Alpha Substitute Bride Short Stories & Novels

I have been dead for seven years. For seven years, a rare plague had ravaged the Silver Moon Kingdom. The new Luna, Lilith, wasn't immune either. She coughed up blood daily, her old wounds weeping anew with every full moon. Even in death, to the wolf packs, I was still the jinx. The false Luna who had beguiled the Alpha King. The cursed one destined to bring ruin to the kingdom. The entire kingdom begged Alpha King Kaelan to banish my vengeful spirit. My former mate was in the royal palace, softly consoling his current Luna, my sister. "Lilith, don't be afraid. If she insists on tormenting you with her curse even after death, then I will tear her inner wolf to shreds. You'll never be threatened by her again." But when they set foot in the Rogue Lands where I had been exiled, they found no wandering spirit of mine. Before them knelt the corpses of dozens of she-wolves, arranged neatly before my crude grave. They had all been exiled as "sinners", yet now, in death, they offered their final act of devotion. There was no trace of any spirit. There was only a small girl, about six years old, sitting beside the tombstone and clutching a photograph of me from when I was alive. Her ice-blue eyes were a perfect reflection of Kaelan's. "You're too late," she said. "Her inner wolf returned to the Moon Goddess long ago." "I've only been waiting here to get justice for my mother."

Alpha Damon was an exiled monster, feared for his cruelty. He chose Selena—an omega from a worthless pack—as his mate. There was just one problem. Our Mating Ceremony, mine and my fated mate Alpha Ethan's, was set for the same day. When Ethan found out, he vanished for three days. I found him just in time to overhear his plan. "At the Mating Ceremony, I'll fake a sign from the Moon Goddess. I'll make it look like she rejected Elara." "Pack law will force her onto that pathetic excuse for a brother, Damon. Then Selena won't have to mate with him." "An outcast like Damon doesn't deserve a true Alpha's fated mate. Once Selena is safe, I’ll just take Elara back." My heart turned to stone. He was throwing me to a monster to save another woman. And he thought he could just take me back? Fine. I would play along with his little scheme. But once his little show was over, I'd be gone for good. Except when Ethan came to "rescue" me, he found Damon's mark burned into my neck. That's when he finally broke.

My sister poisoned me. All because her mate was a pale shadow next to mine. Now, I'm back where it all began. The Mating Ceremony, five years ago. In my last life, Sarah and I chose our mates at the Pack Alliance gala. She chose the most powerful Alpha, the future Alliance leader, Damon. But she could never bear him a pup. Damon despised her. He abused her. He even went feral during his curse and nearly killed her. She shoved me toward Liam, the Alpha of a failing pack. She never guessed Liam’s power would explode, that he’d one day tear the title of High Alpha from Damon’s grasp. Then, on the day of Liam's coronation, Sarah poisoned me out of jealousy. I opened my eyes again. We were back at the mate selection ceremony. Sarah announced to everyone she was choosing Liam, and I was shoved toward her ex-mate, Damon. But I suddenly heard her inner scream: [Die, Elena. Just die! You and that rabid wolf Damon can go to hell together. Liam will still be High Alpha, and I will be the ultimate Luna!] But I just smirked as I stumbled into Damon’s arms. Sarah had no idea. The “perfect mate” she’d chosen was already plotting to consume her very soul.

When Jayden Stolt, the Alpha King, is done inspecting the Greyridge pack, he leaves right away. After that, he commands his guards to deliver the Luna Crown and a wedding dress over to the pack. The guard claims that the Alpha King has smelled the scent belonging to his fated mate, and asks us to offer the she-wolf who's meant to become his mate. In the first time loop, Father has delivered Jenna Thornton, my exquisite and gorgeous older sister, to the Alpha King. When Jayden sniffs her scent, he crushes her skull instantly. "You're completely covered in shitty perfume, yet you think you get to become the Luna?" In the second time loop, Father chooses to deliver Malia Thornton, my younger stepsister, who's been foretold to be able to give birth to the strongest pups. Jayden wastes no time in slashing her guts out. "The scent isn't right!" In the third time loop, Father, who has no choice left, can only convince my stepmother, Vanessa Plink, to doll up and meet the Alpha King. Jayden instantly rips Vanessa to shreds. In the time loops after that, the female warriors, the female Omegas, and even the mute she-wolf who's in charge of caring for the horses are delivered to the Alpha King one by one. All of them end up getting slain by Jayden. In the 100th time loop, there aren't any adult she-wolves left in the pack. Only then does Father remember me, a she-wolf without a wolf spirit. "You're the only one left… This must be the correct she-wolf!" Relieved, Father delivers me to the Alpha King. But when Jayden sees me, rage instantly fills his gaze. He crushes all of my bones in my body before throwing my corpse into the woods for the beasts to feed on. "You'd rather die than give my fated mate to me?" In the final timeloop, when the Alpha King's guard shows up with the Luna Crown and the wedding dress once again, Father finally breaks down. He swears to the guard that there aren't any suitable she-wolves remaining in the pack anymore. But the guard just stares Father in the eye. "The Alpha King has already made it clear that his fated mate definitely resides within the Greyridge pack."

My cousin stole my fiancé's suppressant on the night of the full moon — just to test how much he loved her. Then she locked me in a room with him while he was out of his mind with pain. Watching Adrian writhe in agony, I wrapped my trembling arms around him and let him mark me. My cousin was devastated. She married the brutal Alpha of the neighboring pack in a fit of spite. When Adrian found out I was pregnant, he had no choice but to make me his Luna. But in five years of marriage, he never once came to see me or our son. After rogues kidnapped us, I thought he'd finally let us go. Instead, he shifted and fought to bring us back — only to die alongside those rogue wolves. I held his bloodied body and watched the light drain from his eyes. With his last breath, he gripped my hand: "Stop saving me! I regret everything… I never needed you to save me…" My heart shattered. Cold wind tore through the hollow in my chest until I couldn't stop shaking, and the world went dark. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that full moon night — five years in the past.

The day before the ceremony, my Alpha Heir mate Lysander brought home an Omega who still bore an old mark — and insisted she become his Luna. The beautiful, fragile-looking Omega leaned against his chest, her eyes red. "I can't. If you keep me, my mate will die without me." Lysander answered lightly, "Then I'll give up my Luna-to-be. We'll trade. I'll order him to break your mark at once." The Omega laughed softly. "That’s for the best. But are you sure you don't mind?" Lysander smiled back. "A dull puppet who spent her whole life waiting to be marked by me. How could she compare to you?" She glanced around the chamber and pouted. "I don't like any of this. It was all prepared for her." Lysander kissed her forehead. "I'll replace all of it. Something better. For you." Their love story became the talk of the realm. And no one cared that I was the "dull puppet" who had been traded away.

My sister fled on the day of her Bonding Ceremony. I was forced to marry the Lycan King known for his brutality. Six years later, she returned. Still as bold and brazen as ever, she pressed a crimson kiss against Kael’s collar—right in front of the entire Council of Elders. Kael went rigid. Then she turned to me, her eyes gleaming with mockery. “Little sister, thank you for keeping my throne warm all these years. Now that I’m back, it’s time you gave me back my place as Luna Queen.” Silence swallowed the hall. Everyone remembered what happened when she ran away. Kael had nearly slaughtered half a rival territory in his rage. So now? I wondered too. Would this unpredictable, brutal King lose his mind for her once again?

In my previous life, my husband Kael Drayne, heir to the Beast King's throne and full-blooded dragon, cut open my belly with his own hands on the day I gave birth. He pulled our child out and dashed it against the floor in front of me. That was the moment I finally understood. The one he truly loved was my stepsister, Ivy Wren. Because she couldn't bear to watch the man she loved marry someone else, Ivy had staged a dramatic exit on our wedding day, slipping out alone, only to run into a gang of rogue beastkin. She vanished without a trace. Kael blamed every last bit of it on me. He hated me for it with everything he had. "Just because you're the only pure-blooded white wolf, you think you had the right to come between me and Ivy? She's gone because of you. I'm going to throw you to the horde — let you feel exactly what she went through." But he was the one who'd pursued me. He was the one who'd confessed his feelings. It was because I chose him that he was able to claim the throne at all. None of it mattered to him. There was nothing left in his eyes but hatred. Kael hurled me into a frenzied beast horde, and I was torn apart. In those final moments, I saw three figures, Kael's three unremarkable bastard brothers, charging toward me through the chaos, trying to drag me out. But the numbers were too great, the gap in power too wide. In the end, they died there alongside me. I thought my story ended there, full of regret. Then I woke up. I'd been reborn to just before Kael and I were to marry. This time, I wasn't going to choose him. And that, apparently, drove him out of his mind.

I was born without a wolf—the Blackwood family's most shameful daughter. My twin sister Seraphina, however, was blessed with a rare white wolf. She'd been cradled in our parents' palms since birth. When she got hurt, I drank the potion and bled in her place. When she caused trouble, I took the punishment for her. At eighteen, she was betrothed to Prince Alaric—a man under a terrible curse. They said every full moon, he turned into a mindless monster. His first three brides had all died beneath his claws. Seraphina sobbed and refused to go. So my parents sacrificed me again. They dressed me up and sent me to the altar in her place. Even Alaric himself warned me with disgust: "Don't ever think I'll love you. That would kill you." Everyone waited for me to die on the first full moon. But when a poisoned arrow flew at Alaric's back, I still stepped in front of him. When I woke, the monster everyone feared was at my bedside—eyes bloodshot, hands still stained with the assassins' blood. He gripped my wrist, his voice hoarse: "Wren, who gave you permission to die for me?"