Tragic Love Short Stories & Alpha Countdown Novels

When graduation season arrived, the academy held a bonfire party. During the group photo, I stood next to Hudson. He was the boy I grew up with, and I stood by him just as I always had. Someone in the crowd shouted, "Come on, let the future mates stand together!" I had heard this kind of joke countless times, but the secret hidden deep down still made my cheeks burn. Hudson stood next to me, not saying a word. The photographer started the countdown. The bonfire crackled, and right at that moment, a stray thought broke into my mind. "She's so annoying. Can she just stop clinging to me?" Deep, familiar, and laced with irritation. It was Hudson. I was born with a weak wolf, leaving severe flaws in my mental barriers. Other people's thoughts would occasionally slip into my head through the mind-link. This time, I heard it with absolute clarity. The second the camera flash went off, he turned and walked away from the bonfire. I stood alone in front of the dancing flames for a long time before leaving in silence. Passing by the ancient tree hung with wishing charms, I reached up and took down the wooden piece Hudson and I had once hung together. It had our promise written on it, saying we would get into Blood Moon Academy together. I stared at it for a few seconds, then raised my arm and threw it straight into the roaring bonfire. The wood hit the ashes at the edge of the fire, its edges curling and turning black. This time, I was stepping completely out of Hudson's world.

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.

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.

Three years ago, my Alpha mate, Grayson Blackthorn, has a dream in which he falls for an Omega who works at a flower shop and does countless things to hurt me for her sake. When I hear about it, I don't take it seriously. Instead, I laugh and tease him, "And then what?" Grayson pins me beneath him and kisses me fiercely. "Then, you got me drunk and tricked me into breaking our mate bond. By the time I woke up, you were gone, and I couldn't find you anywhere." He claims it's just a ridiculous dream, yet he starts avoiding alcohol, steering clear of every flower shop, and keeping his distance from every Omega. He even develops severe separation anxiety. It got so bad that our pack's healer, Ravenna Nocturne, has to intervene regularly. To put Grayson's mind at ease, I do everything I can to show him that I love him and depend on him more. Gradually, we forget all about that dream. On our fourth wedding anniversary, a seemingly pure and fragile Omega named Avery Darkcrest appears before me with a bouquet of white lilies in her hands. The flowers nearly send me into anaphylactic shock because of my severe lily allergy. The council demands that Avery be expelled from the pack, but Grayson steps in front of me to protect her. "Avery didn't do it on purpose. Don't make things difficult for her." As I watch him shield her with his body, I know that nightmare is beginning to come true. In the dream, Grayson leaves me utterly broken, and it takes me a long time to finally walk away. But this time, I need only five days.

The werewolves launched a massive invasion of the Elf Forest had been burned, half my people were dead, and my parents were missing. The Elf Queen asked me to go to Damien Thorne and make him stop the war. Damien Thorne. Alpha King of the North, my True Mate, the boy I'd grown up with. His sister Sera was the youngest of the three of us, and my best friend. A year ago, Sera vanished after a secret meeting. I walked out of the forest alive. He didn't — and to him, that was proof enough. He went mad. He burned the sacred trees, slaughtered my people, turned every drop of his hate on me. But he still loved me. So I went. He locked me in his study and fucked me for nine days. Even when I slept,his eyes full of something I couldn't read — madness, and pain. On the tenth day, he kissed his way down my spine, so gentle I let myself think it wasn't too late. The next second, the dagger went into my shoulder blade, straight through the root of my light-wing. The pain detonated from my spine to the crown of my skull. "Shh. Don't scream." He pressed my face into the pillow. "These nine days were the warm-up. Tell me where Sera is." He locked me in the dungeon. He used my people's lives as a leash. He married another she-wolf. The cold-iron whip came down. Each welt sealed itself shut against the iron-poison's burn, then split open again. Every strike felt like a red-hot brand pressed into my skin and ground in. It would never heal. But every time I came close to dying, it was him who tipped the antidote down my throat himself. His fingers shook. His eyes carried a tenderness he hated himself for. The night he got drunk, he crushed me against his chest. "You think I love you, so you can do this to me. Tell me where Sera is, and I'll let you go." I couldn't say it.The moment I opened my mouth, it would burn to ash. I wouldn't have to keep this secret much longer. An elf away from the forest for one full year is dead. No exceptions. I had two days left.

My Alpha fiancé, Evan Hillard, wants me to get a crescent moon tattooed on the side of my neck. "At the marking ceremony seven days from now, I'll leave my bite right here," he says. I lower my head without answering. For three years, our marking ceremony has been postponed again and again as I try to become the perfect mate he wants. He likes golden-brown fur, so every two weeks, I endure the burning pain of dyeing mine. He says a red beauty mark near the corner of the eye looks stunning, so I let a witch doctor tattoo one there with a fine needle. Then I accidentally see a message on his phone from his first love, Vera Dawson. "Can you have her get the same crescent moon tattoo as mine?" she asks. "That way, you can pretend I'm the one you mark." My hands turn ice-cold. Trembling, I tap her profile picture. She has golden-brown fur, a red beauty mark near the corner of the eye, and a crescent moon on her neck. Everything becomes clear. All the pain I've endured over the past three years has been for nothing. I'm just a cheap imitation, molded in the image of the woman he truly loves. I don't cry. I calmly exit the chat and reply to the Healers' Association. "I accept the job offer. I'll report for duty in seven days."

During our graduation trip, we got trapped in a snowstorm and were forced to spend the night in a cave. There were five of us. My boyfriend, Marcus, the future Alpha heir, took the blankets out of his backpack. Without hesitation, he shook out two and draped them over Lily. Lily was an Omega wolf who had recently been found and brought back to our pack. There were two blankets left. I had just reached for one when Victor and Henry, my other two childhood friends, snatched them up and covered Lily with them as well. When they noticed me staring, they merely smiled nonchalantly. "We only brought four. You're usually pretty tough. You can manage one night without a blanket." At midnight, Lily complained that she was hungry. Marcus immediately handed her the last piece of chocolate. Victor took out a thermos of hot water, while Henry hurried to open a packet of crackers for her. I sat on the freezing ground, watching the three of them fuss over Lily. The gnawing hunger in my stomach suddenly disappeared. I remembered how they'd forgotten only my plane ticket for this trip, forcing me to buy a seat on the next red-eye flight. I remembered how, whenever we went out to eat, they somehow always managed to forget to order anything for me. There were always five of us, yet Lily was always the only one who received all three people's affection. By dawn, the blizzard had finally stopped, and the rescue team found us. The four of them walked toward the helicopter together, laughing and chatting. Not one of them looked back at me, sitting alone in the corner. I said nothing. I simply took out my phone and checked the admission offer from an overseas academy specializing in werewolf genetics. If their world only had room for four people, then I'd leave with my dignity intact.

My mate, Alpha Kade, loved testing my limits using his childhood friend. The more I pushed back, the more he enjoyed it. For the pack retreat, I suggested heading north to see the Northern Lights. He took Ruby to a southern island instead. I spent six months growing rare herbs in the greenhouse. Right before they bloomed, he ordered them torn out. He replaced them with Ruby's favorite roses. I confronted him about it once. He didn't care. "You know I respond better when you're sweet. The more you push, the more I push back. Just be a good girl and listen to me." After that, I learned to compromise. He demanded to bring Ruby as his date to the pack's inner circle dinner. I just nodded. Over the weekend, Ruby wanted to visit the former Luna at the main estate. I stayed calm. "No problem. Do what you want." Kade slammed me against the wall the second the words left my mouth. "Cora, what kind of attitude is that? You're okay with another woman visiting my mother?" I pulled free from his grip. "I'm just following your rules so I don't upset you." Kade froze, completely speechless. Ruby played innocent. "Cora is just acting out. Don't take it to heart." Then came tonight's private pack party. Everyone played Truth or Dare to celebrate the end of his bachelor days before our mating ceremony. The Dare Roulette was the main event. The spinner landed right on Kade and Ruby. They had to do a series of couple's dares together. The Beta running the game tried to smooth things over. "This challenge gets pretty physical. You can still use an immunity card to skip it." Kade didn't care. He pulled Ruby into his chest and looked at me. "It's just a game. She's my partner for tonight. I'll be yours tomorrow." The pack elites whistled and cheered. I kept my posture straight and gave him a blank look. "Fine by me." I had already accepted a transfer to the United Pack Medical Center. I didn't want this mate bond anymore.

When Reese, Alpha of the Blood Moon Wolf Pack, was pursuing me, he always said I was the moonlight that had fallen directly into his territory. I possessed ancestral vampire blood that resurfaced in my generation, leaving me naturally light-sensitive and unable to endure the sun for long. While others checked the temperature before going outside, Reese checked the UV index. He had the highest-grade solar tint installed on his car windows and never let me step out into the daylight without holding an umbrella over my head. While the entire pack marveled at his devotion, he would smile and reply, "She was born deserving the absolute best of everything." That was until he rescued a rogue wolf named Selena during a border patrol and brought her back to live with the pack. She hid my umbrellas and snatched my sun hats, but every time I voiced my grievances, Reese would just gently brush it off. "She doesn't mean any harm. She's just used to running wild out there and likes to play around. Don't take it to heart." So when she invited me up to the glasshouse conservatory to admire the flowers together, I didn't suspect a thing. Until the door locked behind me. Midday sunlight poured through the glass dome, and my skin immediately began to burn and swell. I called desperately for Reese again and again. It wasn't until my tenth call that he finally answered, his voice laced with gentle coaxing. "Just bear with it a little longer, okay? Selena sprained her ankle on the way down, and she's crying her eyes out. I'll be right back up as soon as I help her out. Try moving into the shade for now." Except that the sun was directly overhead, leaving nowhere to hide. I was nearly unconscious from the excruciating pain by the time the door was finally unlocked. As Reese scooped me up in his arms, Selena pouted. "You just spoil her way too much. It was only fifteen minutes. How bad could it actually be?" Reese's hands were trembling as he held me, yet he still made excuses for her. "Alright, that's enough. Fifteen minutes is a long time." Selena giggled. "I bet she'd tan, and you bet she'd stay just as pale no matter what." "So who actually won the bet?" In the end, he won that little wager, but I had already left his territory for good.

While on a trip, I caught my Alpha fiancé cheating on me with my adoptive sister, Selena. Once they realized I saw them, they ruthlessly abandoned me in that forbidden forest and let Selena return to take my place. For ten days, I was missing. No search party came, and my communication crystal remained silent. Then, while trying to escape a savage bear, I fell down a rocky slope and was left broken, bleeding, and alone. Just as I was on the brink of death and unable to heal, Ryker appeared and saved me. He was wild and imposing, yet lethally gentle. During our days and nights together in the wilderness, it took only a few hoarse whispers to tear down my defenses. I grew absurdly attached to him, believing he was my only salvation in this desolate place. Until one night, I found him contacting the outside world on a high-grade crystal. On the other end was Selena. "Why haven't you finished her off yet? As long as she never comes back, Alaric will be all mine." And my devoted savior replied in that same doting tone, "As long as it makes you happy, I'd spend a lifetime keeping up this charade with her in the wilderness." It was then I understood. What I believed to be a gift from the Goddess was nothing more than another death trap, meticulously woven to ensure Selena got her way. When my heat arrived, on the night of our supposed marking, I threw myself into the roaring river of death that marked the border. I would rather be torn to shreds by the current than look at that despicable "mate" for another second.

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.

Lawson and I had arranged to take photos for our upcoming marking ceremony. Dressed in my ceremonial gown, I waited for him in the forest all afternoon until my legs went numb and exhaustion seeped into every part of me. The werewolves accompanying me asked whether we should reschedule. I forced a smile and made an excuse for Lawson. "He's on his way. He'll be here soon." I had no idea where he was. I kept calling him over and over until my phone nearly ran out of battery. Only then did he finally arrive, but he wasn't alone. A shewolf followed behind him. She was draped in Lawson's suit jacket. When they descended the steps, Lawson turned back and offered her his hand. I recognized her immediately. It was Judy, Lawson's childhood friend. The moment she saw me, she looked startled and held onto Lawson's arm. "I'm so sorry. Lawson went to pick me up, so we ended up delaying your photo shoot." Lawson fastened his suit jacket around her shoulders before turning to me. "Let's get this over with. There are still matters in the pack that need my attention." Without a word, I walked toward the shooting location. Then Lawson frowned. "Your makeup's smudged. Let Judy test the moonlight first." Judy walked past me and stood beneath the ancient tree where Lawson and I had first met. I remained silent. Then I overheard two nearby werewolves whisper. "Honestly, Judy looks like a much better match for Alpha Lawson." Lawson didn't deny it. Instead, he glanced at me and reached over to smooth my hair. "If you keep making that face, you'll ruin everyone's mood. We're all exhausted today." I bit my lip as a lump formed in my throat. I couldn't help recalling the day we'd met beneath that tree. He had promised to take me around the world back then. Only seven years had passed, but those promises had already been long forgotten. Suddenly, I realized the person he wanted to make those promises to had never been me.

I spent five years being Alpha Finn's hidden mate. He promised to announce me as his mate and Luna to the pack, but each time his 'best friend,' Adeline, showed up, I became an afterthought. Every time he betrayed me, he handed me an apology token with a promise never to fail again. And I forgave him every time. By the time Adeline finally returned to the pack, I was almost at a hundred tokens. And just as expected, Finn again chose her over me. This time, he expected that he would return, I'd forgive him, and we'd continue the cycle. Until he felt our bond disappear in the middle of the night and realized he had just signed away his mate. In terror, he ran after me, begging on his knees. But it was too late. Because just a few days before his final betrayal, I discovered something Finn had never known. I wasn't wolfless. I wasn't useless. And I wasn't going to be anyone's backup plan.

On our seventh anniversary, my Alpha, Alex Doyle, abandons me once again to care for Lily Hayes and her pup. "She lost her mate. Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise a pup alone? As the Luna of our pack, you should be more compassionate," he says, his brows drawing together. Certain I'll never leave him, he speaks with the confidence of someone who takes my devotion for granted. This time, I don't beg him to stay like I always do. Instead, I choose to be the bigger person and show Lily compassion. I'm even willing to give up my position as Luna and allow him to fulfill his so-called noble duties and promises to her. I sever our mate bond on my own and leave the pack's territory without looking back. But when I finally disappear into the depths of the forest, Alex, the Alpha who's always carried himself as if he's untouchable, completely loses his mind. With bloodshot eyes, he follows the faint traces of my scent and desperately begs me not to leave.

Three days ago, Damon Ashford marked me. The night he became Alpha, he sank his fangs into my neck under the moonlight. When his wolf blood mixed with mine, my wolf soul trembled violently. I thought the bond was taking root. I was too excited, too happy to tell the difference between real blood transfer and the simple sting of broken skin. This morning I went to City Hall without telling him. I wanted to pick up our certificate and frame it for our bedroom wall. I wanted to surprise him. The clerk checked the system, then looked up at me. "Whitmore, the mark on your neck is fake. There is no trace of wolf blood exchange." "Also, Ashford completed a formal registration with a woman named Clara Wellick two weeks ago." Under wolf law, a mark must be registered within seven days or it becomes invalid. I came to register, only to find I was never registered at all. I took off the scarf covering my neck and dropped it into the trash can outside City Hall. Standing on the steps, I sent my brother a message. Marcus, I’ll go with you for the closed medical research.

My mate, Charles, commander of the fire brigade, left me alone in the den with our unborn pup after I refused his request to bring his first love, Lisa, and her pup into our home so he could take care of them. Five days later, Charles reached out—claiming he wanted to ease the tension between us. He asked me to deliver the herbs that help with his insomnia to the fire brigade. On the way there, I was in an accident. I mind-linked him, begging for help, but to my shock, he refused. I believed he was training the new werewolf firemen—but the truth? He was in the infirmary, not for duty, but with Lisa and her pup. After losing my pup, I walked away—shattered, betrayed, and done.

The Blood Moon Pack had one inviolable iron law: the Alpha’s mate must also be a werewolf. I was the human girl the pack had adopted. Even so, Alpha Wilson chose to form a mate bond with me. To stay with me, he openly defied the Elders’ orders. They locked him in a stone cell and gave him ninety-nine lashes. Even when blood soaked through his shirt, he still smiled at me, bowed his head, and kissed away my tears: “Lily, you will always be the only mate I have ever claimed.” In the end the Elders agreed to let me become Luna, on the condition that I quickly give Wilson an heir. It was not until the third year of our marriage that I finally became pregnant. Just as I was filled with joy and about to tell Wilson, his childhood sweetheart, missing for years, returned. She was a werewolf, and the ideal Luna in the Elders’ eyes. The Elders demanded that Wilson marry her at once and produce a legitimate heir for the pack. According to pack law, as long as I lived I would occupy the position of Luna, and he could not take a second mate. This time, Wilson chose to compromise. He pressed a bottle of fake-death potion into my hand, eyes red, and begged me. “Lily, please help me this once. Once she gives birth to the heir, I’ll bring you back.” I never had the chance to tell him that I was already pregnant. My adoptive Beta brother and Delta brother also urged me to take the medicine and leave. They said it was only a temporary measure; everyone was doing it for the good of the Pack. They all believed I would obediently fake my death, hide in some corner, and wait for Wilson to keep his promise. What they did not know was that from the moment I agreed to take the medicine, I had already begun arranging my own way out. This time, I would stage my own funeral with my own hands.

For four years, I was mated to Kieran Blackwood, Alpha of the Blackpine Pack. For nearly half of those nights, he slept at the lakeside villa instead of coming home to me. His older brother, Damon, had died in an accident, leaving behind Vivienne, Blackpine's former Luna. Kieran said looking after his brother's widow was part of the duty he had inherited along with the Alpha title. I believed him. So I put up with the empty chair beside mine at full-moon celebrations. I let him walk out in the middle of dinner whenever Vivienne called. I ignored the pack members who snickered behind my back and called me the substitute Luna. Then came the crash. Three vehicles collided on a rain-slick highway. I was trapped in the passenger seat with the twisted door crushing my side and the seat belt cutting across my thirty-week belly. Blood ran down the seat while I pounded on the cracked window and begged Kieran to save our baby. He reached my door first. Then Vivienne screamed from the back seat, and he let go. He carried her out even though she had only a shallow cut on her forehead. He pulled her against his chest and kept telling her, "Don't look, Viv. I've got you." Through a spiderweb of broken glass, I watched him leave in her ambulance. If my child and I would always come second in his life, then I was done waiting to be chosen. I was taking back my name, my future, and every part of myself I'd handed over to an Alpha who never deserved any of it.

There was a legend in Mist Pack that whoever possessed the Moonstone Pendant, which was passed down through generations of the pack, would spend a lifetime with their fated mate. When my mate, Lucas, fastened the Moonstone Pendant around my neck, he promised he would never betray me. Later, on the day he publicly ordered me to take it off so he could place it around Layla's neck himself, every werewolf in the pack waited to see how I would react. After all, everyone knew how deeply I loved Lucas. Every time he led a hunting party, I would wait for him atop the pack's highest watchtower. It didn't matter how fiercely the snowstorm raged or if I had to stand there until dawn. Every werewolf wondered how I would tear Layla apart. But when Layla appeared before me while elegantly linking her arm through Lucas's, I simply removed the pendant and fastened it around her neck myself. While holding Layla in his arms, Lucas looked at me with contempt. "Diana, if you can stay as obedient as you are today, I might just let you remain by my side." I touched my bare neck with a blank expression on my face. What Lucas didn't know was that just before the ceremony, all of my memories had returned. I was the daughter of the Alpha King. I was also his only heiress. In three days, my dad would arrive at Mist Pack with his elite guards to bring me home.

When I was three months pregnant, a pack of Rogues ambushed me. In the last moments before my consciousness began to fade, I begged for rescue through my mind-link to my Alpha mate, Adrian. But he never answered. I was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, only to be informed that the Saint-Tier Healer had been forcefully taken South by Adrian to treat Evelyn, his first love, after she lost her mate. When I woke to the pain of losing my pup, my fingers shook as I checked social media, then I saw Evelyn's post: [I knew that no matter how far away I am or how much time has passed, Adrian would always come for me. He even brought a Saint-Tier Healer to ease the pain in my heart.] In the photo, Adrian's dark eyes, which were usually cold and distant, were focused on the woman beside him with tenderness. While I was fighting for my life and losing our cub, my Alpha was protecting another pregnant wolf. I chuckled at myself bitterly. It felt as if the bond mark on my chest was withering away. I then dialed a number without hesitation. "Dr. Clark, I accept the position at the Northern Ancient Wolf Research Institute. Yes, the sooner the better. I won't be holding a farewell ceremony."