Defy Fate Short Stories & Novels

At five in the evening on the thirtieth of April, I was heading back to my dorm when a disheveled woman in a mask passed me going the other way. Her eyes were sunken. "It's your turn," I thought I heard her say, but her voice was so faint I thought I might have imagined it. A second later, a deafening thump came from nearby. "Ah!" "Someone jumped off a building!" "Someone's dead! Call an ambulance!" The police arrived quickly and sealed off the scene. The girl who had died was Rosa Harris, one of my dorm mates. The police interrogated each of us. All of us had the same impression of her. She was poor, unsociable, withdrawn, and possibly mentally ill. Her death was ruled a suicide before long. The police left, but the campus stayed on lockdown. Everyone was forced to hand over their phones for inspection. Anything about Rosa's suicide was deleted to keep the news from getting out. The lockdown would end at eight in the morning on the first of May, when we could leave for the break. But I never made it off campus. When my alarm rang at six in the morning, I groggily opened my eyes. Suddenly, a large hand clamped over my mouth and nose. I suffocated, dying in agony and despair. When I opened my eyes again, it was five in the evening on the thirtieth of April. A voice spoke in my ear, so faint I could have imagined it. "It's your turn."

I needed money, so I sold myself to that cold, handsome man for seven nights. He left behind a black card and an ice-cold eggshell, then vanished. Three months later, a doctor found six coiled serpentine shadows inside my womb. I discarded every trace of my identity and fled to a snowbound cabin, hoping to stay alive. But the day I gave birth alone in a blizzard, what crawled out weren't monsters. They were six babies with golden slit pupils who called me "Mama." My children were not priceless treasures. To the powerful guys, they were research subjects. To the other species, they were "filthy half-breeds." When cold needles pressed against all six of my children's chests, I heard the blast door torn from its frame. The man who had vanished three years ago stood in the smoke. Six golden threads glowed from his palm, each connected to a child, and black blood still seeped from the wounds he'd torn open breaking through the blockade. "Get your hands off my family."

Three months after I died, Jack Carter became one of the youngest colonels in the United States Marine Corps. At the promotion ceremony, every person in the room stood up and applauded him. He had a war record, he had money, he had a house that looked out over the woods, and he had the kind of future everyone envied. But only I, already dead, knew that the one person he had truly wanted his whole life was never coming back. The year he turned eighteen, he rebuilt a beat-up old Ford and put the spare key in my hand. He said, "After prom, come find me. I will take you to California." I said yes. But that night I walked down the steps on another man's arm and told him, in front of everyone, that I had never loved him. He did not know that my family had forced that lie out of me. They used Jack's freedom and his future to threaten me. If I dared to leave with him, a forged felony statement would put him in prison and disqualify him from ever enlisting. So I chose to deceive him, and I watched him leave hating me. Later, in the service, he was bullied and framed, and he nearly lost everything. He believed a total stranger had saved him. He did not know that the person who tracked down the witnesses, paid the lawyers, and handed the evidence to the military was me, from the beginning. Later still, he went from a small-time punk out of the harbor district to a decorated officer. Meanwhile my family went bankrupt. I lost the house, the trust, the health coverage, and in the end I died alone in an apartment with a leaking roof. On the day I died, he was standing under the lights receiving a medal. On the screen, everyone was applauding him. On my side of the screen, I was holding the car key from the year I turned eighteen, the one we never used, and I stopped breathing. It took three months for my letters to reach him. Only then did he know. The cruelest words I ever said were said to protect his future. Every kindness in his life that he thought came from a stranger came f

The night before the Blood Moon, my Alpha, Kael was drugged with Silver Fern — an aphrodisiac so strong it sent him into an uncontrollable rut, his eyes burning red. I was his fiancée's younger sister, raised to be his "Shadow Luna." That night, he pinned me against the cold stone steps of the Moon Temple. I should have pushed him away. Instead, I melted into his heat. When I finally lifted my bloodied head, I saw his true Luna — my own sister — standing in the doorway in her moonstone bonding gown, tears in her eyes. Three days later, the patrol dragged a body from the Silver Lake. A woman in a bonding gown. She was carrying the Alpha's first heir. He married me anyway, to keep the pack stable. On our wedding night, he gripped my chin and sneered: "Are you satisfied now?" For thirty years after that, he never marked me, never gave me a Luna's power, never touched me again. On my deathbed, he leaned down and whispered, word by word: "I wish I had never met you." When I opened my eyes, I was back on that moonless night — the night he was drugged. This time, I clutched my collar shut, and pushed my sister into his room.

At a company party, I catch our manager drugging a female coworker's drink and call the police to save her. But the next day, she shows up with the police and accuses me of drugging her and trying to rape her. She even claims our manager was the one who saved her. The police take me in for questioning, and before long, I'm being branded a rapist all over the internet. My company fires me to distance itself from the scandal. Even after I'm cleared of all charges, my life is a mess. I've lost my job, and the online harassment gets so bad that my mother ends up in intensive care. When I confront my coworker, Katherine Miller, about what she's done to me, she doesn't feel the least bit guilty. "I never asked you to save me. You're the one who decided to stick your nose where it didn't belong. Whatever happened to you is your own problem. "I worked hard to land this job. I'm not going to risk getting fired just because you decided to piss off my manager." Then our manager comes out shirtless, puts his arm around her, and gives me a smug look. "You were too stupid to know your place. Of course you got fired. Getting rid of someone like you would be as easy as squashing a bug." I'm so furious that I pass out. But when I open my eyes, I'm back on the day of the company party.

On the day I was supposed to marry the man I loved, I found him in bed with my best friend. Before I could expose their betrayal, they revealed a horrifying truth. My best friend had introduced us, planned our relationship, and spent years helping him gain my trust. Their goal was simple—marry me, steal my inheritance, and get rid of me. Then they left me bleeding on the floor to die. As darkness swallowed me, I swore that if I ever got a second chance, I would make them pay for everything they had done. When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn back to one month before it all started. This time, I know every lie, I know every betrayal, and I know exactly who murdered me. Now it’s their turn to lose everything.

Cedric Thorne, Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack, had a nightmare. In the dream, at the full moon ceremony, he slept with an Omega he'd rescued. In the dream, I was going to break our mate bond and lead the werewolves from my pack back to my own territory. When Cedric woke up, he held me tight and swore he would never betray me. After that, he couldn't get enough of me. He wanted me several times a night. And every time he climaxed, he'd grip my waist and make me repeat the same words. "Cedric, I love you." Whenever I left the castle to patrol, he kept checking where I was through the mate bond. He couldn't stand to have me out of his sight. It made him feel insecure. I thought he was just afraid of losing me, and that was why he was so possessive. Then, at this year's full moon ceremony, the Omega he'd rescued went into heat. In front of the whole pack, Cedric picked her up and headed for our bedroom. I grabbed his arm and begged him not to go, but he shook me off. "Her heat could kill her. I can't let another male touch her!" So I had to lead the ceremony alone. Because of the mate bond, I could feel everything Cedric felt. I felt the low growl he let out when he climaxed, and the thrill that ran through every part of him. The whole pack heard them too. One by one, they lowered their heads. When the ceremony was over, I headed for the bedroom. Elena Marsh sat astride Cedric's lap, wearing the robe that marked me as Luna. And my mate was kissing her like he couldn't get enough.

I went to surprise my fiancé, Dante Rossi, in my wheelchair. But just as I reached his door, my phone rang. The caller was me, ten years in the future. "Don't go in. He's in there with another woman." "No way." She read back the text I had just typed and deleted. "If I could still dance, would you come home earlier?" My hand jerked. I hadn't sent those words to anyone. I lost my legs saving him, and I would never dance ballet again. The day of my amputation, Dante, a Boston mafia Don, knelt beside my hospital bed in tears and begged me to marry him. He swore that whenever I was in pain, he would be right there with me. He loves me. How could he change? But the woman on the phone started to cry. "Last night, I fell in the bathroom. When I called him, all he said was, 'Erin, how much longer are you going to make me feel guilty about your legs?'" I gripped the armrest. "And then what?" "I apologized. I begged him not to be mad." I stared at the empty fabric hanging where my legs used to be. I'm the one who fell. I'm the one who got hurt. So why am I the one saying sorry? Just then, Dante texted me, "Still busy. Be good and don't wait up." Through the glass wall of the shooting range, I watched him put his phone away. Then he leaned down and kissed the woman in his arms. She turned her head, and I forgot how to breathe. How can it be her?

There was a river that ran through our village. According to the legend, a river god dwelled in its depths, and every month on the 15th, the village had to send a young woman to enter the water and serve him. At first, everything seemed normal. After their service to the river god, the women would return to shore, go home, and eventually marry and start families. But this year, the peace was shattered. Every woman who spent the night with the river god turned up dead, their naked bodies floating to the surface. I secretly watched as they retrieved the corpses twice. The evidence of the violation was horrific. This month, I was selected. I had been chosen to marry the river god.

The bonding ceremony had just ended. I thought I knew what came next. A night of rough sex. The final mark that would bind us. Push him away? Or give in and enjoy my wedding night with this stranger Alpha? I hadn’t decided. But now, here I was. Sent to a guest room. Alone. My new Alpha husband was sleeping in a different room. A bitter smile touched my lips. So, the rumors were true. Alpha Ryker, the brutal leader of the Crimson Peak pack, was broken. Good. We were just a political alliance. I wasn't his fated mate. He would never love me. Just as I thought that, the moonstone pendant my mother gave me flashed with white light. A second later, words appeared in the air. [Does she seriously think Alpha Ryker is broken?!] My wolf bristled. Before I could even process it, more words flooded the space. [Gods, Cora, you have no idea how much he and his wolf want you!] [Open the door! Pounce on him! He's been waiting right outside for you!] [Don't fall asleep! Do that, and Lorelei will steal your mate!] [When that woman returns to the pack, you'll break the mate bond yourself. Three months later, your Silver Creek pack will be annihilated. You’ll die on the run, torn to pieces by rogues.] I shot up in bed. One thought screaming in my mind. Wait. Torn to pieces? Me?

In my previous life, Damian Valen, future Alpha to the Silver Moon Pack, plunged a dagger coated in silver salts and wolfsbane through his heart on the night of our mating ceremony. All he left behind was a bloodstained note. "I owe her grandfather my life; bonding with her was the only way I could repay that debt. "If I get another life, I would mark Selena, the woman I truly love." After that night, I became the scheming bitch who used a life-saving debt to drive off Selena Winter, the noble white wolf, and tear apart a pair of fated mates. On a night that had plunged to four below zero, the Valens threw me out of their stronghold wearing nothing but my thin ceremonial gown. By morning, every social media feed in the city was dragging my grandfather's name and mine through the mud. They said the Blackmoon witches were low-lives, forever reeking of herbs and old parchment. Someone like me could never be worthy of the future Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack. How ironic. The truth was, Grandpa had almost died saving Damian during the blood moon. He'd used forbidden magic to drag Damian back after his wolf lost control. Afterward, the Valens had practically begged me to marry into the family, swearing they'd take care of me for the rest of my life to repay the debt. Shattered, I wandered onto the highway at the foot of the mountain. The next thing I knew, a car slammed into me and sent me flying. Blackmoon witches weren't werewolves. We couldn't regenerate the way they could. As darkness closed in, I caught sight of a man and woman tangled together inside a black SUV parked in the distance. It was Damian and Selena. Now I had been given a second life. Mrs. Valen slapped a contract sealed with black wax across my grandfather's weathered face and let out a scornful laugh. "This is more than enough to buy the life of one old wizard. "Your death will buy your granddaughter a life of luxury as the Luna of the Silver Moon Pack. What are you waiting for? Go die already."

The night I was born, every window in the kingdom of Astraea burned with candlelight for its newborn princess. Then black mist smashed through the palace doors. Morvena, the witch my family had banished years ago, strode across the shattered stained glass with thorns curling around her fingers. "You denied me mercy when I begged for it," she said. "So I will make you lose what you love most." She leaned over my cradle and gave me a cold smile. "When this child turns eighteen, death will begin to follow her. By your own hands, you will lose what you love most, and regret will haunt you for the rest of your lives." From that night on, I became the most precious person in Rose Palace. Father set moonstones in my crown. Mother sewed every gown I wore. Even after my little brother, Rowan, was born, the best of everything still came to me first. They always told him, "Let your sister have it. She won't be with us much longer." So I learned not to argue, not to make plans, and never to speak about the future. I simply waited for my eighteenth birthday the way other girls waited for a wedding. On that night, I blew out my candles beneath the tolling bells and hugged my parents and brother goodbye. The next morning, they entered my chamber dressed in mourning black. I sat up in bed and smiled. "Good morning." Their grief turned to shock. Then the shock hardened into something colder than hatred. That was when I understood. They had loved the princess who was supposed to die. They had never learned how to love the girl who lived. But they misunderstood the witch’s curse. Eighteen was never the end. The curse would follow me for an entire year… and by the time they realized the truth, it was already too late.

“Shawn, Ethan and Wendy are engaged. Stop trying to come between them. We’ve already booked your flight. Stay abroad for a few years, then come back after their wedding.” Shawn Yates looked at his parents’ faces, at the way they seemed so sure they were doing what was best for him, and realized he had been reborn. He had returned to the day his parents forced him to leave the country and give up Wendy Stone for good. In his previous life, his parents talked him into leaving, but he couldn’t accept it. He told Wendy again and again that he was the one she loved. He begged his parents to tell her the truth and stop letting his brother, Ethan Yates, take his place. All it did was make Wendy despise him even more. When a car accident left him close to death, she even told the nurse on the phone coldly, “What’s he trying to pull this time? Tell him to stop trying to ruin my wedding with Ethan.”

On the cruise for our high school graduation trip, a woman who looked exactly like me appeared out of nowhere. "Hello, Vesper Monroe. I'm you, ten years from now." Her voice was clear and steady. Shock and joy hit me all at once. I quickly signed back, "You can talk now? No, wait. You mean ten years from now, I can talk? Who cured me? Was it Aiden Tyson?" She smiled and nodded. Happiness flooded through me, and I eagerly pressed her for more. "So, ten years from now, did I marry him? How did our life turn out?" "Very happy. Ten years from now, he cured your illness and gave you your life back. Not only did you marry him, but you also had a beautiful daughter. Your family is whole." I felt as if I'd fallen straight into a jar of honey. I ducked my head shyly. "So, should I confess to him now? Or should I wait for him to tell me how he feels?" The face before me suddenly turned cold. "No. What you need to do now is give up your college choice and get as far away from him as you can. "Even if it means staying mute for the rest of your life, you need to cut him off completely."

I was born under a curse that made my wolf’s presence so faint that everyone instinctively overlooked me. At the pack orphanage, the caretakers forgot to give me bread, leaving me hungry for three days. During a hunting exercise, my companions forgot I was with them, leaving me trapped in a hunter’s silver snare for three days and three nights. Then vampires attacked. The Alpha ordered everyone to evacuate through the pack link—everyone except me. They left me behind, and the vampires drained every drop of blood from my body. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the pack orphanage, only weeks before the vampire attack that had killed me. After dying once, I no longer wanted to struggle. This time, I planned to wait quietly for death. Then, against all odds, the Alpha and Luna of the Silver Moon Pack found me. They told me I was the daughter they had lost seventeen years ago. My mother, Luna Eleanor, held me in her arms and wept. “You are our daughter, Ivy—the princess of the Silver Moon Pack. We will never let you suffer again.” My father, Alpha Marcus, gently touched my head. “Once you come home with us, even if the sky falls, we’ll hold it up for you.” They even gave me a blood-bound moonstone pendant that could send an emergency signal to my parents and my brother, Adrian. They swore they would never overlook me again. For the first time, I believed I had finally found a family. I decided I wanted to live. But when an earthquake buried me beneath the ruins of our family lodge, I activated the pendant with the last of my strength. My adopted sister, Brielle, claimed she had already seen me escape into the forest. My entire family believed her. They ignored my distress signal and abandoned me beneath the rubble. Only after they found my body did they realize I had never escaped. And by then, the daughter they had sworn never to forget was already dead. That was when they all lost their minds with regret.

My sister, Sophie Shaw, had taken the civil service exam twice before. On her third try, she finally came in first in the entire city, beating the runner-up by a landslide. On the day I drove her to her interview, a car came barreling straight at her. By the time the ambulance arrived, it was already too late. In five short seconds, I watched Sophie go from alive and full of hope to completely still. In the end, our cousin Rachel Morgan, who had placed second, got the job. And the person behind the wheel was none other than another of my uncle's children, Yale Morgan. The car was fully insured, and the court ordered the insurance company to pay us one million dollars in compensation. I had lost everything that mattered to me. When Rachel's family threw her a party to celebrate getting the job, I stormed in and demanded an explanation. Instead, my mom, Megan Shaw, marched over and slapped me hard across the face. My aunt, Laura Morgan, and uncle, Daniel Morgan, immediately sided with her. "She's dead. There's nothing anyone can do about that now. Rachel is the one who's actually brought honor to this family. You can't blame us just because your sister had terrible luck!" Something inside me broke. I went upstairs and jumped. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the morning of Sophie's interview. This time, I immediately made her take a different car. The crash still happened.

A fortune teller once said that if I married before my older brother, he would spend the rest of his life alone. To save Arlo Pennick from that fate, my parents and my older sister, Lorna Pennick, did everything they could to tear my relationship apart. The night before my engagement party, they even abandoned me in the mountains. Four or five drunk men stumbled by and went out of their way to start trouble, rushing at me with fists and boots. I called home in tears and begged for help, but my parents never picked up. Lorna answered, only to tell me coldly, "Mom and Dad already decided—Arlo is marrying your fiancée now, and she's agreed to it. Arlo is this close to beating that prophecy. Can't you stop thinking about yourself for once? "You can play the victim all you want. I'm not coming to get you!" The line went dead, and I closed my eyes in despair. The next day, Lorna finally came to pick me up. On the drive back, she told me to behave and not make a scene once we got home. She expected me to snap at her, but I only nodded quietly. "Okay." Her expression softened a little. "Once Arlo is married, the prophecy will be broken. When that happens, Mom, Dad, and I will find you a better match." I said nothing. What she did not know was that to escape those drunk men, I had made a promise to the spirit of that mountain. In seven days, I would leave everything behind and bind myself to her as her husband.

I'm a healer. And I've been given a second chance. I'd barely opened my eyes on the border battlefield when the emergency transmission crackled through from the Healers' Guild. "Ivy Mitchell—get to the infirmary, now. The Alpha's been hit bad. You're the only one who can save him." The words hit me like a punch to the chest. Because I'd read this exact message before. In my last life. Last time, I'd dropped everything and rushed back the second I got the call. But by the time I reached the infirmary, the Alpha was already dead. And then—every healer in that room, including my own parents and my sister—pointed at me and screamed that I'd murdered him. The Tribunal sentenced me to death. The pup I'd raised? They tossed him to the vampires like scraps. Made him a blood thrall. My nails bit into my palms so hard they nearly drew blood. Not this time. I wasn't about to let history repeat itself. Then I remembered—something else had happened on this day, last time around. The Alpha King had been ambushed by vampires and left in a death-like coma. If I saved him, I'd have the most powerful wolf in the realm as my shield. No one would ever dare touch me again. I squeezed my eyes shut, ground my teeth—and ran. I found him on the battlefield, right where I remembered. The vampire was already lunging, claws out. I didn't think. I just moved—shoved the Alpha King aside and took the hit myself.

I'm doing my hospital rounds in the middle of the night when my personal phone suddenly rings. I answer it, hearing a frantic woman's voice. "My husband is having a heart attack! Please hurry over and save him, Dr. Chapman!" I'm just about to ask for the address and leave when rows of comments suddenly pop up right in front of my eyes. [Don't go!] [Her husband is actually already long dead.] [She's left the doormat outside her door wet, just waiting for you to step on it.] [She'll insist her husband died because you attempted to save him the moment you enter the house.] I feel a chill spread through the back of my neck. On the other end of the line, the woman starts crying even harder. "Are you still on the line? My husband really isn't going to make it, Dr. Chapman!" I take a deep breath and say, "If your husband is having a heart attack, please call 911 first. I'm not allowed to treat patients privately outside the hospital."

Elara was Cassian's only Luna, and they had loved each other for ten years. But at this year's remembrance ceremony, Elara's name on the stone tablet suddenly split open. The Moon Goddess no longer blessed her, no longer claimed her. Another woman, Seraphina, was about to become the next Luna. And Elara had only five days left to live. What made it worse was that Cassian had known all along. Three years ago, he had led Elara up to the crown himself, and he had signed that contract himself. He knew perfectly well that being Luna had never been an honor, but an offering to the Moon Goddess. Yet Cassian kept it from her for three years. All he said was, "I want to save you." Only later did she discover what his so-called salvation really meant: putting Seraphina in her place as the new offering. Elara finally understood. Cassian loved her, but he had never once thought of letting her choose how to live. But Seraphina told her, "I never wanted to take your place." "I want to destroy the contract." In that moment, the two of them decided to work together. Five days later, Elara would tear down the centuries-old Luna system with her own hands. Even if the cost was— The Alpha stripped of his power, and every rule holding Mooncrown together brought down with it. This time, Elara would never let anyone else decide her fate again.