. He had become anxious and overwhelmed by the need to be alone and while he couldn’t explain it he had accepted it and just carried on as he had been for nearly a month. As night started to fall he became overcome with a strange feeling that something was going to happen, he became convinced that someone was lurking in the woods watching him and waiting for him to drop his guard so that they could rob him or kill him. When the moon rose something else entirely happened. Kiernan experienced such pain throughout his entire body that he was sure he would die from it, it felt as if his bones were breaking and his muscles contorting the whole thing making him cry out in pain but the sound that reached his ears was not that of a human at all, it sounded more like the creatures that had attacked him and his family. The agony went on for what felt like an eternity until he finally slipped in to unconsciousness.

When he woke the next morning he could taste blood in his mouth which he found odd as he had no memory of biting his tongue or cheek before he had succumbed to the pain and fallen in to unconsciousness but he just assumed he must have and forgot about it. He was also slightly surprised by the fact that he wasn’t hungry even though he had never gotten round to eating anything the night before. Sitting by the remains of the fire he had lit before the pain had hit he began to remember what seemed like remnants of a dream, running through the forest and chasing animals that ran out before him but not as a human, as a large predator before finally catching, killing and eating a deer. Nothing really made sense and when he noticed large prints in the earth that looked suspiciously like paw prints he began to wonder if the dream he was beginning to remember had been real. There was only one way to find out so he set out in the direction that he thought might be the place where he had chased the deer down in what he had thought had been a dream. It took him nearly two hours of walking until he was met with the scent of blood on the air and just after he had picked that up he found the remains of the deer. In that moment he felt as if the world were spinning and he was going to lose his footing.

When he finally managed to steady himself he was leaning against a tree. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and was sure that he was either going crazy or that someone was making him think he was. He couldn’t accept that those things that had attacked his home a month ago had been creatures of myth though the more he thought about it the more the creatures seemed to have been unnaturally fast and strong and their eyes held more intelligence than any animal he had ever seen. Kiernan had grown up hearing stories of men that could transform in to wolves but he had always thought that was what they were, just stories and yet here he was faced with possible evidence that he was now one of these men. He tried to think of some way to rationalise it away, a large predator must have killed the deer in the night and it was just a coincidence that it was where he had been walking but there were more of the large paw prints that he had seen around his camp. For every explanation he tried to think of he found something that disproved it. Before he even realised what he was doing he was running back through the woods towards his camp, he had to get away from the deer and anything that hinted at what he had become.

Upon reaching the camp he packed up his things and headed away back out in to the woods though this time away from the deer. He ran as far as he could until his legs ached and his lungs burned with the effort but he didn’t stop moving, he carried on walking the entire day only really stopping for water or food and then moving on again as soon as he could. When the sun began to set he carried on going instead of finding somewhere to camp for the night as if walking would prevent the truth from catching up to him. It wasn’t long after the sun had dipped below the horizon when the pain hit him again just as strong as the night before but this time he fought to stay on his feet and walking which seemed to make the pain even worse. Try as he might he eventually buckled under the pain and fell to the ground with what could only be described as a wolfen howl. The more he struggled against the pain the worse it got until he couldn’t breathe let alone do anything else. Slowly the pain eased and he knew that this was no dream, he was a werewolf and there was nothing he could do about it. This time once the pain had subsided he simply stayed lying where he had fallen resigned to the fact that this was now his life and no amount of explaining away was going to change that.

Kiernan knew now more than ever that he would have to avoid people, he didn’t want to risk them finding out what he was and branding him a monster and trying to kill him. He was beginning to get used to being on his own so while he wasn’t exactly happy about keeping to himself it was no big change to what he’d been doing anyway. Now it would be more out of necessity than any urge to avoid raising suspicions. It took him a few days but he eventually found an old abandoned cottage in a small valley that was surrounded by plenty of trees and looked as if no one had been near it in many years. The perfect place for someone like him to hide from the world and try to get to grips with what he had become.

For the next few years Kiernan kept mostly to himself. He hunted in the surrounding woods for food and gathered water from a small stream that ran through the valley and only ever venturing in to a nearby village when it was absolutely necessary. Gradually the pain with the transformation around the full moon began to ease though it was still excruciating but nowhere near as bad as the first time it had happened. He was even beginning to accept what he had become and learning to use the gifts being a werewolf had given him. Life was far from easy though as he rarely had anyone to talk to apart from himself and he was always worried that he might lose control of himself and hurt or kill someone if they ventured in to the valley when he was in his wolf form. It was thoughts like that which made him wonder if he needed to move again and find somewhere more secluded but then he truly would be alone and as much as he knew it was for the best he couldn’t shake the need to be around others that seemed to be coming through as time went by.

One evening when Kiernan was out running through the trees his worst nightmare was almost realised. He’d been running for about twenty minutes when the scent of a human drifted by him, curiosity got the better of him and he stalked towards the source of the scent. Though he moved as quietly as he could being the size he was in wolf form he wasn’t exactly silent moving through the brush but he didn’t think the human would have heard him. He was wrong. When he reached a clearing he saw one of the young boys from the village staring straight at him frozen in terror. Kiernan froze in place and simply stared back at the boy who suddenly let out a scream and turned to run and try as he might Kiernan couldn’t fight the impulse to give chase and went crashing through the woods after the boy who was screaming as he ran. Being much faster than the boy he quickly closed the gap and knocked the child to the ground with one swipe of a paw. The boy scrambled to get away from him while Kiernan towered over him with a low growl rising in his throat. It was only then that Kiernan heard the noise of others moving through the woods. He knew he had to escape and quickly before anyone else saw him. He turned and fled back through the trees the way he had come moving as fast as he could to make sure that no one would be able to catch him, he didn’t stop running until he was clear across the other side of the valley.

The next morning Kiernan packed up and left the little cottage knowing that the villagers would possibly come looking for him and asking him questions which he wanted to avoid at all costs. He had come close to taking the life of a human and that was something he wouldn’t let himself do if he had any say in the matter. He headed farther in to the countryside looking for somewhere even more remote and as inaccessible as he could find as he didn’t want to run the risk of a repeat of what happened with the young boy. He needed to control his instincts as a wolf and until he could he knew he’d have to avoid humans even if he longed for some company. He searched for somewhere suitable for a few weeks until he found somewhere that he suspected would work at least for the time being. It wasn’t exactly ideal for a human but being a werewolf Kiernan could cope with the rather exposed front of the cavern that he had found in some mountains. Living like a hermit wasn’t really what he wanted but it was safer for him that way as there was no worry that he might accidentally kill someone if he let his instincts control him as he had that night in the woods.

Living isolated like that meant that time didn’t really have much meaning for Kiernan, he had no way of knowing what day it was or anything like that, the only way he could measure the passage of time was by the phases of the moon. Being removed from society also meant that he could actually spend more time learning to control his wolf and not let it control him. He didn’t want to allow his instincts to rule him so he worked hard on mastering his control on them as the sooner he did that the sooner he would be able to attempt living closer to others again. The need to be around others seemed to be growing stronger all the time but Kieran didn’t want to risk another slip that might end with him taking a life and so no matter how strong that need got he wouldn’t dare live close to people again until he knew he could control himself properly.

With no distractions and no risk of someone finding him Kiernan slowly learnt how to control himself and the wolf within. He still changed around the full moon but as time passed he was able to resist the urge to go out and hunt down prey. He also began to learn how to call the transformation at will though it was in no way easy. The more he accepted what he was the easier the changes seemed to become, the pain lessening with each transformation until there was no pain at all and the whole process seemed to get quicker. Eventually he felt confident that he could control himself enough that he needn’t hide from the world anymore and could safely live closer to humans. When he made the decision to return to society he knew he had to be careful and there was always that thought in the back of his mind that if anyone discovered just what he was it would result in his death. With that in mind Kiernan decided that he would try and find somewhere like the cottage in the valley, close enough to civilisation that he could be included as much as he wanted but far enough removed so that he could change safely without the risk of someone accidentally stumbling across him.

It was only when he passed through a small village that he discovered just how long he had been in the mountains. He knew it had been years but he hadn’t realised it had been over twenty, it hadn’t felt that long when he had been there but then he had spent all his time focused on his control rather than counting the passage of time. It was then that he began to understand that time no longer had the same meaning for him as it had when he was human; he didn’t have to worry about growing old and his body failing on him slowly. He felt stronger than he had when he was a young lad and he already knew he had enhanced stamina and strength thanks to the creature that lurked under the surface. As much as he hated how he had become what he was he no longer saw it as something to be feared or a curse as it was always referred to by those who told the tales to children to scare them and make them behave.

After a little searching Kiernan found somewhere that he felt would be perfect for him to live, it was close enough to a fairly busy town that he wouldn’t be too obvious as a newcomer but was far enough away that no one would just happen by without him knowing it. He settled in to a steady rhythm and even took a job down by the docks loading and unloading boats and ships. He kept to himself as much as he could without offending anyone which meant that occasionally he would have to join the other dockworkers for a drink after work but he was always careful not to raise suspicion when it came to his seemingly endless tolerance to alcohol quickly learning how to appear as if it was effecting him when really he could have drunken them all under the table without even beginning to feel the effects.

Life carried on without much incident for a few years until one night when Kiernan was in a pub with his co-workers enjoying a few pints. The bar was fairly crowded as a ship had docked earlier that day and the crew had hit the town to enjoy a little downtime but it seemed their idea of fun was to force themselves on the women in the bar and generally make trouble. Kiernan tried to ignore them but as the night wore on his patience began to run out until he snapped and grabbed one of the more mouthy men and pinned him up against a wall by his neck, it was only when he saw the terror in the man’s eyes that he realised his wolf was showing through in his own eyes. The guy’s crew mates set upon Kiernan in an attempt to free their friend but they were drunk and uncoordinated making them no match for Kiernan and he beat them back with ease. No one else in the bar moved, they were just too shocked by what they saw to do anything. Kiernan knew in that moment that he had to move on again, he had made a scene and called attention to himself in a way that meant that people would start to question if he wasn’t more than he seemed and that would only lead to bad things for him. Before he let the man down he made sure to warn him that his behaviour was unacceptable and next time he might not be so lucky but he was careful to make sure no one else heard the threat. He left the bar without talking to anyone and headed for home to pack up and leave before anyone came to ask questions. By morning he was on the road again.

After that night Kiernan decided to keep on the move more, never staying in one place longer than a month. He lived like this for a few years before he ran out of places to go where he hadn’t been already in the last few years and if he returned it might raise questions if he were recognised. The only way to avoid that was to leave the country; he had two options, either England or America. In the end it was an easy choice for him, America. It didn’t take long for him to find a ship that was heading out to America and to secure passage aboard. The only thing that worried him was the time of the crossing as it was close to the full moon but he had little choice as there wouldn’t be another chance to go for a while and he was certain that he needed to go straight away. In the end he needn’t have worried as the ship made good time and the journey was completed before he had to worry about changing in such a confined space.

America was a big change for Kiernan, there was nothing that could have prepared him for what he would find when he arrived there. He was shocked by just how many people there were in close proximity to each other, he had always been used to plenty of space but the town that had sprang up around the port was huge and crowded. He didn’t stay there any longer than he had to before he set off to wander the country. With no real destination in mind he spent years going from place to place never stopping for very long until he came across something he hadn’t expected to find on this side of the ocean, other werewolves. Kiernan had never thought about the possibility of others being out there, to be honest he had given little thought to the matter at all. What really surprised him was the fact that these wolves seemed to be living in plain sight and in a group large enough that he didn’t know how the humans hadn’t discovered them yet. As it turned out the wolves he had found were a pack and when he discovered that they all lived together and protected each other he knew he wanted that. It was what he had been searching for all these years without even realising it.

The pack Alphas were called Rayne and Dante and while they seemed to be rather aloof and almost standoffish they allowed Kiernan to join their pack. For the first time since he had been bitten Kiernan felt at home, he felt like he was where he belonged and he quickly adapted to pack life, learning how to act and who was where in the hierarchy. It didn’t take him long to decide that he wanted to be a fighter for the pack, he had lost his family because he hadn’t been able to defend them and while he was new to the pack he had already begun to think of them as family and he wanted to be able to help protect them from danger should it come calling. He might have still been young for a wolf but he was determined that he would contribute to the best of his abilities and began training with anyone that would take the time to teach him. It took time but eventually Kiernan was initiated in to the ranks of the fighters and he truly felt like that is where he belonged.

Kiernan seemed perfectly suited to being a fighter, he was selfless when it came to his pack mates and never hesitated to throw himself in to a fight if he saw one of them in trouble, and it became second nature to him to just jump to their aid even if they didn’t ask for it. There was never anything in it for him beyond the need to see those he thought of as family get home safe. It was this selflessness that caused him to save a fellow fighter one night when they were outnumbered, a female called Kyla, she had never really spoken to Kiernan save for a few words but he didn’t think twice before stepping in and helping her beat back the enemy who threatened to swamp her. When the fight was over they returned home and he found himself being questioned by the she-wolf as to why he had done what he had, why he had stepped in when there was nothing in it for him and he told her it was simple, she was pack and therefore family who he had sworn to protect with his life if that was what it took. His answer might not have been what the female was expecting but it was the truth. From that day he found that Kyla would talk to him when she saw him unlike other males within the pack and slowly a friendship was formed born out of trust and mutual respect.

That was the first time he saved someone but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Kiernan it seemed had a strong desire to protect others and had always assumed it was solely aimed towards pack members but one night when he was out he stepped in and saved a young she-wolf from losing a battle with herself. That was the night he met Vanessa Penderghast, the female was alone in the city and struggling with her wolf. Kiernan recognised what she was going through and knew he had to help her, without even thinking he told her about the pack and how he thought they would be able to help her learn how to control her wolf. They talked for hours and when she accepted his offer on the condition that he be there by her side he agreed without a moment’s hesitation. Over the coming weeks he spent more time with the young female and was there when she met Rayne and Dante to ask for permission to join the pack, he was there for her every step of the way and that is how it has continued on from that day. He takes it as his own personal duty to look out for Vanessa and it isn’t uncommon to find him hanging around her whenever he isn’t training or doing his duty as a fighter.

The next time he stepped in to save someone who wasn’t pack was with a male wolf called Cassius, Kiernan found the male being attacked and drove the attackers away before they could kill Cassius. He saw something in the male that reminded him of himself and once again he extended an invitation to join the pack without giving it a thought. From that day Kiernan and Cassius have become friends and the two males are similar in some respects which has only deepened their friendship.

To this day Kiernan is loyal to the pack even as it seems there is a disease at the very heart of the pack that is threatening to rip them apart. They are his family and he will stand by them until the day he dies even if that death is through the neglect of the leaders of the pack who have become so withdrawn from its members that no one is sure if they even care about them anymore.