Alpha Familial Bond-Kurzgeschichten & -Kurzromane

During the Spring Hunt, my Alpha mate's adopted sister, Susie Blackwood, used the bow I'd designed for him to shoot two werewolves in the forest. The wounded were rushed to the healing center. Susie was so terrified she broke down in tears. Charles Blackwood immediately paid someone to take the fall for her, then booked two flights heading north. He didn't call to let me know until after he'd landed. "Susie's not in a good place right now. I'm taking her somewhere to clear her head. Stay home while we're gone, and don't bother me unless it's important! "She needs peace and quiet." I was standing outside the emergency room, so frantic that tears streamed down my face. "You need to come to the healing center right now. Your—" Before I could finish, Charles cut me off sharply. "Is this really the time for this? You're still pulling these jealous stunts! I'm not even in the pack right now. "Don't call me unless it's important." Then he ended the call. What Charles didn't know was that the ones lying on the operating table, the ones Susie had shot, were his parents.

Being locked away by my parents as a child left me with severe claustrophobia. Every time it flared up, I not only lost my voice but also lost my ability to use the mind-link with anyone in the pack. In my parents' eyes, a strong werewolf should have gotten over something that happened so long ago. Each time I lost my voice, only Alpha Caius Thorne stayed by my side. He kept notepads and pens throughout the estate and kept our conversation pinned to the top of his messages. He even learned sign language just for me. When another episode struck, I signed to him with trembling hands. "Does this ever make you tired of me?" My mate's scent enveloped me, calming my restless wolf. "Never. If anything, I'm glad we have a language that's just ours." Then Sage Mercer returned. She was a human healer and one of my closest friends. She tricked me into entering an underground stone chamber and locked me inside. The sealed space triggered another episode. I couldn't call for Caius, even though he was standing right outside the door. All I could do was sign frantically. But he acted like he didn't understand and stood there as Sage sealed the heavy stone door. Panic took over. I shifted into my wolf form and threw myself against the door with everything I had. Again and again, I slammed into it until my body was drenched in blood, yet not a single cry for help escaped my throat. Then I heard Sage speaking to Caius on the other side of the door. "Elara has to face her trauma head-on. Protecting her every time this happens won't help her get better. "A Luna represents her pack. With a condition like hers, she'll only hold you back. "Once she can call out for help on her own, we'll let her out." Caius said nothing. I understood his silence for what it was: agreement. So that was how Caius really saw me. A burden. But they had forgotten this underground chamber was designed to hold untamable beasts. Once the heavy door was sealed, almost no fresh air could get inside. No matter

On the third day after I reunite with my pack, my family corners me in the mansion's living room. My adopted sister, Mia Ashford, holds several notes in her hand while sobbing her eyes out. "Layla, I know you hate me, but you're driving me insane with your death threats!" Every single note is covered in curses written in red. "Go to hell, you thief! You stole Mom and Dad away from me." Noah Ashford leaps to his feet and hurls the notes at my face. "Apologize!" he roars. "You think you can bully Mia just because you're my sister?" Mom embraces Mia, trying to comfort her. Dad, as the Alpha of the pack, finally speaks. "If you don't write a 1,000-word apology letter to Mia today and beg for her forgiveness, I'll kick you out of the pack," he says coldly. Safe in Mom's arms, Mia secretly flashes me a taunting smile. I stare at the scattered notes on the floor, utterly stunned. Could I really have written these when I can't even read?

In our pack, every child received a barrel of moonwine at birth, to be opened on one of the most important day of their life. When my adopted sister Rosalie and I received our college decisions, Mother gave her both her moonwine and mine. “Rosalie got into the Royal Wolf Academy,” Mother announced. “We should all celebrate her achievement.” My brother Callum brought out his own barrel, declaring, “Rosalie has made us all proud, so I’m opening mine as well.” Father poured Rosalie the first glass and raised a toast in her honor. Even my boyfriend, Julian, arrived with a bouquet of moon lilies for Rosalie. No one acknowledged me. “What about me?” I asked. Mother’s smile stiffened. “You’re the Alpha’s daughter, Aria. You already have everything. Besides, our family owes Rosalie.” Seven years ago, Rosalie’s father lost his wolf saving Father from a silver blade. My parents took Rosalie in afterward. Since then, my room, my place beside Father, and even my family slowly become hers. Now, even the moonwine Grandmother had brewed for me belonged to her. I opened the Moonridge Isolation Study offer I had kept hidden from them and signed my name. This time, I wouldn’t be coming back. I was done paying a debt that had never been mine.

I was the Female Alpha of the Stormlands pack. But gave up my position to my brother. All so I could stay by the side of Adrian, the Alpha of the Valley pack, the man I had loved in secret for six years. My brother couldn't bear to watch me wait any longer. On Valentine's Day, he went so far as to slip a potion into Adrian's drink and send him to my bed. When Adrian woke, he refused to accept me as his second-chance mate. But he didn't reject the bond either. He simply agreed to marry me, cold as ice. Shortly after the wedding, he dumped all pack affairs on me and left for five years. I gave birth to our daughter Ivy alone and waited for him to come back. Five years later, I pushed aside an important pack meeting and took Ivy to the airport to pick him up. My daughter reached for him, begging to be held. He glanced down and said flatly, "Sorry. I'm a germaphobe." After that, Ivy and I bathed three times a day. I scrubbed the house until it was spotless as a sterile ward. But he still wouldn't come home, and he never once held either of us. Everything changed when I saw an interview. Someone asked, "Alpha Adrian, when were you happiest?" He smiled carelessly. "Last week, I guess. I put Mia to sleep, then pulled Selena into the bathroom." Selena was the mate who had rejected him. She had run off with another wolf and had Mia. Rumor had it they had been living together for the entire five years he was gone. So the rumors were true all along... That night, I stopped hoping he would ever accept me as his second-chance mate. I decided to take my daughter and leave the Valley for good. I reclaimed my title as Female Alpha of the Stormlands, absorbed the entire Valley pack into my territory, and took my daughter out of his life forever!

My daughter hated me. On the day of the pack's full moon celebration, I put on the new dress my mate had given me and asked her, "Sweetheart, do I look pretty today?" She leaned against my mate and shook her head in disgust. "Daddy, look. Mommy's waist is so big. She doesn't look pretty at all." When I limited her snacking, she turned around and told my mate I was starving her on purpose. When I made her train on schedule, she cried and said I was trying to wear her out so she wouldn't surpass me when she grew up. My mate, the Alpha, was always busy. At first, he would hold her and soothe her. "All right, Daddy knows." Eventually, all he gave her was an impatient frown. Until the day she accused me of poisoning her in front of the entire pack. My mate's expression finally turned cold. "Enough. I've been putting up with you for far too long." My daughter looked at me triumphantly, certain the Alpha was finally going to send me away. But the next second, my mate pointed at her. "I'm talking about you."

I am the elder daughter of the Dawnlight pack Alpha. On the day I came of age, my father told my sister and me to choose our future mates from the two sons of the Brightvale pack Alpha. The older brother, Damian, was steady and self-possessed. The younger one, Kieran, counted for nothing in his own pack, and it showed in the sullen, beaten-down way he carried himself. In my last life I chose the younger brother without a moment of hesitation, because I wanted him to know what it felt like to be someone's favorite. But on the very day he became Alpha, he threw me out to the rogues. I was carrying his pup. They tortured me until I died. Right before the end, Kieran stood over me and looked down. "If it weren't for you, I'd have been with your sister Adeline a long time ago. You deserve this!" Only then did I learn that he had wanted my sister for years, and that he had never once meant for me to be the Luna of Brightvale. Then I opened my eyes again. Kieran and I had both come back to the day of the choosing. He knelt before my father, solemn as a vow. "Honored Alpha, the one I love has always been your younger daughter, Adeline. I want nothing to do with your elder daughter, Cassia." Every wolf from Brightvale watched me and enjoyed it. But I only smiled, faintly. Then I turned and chose the brother standing at Kieran's side. Damian. Kieran was still living inside the illusion of his last life, certain he had taken the Alpha title on his own strength. He had no idea that from the beginning to the end, only the mate I chose was ever fit to become Alpha.

I died on the day I was supposed to receive the Silvermoon Devotion Medal from the pack. My family, though—they were busy celebrating my little sister winning the "Pack's Best Neighbor" award at her birthday party. While she made her wish for the whole family to love her forever, I dialed my fated mate, Alpha Theodore, begging for help. He cut me off with an impatient snap— "Diana, this is the most important moment of Elara's life. Quit pulling those petty stunts for attention." It was the ninety-ninth time he'd chosen her over me. But there won't be a next time. Because I'm already dead.

Right before my mating ceremony, I drank the glass of milk my mother had brought me. It didn’t take long for my consciousness to slip away. When I opened my eyes, I found myself locked inside a basement, a silver lock barring the door. Shifting, I threw myself against the door desperately, even when my flesh was torn and bloody. At last, I broke free. I dragged my broken body to the ceremony, only to find my adopted sister, Maeve, standing on the altar in a gown far more extravagant than mine. My mate—the one who had my heart—placed the Luna crown that was meant for me on Maeve’s head. Maeve sank into my mate’s embrace, her frame fragile. “Ulric, I feel like I’m dreaming. I’m so happy. My sister’s going to kill me if she finds out.” Ulric brushed his fingers against her cheek and assured her, “Relax. She’s fast asleep. The ceremony’d be over by the time she wakes up. Besides, she already has my love. All you’re asking for is a ceremony. I’m sure she’ll understand.” My parents stood nearby, their faces wistful. “Look at them. They are perfect for each other. If only Isobel weren’t around.” “Maeve is the true Luna. Isobel doesn’t deserve Ulric.” I stood at the door, my feet pinned to the ground and my tears rolling down my cheeks. As it turned out, there had never been an accident. It was all a setup. Not a single wolf in this world had ever loved me. In that case, I would give them what they wanted. This fake family and unfaithful mate were out of my life for all I cared!

Before our mating ceremony, my mate, Pavel Blackwell, took me and my older sister, Vivienne, out for seafood. The server recognized them and came over smiling. "The usual for you two?" Pavel nodded. He slid into the seat beside Vivienne without a second thought. The crab came out of the steamer, and he cracked the shell open piece by piece and passed the meat to her. I had been put at a spare chair shoved into the aisle, without so much as a dish of sauce in front of me. Halfway through the meal, the server appeared with a couples' silverware set. "Pavel, Vivienne, this is your hundredth visit to us. That means you get your custom set." A line was engraved on the back of each piece. "Pavel and Vivienne. Never apart." The earliest date on the record was three years ago today. It took me a moment to place the date. That was the day a severe allergic reaction sent me into surgery and I nearly didn't make it out. So for the three hours my life hung in the balance, Pavel had not been waiting outside that door at all. Vivienne ran a finger over the engraving and gave a mischievous smile. "Pavel, once you and my little sister are mated, she won't stop you from going out with me, will she?" Pavel ruffled her hair and turned to look at me. "Of course not. She's always been reasonable. "Besides, you and I have known each other for ten years. Ashlyn and I have only known we were fated mates for four. If it bothers her, she can learn to live with it." On the way back, I got into the back seat on my own. The front seat had always belonged to Vivienne. Then the car's voice assistant chimed in. "Welcome aboard, Vivienne! Pavel will get you home safely!" I watched the scenery stream past the window, and suddenly I was tired of all of it. So I took out my phone and sent my father a message. "I agree to the pack's arranged mating." Ten years of closeness had turned the two of them into a habit. Then let me be the one to quit mine. Four years of it.

I am the last heir of the Eclipse royal line, and the only person in a hundred years who can carry Nyx, the first dark wolf. If I reached adulthood safely, I would become the Eclipse Queen, and every wolf alive would bow to me. But when I was six, rogues broke into the nursery. To save a baby lying in a pool of blood, I shifted into a black wolf in front of everyone, and showed a power that could swallow an Alpha command whole. The Elders were afraid I would lose control, and they wanted me put to death. Agatha Voss, the priestess, had no choice but to seal away my wolf and my memories. She gave me to the Ashbourne family to raise and warned them again and again, "Treat this child well, and never let silver or wolfsbane touch her." My adoptive parents never knew who I was. They thought I was a frail orphan girl with no wolf. Their own daughter was not with them, so they gave me all the love meant for her, and for years they treasured me. Then their biological daughter, Viola Ashbourne, came home. Everything changed. She cut herself and blamed me for it. She faked a pregnancy and took my mate and my place as Luna. My parents believed her. My brothers destroyed the evidence for her. Even Damian Blackwood, my fated mate, marched me into the Silver Cells himself. They knew the wolfsbane was killing me, and they still turned around and went to Viola's coronation, and left me to take my last breath alone. The moment my heart stopped, every memory taken from me nineteen years ago came back, and deep in my chest a second wolf heart began to beat. In the Forsaken Pit, I opened golden eyes, their pupils narrowed to slits. The adopted daughter they had despised until her death was gone. The queen they should have knelt to all along had awakened in her place.

  I was born with a weak inner wolf. My parents, the Alpha and Luna, along with my older brother Caleb, treated me like glass growing up, terrified that something would happen to me. But everything changed after my adopted sister, Jessica, was diagnosed with the exact same illness. Their concern gradually shifted entirely to her. They even demanded that I give up the only healing serum capable of curing our condition so Jessica could have it. I refused. I got into a massive fight with my parents, demanding to know why they were so biased. Because of that, everyone decided I was cold-blooded, vicious, and had absolutely no sympathy for Jessica. The day before the injection was to be confirmed, Caleb strode into my hospital room. His handsome face was full of impatience and irritation. He glared down at me. "Jessica is only twenty. She has a gorgeous future ahead of her. Your wolf has been weak since birth. Even if you get the serum, how long can this broken body of yours actually hold on?" Just then, Jessica rushed into the room wearing a thin nightgown. She threw herself into Caleb’s arms, crying and asking if I was still refusing to give her the serum. Caleb gently stroked her blonde hair, murmuring, "Don't be scared. No one can take what I promised you." I gazed at him, my mind drifting back to the first time my illness flared up when we were pups. I was dying, and he was the one who carried me through a blizzard to get to the healers. Back then, he held my hand, eyes red, and swore that even if he had to tear his own wolf in half, he would keep me alive. Looking at his cold face now, I suddenly felt incredibly exhausted. I didn't want to fight anymore. I leaned back calmly against my pillows, looked right at him, and said, "I don't want the serum anymore."

When I realized my soulmate Darius was still hung up on his former lover Cassia and her child, I started teaching our son to call him "Lord Darius." That night, Theo accidentally stepped into a thorn trap set by forest nymphs. He was poisoned by a minor curse that sent his magic spiraling out of control and plunged him into darkness. But Darius turned and left because Cassia called him on his messaging crystal late at night. I touched my son's forehead as his divine aura dimmed from the pain, and made him say, "Goodbye, Lord." On Theo's birthday, Darius skipped our celebration because Cassia tearfully complained that her child needed a father. I didn't say much. I just had little Theo explain to the guests, "The Lord has important divine duties to attend to." My boy would always struggle for a long time before forcing those words out. Until Darius finally realized he owed us far too much. He offered to go to the temple and commission an enchanted portrait of our family. But right there inside the Portrait Pavilion, Cassia sent another message through the crystal. "Darius, I am begging you to come to the Divine Academy. Could you just pretend to be Milo's father for a bit? The young gods here are all mocking him for being a bastard..." A flash of guilt crossed Darius's face. He was just about to bend down and explain things to our son. But this time, Theo did not need my prompting. He just waved his hand. "It is okay, Lord Darius. Hurry up and go be with your other child. Just having me and Mom in the portrait is enough."

I was the only she-wolf in the Frostfang Pack in the past hundred years to shift at just twelve. I even earned honors in battle. But my family saw my early shift as an unforgivable sin. When my sister found out, she burst into tears and threw herself into our mother's arms. "It's all right, Elsie. None of this is your fault. Your sister took too much from you before you were even born." My mother frowned and kissed the top of Elsie's head again and again. My father shot me an irritated glare. "Freya, you know Elsie can't shift. Did you really have to rub it in her face?" Even the priest stood before the whole pack and blamed me for Elsie's condition. He claimed I'd taken too much from her in the womb, leaving her too weak to ever shift. To them, I had been guilty since birth. So I walked away. I found a pack that truly accepted me. And when I finally returned to Frostfang, I came back as North Ridge's Alpha heir.

Three months had passed since I was brought back to the Tervo pack. Melissa Blackwell, the fake daughter, kicked me out of the car in a downpour—again. By the time I got home, I was soaked through. My birth father, Thorold Blackwell, was teaching her about wolves. My birth mother, Seraphina Blackwell, had simmered apples in red wine for her and watched her with a tender smile. The room was full of laughter until I walked through the door. Thorold turned his attention back to his book. Seraphina picked up the cups and went to the kitchen. Melissa rolled her eyes at me. "You really are clingy, aren't you? No matter what I do, I can't shake you." I gripped the hem of my dripping clothes, swallowed the lump in my throat, and went to my room. In that small, dark room, I could hear everything outside the door. Melissa asked coyly, "Mom, Dad, she's your biological daughter, after all. Isn't it a little cruel to treat her this way?" Seraphina soothed her. "In our hearts, you are our only daughter. Blood doesn't mean a thing." Thorold nodded. "Exactly. And even if she doesn't like it, where else is she gonna go? Her adoptive parents are the lowest kind of Omegas. Letting her stay here is compensation enough." I stood up and laughed out loud. So that was it. They thought I would endure everything because I had nowhere else to go. What they didn't know was that my adoptive parents were not the Omegas they imagined, and I didn't need their pack. If this house had no room for me, I would go back to my real home.

On the day my brother and I were born, a witch predicted that my success would drive him into severe depression. She said my brother would take wolfsbane and kill himself during our awakening ceremony at eighteen. So for eighteen years, our parents did everything they could to hold me back. On the day of our awakening, my father kicked me into the dungeon once used to hold condemned prisoners. I begged them to let me attend the awakening ceremony, but my father locked the door tight. “You know awakening your wolf could push your brother to his death, and you still insist on going through with the ceremony? Are you actually trying to kill him?” As the silver poison seeped from the chains binding me, I struggled desperately. “Mom, there’s silver poison in here! Please, let me out!” But my mother didn’t believe me. “Ethan, stop pretending. That cell was cleared of silver poison years ago!” “Your brother is one step away from escaping that prophecy, and all you can think about is yourself?” Listening to their footsteps fade away, I felt my life slowly come to a painful end. But why did my parents go mad with regret after I died?

In Black Wolf Pack, when a pup was born, the parents would place a moonstone on the Moon Goddess' Altar for safekeeping. Before the pup reached adulthood and underwent their first shift, the moonstone was crafted into a protective amulet to be worn at all times. This granted them the Moon Goddess' protection for the rest of their lives. Before my coming-of-age ceremony, my boyfriend, Steven Payton, personally made protective amulets for my twin sister, Wendy, and me. Wendy's protective amulet was an exquisite gold necklace set with two moonstones. It had a crescent mark engraved on it to symbolize the Moon Goddess' blessing. Mine was a plain gold wolf-bone pendant. I froze. "Steven, where's the moonstone on mine?" Steven's hand stopped as he fastened the necklace around Wendy's neck. "Nancy, Wendy's wolf spirit is too weak. She needs twice the Moon Goddess' blessing. "The gold wolf-bone pendant can also ward off evil and protect you. It won't be any less effective than one with a moonstone." Mom said unhappily, "Nancy, it's still a protective amulet. Don't let something this insignificant ruin your coming-of-age ceremony." Dad added, "Nancy, you're the older sister. Just let Wendy have it." 'Just let Wendy have it.' I'd heard those words for eighteen years, and I'd spent eighteen years doing exactly that. I thought that once I became an adult werewolf and chose Steven as my partner, I'd finally have someone who would choose me first. Now, it seemed that kind of love would never be mine either. If that was the case, then I didn't want any of them anymore.

The day Alpha Kyle Locke came to deliver the marking token, he brought two, just like always, and let my sister Serafina Voss choose first. One was a custom-made moonstone collar, a specialty piece from Frost. The other was a wolf fang pendant, the kind sold in every shop in town. Neither of us said anything. Everyone just waited for Serafina to reach out first. Never mind that this token had been chosen for my marking ceremony with Kyle, not hers. But this time, I moved first. My fingers landed on the moonstone. I spoke before anyone else could. "Can I be the one to choose, this time?" Kyle frowned. "Ella, Serafina's health is delicate. The moonstone will help settle her wolf. Yours is already steady. The pendant is more than enough for you." I didn't pull my hand back. I looked at the two tokens in front of me, and it finally hit me. Every choice in my life had been made exactly like this. Serafina's blood ran nobler, so she always got to choose first. I was the one who gave ground, every single time, right up until Kyle came along. Everyone had expected Kyle to pick Serafina as his Luna. In the end, he chose me instead. I thought, for once, I was the one who'd been chosen, not the one left with the scraps. It took me a long time to understand that the position of Luna was mine, but the priority behind it always belonged to Serafina. Not this time. I wasn't going to be the one who came second, not anymore.

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?

The pack threw a massive party for my sister, Aria. She got into the Royal Wolf Academy. My father, the Alpha, pinned the pack crest to her gown. It was the ultimate symbol of Stonecrest’s future. His voice boomed over the crowd, "Aria is a once-in-a-generation prodigy! She showed Alpha dominance at just sixteen. She is our fiercest weapon." And me? His other daughter. I stood in the corner. Completely invisible. No one even offered me a drink. At dinner, my mother—our flawless Luna—bragged about every single achievement, "Aria shifted at ten. She won the Northern Trials at thirteen without a single scratch. She only studied for six months to get into the Royal Academy!" An old elder finally glanced my way and asked, "And Cassian? I heard she got accepted somewhere too?" My mother’s smile froze. My father just looked away in silence. Aria broke the silence, "Yes. Cassian's college is pretty far from the pack..." I got a full ride to Columbia University. The acceptance letter has been on my nightstand for fifty days. But nobody asked about it. My mother quickly recovered, forced a smile, and told the elder, "Cassian is just so independent. She always handles things on her own." Independent. Right. Was I 'independent' at ten? Aria and I both had our first shift. She got a rare elixir from our parents to stabilize her power. I was left to fight my rampaging wolf alone, again and again. Was I 'independent' at thirteen during the Northern Trials? A feral beast attacked. I took every hit to protect Aria. My parents rushed to check on her, terrified. I was left to stitch my own wounds in silence. At eighteen, to make sure Aria got into the Royal Academy, I was her sparring partner by day and her tutor by night. I even did the servants' chores when they were away. Does cleaning up every mess my perfect sister makes mean I am 'independent'? The party ended. The guests left. My mother ordered me to clean up the hall. The gifts were piled high. Every single one wa