Behind these hazel eyes,

And the muscle, the gruff,

Lies a boy, a man.

He'd only been an adolescent when he left home.

He heard, smelled and saw the world

At a heightened, sensitive state.

He was scared, alone.

He wandered the world,

Looking for nothing in particular,

He just wanted a place that would accept his flaws.

His insecurities.

He'd been fighting one night,

Round after round,

Him—the beast in the cage.

His body burned,

The claws that lay deep down

Tingled with an anticipation for a fight.,

They wanted to be known for their power.

Several hours later,

He'd won bets,

Beaten men,

He showed people in their eyes,

That there was no messing with him.

The Wolverine as they called him,

Headed to the bar and ordered a booze.

He sipped, the amber liquid lubricated

His insides, made his muscles decompress.

To his side,

A pretty, young girl watched him intently,

Her gaze, neither hard or cold,

She watched mysteriously from

Under her black hood.

He just glared back lazily at her,

Booze in one, a smoking cigar in the other.

Without challenge,

She was still watching him.

Then The Wolverine felt

An angry hand land on his shoulder.

The man he'd fought and beaten last.

Was there, glaring at him.

"No one takes a beating like that without market show for it."

The Wolverine just sat there and muttered under his breath,

"You keep this up, you lose something else."

That's when a swish! Of a knife blade was heard,

The young girl shouted,

"Watch out!!"

The Wolverine dodged from his seat and whipped around.

His claws at the ready, snapped out,

Now inches from the man's puffy neck,

Who was pinned against the wall.

The man looked helplessly at him.

"Get out of my bar, freak,"

The Wolverine heard the bar tender sneer, holding a shot gun up to him.

The Wolverine looked back between the man he had

Against the wall and the bar tender.

He snapped his other hand up—claws drawn out,

Which sliced clearly through the shot gun—bullets and gun powder spilling to the floor.

He growled and looked back to each man,

He'd so mercifully captured.

He let them each now, with an enraged gaze, that he was not the type to mess with.

He collected back his claws,

And huffed out of the bar.

He got to the parking lot

And hopped inside his truck.

He sat there for a moment—

He closed his eyes and stroked his knuckles.

Those claws had always hurt when they came out.

He switched on the ignition, backed out

And headed out onto the road.

He'd been a mile or so

From the bar that he heard something rattle in the back of his pick up.

He pulled over and got out.

He walked over, and poked inside.

Something moved.

He flipped the cover over

And found the same young girl he'd seen at the bar.

"What the hell are you doin?" he asked.

"I needed a ride," her sweet southern voice, chimed.

"Get out."

"But, please—"

"Get, out," he emphasized his words harder.

He reached in, took her bag and threw it to the ice cold road.

She got out to get it.

He continued back to his truck and got in.

He pulled away and drove off.

But something in him,

Told him to stop, and let the girl in,

That leaving her out there to freeze was not the right thing to do.

He stopped and let her in.

She hopped in and closed the door, buckled her seat belt.

Moments passed,

No words exchanged,

Just searching looks.

The Wolverine had noticed how

Sweet the girl's face was—

Her big chocolate brown eyes that were rimmed with flattery eye lashes,

Her softly carved nose, her lips.

He'd never found someone so beautiful before.

But his attention was being diverted from driving and refocused his attention on the road.

Then all of a sudden she spoke,

"Got anything to eat?"
He gestured to the glove compartment.

She dug inside and pulled out a package of beef jerky.

Ferociously, she tore off a piece and popped it into her mouth.

While chewing, both of their heads turned.

Their eyes locked.

Little did the beast and the angel know,

That they would be sharing moments like these

In the days, nights, months to come.

Moments like these

Where few words were exchanged,

And where a silent love waited below, waiting to be ablaze

When these two souls realized they had something for each other.