Apparently there was a pack in these woods. He was finding more and more signs of activity from his own kind, trails where large paws had tread with easily-discerned scents scattered about them. Infrequent out this far, but their boundaries had to be somewhere less than a day's travel. So far none of it smelled of Caspian, but that didn't mean they hadn't at some point, or that they hadn't at least crossed paths with him. Maybe he'd even sought them out to ask for help getting back home.

Ryder picked the freshest presence he could find and began to track it, dark nose snuffling with single-minded determination even as his emptied stomach cramped and groaned. He could find a meal after he had seen this unexpected lead through.

Getting closer, his dirty-blonde ears caught onto the sound of pawsteps ahead, and he picked up his pace into a jog.

"Hey! Hello?"

He was close enough to make out that she was his sister's age at about the same time she whipped around, screaming aggression. Reactively his own posture changed nearly as swiftly, his own fur standing on end while his tail arced high and his fangs were on display. He hadn't crossed any lines, giving her no right to try and assert herself over him in such a way. Out here, away from her pack, they were equals, whether she liked it or not.

"Someone you don't wanna fuck with, kid," he growled back, not about to give her an inch so long as she was threatening him.

"Put those away before you bite off more than you can chew."

He was pretty sure @Finley would have bit him herself if he'd ever greeted someone the way this child was, even now.

Rather than being properly cowed, he just infuriated the little goblin further. Even as he practically dwarfed her she was undeterred, striking out as quickly as a snake. Ryder's eyes widened briefly in surprise before narrowing with his own anger. If he had known of her relation to @Isla, it would have made much more sense. As it was, he had no idea why this child was so incredibly hostile.

Her teeth cut into his muzzle, and a snarl more aggressive than any noise he'd ever made before erupted from his throat as he responded. His own, larger set of jaws opened wide, far too much for hers to contain. She was right there now, and he aimed to bite down hard at the place between her neck and where her forelimb began.

Ryder wasn't taking this shit from someone's errant brat.

Ryder felt the corners of his mouth attempt to tug upward against his grip on the girl as it succeeded. Imagine how embarrassing it would have been to be bested by a whelp. Then his ears planed downward and a look of irritation and distaste pinched his features at the sound she made, mostly convinced it was an exaggeration. Had no one ever stood up to her before, was she an only child with meek or oblivious parents? She was only getting what she'd asked for.

Instinct bid him to clench harder, but Ryder refrained. Still, he did not let go just yet. She was still demanding something of him, fighting against the grip instead of deferring. The muzzle-grab had told him she'd wanted submission, and so he expected her to taste her own medicine.