((Sorry 'bout the absence there, guys.))<br/><br/>The Cad's eyes didn't sweep about him, nor did his ears search the forest's backdrop of noise for anything out of the ordinary as the group plodded onward.  He felt Janessa near, quite near, but rather than relish that fact, he grew slightly sick.  Strangely enough, he wanted her to stay away from him - his hunger was beginning to feel dangerous, and Tia's shrewd gaze from earlier was haunting him... how much did she know, and how?  Somehow he feared making eye contact again.<br/><br/>As the forest closed in about them he grew physically restless, and only when Zeena broke the still air was he able to keep his hands from kneading.<br/><br/>Yet, as they drew into the clearing, he knew everything was wrong about the scene before them.  He couldn't quantify it precisely; small details tugged at him but he wasn't sure of their veracity.  The deer were asleep.  Unless he was mistaken, deer slept at night like most other animals.  They were in the open, not disguised among tall grass or in the hollow of a tree.  Further, they weren't breathing the way the Cad knew something ought to breathe when it slept.<br/><br/>His hand darted out, past little Mina, and lay on Onyx's shoulder.  Fear was enough to supplant his hunger, and he whispered, "No, this doesn't feel right.  We're being watched."  He knew he had nothing to back up<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>claim but his own gut instinct, but he hoped the hunters trusted him enough to take it to heart.<br/><br/>Now he let his eyes roam.  Where was it - the source of that forboding?  He searched the surroundings avidly, but the contrast between the light of the clearing and the darkness of the forest was confounding his attempts.  "Something's near, I know it," he reiterated.  "We're not alone here."  At this point he didn't care when his stomach nearly roared in hunger.  Anything was worth shaking that feeling.  Even the risk of sounding shaken; not like the confident alpha male that he usually was.