CLARA'S HEAD POUNDED TO LIFE the moment she opened her eyes. She groaned in frustration as she glanced around the small room.

She was laying on the floor, a thin padded mattress beneath her body and a folded blanket behind her head. Beside the bed, there was a small wooden chest with a silver goblet of water sitting idly on top of it, right beside a plate of warm potatoes and beef.

The room was small and had mild furnishings. Two large candle holders held candles that were lit and burning. Clara watched the small flames flicker and pop before she found it in herself to stand up and make her way toward the only door in the room.

The door was a hard metal that was bolted shut from the outside. Clara struggled against it and pounded her fists against the door in a fit of anger.

"Let me out of here!" She yelled and no one answered.

"I swear, if you don't open this door, I will have your head on a pike!" She yelled empty threats this time, and the pounding in her head returned, she gripped her head with her right hand and closed her eyes, all while pounding her left fist on the steel door.

"Ok!, I suppose you leave me no choice! I guess I'm going to have to bust it down." She yelled and braced herself before she was about to use the weight of her body to hopefully knock the door down. It wouldn't be the first time she had to knock a door down. Although, last time, the door was wooden, and from what Clara remembered, it was a life and death situation. There was no petty wolf man locking her in a room.

A moment passed and a loud chuckle could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Go ahead, show me what you've got darling. This is a proofed door. Even I can't knock it down." Clara recognized Cage's voice on the other side of the door mocking her.

"Just because I'm in a cell with a locked door doesn't mean I can't hurt you Cage! What kind of name is that anyway?! Do you enjoy locking people in cages?" Clara huffed and rested her forehead on the metal door. Cage continued to laugh.

When Cage finally snapped out of his laughing fit, he called out from the other side of the door. "Don't think of the room you're in as a cell. Think of it as... a small room you're locked in for your own protection."

"And what am I being protected from?" Clara asked and pounded her fist against the door one last time before exhaling in defeat.

"I suppose it all depends on how you see the situation. What would you like to be protected from? And I'm asking honestly. I expect an answer."

Clara took a moment to think. She worried about many things... most of them she hated to remember or think about.

It was hard not to name things she worried about off the top of her head.
For one, she worried about her mother and sister. Second on the list, the fact that everyday she feared being hunted down by a person (or multiple) people who had magical powers and matched the descriptions of those make-believe creatures in books written by individuals who, Clara thought, were off their rockers. Even now, Clara's main concern was getting out of the small hellhole she was in and dealing with the man on the other side of the door that laughed and laughed before asking a question he had no place asking. Clara couldn't wait to get revenge and punch his punchable face so hard he would-

She stopped herself before finishing her thought. Lay low, no risky honest answers. The plan still stands.

"I- I have a fear of bears! They really do scare me to death. Protection from any and all large bears would be nice." Clara stuttered as she lied. What kind of answer was that? Bears, really?! She scolded herself for not creating a different lie.

Cage slid open the medium sized rectangular shaped eyehole on the door from the outside. His single green eye glanced down curiously at Clara.

"What? Do I not look like the kind of girl who would be afraid of bears?"
Clara said sassily and blinked at Cage.

"I suppose you don't. Does that include polar bears?" He asked flatly.

"You've seen a polar bear? I didn't know- whatever, that doesn't matter. Now, let me out of here!" Clara shook her head when she realized the polar bear question wasn't of relevance... Clara had never seen a polar bear before though. She always thought they were another work of fiction. Where did they even live?

"Yes, I wrestled one once, and no can do darling. I'm afraid you are going to have to stay in there until we get to the bottom of why you were in the woods." Cage rested his elbows on the metal door and leaned slightly so he could look through the small slot in the door at a different angle.

Clara rolled her eyes rudely and said, "If this is an interrogation, I must say, you are doing a terrible job of extracting information. I mean, you can't even torture me from out there."

"Are you challenging me?" Cage questioned angrily, the tone of his voice lowering an octave.

"Unless you plan on sending a bear in, I don't plan on talking, so yes."
Clara's responses were starting to irritate Cage. He exhaled sharply and Clara could hear him jiggle the bolt of the door until it opened completely.

As soon as the heavy door squeaked open, Clara was all too ready to pounce.
A punch and a kick went flying before Cage could even step inside of the room.

Cage pushed Clara's leg back down to the floor before she could do any damage, and he gripped her rather small fist in his other hand just before it could collide with his clenched jaw.

Clara took a step back. Suddenly the image of Cage as a wolf flashed in her mind. Perhaps she was a bit too hasty in her words and actions.

Turning around, Cage shoved his large fist and forearm through the rectangular eyehole of the door, he locked the door from the outside. He groaned when he pulled his arm back in the room, glancing at it as a few droplets of blood dribbled down and matted with the coarse hairs on his left arm. He had cut himself on the sharp metal edges of the shaped hole in the door.

Clara glanced and watched as the medium sized cut on his arm healed in mere seconds. Her eyes wide in surprise and disbelief. She couldn't help but reach out and examine Cage's arm.

"I-it's gone. You healed." She said and glanced up at Cage with wide eyes.
This wasn't acting... She was indeed surprised. Was he immortal?

Cage pulled his arm away from Clara's grasp gently. "Yes, I did heal. What of it?"

"I don't know what world you live in, but wounds don't just heal in seconds." Clara exclaimed.

"I live in the same one you live in, wounds do heal in seconds in this world when you are a werewolf." He said rather flatly and pointed to his newly healed arm.

Werewolf. The word bounced around in Clara's mind for a minute or two.
So that's what they are called. She realized, and for a moment, she didn't feel so... So abnormal. So confused and afraid.

"What do you mean?" She asked in the most innocent way she could muster.

"What did you see in the forest?"
Cage cocked his head to the side and evaded the question with a question.

Clara recalled seeing Cage shift from his wolf to his human form. She was sure to look away awkwardly as he began getting dressed. The remembrance made her begin to sweat. She let her curiosity get the best of her and it backfired. Big time.

"I was checking my rabbit traps and I heard what sounded like a branch snap, so I went to check it out. Lo and behold, there you were! And then you punched me!" Clara said, an angry look on her pale face.

Cage's expression was one of sadness and guilt. He barely, never ever felt guilty. . .

"I'm sorry about that. It was the only way to get you here without being seen. Although, your scent is extremely noticeable. If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you return the favor." He lifted his arms up in defeat and let his guard down, expecting the girl who was glancing up at him angrily to vengefully sock him in the face.

The punch never came, and Clara crossed her arms over her chest.
"As much as I would like to, I won't. Two wrongs don't make a right. Real men don't put their hands on a woman." She stated, matter of factly.

"That's very old fashioned, wouldn't you say?" Cage asked half jokingly.

He wasn't expecting Clara to back hand him, but she did. So much for two wrongs don't make a right.

"Watch your mouth. Or the next time, I'll hit you harder." Clara said and Cage gripped his jaw and smiled.

"I like you." He said.

"And I hate you." Clara retorted.

"Hate is a strong word."

"So is like."

Cage moved closer to Clara and backed her up against the wall.

"You should be careful, this isn't the kind of place that takes lightly to humans who talk back." He leaned close and backed away after a moment.

"I'll be back in a few hours. If you need anything just do that fist-pounding on the door thing again." He said before Clara could respond and he stuck his hand through the eye hole of the door before letting himself out of the room.

Clara could hear the bolt click shut on the other side of the door and she groaned in annoyance.