The moon had not yet risen, it still had about half an hour before it did, but Sofia could already feel its influence in the way the energy stirred inside her chest. Of course, it was also possible that this was a consequence of the uneasiness she felt gripping her stomach. It didn't matter. The only important thing was to find Rodrigo before Dave did something stupid. She knew where the false trail would be so her best bet was to start searching in the fern meadow.

Clad in her huntress uniform, which she intended to use to scare the Rodrigo, she ran relentlessly through the forest. Every several gasps she tried to breathe air through her nose to catch some scent that might lead her to her target, but she was too nervous and they all seemed to blend together in a confusing way. ‘I hope I don't run into Dave. I know at some point I have to tell him the truth, but I don't know how’.

When she reached the fern meadow, Sofia stopped and allowed herself a few brief moments to catch her breath before lifting her head to sniff the air. A confused amalgam of smells wafted into her nostrils but it wasn't long before she noticed a repulsive stench that made her lips twist into a grimace of disgust. It was the scent of carrion. She followed it through that wide area bathed by the last rays of the sun until she found its source. It was the carcass of a roe deer doe that had had the misfortune to cross the path of a certain cinanthrope, and from the scanty flesh that remained on those bones, her friend had given a good account of it.

Sofia crouched down next to the body and soon located Dave's footprints. They were not normal footprints, it was obvious that he had sought those areas where the ground was softer and had pressed the soil thoroughly. From the blades of broken but raised grass, Sofia knew it was the trail he had created the day before. His scent was very present in the air, mingled among the many aromas of the forest, but it was too faint and too scattered to be recent. However, the smell of iron and gunpowder that reached her nose was much more recent, as was the line of boot tracks that wandered deeper into the forest.

“It hasn't been long since he walked this way. With any luck I'll be able to ambush him and scare him enough to make him get the hell out of here for good,” Sofia said to herself as she set off again.

For quite a while she followed the trail with the same methodical and silent pace her mother had taught her. She hated having to use those skills but at least it was for something good. As she moved forward she remained attentive to her surroundings, but all she could hear was the sound of the wind through the branches and her own panting. It was getting darker and darker, and although she could see perfectly, what worried her was the moment when the full moon would rise. She didn't think she was going to change, because that's just what she needed, but Dave would. For several hours he would be forced to remain in his real form, at the mercy of any danger, and Rodrigo had already been able to hurt him once.

“Dumbass. Why are you doing this after what happened last time?”

Frustrated, she let out a harsh growl and kicked a stone that sent it rolling across the ground. Sofia followed it with her eyes until it stopped against the root of a nearby tree, very close to another footprint that belonged to the hind leg of a cinanthrope. However, that was not what had caught her attention. It was something cottony and white that was stuck in the wood's rough folds.

Sofia walked up to it and picked it up to rub it between her trembling fingers. It was a tuft of undercoat, and from the intensity of the smell that reached her nose it was fairly fresh. That wasn't so strange considering that Dave was in the middle of the spring shedding, and he had been losing so much fur for the last few days that Sofia could have made a scarf out of it. However, something didn't quite add up. It was usual for the fur to get caught in the vegetation, but not embedded in a root, right next to a footprint and in a very visible area.

Sofia shivered and the hair on the back of her neck bristled. That wasn't a natural trace, he had put it there himself.

“Shit, Dave, what are you going to do?” she whimpered.

She stood up again and, with her heart beating so fast she could feel it thudding against her ears, she picked up her pace. She had to find them, and fast. Rodrigo was after her friend, and he was luring him to a trap. Dave wasn't dangerous, she knew that. He probably just wanted to scare him away, but that madman would have no qualms about shooting him. Killing a cinanthrope wasn't easy since they had an extraordinary healing capacity, but that didn't mean they were invulnerable either. As long as the projectile remained inside, their wounds would not regenerate. A hit to the head or heart was instant death, not to mention the fact that a bullet from a rifle designed for big game could tear his insides apart. He would die before he could get any kind of help.

‘I have to hurry. Rodrigo is an idiot but he knows how to hunt, and he knows where he has to shoot to kill.’

Sofia used her night vision to move through the forest as fast as she could. As she moved forward without losing sight of her surroundings, she spotted more footprints and strategically placed tufts of undercoat. Her classmate had to be really stupid for not realizing what was going on, because it was very obvious that he was being baited and he was biting like a trout. The first mistake Rodrigo was making was treating that creature as if he were any other kind of animal like the ones he hunted. A cinanthrope was not a deer, nor a fallow deer, nor a roe deer, it was a weredog and was as intelligent as any human. It was capable of thinking up strategies, planning ambushes, executing escape plans and basically anything a human being is capable of. A deer would not lead him into an ambush. A cinanthrope would.

After a good while running after the trail, she heard a cursing voice and slowed her pace. As quietly as her soft slippers would allow, she slipped through the undergrowth until she managed to find an angle from which she could see Rodrigo without being seen. As blind as any human, the boy moved through the forest using only the light of a very weak headlamp. He held his rifle in his hands, ready to fire, and he walked while keeping an eye on the tracks he was following and on the surroundings. From the way he moved, in erratic circles, he seemed to have lost the trail. Sofia got ready. That was the ambush site.

Rodrigo found another lock of hair and another footprint very close to a young tree that seemed strangely arched. The weak light from his headlight reflected on something that went unnoticed to the hunter. A thin, gray thread that was hidden among the branches and vegetation, practically imperceptible to any human. Sofia tensed and all her muscles got ready to spring into action. Her fingers caressed the handle of her silver dagger. She would use it, if they forced her, either on Rodrigo to protect her friend, or on Dave to make him back down.

A dry snap echoed through the forest and the buckling tree rose like a catapult. The wire hidden in the ground rose up, caught Rodrigo's foot and lifted him about two meters. Rodrigo let out a long scream and the rifle fell out of his hands and landed a handful of meters away from where Sofia was. However, the trap was a sloppy thing and the snare did not close on his ankle but instead swung him back and forth until it ended tossing him over a pile of ferns that cushioned the impact.

Dazed, Rodrigo pawed the ground and looked around desperately, trying to locate his weapon, but he was disoriented and that weak flashlight was not helping him. Sofia drew her dagger and prepared to spring into action. She didn't think it would stop there. Dave had gone through a lot of trouble setting up the trap and seemed more than determined to drive the hunter out.

“But where are you...?” she asked herself, looking around.

The answer was not long in coming, but it did take her completely by surprise. Dave had climbed to the top of a tree, and dropped from it like a bird of prey. It was an imposing sight, as white as snow and as big as a mastiff. To mistake him for a common dog was absolutely impossible at that point. Rodrigo screamed as the creature landed about two meters from him, and Dave responded by standing as tall as he was. As a human, he was a meter eighty tall, but as a dog he stood on his toes, so he easily surpassed the meter ninety.

Without any regard whatsoever, he threw something at the hunter, something he was carrying in one of his hands. Rodrigo covered himself thinking he was being attacked, but when he looked around and grabbed one of those things, he saw what they were. The snares, all the snares he had placed hoping to catch the weredog. He had picked them all up to throw them at his face.

Sofia tightened her grip on her silver dagger with a trembling hand and bit her lip. She could intervene to separate them, but to do so would mean showing herself as a huntress not only to Rodrigo, who would discover much more than just the existence of the weredogs, but also to her best friend. Besides, that could work. Maybe it was just what Rodrigo needed to stop being a nuisance in the forest once and for all. ‘That's the lie I'm telling myself because I'm terrified of what will happen if he finds out who I really am... who I've been and what I've done...’.

Dave bent down and grabbed the hunter by the jacket, and Rodrigo yelled and thrashed as if he was going to be eaten. Sofia’s blood froze and she got ready to jump. She didn't have to, all he did was get him up to his feet to look him very hard in the eyes, his tail very straight and a quiet growl rumbling in his throat. He didn't even bare his fangs, which were something truly menacing. He merely looked at Rodrigo, who was way shorter than him, and growled slowly to let him know that he was very annoyed with his constant interference in his wild life.

“You're real... this isn't a very elaborate costume or anything. You're a real werewolf....”

In response, the cinanthrope growled louder and stepped forward, making Rodrigo flinch in fear. Not wonder since before him was a formidable beast who had been capable of ambushing him. However, the creature gave him no respite. From the ground, he grabbed some of the traps he had thrown at him and placed them on the hunter's hands. Then he pointed in the village’s direction with one of his fingers and growled again. He could not speak. Cinanthropes lost the ability to speak when they changed, but one didn't have to be very smart to understand what he was trying to say.

“All right... I'll leave and I won't bother you anymore...”

Rodrigo raised his hands and, without taking his eyes off the creature, he started to move very slowly. Dave, who had a look of absolute annoyance on his face, followed him with his gaze without missing a single detail of what he was doing. No wonder. Rodrigo had not only filled the forest with traps, even trapping him on one occasion when he stepped on a foothold trap. The continuous incursions into the woods had forced him to adopt a low profile. Sofia still remembered the hard time he had during the months when he was forced to repress his nature, and how liberated he seemed while he rolled on the snow after changing. His anger was totally understandable, especially since all he wanted was to be left alone.

Dave tensed and flicked his ears forward. Bristling, he leapt forward to land on all fours and ran towards the rifle. The hunter also broke into a run but the weredog was faster. When Dave he reached the weapon, he stood over it, bared his fangs and let out a hoarse, warning growl. Those four fangs were so terrifying that Rodrigo stopped abruptly, skidded and fell right underneath the cinanthrope.

Dave leaned toward him and growled a few centimeters from his face, and Rodrigo responded with a cry of terror that sounded strangely high-pitched and forced. It was a bluff, just like the growl of that pacifist cinanthrope who just wanted to scare the hunter into leaving him alone. Taking advantage of the fact that Dave's eyes were still trying to intimidate him, the boy slowly reached down to his belt.

“No...” Sofia gasped.

In a swift movement that the cinanthrope could not anticipate, Rodrigo drew a steel dagger from his belt and plunged it into his side. Dave yelped and staggered away from the hunter while clutching his side with one of his paws. Blood gushed from the wound and stained his white fur, but it took no more than a few seconds for it to close. It had been enough time for Rodrigo to pick up his rifle and aim at the unfortunate canid. The weredog, aware of his precarious situation, lowered his ears and whimpered.

“I'm sorry, but no one will believe me unless I show them your body,” said the hunter, who was trembling visibly.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The cinanthrope frowned and clenched his fists. There was fear in his gaze, as was natural, but also much, much more. A resentment that was brewing inside him, an inability to understand why he had to hide, why he had to run, why he had to avoid changing where he could be seen, why he had to pretend day after day that he was human when he was not. There he was, being held at gunpoint, about to be shot down as if he were a mere trophy, and the only sin he had committed was not being born human. After raising his head proudly, Dave bared his fangs and growled again, accepting his fate and showing his contempt. He was before a hunter who was obsessed with killing him, but he, who had done nothing, was the monster.

The shot never came because Sofia stepped in, and she was not a pacifist. She didn't want to send a message, she really knew how to threaten another until he pissed himself. The huntress emerged from the shadows, grabbed Rodrigo’s arm and pulled to divert the rifle’s barrel while placing the dagger’s blade against his bare throat. With her voice so low it was no more than a dry, harsh whisper, she growled menacingly against the hunter's ear. She knew she shouldn't rejoice, but she couldn't help but feel a certain satisfaction when she felt him tremble and the pungent scent of his fear penetrate her nostrils.

“Drop the rifle, turn around, get out of the woods and never come back, or I will skin you alive,” Sofia whispered. She was shocked at how icy and threatening her voice had sounded, so much like her own mother's. 'No, this is not my mother, this is me, the she-wolf who is willing to do anything to protect her mate.'

Still shaking, Rodrigo dropped the weapon and nodded to let the huntress know that he had understood her words perfectly.

“Good.”

Sofia pulled the dagger away and pushed him hard. The boy lost his balance and fell to the ground where he sat for a few seconds, staring in horror at the girl while rubbing his throat. The cinanthrope himself was an imposing sight, but a huntress dressed in her attire and armed with her silver dagger, now that was truly terrifying. Especially because those eyes that could see him with absolute clarity glowed in the dark, and they were hard and cold as glaciers.

The cinanthrope had bluffed but she had not. Her whole body screamed that she would not hesitate about using violence to drive him out if necessary. So Rodrigo opted for the more prudent option. He stood up with his hands raised so that she could see he wasn't going to do anything else and he started to run back to the village, stumbling and staggering with every step he took.

While still hearing the noisy hunter’s retreating footsteps, Sofia exchanged a glance with the cinanthrope. He was still lying on his side on the ground, but defiance had left his eyes and he had started to tremble and pant. He was afraid, it made sense considering what was in front of him, but by the way he was tilting his head to one side he was also confused. A huntress had just saved his life, and that didn't make any sense. Sofia felt a growl rise up her throat again, a growl of anger and frustration. She was doing that to him.

“I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help you,” she said, and took off her balaclava.

When he saw her, his blue eyes widened like saucers. His gaze swept over her body to study her attire and landed on the dagger Sofia was still holding in her hand. A silver dagger, a metal that burned them at the mere touch and killed them in a matter of minutes. Dave laid back his ears and, whimpering, looked into her eyes. Sofia bit her lip and had to blink several times to control the tears that were threatening to flow. She had already imagined this would happen, but she hadn't thought seeing the disappointment in his gaze would hurt so much.

“I'm not a hunter, not anymore,” she said in a weak voice, and sheathed the dagger. “My mother is, she's the one who initiated me and... Fuck! I was surrounded by hunters! What did you want me to do?”

Dave sighed and looked away. Sofia felt the few still intact pieces of her heart shatter. Dejected, she dropped to the floor and tears began to stream down her cheeks. She loved him, he was her best friend and the first person who truly understood her, the first person with whom she really felt like herself. Not the huntress who tried to feign a contempt she didn't feel, not the lonely teenage human who was dying to have any friend but was terrified of rejection. Just her. She'd never been happier than when she was with him and she was going to lose him because of her mother. It wasn't fair.

“I never killed anyone, but that doesn't change anything. I've done terrible things. My mother used me, she used my senses to help her track cinanthropes and I... I did it. I hated it, they were only pups who were just as scared as I was, and I led my mother to them because I was terrified the guild would find out the truth.” Sofia hugged her knees and she cried even harder. “I was willing to sacrifice them to save myself. I am a monster...”

She looked down at her hands, barely visible through the blur of her tears, and began to shake. She heard a deep sigh and then the sound of footsteps on the ground. Sofia shut her eyes tight, thinking he was walking away from her. That was just what she had feared would happen, that he would reject her when he knew the truth, but she had not imagined it would hurt so much.

His scent, that masculine must mixed with the smell of pine trees that she loved so much hit her nose, and hairy hands gently wiped away her tears. Surprised, Sofia looked up to find him sitting in front of her, looking at her so lovingly that she shuddered. Unable to stop crying, she threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, and he held her close.

“You're my best friend, Dave. I don't want to lose you...” she whimpered, her voice barely a whisper.

Dave let out a high-pitched whimper and hugged her tighter. Sofia felt his hands resting on her back and his muzzle’s vibrissae tickled her as he nuzzled her neck. Then he shuddered in her arms, and the fur disappeared, leaving in its place his human skin covered in thick body hair. The hands that rested on her back were no longer clawed and the moist truffle became a nose that now breathed against her skin.

“You're not a monster,” he whispered. “God, you're no monster. Not after all you've done to help me.”

“Dave...” Sofia whimpered, still crying.

“Shhhh, don't worry. You're not going to lose me,” the boy said.

Dave cradled her in his arms until her sobs subsided, giving way to the silence of the night forest. Sofia lay against his chest for a few more minutes, listening to his heartbeat as he gently nuzzled her head with his nose.

“I'm sorry for what I told you this morning. I was angry and I was very unfair to you,” Dave said, and his voice sounded so guilty that Sofia felt a knot in her stomach.

“You were actually right,” Sofia pulled away from him and wiped her face with the sleeves of that hideous uniform. “I'm not a cinanthrope, I'm just a defective human.” She gritted her teeth and let out a growl of frustration.

“That's not true. You're a cinanthrope, just like me. Just because you haven't changed yet doesn't make you any less of a cinanthrope. What... what I said this morning, I said it because I was afraid. Rodrigo almost killed you, and not just once. I... I'd rather you get mad at me than have that psycho hurt you,” he said, and he licked his lips as he looked away.

“I know, but I'm not going to let them hurt you either. You're my friend, so let me have your back, okay?” Sofia said firmly.

“I feel like I'm dragging you into my problems...” he said after letting out a sigh.

“Hey, I'm not a docile, compliant kind of girl. You've seen the temper I have with people I don't like. If I'm still by your side, it's because I want to be, so don't even think that I feel obliged to spend time with you.” Sofia looked at him fiercely. “Besides,” she added with a smile. “Going to the forest with you when you change is a lot more fun than studying physics and preparing public exams.”

“I can't disagree with you,” said the boy, laughing animatedly. His tail, which was still present, wagged with happy swishes.

Their joy was interrupted by the sound of something approaching at full speed, something moving on all fours. Bristling, both Sofia and Dave raised their heads and sniffed the air. The scent that reached her was that of a person, a grown man, but not anyone she knew. She had no trouble deducing that it was another cinanthrope because their scent was indistinguishable from that of a human being.

“It's my godfather. You'd better hide. If he sees you dressed like that, he might attack you,” Dave told her.

“Are you going to be all right?” Sofia asked.

“Yes, don't worry. He’s a good man but he’s supposed to protect me and… well, you look like a hunter.”

Dave smiled and gave her a gentle squeeze to reassure her. Sofia nodded and stood up with the intention of leaving, but before she ran off into the bushes, she leaned towards her friend and kissed him on the cheek. Dave gasped and rubbed his skin. A small, shy smile appeared on his lips, and he followed her with his gaze until she disappeared into the undergrowth.

When Sofia was already hidden among the plants, Dave dropped to all fours, took a couple of deep breaths and within seconds he was in his white dog form. His tail, which normally rested curled over his back, was raised as straight as a flagpole.

A second cinanthrope emerged from the undergrowth, and when Sofia saw those amber eyes, she had to fight to suppress the gasp that rose up her throat. It was a male about Dave's size, with a long muzzle, triangular ears and a bushy tail. His coat was dense and hard, in shades of brown, ochre and gray. The area around his mouth was white, and on his forelegs were two distinctive vertical black stripes. ‘Signatus’ she thought with a shudder of excitement running down her back. There was only one animal in the world that had such a coat pattern; the Iberian wolf.

“A werewolf,” Sofia gasped.

The lycanthrope stopped in front of Dave and looked at the chaos of snares scattered on the ground as he sniffed the air. He must not have liked what he perceived, for he turned to the other male and looked him in the eye with his ears perked and the fur on his back bristling. The white cinanthrope licked his lips and emitted a series of low growls, as if he were a grumbling teenager, something that wasn’t far from the truth. In the blink of an eye, the wolf became a middle-aged man who was as naked as the day his mother brought him into the world.

“What have you done? Have you shown yourself to a human?” The man asked while pointing at the chaos of traps, snares and the rifle still lying on the ground. “You can't do that, you know that! Are you aware of the trouble you just got me into? Now I'm going to have to recruit that boy or call in a concealment unit. How do I tell them that I need it because you willingly showed yourself to a human?”

Dave looked away sharply and ran his tongue over his muzzle.

“You knew perfectly well that you were forbidden to come near this area as long as those boys were around. You know you have to stay near the hut, which is where I can protect you. Why do you disobey me?” said the man, raising his shoulders.

Dave tensed even more and stared at the werewolf straight in the eyes. His fangs were bared and a low, menacing growl rumbled in his throat.

“Put those fangs away right now and lower your tail. I will not tolerate you challenging me, pup!”

To Sofia's surprise, Dave stood even taller and his threat became clearer. His whole body, from his tail held high, his chest puffed out, his ears forward and his fangs visible, clearly indicated that he was accepting the challenge. This was no mere pup, this was a sub-adult that was beginning to seek his own independence and was questioning his godfather’s rules. The man changed again and dropped down on all fours to adopt an identical pose in response. The adult was as large as the younger dog, but neither seemed intimidated by the other. They studied each other as they growled, baring their fangs as a warning to the other that they would have no qualms about using them.

As neither submitted, they both charged at the same time and engaged in a violent combat that was more noise than anything else, although they did exchange a few bites that broke skin and drew blood. Those kind of fights were ritualistic, there was no intention to hurt or kill, only to subdue. The young one was stronger and more agile than the adult, but this was his first skirmish. The adult had years of experience.

After a few minutes of fierce fighting, the white cinanthrope ended up on the ground, lying on his back, a move he initiated, accepting that the other was stronger. Growling, the wolf positioned himself on top of him with his tail held high and his chest puffed out in triumph. Contrary to what people used to believe, the winner never forced the loser to lie down, it was the loser who graciously accepted the other's victory by exposing its belly and curling its tail between its legs.

“I know you hate this whole situation, that you don't understand why you have to hide if you haven't done anything wrong, but that's the way it is,” said the adult when he changed back to human form so he could talk to Dave. “Maybe someday it will change but you won't achieve it by threatening and scaring hunters. You'll only achieve the opposite. You need to keep a low profile.”

Dave looked at the male’s eyes and bared his fangs once again. A snarl, more out of protest than anything else, rumbled in his throat. That’s what he had been doing all this time but Rodrigo had insisted on obsessing over him. The man responded with a deep, tired sigh and pulled away from the younger male. His wolf tail hung limp behind his back.

“You cinanthropes without humanity are complicated, I know, and I also know what a hard time you have when you don't follow your nature, but you have to be smarter, stay away from people and not let yourself be seen. If you want to continue living among humans you will have to accept the rules of the human world.”

Then the man changed and started walking towards the depths of the forest. Dave lay on the ground panting for a few minutes, and when he stopped hearing his godfather's footsteps, he sat up and shook off the stress. When Sofia was sure that the other male had left, she came out of hiding and ran towards her friend. Dave changed back to human form, and when she reached him, she looked at him with concern. There were a few bloodstains in the thick hair covering his skin, but, as expected, no wounds.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, don't worry. I...” He licked his lips and wagged his tail nervously. “I'm sorry you had to see that. I've been trying to get my godfather to help me for a long time, but his only solution was to force me to stay near the cabin where I live. He doesn't know that I've been disobeying him for months.”

“Are you going to get in trouble?”

Dave sighed and looked away.

“I don't know. I've never challenged him before.”

“Is there any way I can help you?” Sofia asked with a slight tremor in her voice. This was unfamiliar territory for her.

“Not in this,” he shook his head.

“Fuck!” Sofia curled her lip a little to expose those useless puppy fangs.

“Hey, don't torture yourself.” Dave put a hand under her chin and looked her in the eye as he wagged his tail. “You've done more than enough for me, and you don't know how much I appreciate it.” A warm smile spread across his lips, and Sofia was acutely aware of the touch of his fingers on her skin.

Dave pulled away from her somewhat abruptly and his warm smile was replaced by an apologetic one. Sofia knew immediately why, for she too felt that ethereal caress brush against her skin and tug at her energy to awaken it. It was incredibly fast. The boy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and his whole body changed simultaneously. The change in stepping caused him to stagger forward, but Sofia held him and helped him keep his balance. Dave wagged his tail, grateful, and he would have smiled if he could. Then he looked up at the sky. Above their heads hung the full moon.