It was a beautiful evening for a hunt.

I woke up from my nap, the pale sunlight shining down on me, and I knew I had to go out there.

I was prowling in the forest, my ears tilted towards a mouse munching on a nut by a nearby tree trunk, when I heard footsteps. The mouse seemed to hear them too, scurrying away like the frightened prey he was.

Pa had warned me to stay away from strange things in the woods. He said I had gotten  into enough trouble since I started coming here. But I was Biltmore's protector! How could I turn down looking into a possible threat?

I peeked through the clearing and saw two hunters, seeming to be on the trail of an average sized animal. I could hear it's heartbeat now, slow and steady despite the danger, but I couldn't see it. I let out a deep bellowing roar as to warn both the hunters I was coming, and he creature to run.

As I ran closer too them, I roared again, curious as to why the creature wasn't stirring at the sound of a predator. That's when I smelled it.

The smell of blood.

I ran forward and attacked the hunters. How dare they harm innocent animals!

I watched as a girl came into view. She had a green dress and earthy skin. Strange I thought to myself.

I swiped a blow, hitting one of them back. They looked at me, dazed. The other picked up their weapon and started firing.

The girl was watching in curiosity at my ways. I dodged a few bullets and hit them back with sheathed claws.

They slowly started to retreat. I lost the adrenaline, causing me to collapse.

The girl stepped over to me and started stroking my black fur. I did not mind. Braeden does that a lot.

Braeden! That jolsted me back up. The girl looked in shock when I stood.

She's not a threat, I thought to myself. She actually looked kinda familiar. Thats when it hit.

She was the girl that helped me back when I fell in the river. Too many people were chasing me, and before I knew it, my right paw got stuck.

I decided it would be okay to transform back in front of her. I turned into my human form, causing the girl to hide.

"Its okay," I said. She slowly came back into view.

"You are a catamount?" She asked.

"Yes," I said. "My name is Serafina."

"Nice. My name is Willa." Willa said with a bit of an accent

When I looked at the sunset, I remembered something. Dangit, Serafina, ya did it again! I scolded myself.

You see, Braeden wanted to meet up with me to show me something. Apparently, these stones were found by the river today, and they glowed. He said to meet at sunset.

"Sorry, I have to go. See ya around?"

"See ya!" Willa disappeared.

I changed into a panther, and ran into the night.