Mate Redemption Short Stories & Novels

That winter, the Silver Moon Pack holds its annual ski hunt. An avalanche strikes without warning, and the three of us are trapped in a lift pod. There's only one thermal suit left. My mate, Ryan Mercer, gives the thermal suit to me. I survive, but his childhood sweetheart, Eve Hurst, is buried forever beneath the endless white of the mountain. No body is ever found. However, he gazes at me with devotion and says, "Celine Bartlett, you are the love of my life." I soak in those words, believing them. But I have no idea this is the beginning of my nightmare. For the next five years, he speaks to me only with cruelty. "You killed Eve. You're a murderer!" He locks me in the basement and whips me with lashes soaked in wolfsbane. Then, he pretends to show pity and feeds me with a silver fork. When I refuse, he stabs me with silver nails across my legs, carving deep red lines into my skin. "This is what you owe her, and you will repay it!" When I ask for a reject, he stabs a silver dagger into my chest, dragging me into death with him. When I open my eyes, I find myself back on the day of the avalanche. This time, I hand the survival gear to Eve without hesitation. This time, I owe her nothing. And now, I want to see whether they will get their happy ending without me around.

Liam and I have been together for five years. We were supposed to become mates in a month. I have been planning our honeymoon because in these five years, we have never left this city. So I prepared a $100,000 trip in advance as a mating gift for Liam. When I mentioned it to him, before I even finished my words, he interrupted me impatiently, “Who asked you to plan it? For our honeymoon, I will only give you a budget of $50. We’ll just go somewhere nearby for a night.” That night, I found out he had transferred his $1 million hunting competition bonus to his childhood friend Stella, letting her use it to buy an apartment of her own. He got really mad at me, when he saw the receipt for the $100,000 I had prepaid for the honeymoon. “Who gave you the right to spend our future money on a trip?” Liam’s parents also yelled at me, “You are just a useless Omega! You can’t even shift into a werewolf form, unlike Stella, you are not good enough for our son.” But every single cent was earned by myself from my herb business. I broke up with him without any hesitation. Liam stole that trip from me and went on it with Stella instead. Seven years later, we ran into each other at the Alpha’s castle. Liam was about to become a Warrior of the pack. Meanwhile, I was on my knees, searching for something on the floor. “Mia, you broke up with me over a $50 honeymoon fund back then. Now, you are working as a maid? You’re in this mess because of your own choices.” In fact, I was looking for my pup’s favorite toy. It had rolled under one of the tables earlier. “Is that so? Don’t you even know who the Luna of this castle is?”

I'm the strongest warrior of the Silvermoon Pack. For ten years, I've been secretly in love with my Alpha, Aiden. The only wolfless Alpha. We grew up with nothing but each other. I bled for him. I cut down his enemies and searched for a cure to awaken his wolf. He promised me a place at the top—always by his side. The fated mate bond never snapped into place for us. It didn't matter. I loved him anyway. Then I found out the truth. His heart belonged to someone else. A she-wolf named Gianna. When a rival pack kidnapped her, Aiden sent me to get her back. I did, but I died. And so did my wolf. He welcomed Gianna home with open arms, ready for their Mating Ceremony, but he refused to believe I was dead. He thought I was just jealous, hiding in a fit of rage. He even ordered my banishment. But on the night of the full moon, as the entire pack gathered for their Alpha’s ceremony, my second-in-command crashed the altar in his war truck. He walked toward Aiden, carrying my blood-soaked body. Aiden’s body trembled. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest in agony. "I can feel it. The mate bond…it’s breaking. Rhea was my fated mate... How can she be dead?!"

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.

I lied about my age and ended up in a secret online relationship with one of the biggest names in esports. He was nothing like his public persona. In public, he was cold and aloof. Online, though, he flirted with me nonstop. When he got worked up, he even said he'd be my good boy. Then my nineteenth birthday came and went, and my wolf still hadn't awakened. Most werewolves shifted for the first time at sixteen. Even late bloomers awakened by eighteen. I couldn’t let Adrian find out I was defective, with no wolf at all. So I broke up with him and blocked him everywhere. Months later, while staying with my best friend Chloe, I heard her older brother speak outside the bedroom. I had heard that same deep, distant voice through my headphones almost every night. Then Chloe's voice drifted back through my mind. “Don't get any ideas. My brother hates women who throw themselves at him.” “Ever since his online girlfriend dumped him, he can't even see a couple in-game without hunting them across the map.” “Chloe,” I asked carefully, “your brother's name is Adrian, isn't it?”

I'd been with Leo Blackwood for five years. But we'd never once made it through a mating ceremony. Every time we were about to seal the bond, something would happen with Linda—his adopted sister. And every single time, Leo would leave me behind. This time, he swore he'd planned everything down to the last detail. Promised he wouldn't miss it. I waited five days and five nights—because I wanted to tell him I was pregnant. He never showed. Instead, I got attacked by rogues. Got infected with wolfsbane because of it. At the very last moment, I called Leo. It was Linda who picked up. She put the video on, and that's when I saw it—Leo and Linda, right in the middle of some celebration. "Freya." Her voice dripped with mock sympathy. "A mating ceremony? That little thing has failed so many times already—don't you ever give up? Today is my big day. Leo said nothing—absolutely nothing—can compare to what I have going on." Then she hung up. My hand went to my stomach. My body was growing cold. Sorry, little one. I never got the chance to give you a happy home.