The Human Luna

"ELIAH!"

She winces at the sudden outburst of her colleague, groaning as she rolls over and squinting at the glowing digits on the clock. 

"It's 12:03 in the morning. What do you want?" Her voice is barely audible through the fog of sleep.

"We have a lone wolf in the mountains. Male," Demetri informs her, far too chirpy for this hour. The girl lets out a snore and accidentally chokes on air.

"Hurry! He is aggressive, and we can't get near him! He's HUGE! We need your help!" He rants, clearly panicked. She considers ending the call right then.

Her brain isn't processing anything beyond bed.

"Eliah, wake up! If you don't want me to be eaten by a wolf, start moving your ass out of bed and towards the mountain!" She pulls the phone away from her ear, eyes still shut to avoid the blinding light.

"Well, now that you mention it, it's debatable. Maybe I should consider it," she croaks, throat scratchy from sleep. 

"ELIAH—" She hangs up before he can start lecturing.

With a groan, she switches on the bedside lamp and ducks under the covers as if hiding from a monster.

'Why now?'

Eliah takes a deep breath and emerges from her cocoon. She hisses at the light, and her cat, Python, follows suit. His fluffy, creamy tail flicks over the side of the bed. A smile finds its way to Eliah's lazy expression, and she rips the covers back, still hissing like her cat.

"Traitor," she mutters, yanking the duvet off. The ragdoll cat with blue eyes jumps onto her stomach and begins kneading with purpose, knocking the wind out of her.

"Python, go to bed," she whispers, her lack of will to live getting the better of her. Python glares, clearly asserting that this is his bed. Then, with regal defiance, he curls up on her hair—his butt far too close to her face.

"Python," she threatens him back, but he just starts sleeping on her hair.

With a dramatic roll, Eliah flops onto the wooden floor, a few strands of hair sacrificed to her cat's reign.

She almost drifts off again, but her phone blares to life. A whimper escapes as she blindly searches for it.

Sliding her fingers across the screen, she braces herself.

"GET A MOVE ON, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" he screams with so much passion, knowing the girl didn't dare to start her day at this time.

"Shut up," she rasps, not nearly as threatening as she would've hoped. If he's near a wolf, he really shouldn’t be yelling like that.

Eliah rolls again, this time with more determination to stand up. She wobbles her way out of the room and towards the kitchen in the dark.

"Just get moving! We have a predator on our hands who's trying to eat me!" Demetri continues.

She snorts and switches on the light, blinking against the brightness.

"Does it look like I care? If you want me to help you at this time of night, you'll have to wait. Don't scare or even engage the wolf. That's basic common sense." She opens the fridge and grabs a bottle of drinking yoghurt.

"I'm a vet. Of course I know that! But he’s hurt—we can’t lose him!" He wants to keep talking, but he suddenly screeches out of nowhere, and Eliah gets annoyed. She's honestly surprised the wolf hadn't eaten him yet.

"I'll be there in an hour, max," she says, ending the call on her way to the bathroom.

She gets ready in the dark, dresses in hiking gear, and grabs her small grey backpack. Eiliah walks over to the front door while switching off all the lights.

"Be good, Python!" she greets her cat and walks out of her cabin, still half-asleep.

The mountain is on the far side of the city, so Eliah takes a fifteen-minute hike to the train station, her boots crunching softly against the gravel path. After paying for her forty-minute ride, she whips out her earphones and queues up a playlist designed to keep her awake.

Three years ago, Eliah graduated with a degree in animal physiotherapy. Now, she works in both physical rehab and behavioural therapy for animals—pets, farm creatures, even the occasional exotic case. She helped them recover after surgery and trained those whose owners claimed they had “issues.”

Usually, it was abuse.

People didn’t expect her to be licensed to report them. They didn’t do their research—they just wanted obedient pets that fit their lifestyle. Even after being flagged in past cases, some still tried to book her services. But every now and then, a frightened little one with a traumatic past came through her door, and those are the ones Eliah lives to help.

Her life plays out on the edge of the city, where the woods begin. The mountain loomed on the opposite side, far from her quiet cabin.

Hunters roam everywhere, so it didn’t matter which side she lived on—they tracked wild animals across the region. Still, Eliah preferred her solitude. She liked being removed from the chaos of other people’s problems. And the weekly walk to the shops gave her just enough exercise to stay fit for the long hikes she took to reach injured animals.

The train slows. Eliah blinks herself awake and steps off, heading toward the reception building. She stumbles through the door, fishing for her ID in the bundle of essentials she hadn’t bothered to organise.

A bell rang as she entered, startling the young woman behind the desk. She looked new—Eliah hadn’t seen her before. Maybe she worked the night shift.

"Having a picnic this early?" the lady jokes, glancing at her watch.

"Um, no, not really," Eliah replies, handing over her ID. "I’m a trained animal physiotherapist. My colleagues are already here—I’m joining them."

I'm a trained professional working with animals. My colleagues are already here and I'm here to join them," Eliah states, handing her the ID. 

The woman inspects the card carefully. Eliah offered her business card as well, just in case.

"Al-" she shakes her head and continues, "Ileah." She huffs, and Eliah notices she's trying to pronounce her name. "Ayle-"

"Ahl-ay-ah," Eiliah corrects gently.

"Good luck. I heard it's a wolf," the receptionist says, panic flickering in her eyes.

Eliah offers a tired smile, grateful for the luck—she’ll need it. She takes her cards back and steps outside.

She ties her straight auburn hair into a messy bun, stuffs the loose items into her backpack, and checks the time. Pulling out her headlamp and phone, she dials Demetri.

"I'm on my way. Just tell me where you are," she says, cutting straight to the point. She’s not thrilled about hiking through the woods in the dark.

"Take the yellow hiking trail, then turn left onto the blue. When the path splits, keep going forward. You’ll hit a rocky waterfall—flash an SOS when you get there. We’re close, I’ll send one back."

She notices the exhaustion in his voice, and Eliah’s concern spikes.

"Is he still moving around?" she asks, adjusting her headlamp as she steps onto the yellow trail.

"No. He’s lying down, but still aggressive. Keeps hurting himself. Thankfully, he hasn’t howled yet—we can’t handle a whole pack, especially if they’re all this size."

"He's that big?" Eliah huffs, climbing a steep incline.

"I’ve never seen one like this. Then again, I’ve never seen a wolf before, so…"

She hears shuffling in the background—sounds like the team’s prepping for her arrival.

"Okay, I'll be there soon," she lets him know, ending the call and pocketing her phone.

The silence is unnerving, broken only by the crunch of her boots on the trail. The eerie stillness makes her pick up the pace. She tells herself not to think about the rest of the pack—if there is one.

After several long minutes, the sound of rushing water reaches her ears. She removes her headlamp and flashes an SOS toward the waterfall, then slips the light back onto her head.

Seconds later, a flickering beam appears behind one of the large trees. Eliah heads toward it, her steps softening as she spots the massive shadow curled in a bushy corner.

What she doesn’t see is the wolf’s eyes shifting colour for a split second.

"You weren’t kidding," she whispers, not wanting to frighten the whimpering shadow. "He’s massive."

But her caution is in vain.

The wolf growls.