Alpha After Death 단편 소설 & 소설

Three years after my Alpha brother banished me from Blackwood Pack, he donated one dollar to my PackAid fundraiser. His public message read: [Let me know when you actually die. I’ll pop the champagne.] Three years earlier, Serena—the orphan Adrian had brought home from the border—accused me of stealing her silver-purification protocol that had earned Blackwood’s only nomination to the Royal Healer Academy. Adrian never let me explain. He revoked my nomination, cut off my Pack sponsorship, and ordered me out of Blackwood territory before sunrise. [Admit what you did. Apologize to Serena. Then I’ll let you come home.] Then he sealed me out of the Pack mindlink. Overnight, I went from protected Alpha blood to a rogue no Pack dared accept. Three years later, Serena slept in my old room at the Alpha House, wore my mother’s jewelry, and smiled whenever Pack members called her the Alpha’s sister. I dug through trash outside the territory and scavenged scrap in an abandoned industrial district until silver dust poisoned my lungs. By then, my wolf was fading and the healer called it terminal Silver Lung. After reading Adrian’s comment, I called Moonrest Memorial Park. “Hold the cheapest grave you have.” His one-dollar donation had pushed my fundraiser to PackAid’s minimum withdrawal amount. I decided to give him exactly what he wanted.

In the third year after my mate and I bonded, I was handed over to Alpha Kyle Draven like a bargaining chip. Kyle never forced me to take his mark. He treated me kindly and gave me my freedom. He let me go back to my old pack regularly to see my family. When the backlash left me bedridden with a high fever, he stayed by my side all night. Little by little, I fell for him. It wasn't until later that I found out the truth. Kyle was using me as bait to distract the rogues running wild across his lands while he secretly rescued his fated mate. Once the woman he'd longed for was safe, he no longer needed me. All his warmth had been an act. He placed a bottle of sleeping potion in my palm. "It will suppress your vital signs for only three hours. "After the funeral, my people will wake you and take you far away, to the southern lands." So I went back to my pack to say goodbye. My former mate, Miles Carver, came to pick me up himself. My parents held me, trembling, and told me how much they'd missed me these past two years. I thought someone here, at least, would want me to stay. But that very night, my former mate carved my headstone himself. My mother dressed me in the clothes I was meant to die in. My father chose a solid wood coffin for me. They all tried to persuade me. "You'll only appear to be dead. You can start a whole new life in the south." As I watched my pack bustle around, it hit me that every word they'd said made sense. The Alpha wanted to welcome his fated mate. My former mate wanted to erase the shame of giving me away. My pack wanted to protect its standing and its honor. They'd planned every detail of my fake death. They kept saying it was for my own good, but no one asked if I wanted it. They wanted a perfect show. But I didn't want to play my part anymore.

Before our marking ceremony, Alpha Theodore Pierce let his childhood sweetheart, Eliana Vale, throw me into a walk-in freezer for a pre-wedding test. I have cold agglutinin disease. Prolonged exposure to cold can trigger acute hemolysis. The pack's chosen best man and maid of honor stood outside the freezer. They held up their phones and started a livestream. "If you want to be our Luna, kneel and beg Eliana." "Promise that once you accept the mate bond, you won't come between her and Alpha Theodore." Half an hour later, the freezer door finally opened. I was on my knees on the ice, my fingertips frozen blue-black. I no longer had the strength to lift my head. Jeering comments flooded the livestream. Theodore ignored my pain. Instead, he shrugged off his coat and draped it around Eliana. All because she had complained of the cold when the freezer door opened. "You know she has a soft heart. Is that why you put on this act, so she would pity you?" Theodore held the list of pre-wedding tests, never imagining I had read every item. Hiding my emergency medication, sabotaging the radiant heat at home, staging a rogue kidnapping, causing me to fall through the ice of a frozen river... Each time they completed one, he checked it off. The freezer challenge was number eleven. Eliana had invented it. The final test was scheduled for the day of the marking ceremony. Stage his death and test the Luna's loyalty. So that was it... Every time I woke in the medical wing after almost dying, it signaled the start of their next game. Theodore lifted my chin with the toe of his shoe. "Show up on time to the marking ceremony tomorrow, and I'll consider keeping tonight's video private." I stood, removed the pack Luna's crest, and dropped it at Eliana's feet. "I'm done playing." "From this moment on, I reject you as my mate. As far as you're concerned, I died in that freezer!"

Seven years ago, I turned my back on my powerless fated mate, Soren, and chose a powerful Alpha instead. Now, I’m dying alone in this shitty apartment with seven days to live. The Moon's Glow is fading inside me. Without the Final Rite, my soul will be chained to this earth, a ghost doomed to an eternity of torment. And no Alpha will perform it for me. Coughing up another mouthful of blood, I dialed the one number I swore I’d never touch again. Soren. The mate I rejected. Now, the most powerful Alpha in the North. I begged him for the Final Rite. Moments later, his engine screamed down my street. But the boy I once knew was gone. The man staring back at me now held nothing but pure, undiluted hatred in his eyes. "Well, well. Look what we have here," he sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "The fallen princess. When are you going to finally drop dead? The second your heart stops, I’m dumping your corpse in the Feral Lands for the scavengers."

My future mate, Alpha Ethan Steele, wants to exact justice for my adoptive sister, Alicia Mason. So, despite my two-month pregnancy, he has locked me away in a mountain cave to reflect on my actions. Some time later, the cave wall suddenly collapses, and debris crashes down upon me. I curl up in a crevice for safety. Feeling intermittent cramps in my lower abdomen, I tremble as I dial the pack communicator to call for help. "Help! The walls just caved in! I'm going to be crushed!" The pack members' cold voices ring out from the other end of the communicator. "The Alpha already told us beforehand that you'd lie about suffering just to escape punishment. He wants you to properly reflect on yourself!" The communication ends. Gritting my teeth, I dial my parents' number instead. However, I only hear disappointed voices reprimanding me through the speaker. "How could you lock Alicia in the basement? She was in there for so long, and she was all alone! She's almost breaking down in fear! She's your sister, for goodness' sake. How could you be so heartless? "Ethan punished you by locking you up in the mountain cave to reflect on your actions. He's doing this so that you'd get a taste of the despair and helplessness Alicia felt when she was trapped by you!" With the last shred of strength in my body, I dial Ethan's number. His voice is cold and stern. "Stop playing the victim and reflect on what you've done." The rubble keeps piling up, and I can't even move an inch. As my blood seeps into the dirt, my vision slowly blurs. Through the haze, I see Ethan shielding Alicia as they slowly approach the entrance of the cave.

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."

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.'

Mom was Dad's fated mate. A half-blood Omega. A rogue with no pack. But every night, Dad would kiss her all over and make a promise. "I will bring you back when I become Alpha. You will be my Luna." But he lied. He took the Alpha title the year I was born. He needed power. So, he rejected my mom. He mated with a high-born she-wolf instead. Mom never got her dream mating ceremony. The backlash from the broken mate bond drove her insane. She became bitter and cruel. She tortured me just to get Dad's attention. "Call your father. Tell him your first shift hurts. Beg him to come." Dad just roared at me. "You learned your mother's dirty tricks. You are a disgusting parasite!" They took all their hatred for each other out on me. Later, Dad's pureblood Luna gave birth to a son. He became the perfect Alpha and a loving father in the pack's eyes. Mom completely lost her mind to jealousy and the severed bond. She bit me black and blue. She fed me liquid wolfsbane. All just to beg Dad to come see us once. That day, Mom went completely crazy. To force Dad to show up, she pushed me off the second-floor balcony. I hit the back of my head. My legs snapped. I cried and begged her to take me to the pack doctor. She just slapped me hard across the face. Then, sick in the head, she took a picture of me dying in a pool of blood and sent it to Dad. "Stop playing the victim! You have Alpha blood. You will heal. You are just like your cold-blooded father, born to torture me! This is all to make him come back to us!" Dad finally arrived. He released his crushing Alpha aura. He sent Mom flying across the room. "If you dare use this half-blood mutt to trick me again, I'll kick you out of this apartment. Get out!" Crazy screams mixed with sharp cries. I lay on the cold floor. The agonizing pain slowly faded away. Would they finally stop fighting this time?

When my stepsister, Kate Lawrence, is poisoned at the full moon ceremony, my father, Jack Blackwood, condemns me at once, convinced that I am the one behind it. He clamps silver chains around me and drags me into the manor's dark underground cell. His eyes burn hatefully as he snarls, "You wretch! How could I have a daughter like you? Rot in here!" I drop to my knees on the cold floor and try to explain, but the sentence he throws over his shoulder as he turns away snuffs out the last of my hope. "Even if she dies in there, no one shall go in! Whoever lets her out will die with her!" The cell severs the mind-link completely, so no one hears me screaming. Seven days later, he finally remembers me, not knowing that I'd already died on the fourth day when the silver burned through to the bone.

I have three dads who love and spoil me for fifteen years. Of the three, Maxim Ulfric is the high-ranking and authoritative Alpha of the Cinderhowl pack. The second is Ethan Skoll, the pack's most valiant Beta warrior. The third is Aidan Rafe, the most skilled healer of the whole pack. They're the reason I am the happiest princess of the Cinderhowl pack before turning 15. Everything changes after Raeya Wargan appears. Time and again, she accuses me of leading others to sideline and pick on her. Even my disappointed dads say I'm insensible and give everything I have to her as compensation. From then on, no one believes a word I say. Even the pups of the pack call me a pathological liar. Everything ends when Raeya throws me into a Rogue's den. As a ferocious Rogue hunts me down, I reach out through the mind-link to my dads for help. But none of them believes me. They call me devious and cunning. They say that I'm trying to frame Raeya on purpose. While a wolf pack tears my limbs apart, and my mangled corpse is left abandoned in the forest, my dads are wholeheartedly presiding over Raeya's grand coming-of-age ceremony. They once promised to give me the most unique coming-of-age ceremony, but it's a pity I'll never live to see that day.

My mother never believed me. To her, I was always just a lying pup. In my pack, every cub wore a Moon Oath Collar. Red meant you lied. White meant you told the truth. My sister’s collar always glowed a soft white. Even when she pretended to be sick to get out of an exam, her collar only gave off that gentle white light. Mine was different. Even when I was truly sick, my collar would burst into a violent red, and the punishment current would follow immediately. On my sister’s birthday, Mother prepared a bonfire feast for the whole pack. Just before they left, a splitting pain tore through my head, and I collapsed on the floor, begging her to help me. For one second, she almost picked me up. Then my collar flashed red. “To ruin your sister’s birthday, you’re even pretending to die? What a vicious child.” Then she walked out with my sister and left me alone on the floor. I died alone on the cold floor. But when I opened my eyes again, I was no longer inside my body. My soul drifted after my mother as I whispered the truth she had never believed. “Mom… I wasn’t lying. I really died.” And when they finally found my body, the red collar on my neck was still flashing.

Seven months pregnant with our heir, I was on the front lines, fighting for my Alpha mate, Ethan. I’d just secured a thirty-million-dollar territory for our pack and rushed home, eager to surprise him with the news. But as I neared the council room, the broken sobs of his adopted sister, Tessa, stopped me cold. "A low-born Silver Wolf like Sophia... she's not worthy of being our pack's Luna." "Ethan, we're the ones who are fated to be together. Mark me... please?" My blood ran cold. I expected Ethan to shove her away, to defend my honor. Instead, he caressed her cheek, his voice a soft, gentle murmur that cut me deeper than any blade. "Just give me a little more time, Tessa. On the next blood moon, I'll sever my bond with Sophia." My world shattered. I fled, only to be cornered and brutally murdered by Tessa. She framed my death as an attack by a rogue wolf before tossing my body from a cliff. It wasn’t until the news of my death reached him that Ethan finally broke. He fell to his knees at the edge of that same cliff, his agonized howl echoing into the night. "Sophia… I was wrong. Please, just come back to me."

For as long as I could remember, whenever my sister Bella made a mistake, I was always the one who got punished. My mother used the pain of my punishments to teach her a lesson. When Bella was caught stealing from a store in the territory, my mother made me apologize in front of everyone. She wanted to teach her that she should never touch anything that did not belong to her. When Bella lost the territory's tribal amulet, my mother made me take the whip in her place. She wanted to teach her to be more careful and stop being so careless. Later, Bella became obsessed with drinking cough syrup. My mother was afraid that drinking too much would hurt her health, so she mixed lethal wolfsbane into a bottle of medicine and left it in the most obvious place in my room. I drank it by mistake and writhed on the floor in agony. My father drove me to the royal infirmary that same night. On the way, we ran into a group of guards checking travel permits. My father's permit had clearly passed inspection, but my mother insisted that it was fake. "You wolves these days are absolutely useless. You can't even tell that it's a fake travel permit?" I was in the back seat, too weak to even shift into my wolf form anymore. Yet my mother was still sternly lecturing Bella. "Look carefully. This is what happens when you drink things you're not supposed to." She kept talking, completely unaware that she had blocked the mind link between us. Due to that, she could not feel my wolf spirit weakening little by little. I had given my life for this final lesson. Was she satisfied now?

On the day I return to the pack once again, my future mate, Kellan Cohen, throws a fancy banquet for me. My younger sister, Lia Smith, asks me loudly while holding a champagne flute, "Ella, I heard that you were exiled to the wilderness where the lowly inbreds roamed instead of patrolling the borders. Is that true?" Everyone gasps in surprise upon hearing Lia's question. Kellan shoots Lia a glare immediately. If this were to happen a year ago, I would've taught Lia a lesson right there and then. But instead of getting mad at her, I even take off the bracelet, which is a family heirloom, and put it onto her wrist just to thank her for showing her "concern" toward me. Not only that, but I also bring up the fact that I want Lia to replace me as a candidate to host the next day's offering ceremony with Kellan. Mom is happy to see me behaving like this. As she pats me on the head, she says, "It seems that Ella finally has learned how to play nice." But Kellan just stares at me with mixed emotions swirling in his eyes. "Didn't you claim that you'd rather die than hand over the position to Lia?" I just sigh quietly on the inside. He's right, but the truth is, I'm about to die.

In the fifth year after my death, my mate, Kade Irvin, comes to the shack that I used to live in once again. He's not here to visit me. The truth is, his new lover, Tiffany Hart's blood cancer has relapsed once again, so he desperately needs my bone marrow in order to extend her life. When he steps into the old and ruined room, he realizes that it's empty. "Nala, get out right now! My patience is limited, you know!" Upon hearing his bellows, the old she-wolf who lives next door, Patricia Howl, rushes over to him. "Are you looking for Nala? She died a long time ago." Kade has already blocked our mind-link. Of course, he's oblivious about how much pain and suffering I had to go through before my death. He just chuckles coldly in return. "Her bastard pup is still in my hands. As if she has the guts to die! Tell her that she'd better come to me before tomorrow if she still wants to see that bastard spawn of hers!" But Patricia sighs and shakes her head. "If you're talking about Nala's pup, that poor thing died a long time ago protecting his mother…"

The first thing Alpha Kieran Voss did upon his return from the Northern Front was announcing Celeste as his chosen mate. However, my pack had signed a treaty with the Frostfang Pack, and the deal was for the Frostfang Pack’s Alpha to take a she-wolf from the Graymoon Pack as his mate. To honor the treaty, Kieran chose to form a mate bond with me. Nevertheless, he declared to his pack that Celeste was his Luna, while I was nothing more than a mate chosen for political convenience. For the next seven years, I carried on with life as freely and recklessly as I always had. Kieran treated me right as well. Be it pearls from the Southern Seas, or gemstones from the Northern Territories, I could expect any little thing that caught my eye to show up in my chambers the very next day. Spoiled and willful as I was, I didn’t restrain myself before the pack elders. Kieran always cleaned up after me with a smile, then showered me with precious stones and jewelry to put a grin back on my face. I mistook that as his feelings for me. With a pup in the picture, I believed that our bond would only grow stronger. Still, seven years passed. Celeste had given him three pups, while I struggled to bear his pups. One day, I knocked over a potion sent by Celeste, only to discover the truth. The potion wasn’t meant to restore my health, but to keep me from ever bearing Kieran’s pup. The pack healer examined me and stayed silent for a while. “Long-term aconite poisoning has pretty much weakened your wolf. You have lost your ability to heal. Even if you stop taking the poison now, you have no more than three months left.” I kept the evidence, petitioned to the council to sever our mate bond, and got ready to return to the Graymoon Pack. Somehow, Celeste managed to frame my departure as an act of treason. Taking Celeste’s words for it, Kieran locked me up in a silver-plated cell, despite how ill I was. Once he finally got the bottom of everything and rushed to the tables to find me, I was already dead, lying next to my old, faithful companion.

When the Blackridge Pack invaded, I hid inside a closet with my daughter in my arms. The first rescue mech to break through the encircling wolves and leap into the building was piloted by my own brother, Kyle. But after opening the closet and taking one look at us, he simply turned around and headed for the room next door, where our adopted sister, Layla, was hiding. "Wren, you're the Luna. You're supposed to put the pack first. I'll take Layla out first. I'll come back for you and Mia on the second trip." We waited for an hour, and the second trip never came. I contacted my mate, Damian, and asked if he could send someone to get us out. His response was ice-cold. "Stop being so difficult, Wren. There are only so many rescue slots available. Kyle said you two were well hidden, so just hang in there a little longer. I'm the Alpha of the pack. You can't expect me to play favorites just because you're my mate." When I tried contacting him again, I discovered that Damian had already blocked our mate bond. Ten minutes later, wolf claws tore through the building's load-bearing walls. Half of the exterior wall came crashing inward, and the air quickly filled with wolfsbane. I used my own body to shield my daughter and preserve the last bit of space where she could survive, but there was nothing I could do as the wolfsbane slowly spread deeper through her body. I did not know how much time had passed before the next search-and-rescue mech finally arrived. They pulled Mia from the wreckage, barely clinging to life. But no one saw me, already buried beneath the ruins. My soul drifted above them. When I saw Mia being carried out, I thought at least my daughter had survived. Then they tossed her onto a metal cart. Her wolf soul was already being poisoned by the venom. Still, no one seemed concerned. The physician on duty had just picked up an antidote syringe when my biological mother, Elara, reached out and stopped him. "It's fine. That little bit of wolfsbane isn't enough to put Mia's life at risk. Save the Moondew for Layla first." Elara gently pressed down on the physician's wrist. "If Wren chose to run away by herself and abandon her daughter, then Mia should learn exactly what her mother's selfishness costs." As it turned out, they all thought I had abandoned my daughter and escaped on my own. None of them knew that I had already been left behind forever beneath those ruins.

My pup Asher had been sick for six months. Every time I personally cared for him, he became even sicker. I finally believed the witch's prophecy: I was cursed. My very existence would harm my own pup. I went to the moon temple and prayed that the moon goddess would lift the curse and ensure my pup's safety. From then on, my Alpha mate Damon brought Asher up the mountain every day to see me. Hundreds of miles of mountain road. They made the trip over a thousand times. Our bond never faded with the distance. Until today. A group of rogues broke into the Sanctuary and pushed me down the stone steps. I called Damon all night. No one answered. Then I received an anonymous video. Damon knelt in front of a woman, kissing her swollen belly. Asher stood next to them, grinning ear to ear. "I'm gonna have a brother! Aunt Serena, your pregnancy must have been so tough. Me and Dad will be your knights forever." He turned to Damon, his young face bright with pride. "Dad, I faked being sick pretty well, right? Pretending to feel awful every day, tricking Mom into taking me to the Healer over and over. They never found anything wrong, and she really believed that curse stuff. Went up the mountain all on her own." "But what if Mom finds out? Won't she be mad?" Damon didn't seem worried. "Don't worry. I've got the whole mountain sealed off. She won't find out." Only then did I understand. Everything had been a lie, planned by my mate and my son. I turned around and knocked over the Hope Flame that I had lit for Asher without hesitation. This flame was lit at the cost of my wolf’s strength, offered to the Moon Goddess so that she might bless Asher with health. Through the flames, a familiar figure sprinted toward me.

After taking a poisoned drink at a party for my Alpha mate, Magnus Ironwood, I am poisoned with a rare wolfsbane. Since then, my wolf has grown so weak that I can barely maintain a mind-link with the rest of the pack. Magnus travels from pack to pack and to healing centers, searching for healers and praying they can create an antidote for me. On the eve of Spring Hunt Caravan, I force myself out of bed to simmer a pot of meat stew for Magnus and our pup, Ronan Ironwood, only to collapse onto the couch and never wake up again. Moments later, Magnus walks through the door, followed by his assistant, Tala Brightfield, with Ronan in her arms. When he sees me lying on the couch, he sets down the moonstone necklace he buys for me and sighs helplessly. "Don't stay up waiting for us if you're not feeling well, and don't push yourself to make meat stew either." But Tala bursts into tears, "Your Luna doesn't like me, Alpha Magnus! Just half an hour ago, she texted me and told me to stay away from you. I think it's best if I leave." Magnus calls my name. When I don't respond, his expression turns cold, and the tenderness in his eyes is replaced by anger. "Maeve Nightshade! When will you learn the grace of a Luna? Tala has helped me rule this pack, so could you stop throwing these pointless tantrums? "Your antidote is nearly ready. Stop using your poisoning as an excuse to play the victim!" He stands there criticizing my body in front of Ronan, all for another she-wolf. It isn't until he sees my rotting body that he finally loses his mind.

A rival pack invaded, plunging our pack into the worst crisis we had ever faced. The witch, Morgana Vale, said that only a blood sacrifice could save the entire pack. So despite my anemia, I was dragged onto the altar. Morgana slit my wrist, and the moment my blood dripped onto the totem, the ritual began. When the bleeding got to be more than I could take, I tried to call it off, but my mother stopped me cold. "Sweetheart, hold on a little longer. You're the Alpha's daughter. Making a small sacrifice for the pack is only right. It's just a little blood. It won't kill you." I gritted my teeth and held on, my heart pounding like it would burst. The ritual lasted from morning until dusk, and my blood never stopped flowing. "Mom, I really can't take it anymore." My face was ghost-white, and my vision was starting to blur. But she just gave my bloodless face a cold glance. "Sacrificing for the pack is an honor. Being the Alpha's daughter doesn't mean you get to shirk your duty. I did not raise you to be selfish." By midnight, everything went black, and I collapsed on the altar. I'm sorry. I failed to do my duty. I'm sorry, Mother. I let you down.