That afternoon, Sofia decided to go for a short run along the same dirt road she had taken that morning to get to school. Fortunately it had stopped raining, and the clouds had turned into thick patches of gray between small clearings that let in the orange evening light. Beside her, tongue hanging between his jaws, trotted Kas, her black and tan Dobermann.

As she ran, Sofia concentrated on keeping the rhythm of her breathing in step with her footsteps. For a handful of strides she closed her eyes and let the forest's fresh, moist air into her lungs. Dozens of smells wafted into her nostrils, all of them familiar, including the smell of wet earth and that of the pine trees around her. Yes, she was aware that she was giving in to her instincts, she was sniffing, and a part of her felt guilty for indulging the canine nature she had inherited from her father, but sniffing relaxed her. In fact, that was why she had gone for a run, because she needed to relax a little and think.

“A cinanthrope... what could he have done to have blood on his muzzle?” she wondered while turning her gaze towards the forest.

She hoped it was nothing important, or else he was going to get himself into some serious trouble. Again she looked ahead and made an effort to keep her pace even. On the path he came across a couple of old men who liked to forage for mushrooms, and other people who used it to go to the meadows. They were people from the village, familiar faces with humble and simple lives, who did not know that a creature born out of legends had appeared on their land.

El Cerro was the most haunted village in Spain after Trasmoz, or so the villagers used to joke. Not surprisingly, every autumn a pagan festival called The Witches' Night was celebrated, and it was said that more than one neighbour, skilled in making infusions and ointments, practised magic in secret. There were also stories of werewolves, and even of spiritual apparitions. Simple rumours that most people did not take seriously, because witches, wizards and werewolves were part of fantasy and folklore.

“And now they have a real werewolf in the forest,” Sofia muttered, almost wanting to laugh at the irony.

When she reached a certain spot on the path, she stopped to stretch her muscles, and looked around. This seemed to be the place. At least, that was the place where she had taken the shortcut to the high school. By her calculations, the cinanthrope probably came from the forest above, and by the way he ran, without looking where he was going, he had probably left tracks all over the place. Sofia bit her lip and looked at Kas. It wasn't her problem, but part of her was curious about what he'd done, and where he had come from.

She was worried about the blood. It was probably just some poor mouflon, but he looked like he was running away from something. In itself that wasn't so strange. Maybe he was a pup that had just changed for the first time and had preyed on something. The change in itself would have been scary enough, but if he had given in to his canine nature, that would explain why he was fleeing in such a panic. Sofia hoped that something was just a wild animal, because if it was anything else, that pup was going to be in trouble.

“Come on, Kas. Heel, and don't wander off, the forest is dangerous.”

The dog wagged his tail stump and stood by her waist. Sofia started walking and entered the grove. There, under the shade of the tall pines, the smell emanating from the earth was stronger and fed her desire to sniff. Taking advantage of the fact that they were alone, she allowed herself this indulgence. An overwhelming number of smells began to enter through her nose, among which she recognised a warm musk that belonged to Kas. She could recognise her dog's scent because she was used to it and knew it well. When she perceived so many different scents at once, she felt as if she were in a room full of people talking at the same time. Perhaps she would be able to make out Sara's voice, but all the other voices were diluted in a confused mass.

As she walked along, not taking her eyes off the ground, she heard something, a rustling in the bushes similar to branches moving. It was not just her, Kas heard it too and, suddenly tensing, he stared at a specific spot among the trees. The fur on his back bristled, and a deep growl rumbled in his throat, a tentative kind of growl. The flaps of his nose twitched, trying to sense something in the air. Sofia followed the direction of his gaze and she too began to sniff, but perceived nothing special. Just forest and more forest, the same smell of pine, damp earth and vegetation that seemed to overpower all others. Even though she was a cinanthrope, Kas had better hearing and smell, not because he was a dog, but because she had not yet changed. Her senses became much sharper after the first change, or so the hunters in the guild had told her.

Suddenly, something moved in the undergrowth, a brief flash of white that made the hair on the back of her neck bristle just like Kas's. The Dobermann let out a sudden bark and shrank back a couple of steps like the vile coward he was, proving that his reputation as a fierce dog was undeserved.

“Easy, Kas.”

Sofia knelt down beside her dog to hug his back and reassure him, or perhaps to reassure herself, for she felt her heart pounding in her chest and had started to pant. Kas wagged his tail nervously and licked his friend's face, but she didn't look away from the spot where she thought she saw something white. There was nothing there now, but her fine cinanthrope hearing picked up the rustle of vegetation being shaken, and the soft sound of footsteps running away. Footsteps of something moving on all fours, and with far more stealth than she had expected.

“Fuck...”

In an attempt to calm down a little, especially since she was beginning to feel the energy in her chest stirring uneasily, Sofia took several deep breaths. Slowly her breathing returned to normal, and so did her heartbeat. When she looked down at the ground, she noticed something she hadn't seen before, a small puddle partially covered in leaves from a nearby bush. In fact, if it hadn't been for the water, she wouldn't have even noticed it. Intrigued, and almost trembling with excitement, she walked over and brushed the leaves aside. It was a footprint, the footprint of a huge canid. Sofia licked her lips and looked away. A quiet whimper echoed in her throat, and Kas licked her face again, worried about her sudden mood change.

“I'm fine, Kas, don't worry. Come on, let's go for a walk,” she said, getting up again, though she kept her eyes on the ground.

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It wasn't the first time she had seen such footprints. She knew them all too well, for she had followed tracks like that one many times. It belonged to a cinanthrope, of that there was no doubt. As she had expected, very close to the first one she found more, a trail leading off into the depths of the forest. She followed it for a while, and with every step she took, her stomach churned for using those skills again. That was the kind of thing her mother had taught her, the kind of life she was trying to get away from. Sofia clenched her jaw and stifled the growl she felt in her throat. She wasn't hunting him. She had already left that life behind. She was making sure he stayed out of trouble, and nothing more. Her skills were useful, and could be used for good.

With those words in her head to drive away the knot of remorse she felt in her stomach, she followed the trail for a while. Kas broke away from her a few meters and sniffed around some nearby bushes. Intrigued, Sofia approached him and saw a tuft of white hair caught in the undergrowth. It was normal, he was in the middle of the autumn shedding, and on top of that he had run as if he was being chased by the king of the hunters himself.

“Or the queen herself,” Sofia muttered, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

A shudder followed that shiver, and Sofia knew what her body wanted; to shake itself free of the sudden unease she had felt. She didn't like to give in to her instincts, because she felt that if she did, her control would be more precarious, but she was alone and no one could see her. The temptation was strong enough. With a growl of frustration, she turned away and rubbed her face with her hands. No, she couldn't, she couldn't give in to her instincts whenever she wanted to, or she would end up doing it in front of people, and those were the kind of behaviours that hunters looked out for. She had to maintain control.

When she stopped feeling the urge to shake, Sofia took the lock of hair and rubbed it between her fingers. It was soaked, but still had the cottony texture of undercoat. Then she brought it to her nose and tried to pick up any scent that might give her a clue. Unfortunately, it was too wet and had been impregnated with all the smells of the forest, and a musk that she did not like at all. It was familiar to her, because whenever she walked past the meadows, she caught the same scent. That's why she avoided them, because her whole body tensed and her hunting instincts awoke instantly, even though she hadn't changed yet. It smelled of cattle, specifically sheep.

“What have you done?” she said, with a quiet whimper.

Then she heard another sound, the sound of approaching footsteps and voices breaking the forest's silent harmony. With her whole body on alert and the hair on the back of her neck bristling, she grabbed Kas by the collar and crouched by some bushes.

“I've told ye many times, Miguel, don't ye let the herd loose and go to the bar. This is yer fault.”

“Fuck, Juani, because there are no wolves’ere. How was I supposed to know that there was a fucking dog around’ere?”

“There are no wolves, there are no wolves,” said the woman, in a mocking tone. “Go’ome now, ye. And you'd better keep an eye on the herd so this doesn't happen again.”

“Shit,” Sofia whispered.

He had attacked cattle. It wasn't the worst thing he could have done, and it wasn't that unusual, but if her mother heard about it, she'd hunt him down. A whimper rose up her throat as a painful memory shook her chest, a whimper that was too high-pitched to be a human sound. Worried, Kas began to whine and sniffed at her face, and Sofia wrapped her arms around him, trembling. He was probably just a pup who had made a stupid mistake. That he would have to pay for it with his life didn't seem fair. It didn't seem fair.

“Did ye’ear that?” the man said.

Sofia's blood froze. They were just harmless herders, but it would be best if they didn't see her snooping around, especially not Kas. The villagers weren't bad people, but they didn't take kindly to pets running loose in the countryside. He took Kas by the collar and started to run back to the road, as quietly as he could.

“Over’ere!” said the man.

Sofia clenched her teeth and picked up her pace. Her training as a huntress had taught her to move almost noiselessly, but that wasn't the case with Kas. It didn't help that the dog was taking this as a fun game, although that might be preferable to him running away in terror like her cinanthrope. She wondered if the shepherd had spotted him, and that was why he had run.

“Where ye going? Stop this nonsense and go’ome at once, Miguel!”

The man protested, but Sofia didn't stay to listen to the rest of the conversation. She continued running down the forest until she reached the path. As she emerged from the undergrowth she didn't look where she was going, and ran face first into someone, someone who gave off a pleasant masculine musk mixed with an intense forest scent that almost masked it. Sofia would have fallen to the ground had it not been for the hands that grabbed her by the arms.

“I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and....”

Dazed, she looked up, and met eyes the colour of the sky that looked at her with concern. Instantly her words died on her lips.

“Don't worry, it's okay. Are you all right?” said Dave, Sara's friend.

“Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for holding me instead of pushing me down,” she mumbled, looking away. She couldn't say he didn't deserve it, considering how she'd treated him.

“It was nothing,” the boy said, scratching his head and twisting his lips into a small, controlled smile. Then he turned his attention to the dog, who was sniffing him and wagging his tail. “Is he yours?”

“Yes, he's mine.” A terrible fear began to well up within her, and a voice inside her screamed for him not to do what she thought he was going to do, because she couldn't bear it.

“Can I?”

'Shit'.

“Yeah, sure.”

It was worse than she thought. Suddenly, the boy knelt down in front of the dog to be at his level, and began stroking his neck and back. A smile, much wider and more sincere, began to work its way onto his lips, and Kas seemed to like it because he began to wag his tail and lick his face, making him laugh. That laughter was crystal clear and joyful, and Sofia suddenly wanted to cry.

“I'm sorry, I have to go now. Kas, let's go,” Sofia said, her voice strangled by the whimpering she was trying to contain.

Without waiting for the boy to respond, Sofia grabbed Kas by the collar and dragged him away. Dave tilted his head slightly to one side and looked at her in confusion, and that made Sofia want to cry harder. Biting her lip, she started to run down the path, the memory of his laughter and his enthusiastic gaze still lingering in her mind. She couldn't let this boy get close to her. She couldn't let him become her friend, because it would put him in danger. However, when she saw him petting her dog, when she saw that smile that threatened to grow wider, when she saw the sparkle in his eyes, she wanted to get to know him better.

“Shit!”