Jennifer's eye's fluttered open and she was shocked to find herself in a little wooden cabin. "Emily?" she called sitting up abruptly. As she sat up it all came rushing back to her, running away, getting lost, being found. Her hands flew up to her head to try to stop the flooding of painful memories accompanied with a head rush. Out the window she saw last night's rescuer over a hot fire. She slowly sat up and noticed the stranger's wolf lying down by her bed. Now since the sun was out, she noticed the wolf's strange coloring. It was a dark chocolate brown, with one white foot, and a white tip on his tail. There was some black mixed in with his chocolate fur. He had one yellow eye and one light blue eye. Jennifer attempted to get out of bed, but didn't have much success; her leg was wrapped in shredded cloth, holding a stick against her leg to help keep it straight, and was very heavy. She noticed a pair of crutches, made from tree branches, by her bedside. She reached for them and tried once again to get up. This time with success, she hopped over to the door and opened it. She was welcomed by a waft of scrambled eggs and freshly squeezed apple juice. As she walked outside, she noticed she was being followed. Jennifer turned around and saw the wolf by her side.

"Good mornin' Femmina," Mike said cheerfully, "how are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you for tending my leg last night," she said in a croaky voice, "and rescuing me," she added clearing her throat. "What's Femmina?"

"Little girl, in a language my mother used to speak"

"Femmina," Jennifer whispered to herself, "it's very pretty." Now in the daylight, she could truly see how handsome her savior was. She noticed how his brown eyes glinted in the light from the small fire, and how his muscles flexed as he flipped the eggs. As she moved down examining his body, she stopped at his muscular chest. It was tan, and looked rock hard. His six pack, and biceps were huge. Mike turned around and grabbed a cup. He poured some of the apple juice in it and offered it out it to Jennifer.
"Here you go, have a sip." Jennifer took the hand carved cup and took a small sip, then poured the rest of the delicious juice in her mouth, feeling the cool juice flow down her throat and splash in her empty stomach. "Come here and have some breakfast," Mike served the eggs on a wooden plate and motioned her to a log bench across from him. "You to Castano." The wolf trotted over to him and sat by his side. Mike handed him a plate of eggs too.
"He likes eggs?" Jennifer asked curiously.
"Well, Castano here likes everything," Mike bent down to give him a pat on the back, "don't you Castano." Castano broke away from his food and gave an excited bark then went back down to his eggs.
"How did you end up owning a wolf?" Jennifer asked with interest.
"Well, I don't really own him, he just follows me around all the time and, well, he understands me." He took a break to grab a bite of egg that managed to escape from his mouth but it fell to the ground. They both laugh, Jennifer's, a little giggle next to Mike's bark of a laugh. Mike continued, "When he was a puppy, I found him all alone wandering the woods. He was starving and was easy bait for any predator. After a while of gaining his trust, he allowed me to pick him up and carry him here. I think his mother had abandoned him, we've been friends ever since," he took another bite of his eggs and a sip of his juice.
"Hm," Jennifer looked around, the small cabin and the vegetable garden it seemed like paradise. "So, this is your home?"
"Yup, it keeps me warm, dry, and supplies food. It gets lonely though, but at least I've got Castano," Mike bent down to give Castano another pat on the back. "So, Femmina, how did you wind up in these woods anyways?"
She paused before answering, not wanting to think about the painful memories from last night. "Well," she began, "my sister and I were running away from home, and well, my horse slipped and we both fell down the drop then everything went black. When I woke up, I couldn't remember where I was, or how I got there. Then I saw my horse. Poor Ginger, she never did anything too deserve a fate like that," Jennifer looked down at the ground, remembering all the good times she had with her sister and how she might never see her again. Then she felt a warm touch on her back. She looked up and to her surprise, she saw her rescuer by her side, his arm around her back.
"Wow, I'm sorry, I hope you find your sister," he paused for a moment and seemed to be thinking of a plan. Great, just what Jennifer needed, another great plan that could go wrong, "you and me, if you want, can look for her-,"
"No, its OK, she's probably safe anyways. She's always on the lucky side of her plans. She's probably in some house cozy by a fire or something," Jennifer wasn't sure if she believed herself, but it made her feel better to think her sister was safe. She looked down again, worried about what her sister was really doing; the thought of her sister being dead was absolutely terrible. She shook the thought out of her head and brought her gaze back to Mike's promising eyes. "How did you end up in the woods?" she asked him.

Mike looked down at the ground before slowly standing up and rushing to tend the fire. He began to stir the eggs some more.

"Want anymore eggs?" Mike asked quickly.

"No, thanks," Jennifer just stared at him, wondering why he didn't answer.

Mike looked down at Jennifer's clothes, "Do you...wanna change?" he asked awkwardly. Jennifer looked down at her muddied outfit and grimaced.

"Um, sure," she said while smiling weakly. Mike stood up and ambled into the cabin, leaving Jennifer alone with Castano. He came back with a white shirt and tan pants.
"They're probably gonna be big on you, but it's better than a ripped dress," Mike then barked out another laugh.
"Yeah, thanks," Jennifer took the clothes from Mike and went into the cabin to change. She held the big shirt up to her chest and sighed. She shrugged it on and dragged the pants up her legs. The pants immediately slide back down to the ground. She pulled them back up and held them there as she stepped outside. "Would you happen to have a rope?" she asked.
"Um," Mike looked around, "yes, I do." He got up and walked over to the back of his cabin. He returned with a short piece of rope, already unraveling at the ends. Jennifer tied it around her waist and started to help Mike clean up breakfast.