That early November day the sky had awoken gray, but not the rainy gray kind, but a uniform pale shade more typical of winter snowfall. A thin film of frost covered the grass from the park in front of the school, and the air coming down from the mountains smelled of forest and cold. As she walked towards the building, Sofia rubbed her bare hands together in an attempt to warm them. It was hard to believe that it had already been two weeks since the Witches' Night festival.

A gust of wind blew another scent towards her, a pleasant masculine musk with which she was becoming very familiar. With a knot of anticipation in her stomach, Sofia looked up and saw him standing by the front door, just about to enter the building. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips and she ran towards him. This teenage puppy attitude surprised her, because she had never been this immature before, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to see him and talk to him. Little by little, that boy who smelled of forest was becoming her friend, and the thought scared and excited her in equal parts. This was the normality she had longed for.

“Dave!” she called out to him when she was a couple of meters away.

“Hey, hi,” Dave said with a warm smile. He then noticed her reddened hands and raised an eyebrow. “You didn't bring gloves?”

“I forgot to take them with me when I left the house. It always takes me a few days to adjust to the weather when it changes,” Sofia replied with a shrug.

“They must be freezing. Let me help you.”

The boy took off his thick woolen gloves and, before she could refuse, took her hands and wrapped them with his own to warm them. Sofia became very aware of the way his skin felt and the smell he gave off, and for some reason she began to blush. ‘Shit, he's going to think I'm an idiot’ she thought, horrified. However, when she raised her gaze and their eyes met, he just smiled with that warm smile she found so beautiful, and Sofia's cheeks responded by burning even brighter. ‘Yes, I’m an idiot’.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yes, but it wasn't necessary. I'm used to my hands freezing.” Sofía smiled sheepishly and she twisted a loose strand of hair around one of her fingers.

“It was nothing,” said Dave shrugging, and then opened the door for her. “I can pick you up with the motorcycle in the mornings if you want. I don't mind,” he added as they walked together towards their classroom.

“Don't worry. Although it may not seem like it, I like the cold and the rain, much more than the heat,” said Sofia while they walked up the stairs towards the third, floor, where their classroom was.

“So do I. I actually have a hard time when it’s too hot,” Dave twisted his lips into a small smile and scratched the back of his neck.

“I think you're going to like El Cerro's summer weather. It's not bad here in the village, but in the pine forest, among the trees, it's always a little cooler. Maybe I could show you some great places,” she said, perhaps a little too excited, and Dave laughed a little.

“I'd like that.”

So engrossed were they in their conversation that they were barely aware of the moment they entered the classroom and made their way to their desks. Most of their classmates didn't pay them any attention either, except for Lola and her gang. As Sofia sat in her chair and proceeded to take out her pencil case and notebook, she noticed the venomous look Lola was giving her. She responded by twisting her lips into a sneer and looked away with obvious disdain. ‘Well,’ she thought as she searched for the last page she had written on, ‘now she's not picking on me anymore. Now she outright hates me’.

Then she glanced at the boy sitting at the desk to her right and her lips curved into a small smile. A pleasant warmth, very much in tune with the blush that was rising in her cheeks, began to flow through her stomach. Dave, seemingly oblivious to the silent exchange between the two girls, was pulling his own work material out of his backpack. Lola didn't hate her because Sofia had confronted her, she hated her because he did. What Lola didn't know was that, since that day, they had become closer friends.

“Dave, do you feel like taking Kas out today?” Sofia asked.

“Sure, but don't forget to bring a pair of gloves,” said the boy with an amused smile on his lips.

“You're such a clown!” she exclaimed, and threw the eraser at him.

Laughing, Dave covered himself with his arms and the eraser bounced off them. Sofia ended up laughing too, despite the brief pang of fear that shook her when she saw the small detail visible behind his open lips. His fangs were small but sharp. It didn't have to mean anything because many humans had them that way, though in the case of cinanthropes they all did. Sofia pushed those doubts aside because she didn't want old fears to tarnish that happiness.

The teacher walked through the door and everyone became quiet almost at the same time. The silence that fell over the classroom was tense and expectant, as if a sergeant had just walked in instead of a teacher, which was not so far from the truth considering they had physics. However, Sofia didn't mind being scolded for not paying attention as fast as she should. Still wrapped in that pleasant warmth, she exchanged one last glance and smile with her friend and turned to the blackboard. To her surprise, the person in front of them was not the Stuck-up but Rosa, her tutor.

“Didn't we have physics?” Dave whispered from his desk.

“We did, yes,” Sofia replied.

“Good morning, children. Quickly, because I have a class with another group now. The physics teacher is ill and can't come today,” said Rosa from the middle of the classroom.

“Oooh! What a pity!” said one of the boys in the class in a mocking tone.

The rest of the students laughed, even Sofia, to her surprise. Rosa clicked her tongue and shook her head in disapproval, but the smile tugging at the corner of her lips betrayed her.

“Don't be like that, children. He's a very nice man,” she said, and that made them laugh even harder.

“At home, maybe, because here he is a jerk,” said another classmate.

“Yes, yes, I know what nickname you have given him. Well, I've got to go to my lesson. You know you can't leave the classroom and you can't make a racket. Use the time to get ahead on your university entrance exams or to do homework, or whatever you want, but don't make any noise, OK?” said Rosa.

“OK, Rosa,” said several students in unison.

After saying goodbye to them, the teacher walked out. As expected, as soon as they were alone, the students didn't even wait a couple of minutes before getting up to go to their friends' desks to chat. Before long, the murmur of voices flowing through the classroom grew louder, and in a matter of minutes it felt like recess. Yes, using the time to study would have been the sensible thing to do, but they were teenagers and they had just been spared a physics lesson.

Sofia looked out the window and bit her lip. Going to college was something she was not going to be able to do. She would have liked to study a degree to get a taste of university life, but she couldn't. Her priority was getting out of her mother's house before she succumbed to the nature she had inherited from her father. That's why she couldn't afford living there for another five years.

A huff to her right caught her attention. Sofia looked away from the window to check on her friend. The boy had his physics notebook in front of him and was doing some exercises. From the look of desperation on his face and the way he ran his fingers through his blond hair, it was obvious he wasn't getting the hang of it.

“Problems?” Sofia approached him to take a peek at his notebook.

“Eh? Yes, it's... this, it's hard for me to understand. I don't know when I have to apply one formula or the other, and I get confused with the steps,” he said, pointing at the exercises in front of him.

“It's normal, a lot of people have a hard time with physics. The Stuck-up may be a genius but he has no clue how to explain. Even I have a hard time, and I've always been good with numbers,” Sofia commented.

“I know, but I have a lot at stake with this class. I... I need to pass if I want to get out of my godfather's house and get something resembling a life back...” he said in a quiet voice, and looked away as he licked his lips.

“What career are you going to do when the year is over?” asked Sofia, who wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“Oh, I didn't intend to study any career. I'm not a very good student and I don't think....”

“Dave... would you mind if we talked for a moment?”

The two teenagers turned toward the voice. Lola had approached the boy's desk, and he looked at her confused and also a little tense. Sofia felt a slight rage begin to boil in her belly and she fixed her gaze on the girl's eyes, who responded by twisting her lips into a grimace laden with cynicism. A growl rose to her throat but she held it back. She didn't like Lola and she didn't trust her, but she couldn't show her canine behavior in front of the whole class either.

“What do you want, Lola?” she spat.

“That's between me and him. What are you, his bodyguard?” said Lola, looking her up and down with contempt.

“His friend. Is that good enough for you?” Sofia raised her shoulders and had to fight back the urge to show her fangs, and while hers weren't as big as those of adult cinanthrope, they were sharp.

“Calm down. It's not worth it to get so angry,” Dave said in a calm voice as he softened his gaze and relaxed his posture.

“You think? Remember the Witches' Night,” she pointed out, forcing her shoulders down a little and looking away, though she continued to keep an eye on Lola out of the corner of her eye.

“I haven't forgotten, don't worry, but let me handle this,” he told her in a quieter voice.

“Are you sure?” Sofia looked into his eyes and her growl turned into a whimper that she didn't let out either.

“Yes, don't worry,” he assured her with a gentle smile.

Sofia bit her lip but Dave's relaxed yet confident demeanor managed to calm her down. After giving Lola one last warning glance, she lowered her shoulders and returned to her desk. She would have liked to be able to sniff, that always helped her to calm down, but she couldn't do that in front of the whole class. Especially not in front of him. The last thing she needed was for Dave to see her behaving like a dog, so she had to settle for looking out the window, though she kept watching Lola out of the corner of her eye.

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“What can I help you with?” Dave asked, and although he maintained his friendliness, there was a certain tension in his voice.

“Do you mind if we go out to the hallway? I mean, I promise it’ll just be a moment and I'll be good.” Lola looked at Sofia and tried to put on her most innocent expression, but it remained a mere attempt as her tight lips and exaggerated smile gave her away.

In response, Sofia twisted her mouth into a cynical sneer and fought back the urge to let out the growl she felt stuck in her throat. Dave was not oblivious to the exchange of glances either, and it seemed to dampen his mood. The boy tensed his shoulders and, with his eyes fixed on Lola in a warning glare, nodded curtly at her to come with him. Sofia followed them with her gaze as they walked away and bit her lip. He had had used that body language again, the one that made it clear he didn't want conflict but he wouldn't flinch from provocation either.

“The different one…” Sofia said to herself as she looked down at her backpack.

She wasn't going to deny that she would have liked to know what Lola wanted to talk about, but there was too much noise in the classroom for her to pick up anything, even with her fine weredog hearing. Anyways, she had a whole free hour ahead of her, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to use it to review. Besides, it would also help her not to dwell on certain thoughts that had been on her mind for days.

From inside her backpack she took out a folder containing the necessary study material for the public examination she was preparing for. That was the reason why she was not going to take the university entrance exam. This was the exit door that would allow her to leave her mother and the supernatural world behind once and for all.

“Mine is a Savage 110 Apex Hunter XP,” she heard one of her classmates comment to the boy sitting next to him.

That was the bad thing about being in a classroom with thirty other teenagers her age, there was always someone chatting with a friend. The fact that the conversation was about something that had the potential to catch her attention didn’t help either. The Savage 110 was a bolt-action rifle which was very popular among hunting enthusiasts. She knew that because part of her training as a huntress involved using firearms, and she had used one just like that one while practicing her aim against deer and mouflon.

“The Savage is fine but I think the Remington 700 is more accurate,” said his desk partner, a boy named Rodrigo. “By the way, my father went out hunting on Sunday and shot a deer with a wound in its hock. He told me he had never seen anything like it, that it was as if a huge wolf had bitten it, but there have been no wolves in Madrid for decades.”

Sofia couldn't help it. All her attention was focused on her classmates’ conversation. Forgotten were her notes for the public examination. All she could think about was that the deer had survived. The cinanthrope never returned to try to claim his prey, perhaps because he didn't have time, or perhaps because he felt it wasn't worth risking his life against such a beast. With any luck he had left the area, though she doubted it. Once they settled in a territory they could stay in it for years.

“A huge wolf? Maybe it's the vermin that stole a lamb from my father. He caught him red-handed, but couldn't stop him from killing it. A huge beast, white as snow,” said Miguel, a boy who sat just in front of the other two.

White? Sofia’s mind went straight to the cinanthrope she had crashed into weeks ago, the same one she later saw by the stream. Yes, it had to be the same one, and that must have been the attack her mother warned her about. That he hadn't attacked cattle again was a good sign. Perhaps he did it on impulse, or perhaps hunger drove him to it but he wasn’t able to claim his prey before he had to flee after being caught red-handed. The reasons why he had killed a lamb could be many.

“A white wolf?” said Rodrigo lowering his voice before continuing. “My father told me that a friend of his who hunts further south, near La Pedriza, told him about a white wolf. It roamed the area for years but it never wandered into the fields. The ranchers were wary and told the hunters to shoot it down if they came across it, but the damned creature was intelligent and avoided them. No sign of it has been seen for months. Do you think it could be the same one?”

“It seems too far for a wolf to make that journey in just a few months. In any case, there are no white wolves in Spain, let alone huge ones. It's probably a dog, a feral mastiff or something like that,” said Luis.

“Mastiff or not, we'll see how clever he is when he finds the little surprise my father is preparing for him. He's pretty pissed about the lamb.”

Sofia's blood froze. A cinanthrope was not a simple dog, he would not fall into a crude trap, but that did not mean that he was invulnerable to trickery. Their intelligence was human and like any human, a well-laid trap could catch them, or worse. Biting her lip, she returned her attention to the papers in front of her. The truth was that she had not made much effort to find him in the last few days, so perhaps she was going to have to get down to work. That didn't solve the main problem, how could she approach him without scaring him off again?

“Sofia...”

The girl was so lost in her thoughts that the voice startled her and she jumped. Several of the papers in front of her flew off the table and landed at Dave's feet, who was standing by her desk. The boy bent down to pick them up, and when he had them in his hands he raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sofia in such a way that the hair on the back of her neck bristled and she licked her lips.

“Are these for the Civil Guard entrance exams?” He asked as he offered her the papers back.

“Yes. Is there a problem?” Sofia took them with some wariness and gave him a sidelong glance. She knew the police didn't arouse much sympathy, but she didn't feel like arguing with her friend about it.

“None.”

From his backpack the boy pulled out some papers and showed them to her. As Sofia looked at them, her irritation evaporated and she looked into his eyes with a huge smile on her lips.

“You too” she gasped, almost out of breath.

“Yes, that's why I was running down the path the day we ran into each other. I'm not going to deny that I like running, but I was also preparing for the physical tests,” said the boy with a small smile, while scratching the back of his head. “Maybe you don't feel like it, but would you like to study with me? I understand if you prefer to do it alone, but we could help each other and...” he added, blushing.

“I'd love to!” Sofia exclaimed, with a smile so wide that it ended up showing on the boy's lips.

She was aware that she might have gotten a bit carried away by her enthusiasm, given that her shout had attracted several classmates' attention, but she didn't care. This was the normal life she wanted. Those were the things he wanted to do; go for a walk, eat snacks at the park and study together. No cinanthropes, no hunters, no supernatural world. Just two friends preparing a public exam together.

“¿So? Tell us, tell us, don't leave us without the morbid details,” commented one of Lola's friends in a low voice.

“He said no, he's not looking for a girlfriend right now,” said Lola.

“And that's it? You're going to leave it at that?” asked another.

“Of course not! But I can't be hasty. He's not like other boys, he's like super shy and innocent, but he has a strong sense of justice. I have to find out what he likes to bring out my best charms,” she said, and shook her long black hair back in a way that made it obvious that she knew what those charms were and how to use them.

The two teenagers glanced sideways at the small group of girls sitting several desks in front of them. Dave raised an eyebrow and, after a few seconds, let out a deep sigh and put a hand to his face.

“They're gossiping again,” Sofia whispered, shaking her head.

“God, she's not going to leave me alone...” he said with a weary voice, and licked his lips.

Those were the things that confused Sofia. He had heard them and he had understood each and every word, but he was acting as if it was normal. She had to move with caution around that subject because there was a possibility that he was nothing more than a latent. Latents, like her mother, could show some heightened senses just like cinanthropes, but they were only human. Besides, there were a lot of them. Plenty of her classmates were latents.

Traits unique to cinanthropes were eyes capable of seeing in the dark, an allergy to silver, the ability to heal wounds in seconds and four canid fangs that tended to look larger at specific times of the lunar cycle. So far the only thing she had noticed about him was very acute hearing, rich body language, small, sharp fangs and the hair on the back of his neck bristling whenever he got angry. None of those traits meant he was a cinanthrope. He could very well be a human, or worse... a pup that hadn't yet gone through his first change.