Mate Short Stories & Novels

For five years, I was the Luna of the Silver Moon Pack. And for five years, every time I carried my Alpha’s pup, I miscarried before full term. After losing three babies, the Elders heavily pressured my mate, Arthur. So, he brought home an Omega. Mia. He claimed Mia wanted to be our surrogate to repay me for saving her years ago. Even though I felt guilty, the Elders backed me into a corner. And when Arthur begged me with so much love and heartbreak in his eyes, I agreed. To compensate Mia, and to pay the massive medical and IVF bills, I worked myself to the bone. I took on all the pack’s grueling duties. I gave her the ultimate luxuries and the best prenatal care. I even risked my life on the front lines, fighting like a beast to secure more territory for our pack. Finally, after three painful rounds of IVF, she got pregnant. I still remember the day the pup was born. Arthur held me in his arms, crying tears of joy as he kissed me. "We finally have an heir, Serena. You never have to suffer again." Mia stayed in the guest room of our packhouse. I swore to myself that I would treat her like my own sister. And I loved our pup, Leo, as if he were my own flesh and blood. But the day after Leo’s first birthday, he spiked a massive fever and nearly passed out. Arthur and Mia were out. Panicking, I rushed him to the pack hospital for emergency surgery. When the blood test came back, I froze. Leo was Blood Type B. He wasn't my child.

My mating ceremony with Chris kept getting interrupted, one reason after another. The first time, his adopted sister Lucy threw him a bachelor party. He drank too much and missed our slot. The second time, right before we set out, Lucy twisted her ankle. Chris took her to the hospital and missed it again. The third time, we were already standing at the vow platform when Lucy cried until she fainted below. Once again, Chris left me standing there. The fourth time, the fifth time... Lucy, every single time. "Hurry up, Sheila! This is the eighth time! There are only fifteen minutes left to receive the Moon Goddess's blessing. If you miss it again, the Moon Goddess will take it as proof the two of you were never meant to be mates!" My best friend Vivian shouted frantically. I took Chris's hand, and I had just started up the steps when Lucy's cry rang out behind us. "Chris, wait, my moonstone bracelet just snapped. It was your coming-of-age gift to me." Chris jerked his foot back mid-step. "Don't rush. I'll wait for you." The buzzing crowd went dead silent. Everyone exchanged looks. I looked at Chris, swallowing my anger. "Chris, there are only fifteen minutes left for the Moon Goddess's blessing." Chris glanced at Lucy, his tone indulgent. "We're already at the door. A few more minutes won't hurt." Watching Chris crouch down beside Lucy to gather her moonstone beads, I suddenly smiled. Then I opened my phone and pulled up a number I'd blocked three years ago. [Didn't you tell me three years ago to give you a chance?] [You have fifteen minutes. Come to Grayfang Pack's Moon Goddess Altar.]

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 was born without a wolf—the Blackwood family's most shameful daughter. My twin sister Seraphina, however, was blessed with a rare white wolf. She'd been cradled in our parents' palms since birth. When she got hurt, I drank the potion and bled in her place. When she caused trouble, I took the punishment for her. At eighteen, she was betrothed to Prince Alaric—a man under a terrible curse. They said every full moon, he turned into a mindless monster. His first three brides had all died beneath his claws. Seraphina sobbed and refused to go. So my parents sacrificed me again. They dressed me up and sent me to the altar in her place. Even Alaric himself warned me with disgust: "Don't ever think I'll love you. That would kill you." Everyone waited for me to die on the first full moon. But when a poisoned arrow flew at Alaric's back, I still stepped in front of him. When I woke, the monster everyone feared was at my bedside—eyes bloodshot, hands still stained with the assassins' blood. He gripped my wrist, his voice hoarse: "Wren, who gave you permission to die for me?"

At our werewolf academy's graduation party, someone asked the most popular girl in our class what the best decision she'd made in the past few years was. She stole a shy, coy glance at the man on the sofa, then pointed at me with open contempt. "Obviously, turning away some pathetic wretch when she came kneeling at our pack's gates, begging for help. "If that hadn't made her disappear without a word, how else would the Alpha have promised to make me his future Luna?" Everyone burst into laughter, their eyes full of scorn as they looked at me. "A lowborn Omega had the nerve to set her sights on becoming Luna? Her pack deserved to be wiped out!" Only the man whose very presence commanded authority went still, his pupils contracting. The wine glass in his hand shattered against the floor. I crouched down instinctively to pick up the shards, not even noticing when they sliced my fingers. His eyes blazed crimson, his gaze fixed on me as though he wanted to devour me whole. I cleaned up the mess and gave a faint bow. "Alpha, I'll take my leave." Some things, once missed, aren't worth going back for.

After four miscarriages, I was finally pregnant again. To surprise my mate, Wyatt, I hid behind the curtains in his office. I never expected to see him tangled in a passionate embrace with my younger sister, Stella. They were kissing frantically, and Wyatt showed a fiery passion for her that he had never once shown me. What shattered my heart completely were Wyatt’s next words: "Since you're pregnant now, Harper is useless to me. I'll figure out a way to sever the mate bond with her." "She’s so incredibly clueless. She never even suspected that I caused those four miscarriages just to cure your infertility..." Hiding behind the curtain, I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle my devastated sobs. My fated mate murdered my babies with his own hands, all for my sister. In that moment, a fire of pure vengeance ignited in my heart. I called Wyatt’s mortal enemy, Dominic, Alpha of the Sterling Pack: "Want to make Wyatt's life a living hell? Let's make a deal."

I was eighteen when I left my pack. I ran away with Stanley, my fated mate. He never gave me a proper mating ceremony. But I loved him. I would have done anything. I watched him build his pack. Become an Alpha. Take over half the territories in the North. The first time we made love, he marked my neck and promised me a grand ceremony. One day. I kept waiting. For over twenty years, I tried to be the perfect Luna for him. Then came my forty-fifth birthday. I thought it was time. Time for that ceremony he promised, in the sacred springs of Starfall Valley. But he had another surprise for me. I found him in our pack’s private hot spring, pinning his dead brother’s mate beneath him. That’s when I knew. To everyone, I was just a live-in servant. One who never got paid. One who would never leave. I was tired. I’d hidden my bloodline for so long. Too long. He was sure I had nowhere else to go. That he could crush me whenever he wanted. He didn't know. The blood of the oldest pack on the continent runs through my veins. When this wolf’s patience runs out… I won’t beg. I’ll rip out their throats myself. And then, I’m going home.

For five years, I let my husband’s fated mate take whatever she wanted. My place beside him. His time. His attention. The tenderness that used to belong to me. I even told myself I could survive watching my own son choose her over me, because a broken family had to be better than no family at all. It wasn’t. On the tenth anniversary of the bond my husband and I chose for ourselves, he canceled our ceremony and told me his fated mate would be taking my place beside him. Then my son gave her the Luna necklace his father had once given me and told me she was his real mate. That was the moment I finally understood something I should have learned five years ago. No matter how much of myself I gave to that family, I would never be the woman Adrian chose. So I filed for the dissolution of our bond. None of them believed I could really walk away. My husband thought I was bluffing. His fated mate thought she had won. My son didn’t even look back. Then, three days later, a call came from Moonfall Island: Adrian Blackwood’s Luna was dead. This time, I left them with nothing but my ashes.

My sister Mia and I both had a crush on Alpha Felix. But Mia was sweet and knew exactly how to act cute. Felix only had eyes for her—just like our parents. Even when Mia and I competed for the position of Chief Beta, Felix chose her without a second thought. So, I left the pack in a fit of anger, determined to make a name for myself. Six years later, I became the strongest female Alpha in North America, leading the Crimson Pack. But my family and Felix knew none of this. That is, until I heard that Felix’s Crescent Pack was facing a severe financial crisis and desperately needed a powerful ally to survive. I looked at my schedule and let out a soft smirk. The name written next to the 10:00 AM slot—"Meeting with small pack seeking asylum"—was none other than Felix.

Right before my mating ceremony, I drank the glass of milk my mother had brought me. It didn’t take long for my consciousness to slip away. When I opened my eyes, I found myself locked inside a basement, a silver lock barring the door. Shifting, I threw myself against the door desperately, even when my flesh was torn and bloody. At last, I broke free. I dragged my broken body to the ceremony, only to find my adopted sister, Maeve, standing on the altar in a gown far more extravagant than mine. My mate—the one who had my heart—placed the Luna crown that was meant for me on Maeve’s head. Maeve sank into my mate’s embrace, her frame fragile. “Ulric, I feel like I’m dreaming. I’m so happy. My sister’s going to kill me if she finds out.” Ulric brushed his fingers against her cheek and assured her, “Relax. She’s fast asleep. The ceremony’d be over by the time she wakes up. Besides, she already has my love. All you’re asking for is a ceremony. I’m sure she’ll understand.” My parents stood nearby, their faces wistful. “Look at them. They are perfect for each other. If only Isobel weren’t around.” “Maeve is the true Luna. Isobel doesn’t deserve Ulric.” I stood at the door, my feet pinned to the ground and my tears rolling down my cheeks. As it turned out, there had never been an accident. It was all a setup. Not a single wolf in this world had ever loved me. In that case, I would give them what they wanted. This fake family and unfaithful mate were out of my life for all I cared!

The music at the Full Moon feast was deafening. I bent down, fumbling with the strap on my heel. When I looked up, they were already gone. My fated mate, Callum—the feared Alpha of the Red Maple pack—and Freya, my once-best friend. I started to follow. To lift my dress and run. But the space by his side—my space, the Luna's space—was already gone. Their bodies were pressed close. Whispering about pack politics. Things I'd never understand. It was like I wasn't even there. An outsider. I always knew we'd have an arranged marriage. Callum and me. Finding out we were Mates was no surprise. Our wolves were made for each other. A fatal attraction. Until Freya proved herself as a lethal fighter. She used to be the one I told everything to. Now, she was Alpha Callum's sharpest claw. His most trusted Beta. To everyone in the Alliance, they were the Red Maple pack's power couple. They shared the glory, the blood, the battles against rogues. And me? I spent every waking hour in the pack hospital, healing our people, pulling them back from death's door. But to him, I was just a fragile healer who needed protecting. Forever locked out of his world of blood and instinct. Callum loved to run his thumb over the back of my neck, right over the spot he'd only partially marked. The possessive scent made my knees weak. "My sweet Tessa," he'd growl. "You don't need to see the ugliness. Your innocence is what I love." Then he'd turn. And he and Freya would disappear into the smoke and darkness to handle the pack's violent "business." This time, watching them walk away, a bone-deep exhaustion washed over me. I was done. Done chasing a man who would never turn around.

Lorenzo Blackwood called off the mating ceremony. The reason was that I had smiled at another male werewolf at the bonfire party. For the Alpha of the Moonlight Pack, his version of the silent treatment was almost laughably childish. He stopped bringing me with him and deliberately took his assistant Anna Reed's hand instead. He deliberately bid one million dollars on a ruby for Anna at an Imperial auction, then fastened it around her neck himself. He made a point of guiding Anna through hand-to-hand combat drills on the training ground, lingering far too close as he corrected her stance. He made a point of answering every word Anna said with endless patience while ignoring every look I sent him. I had already written the apology letter. "Lorenzo, I was wrong. I swear you're the only one I love. Please don't be mad anymore, okay?" I was on my way to apologize when I heard Anna laughing outside the door of Lorenzo's study. "You gave me the pack's heirloom moonstone pendant just to get under your mate's skin. "I don't mind playing along. Chloe always caves first anyway." I looked at the pendant sitting against her throat. That was the symbol of the Moonlight Pack's Luna. Calmly, I turned and walked away. Then I canceled everything, one item at a time: the ceremony venue, the banquet, and the officiating priest.

My mate, Ryan Carter, and I took in a young rogue Omega named Nina Reed, and I raised her myself. But once she grew up, she tried every trick she could think of to seduce Ryan. He said he would send her to another pack and never let her come back. Nina threw a fit and ran out of the house. During the argument, she shoved me down the stairs even though I was seven months pregnant. The fall left me badly injured. I lost the baby and had to undergo a hysterectomy. Ryan hated her deeply. He forced her into the pack's lowest rank, making her clean up after everyone, and even tied her up in the basement to torment her day and night. But when she pressed a poisoned silver blade to her own throat and offered me a life for a life, he panicked. He grabbed the blade, blood streaming between his fingers, and said in a voice hoarse with fear, "You don't have the right to die until you've given me another child to make up for the one we lost!" She threw herself into his arms, and this time Ryan stroked her hair gently with his clean left hand. I leaned against the wall outside the door as a violent pain tore through my heart. Once it passed, I mind-linked my older brother, Lucian Bennett, the Alpha who led our pack. "I need a different mate."

To help Rex Blackwood claim the Alpha title, I was forced to keep our relationship secret. As his mate, I waited for seven years, finally seeing the day Rex became Alpha. Only then did he announce he would hold the mating ceremony for me. At the ceremony, bonfires blazed high and everyone howled in celebration, but my heart plummeted. Just as we were about to be bonded, his adopted sister, Lilia Voss, shifted into wolf form and lunged at us. With one swipe of her claws, she knocked over the sacred fire basin, shredded the ceremonial wreath, and clamped her teeth onto the hem of his coat, whimpering. "Rex, you promised you'd only ever protect me." Rex immediately pulled his hand back and stroked the fur bristling along her spine, his eyes full of concern. Only then did he look at me. "Wendy, Lilia lost control of her shift again. "Let's put the ceremony on hold. We'll continue once she calms down." He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world, as though I would always be standing right there, waiting for him. A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I fought down the wolf threatening to break free inside me and stared at him coldly. "Rex, tonight you either finish this ceremony or we're done for good. "Choose."

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.

I'm six months pregnant when my cousin Hallie Thorne's mate dies. Worried that she has no one to look after her, my mate, Ragnar Clairmont, suggests she move in with us. I don't think twice before agreeing. The moment Hallie walks through the door and sees my pregnant belly, she bursts into tears. Ragnar pulls me aside and says quietly, "Try not to walk around showing off your pregnancy in front of her. Her mate just died before they could even have a pup. Don't rub it in her face." I feel sorry for her, so I agree. That night, Hallie spills dish soap by the kitchen door, causing me to slip and nearly lose my pup. I suspect that she does it on purpose and tell Ragnar. But he just looks at me with frustration. "The three of us grew up together. She would never do something like that. Pregnancy can make you paranoid. Stop assuming the worst of her." But later, while we're camping, she suddenly pushes me into the river before jumping in after me. Ragnar comes running when he hears the splash and immediately dives in to save us. I beg him to save me and our pup, but he swims right past me and gets Hallie to shore first. "She's just a fragile Omega. I need to make sure she's safe first. You're an Alpha. You can handle yourself. I'll go get help," Ragnar says. Under normal circumstances, I could easily swim to shore. But now that I'm pregnant, my body feels heavy and sluggish. I try to shout for Ragnar, but weeds wrap around my legs, and water closes over my mouth and nose. I hear approaching footsteps in the distance, but it's already too late.

"The Wolf Queen wants another child." Kael said it while unfastening my nightdress. "You bear easily. Carry one more for her." Ten months later, I gave birth to a silver-eyed daughter. The midwife cut the cord, wrapped her in black cloth steeped in scent-severing herb, and carried her from the room before I could look twice. She was the second. Everyone at court knew that Seraphine had destroyed her moon-vein saving Kael and could never bear an heir. Otherwise, no daughter of Silvercrest would have been welcomed into the Wolf Keep. To Kael, I was never a partner. I was the Moon-Bound woman chosen to give the Wolf Queen children and the royal line its blood. No one asked whether I consented when they took my daughter. No one noticed that I memorized the tread of every pair of boots beyond the door.

The day before the marking ceremony, I catch my Alpha mate, Kieran Gray, fooling around with my sister, Hannah Ziegler, at the altar. I completely lose it. To get revenge, I sleep with all three of his right-hand men. I deliberately leave traces of what we did everywhere—in his penthouse, in the passenger seat of his sports car, and even in his office. However, when Kieran finds out, he merely loosens his tie and starts a group call. "What did you guys think of my arranged mate?" Liam Shenton, a Delta, chuckles. "She's got huge breasts. She felt pretty good." "She's like a ripe, juicy peach. No wonder she's the most beautiful she-wolf in the pack," Zachary Lawson, the Beta, adds, still savoring the experience. Anthony Walker, a Gamma, jokes, "She's too stiff. She needs some practice." At that moment, I realize the revenge I had gone to such lengths to carry out is nothing but a joke to them, and Kieran doesn't care about it at all. I completely break down, and Kieran sends me to a psychiatric care facility. After a year of treatment, I finally recover. Outside my window, a black car pulls up in the courtyard. Kieran has come to take me home. He still remembers to come for me, but I've already forgotten how to love him.

Sun Keeper