Cerita Pendek & Novel Alpha Countdown

Because I was born under the Moon’s blessing, my body ripened earlier than any she-wolf my age. On the night of my eighteenth turning, my brother—fearing I’d be force-claimed by brutes—entrusted me to his blood-oath brother: Silas, Alpha of the Northern Peak. The first time we met, his golden eyes locked on my bared neck and never left. His fangs sank into my scent gland that very night, claiming me beneath the full moon. For four years since, I’ve been his scribe by dawn light, and his whore by moonrise. He trained my body to fit his every hunger, covering me in bite marks, yet never left the Mating Mark that would make me his true mate. Four years later, his confidante from the Central Territories returned. He tore from my heat-soaked sheets without a backward glance, racing to the moon-platform to greet her. I followed, stomach hollow, scent glands throbbing with his phantom claim. Only an hour before, his hand—scarred from my own teeth—had clamped over my mouth as he rutted me into the furs. Now, before the assembled Pack, he stroked another woman’s silver hair. “Amara, don’t show that jealous look. Have you forgotten—four years ago, you were the one who crawled into my bed while I was moon-mad.” “This tantrum is unbecoming.” He was right. I had chosen this life myself. But when I finally chose to leave him, he was the first to break.

In Mistbrook Valley, there's a custom. If a she-wolf still hasn't met her fated mate after her first shift, she can choose a mate herself. All she has to do is carve a little horn lantern and hang it on a hawthorn tree. Whoever wants her takes it down. Silas Rowan, the Moon Goddess's priest, and I grew up together. That lantern should have been his to take. But I waited all night, and the one who finally took it down was Gideon Ward, the young Alpha who had just returned from the North. "I fell for you the moment I saw you." His voice was low, and the tips of his ears were red. "Marry me, Evelyn." After we bonded, when I had a fever, he'd carry me on his back over three ridges through the night to find a healer. After full-moon hunts, he'd pick a pink hawthorn blossom and tuck it behind my ear. There was always such heat in his eyes when he looked at me. I thought we'd live like that forever. But after Silas and I survived a landslide together, I found out I was pregnant. No one around us believed the baby was Gideon's. Even Gideon looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and asked me a single question. "Evelyn, do we really have to keep this baby?" Something in my heart died for good.

The night I accidentally ended up in bed with my adoptive brother, Adrian, he had just broken his engagement to his childhood sweetheart, Ivy. Adrian was the Alpha of Blackwood Pack. Ivy was the late Beta's daughter, and the woman he had always intended to make his Luna. To protect my reputation and preserve his authority as Alpha, he was forced to complete a mate bond with me. Everyone said he treated me well. But every year on Ivy's birthday, he sat alone in his study until dawn. In the third year of our marriage, Ivy died of wolf-spirit failure. Only then did Adrian learn from the letter she left behind that she had seen us together that morning. The sight had haunted her for the rest of her life. He decided I had destroyed her. He severed our mate bond, drove me from the pack, and used his influence to close every road that might have kept me alive. Before I died, he sent me only four words. "You deserve to die." When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the night his wolf lost control. This time, I tore myself out of his arms, knocked on Ivy's door, and placed him in her hands myself. I smiled at the shock on his face. “Adrian, I won’t love you anymore.”

I was about to toast him. My mate. Alpha Ryker. That’s when he announced it. Our mating ceremony was being postponed. Again. To the next full moon. I took a slow sip of my wine, letting the red burn its way down my throat. “Okay.” He glanced at me, a flash of surprise in his eyes. “You’re… not mad?” I swirled the wine in my glass. My voice was flat. “No. I’m not mad.” We’d known we were mates for a year. This was the 17th time he had postponed our final bonding. We were both used to it. I drained my glass and stood up to go upstairs. As I passed him, he grabbed me, pulling me into his arms. The possessive scent of an Alpha wrapped around me instantly. “Aurora, I swear I will officially mark you in front of the pack at the next full moon. You’re already mine. The whole pack knows it. What’s a few more days?” “Trust me. I won’t break my promise this time.” I looked down at his hand on my waist, then back up at his face. I leaned into his chest with a small smile. “Okay.” In the last year, he’d said “next week” nine times. He’d said “I swear” thirteen times. He’d said “trust me” sixteen times. But the ceremony that would finally bond our souls and bodies never happened. And it wouldn’t happen next month, either. Because this time, it was my turn to break the promise.

I'm the only daughter of the Alpha King. My father's always been swamped with pack affairs, so I grew up in Howler, raised among the wolves there. The Alpha of Howler had two sons, and they were my shadows growing up. Logan was gentle and doting. Derek was wild and electric. They both pursued me, adored me, fought for my attention in ways that made every wolf in the pack green with envy. I thought I'd choose one of them as my mate someday. I really did. Then Rose showed up. She was beautiful. A gifted healer. Capable in ways I never was. When Derek came back wounded from a skirmish, Rose was the one stitching him up. When Logan got buried in pack business, Rose was right there beside him, smoothing out every problem like it was nothing. Logan started singing her praises in front of me, always finding ways to mention how I wasn't mature enough, not independent enough, not enough. Derek promised me a gift once. He gave it to Rose instead. And the night I nearly died during my first shift? They were both with Rose. Because she had a scratch. They had their red rose. They didn't need their faded moon anymore. So I left. Went back to my father, the Alpha King. I told myself it was over. That we shouldn't have any ties. But then why—why did they beg me to come back?

After Alpha Ethan passed away, I sorted through his belongings. In his study, I found his final letter. He wrote about so many things. He wrote about the pack, about our daughter, and about every detail of the twenty years we had spent together as mates. I wept so hard I could barely read through it, believing it was the last piece of tenderness he had left for me. Until I turned to the very last page: [If I could live my life over again, I wish Vivian had been my mate.] My fingers instantly froze. [When I was twenty-two, if only I had been a little braver, I should have gone to the airport and convinced Vivian to stay.] Ethan had given up on chasing after her and chose to stay by my side for twenty years instead. I thought that was love. Turns out, he just couldn't bear the guilt of abandoning me. I prayed to the Moon Goddess, and she answered by granting me a second chance, sending me back to the exact day Vivian was about to leave. Ethan was sitting beside my hospital bed, and a boarding alert for Vivian's flight popped up on his phone. In my past life, he wanted to go, but I clung to him and begged him to stay. As a result, the plane crashed, and Vivian died on her journey. Her death became Ethan's lifelong regret. This time, I picked up his jacket for him and hailed a Taxi on my phone: "There are thirty minutes until her flight boards. If you leave now, you can still make it." This time, I won't beg for his love anymore. So why... did Ethan end up full of regret?

For seven years straight, Alpha Callum stood me up at our betrothal ceremony during the Moonlight Festival. The pack mocked me as a delusional she-wolf. “Since when did an Omega think she stood a chance with an Alpha? She must be delusional.” But it wasn't some fantasy I'd invented. Callum was the one who had promised me, time and again, that he would propose to me in a grand ceremony. At the eighth Moonlight Festival, Callum stood me up once again, leaving me alone beneath the Moon Goddess Tree. Meanwhile, he took his childhood sweetheart Isabella, the Beta’s daughter and the pack’s Saintess, to see the aurora. Later, he sent me an apologetic message. “Isabella was upset. I only went with her to take her mind off things. Don’t read too much into it.” “The elders still won’t allow me to take an Omega as my Luna, but they’re close to giving in. Give me one more year, and I promise I’ll make you my Luna.” At the ninth Moonlight Festival, he finally approached me in formal black attire. Right in front of him, I set fire to the dress I had worn for him eight times—and to the diagnosis of terminal Wolf-Soul Decay Syndrome hidden inside it. “Callum, there won’t be a ninth chance.” Because in a few days, I would be dead.

I am the daughter of the Alpha of the strongest pack in the Northern Lands, the Crescent Pack. From the moment I was born, all the pack’s territories, mining rights, and company shares were registered under my name. But ever since I was a child, I had never been interested in the schemes and power struggles that came with authority. The Elder Council had no choice but to appoint Theo as the Acting Alpha, allowing him to manage the pack on my behalf, with the position renewed every year. At the first full moon of every year, Theo had to wait for me to stamp his appointment document with my seal. For twelve years, whenever I reviewed the pack’s financial reports, I would simply skim through them and sign my name without asking too many questions. Over time, Theo began to believe that his appointment was nothing more than a little game the Elder Council played to humor me because of my parents. Then he met his fated mate, Mia. I was genuinely happy for him and gifted Mia the mining rights to three mines as her welcome present. However, on the very first day after their mating ceremony, they asked the Elder Council to cancel my black card. Their reasoning was that Theo, the “Alpha” of the Crescent Pack, should not have to support a parasite of an adopted sister whose wolf still hadn’t awakened. Did she really think that because Theo had been Acting Alpha for twelve years, the pack belonged to him? He was only a Beta whose authority was renewed by my seal every single year. Well, as it happens, I don’t feel like renewing his appointment this year.

I did three things when I had made a decision to leave Alpha James. The first thing I did was throw all the precious gifts he had given to me. The second thing I did was secretly donate the wooden house he had built for our future and tear up the ceremonial dress that was custom-made for me on our marking day. The third thing I did was go to the Northern Territory to guard our pack, so I cast all ties with the entire pack and disappeared into the tribe. What he didn’t know was that I had quietly planned my departure while he was out hunting and spending countless nights at the Moon River with Doris, his childhood sweetheart. I became the ideal Luna he was hoping for, considerate and tolerant. Later, he lost control and asked me: “Why aren’t you angry? Don’t you love me anymore?” I lowered my head in silence and announced my decision to leave after seeing the ambiguous messages Doris, James's sweetheart, had sent to me.

When my Alpha mate, Logan noticed I hadn't submitted a single expense request in three days, he reached out to me on his own for the first time ever. "Baby, I've already approved the next phase of your wolf's healing. See? As long as you learn to behave, there's nothing I won't give you." His tone was still so affectionate, as if he were truly a good Alpha, worried sick over his mate. But he didn't know that as his "Baby" flashed across my phone screen, I had already finished drafting the agreement to sever our mate bond. Before I left, the only thing I could take with me was the old T-shirt I had worn when he marked me. No one would ever believe that the beloved Luna of the Blackmoon Pack, in the three years since our bonding ceremony, couldn't even scrape together five decent dresses of her own. Every household expense I incurred had to be approved by the Luna's seal, the very symbol of my power. "Sienna, managing the books is too tiring. It will wear you out." "Just let Chloe handle the tedious work with the seal. All you have to do is be beautiful, be my perfect Luna." And so, the Luna's seal, which should have been mine, became something I had to beg for from Chloe, the Alpha's secretary who was supposedly "handling the tedious work for me." Three days ago, my wolf was on the verge of collapsing. I cried and begged him for the two hundred thousand needed for an emergency intervention. But Chloe deliberately withheld the seal, delaying approval by claiming improper procedure. Finally, my already fractured wolf went completely silent in the depths of my soul. And with that, I was done with this Alpha, too.

Adrian Blackwood’s dominant Alpha scent still clung to the room. My legs hadn’t stopped trembling, and the wolf inside me was letting out soft whimpers after the intimacy we’d just lost control of. The next second, Adrian caught my chin in his hand and pressed a white pill onto the back of my tongue. “Swallow.” I didn’t fight him. Once he was satisfied, he picked up his phone and called another she-wolf right in front of me. “Vivian, get ready.” “I’m taking you to the Moon Goddess Gala tonight.” When the door shut behind him, the mate mark over my heart felt as though it had been torn open. I was the fated mate chosen for Adrian by the Moon Goddess when he turned eighteen. I was also the Luna of the Silverpine Pack—at least in name. Yet my own Alpha had spent years making sure I would never bear his heir. All because, eight years ago, he discovered the agreement the former Luna had forced me to sign. If I gave birth to an heir within one year, I would receive a one-hundred-million-dollar family trust. If I gave birth within three years, the trust would be reduced to fifty million. If I still failed to produce an heir after seven years, I would no longer have the right to interfere with the Alpha’s public involvement with other she-wolves. With bloodshot eyes, Adrian had demanded, “Elena Vale, when you accepted my mate mark, was it because you loved me—or because you wanted the Blackwood fortune?” From that day on, he began parading different she-wolves in front of me. He forced me to feel jealous. Forced me to admit that I loved him. What he never knew was that the agreement had a second page. If we remained childless at the end of eight years, either party could terminate both the legal marriage and the Luna bond. Today marked exactly eight years.

My fiancé, Alpha Rowan, hated waiting. If a pack council ran late, he walked out. If a priest kept him waiting ten minutes, he canceled the blessing. For six years, I made sure he never waited for me. I waited for him instead. At the Full Moon Celebration, his assistant Celine wanted moon-laurel wine that was served only when the moon reached its highest point. Rowan stood in line with her for twenty minutes without checking the time once. While I watched from across the hall, he texted me. [The celebration is over. Go home. Do not wait for me.] I typed, “Okay,” then deleted it. In the end, I sent only one sentence. [I'm not waiting anymore.] That night, I submitted my application to leave the Blood Moon Pack. This time, I meant it.

For generations, every she-wolf born into the Frostmoon Pack has been an Omega. We aren't fighters, but our bloodline can stabilize an Alpha's power and produce exceptionally strong heirs. When I came of age, our pack's centuries-old tradition dictated that I should bond with Lucas Grant, the Alpha of the Blackstone Pack. My parents had always put pack law above everything else. Yet for the first time, they urged me to defy tradition and refuse. But I was already in love with Lucas. I ignored their warnings and bonded with him anyway. On our tenth bonding anniversary, I came home to find another she-wolf in our bedroom. She lay in our bed, carrying the unmistakable scent of a pregnant she-wolf. The same scent I carried. But Lucas forcibly shut down the link between us and shielded her. "Evelyn, I'm sorry. Vivian just found out she's carrying my pup. Her wolf is restless, and she needs my scent to calm down. Sleep in another room tonight. If you're upset, I can apologize." Even his apology sounded polite, as though he were simply telling me about a change in sleeping arrangements. He probably expected me to cry and cause a scene like I used to, demanding to know why he kept bringing other she-wolves home. But this time, I said nothing. I was already exhausted. What Lucas didn't know was that a mate bond without true love would eventually disappear. Ten years was the limit. At last, I was free to leave him.

The day of our Mating Ceremony finally arrived. As the Elder stood before the pack, his voice booming as he announced the exchange of our soul-binding rings, Julian—the man standing across from me—suddenly spoke. "Actually," he said, his voice cutting through the sacred silence. "I’ve been fucking Chloe." I froze. He didn't even blink as he watched the color drain from my face. "While you were busy trying on your ceremonial gown, we were in the dressing room right next to yours," he continued, his tone chillingly conversational. "She couldn't help but scream when she climaxed. You actually thought she was falling ill; you spent ten minutes checking on her through the door, worried sick." "Later, while she stood by your side helping you pick out jewelry, her legs were shaking so hard she could barely stand." In that instant, I felt the blood turn to ice in my veins. Stiffly, I turned my head toward the woman standing in the front row, wearing a radiant smile. Chloe. She was waving her bouquet, cheering my name at the top of her lungs. Just an hour ago, she had been brushing tears from her eyes as she straightened the train of my dress, squeezing my hands and telling me I deserved all the happiness in the world. "Even just now, while you were preparing for the ritual, she was riding me," Julian added, his voice dropping to a low, rough growl. "She got so worked up her claws shredded the skin on my back." He looked down at the silver band in his hand—the ring he had yet to slide onto my finger—with total indifference. "I’m laying it all out there, Elara," he said. "Whether you still want the title of Luna is entirely up to you."

For love, I left my pack and followed Kayson Callahan to the distant Silver Moon Pack. Yet for five whole years, I was never officially entered into the Silver Moon Pack's records. Lyanna Lawrence, on the other hand, had only stayed in my home for two months when Kayson personally contacted the Council of Elders and had her official status fast-tracked. I was completely devastated and decided to return to my own pack. For the first time, Kayson cried as he knelt before me. "Serena, you're my fated mate. Once we hold the Bonding Ceremony, it's only a matter of time before the pack accepts you. "But Lyanna is different. She has nowhere to go, and without a pack to protect her, she could easily die at the hands of rogue wolves. Stay for me this time, okay?" Seeing the tears in his eyes, I softened again. It wasn't until I became pregnant and applied once more to be added to the pack records that Elder Walter Blankenship frowned and flipped through the records. "Serena, Kayson's registered mate is... Miss Lyanna Lawrence." "Are you sure you didn't get that wrong?" I stood there frozen, unable to believe what I was hearing. The only reason I had been able to swallow disappointment again and again was that I loved Kayson deeply and kept waiting for the Bonding Ceremony that was supposed to be ours. But in the end, I realized that these five years had all been nothing more than wishful thinking on my part. If that's how it was, then it was time for me to return to where I belonged.

For the seven years we've been mates, my Alpha, Ryan Grayback, has never allowed our pup, Sofia Grayback, to call him "Daddy". He insists that she call him "Alpha Ryan" instead. But on the day his first love, Claire Barker, returns to the pack, Ryan changes. That night, the usually aloof Ryan gets drunk for the first time. He smiles as he gathers Sofia into his arms so gently and tenderly, acting for the first time like he's her father. Sofia is surprised and delighted. She wraps her arms around his neck and whispers to me, "Mommy, is Alpha Ryan starting to like me?" My eyes redden with tears as I crouch down and pull her into an embrace. "It's because the person he likes has come back. That's why we shouldn't disturb him anymore." I decide to take Sofia and leave the pack, but she tugs on my hand and asks, "Mommy, can we please give Alpha Ryan three more chances?" The first time, Ryan forgets about Sofia's parent night because of Claire. The second time, Ryan tenderly picks up Claire's pup, Lily Barker, right in front of Sofia. The third time, he chooses them again without a moment's hesitation. This time, Sofia gives up on waiting for him. She hugs me tightly and says, "Let's go, Mommy." So I drink the potion that severs the mate bond and take Sofia away from the pack where we'd lived for seven years. And this time, we are never looking back.

I had waited for him for eight years. I thought I was the love of his life. I thought waiting so long for him to takeover his pack would prove to him my love. But her pictures filled his laptop when he had none of me. I was just a joke to him and his pack. But not anymore. Instead of getting bound to him, it is best to set him free. So l left and he lost his mind trying to find me.

My younger sister, Ivy, was engaged to Nathan, the heir to the Silver Moon Pack. After Nathan and I drank laurel wine laced with an aphrodisiac, we lost control and slept together. To preserve the alliance between our packs, Mother had me take Ivy's place. Nathan and I completed the mate bond, while Ivy was sent north to marry its elderly, gravely ill Alpha. On the day of her mating ceremony, however, Ivy's convoy was attacked by rogue wolves. She died at the border. Nathan hated me from that day forward. For more than twenty years, our bond brought me only neglect and humiliation. When I died after a long illness, he did not visit. He sent only one message. "Tessa, stay away from me in your next life." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the drugged wine was placed in my hand. Before I could react, Nathan snatched the glass away and smashed it against the floor. The moment I saw the way he looked at Ivy, I knew that he had been reborn too. Before the elders of both packs, he took Ivy's hand and announced, "Ivy and I will hold our mating ceremony this month." He led her away without looking at me. Once they were out of earshot, Mother drew me aside. "North Ridge has agreed to an alliance. You'll marry their Alpha." Memories of my final moments flashed through my mind. This time, I decided to give Nathan exactly what he wanted. "All right," I said. "I agree."

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.

My mate always put his childhood friend Brooke and her son first. Eventually, I taught Owen to call him something else. Alpha Ethan, instead of Dad. When Owen sprained his wrist at training, he clung to Ethan's shirt. One call from Brooke was all it took for Ethan to walk away. As I adjusted our son's wrist brace, I taught him to say, “Drive safely, Alpha.” On the day of my father's birthday dinner, Ethan chose to help Brooke pick out a gift for Mason instead. I had Owen explain to the family.“The Alpha's busy. He can't be here.” But afterward, he still asked me to save Dad a piece of cake. I'd stopped making excuses for Ethan. Owen hadn't. Then Owen's teacher told Ethan he was the only father who'd missed the school play. At last, looking ashamed, Ethan bought us passes to an amusement park. We'd barely reached the entrance when Brooke's text arrived. [Ethan, Mason can't breathe. His inhaler isn't helping. Please come. I don't know what to do.] For once, Ethan hesitated. He looked down at our son instead of walking away. I hadn't said a word when Owen let go of his hand. “Go ahead, Alpha Ethan. Mom can take me on the rides.”