Maybe inviting him to her house feeling what she felt hadn't been such a good idea, Sofia thought when the boy's lips rested on hers. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea, but she still grabbed his dark hair and opened her mouth to plunge into the kiss. His arms wrapped around her as he tried to keep up with the girl's fiery rhythm. He was sweet, and soft, and loving, and his lips tasted like beer, and she was a wild she-wolf who craved more. Slowly the young man pushed her down and Sofia allowed him to, letting herself fall onto the couch. Suddenly she felt a burning pain in her collarbone. Hissing she pushed him away and looked down at herself. There was a cross-shaped burn on her skin, a burn she covered with her hand as it closed because she knew it would be a matter of seconds.

“Are you all right, princess? What happened?” Sergi asked, looking at her with worry in those green eyes that had made her fall in love.

“A pulled muscle, it was nothing,” she said with a smile, discreetly glancing at the silver cross hanging from his neck.

‘Human’ she thought. He couldn't be anything else. Besides, the guy didn't have a clue about the supernatural world. All he knew was what he had read in some role-playing manuals. She had known him for a few months, and in that time he had already shown her his video game collection, his role-playing manuals and his anime character figurines. He was a nice, funny guy who introduced himself by clowning around, and eventually he had won Sofia over. He was a buffoon but she had fun with him. That's why she wasn't surprised when they ended up making out that night. They had spent several weeks flirting at work and meeting for drinks, so that was the logical conclusion.

“Am I going too fast? If I'm going too fast, or if you don't want this, it's okay. Let's go back to the good vibes we had before and that's it,” said the officer.

Sofia leaned over him and kissed him again.

“I'm fine, Sergi,” she said smiling.

The boy smiled too and gently caressed her cheek. Sofia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't smell of forest, nor of motorcycle gasoline, in fact he had a certain scent of the chemicals he used in the lab, which Sofia didn't particularly like, but there was a masculine musk that she did find appealing. She liked him, and with a little hesitation she had to admit that she was falling in love with him. A little hesitantly because, when she had imagined the future, this was not the man she had thought would be by her side, but Dave didn't feel the same way she did, and maybe it was better that way. They were good friends, that was all.

“A question, Sofia. You're going to think I'm a bit of an idiot for asking you this in a situation like this one, but it's better to clarify things now and avoid having any trouble later. You two aren't a couple, are you? I'm not getting in the middle of you guys or anything, I hope, because I'm not that kind of guy. I respect someone else's girl,” said Sergi, suddenly worried.

“No, we're not a couple, and if he wanted us to be one he's had almost three fucking years to make up his mind.” Sofia said, noticing how her energy stirred uneasily and the urge to growl in frustration and anger surfaced.

“Sofia, this is not the question I would ask a girl on our first serious date, and I feel like a bit of a dumbass for asking it, really,” said Sergi, letting out a small nervous laugh. “Do you like him? I mean, I've seen you two interact at the barracks and you don't have a very... normal relationship. Do you like him?”

Sofia let out a quiet sigh and, biting her lip, she looked at a very interesting spot on the floor so she wouldn't have to stare into those green eyes that were watching her intently. A warmth rose to her cheeks, turning them pink as she hugged herself while she searched for the right words to say what she wanted to say. Things were not so simple, but it was best to be honest with Sergi. There were already too many things she was going to have to hide from him simply because he wouldn't understand, nor was it fair for him to know them.

“Yes, but I'm not going to wait for him forever and...” She shyly took his hand, blushing. “I'm falling in love with you. I want to give us a chance.”

“I want to too, princess, but promise me one thing,” said Sergi, caressing the girl's hands. “If you ever realize that you love him, if you decide that I no longer give you what you need and you want to go out with him, don’t hesitate to tell me. I will understand.”

Sofia nodded and only then did Sergi lean over her and kissed her again in that loving, tender way. ‘Human’, she thought again. And he was nothing more than that, a simple human who had no idea of the supernatural world. Perhaps that should have worried her, for after all she was still a cinanthrope and would change someday. However, the energy in her chest seemed to have found a certain balance, and any threat of change was gone, at least for the moment. Some cinanthropes never got to change, and perhaps she was one of those. Maybe she was really going to be able to have a normal life, get married, have children and forget about the supernatural world once and for all. After all, that had been her greatest wish for years.

***

That night, after her date, Sofia went for a walk in the oak grove right in front of her house. While the dogs ran through the trees, she strolled without leaving the path. She found no reason to want to go into its depths, there was no point in doing it alone, not anymore. She let her gaze wander among the trees while her mind traveled between two worlds, the present and the one she had left behind. The oaks were stubbier and more widely spaced than the pines, so that place didn't seem as gloomy and sinister as the pine forest that surrounded the little town. However, she thought, letting out a quiet sigh and looking up at the full moon, she had long since stopped that way about the forest, and it had been thanks to him.

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With the taste of Sergi's lips still present in her mouth, Sofia hugged herself and kept walking. She was falling in love with him, she had not lied about that, but she missed her friend. Since the night at the tavern something had changed between them. It wasn't just their outings, it was also him and his way of interacting with her. He seemed more distant, more serious, more... human. She bit her lip and looked around, at Ginger running through the trees chasing the seeds of a dandelion she had just shredded. It was then that she realized that Kas was not there.

Intrigued, since her dog never used to wander far from her, Sofia turned around and saw him about ten meters away. He was very close to the path, but he was in a shady patch, sniffing around a bush with great interest. Had it not been for her night vision, she would not even have seen him. She was intrigued by his attitude. Kas tended to be a very clingy dog, more so than Ginger who was more independent. That scent he had found really had to be interesting for him to have strayed so far away from her.

“Kas, let's go.”

Upon hearing his owner’s voice, Kas stopped sniffing the bush and trotted over to her.

“What's that on your nose? Fur?” Sofia said distractedly, removing a tuft of white fur that had stuck to his moist truffle. “You mustn't fall behind. You can get lost. Come on, go run with Ginger.”

Barking, the dog ran forward while Sofia stared at the tuft of white hair between her fingers. Undercoat, belonging to a spitz-type dog. Biting her lip and with a lump in her throat she looked up at Ginger and Kas, who scampered through the trees with complete nonchalance. This life was just what she had come to long for and desire, a simple human life. A life where she didn't have to think about cinanthropes, or hunters, a life where the full moon was romantic instead of terrifying, a life where she could hang up her hunter's uniform once and for all.

Sofia shut her eyelids tight and clutched that lock of white hair against her heart. Through her memory reverberated visions of nights in the forest, games by the spring and their voices joined in a howl that flowed through the trees. Again she looked up at the full moon, the moon that no longer evoked fear, but rather brought memories of waking up in his arms, wrapped in his white fur and the warmth of his body, and breathing in his scent. That full moon that had been theirs, theirs, that they had shared, just as they had shared the secret of their true nature. Sofia raised her head and let her voice flow out to the stars in a long howl.

In the distance a howl answered back, a howl that made her shiver and smile, a howl she knew all too well. Then she saw him appear, his white fur silhouetted against the darkness, and his name escaped her lips as she ran towards him. The white cinanthrope rose on his hind legs and hugged her tightly, and Sofia sank back into his warmth, his scent, and the softness of his fur. Dave sighed and gently nuzzled her head.

“I know why you did it. You think I want to live as a human, and it's true that there was a time when that was what I wanted most, but not any more, not any more,” she said, pulling away to look into his eyes through tear-fogged ones. “You have taught me another life, you have showed me a different side of the moon. Maybe we're not ready to take that step yet, maybe we're not yet sure how we feel. Maybe we’re in love, or maybe we’re just friends and we’re mixing up our feelings. What I am sure of is that I want to go with you again during the full moon, and I want to wake up in your arms, and I want to hear your howl and see the fangs in your smile. The time I spent with you was the happiest in my life, and I don’t want to loose that. I don’t want to loose you.”

Dave sighed and very gently and carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks. A little frustrated, she rubbed her face with the cuffs of her coat, and again she could see the sky-coloured eyes she had fallen in love with.Her stomach shuddered with a pleasant warmth, and a shy smile, very much matching the blush on her cheeks, appeared on her lips.

“I love you, Dave. You're my best friend,” she said, placing a hand on his cheek.

The boy closed his eyelids, covered his friend's hand with his own humanoid one and, sighing, pressed his cheek against it, seeking the touch of her fingers on his face's white fur. When he opened them again, they shone with such affection that Sofia shuddered. Again they melted into an embrace in which his kisses were soft nuzzles on her hair, and his smiles were wags of his tail. One in which he promised her he was not going to lose him.

That embrace lasted as long as it took for Ginger and Kas to assault the boy, demanding his attention and asking him to play with them. Like a puppy, he granted their wish, and Sofia saw him become just another dog, carefree, happy, free, just like that day in El Cerro, so long ago. That day when she saw him play with Kas, and she was suddenly aware that this boy who smelled of forest would become her best friend. Then, with a pleasant warmth in her belly and a smile of absolute happiness on her lips, she too jumped into the game.

The four of them ended up breaking the night's silence with the echo of their laughter and barking. Yes, Sofia thought as they ran through the trees and dropped onto the grass, as she rested on his chest listening to his heartbeat and breathing his scent of oak and pine, that strange life of full moon nights, of magic and secrets, would be perfect.