Cerita Pendek & Novel Alpha Tragic Love

I volunteer to be the mate of Carl Wood, the Alpha of the Nightfall pack, as a direct measure to resolve the conflict between our two packs. He marks me on a full moon night. His gaze is so fervent in that moment that I interpret his look as a genuine sign of his attraction. Carl personally leads the elite fighters across the border two years later. He grabs my head, making me witness the gruesome dismantling of my mother, father, and brother by the pack; his gaze is alight with vengeful satisfaction. "Did your father show mercy during our youth when he destroyed my pack, Aria? Do you truly believe that having you here is enough to make up for this vengeance?" Carl assumes the position as the most powerful Alpha of the northern region, with Selena Hall established at his side as his Luna. I am kept barely alive, imprisoned in the depths of the dungeon in the pack. If I attempt to end my life, Carl retrieves the bones of a relative from the cemetery and incinerates them right in front of me, bellowing with bloodshot eyes, "You're not allowed to die unless I allow you to, Aria!" I immediately cease all resistance after that. Carl's heart was pierced by a silver-tipped arrow during his escape years ago. I had to implore the dark witch to use dark magic and substitute my sound heart for his. There are only three days left before the poison completely takes hold of me.

On the day of my bonding ceremony with Vincent Sawyer, the future Alpha, the moonstone ring meant for me, the future Luna, has mysteriously disappeared from the ringbox. In its place sits a can tab that has already gone black from oxidation. The guests' cheers die down immediately. They all turn to look at me after that. Amid the silence, Vincent's childhood sweetheart, Sharon Anderson, walks out from the crowd. She raises her left hand and waves, the moonstone ring perched on her ring finger. Then, she pulls out a matching ring before sliding it onto Vincent's finger. "You must be scared out of your wits, huh, Angelica? I'm actually wearing the ring right now. This can tab is no ordinary item, you know. Vincent had given it to me when we were still pups. It resembles everlasting love that will never fade away. Now, I'm giving it to you." Sharon's words strike me right in my heart. I tremble violently, feeling as if my heart is being cut into a million pieces. However, Vincent just chuckles. "Sharon always comes up with silly ideas. She's just joking around, Angelica. Don't take her actions to heart." "Oh, I won't." I toss the can tab into the bonfire, a dry chuckle escaping from my lips. "This bonding ceremony is canceled." Vincent grabs my hand before pulling me into his arms. "Stop messing around, Angelica! We found the ring, didn't we? This bonding alliance will affect the future of our packs! You're not the one calling the shots here!" I squirm out of Vincent's grasp, catching a trace of sickly sweet scent lingering around him—one that isn’t mine at all. "While it's true that the Moonlake pack is going to form a bonding alliance with the Brownstone pack, my future mate isn't necessarily you."

When the bells for our bonding ceremony tolled, my mate, Alpha Killian, was nowhere to be found. Before I could question his absence, a video from my mother appeared in the family group chat. In the video, Killian was on one knee in the banquet hall next door, slipping the Celestine Ring, the ultimate symbol of a Luna's status, onto my twin sister Daisy's finger. The Pack cheered, and my father stood beside them with a proud expression. Daisy leaned on Killian's shoulder, sobbing, while he gently patted her back as if she were his bride. I gathered the hem of my gown, about to rush over and demand an explanation, but my mother's Mind-link slammed into my thoughts. "Freya, Daisy is your sister. She's always been frail; she could never keep up with you. Just give her your place this time." With a trembling voice, I demanded, "Why did you all hide this from me?" "Because you've always fought with Daisy. If we had told you, you would have made a scene. What if her wolfsbane poisoning flared up again?" "Your wolf is strong. You can always have another ceremony." "We're all family. Don't make this ugly over something so trivial." My head spun, and I could not utter a single word. It turned out my mate and the Luna title were not the only things they could casually give away. They could just as easily discard me without a second thought. If that was how it was going to be, then so be it. From this moment on, I was done with this pack.

The first thing I did after being reborn was strip naked and walk into the room of Cain Edmonton, Alpha of the Northera Pack. That was because in my previous life, I'd been forced to mate with Cain's adopted son, Lukas Edmonton. I was even marked by him. After Lukas woke up, he completely denied forcing me to mate with him. He believed I had deliberately walked into his room and seduced him while he was in heat and not fully conscious. Later, we held our marking ceremony because I was with pup. During our eight years of sharing a mate bond, he barely ever came home. He spent most nights fooling around with his lover outside. Even when I went into premature labor and nearly bled to death, he never once came to see me. It wasn't until the pack was completely surrounded by vampires, and we lost all our territories. The evacuation helicopter only had one seat left. Everyone thought he would keep it for himself, but Lukas shoved me toward the final seat instead. "Go! Cecilia, I'm giving you the chance to live. If there's another life, please stay away from me. I only want to be with Isabella." The next second, vampires dragged him into the flames, while I died in a helicopter crash shortly after. What Lukas never knew was that he wasn't the only one who went into heat that night. His father, Alpha Cain, had gone into heat as well. After being reborn, I decided to give him what he wanted and let him be with Isabella Lancaster. In this life, I pushed open Cain’s door and walked toward him with nothing on. His cheeks were flushed. "Cain, let me help you."

On the day of my bonding ceremony, I somehow slept for six straight hours. By the time I reached the Moon Temple, the ceremony was long over. My fiancé, the Alpha of the Shadow Pack, had already completed the bonding rite with my sister. When he saw me burst in, drenched in sweat, Charles gave me a careless smile. “A rogue has his eye on Annie. The only way to protect her was to beat him to it and go through a fake ceremony with her first. She didn’t want to be claimed by some filthy rogue. Babe, you know I was just trying to help her.” He didn’t even think he’d done anything wrong. He went on, completely relaxed. “Don’t make a scene, Lilith. I’ll take you to seal the mate bond next week.” “I’ll get you a new bonding gown too. A more expensive one, with a train way bigger than hers. Okay?” I had spent almost half a year choosing that bonding gown myself. The hall went quiet. Everyone was waiting to watch me fall apart. But I only let out a long breath. Good. I didn’t want to be his mate anymore either. That rite would bind my sister’s wolf to Charles’s. She would never be able to awaken the bloodline power that belongs to our family. And I would leave the Shadow Pack and head for our ancestral land, where my own awakening ritual was waiting for me.

Three months into the silent treatment from my Alpha mate, Samson Holt, he holds a grand ceremony befitting of a Luna for the return of his beloved Leia Harton. Because of this, I—the real Luna—am now the laughing stock of the entire pack. "Sharon's just an orphan wolf with no real lineage. How could someone like her be our Luna?" "Exactly! Leia's the one who truly deserves to stand beside the Alpha." Ignoring them, I take up a silver blade and slash it hard across my throat. They never knew that I wasn't truly one of them. I wasn't a wolf at all, but a human from another world. And the Moon Goddess just told me that if I die in this world, I can finally go home and reunite with my family.

On the day of my marking ceremony, I accidentally slept through it for eight hours. By the time I made it to the altar, the ceremony was already over. My fiance, Liam Langdon, the youngest Alpha in Silver Moon Pack's history, stood hand in hand with his childhood sweetheart, Chloe Kingston. They were accepting the pack's blessings. The moment Chloe saw my pale face and disheveled state, she covered her mouth and giggled. "Sorry, Ella. I think I accidentally mixed a sleeping potion into the water I brought you at noon." Liam looked at her affectionately before glancing at me. "Chloe has dreamed of having the perfect marking ceremony ever since we were kids. It's only a ceremony. Let her have this one." He reached up and adjusted her veil. "And honestly, that dress looks better on her than it ever would have on you." My gaze landed on the white dress. I spent six months making it. I learned from the best tailor in the territory and stitched every single seam by hand. As if afraid I'd make a scene in front of everyone, Liam added casually, "Ella, if you can be reasonable about this, I'll officially mark you at the next full moon." The entire altar fell silent. Every werewolf expected me to lose control. Instead, I simply stood there and let out a sigh of relief. If he'd told me that sooner, I wouldn't have had to stay here any longer. It was finally time for me to return home and claim my throne.

My mate Alpha Rowan's childhood friend got pregnant by a rogue. To save her from burning at the stake by the Elders, Rowan claimed the pup was his. I asked him in disbelief what would happen to me and our pup. Rowan just hugged me tight, his eyes full of pain. "They'll kill Tessa, Gwen! Pack law only lets an Alpha pardon his own blood. I'm doing this to save her! You're my only mate. Why can't you understand?" Rowan had no clue. My Omega body simply couldn't handle his powerful Alpha blood. The pup inside me was draining me dry, eating me alive. My wolf was dying. Without my mate's scent and soothing day and night, I wouldn't survive the pregnancy. And I had no one else in this pack. Later, my bloodline-obsessed mother-in-law sneered at me. She said my wolf was weak because I was carrying a rogue's bastard. And Rowan? He was still playing house with his childhood friend. Through my tears, the truth finally hit me. He chose her over me. He chose duty over his mate. So I went to the Head Healer. I lay on the cold operating table and let them remove the pup that was killing me. Since my Alpha couldn't give me the protection I needed to survive, I had to save myself. Even if it meant losing our flesh and blood. But when he finally arrived and saw the blood-soaked surgical tray, he completely lost his mind.

I cooked sixteen dishes for the people I loved. Then they decided I didn't need a seat at my own table. Alpha Adrian Vale was my future mate. His Beta, Caleb Reed, and Gamma, Jace Mercer, had grown up with us. They had been my family. I liked cooking for them. I liked having them in my home. When they took in Mia, a stray she-wolf, I welcomed her too. Tonight, we were celebrating the reopening of our northern border. I'd spent the day preparing everyone's favorites. My table seated four. There were five of us. “Jace, grab the stool from the porch,” I said. Adrian pulled out my chair for Mia. “You still have those border reports, right? We'll get started. Caleb can save you a plate.” Caleb reached for the dishes. Jace turned toward the roast. No one asked whether I wanted to eat with them. I had set that table expecting to sit beside the man I would marry and the friends I'd known all my life. They had seen a meal ready to be served and work I could do somewhere else. For a moment, I looked at my place. I had willingly given them my time, my care, and a home to gather in. Somewhere along the way, they'd started treating those things as theirs. I took my spare key off Adrian's ring. “Dinner's over,” I said. “All of you can leave.” I wanted a family. I was done earning my place by serving one.

The healer told me I had Soul Decay Syndrome. In three days, I'd be dead. The only thing that could save me was water from the Sacred Spring. But my Alpha mate, Vincent, gave it to my adopted sister, Fiona. So, during the final 72 hours of my life, I gave up everything. When I handed Fiona the perfume formulas I'd spent years developing, my parents smiled in satisfaction. When I gave up the couples' vacation package I'd won and let Vincent take Fiona to see the Northern Lights instead, he praised me for finally being mature. When I taught my daughter to call Fiona "Mom", she didn't hesitate. She turned to me without a second thought and called me "Aunt." To my family, all my sacrifices were only natural. "Fiona is a frail human. Her lifespan is much shorter." "We'll love you properly later. We'll make it up to you." I let out a mocking laugh. There was no later for me. I'd never live long enough to receive their love. And after I died, they lost their minds with regret.

On the night of the full moon, both the widowed Omega, Natalie, and I went into sudden, agonizing labor. The pain brought me to my knees on the cold floor. Clutching Kaelen’s hand with the last of my strength, I begged him to take me to the hospital. But my pleas fell on deaf ears. Within the pack, everyone believed I was finally getting exactly what I deserved. After all, five years ago, I had cruelly played with Kaelen’s feelings and publicly rejected our mate bond. Now, with my pack on the brink of decline, Kaelen had risen to become the Supreme Alpha, forcing me into a partnership. Yet, while he claimed my body night after night, he bitterly refused to give me his mark. Even when he brought the pregnant Natalie into our home, I merely turned away and walked back to my room without a word—an indifference that only fueled his volatile rage. Until tonight, when Natalie and I went into labor at the exact same time. In my agony, I finally broke down and confessed that I loved him. But Kaelen only saw it as another calculated lie. Scooping Natalie up into his arms, he looked down at me with cold, unyielding eyes. “Natalie was right about you. You’re just staging a premature labor to orchestrate your escape and abandon the pack again.” He sneered, turning his back on me. “If you really love me, you’ll wait until she safely delivers. Don’t even think about running from me this time.” With the Alpha’s absolute command issued, the pack members did everything in their power to stall my delivery, ignoring my fading pulse. By the time Kaelen finally remembered me—deciding he would perform the marking ritual the moment our pup was born—it was already too late. My pup and I were already cold.

Selena Vanson, my adopted sister whom my brothers had brought back from the borders, has framed me. She claims that I've laced her birthday cake with wolfsbane. Hence, my brothers throw me into the silver mine, which has long since been sealed off. I scream for mercy while struggling against my bonds with all my might. But all I get is an icy judgment from Leo Wilde, my oldest brother who's the Alpha of the pack. He looks at me with hatred in his eyes, as though he's looking at a filthy beast. "Selena has been taking care of you without minding the fact that you're a low-tier Omega. Yet, you intend to poison her and even kill her wolf out of jealousy toward her blood purity! You deserve to die!" My other two brothers, Luke and Ryan Wilde, have even tied heavy rocks to my limbs for fear that I might escape. "You often act innocent and wronged, but the truth is, you have such a vile heart! Our family is embarrassed to have a lowly Omega like you!" "It's best if you die! No one here wants to see you ever again!" Even my younger brother, Rupert Wilde, who is raised by me, mocks me as well. "Lorraine, you should be sensible. Even without you around, Selly will still be nice to me. But without us, you're nothing but an abandoned mutt." After that, they close the mine's door on me. Silver powder soon rushes into my nose and mouth. I feel as though my body is lit on fire. Pain and agony soon engulf me whole. Once my brothers think that I've been punished enough and want to spare me from the torture, there's nothing left of me inside the mine pit but a pile of blood and bones.

On the day Mateo was crowned as the Alpha King of the Eastern Packs, I learned that my remaining wolf's power was depleted and that the silver curse would eventually take my life. During the coronation ceremony, the Grand Elder asked Mateo who he regretted losing the most. Without hesitation, he dialed my number. I answered, listening to his cold voice through the phone: "When I got hurt, after you left me thinking I wasn't Alpha anymore, did you ever regret it?" Looking at the astronomical bill for another month's supply of moonwort potion, I laughed softly: "Mateo, since you're so powerful now, could you lend me 500,000 for the treatment?" The line went dead instantly. On the live broadcast, I watched as his face turned to ice: "Now I have no regrets." He didn't know that seven years ago, when that cursed silver dagger was killing him, I had secretly channeled my wolf's power to him, taking the curse upon myself.

Once my wolf awakened, I could smell emotions. Joy was sweet. Grief was bitter. Disgust and anger carried a sharp, spicy scent. Harris and I had been together for nine years, and his scent had never changed. It had always been sweet. That changed when my sister, Gwen, left the pack. That night, Harris came home late, and I caught an unfamiliar bitterness lingering on him for the first time. I simply furrowed my brows, not thinking much of it. Three years later, Gwen returned and announced that she would hold a mating ceremony with an Alpha from another pack. On the day of the ceremony, Harris carried a scent I’d never smelled on him before. The bitterness with spicy notes left chills running down my spine. My heart sank, and before I knew it, I was following Harris after he slipped away from the celebration. The door to the lounge at the end of the corridor was slightly ajar. I could hear Harris growling. “Enough! To kill any hope I had left, you’d choose a mate bond with an Alpha you don’t even love?” Gwen shook her head in tears. “Harris, you’ll be Grace’s mate. We can’t repeat the mistake we have made.” I froze, my blood running cold. It felt as if a paw was squeezing my heart, and the pain ripped through my chest. Just then, my phone buzzed with a reminder for my own mating ceremony with Harris. I stared at my mobile screen. Seconds later, I was on the phone with the venue that was booked for the ceremony. “Hello there. I’d like to cancel my reservation.”

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.

During a battle between packs, both my adopted sister Chloe and I were injured. A Rogue tore me apart, leaving me a mangled heap of flesh and blood. My wolf was already fading from my spirit. But my Alpha mate, Damon, ran straight to Chloe. She had nothing more than a scratch on her face. He refused to use his Alpha power to save me, blaming me for the entire disaster. "Elena, if you hadn't slowed us down, none of this would have happened! How could Chloe have gotten hurt?" "You're not worth wasting the pack's resources on." In the end, I was left for dead in the forest, unclaimed and forgotten. And when the truth came out that I had died to save him? That cold-blooded Alpha who rejected me so viciously went insane.

In my fifth year of serving the Moon Goddess on behalf of the pack, the mother-and-child necklace around my neck suddenly shattered. It had been passed down from one Luna to the next, carrying the bond between mother and child. When the mother's half breaks, it means the child is dead. Something had happened to my daughter. I gathered the broken pieces in my hands and saw a vision of her final moments. She lay facedown on the ground, her body covered in wounds, repeating the same words over and over: "Mom, it hurts so much." I could hear the werewolves around her laughing. "Poor thing. The Luna's been gone for years, and things have only gotten worse for her daughter. Now she's been poisoned with wolfsbane, and she can't even get the antidote." "That's what she gets for not being able to have pups. She can't give the Alpha an heir, and she can't even keep her mate, Mark, interested in her." "The Alpha's bloodline can't be allowed to die out. If she can't give him an heir, then naturally, that responsibility falls to Faye. She has Alpha blood too, after all." "Honestly, the wolfsbane is a blessing. Mark is the son-in-law the Alpha chose himself. Once she's gone, he can take Faye as his mate and give the pack an heir with Alpha blood." The voices cut off, and a chill ran through me. Five years ago, for the sake of the pack, I'd agreed to my mate Lucas's request and secluded myself on Moon Goddess Mountain to serve the Moon Goddess. He'd promised to take care of our only daughter. By the time I came home, I'd be a grandmother. Instead, he used her inability to have pups as an excuse and turned a blind eye while Mark slept with Faye, Lucas's niece and the daughter of his widowed sister-in-law, Mina. When my daughter was poisoned with wolfsbane, he stood by and watched her die. I felt her wolf fading, along with the pup inside her. Tears slipped down my cheeks. I raised my hand and shattered the crystal pillar. It had taken five years of offerings and was almost ready

My mate’s sister, Selene, was with pup when she leapt from the highest tower of Blackrock Keep. Before she died, she sent me one final whisper through the pack bond. “Lyra saw him.” From that day on, I became the greatest sinner in Stormcliff. Everyone believed I knew who had driven Selene to her death. The elders demanded the truth. My father-in-law, the aged Alpha, knelt before me. My mother-in-law, the elder Luna, clutched my legs and begged until her voice broke. But I said nothing. For two years, I carried the secret alone. Darian, my mate, did not exile me. Instead, he stayed by my side, gentler than ever. I thought he still loved me. Until the day I gave birth to his pup. That night, he locked me inside the cold stone dungeon and brought out the Soul Recollection Device. Every wolf who had used that device either died or lost their mind. As the silver needles pierced into my skull, Darian stood before me with bloodshot eyes. “If you won’t speak,” he said, his voice cold and shaking, “then I’ll tear the truth out of your soul myself.” He thought I was protecting Selene’s murderer. But when he finally saw the truth I had buried for him, Darian went mad.

Kalen Silver Moon and I had been officially bonded for less than a year, and we'd already dissolved the contract nine times in public. The tenth time, I stood at the bottom of the Moon Temple steps, holding a roll of unbinding papers. At the top of the steps, he and his childhood friend Sylvia were each holding a freshly drawn mate contract. "Sorry about this, Ella," Sylvia winked at me, playful as ever. "Just need to borrow your Alpha for a few days. The second Gareth gets jealous enough to come crawling back, I'll return him good as new." Kalen laughed under his breath. "Only you'd have the nerve to pull this with Ella being as easygoing as she is." "If your father wasn't an Elder, I wouldn't play along with this childish game." He draped his arm around me, casual as anything. "Ella, just go with it for a few days." "Once this is over, I'll throw you the biggest Moon Ceremony Silver Moon has ever seen. Every Elder, every warrior in the pack will be there to witness it. I'll announce to everyone that you're my Luna." "I promise. This is the last time." Before I could open my mouth, Sylvia cut in with a bright smile. "Ella would never get upset. She smiled through it the first nine times. She'll definitely help us out again, right?" The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder in the moonlight, laughing, easy with each other. Like the nine mate contracts I'd signed and dissolved with Kalen were nothing but a game they played for fun. I'd been part of this act for nine rounds already. This time, I didn't want to play anymore.

My mate is Ryder Blackwood, Alpha of the pack. As the approaching bonding ceremony, he tells me that his "savior", Isabelle Morrison, is dying. She took a silver dagger meant for him three years ago. Now she is terminal, and her days are numbered. Her last wish, he says, is to leave behind a pup bearing the strongest Alpha blood. I tremble. "What about me? I'm your only mate." His voice is cold, emptied of feeling. "Don't worry. I'll always be your mate." Two days later, I receive the pregnancy test results. Isabelle is five weeks along. Turns out there was never a choice. All I get is a belated notice. What he doesn't know is that I'm the one who took the silver dagger meant for him three years ago. The healer tells me I have, at most, a month to live. I neither weep nor protest. I cancel the bonding ceremony I've dreamed of and quietly book a flight out. It leaves on the very day of the ceremony. Ryder stands at the venue of the canceled ceremony when my message reaches him. It's my unwavering rejection of him as my mate. That's when he finally breaks. For the first time, the Alpha who controls everything tastes a fear that tears the soul. He searches for me frantically, only to find every trace of me erased from his world.