There was one thing that he learnt from another wolf Kevin had come to accept as a part of his pack, and it was that logic won arguments. If you knew the facts and you knew how to present them, you would win. The facts had to make sense because if people understood, they could decide for themselves.

That was the reason he kept failing them. Unlike Tom, he couldn't do logic well. He had few reasons to learn, though, not when sharp words and fists could speak for him. Often, his posture alone was enough to make people reconsider before picking fights with him. He used to be small and weak, but he managed to grow up and bulk up in the gym because he had to be able to protect himself if he were to protect his mother. These muscles were not only for show; he was confident in his ability to give a good punching.

Well, most of the time, he thought as he walked home with his muzzle in hand, still leaking blood from earlier. This city, or at least the part in which he used to live, was still exactly like how he left it for university almost five years ago, harsh and tough. Even when he visited here occasionally, not much had changed. Yet, he had to admit, it felt good to pick fights again. Although he was wounded, he was sure those dumbarses he fought with couldn't even walk without limping tomorrow.

The wolf pushed the door to his house open, then walked right away to the kitchen. He drank some water, gargled, and spat it out into the washtable to get the blood out. His teeth were getting sharper again, so he should be careful. He did that a few more times, then took some painkillers and drank them, leaning into the cabinet while holding the sting back. Thankfully, the blood stopped after he drank another glass of water.

“Kevin?"

His ear turned, then he turned around to see his mother walking through the front door. “You're not picking fights again, are you?"

The red wolf just smiled embarrassedly at his mother. “No, mom, I just… fell, that's all."

“Kevin, dear, are you okay?" The elderly brown wolf walked to him, gently taking his muzzle and checking it out. “It smells like blood. Did you take the painkillers?"

“I'm okay, mom."

Satisfied that her son is fine, she let him go and poured him a glass of almond milk from the fridge. “Here, some milk." Kevin took it with a smile. “I guess I need to tell Shaun later to buy us more milk at Loyern across the road from Dexter's place."

“Mom, that Loyern closed three years ago." The red wolf drank the milk.

“What are you talking about? I just went there yesterday to buy some groceries. You and Dexter were running into the clothes section again." Her mother chuckled a bit.

Putting the empty glass down, Kevin's eyes turned concerned. “Mom, did you take your medications today?"

“What medications?"

“Your Alzheimer's medications."

“Do I have Alzheimer's medications?"

Kevin let out a sigh and directed the brown wolf into her room. “Come on, I'll get 'em."

His mother sat down on the bed while he took the medications on the small desk across the bed. He put them into a small bowl, then gave it to his mother along with her water bottle. His mother took them without question, then drank the water, smiling at him after she did that. “Did you just have a growth spurt, Kevin? You were this small just yesterday."

Kevin just gently laughed. “Yeah, mom. I'm so much bigger now. See?" He rolled the sleeve of his t-shirt and flexed his right arm. “I can take Dexter now."

“Don't do that!" The brown wolf smacked his arm. “You know how easy people can make Dexter cry. He's a sweet boy."

“Sure, I won't take Dexter."

“By the way, where's your brother? He should be home from school by now."

He sighed, a bit exasperated, but happy that his mother was still here. He must make her happy while he still could. “Probably traffic. Don't worry, he'll be home soon. Anyway, I'm gonna get us some dinner." Kevin stood up. “Call me if you need help, okay? I'll be here until the day after tomorrow."

“Where are you going? Another school trip?"

“Yeah, mom," He opened the door and gave her another smile, a sad one. “another school trip."

In the living room, he sat down on the sofa, sighing and closing his eyes as he leant his head on the backrest. The sofa was no longer soft, showing its age against his build. It was still a long road, but he was getting there. He had a job now, so he could take small steps…

He heard the door open, followed by a grunt. The red wolf let out another sigh, three, two, one…

“If it isn't the fag who licks assholes. Finally decided to show your sorry ass here?"

Kevin didn't open his eyes. “I arrived yesterday evening, looks like it's you who finally decided to show your sorry ass here."

A jacket was thrown into his face, but he was too used to it to care. His brother laughed, then threw another piece of garment towards him. “At least I lick pussies, unlike you who suck dicks. Bet you swallow too."

He growled a bit at that. “That's none of your business."

“Anyway, where's this month's rent?"

“I haven't gotten my pay yet." He threw his brother's garments into the floor. “You should learn to get another job, dickhead."

“You think I'm here just fucking girls all the time?!"

“I'm starting to think you are."

Something was thrown into his chest, making him growl and sit up. “What the fuck!"

“Yeah, fuck 'em like the queer you are."

“I got my own job. You pay for your own part of the damn rent!"

Truthfully, he was paying rent for his mother, though not 100%. It was the least he could do. He was grateful that the medications for his mother weren't as expensive as he thought they would be, though, so he could afford them without any problems. As for Shaun, he managed other things such as food, electricity, and water. Given their limited income, this small house felt too big, too expensive to maintain.

“Use that degree to a good use, fag!" Glaring at him with narrowed eyes, his brother leant on the cabinets, possibly threatening him with his size. It of course didn't work.

He felt like he was just one step away from punching him. However, Kevin took a deep breath and remembered what Tom told him when he was about to come to apologise to Max. “I'm fucking trying, dickhead. Sorry for not getting 'big' enough income like you." He said, baiting.

Dumbly, his brother fell into it. “Damn right you are!"

“Oops, I just quit my job! Stupid me." He smirked and stood up. “Who's gonna pay rent now?"

His brother growled. “Don't you dare!"

“Who says I don't?!" He snarled, baring his fangs.

“Kevin, Shaun? Are you two fighting again?"

They two stopped glaring at each other with murderous looks on their faces and looked at their mother. She was opening her bedroom door and looking at them with worry. Kevin held back, not wanting to make this even harder for his mother.

He clicked his tongue and leant on the wall, crossing his arms. “No, mom, it's okay."

“No! Kevin is an asshole!"

He rolled his eyes at his older brother's childishness, then turned to his mother. “It's okay, mom, just get back to sleep."

“Shaun, language." She said to the lighter-red wolf as she refilled her water bottle. “And don't fight." Then she went back into her room.

They went back to glaring and growling at each other.

“Get knotted!"

“I'll gladly get knotted than being a brother to a fucking no-good like you!"

“The fuck did you just say?!"

“Sorry, didn't know being a fuckin' asshole makes you deaf."

His brother lunged at him, but he was prepared. He was pinned to the wall behind him with his brother trying to bite his neck, but he held him back. Sometimes, he wondered why were they so close in posture and stature; Shaun was as tall as him while only just a bit less muscled than him. Kevin could take this lighter-red-furred wolf easily, but he also knew that Shaun could take him easily. That and they didn't want to wake their mother up.

If she weren't already hearing this. Hopefully the walls were still as soundproof as he remembered.

Kevin kicked Shaun's feet, making him lose balance and fall. This time, Shaun pinned him to the floor, trying to bite his neck. The older wolf put his arm forward, making Kevin bite it instead. He didn't pull back, biting his arm as hard as he could, trying to draw blood.

He was kicked again, this time making them reverse their position. Kevin was still biting his arm, but Shaun was on top of him and trying to let go of his arm. This position made his neck exposed, so he released his bite and punched his older brother.

That made him get up. Shaun gripped his muzzle and glared at him, still growling. Kevin wiped the side of his own muzzle. They stared at each other for a few minutes, taking their breath. Kevin could just knock him out, but he couldn't.

Like it or not, this was still his brother. Deep down, they knew they loved each other because they knew they only had each other.

Instead, he barked at him. “Get the fuck outta my face, straight!"

His brother growled at him one more time, then stomped off towards his room.

Great. Less than five minutes and they were already at each other's throats. He should be proud, though, this time, they didn't instantly feed each other with insults. He managed to hold back a little.

Kevin took his jacket and walked outside. He needed time to clear his mind. He didn't want to be around his brother for a while.

Another semester, another chance to question why he even decided to go to university in the first place.

Kevin kicked a rock on the street. He was itching to play some basketball but at the same time he was sick of it. He knew most of the team thought that he was a knob, but really, they didn't have to be that annoyed. That match he ditched, he was tired, okay? Assignments had been exhausting. Besides, he knew they were going to win anyway.

As a result, he was given one-week detention from practice. The team knew he liked basketball—some even thought he was going to be the next ace of the main team—but the detention was just plain stupid. He skipped a match, so why did they give him a week without any practice?

Somehow, he felt like they were right. He was itching to play. He hated the fact that it was quite effective.

But whatever, he could just find an empty court and play… except, he couldn't. The assignments kept torturing him and before he could do one, another was placed on top of the pile, sucking the soul from his body. And the fact that he couldn't tell someone to do them was… ugh.

So yeah, he was upset now, from the itch of wanting to play, from the pile of assignments, and from his own thoughts in general. He should do this, he should finish university, get a job, and buy a house for his mother…

“Get off, get off!" Someone shouted and ran into his back, then pushed him out of the way and kept running. The wolf yelped, then straightened up and glared at whoever pushed him. Too bad that someone already ran away; he'd like to land a punch or two.

Before he could walk away, someone else ran into him again. This time, he growled at whomever it was. “Watch where the fuck you're going!"

That someone was a police officer, though fortunately the officer didn't turn back and tell him off. Whatever. He cleaned his t-shirt and walked away again.

Tch, police.

They never seemed to care about those who really needed help. To him, they were just a bunch of useless, corrupt people who tried to uphold the law but failed miserably. They didn't care about those who needed help, only those whom they could extort.

Well, this was Barrowisle, so perhaps the police here actually did their job, unlike the ones on Ausalt-on-Haye. From what he'd heard and seen, the police here were actually competent. There were even some officers who became community managers in some neighbourhoods.

They would need to convince him, though. His experience with the police wasn't the best. He still remembered running to a police station when he was in the first or second grade to tell them that his father was beating his mother and all he got was a fuck-off from them. Literally. He rushed inside, ran into the first officer he met, and tried to get him to his house to help. The officer only laughed and told him to go home. He tried the next one and the answer was the same. Someone then told him to fuck off and go home.

It was later when he graduated middle school that he realised that in some parts of the country, people looked down on natives, including wolves.

He never trusted them again. His father left when he was in the third grade. At first, he didn't notice that since his father came home late and left early anyway but when he no longer heard his mother being beaten, he realised his father was never coming back. Maybe for the best, he thought. He never had the chance to get to know his father, and now that he knew just how much hatred he had towards him, he was glad of it. The hatred felt much more justified when he didn't know that dick-headed wanker.

Now, though, was he turning into his father?

Whatever, ugh, he needed something to do. Vilkas, the husky from the basketball club, was busy with his group project, his roommate was out of town attending a science fair... those were the only ones who actually wanted to be his friend.

There was Spencer, though. The hyena didn't seem to mind him, but he did keep a safe distance from him. Tch, maybe his roommate was right, he needed to tone his arseholery down.

…lest he turn into his father.

“Argh!" he kicked something. It then flew away and crashed.

“Who the hell did that?!"

The wolf didn't look back and just kept walking away with his hands in his pockets.

He took a turn to get back to the university complex. There was a commotion from one of the alleyways quite far in front of him. He furrowed his brows and just walked away; it wasn't his business anyway. However, it quickly attracted crowds of people. Someone screamed, then the others followed. People began to swarm in and block the traffic. Kevin gritted his teeth and turned around, not wanting to be involved. He might need to take a detour but whatever.

Someone then yelled help! followed by someone yelling drop the knife!

Tch, the police officers from before? He gave a mrf and decided to walk back to the commotion. This might be entertaining, watching the police finally do something they were supposed to do, if they didn't fuck it up.

“What is it?" he asked someone when he was close enough.

“Someone's being held as a hostage!", “He has a knife!", “God!", and Kevin splayed his ears when they began to ramble incomprehensibly.

He made his way to the front, muttering some “excuse me" and “sorry". There, in the alleyway, a grey-and-white wolf was holding an old lady, an alpaca from the looks of it, with a knife to her neck. “Get back or she'll die!"

Wait, no, who the fuck held an old lady as a hostage? That was just sick. A man or a woman, okay, but an old lady? And the police weren't helping anyone at all. They only yelled, “Drop the knife!" without doing anything despite having their guns pointed at him. The wolf's eyes turned concerned. If these two twats didn't do what they were supposed to do, someone could die.

“Drop the knife!"

“Back the fuck off!"

Okay, this was going nowhere. He walked forward to the grey wolf, pushing past the officers with his hands balled into fists. They yelled at him to get back, but he ignored them.

Someone gripped his arm, “What the hell are you doing?!"

He shook it away. “Fuck off."

As he got closer—and ignoring the screams to get back from behind him—he noticed that the grey wolf here was… terrified. He looked afraid; his stance was closed and his grip on the knife was too tight.

The knife was close to drawing the alpaca's blood.

Kevin growled, baring his fangs as a warning. He held his stance clear and said in a low tone to the other wolf, “Let her go."

“You back the fuck off!"

“Let. Her. Go."

“You back the fuck off!"

He might be another wolf, but no one held an old lady hostage. Kevin shot his hand towards the knife, making the grey wolf reflexively aim the knife for him, then punched the grey wolf in the muzzle with his other hand as hard as he could.

He heard gasps from behind him, even from the lady in front of him who quickly ran to the crowd for safety, but he didn't pay attention to them. His attention was focused solely on the grey wolf below who was lying on the ground while holding his bloody muzzle, his knife fallen. Kevin approached him and said, “Get knotted and go fuck yourself in whatever place you came from!"

The grey wolf stared at him, eyes wide in disbelief. He looked too stunned rather than offended.

Kevin let out a sigh. “Look, we're wolves. I know things can be shit, I get it, but this isn't helping anyone. Now, get the fuck out of here before you get arrested."

The grey wolf still stared at him, then haphazardly tried to stand up. He whimpered, “T-t-t-thank you," and ran away into the alleyway, almost falling on his way.

Kevin only watched him go, then went back to the street where people quickly swarmed him. He growled low and glared at them, it seemed to have the desired effect. They stopped approaching and kept their distance.

Then, the old alpaca lady from before immediately hugged him. She looked up at him and said with a relieved smile, “Thank you very much, young wolf."

Unable to fight back, he smiled back at her. “It's fine. Please be more careful next time, okay?"

She let him go, and people helped her to get to a police car.

Done with it, Kevin walked away, only to be reprimanded by the two police officers from before. They tried to arrest him by taking his hands, “Sir, you can—"

He growled at them in irritation. “If I hadn't done that, she would've been hurt. I didn't see you do anything."

“We were waiting for a backup!"

“You can't just interfere with police matte—"

“There's only one of them and two of you and you're still waiting for backup?!" He faced them, his height and posture being an advantage. They didn't cower, but he could tell that they were losing their bravery. “Gimme a fuckin' break!" He said sharply, then turned around and walked away.

“You still—"

“That's insulting an officer of the law—"

“Violence still serves you a sent—"

“Yeah, yeah, arrest me, charge me, hold me up, whatever. That ol' lady there has a better sense of gratitude than you." He waved his hand dismissively. “Hell, even that grey wolf there has a better sense of gratitude than you."

Fortunately, they didn't follow him. As he was walking away from the scene, people made way for him. He glared at them, hoping they could tell that he was very pissed off, then back at the road. Tch, police officers. They made him sick at their utter uselessness.

What should he get for dinner? Chicken, maybe, or some salad?