Kane walked through the woods alone, his hands in his pockets and his smirk faded into something quieter.
Rosalie hadn't kissed him.
He hadn't kissed her.
But the look in her eyes when he walked away… that stuck with him.
She was fire. Pride. Beauty sharpened into weaponry. She'd tried to test him, but Kane wasn't a man who bent. He didn't chase. He decided.
And Rosalie Hale, for all her perfect poise, didn't know how to handle that.
He liked it.
Not because he needed to win. But because it showed something deeper: she was already his, even if she hadn't accepted it yet.
And that truth?
It didn't make him cocky.
It made him still.
He paused near the tree line, close to where the Cullen house loomed through thick evergreens, and let the wind run across his skin.
He could hear their voices from here low, measured, fast. They were talking about him. Again.
Rosalie's tension.
Alice's kiss.
Whatever emotions Edith refused to name.
Kane exhaled slowly. Let them talk. Let them wonder.
He had time.
But he didn't have patience.
⸻
The next day, school was already buzzing before Kane even stepped into the building.
Forks was small. News spread fast. Especially when it involved him.
People stared when he walked past. Not with curiosity anymore. With fear. With something close to reverence. He'd only been here a short time and already, the hierarchy had shifted.
He wasn't trying to be the king.
But they knew who held the crown.
And still, none of that prepared him for the moment he saw her.
She didn't stand out right away.
She wasn't glowing like Alice.
Wasn't sharp like Rosalie.
Wasn't coolly observant like Edith.
She was… normal. Brown hair. Pale skin. Soft expression.
Bella Swan.
She moved like someone trying not to be seen but Kane saw her anyway. His senses didn't miss things. His eyes caught the slouch of her shoulders, the cautious steps, the way she clutched her books too tightly.
But what caught him most wasn't her insecurity.
It was that she wasn't looking at him with awe.
Or fear.
Or lust.
She was just… curious.
Bella's eyes met his across the hallway as he leaned casually against his locker, and for a moment, nothing moved.
Then she blinked and looked away, like she'd been caught thinking something too private.
Kane's lips twitched. Not a smirk. Not a grin. Just… interest.
He waited. Didn't move.
But he knew she'd come closer.
She did.
A few minutes later, she turned down the hall again, clearly trying to go unnoticed. But something in her gait was more deliberate now. As if she was circling him in her own way.
Kane didn't push it. He let the moment stretch until the bell rang and the hallway thinned out.
Then he moved.
⸻
Bella had barely sat down in the back of her biology class when the door opened.
Kane stepped in, silent and slow, like the room didn't deserve his full attention.
The teacher looked up, blinked. "Mr. Hanma, glad you decided to join us."
Kane said nothing. He didn't need to.
The teacher motioned vaguely. "There's an open seat in the back."
Bella's seat.
Her spine straightened slightly as Kane walked past. She didn't turn to watch him she felt him.
He sat beside her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Bella, against her own better judgment, said, "You're kind of the main character around here now, aren't you?"
Kane turned toward her, one eyebrow raised. "Is that what they say?"
"They don't say it. But they act like it."
Kane smiled not with amusement, but something deeper. "And you?"
Bella hesitated. "I don't know yet."
Kane liked that answer. Honest. Careful.
"I'm Kane," he said.
"I know," Bella replied. "Everyone knows."
Silence again.
But not empty.
The teacher droned on, unaware that something new was unfolding in the back row.
Bella didn't ask questions about the Cullens. Or his past. Or the rumors.
She didn't look at his arms.
Didn't ask about his strength.
Didn't stare like he was a god in disguise.
She just… noticed him.
Kane looked at her closely now. Really looked.
Her heartbeat was steady. Not calm but not scared either.
"You're not like the others," he said eventually.
Bella gave a small, ironic smile. "I've been told that before. Usually not as a compliment."
He leaned in slightly. Just enough for her to feel the heat rolling off him. "It is from me."
Bella's breath caught but she didn't pull back.
"That's a dangerous thing to say," she murmured.
Kane's eyes gleamed. "Only if I mean it."
The bell rang.
Students filed out.
Kane stood, not in a rush, and waited.
Bella gathered her things slowly, then looked up at him. "You always this intense with strangers?"
He shrugged. "Only the ones that aren't really strangers."
She didn't know what to say to that.
So she said nothing.
But as Kane walked out of the classroom ahead of her, she realized one thing:
She didn't know what he was.
But she wanted to.
⸻
Back in the woods that night, Kane stood shirtless beneath the moonlight, punching the trunk of a redwood tree hard enough to shake the birds from the branches.
He didn't speak.
Didn't think.
Just moved.
Because something had shifted again.
Rosalie had tried to challenge him.
Bella had intrigued him.
And the others?
They were still circling, waiting, wondering.
Kane's fist slammed into the tree one last time splintering bark, shaking the ground.
He stepped back, breathing deep.
His eyes glowed red for just a moment.
Then calmed.
He didn't know where this path was leading.
But every step brought them all closer.
To him.