Awakening Short Stories & Novels

It was our seventh bonding anniversary. However, Xavier Ashton, the Alpha who controlled everything, brought home his pregnant lover. For the past seven years, he worshipped me. He would kiss my hand in front of everyone and say I was his moon, the only Luna of his life. Yet now, his hand rested on another she-wolf's belly, as if showcasing a miracle. "She's carrying my first pup. You have the Moon Goddess's power. I want you to bless her. Also, she's been having nightmares during the pregnancy, so she'll take the main bedroom." I froze, almost convinced I had misheard him. "Are you joking? That's my room!" He looked up, his tone carrying a warning. "From today, it's hers." Anger nearly made me laugh. My voice shook, but it was clear. "You got some lowly Omega she-wolf pregnant and brought her into our home? Xavier Ashton, you've completely lost your mind!" "I won't say this a third time. Move out now." His aura turned ice-cold in an instant. His Alpha pressure hit me head-on, making my wolf whimper inside me. He thought I would obediently submit, but he did not know that I had already packed my bags weeks ago, when I received the video of his affair. As I walked toward the front door, I heard him sneer behind me, "Let her throw a tantrum. She'll come crawling back in less than three days." The pack members snickered behind me, already betting on how many days I would last this time. However, the private car sent to pick me up was already waiting at the door. This time, I was cutting ties with him for good.

She'd loved him for four years. But just before their wedding, she was forced to pretend she'd betrayed him, leaving him no choice but to let her go. When he found out she'd cheated on him, he flew into a rage and made her life a living hell. “Summer Blake, you should be grateful I haven't killed you.” It wasn't until much later that he realized just how empty his world had become without her.

When mafia heir Alaric Gallo had nothing but a dying legacy and a target on his back, I became his wife. I gave him everything. My fortune. My loyalty. I destroyed myself trying to have his baby. Even when I couldn't, he swore a blood oath in my ear. He would love me until death. So when he begged me to sign a "fake divorce" to hide from our enemies, I believed him. Without a second thought. Until I came home early one day. I found another woman in our bed... wearing the silk robe Alaric bought for me. And Alaric was inside her, mocking me. "Alessia, that sweet, stupid, infertile girl. She believes anything I say. She already signed the papers. In a few days, I'll marry you." The sickest part? The woman moaning under him wasn't just a stripper from his club. She was the mother of his secret son. Overnight, my perfect marriage became a joke. The laughingstock of the Chicago underworld. Alaric thought I was weak. A pushover. He thought I'd take his pathetic hush money, cry in a corner, and disappear from his world. He was wrong. Because I'm not just Alessia Ricci. I am Alessia Rinaldi. The hidden heir to Chicago's most powerful syndicate. Alaric wanted a fake divorce. Now, he's going to lose everything. For real.

On college decision night, my entire family crowded around my twin sister, Lily. My brother Ethan pulled up a map of Boston and compared the distance between her dorm and his campus. Ryan, my childhood best friend, gave up his place at McGill because Lily admitted she was scared to start college without someone familiar nearby. My parents couldn't have been happier. Now Lily would always have someone ready to take care of her. It took them most of the evening to remember that I had a decision to make too. "Nora has always been our independent one," Mom said, choosing for me without so much as looking up. "She can go to UMass Boston. It's close to Lily, so she can help out on weekends." No one asked which schools had accepted me. No one knew there was still an offer from Scotland sitting in my inbox. If they had never planned to let me have a life of my own, I no longer owed them updates about it. I turned my laptop away from them and accepted my place at the University of Edinburgh. For once, I chose the place farthest from all of them.

My parents died when I was young, so I grew up by my aunt’s side. What she did not know was that I had been secretly dating her best friend, Yvette, for three years. One night, after Yvette had too much to drink, she looked at me with her hazy eyes. “You should be with someone closer to your own age. How about I find someone for you?” I looked at her deeply and nodded. “Sure.” In my previous life, I refused. I even bravely proclaimed to the entire world that I loved her. Under pressure from her family, Yvette had no choice but to marry me. However, after we were married, she became almost completely indifferent toward me. Even on the day I underwent a heart transplant, Yvette was off sandboarding with the man she had always loved. A love that was forced would never have a happy ending.

For three years, Julian Hart has been Larkmoor's idea of the perfect husband. 7:00 a.m. — He gets up to make breakfast. Vivienne Sterling eats only whole-wheat sandwiches, so he goes out early for the freshest ingredients. 9:00 a.m. — He ties her shoelaces and sees her off. 10:30 a.m. — He cleans their mansion, waters the plants, and straightens her study. 3:00 p.m. — He organizes her walk-in closet and jewelry and irons her clothes. ... 10:00 p.m. — The bath he's prepared is at precisely the right temperature when she arrives home on schedule. As Julian helps her out of her coat, he catches the faint smell of tobacco on it.

My girlfriend, Esther Cahill, and my best friend, Lionel Fox, are both ESTPs. They send each other thousands of messages every day, but the second I say something, they both go completely silent. "Gabriel, it's not that we don't want to reply. You just wouldn't get what we're talking about." I have always assumed that I'm just too quiet and that I don't really fit in with them. One day, I get hit by a car outside the school and end up bleeding badly. The driver speeds away, and I call Esther ten times, but she doesn't answer. I enter the three-person group chat, only to find that she's having the time of her life chatting with Lionel. The messages keep coming in so fast that I can barely keep up.

I loved Alpha Kane Blackwood for seven years, but his parents never approved. Then I took three arrows meant for him in an ambush. That finally moved his parents, Edmund and Eleanor Blackwood, the pack's former Alpha and Luna, to give us their blessing. Then Kane announced he was making Vivian Cole his Luna. She was an Omega he'd only just brought back from a prison camp. When the two of them showed up at Moonbridge hand in hand, the whole pack was stunned. After all, everyone knew how spoiled I was, the purebred white wolf Kane had raised himself. People were placing bets. Most thought I'd smash every bottle at the reception and tear that Omega to pieces, then make the Alpha buy me a gift worth a hundred thousand dollars before I'd let it go. Kane thought so too. The moment I walked in, he pulled Vivian behind him. "Sandra, today is not the day for one of your scenes." But I only gave him a small, pained smile. "I came to wish you and your Luna a happy marriage, Alpha." Right then, lines of floating text started scrolling before my eyes again. [Baby, no! You're the heroine of this sweet guardian romance. Your uncle is only marrying that villainess Vivian Cole to repay a debt!] [Her father was the Beta who died protecting your uncle in the last war. She's the only survivor of his family... The vampires slaughtered everyone else... Give it one more month. Once Vivian wins the pack over and Moonbridge accepts her, he'll split up with her!] [Whose heart just broke? The male lead's! Baby, look at him, he's falling apart!] In my last life, I believed them. I ruined the wedding, and Kane left Vivian for me. Humiliated, she fled Moonbridge and was killed by rogues on the road. Kane found her body, then threw me to the same rogues. "You'll die the way she died. That's what you owe her." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the ambush, watching the same three arrows fly at Kane. I took them for him once more—not out of love, but to make us even.

Mating with Kaelen, the strongest Alpha around, I thought I'd be the happiest Luna ever. That was until my Silver Moon Ceremony, the one that would officially make me Luna of the Night-fang pack. That's when I found Kaelen on his knees before some red-haired she-wolf. He was doing a blood-bond ritual, one that drains all your spirit, all to protect her kid. His kid, in her belly. For this cub, he was even willing to push back our Silver Moon Ceremony, making me look like a fool in front of the whole pack. He conveniently forgot that I was pregnant too – with his actual first heir. So, the night our Silver Moon Ceremony was supposed to happen, I started a different ritual: the Moon Eclipse Unbinding. Come the full moon, I'm using an ancient ritual from the old texts to cut our mate bond for good. And when I do, Kaelen will feel the same gut-wrenching pain I'm feeling.

Three days ago, my vampire fiancé, Clan Lord Raven Ashford, took his aide Vera on a private overnight trip to the southern border and gave her the seat reserved for his betrothed. He expected me to make a scene. I didn’t. I had stopped fighting a month ago. A year's worth of small surrenders had finally added up to something I could no longer ignore. He handed the border treaty I had negotiated myself to Vera, thinking I would appeal to the elders. Instead, I organized the handover documents and sent them over. He dismantled the territorial affairs I had managed for years, piece by piece, to pave Vera's way forward. I said nothing. I took the blame that was mine, accepted the cold looks, and let it all pass. At the banquet, he seated Vera beside him. He nodded more at her words than at mine. He thought I had finally accepted it, thought I was afraid to lose him. Then he came to me with offers. A manor in the south. Hunting grounds in the west. The family ring that should finally go on my finger. For the first time, he initiated these things himself, speaking as though granting me rewards. I asked for nothing. The dissolution papers he had already signed were buried among the documents he approved without reading. Those papers contained two declarations: the end of our betrothal and my departure from the clan. He never noticed. He still believed I was his betrothed, still waiting. I wasn't.

During my three-year-old son's preschool physical, his blood type didn't match mine or my wife's. I had just printed the divorce papers when I suddenly heard my son's voice. [This disgusting man is so stupid. He's raised me, his own little brother, as his son for years and still has no idea!] [Lol, hurry up and get divorced. Once they divorce, I can cling openly to my real mom!] [And divorced men are unwanted anyway. From now on, every dollar he earns will be mine!] My wife was still anxiously explaining, "Honey! I really never betrayed you! Do you really want a divorce?" I looked at my son's tightly closed lips and excited eyes, then tore up the divorce papers instead. "No divorce. Since he isn't our child anyway, let's throw him away."

Seren Grant is extremely protective of her personal space. We've been dating for three years, yet I still don't have the access code to her apartment. Whenever I want to spend the night at her place, I have to let her know in advance. She always came downstairs to let me in herself. She says it's about maintaining boundaries, and I respect that. Until one day, I arrive early and am just about to call her when the elevator doors open. Her colleague, William Baker, swipes his key card to get through the security entrance. Then, he presses his fingerprint against the lock on her apartment door. The door opens. When he turns around to see me, he freezes for a moment. "What are you doing here? Seren said tonight isn't a good time." When I ask him how he has access to her fingerprint lock, he simply responds, "I registered my fingerprint last year. I come over often to feed her cat." She never even told me she had a cat. She said she was allergic to cat fur and couldn't have pets. Using that excuse, she turned down my suggestions that we get a cat together three separate times. Later, when I came across William's social media posts, I learned that she'd given him the cat as a birthday present. I deleted all the messages I had sent to Seren asking her for permission to visit. Seren Grant, your boundaries only ever apply to me. Meanwhile, he's had a place in your home all along.

On Christmas Day, Dad shows up at my wife Sophia Walker's law firm, covered in snow. Clutching a crumpled land purchase contract, he stands awkwardly in front of her desk for a long time before finally gathering the courage to speak. "Sophia, I got scammed out of 30 thousand dollars in retirement savings when I bought a plot of land to be buried in. You're a lawyer. Could you take a look at the contract and see if there's any way I can get my money back?" Sophia specializes in contract disputes, but she doesn't even bother to glance at the document. Instead, she sweeps it off her desk and onto the floor. "You came to me over a 30-thousand-dollar scam involving a burial plot? I have actual clients waiting. I can't waste billable hours on this." Dad flinches at her words and hurriedly bends down to pick up the contract, apologizing over and over. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to bother you. I won't take up any more of your time. I'll figure something out myself." My heart aches at the sight. Then my gaze falls on the case files scattered across Sophia's desk. Right on top is a legal brief arguing for an acquittal in Ethan Cole's aggravated assault case. Ethan is her childhood sweetheart. He's gotten into a bar fight and broken three of a woman's ribs. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Sophia has spent the entire night poring over legal statutes and drafting more than 30 pages of arguments in an attempt to get him acquitted. Yet when it comes to her father-in-law, she can't even be bothered to look at his contract. I watch Dad shuffle toward the door, his back hunched and his shoulders slumped. Taking a deep breath, I slowly slide the wedding ring off my left ring finger and place it on the corner of Sophia's desk.

Ruth Jensen is determined to cure Zeke Carlton of his jealous streak. Every time he gets jealous, she buys her assistant, Calvin Ward, a present—everything from jewelry to expensive cars to villas. Zeke goes from throwing hysterical fits to going completely numb. One day, Ruth buys Calvin gifts for the 99th time. She looks at Zeke, who's shaking all over, his face drained of color. She says disdainfully, "Zeke, I can't stand men who are jealous and possessive. If you never learn to be generous and graceful, then I'll just keep treating Calvin well." But this time, Zeke doesn't question her like he usually does, nor does he ask her for money. He's actually gone to the office to pick something up today. To his surprise, he walks right into Ruth throwing a birthday celebration for Calvin there. The place is crammed full of gifts she's gotten Calvin, piled so high there's barely room to walk. At the door, a few workers are hauling in boxes while gossiping. "Careful. These are all this season's new releases Ms. Jensen bought for Mr. Ward. If we break anything, we'll never be able to pay it back!" "How many times has it been this month? Every time Ms. Jensen does this, she buys him stuff worth millions of dollars…" Zeke feels like someone has sliced his heart open. Every time he asks Ruth for money to keep paying his grandmother's medical bills, she always complains. Yet she doesn't even bat an eye when she buys Calvin these insanely expensive luxury goods. Zeke turns to leave, but Ruth frowns and calls out to him. "Are you actually stalking me all the way to the office now? It's Cal's birthday today. Did you deliberately come here dressed like that just to be an eyesore?"

As a healer, I keep taking in emergency patients around the clock just so I can save up enough money for a luxurious family trip. But after transferring the money into the family account, my mate, Leonard Cross, announces that he will be taking the entire family on the trip, whereas I'm required to stay at home. Everyone supports his decision. "Don't you always take overtime shifts on your day off? That's why I never considered the fact that you can go on this trip with us." I'm pissed, to say the least. "So, the four of you will be going, eh?" My sister-in-law, Rita Cross, pipes up, "Cassandra and Hannah will be joining us too." Cassandra Davis is Leonard's childhood sweetheart, whereas Hannah is the family's pet dog. It seems that everyone has received an invitation but me. After staying quiet for another beat, I nod. "Fine." Soon, I accept the three-year dispatch request to another place that's offered to me by my workplace. I also take the liberty to put the house—which I own the deed to—on sale. Since my family supports my career this much, I'm sure they will do the same when I decide to buy myself a new place to live for the sake of my business trip, right?

I was once the Alpha's adopted daughter, but I took the fall for the man I loved and spent three years in the Pack prison. Then I had his pup before we were ever mated. This was the ninety-ninth time I'd asked for a mating ceremony. He swept his arm across the desk and sent everything crashing to the floor. "You really think you deserve to be mated to me? You've done time. You're nothing." "I've been too good to you. You've forgotten your place." But he was the one who'd promised. He said once I had the baby, we'd have the ceremony and be mates. He slammed the door on his way out. He didn't come home for three months. He cut me off completely. The power and water were shut off. My pup Lily had a fever that wouldn't break. I had no choice. I carried her to Pack headquarters to find him, and that's when I heard him talking to Serena. "Babe, when are you finally going to leave that trashy Ivy? We're the ones who actually went through the ceremony. We're the real mates." His voice went all soft and indulgent, and it made my skin crawl. "I want to cut ties with her too. It's her fault — she couldn't give me a son." "She's done time. How could she ever be worthy of me?" But he seemed to have forgotten — the reason I was locked up in the first place was because I took the fall for him.

When Lilith Sterling showed up, I realized the years I'd spent being coddled by my three childhood friends had been nothing but a lie. My Alpha King father, though, still had no idea. He honestly believed I'd end up choosing one of the three. That's why, at the Pack gathering, he announced in front of everyone: "Aurora, whoever you want to bond with—your father will make it happen." Every pair of eyes turned to the three boys who'd once loved and protected me—Kael Blackwood, Orion Whitethorn, and Zephyr Stormrider. We were perfectly matched in status, had grown up together, shared years of deep affection. But when my father threw out that hint, the three of them acted like they hadn't heard a thing. Kael was draping his coat over Lilith's shoulders. Orion was massaging her feet. Zephyr was busy fighting through the crowd to snatch a gift for her. The silence was suffocating. My father's face went rigid with humiliation. I quickly spoke up: "Father, my future mate hasn't made it back yet. Once he returns, I'll bring him straight to you." The three of them scoffed at that, smirking like they'd just heard the best joke of the night. They thought I was lying. Everyone there assumed I'd have to pick one of the three. But the one I'd already chosen had nothing to do with any of them.

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.

While I was with a client looking at watches at a luxury boutique, I spotted a Chanel bag sitting on the authentication counter. "You've got a great eye, sir. This bag retails for eleven thousand dollars, and the young lady who brought it in wants to let it go for under three thousand." As the sales associate opened the inner pocket, a hand-drawn dried-flower card slipped out. "May my girl never have another worry." I wasn't seeing things. It was the seventh-anniversary gift I'd given Veronica Hale, with a note in my own handwriting. The sales associate started chatting idly. "A young woman dropped it off the day before yesterday. It's already been authenticated. She said she needed cash fast to buy her younger boyfriend a car." Younger boyfriend? A car? The color drained from my face. I opened the video account of Dylan Kerr, the college intern at her company. In the video, he was holding a slender hand in the passenger seat, their fingers laced together. On the woman's wrist was a clover bracelet. The one I'd fastened there myself three years ago. Fighting back nausea, I swiped my card and bought the bag. "No need to pack the card. Just throw it out."

My six-year-old son fed me the cake that triggered my allergy and killed his unborn sister. He was smiling when he confessed, as if he had done something wonderful. “Aunt Vivienne said the baby would go back to the Moon Goddess. Then you and Daddy could break your mate bond, and she could stay with us instead. That way, Aunt Vivienne would have more time to play with me!” My heart clenched. I couldn't hold back anymore. “But Mommy and your sister can play with you, too. Can't we?” “Yeah, but…” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “But it's boring when I'm with you, Mommy. Daddy and I have more fun with Aunt Vivienne.” The words hit me like a blow. For a long moment, I couldn't say a word. My mate, Adrian, stripped Finn of his heir badge, suspended his Alpha training, and sent him to a pack therapist. But when I asked him to investigate the adult who had given our son the cake and taught him how to deceive me, Adrian stepped between us. “Vivienne chose her words poorly. She couldn't have known Finn would actually do it.” Our six-year-old son was old enough to be punished. My sister was too innocent to be questioned. That was when I finally saw the favoritism Adrian himself didn't even realize he was showing. So I stopped asking him to choose me. I removed my Luna signet, left behind divorce and mate-rejection papers, surrendered custody of Finn, and accepted an assignment outside Blackwood Territory. By the time Adrian and Finn understood what it truly meant to lose me, they were already begging me to come back. Only this time, I was the one who no longer wanted to return.