Tragic Love Short Stories & Luna Awakening Novels

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."

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.

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.