เรื่องสั้นแนว Tragic Love และนิยาย Alpha Karma

Leo inherits his late brother's position as Alpha after seven years of dating me. He also inherits his brother's wife and the pack's former Luna, Jasmin. Each time he sleeps with her, he comforts me gently. "You're my only mate, Mia. Once Jasmin gets pregnant and gives birth to Blazetooth Pack's heir, I'll hold the marking ceremony with you." He tells me that's the only condition his family asked of him before allowing him to inherit the position of Alpha. Over the six months after returning to Blazetooth Pack, he sleeps with Jasmin a hundred times. He starts with only spending one night a month with her to sleeping with her every night. Jasmin was finally found pregnant on the 100th night of my staying up the whole night waiting for him. At the same time, I receive news of her and Leo holding the marking ceremony. Upon hearing this, my son asks in confusion, "Didn't they say Dad is having the marking ceremony with the Luna he loves? Why isn't he here to take us home yet?" "Because I'm not the Luna he loves." I caress his head. "That's okay, though. I'll take you back to a place that we can really call home." What Leo doesn't know is that I'm the only daughter of the Alpha King. I've never cared about being Blazetooth Pack's Luna.

On Alpha Adrian Blackwood’s thirty-fifth birthday, his foster sister, Selena Vale, put on a magic show for the entire Mooncrest Pack. Selena had insisted that I join her onstage and assist with the grand finale. She had spent months learning stage magic and bragging about every new illusion until the entire pack was convinced she was practically a master magician. So when the blades inside Selena’s illusion box turned out to be real, no one believed my screams. Selena laughed into the microphone. “Our Luna deserves an Oscar. Doesn’t she make it look real?” The entire pack laughed with her. Even Adrian frowned at me from the front row. “Elena, enough. Don’t ruin my birthday just because you can’t stand Selena being in the spotlight.” Our six-year-old son looked up at me and said, “Mommy, stop pretending. Aunt Selena worked really hard.” Then the next blade came down. And another. They thought I was putting on a performance to ruin Selena’s magic show. But I wasn’t acting. I was dying.

Through the bond that tied my wolf to his, I sent ninety-nine screams for help. The hundredth time, he answered—distant, distracted. "Seraphine, I'm occupied. Stop whining like a needy pup." I lay in an ice crevice, our pup suffocating in my womb, while he hunted beneath the full moon with another. Five days later, I woke in a healing den. Through the wall, I heard my mate—my Alpha—speaking of me like livestock. "Keep her under until Lysandra whelps," Leon growled to the shaman. "If she learns I drained our pup for that she-wolf's marrow, I'll have your tongue. And if you fail me—I'll burn your den to ash." I touched the mating mark burning on my throat and reached for the crystal. My voice didn't tremble. "Harris. Prepare the severance scroll. I want his signature before the moon wanes." The she-wolf who loved her Alpha died in that ravine. The one who clawed out will make him howl.

Three years ago, to save his lover Vivian’s son, Alpha Alexander personally drained the life essence from our five-year-old daughter. I fought like a cornered animal to stop him, but Vivian’s rogue wolves broke my legs, carved away my Luna tattoo, and left me for dead in the pack’s Forbidden Zone. Three years later, the boy, Oliver, suffered a relapse of his Bloodline Decay. Only then did Alexander remember we ever existed. He cast a net far and wide, determined to drag my daughter and me back to serve as a living battery for Oliver. But this time, he was in for a bitter disappointment. Because my daughter, Mia, and I were already dead.

After giving birth to Alpha Wesley Silvermoon's pup, I fell into severe postpartum depression. Whenever the scent he left on me began to fade, I couldn't help but have the urge to hurt myself. It was Wesley who held me tight in his arms, kissing my forehead repeatedly, saying, "Don't be afraid, Maggie. The pup and I will stay with you, always." Every morning, he took me to see a therapist. In the afternoon, he handled the pack's affairs. At night, he fed Brett the pup himself. The dark circles beneath his eyes grew heavier by the day, yet he never once complained. Until one day. Brett was crying for his mother, while I hid in the bathroom, hurting myself. When Wesley saw what happened, he completely lost it. He grabbed me by the throat viciously. "If you don't want a pup, you shouldn't have had one! You gave birth to it, but you can't even take care of it! You don't deserve to be a mother!" He bellowed, "How much longer are you going to torment this family? You want to die so badly? Fine! I'll help you!" The moment he said that, he instantly came back to his senses. He broke his wrist and apologized to me. I didn't say anything, merely staring blankly at the phone that had fallen to the floor. The screen was still lit. 37 missed calls. All from the same name. Rowena Sawthorne. She was someone who had recently returned to the pack. Wesley's first love from his youth. She was healthy, beautiful, confident. She and Wesley were once the celebrity couple that everyone admired. Even Brett, whom I had nearly died giving birth to, would smile when she held him in her arms. Perhaps only she was worthy of being his mate, worthy of being Brett's mother. Maybe, this was for the best. At last, I could die without any worry.

Alaric and I had been mates for five years, and I had believed with all my heart that I would become the first female Gamma of the pack by proving myself in the warrior’s trial. I had trained relentlessly, sharpening my claws and honing my instincts, ready to fight for my rightful place. But fate had other plans. Three days before the trial, I was ambushed by rogues. They didn't just attack me—they hunted me like prey. They tormented me with the silver knife so that my wolf was dead. The scent of death clung to me, my wolf howling in agony, desperately trying to heal, but the wounds ran too deep. As I lay barely conscious on the blood-stained sheets, I heard my husband's cold, indifferent voice. "Is she dead?" The witch doctor hesitated before answering, "No, but—" "It doesn’t matter," Alaric interrupted, Coat her wounds with wolfsbane and silver—make sure it seeps into her blood, burns through her veins, and poisons her wolf beyond repair. I want her body to reject her own nature, so she will never heal. There will only be one Gamma in this pack, and that's Serina." In that moment, the truth became clear—I had never truly stood a chance in the warrior’s trial I had dreamed of. The battle had been decided long before I ever stepped into the arena.

Everyone in the Blood Moon pack is whispering that Alpha Cassian Ward only allows his pack to spend ten dollars a day. Yes, ten dollars. It's not a pack tradition, nor a decree from the elders. The rule comes from his new financial planner, Mira Langford. Even as Luna, the moment they discover I've spent a single dollar more—on medicine, no less—they drag me out and whip me 20 times in public. By the second lash, my back splits open, blood soaking through my skirt. My personal maid, Elsie Quinn, throws herself forward, sobbing. "Stop, please stop! Luna Sutton is fragile! She won't survive this!" But Mira only lashes harder. "Alpha Cassian said 20 lashes for every extra dollar. Who dares defy him?" I clutch my belly and manage a whisper. "Bring Alpha Cassian here..." A while later, Cassian arrives with his entourage. When he sees the blood streaking down my back, a flicker of pity crosses his eyes. "Mira, that's enough." Tears brim in Mira's eyes. "You said everyone would answer to me when you brought me back. I haven't even begun to be strict, and you're already going back on your word?" With that, she turns to leave. Cassian catches her hand. "Fine. I won't interfere. Don't tire yourself. Let the guards finish it." As the whip strikes me again and again, a warm, sticky pool of blood forms under me. A caustic laugh escapes my lips as tears streak down my face and into my tangled hair. By the time Cassian remembers me the next morning and finally sends for a healer, Elsie is bent over my body, trembling with grief. "Luna Sutton, how could this happen? You're gone, and so is the pup."

After the night of the full moon, my daughter - Lily was declared lost to the Rampage—her mind shattered, her wolf consumed by madness. Pack law is clear: when a wolf-blood is deemed uncontrollable, their guardian must sign the Blood Pact. The moment the pact takes effect, their body belongs to the pack. My Alpha husband, Liam Blackwood, urged me to sign. He said it was an honor to serve the pack. He said our daughter would have wanted to save other pups. Holding our daughter's broken, wasted body, I wept until I had nothing left. But that night, at the end of the corridor, I heard her voice. Elena Vance. The pack's youngest Shaman Healer. And the woman Liam had loved before me—the one who got away. "Lily's marrow is a perfect match." "Once Sophie signs the Blood Pact, I can harvest the marrow and brew the antidote. It will save your daughter. Our daughter." Later, Elena's daughter walked out of that treatment center, healthy and whole. My daughter walked out in an urn. I stormed the Alpha Mansion to demand the truth. But before I could speak, Dark Magic ripped through my veins. My wolf surfaced against my will—violent, uncontrollable. The pack guards tore me apart. My last sight was Liam shielding Elena and her daughter from the bloodshed. "Don't look," he murmured, covering their eyes. "You'll have nightmares." I died clutching the wolf fang necklace my daughter left behind—burning with hatred, drowning in regret. Then I opened my eyes. I was back in the treatment center. Back in that sterile white room. Back before I signed my daughter's life away. I turned to the bed where my little girl thrashed against iron chains. This time, I swore it: They will pay. In blood.

Ten years ago, my pup was tortured to death by a mutant wolfsbane strain. Right in the pack hospital's ER. I held her small, rapidly stiffening body. A dead, desperate cold seeped into my very marrow. Her high-and-mighty Alpha father did it. He personally ordered the pack’s only vial of pure antidote away. Just to save his childhood sweetheart's daughter. And that precious little girl? She just brushed against some silverweed in the garden. A mild allergic reaction. That was it. That day, I took a silver dagger. I carved the unforgettable mate mark right out of the flesh on my nape. Then,I plunged into the hellish world of lethal toxicology. Ten years later, I am the top toxicologist in the Northern Territories. The only one who can crack mutant wolfsbane. Today, the High Lycan Council handed me an emergency commission. A royal mandate. They promised me the Council’s highest honor and a massive twenty-million-dollar bounty. But when I skimmed the name on the commission, I gripped my vial hard. That name. That face. A top-tier Alpha in the Council's inner circle, radiating pure, feral dominance. I could never forget him. It was carved into my bones. I ripped off my lab coat. I slammed the file against my partner Marcus’s chest. "I'm not taking this job."

In my last life, I secretly slipped a Love Potion into the cup of my destined mate, the Alpha of my pack, Jason Green. As expected, he fell in love with me. We held the grandest mate-bonding ceremony in our pack's history and became the couple everyone envied. The effects of the Love Potion would last seven years. I naively believed that it would be enough to win his true heart. But Jason's childhood friend, Lilian Foster, traded her own tongue to a black-market witch for the antidote. The moment the truth was exposed, the love in Jason's eyes turned into a hatred that pierced through the bone. He sold me to the black market as a live test subject for experiments and forced me to drink a Corrosive Spellvial. My insides rotted away, and I died from sheer pain. Now, I had regressed in time, once again holding that same bottle of Love Potion. This time, I didn't hesitate. I drank it all in one swift movement. Jason, I wouldn't beg for your love again. I was going to love myself. So… Why are you the one who ended up regretting it?

Every bonding ceremony with Alpha Alexander turned into a nightmare. The first time, my ceremonial wine was laced with wolfsbane. I convulsed and coughed up blood in front of the entire Crescent pack. I became a complete laughingstock. The second time, a hidden silver blade pierced right through my stomach. I collapsed on the altar and stayed in a coma for three weeks. The third time, someone pushed me off the top of the tower. After the fall, my inner wolf never woke up again. All these accidents were the doing of Alexander's adopted sister, Ruby. Her mind was supposed to be completely broken. Every time I confronted him in tears, he would pull me into his arms and wipe my tears. "Evie, my sweet girl," he would whisper softly, "Ruby lost her mind to a rare poison when she saved my life. She has the mind of a pup now. Please, do it for me. Just treat her like a child and let it go." This time, at our fourth ceremony, Ruby lured a rogue into our territory. The entire hall was engulfed in flames from the blast. I tackled Alexander to the ground and shielded him from the silver laced flames. My whole body was burned and mangled. While I lay unconscious in the hospital bed, Alexander stayed by my side day and night, begging the Moon Goddess to wake me up. But when I woke up, I overheard him giving orders to the pack healer outside my door. "Increase the dose of the suppressants. Use the cheapest herbs. Do not let her wounds heal too fast." The healer froze for a moment. "But she was severely injured saving you, Alpha." Alexander's tone was incredibly cold and unfamiliar. "Her pain is not even a fraction of what Ruby went through." "I taught Ruby all these tricks. The explosion was no exception. She learns fast." I gripped the bedsheets tightly. My fingertips turned entirely cold. It turned out all the pain I suffered over the years was orchestrated by the Alpha I loved the most. I swore to the Moon Goddess that I would never let him see my face again.

As my body was pulled from the desolate marsh, Kian, the Alpha I had been mated to for ten years, was in the middle of his Mating Ceremony with his Beta, Sienna. My rotting corpse was mangled beyond recognition by layers of different wolfsbane poisons, my very bones stained black by the toxin's deep penetration. Even the pack's eldest healer retched at the sight of it. But, Kian, seemingly unfazed by the gruesome discovery, exchanged vows with Sienna before the Moon Altar. They received the blessings of the entire pack, while no one remembered me, even though I had only been missing for three months. It wasn't until my brother Ronan, the pack's Head Enforcer, began his investigation and found a shattered moonstone deep within my skeletal remains. "Ronan... if anyone can hear this... the Rogue Alpha has infiltrated..." The fragmented, static-laced voice that emanated from it made my brother freeze. When the truth was finally revealed, I was proven to be not the traitor who eloped with a Rogue Alpha, but the hero who died protecting the pack. And as for that Alpha who always looked down on me? He completely lost his mind.

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.

Five years after my death, my ex-husband, Adrian Shaw, came home with his childhood sweetheart, Hannah Reed, on his arm. They were preparing for a new mating ceremony. His only wish before the ceremony was to find me and make me pay for severing our mate bond and betraying him all those years ago. To force me to show myself, he destroyed my family's company, drove my father out of his mind, and burned down the home we had once shared. What he did not know was that I was already dead. Five years earlier, desperate to pay for the treatment he needed after a car accident badly injured his inner wolf, I signed up as a test subject at an underground clinic. It was an illegal clinic that used live subjects to test experimental silver-derived compounds and wolfsbane antidotes. I died in its basement. Later, my grandmother, who had dementia, ran into Adrian in the neighborhood. My grandmother's face lit up with joy. "Adrian, you're back? Grace has missed you so much. Come with me. I'll take you to see Grace."