Luna Awakening Short Stories & Novels

Whenever Jacob called my name, his first instinct was always to utter his ex's name, "Anna". On our first anniversary, the gift he gave me was written: [Anna, let’s be together forever.] When we were intimate, he couldn't stop himself from whispering in my ear, "Anna, tell me you love me." Every time he called me by the wrong name, I could only helplessly reiterate, "My name is Anya, not Anna." Over time, Jacob probably felt some shame. Before addressing me, he would pause to think for a moment, and then successfully say my name, "Anya." Just when I thought he had finally stopped confusing the two of us, Anna suddenly returned. From then on, whenever Jacob introduced me to the rest of the pack, he called me "Anna" more frequently than ever. Even during our mating ceremony, as he held out the ring to me, he called out, "Anna, will you be my mate?" Looking at Jacob standing before me, I didn't bother to correct him this time. Since the name he called wasn't mine, I shouldn't be the one to accept.

This year marked the sixth Unclaimed Moon Damian and I had shared together. As the future Alpha of Moonridge Pack, Damian always believed this tradition would make our bond stronger. Every year, for one month after our anniversary, we suppressed our mate bond through an old pack ritual, stayed out of each other's lives, and gave each other complete freedom. If either of us found someone better, we were supposed to wish them happiness. If not, he would reclaim me when the month ended. Champagne sprayed through the hall as wolves laughed and cheered around the betting table. "Here's to our Alpha being unclaimed again. Another year of freedom." "The betting is open. Put your chips on the left if you think he'll reclaim her. Put them on the right if you think this is finally over." Through the haze of cigar smoke, I sat alone on a leather sofa, watching everything unfold as if none of it had anything to do with me. Damian slipped an arm around Vivian's waist. As he passed me, he lowered his voice and said, "Don't overthink it. You'll always be my only Luna." "When Unclaimed Moon ends, I'll come back to you." I rested a cold hand against the slight curve of my stomach, my expression unchanged. Damian, this year, I placed my bet on the end. I would disappear from your world completely. The claim you were always so sure I would never reject would be the one thing I walked away from tonight.

Liam Hurley's favorite thing to say to me is, "Don't worry." Don't worry. Once he consolidates his power and ends the internal strife of the pack, we'll reveal our relationship. Because of that, I waited for two years. Don't worry. We'll hold the bonding ceremony as soon as his mother accepts me. I waited for another three. In the fifth year, at the banquet celebrating Liam's rise to Alpha of the Ashmoon pack, his mother, Elana Gibson, unclasps the moonstone necklace from around her neck in front of everyone. Liam told me long ago that passing down the moonstone necklace is the Ashmoon pack's official ritual for acknowledging a Luna. I figure Liam won't be telling me not to worry this time. "Here, let me put this on you." Elana walks right past me and gently fastens the necklace around the neck of Lilith Powell, Liam's assistant. The whole banquet hall falls dead silent. Elana pats the back of her hand with a warm smile. "Lilith is so sweet and kind, and she's been a massive help to Liam. She has a special place in my heart." I hear someone whisper, "What about Freya?" Liam lowers his voice. "My mother cherishes bonds. Lilith really has done a lot for me, so don't take it personally. Don't worry, okay? Next month, I'll take you to pick out a better moonstone necklace that's way more valuable than that one." As the crowd scatters, Lilith strokes the necklace and gives me a smug smile. "Freya, are you jealous? Elana says this moonstone has been passed down for seven generations in the Ashmoon pack." I tell her I am. Just then, my phone buzzes in my pocket. "Have you made up your mind? When are you coming to Nordravia?"

Declan, the Alpha heir of the Nighthowl Pack and my arranged mate, proposed to me right after donating his Alpha marrow to his childhood sweetheart. In my past life, I said yes out of love and for the sake of our pack alliance. But after we mated, the weight of two territories fell entirely on my shoulders. Losing that marrow broke Declan’s inner wolf. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t shift. He couldn’t even give me a strong heir. I had to run the crystal mines while fighting off rogues for him. Before I even turned forty, I dropped dead. Utterly drained. Worked to death. And Declan? He comfortably took all the territory resources I had bled for and marked his little sweetheart. They lived happily ever after in my manor. So, reborn and facing his deep, affectionate proposal once again, I just looked at him calmly and said no. "You gave away your Alpha marrow. Your wolf is broken. What makes you think a defective piece of trash like you deserves me?"

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.

At our old training-camp reunion, someone asked Ronan Blackwood a question no one had dared to ask the Alpha of Blackridge Pack. Back when pack tradition required him to hide his identity and everyone thought he was an ordinary wolf with no future, which she-wolf had he truly wanted? Ronan looked at me first. Then his gaze shifted to Chloe Hart across the table. “Her.” Chloe’s eyes filled with tears. She claimed the love letter she had written eight years ago had landed in the wrong training bag. According to her, Ethan—the future Beta she had dated—was never the man she truly wanted. She had always wanted Ronan. Everyone fell in love with their tragic story. Then they turned on me. As far as they knew, I was Sera Vale—the ordinary wolf who had spent years chasing a man far above her station. They didn’t know Ronan had pursued me first. They didn’t know we were fated mates or that we had accepted our bond five years ago. Since then, I had shared his home, his bed, and every private part of his life while he kept my place beside him a secret. Ronan had promised to claim me publicly that very night. Instead, when the room accused me of stealing Chloe’s letter, he stayed silent. All he had to say was, “Sera is my mate.” He wouldn’t do it. Acknowledging me would have destroyed the fantasy he wanted to give Chloe—the fantasy that, if not for one cruel mistake, they might have belonged together. Later, he placed the Luna crown meant for me on her head and shared the ceremonial cup with her. So I removed the moonstone bracelet I had worn for five years and filed to reject our mate bond. Ronan thought I was throwing a tantrum. He was certain I would come home once I cooled off. He kept believing that until his wolf called my name through the bond—and nothing answered.

My fated mate, Alpha Felix, had always put his adoptive sister, Serena, first. Whenever danger struck, his first instinct was always to pull her into his arms. The night our pack was attacked by rogues, he smashed through three doors just to carry Serena out of her room first. Only after making sure she was safe did he remember I was still trapped in the thick smoke. He then sent someone to find me. That incident left a bad burn scar on my shoulder. For the very first time, I forced him to choose between me and Serena. He looked at me in confusion. "Nova, Serena is just my sister. Besides, she is much weaker. Why are you competing with her?" "I swear to you, I'll treat you both equally from now on, okay?" Yet, on the day we were supposed to step onto the altar to take our vows, Serena followed us all the way to the Moon Goddess statue. Her first words were: "Brother, this is your first time taking a vow before the Moon Goddess. Shouldn't I go first?" Felix chuckled, ruffled her hair, and told her this time was different. But Serena refused to let it go. She tugged at his sleeve and begged him over and over. I watched the resolve in Felix's eyes crumble. Just as he was about to turn around to comfort me, I simply laughed. Our bond of seven years was meaningless. Without waiting for him to speak, I pulled the pack token out of my bag and shoved it into his hand. I lifted my chin toward the altar. "Go ahead."

After our coming-of-age awakening ceremony, my entire family gathered to choose a mate for my twin sister, Celeste. Adrian placed the list of North America's most powerful Alpha heirs in front of her. "Only the best is worthy of Celeste." Then Ryan stepped forward with a courtship application. The same Ryan who had once slipped a black onyx ring onto my finger and promised that, after our awakening, he would ask me to become his mate. Now he offered that future to my sister. "Choose me, Celeste," he said. "No one will ever know you better than I do." My parents smiled as if this were exactly how things were supposed to be. Only after they had planned Celeste's engagement did they remember that I needed a mate too. Dad barely looked at me. "Your abilities are average. Find a young Alpha from some ordinary pack and settle down." Adrian agreed. Ryan even warned me not to embarrass the family by expecting more than I deserved. None of them noticed the documents clenched in my hand. They hadn't read the Royal Talent results, either. If they had, they would have known that Celeste had ranked sixth. And I had ranked first. First in mental power. First in combat. First in royal mate compatibility. While my family was deciding which ordinary wolf might be willing to take me, the most powerful man in our world had already made his choice. I looked at Ryan's courtship application, then signed the contract bearing the royal seal. They could give Celeste every Alpha heir in the North. I would become Alpha King Ronan's Luna Queen.

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.

In the eighth year of our relationship, I took a silver blade meant for my Alpha, Adrian Blackwood. After confirming that I would survive, he promised me anything I wanted. Everyone expected me to demand the marking ceremony he had postponed for eight years. Instead, I looked at him calmly. “Release me from your claim.” Then I turned and walked away. Adrian only laughed. “She’s desperate for attention. Give her three days. She’ll come crying and beg me to take her back.” But Adrian was wrong. Because I had been reborn. In my previous life, I used the life debt he owed me to force him into the marking ceremony. That night, his first love, Ivy, jumped from a rooftop. Blaming me for Ivy’s suicide attempt, Adrian mutilated the ceremonial mark he had just placed on my body, scarred my face with silver, and imprisoned me underground. I bled to death in that underground cell. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day I took the silver blade for him. This time, I would give Adrian exactly what he had always wanted.

My mate's first love was in the maternity ward with me. We gave birth to two baby boys on the very same day. My son inherited my pure-blood Alpha lineage—the heir everyone expected to one day inherit everything I had. I spent decades loving him, protecting him, and giving him everything a mother could. But as he grew older, something never seemed right. He was painfully ordinary. No powerful wolf. No signs of an Alpha awakening. Not even the strength expected of a pure-blood heir. I blamed myself for years, wondering if something had gone wrong with his bloodline. It wasn't until the day I was dying that I learned the truth. The son I had loved and raised for decades wasn't my biological child at all. On the very day the babies were born, my mate, Ryan, had conspired with Isabella to switch them. They wanted Isabella's ordinary kid to take the place of my pure-blood Alpha heir. Meanwhile, my real son was abused by Isabella for years. She was even planning to stage an "accident" and kill him before his wolf awakening. After I died, my soul refused to move on. I watched with my own eyes as the fake son ran into Isabella's arms and called her Mom. I watched Ryan marry her. I watched the three of them live a life of luxury and privilege. Meanwhile, my real son had already been killed by them. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day the two babies were born. When I saw the two newborns the nurse brought in, I didn't hesitate for even a second. The first thing I did was take my real son back.

The night I accidentally ended up in bed with my adoptive brother, Adrian, he had just broken his engagement to his childhood sweetheart, Ivy. Adrian was the Alpha of Blackwood Pack. Ivy was the late Beta's daughter, and the woman he had always intended to make his Luna. To protect my reputation and preserve his authority as Alpha, he was forced to complete a mate bond with me. Everyone said he treated me well. But every year on Ivy's birthday, he sat alone in his study until dawn. In the third year of our marriage, Ivy died of wolf-spirit failure. Only then did Adrian learn from the letter she left behind that she had seen us together that morning. The sight had haunted her for the rest of her life. He decided I had destroyed her. He severed our mate bond, drove me from the pack, and used his influence to close every road that might have kept me alive. Before I died, he sent me only four words. "You deserve to die." When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the night his wolf lost control. This time, I tore myself out of his arms, knocked on Ivy's door, and placed him in her hands myself. I smiled at the shock on his face. “Adrian, I won’t love you anymore.”

Kael had one rule he never broke. Every piece of pack business, big or small, personal or official, he handled in strict order of priority. Never missed a beat. I'm Ella, his promised mate. I'd teased him about it more times than I could count. One evening, I tossed out the same question I'd asked a hundred times before: "Our Moon Vow ceremony has to be at the top of your list by now, right?" Every time I asked, he'd change the subject. There was always something more important. I could never figure out what could possibly matter more than bonding with me. Until the night I accidentally drank wine laced with wolfsbane at a banquet. The pain was unbearable. Kael scooped me up and drove straight for the healing cottage. I was starting to feel safe. Then a message came in and he turned the car around. "Lysandra's wolf spirit lost control. She cut her own palm. I have to go." Lysandra was my close friend. She'd just awakened her wolf, and Kael had been personally training her to manage her power. I could feel my wolf spirit going dormant. I begged him to take me to the healer first. But he ran into Lysandra's quarters without looking back. That's when his phone, which had slipped off his lap and landed beside me, lit up. His priority list. Over two hundred entries about Lysandra. All matters concerning Lysandra: highest priority. Apply to the Elder Council for a new residence for her. Pay off Lysandra's debts. Commission a custom moonstone pendant for Lysandra. I scrolled to the very bottom. That's where I finally found my name. Tucked beneath everything else, in smaller text than the rest: Moon Vow ceremony. The thing I'd been waiting for my whole life was dead last on his list. With what little strength I had left, I lifted my finger and deleted that line from the screen. Like it had never been there. If the Moon Vow meant that little to him, then it didn't need to happen at all.

My fiancé, Alpha Rowan, hated waiting. If a pack council ran late, he walked out. If a priest kept him waiting ten minutes, he canceled the blessing. For six years, I made sure he never waited for me. I waited for him instead. At the Full Moon Celebration, his assistant Celine wanted moon-laurel wine that was served only when the moon reached its highest point. Rowan stood in line with her for twenty minutes without checking the time once. While I watched from across the hall, he texted me. [The celebration is over. Go home. Do not wait for me.] I typed, “Okay,” then deleted it. In the end, I sent only one sentence. [I'm not waiting anymore.] That night, I submitted my application to leave the Blood Moon Pack. This time, I meant it.

In the fifth year since Ethan used the Wishing Willow to make me obsessively, madly in love with him, he finally got sick of it. He was sick of my nonstop check-in texts, of me hiring investigators to track his location over and over. Most of all, he couldn't stand the fact that every time I found out he was somewhere other than his office or our home, I'd show up and put a silver blade through every woman who got too close to him. After I nearly stabbed Barbara again, he didn't care that I was falling apart. He went straight to Barbara's apartment without looking back. I stood outside the door and watched him gently touch the cut I'd left on Barbara's arm, guilt all over his face. "I can't take Lydia's nonstop surveillance anymore. I really can't, Barbara." On the sofa, Barbara held up the Wishing Willow that had been tossed into a corner. "Remember the Wishing Willow? Why not try breaking it?" "I just want you to be happy." Ethan gave a tired, helpless smile, but he went along with her and picked up the Wishing Willow. He snapped it in half. "If it's possible, let Lydia leave my life for good." What Ethan didn't know was that the moment the new Wishing Willow broke, the demon's hold on my body was released. Just as he wished, that same night I drank the bond-breaking potion on my own and lost every memory of ever loving him. From that moment on, we had nothing to do with each other.