After Death Short Stories & Novels

To stop the Moonshadow Pack and the Black Pack from slaughtering each other, I volunteered to form a mate bond with Kael. He was the heir of the Black Pack and the boy who had grown up beside me. I had loved him for ten years. I believed that once we completed our mating bond, the hatred between our packs would finally end. After the ceremony, he held me for three days and three nights, refusing to let me go. Years later, Kael personally led the Black Pack warriors into my territory and destroyed my home. My father, mother, and brother had all died in the war. Then Kael leaned close to my ear and asked coldly, “Eileen, did you really think becoming my mate would make me forget that the Moonshadow Pack murdered my parents?” That was when I finally understood. Kael believed my parents had ordered his parents’ deaths. What he did not know was that the woman who truly killed them and started the war later became his Luna. After the war, Kael became the Alpha of both packs. He made Selena his Luna and locked me inside an abandoned dungeon, forcing me to repay a blood debt that had never belonged to my family. Whenever I tried to end my life, he ordered his men to dig up one of my relatives’ graves. “You do not get to die without my permission.” So I stopped fighting. I stopped explaining. It no longer mattered. Ten years ago, I swallowed a nest of blood worms to save his life. Now they had reached my heart. I would be dead in three days.

I was the 99th High Priestess to serve the Temple of Aubin. Through a potent, forbidden ritual known as Soulforging, I could rewrite a person's fate in exchange for a fragment of my life and soul. In the first year we were together, I used Soulforging to save Emile Albrecht from certain death after an arrow pierced his heart. The ritual's toll bleached my hair white. In our third year together, I used Soulforging again to save him from the executioner's blade. He was named heir apparent. In return, I lost my sight. In our sixth year together, Emile brought the woman who had once saved his life by shielding him from that arrow years before. He ordered me to perform another Soulforging ritual to save her. I shook my head and told him I could not perform it again. My soul had almost been exhausted. One more ritual would erase me completely. He seized my wrists and forced me closer despite my struggle. "You survived that ritual twice already! Why would saving a mortal from danger suddenly kill you? "You know what I think? I think you're just throwing a tantrum no one asked for. You're trying to be dramatic about it costing your 'soul!'" I performed the ritual, suppressing the blood that threatened to spill from my throat, and saw it through to the end. The next day, Emile petitioned the king to name me his future queen. As my hands slowly turned transparent, I felt my way out of the palace. I would never be your queen, Emile. Seven days from now, Undine of Cracht would cease to exist.

I have asthma, but Mom still forces me to take part in freshman orientation drills just to avoid accusations of favoritism. As I stand at attention in the 95-degree heat, my lips start turning blue. With no other choice, I raise a trembling hand. "Ms. Horton, I don't feel well—" Before I can finish, Roxanne Horton, the instructor leading our drills, coldly slaps my hand down. "Only half an hour in, and you're already faking sick to get out of training? And you have the nerve to lie to my face? Is this how your parents raised you?" Mom stands just a few feet away. As the dean of Hawthorne College, she immediately feels humiliated and turns to glare at me. "Everyone else is holding up just fine. You're the only one demanding special treatment," she snaps. "No daughter of mine would act like this. You'll stand here alone for another hour. Let's see how long you keep up this act." But I'm already struggling to breathe. My legs give way beneath me, and I collapse to the ground, clutching my throat as my face turns purplish-red. Before everything fades to black, I reach a trembling hand out toward Mom. "My inhaler… Help me…" But Mom's expression hardens. She turns away and lets my hand drop limply back into the dirt. "You've barely been standing for half an hour, and you're already pretending to have an asthma attack? Do you think I got to be dean by falling for every ridiculous lie?" She scoffs. "Get up right now. Stop embarrassing yourself!" When Roxanne realizes that I still haven't moved, she flies into a rage. She grabs the back of my collar and tries to haul me upright. By then, though, I'm already drifting upward, hovering above them. Looking down at Mom's cold, disappointed face, I twist the sweat-soaked hem of my shirt, overcome with shame. I'm sorry, Mom. I'll never be the daughter you can be proud of.

I am the center of my parents' world. They turn my bedroom into every little boy's dream, with soccer balls, LEGO sets, and Transformers everywhere. They even spend a fortune installing a bathtub for me because I love taking baths. They always tell my little brother, Jason Tucker, that he has to protect me for the rest of my life. But everything changes when I take him into a hot bath with me, and he accidentally chokes on water. Mommy loses it. She grabs me by the throat and screams, "We thought you'd learn to care for your brother after all the love we gave you. We never imagined you'd turn out to be so ungrateful and try to drown him!" I shake my head frantically, but Mommy shoves me into the washing machine without hesitation. "You like taking baths, don't you? I'll give you a bath you'll never forget!" Mommy and Daddy take Jason out to play, but they fail to realize that they have accidentally pressed the washing machine's start button. The water keeps rising, but I can't climb out. As I'm tangled up with the clothes, I struggle to open my eyes and see Mommy and Daddy returning. I don't want to take baths anymore. Can Mommy and Daddy stop being mad at me?

My CEO mom has always believed that Dad and I are manipulative freeloaders trying to bleed her dry. Any expense over 50 dollars requires her approval. The day Dad is hit by a car, I ask her for 2,000 dollars to pay for his surgery. Instead, she calls me just to snap at me. "Did Nathan Sinclair put you up to this? Have you two really sunk so low just to squeeze money out of me?" With no other choice, I request that my scholarship be advanced. But when I try to pay the hospital, the money is gone. Mom calls again. "Who did you steal from? I never transferred any money. How could there be a deposit in your account? "I worked hard for my money—not so the two of you can leech off me! From now on, your allowance is cut in half!" The surgery never happens. Dad dies right in front of me. When I return home with his ashes, I see Ethan Carter's post of the 100-million-dollar mansion Mom bought for him and his son, with the caption, "Her love has belonged to me ever since we were young—and it still does." I leave a like. Then I comment, "You can have her future too."

Having been an invisible presence at home for ten years, I watch Mom and Dad hand me the only life ring as the cruise ship sinks, while they vanish into the ocean depths. Christian Gunn, my distant brother, desperately pushes me toward the shore until his body is completely frozen stiff by the icy seawater. He flashes a smile of relief and says, "Mom, Dad, and I have always regretted bringing you back to the Gunn family. If we hadn't, Freya would still be by our side. If there's a next life, please don't bother our family ever again." I watch his complexion turn increasingly pale before he closes his eyes forever. I can hear a rescue boat roaring nearby, but I smile wryly and, without a second thought, toss away my life ring. I open my eyes to find myself back in time, before the family reunion. I then hear a solemn voice beside me. "You need to understand that joining the Northwest Weapon Initiative means losing all contact with the outside world for at least a decade, if not longer. You must consider this carefully before making a decision, Ms. Lister." I watch Mom, Dad, and Christian heading my way, then lower my head and sign the paper. "I have considered it carefully. I'm willing to join."

The wolfsbane had reached my bones, and I decided to stop treatment. Once, Ethan Anderson, the pack's Alpha, was the only light in my life. He promised we would travel the continent together, chasing the northern lights across frozen plains and exploring ancient ruins. But while I lay dying from wolfsbane poisoning, he took Murphy Blake, my best friend and the person I trusted most, to every place I had dreamed of seeing. My dreams became the story of how they fell in love. I was ready to let go. I wanted only to see the final place on my list. Then the antidote shattered, my ticket was soaked in blood, and Ethan abandoned me alone in the frozen wilderness. My life entered its final countdown. And there, at the edge of death, I discovered a secret that would change the fate of every werewolf. Ten years later, when the wolfsbane curse that had plagued werewolves for a thousand years was finally broken and everyone called me their savior, Ethan finally understood: He hadn't merely lost a mate who loved him. He had lost the one person who once would have spent her last breath waiting for him to turn back. But by then, I no longer needed his love.

I was the only human at the vampire banquet, and the fiancée of the Prince's heir, Lucien. As a child, I once saved Lucien from vampire hunters, and the Prince and his wife chose me for him, sealing our engagement. Everyone envied me. I was merely the daughter of a human nobleman, yet I had the fortune to marry above my station into the Prince's family. To be worthy of him, I worked to make everything perfect. But among vampires, I always seemed slow and clumsy. They moved faster than me, heard far more than I could, and even the simplest vampire customs took me longer to memorize. Every time I reacted a step too slow, Lucien would remind me with a frown. "How are you ever going to be a proper wife like this?" He always said that compared to the girl he grew up with, his former fiancée, I still fell far short. Every single time, I was laughed at without mercy. Lucien would never let anyone hurt me, but he never once defended my dignity. Eventually, I broke off the engagement and decided to marry someone else. Lucien's face darkened. "You're really going to marry this human?" "Yes. Because he has never once called me stupid." Lucien scoffed. "That's your reason?" I nodded. "That's my reason."

When I was with pup for thirty-five weeks, our pack was struck by an earthquake. I was stuck under a collapsed stone pillar. The pillar was so heavy that I couldn't even sit upright. My mate rushed to the scene, but instead of coming to me, he ran straight to Lucy, who had fallen nearby. "Alpha, Luna is badly injured. The smell of blood is getting stronger. She needs immediate treatment!" Several werewolves gathered around me and were trying to free me, but William stopped them. "Lucy injured her leg. Save Lucy first." One of his subordinates looked at me anxiously. "There could be another aftershock any minute. What about Luna?" William glanced at me. "She's stronger than Lucy. Save Lucy first." Crushed beneath the pillar and unable to get up, I covered my belly protectively. This was the first time I ever begged William. "William, please save our pup–" Lucy suddenly burst into tears. "Alpha, if Luna doesn't want me to be saved, then so be it. "The earthquake happened so suddenly. I instinctively grabbed Luna, but I never expected the pillar to snap and fall on her." William pulled Lucy into his arms and comforted her. "I know you would never do something like that. Annie has just become too sensitive since she became with pup. Even in a life-or-death situation like this, she still can't get her priorities straight." He glanced at me. "I'll come back with more help to rescue you." I felt my wolf spirit growing weaker with every passing second. 'William, I won't survive this time.'

When I felt the silver tear through my body, the Moon Goddess bound me to Cedwin from four years ago. His younger self was going to propose, when he saw me covered in blood through the cool moonlight. His eyes widened in shock. And back at the present, Cedwin started toward me, his arms shielding Laura—who barely suffered a scratch. Kicking away the building in his way forcefully, the shockwave left me coughing blood. Even so, Cedwin was glaring at me, those red eyes of his that once only cared about me now devoid of warmth. "How jealous and despicable can you get?" He growled. "Feigning an attack just to scare Laura? Heck, that silver almost looks real—you really make me sick!" And with that, he turned to me, leaving me stuck under the debris, still paralyzed by the silver. On the other hand, the Cedwin from four years ago was clawing at the moonlight. He was intent on saving me, but there was nothing he could do but watch. In the end, my lips curled up as I looked at the youth in the moonlight, even as blood streamed out of my mouth. "Don't." As he froze, my smile broadened, serene. "I don't want to be your Luna anymore."

Mom is one of the most famous reporters in the country. She exposes all kinds of wrongdoing, and the public hails her as a champion of justice. What she doesn't know is that while she's out fighting for other people, I'm being viciously bullied at school. When I finally work up the courage to ask her for help, she gives me a disgusted look and tells me to quit being so dramatic. Eventually, my bullies beat me to death and bury my body in a reeking drainage ditch. When my body is finally dug up, Mom is the reporter sent to cover the scene.

On the night of our wedding, Simone Laurent did not inject the promised capital into the Holt family's company. Instead, she had someone carry in a crate of scratch-off tickets. She undid the top buttons of her blouse, her eyes lazy with amusement. "Here are 2,000,000 dollars' worth of scratch-offs. Whatever you scratch off, that is what you get. Be good, Spencer, and maybe next time I will give you something real." I knew what she was doing. She punished me because yesterday I had ruined her evening, and I had thrown a glass of red wine all over her assistant, the one in the see-through shirt. I did not cry this time. I did not make a scene. My fingers found an ultra-thin condom in her pocket that was not my size, and I simply wiped my hand clean and said nothing. The surprise in her eyes lasted half a second before it softened into a satisfied smile. She wrapped her arms around me from behind, warm breath spilling against my ear. "That is right. Now you are starting to act like a husband who knows his place." She pulled out an unlimited black card and pressed it to my chest, the plastic cold through my shirt. "Take it. This should be more than enough for your family's company." I managed a stiff smile, pulled the card free, and handed it back. "I do not need it." She did not know this. During the days she spent breaking me in, my father had already been cornered by debt collectors on a rooftop and forced past the edge. Dead men did not need money.

I'm the daughter of a poor couple who make a living selling fish at a market. We're so broke that every penny counts. Even so, my parents scrape together everything they have to support my dream of becoming a professional dancer. They pay for my training and even spend their life savings on my scoliosis surgery without a second thought. However, when Sylvie Putnam throws me to the ground, leaving me on the verge of paralysis, and then beats me until my face is a bloody mess, Mom barely spares me a glance. Instead, she gently strokes Sylvie's head. "Good girl. You did the right thing after she upset you. Remember, never let anyone bully you." Dad even picks up a stick and strikes it against my spine. "Don't worry. Worst case, we'll just pay some compensation. What could this worthless life of hers possibly be worth? We have plenty of money anyway!" His words make the pain explode through my body and heart all at once. Just yesterday, Mom and Dad were keeping vigil at my bedside day and night, frantic with worry over my illness. Now, all I can do is curl up on the ground and let a stranger kick and beat me without mercy. "Good grief. She's practically being beaten into a cripple. How can something this serious happen and her parents still not show up?" "Isn't she a dance student? Their audition is in a couple of days. What a shame…" As the other students whisper around me, my consciousness slowly fades. Little do they know that the people who have just beaten me into a cripple are my very parents.

After Mom left our world, Dad poured his entire fortune into researching a way to establish a link to another dimension. He bought me a caretaker robot to look after me. But Sophie, Dad’s best friend, had set it to Pet Mode. Every day, it fed me only ten pieces of cat kibble. I was so weak from hunger that I could barely speak, so I called Dad for help. But he always said, “Can’t you stop being so difficult? You useless little brat. You couldn’t even keep your mother alive!” “Didn’t I ask Sophie to check on you every day? Who taught you to lie?” I hung up in fear and curled up inside the closet. Mom’s scent still lingered there. As I lay on the brink of death, an unfamiliar voice whispered in my ear. [Would you give up your life to bring your mother back?] I nodded faintly. Yes, I would. As long as Mom and Dad could be happy, that was all I wanted.

The night I was kidnapped, I made one last phone call to my dad, police captain Marcus Harper. "Dad, save me!" "Grace, even your jealous tantrums should have better timing." On the other end of the line, he was celebrating his adopted daughter's birthday. His voice dripped with impatience. "Today is Annie's eighteenth birthday. Pushing her down the stairs wasn't enough for you? Now you have to lie and make a scene too?" I cried and told him I hadn't done it. All I got in return was a dismissive chuckle. "Grace, either come home right now and apologize to Annie, or don't ever come back." I never made it back. Three months later, a girl's body was unearthed at an abandoned slaughterhouse on the edge of the city. Dad led the team to the scene. He pulled back the blue tarp covering the body and saw the red cord around my wristbone, the one with "Stay Safe" engraved on its silver tag. The man who had saved countless missing children finally lost his mind.

My elder sister, Alice, was a white wolf. A witch had foretold that my power would devour hers, that the moment I shifted during our coming-of-age ceremony, she would die. The only way to save her was to suppress my power, let her shift first at the ceremony, and break the curse. To save her, my parents spent eighteen years breaking me. And the night before our ceremony, they followed the witch's orders and locked me in the basement with silver-banded iron chains. "Be good, Maria. The silver will only delay your shift. Just get through tomorrow, and your sister lives. Then we can all stop suffering." The chains pressed against my chest. I could barely breathe. But something was wrong. My shift was starting, early. I slammed my fists against the door. "Mom, it's starting. I'm shifting now—" "Don't lie to me." Her voice cut through, sharp and loud. "The witch said both of you shift on ceremony day. Or are you really that eager to watch your sister die?" Footsteps faded down the hall. The pain hit, searing, ripping through every bone. I curled into the corner, feeling my wolf slip away.

I was born to be my sister's blood bag. She needed a constant supply of fresh blood, so I stayed on call twenty-four hours a day. No junk food. No getting sick. My whole body was kept in perfect condition, all for her sake. The day I turned eighteen, they dragged me into an operating room to donate my bone marrow to her. Half-conscious, with no one watching over me, I died right there in the hospital. I thought that once I was gone, the three of them could finally live together happily as a family. But after I died, they stopped loving her too.

A witch prophesied that the stronger I became, the closer my twin sister, Elara, would come to death. To save her, my parents suppressed my wolf spirit for eighteen years. They forced me to hide my gifts and apologize for every success. The werewolf academy selection trial at eighteen was my only chance to escape this family. But on the day of the trial, they confiscated my token and locked me inside the winter store behind a silver door. “You know Elara could die because of you, and you still want to take the trial?” The silver walls suppressed my wolf spirit, leaving me helpless as the room grew steadily colder. I pounded on the door and begged for help. Mother replied coldly, “Stop pretending. The cooling system isn’t even on.” At that moment, I finally understood. As they left with Elara, the truth became clear. No matter how many times I gave in, they would always demand one more sacrifice. Blood ran from my forehead and slowly froze against my training uniform. I curled up in the darkness and stopped pounding on the door. They thought destroying my future would save Elara. When they returned, Elara was still alive. I was already dead.

We have an old rule in our town. Any family with twins must choose one to make an example out of. That is the way to discipline one’s children and ensure they grow up well. Born four minutes before my brother, I became that example. When my brother snuck out to swim in the river, Mom didn’t scold him. Instead, she pressed my head into the river again and again. She finally stopped when my brother cried, yelling that he would never go to the river again. When my brother forgot to switch on the rice cooker, Mom came back home from work only to realize that the rice was still uncooked in the pot. She then served me two bowls of uncooked rice. “Finish them and don’t leave a single grain behind.” Chewing on the hard rice filled my mouth with blood. She stared at my brother throughout the entire ordeal. When he finally cried, she took the bowls away. I was made an example for 16 years. Until that day when our town received a red alert for an incoming hurricane. Everyone had to evacuate overnight. My brother only came back at dawn after playing a fool with his friends the entire night. He was completely drenched when he came back, smiling gleefully. Mom stuffed him into an evacuation vehicle before turning to look at me, saying very calmly, “Stay here. After the hurricane, your brother will learn his lesson and come home earlier.” Everyone in town left. Roof tiles started flying in the wind. Mom, you like to make an example out of me. This time, I'll die because of that. Are you happy now?

To prove she was fair, Valerie forced me into the family's live-fire drill. She knew I had a severe heart condition. She knew I couldn't stand the sight of blood. Three hours under the blistering sun. My hands shook wildly. I stared at the trembling rabbit tied to the target, terrified to pull the trigger. "You can't even kill a freaking rabbit? How are you supposed to lead this family?" Valerie's icy voice lashed at me from behind. Tears filled my eyes. I finally pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the rabbit. Blood spattered everywhere. The smell and all that red triggered my blood phobia instantly. Everything went pitch black. Chloe, the intern medic, walked over and grabbed me roughly. Her eyes were full of pure malice. "Underboss, her vitals are totally fine. Is she faking it just to escape training?" Valerie looked down at my pale face. Disgust and disappointment covered her face. "Gemma, is this how I raised you? Everyone else finished. You don't get special treatment." "You finish this drill today—even if it kills you!" Then, my chest stopped moving. Dead silence. My soul floated into the air. I looked down at Mom, filled with guilt and despair. I'm sorry, Mom. This time, I really couldn't hold on.