Contos e Romances de Mate

On the day of my marking ceremony, I accidentally slept through it for eight hours. By the time I made it to the altar, the ceremony was already over. My fiance, Liam Langdon, the youngest Alpha in Silver Moon Pack's history, stood hand in hand with his childhood sweetheart, Chloe Kingston. They were accepting the pack's blessings. The moment Chloe saw my pale face and disheveled state, she covered her mouth and giggled. "Sorry, Ella. I think I accidentally mixed a sleeping potion into the water I brought you at noon." Liam looked at her affectionately before glancing at me. "Chloe has dreamed of having the perfect marking ceremony ever since we were kids. It's only a ceremony. Let her have this one." He reached up and adjusted her veil. "And honestly, that dress looks better on her than it ever would have on you." My gaze landed on the white dress. I spent six months making it. I learned from the best tailor in the territory and stitched every single seam by hand. As if afraid I'd make a scene in front of everyone, Liam added casually, "Ella, if you can be reasonable about this, I'll officially mark you at the next full moon." The entire altar fell silent. Every werewolf expected me to lose control. Instead, I simply stood there and let out a sigh of relief. If he'd told me that sooner, I wouldn't have had to stay here any longer. It was finally time for me to return home and claim my throne.

I'm the only daughter of the Alpha King. My father's always been swamped with pack affairs, so I grew up in Howler, raised among the wolves there. The Alpha of Howler had two sons, and they were my shadows growing up. Logan was gentle and doting. Derek was wild and electric. They both pursued me, adored me, fought for my attention in ways that made every wolf in the pack green with envy. I thought I'd choose one of them as my mate someday. I really did. Then Rose showed up. She was beautiful. A gifted healer. Capable in ways I never was. When Derek came back wounded from a skirmish, Rose was the one stitching him up. When Logan got buried in pack business, Rose was right there beside him, smoothing out every problem like it was nothing. Logan started singing her praises in front of me, always finding ways to mention how I wasn't mature enough, not independent enough, not enough. Derek promised me a gift once. He gave it to Rose instead. And the night I nearly died during my first shift? They were both with Rose. Because she had a scratch. They had their red rose. They didn't need their faded moon anymore. So I left. Went back to my father, the Alpha King. I told myself it was over. That we shouldn't have any ties. But then why—why did they beg me to come back?

My fated mate, Warren, heir to the Alpha of the Moonwatch Pack, was struck by a curse that left his wolf spirit broken. At the price of burning away my own wolf spirit, I earned an ancient pack prophecies. To lift his curse, I had to dance at the edge of the Moonlight Spring on every full moon, until the water of the spring came to a boil. So month after month, I sacrificed up my wolf spirit and danced the Moon Goddess's sacred rite. All I wanted was for the spring to boil, so he could take his place as Alpha and never be looked down on again. But I danced fifty-nine times, until my wolf spirit was nearly in pieces, and the water never so much as simmered. The night before the sixtieth full moon, I caught him drinking a potion Maya had slipped into his hand. Maya was my aunt's daughter. She was also Warren's first love. Right then, she was curled sweetly against his chest. "Warren, you know there's nothing wrong with your wolf spirit. The prophecy Ella bled for was never going to work. But you keep faking it with the dark-magic potion I make for you. Are you doing all this to get even for me?" Warren's voice was flat. "She took your place. She deserves to pay for it." "Once the pack sees how useless your fated mate really is, I can marry you and no one will say a word against it." Five years and fifty-nine dances of sacrifice, and all of it, from beginning to end, had been a lie. The Moonlight Spring of the Moonwatch Pack was never going to boil for me. I was done clinging to him. My mother was gravely ill, and her one regret was that she'd never see me settle down. If his heart already belonged to someone else, then I would just have to find myself a new mate.

The Moon Goddess Festival had turned the area around Holy Spring into a sea of celebration. A moonstone blessed by the Moon Goddess rolled through the gathered werewolves. One werewolf after another lunged for it and missed. Finally, it came to a stop at my feet. For a brief moment, the entire place fell silent. I bent down and picked it up. Soon, laughter and cheers erupted all at once. "Give it to Adrian and have him make it into your ring." "It's been five years. This is the Moon Goddess' will." "Hurry and hold your marking ceremony before the blessing fades! You'll be blessed by the Moon Goddess for life." Everyone exchanged knowing looks before turning to Adrian. I lowered my gaze to the moonstone glowing with a soft silver light. I could still feel its lingering warmth against my fingertips as I quietly waited for him to say something. As long as he said 'give it to me,' I would place it in his hand. Instead, Adrian simply took the moonstone from my palm. I felt relieved. The next second, he turned around and handed it to his assistant, Emily. "She saw it first." He ruffled my hair. His voice was as gentle as ever. "She's in poor health. She needs the moonstone more than you do. "We'll wait for the next one." The werewolves' attention shifted away with the moonstone. Watching the surprise and nervous excitement on Emily's face as she cradled it in her hands, I chuckled. What Adrian didn't know was that I couldn't wait for another chance. My marking ceremony was next week.

After hearing that my brother, Ronan, had bought his mate, Iris, a 200-grand designer bag, my coworker Lilith insisted on coming back to my hometown to attend the marking ceremony. In my previous life, I didn't think much of it and agreed to take her with me. The day after the ceremony, Lilith was found completely naked in Ronan's bed. She screamed that Ronan had assaulted her. Iris, who was pregnant, was so devastated that she miscarried and dissolved their mate bond. Unable to clear his name, Ronan fell into despair and eventually died. My nephew lost his family before he was able to be born. Yet Lilith used that so-called accident to force my parents into accepting her as part of the family. She moved into the home Iris had lovingly decorated for her future life. Even in old age, she would smugly tell me, "Mirabel, the smartest thing I ever did was follow you back home for Ronan's marking ceremony." When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Lilith asked to attend Ronan's marking ceremony. Leaning over from the neighboring cubicle, she looked at me expectantly. "Mirabel, I've never seen an Alpha's marking ceremony before. Could you take me with you?" I swallowed hard and pushed my chair several feet backward. I then replied, "I'm really sorry, but I just got word that Ronan isn't holding the marking ceremony anymore."

On the night of my eighteenth birthday, the Lycan King came to me in a dream. He proclaimed me his fated mate and vowed to make me his queen when I turned twenty-two. Terrified, my father tried to help me escape this fate. Before he died, he entrusted me to his closest allies, a family with three powerful, wealthy sons who became my adoptive brothers. They once fought for my attention, each vying to be the one who would marry me. But that all stopped when they brought home Daisy, an orphan girl they found on the streets. They never spoke of marrying me again. Before I knew it, my twenty-second birthday arrived. A blood moon hung in the sky, and I trembled with fear, crying as I begged my eldest brother, Liam, to marry me. He had once had a million-dollar couture wedding gown designed just for me, swearing he would protect me for the rest of his life. But just before the wedding, he heard Daisy had a migraine. He abandoned me without a second thought, rushing her to a private doctor. Tears blurring my vision, I dragged the long train of my gown to find my second brother, Noah. The hot-headed brother who used to fight anyone who upset me now did not even spare me a glance. "Don't bother me," he snapped impatiently. "I'm busy preparing Daisy's medication." As the night deepened, my panic grew, and I ran to find my third brother, Caleb. He was holding Daisy, soothing her gently. "Evie, sweetie, stop playing the victim," he said with a gentle smile that didn't reach his eyes. "There was no Lycan King in your dream." "Your father was just afraid you were so spoiled that no one would ever want you, so he made up that ridiculous lie." "Once Daisy has fully recovered, we'll draw straws or something to decide which of us will marry you." My fingertips went cold as tears streamed down my face. So this is how they saw it. Marrying me was a burden. I stopped pleading. I turned, walked back to my room, and quietly waited for the Lycan King to claim me.

I am a white wolf. From the day I was born, the witch foretold that whoever I mated with would sire the most powerful Alpha the world had ever seen. So the Alpha King made a pact with my family. When I came of age, I would choose between his two sons. Whichever I picked would inherit his throne. In my last life, I fell hard for Damian at first sight. Gave him my whole heart. Even took a blade meant for his chest. So at the Choosing Ceremony, I named him my mate. But after we were bonded, I found out he'd been tangled up with Allison—an Omega—the whole time. The Luna Queen found out and had Allison exiled. Allison died on the road to another pack. And Damian? He blamed me for all of it. He stopped coming home. Spent his nights tangled up with other she-wolves. He still needed my bloodline to claim the throne, so he forced me to carry his pup. The day I gave birth, he locked me in a silver cage. I rotted there until I drew my last breath. Maybe the Moon Goddess took pity on me—and when I opened my eyes again, I was back on that day. This time? I'm giving them what they always wanted.

I was the greatest healer in the pack. There wasn't a single poisoning in the world I couldn't cure. My mate, Liam, was an Alpha suffering from wolfsbane poisoning, and his life hung by a thread. To rid himself of the toxin, he chose me as his mate. On the very night of our marking ceremony, the shewolf he truly loved, Camilla, who was also the witch who claimed her potions could save him, threw herself off a cliff. The moment I finished purging the toxin from his body, Liam turned around and plunged a dagger coated in wolfsbane straight through my heart. "You killed Camilla. You can be buried with her." His gaze was cold and devoid of even a trace of tenderness. The fur blanket we had lain on moments before became my shroud. After I died, my body was dumped in the wasteland and left for vultures to devour completely. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day the old Alpha of Silver Moon Pack personally came to my cabin to ask for my hand on Liam's behalf. Looking at Liam, who sat rigidly with clear reluctance on his face, I smiled. "I may not be able to purge the toxin in Liam's body, and I have no desire to become his mate." The moment I said that, the eyes of a concerned-looking shewolf nearby lit up. "Evelyn, if you don't wish to become Liam's mate, will you consider my son instead?"

While on a trip, I caught my Alpha fiancé cheating on me with my adoptive sister, Selena. Once they realized I saw them, they ruthlessly abandoned me in that forbidden forest and let Selena return to take my place. For ten days, I was missing. No search party came, and my communication crystal remained silent. Then, while trying to escape a savage bear, I fell down a rocky slope and was left broken, bleeding, and alone. Just as I was on the brink of death and unable to heal, Ryker appeared and saved me. He was wild and imposing, yet lethally gentle. During our days and nights together in the wilderness, it took only a few hoarse whispers to tear down my defenses. I grew absurdly attached to him, believing he was my only salvation in this desolate place. Until one night, I found him contacting the outside world on a high-grade crystal. On the other end was Selena. "Why haven't you finished her off yet? As long as she never comes back, Alaric will be all mine." And my devoted savior replied in that same doting tone, "As long as it makes you happy, I'd spend a lifetime keeping up this charade with her in the wilderness." It was then I understood. What I believed to be a gift from the Goddess was nothing more than another death trap, meticulously woven to ensure Selena got her way. When my heat arrived, on the night of our supposed marking, I threw myself into the roaring river of death that marked the border. I would rather be torn to shreds by the current than look at that despicable "mate" for another second.

I was reborn on the day Alpha Cassian Draven inherited Raven Hollow Pack. My first decision in this life was simple: reject our mate bond, transfer to another pack, and never give him the chance to destroy me again. In my previous life, he despised me as the Omega mate the Moon Goddess forced on him and chose the noble-born Seraphina Voss instead. When she accused me of cursing her, Cassian locked me beneath the pack house and used a forbidden bond-breaking rite to tear apart the bond between me and my wolf. I died under wolfsbane and silver. This time, I will not beg him to love me. When he bars me from Alpha Hall, I turn away. When he says an Omega like me will not survive outside Raven Hollow, I file for a pack transfer and accept Ironwood Pack’s protection. The next time we meet, I am already under another Alpha’s protection. Cassian finally loses control. He demands that I leave Ironwood and return to him. I look at him and smile. “You used to hate that I was your fated mate.” “Now that I truly do not belong to you, why does it bother you so much?”

When I'm four months pregnant, I come home from a checkup to find my mate, Ethan Hale, standing on a ladder in the nursery, pressing glow-in-the-dark constellations onto the ceiling. His childhood friend, Mia Vance, sits below with her chin in her hands, directing his every move. "Ethan, Orion's crooked. Shift it right a little. Yes, like that, so my goddaughter can see it from her crib." "You're worse than the actual mom, you know that?" He laughs. They joke back and forth, and neither of them notices me in the doorway. A pack member wrapping up a furniture delivery catches Ethan on his way out. "Alpha, the Luna really cares about the pup. That star map looks perfect." Ethan glances at Mia, who ducks her head with a blush, and says nothing to correct him. I don't move. Every detail in this nursery is Mia's doing. She picks the snow-white paint on the walls and the carousel mobile over the crib. Even the baby's nickname is Amber—named after a rabbit Mia had for eight years before it recently died. I tell Ethan over and over that I don't like any of it. He always says the same thing, that it's just a casual nickname and not worth getting upset over. I open my phone and submit a mate bond dissolution request to the Elder Council because this is my pup, and I'm going to be the one who names her.

After three years of banishment from my pack, I finally learned to submit. On the day I returned, my fated mate, Alpha Kane, cornered me by the cliff with a cold warning. "If you ever lay a claw on Isla again, I will—" Before he could finish, I slammed my hand against a jagged rock. Once. Twice. Until the crunch of shattered bones echoed in the air. He stared at my limp, mangled hand. It wasn't healing instantly like it should. For the first time, his unwavering Alpha composure cracked. Back on the top floor of the Pack House, the Omega my parents adopted taunted me on the balcony. "So what if you have the former Alpha's bloodline? I am the future Luna!" With a vicious smirk, she dug her nails into her own arm, drawing blood. Then, she screamed. "Aurora! If you hate me that much, I'll leave! Please, just don't hurt my baby!" My mate and my brother rushed in just in time to see this. Instantly, they unleashed their terrifying Alpha and Beta auras, pinning me down. The suffocating pressure almost crushed my wolf. "You're beyond saving!" Kane snarled. "If anything happens to Isla or her pup, I'll wipe you off the face of the earth!" I nodded submissively. I turned around, walked straight down to the pack's dungeon. Without a second thought, I threw myself into the interrogation vat—a pool of highly concentrated liquid silver. Splashing silver burned my parents' skin as they burst through the door. My mother let out a horrific scream and fainted on the spot. My father fought through the searing agony, plunging his hands into the vat to drag me out. Meanwhile, my always cold and powerful Alpha mate froze. He stood there, shaking uncontrollably, unable to utter a single word. Agony tore through every nerve from the silver burns, but I smiled. Three years ago, after failing to win their approval, I was banished. The System had told me: Show absolute submission until death, and it will reward you with billions of dollars and send you back to your real world.

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."

I'm an Omega, and I turned out to be the fated mate of the Silvermoon Pack's Alpha. For three years, I walked on eggshells as Luna. I threw myself into studying, night and day. Asked permission for everything. And still, it wasn't enough. "You always lean on me for everything," he said. "How can you ever be a real Luna? Try to be more like Sonya." Sonya Smith. His childhood friend. The gold standard I was supposed to measure up to. So I stopped leaning. When I got hurt protecting the pack, even when the wound ran deep, I bandaged it myself and let it heal on its own. Didn't go crying to him. When the pain hit, I curled up alone and rode it out. Didn't go looking for comfort. And when rogues jumped me and I lost the pup—I went to the pack healer myself and handled it. But my mate regretted it. He used to dream of the day I wouldn't need him anymore. When that day finally came, he realized— it was destroying him.

I used to have the perfect life. My Alpha father and Luna mother treated me like treasure. My fated mate, Caleb, swore to protect me forever. But four years ago, my parents brought back a frail orphan, Freya. From that day on, my world was stolen. My parents' warm smiles were suddenly reserved only for Freya. If she coughed, the whole packhouse panicked. When I bled in training, they told me to stop being a jealous attention-seeker. Even Caleb shifted all his tender care to her. For four years, I endured the neglect. I thought our mate bond would eventually win. Until the night of our mating ceremony—the night I was meant to become the future Luna. In front of the whole pack, Caleb unclasped the sacred Luna heirloom necklace from my neck. He turned around and fastened it around that crying orphan. "She needs this Moonstone to heal her broken wolf more than you do. Sienna, be reasonable," Caleb said, avoiding my eyes. When I stood frozen, my parents shoved me away to protect Freya. "If you can't accept her, get out! Don't step foot in the main house!" That night, my heart finally died. I didn't scream or fight like I had for the past four years. I just packed my bags and left. They thought I was throwing a tantrum. They thought I'd come crawling back to the pack in a few days. They even took that orphan girl on a private jet to the pack's tropical island—the place I had always dreamed of for my honeymoon with Caleb. Days later, when they returned, they were shocked to find I had accepted a contract from the Alliance Healer's Guild. A 15-year, top-secret lockdown project for a silver poison antidote. No contact. No turning back. That night, they lost their minds.

When my Alpha heir fiancé, Weston, chose jewelry for our bonding ceremony, he did what he always did, buying two of everything so my twin sister, Riley, could pick first. One was a moonstone necklace, blessed by a High Witch. The other was a simple onyx choker, the kind of cheap trinket you could find anywhere in the pack market. For the first time, I spoke before Riley could make her choice. I pointed to the moonstone necklace. "This time, can I choose first?" Weston's palm settled on the crown of my head, his voice a low, soothing rumble. "Riley is the jewel of your pack. She is meant to shine and deserves things worthy of a princess. You don't care about these things, Lyra. The choker suits you better. Quiet, unassuming." I didn't say a word, but something inside me crumbled to dust. In this family, Riley always got the first cut of roasted venison and the room with the best sunlight. My mother said Riley was the pack's glory and deserved the best, while my father called it survival of the fittest. Our two packs had arranged this alliance long ago, and everyone assumed his mate would be Riley. But she despised being tied down and yearned for freedom, so Weston settled for me. I had known Weston for twenty years. In his world, I would always be Riley's stand-in. I looked down at the choker and pushed it away. "If Riley wants them, she can have both. I don't want either." I was done with leftovers, and that included my Alpha mate.

Three years to the day after we sealed our betrothal oath, Keller Blake finally arrived in Silver Fir territory with the bonding gifts that would make our mate bond official. Our people lit the pine-resin braziers, and my parents looked as if a weight they had carried for years had finally lifted. But just as I reached the front door, Keller's attendant came running with a message. Keller had ordered the entire convoy to turn around. He never even came inside. One of Keller's aunts, who had traveled with the convoy, planted herself in front of his truck. "Keller, what kind of betrothal drags on for thirty-six full moons without a marking? The first year, you spent the bonding gifts to ransom your savior's daughter from hunters. The second, you injured a Grey Ridge warrior defending her and used the gifts to pay the damages. What is it this time? Keep this up, and the Halls really will dissolve the oath!" Keller already had the truck door open. His careless reply carried to me on the wind. "Lydia Vaughn's father left her a wolf-fang pendant. It's the only thing she has left of him, and I have to buy it back from the Neutral Zone auction house. As for Evelyn, we've been together since we were pups. A little sweet talk and she'll come around. Everyone in the North knows we're betrothed. She's twenty-six, and I've kept her waiting three years on top of that. Who else would dare take her?" I drew back the foot I had nearly set across the threshold. "The Lunar Council statute is clear. If thirty-six full moons pass and one party still refuses to deliver the promised bonding gifts, the oath is automatically void. I'm a free wolf now. I can choose another mate."

When I was twenty, my alpha mate's brother died protecting him from a rogue attack. To repay that debt, Adrian moved his widowed sister-in-law, Vanessa, into the pack estate. From that day on, everything I had—my home, my future, even my place beside my fated mate—came second to her. Vanessa swallowed a handful of pills and claimed I'd driven her to suicide. Adrian slapped me in front of the pack guards, stripped me of my Luna privileges, and threw me out of our home. "Get out. I don't need a vicious woman for a mate." Later, to make Vanessa feel "useful," he gave her the research position he'd promised me. This time, I didn't argue. I simply signed the waiver and let her have it. Adrian thought I'd finally grown up and stopped being jealous. He planned to make it up to me on the fifth anniversary of our mating bond by giving me the Luna ring I'd waited years for. What he didn't know was that our anniversary was also the day I was leaving for a classified research institute in Alaska. By the time he realized my room was empty, my number had been disconnected and my pack transfer was complete. The only thing I left behind was one final email. [Adrian, I don't want you anymore.]

In the third year of their secret marriage, Matteo, the newly appointed head of the Moretti Family, requested a Black Rose Ring at the Dowager's seventieth birthday banquet. He stood at the center of the hotel ballroom, a gentle smile on his face. "There's a woman who stood by me through my darkest days and even saved my life during that assassination attempt. I want her to wear the Moretti Family's highest ring of protection. She's here tonight." The room erupted in whispers. Everyone knew Matteo was composed and restrained, never discussing his personal life in public. A few of the old bosses allied with the Moretti Family were the first to egg him on, urging him to bring the woman forward. My heart gave a small flutter. Matteo had never told me about this. Back then, he had been the most overlooked heir in the Moretti Family. I used the shipping company my mother left me to move cargo and funnel funds for him, and I dragged him out of a warehouse filled with toxic gas. It left my heart permanently damaged and half my face scarred. Matteo took the Black Rose Ring from the Dowager's hand and, under everyone's gaze, stepped down from the stage. The ballroom fell silent. The black diamond flashed in the cold light as Matteo crossed toward the far end of the women's tables. I alone felt ice flooding through my veins. He wasn't coming toward me. Matteo stopped in front of my half-sister, Lydia. He slipped the ring onto her right hand, his voice tender. "Lydia was born out of wedlock. She's spent her whole life being looked down on, and what she needs most is a status no one can sneer at. Elena, you're the legitimate Rossi daughter. You own ports, and you're my lawful wife. You've always been generous. You wouldn't begrudge her one empty title." I swallowed the taste of blood rising in my throat, turned away, and snapped the last vial of antidote—the dose he would desperately need the following month.

I was an ordinary pharmacist's apprentice. To save my gravely injured brother, I agreed to a mysterious deal and slept with a man. Then I found out I was carrying six wolf pups! From that day on, I lived as a fugitive, hunted endlessly by the Silver Cross. When they strapped me to the silver altar, my six children were right in front of me. Their hands and feet were clamped in silver rings. The smallest, Nell, had already stopped breathing. The warden held a moon core extraction needle and said half-blood pups had no human rights. They were nothing more than experimental specimens waiting to be taken apart. No one knew their father was the Northern Alpha, who had gone three hundred years without an heir. Nor did anyone know that to find us, he had followed a cracked moonstone, three decoy prison wagons, and seven trails of blood for three full years. I tied the torn strips of my dress back onto my six children's wrists and told them, "Don't listen to them. Mommy is still here." The next second, six howls tore through the sanctified silver seal. The cathedral doors shattered. A man covered in snow stepped through the silver dust, his golden eyes fixed on me. "Take your hands off my family."