CAGE SNIFFED THE AIR IN SEARCH of what he thought he'd smelled as he ran through the forest. It was familiar, almost as if he had smelled it before. The scent was overwhelmingly floral with just the slightest hint of tang peppered in.

Good lord, it was distracting. He thought to himself as soon as he first caught a whiff of the heavenly scent.

To his dismay, he could no longer smell the scent in the air. It was gone.

Cage turned and glanced down to the forest floor as he walked on four legs, his white fur catching the light beams that peaked through the high trees. A sudden sound caught his attention as he shifted his ears to the side to hear better. Cage was now on the hunt. The low rumble in his stomach simply egged him on to go and kill something.

Catching sight of a brown rabbit, Cage bolted after it. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he ran and dug under the tree the rabbit had ran under. Shooing it out from it's hiding spot, he gripped onto its small body with his impossibly strong jaw, giving the creature a quick death.

Cage finished his meal and happily ran back to the part of the forest he had left his clothes.

After a quick change into his human form, Cage began to pick up his clothes and put them back on. Fastening his belt, he exhaled and turned to begin his trip back to the den on foot.

When Cage turned, he stopped in his tracks when he met eyes with a small girl. Her hair was a dark red, strands of gold ran through the locks like silk in the sun. Her eyes were a dark green and her lip twitched when she realized he looked her up and down. Her scent was heavenly, and he knew he smelled it once before.

Cage's heart swelled with... joy? His mind clouded with opposing thoughts, and his inner wolf couldn't help rise to the surface of his conscious.

"How long have you been standing there?" Cage asked, his mouth turning up in a slightly sadistic half smile.

Clara glanced at Cage skeptically and answered his question with a slight bit of sassiness in her tone. Trying her best attempt at friendliness... seduction perhaps. All while keeping her only goal in mind.

"How long is too long?" She raised a brow.

Cage took a step forward and Clara took a step back, still unsure if she could trust the man who just a minute ago, changed back to his human form.

Cage ignored the doe-eyed girl's response to his question and he asked another.

"What's your business here?" The one-eyed man noticed out of the corner of his working eye, the girl rested the palm of her hand on a small sheathed blade at her side. She is afraid, he realized.

"The rabbits in this forest taste better than any other place." Clara said and remained calm. She was just feet away from someone who she had secretly spied on for days, and now that she was so close to him, she felt as if she had never seen or heard his voice before.

"Well, that I can agree with. What is your name?" Cage asked and contemplated his options in his current situation.

Cage could go his separate ways with her, but what if she saw him in his wolf form? Or even worse, did she see him naked?

He could kill her... but, why waste a perfectly good human? Or, he could take her to the den. It was a dangerous decision, especially when humans are weak in the eyes of most of his pack members, himself included. It was against the rules to take her there.

Cage saw the human girl in front of him as small and fragile, but her shoulders were strong and broad, and her hips curvy. Deep down, he knew she wasn't a shy little girl who needed protection.
For all he knew, she was armed with a knife and dangerous. Still, he felt the urge to wrap his arms around her and claim her as his. What? No, that-that's not happening.

"My name is Dani, what's yours?" Clara quickly lied and hoped Cage didn't have some sort of freaky mind reading abilities.

"You can call me Cage." Cage replied and before Clara could respond, he continued. "You have nothing to fear, I'm not armed." He chuckled and patted his pant pockets to show that he had no weapons on him.

Clara noticeably relaxed but still kept a hand on her father's dagger.

"It is nice to meet you. It's always a bit of a surprise to meet strangers in the forest." Clara put on her best smile.

"You're right, it is a surprise." Cage began walking slowly and Clara simply followed him skeptically. They walked through the forest, Cage leading and Clara following close behind.

Clara wasn't expecting for the man to suddenly turn around and send a punch flying in her direction, rendering her unconscious. Her vision filled with black before she even realized.

Cage hated himself momentarily as he quickly caught the now unconscious girl in his strong arms. It was the only way to get her to the den for questioning quickly and quietly.