The Human Luna

Chapter One - Final Year

It was always the same dream. The wolf, tall and dark, with eyes the colour of melted chocolate. He never lunged, never bared his teeth. He only watched me, as if he knew something I didn’t. As if he was waiting.

I jolted awake to the harsh beeping of my alarm, the glowing red numbers bleeding into the same brown I saw in my dreams. My heart was racing, as it always did when I woke from that place between fear and longing.

Sighing, I dragged myself up, pulled my white-blonde hair into something that resembled a braid, and got dressed. Senior year or not, mornings still felt like a battle.

Downstairs, Dad was in the kitchen humming to himself. That part still surprised me. After years of being half-absent, buried in work or grief, he was here more often than not these days. Making toast. Reading the paper. Smiling. It should have felt normal, but it didn’t.

As I left the house, waving over my shoulder, I spotted her. Dad’s girlfriend, sitting in her car, the engine idling. She always seemed to appear when I was heading out, but never came in if I was home.

Her fingers tapped the steering wheel in a rhythm too deliberate to be random. When her eyes lifted to mine through the windshield, the tapping stopped. A smile curved her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It never did.

I forced myself to wave, but unease prickled at the back of my neck. Something about her stare made me feel… small, like I was being measured, weighed, and not quite approved of. Dad loved her, though, so I swallowed it down and kept walking.

At school, Josh was waiting by my locker. That was new. He leaned against the metal doors with his easy grin, the one that had gotten sharper since he’d joined the “popular crowd.”

“Morning, Shannon,” he said, almost too casual, like he hadn’t been deliberately standing there.

“Morning.” I stuffed my books into the locker, careful not to meet his eyes for too long.

He fell into step beside me as I headed to class. “So, prom’s coming up. Don’t tell me you’re not going.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a prom, Josh. It’s just a party. Prom was years ago.”

“Call it what you want,” he smirked, “but if there’s tuxes, dresses, and bad dancing involved, that’s a prom in my book.”

I raised a brow. He laughed, but there was a flicker of something softer in his eyes. He was trying. Ever since the lake, he’d tried to be closer, to pull me into his circle again. I let him, sometimes. But part of me remembered how easily he’d chosen popularity before, and I wasn’t ready to forget.

By the time Saturday came, the week had blurred together. Meygan and I hopped on the bus to the next town over, excitement buzzing between us. She tried on three dresses, each more perfect than the last. One fit her like it had been sewn just for her — sleek, elegant, shimmering.

I clapped as she twirled in front of the mirror. “That’s the one.”

Her grin stretched wide. “Okay, but now it’s your turn. And no disappearing act until we find something.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway. I wanted something different. Not sleek. Not elegant. Something big, something that made me feel like a princess. Nothing here quite hit the mark, but Meygan’s joy was enough to carry me through.

“Fancy grabbing a bite before we head back?” I asked, my stomach growling in agreement.

“Ha! You read my mind. Kenny’s?”

“Kenny’s it is.”

The little diner was crowded but warm, smelling of burgers and milkshakes. We slid into a booth, and before long, a familiar voice interrupted us.

“Well, well. Look who finally left the library.”

Josh stood there, holding a tray. Of course. He worked here on weekends. He slid a milkshake across the table toward me with a grin. “On the house.”

Meygan smirked at me over her straw, her eyes dancing with mischief. I rolled mine, muttering, “Thanks,” while heat crawled up my neck.

The three of us chatted for a while, laughter spilling out easily. It felt almost normal, like we were kids again before everything had shifted. Almost.

As we gathered our things to leave, I caught sight of the street outside through the diner window. For a split second, I thought I saw her — Dad’s girlfriend’s car parked at the curb, headlights cutting through the glass. Watching. Waiting.

I blinked, and it was gone.

Still, the unease lingered as we stepped out into the cool evening air, laughter fading into the hum of the town.

*Thomas POV*



Six years. It’s been six years to the day since the forest, since a little girl with white-blond hair threw herself between my wolf and her sister. Human. Fragile. And yet braver than half the wolves I’ve ever known.

I promised myself I’d stay away. She deserved a normal life—school, friends, laughter—not to be dragged into the weight of this world. I even swore to her father I wouldn’t claim her until she chose for herself. Still, every night when I close my eyes, I feel that spark again, the fire that lit inside me the moment her hand brushed my fur.

A knock at the office door pulled me back.

“Alpha,” Stefan said, stepping inside. He bowed his head with a formality softened by the fact he’d been my brother in everything but blood since we were pups. “There’s been talk of rogues hiding out in town. What action do you want to take?”

I leaned back in my father’s old chair. The title still sat awkward on my shoulders. Last year, when rogues overran Red Cliff Pack, my father went to defend them and never returned. We lost him. We lost his Beta and Gamma. My mother followed soon after, her heart giving out without her mate beside her. And then the Gamma’s widow—unable to bear the severed bond—took her own life.

The silence that fell over the packhouse that week still haunts me.

“Observation first,” I said, rising. “We need numbers, movements, intent. If their presence is poisoning the town, we’ll act. Not before.”

Stefan’s mouth curved into the faintest smile. He’d been reckless once—wild, shallow, ruled by instinct. But finding Jade, his mate, changed everything. She steadied him, sharpened him. Without her, I doubt he would’ve lived to stand at my side as Beta. She’s the only one besides him who dares boss me about—and she’s usually right.

We walked out together, the corridors quiet at midday. Outside, the car waited. Driving took longer than running in wolf form, but I didn’t mind. The hum of the engine gave me space to think.

The forest blurred by, branches knitting above like a cathedral ceiling. But as always, my thoughts strayed. Six years, and still my mind circled her. I wondered if she laughed with her friends, if she remembered that night in the meadow, if she still dreamed of the wolf with chocolate-brown eyes.

Sometimes I swore I could feel her—like a thread tugging in my chest whenever I came too close to town. My mate. Mine. The Moon Goddess had carved her for me alone. And no matter how I told myself she was safer without me, I couldn’t stop watching from the shadows.

Stefan broke the silence. “We’ve had reports of fights near the pubs. Three men, strangers, no scent that locals recognise. It could be nothing. But if they’re rogues…”

“Then they’re testing boundaries,” I finished for him. My grip tightened on the wheel. Rogues didn’t hide in towns unless they were desperate—or bold enough to challenge a pack’s claim.

The village rooftops came into view beyond the trees. Quaint, ordinary. Children’s laughter drifted from a park, a couple walked hand in hand down the pavement, shop windows glittered with sales signs. Normal life. The kind of life she deserved.

But beneath it, the air tasted wrong.