Plot Twists Short Stories & Novels

I was the wildest she-wolf in the Black Moon Pack. But my mate Cedric loved how untamable I was. When I challenged a cocky male wolf to a duel and broke his ribs, he laughed and wiped the blood off my hands. When I publicly defied the elders and flipped the council table, he stood in front of me and said, "My Luna doesn't bow to anyone." Even when he was at the border negotiating alliances, he'd rush back overnight just to fasten the moonstone necklace around my neck himself. I thought his favoritism would never change. Until Chloe, a rogue she-wolf, appeared. She was gentle, fragile, always so obedient. The first time he said, "Can you rein in your wildness and learn to behave?" I crushed a glass with my bare hand. Later, he postponed the pack council for her and expelled anyone who questioned her rogue status. Then he openly brought her to banquets. Everyone was waiting for me to explode. To flip the long table, bare my claws, and tear Chloe apart in front of everyone. But I didn't fight. Didn't make a scene. I even offered my own gown and my moonstone necklace. Cedric wrapped an arm around me, satisfied. "You've finally learned to be sensible and obedient." "As a reward, in three days, I'll hold a grand marking ceremony for you." I smiled and said okay. But he didn't know. On the day of the marking ceremony, I would be gone.

Years ago, a witch cast a prophecy over me. She said I was the cursed wolf, an abomination who would bring the pack to ruin. My parents believed it completely. Locked me in the cellar that same night and left me to starve. My older sister, Sia, fought like hell to keep me alive. When the pack came for me, she stood in front of every single one of them, crying as she tried to shield me. "She's not an abomination. She's never hurt anyone." Because of those words, when the Alpha fell for her but still feared me, that so-called abomination, I volunteered for exile. Walked away from the pack forever. Before I left, I gave Sia a charm. Told her, if anyone ever laid a hand on her, just speak into it, and I'd come running. No questions asked. Three years later, I had clawed my way to Alpha of the Wintercrest Pack through sheer power. I was about to tell Sia the news when her distress signal hit me. My blood went cold. I raced back to my old pack, only to walk right into the Alpha's covenant ceremony with another woman. That smug witch was up there, chanting blessings over the happy couple. My parents stood by, grinning. And Sia? Nowhere. I scanned the crowd again. Still nothing. My chest tightened. Let me be crystal clear. If anything happened to Sia, I would give them a real abomination to fear.

At the pack gathering, I ran into the ex-mate who had betrayed me. His Beta sneered at me with open contempt. "Well, well. Isn't this the rogue who got banished for breaking pack law? This isn't a place for just anyone to wander into." "Alpha already has a Luna. What are you doing here, shameless as ever?" With that, he called for guards to throw me out. I cut him off, my voice cold. "I'm here to pick up my mate." My ex-mate stared at me, his gaze thick with disgust—like I was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe that he couldn't scrape off. "Alice, I already dissolved our mate bond. I have Tina now." I tilted my head, genuinely confused. What made him think I'd come crawling back for a mate who'd betrayed me?

Adrian Vance, heir to the Vance family, and I were together for three years. When we broke up, it got ugly. At the height of everything we had, I took a million dollars from his father and got rid of our child. He was outside the operating room, crying like a little kid. "Eve, I'm begging you, don't be this cruel. Don't throw away our love, don't throw away our baby..." I smiled, cold as ice, my nails digging into my palm. "You fool. Just go. The thought of carrying your child makes me sick." Adrian held back his tears until the corners of his eyes went red, and finally he let go of my wrist. Later, Adrian became the Don. We met again when I was at my lowest. It was his engagement party. The blonde standing at his side was about to become his noble Donna. And there I was, on the floor at his feet, begging him for a little money. He asked if I regretted it. I didn't regret a thing. He still didn't know that I'd given birth to that child and raised him. And now, that boy is dying.

I used to think that what Derek Shelby and I had could survive any test of trust. Then an ambush at the docks nearly wiped out the Shelby family. Vincent Shelby, the old Don, survived an assassination attempt but was left in a coma. Everyone said I was the one who'd leaked Vincent's whereabouts. So the night before our wedding, Derek himself dragged me out of the fitting room in my wedding dress and forced me to my knees. His eyes were bloodshot as he demanded, "Sylvia Loren, I offered to make you the Donna. Why did you betray the Shelby family?" I tried desperately to explain, but he didn't believe a word. For the next ten years, he kept me alive but trapped in his territory, punishing me relentlessly. Then Vincent woke from his coma, and everyone waited for him to condemn me himself. But he struggled to grab Derek's hand and said hoarsely, "Where's Sylvia? She didn't betray the Shelby family. "Back then, she risked her life to warn me there was a mole in the family. "If it weren't for her, I would've died on those docks!" Derek froze. The color slowly drained from his face. Only three months earlier, he'd casually handed me over to the most vicious fighter in the underground ring.

Lately, my lunch buddy at work, Kaia Watson, always sits there grinning at her phone. Whenever I ask what she's watching, she snaps impatiently, "It's just my lunchtime entertainment. Mind your own business." But before long, I notice everyone in the office staring at their phones during lunch as well. They're completely engrossed, and they break into mocking laughter every few moments. Finally, during one lunch break when no one is around, I take a peek at the video on her phone. It's an AI-generated pornographic video. To my horror, the woman seductively posing in it has my face. Before I can react, Kaia returns to her desk and snatches the phone out of my hands. Seeing my face turn pale with anger, she lets out a dismissive laugh and says, "What? Don't tell me you're about to accuse us of spreading fake rumors about you? If you didn't do it, you wouldn't be so afraid of people talking. "You sneak into the boss' office every day to take your lunch break. I don't think I need to spell out what kind of woman that makes you." Only then do I realize that my colleagues have known all along that I go into that office surreptitiously every day to take a nap. What they don't know is that my father is the owner of the company.

On the night of my engagement party, my mother and I were sipping champagne in the VIP room of a couture shop. That’s when my fiancé’s secretary sent me a video. In the video, Camilla was pinning a middle-aged woman to the floor. She drove her diamond-studded heel into the woman’s face. Over and over. “Serafina, you cheap, pretentious little bitch. Did you really think that just because you fucked the Boss and got a ring, your mother could sneak into his vault and steal his diamonds?” Another sharp kick from the stiletto. The woman’s face was a bloody pulp. A weak gasp of pain escaped her lips. “Rats from the sewer. Always wanting what isn’t yours. I’m the only woman the Boss trusts. Now I’m going to skin this thief alive for him.” I slowly lowered my phone. Beside me, my mother was admiring her new gown in the mirror, humming happily. Sensing my gaze, she smiled, patting my hand. “Darling, the Vitiello family may be bleeding money, but their new Don is certainly easy on the eyes. Once you’re married, your father will help him get the family business back on track.” I frowned and replayed the video. The unique cigar burn on her wrist. The faint thorn tattoo on the back of her neck. And the black onyx ring on her finger—the one that belonged to the last Don’s wife. Jesus Christ. That was my future mother-in-law! I called Camilla back immediately. “Camilla, are you a fucking idiot? That’s Cassian’s mother you’re stepping on!” She let out a smug laugh. “Oh, please. The Boss told me all about you. You’re just some nobody his father forced him to marry. He doesn’t give a shit about you. Why would he care if your low-life mother lives or dies?”

After writing an essay about the future I wanted, I made a desperate appeal to my parents, just as Aaron Wade was likely doing in the hall of a business his family owned. The appeal lasted two days. Our demand was simple: annul the engagement between us. Others might have found this confusing, but I knew exactly why it mattered. In my previous life, I married Aaron and gave him everything. I devoted my career to him and stood at the peak of his business empire. He repaid me by forcing me to take the fall for Rebecca, a so-called heiress. I was arrested and sent to prison. "Had you not forced us into an engagement the moment you got into Iale University, I would have ended up with her instead," he sneered. "You owe her this, Bernadette. It's time you paid up." Even my own parents joined in. "You robbed Becky of what she deserves. Think of this as your divine retribution!" They had supported the engagement back then. Rage overwhelmed me and triggered a cardiac arrest. I died on the spot. While my body lay cold in the morgue, Aaron and Rebecca held a lavish wedding at a five-star hotel to celebrate their union. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day I had written about the future I wanted. Now I knew what that future looked like. It had none of these people in it. This time, I would live for myself.

Right as college acceptance letters went out, my golden boy of a brother, Bill Cyrus, spread a rumor that I stole his spot at Braxton University. His only proof was a single paparazzi shot of me standing outside the university gates. Of course, my parents believed him. To protect Bill's precious reputation, they forced me to take the fall. They even threatened to lock me away in an internet-addiction center for good to erase their embarrassment of their younger son—the one who dropped out and ran wild for a year. Watching my own family line up to tear me apart over one massive lie, the last scrap of hope I had for them shattered completely. I stopped holding back. I watched, ice-cold, as they dug their own graves. Let's see exactly how someone who couldn't even clear the cutoff for an average state school planned to prove he got into the best university in the country.

"I'm sorry, but this flight is overbooked. We're going to compensate you twenty dollars. Please deplane immediately." The head flight attendant had my suitcase in a death grip. Her tone wasn't a request—it was an order. I gave her a cold look, then turned my gaze to the man beside us, who had just been escorted onto the plane, draped in designer labels. "Why does he get to board after showing up late, while I—who paid full price—am being forced off?" She let out a mocking laugh and lowered her voice to taunt me. "Because he's the son of a top-tier medical conglomerate in Scallow City. He's rushing there to beg an elusive miracle doctor—the famous Phantom Surgeon—to save his life. "No matter how urgent your business is, can it really compare to a human life? If you delay Mr. Stafford, ten lives couldn't pay for it. Now get off." Several security guards dragged me off the plane by force as I watched the cabin doors close. I laughed in sheer disbelief. The "Mr. Stafford" she was talking about was William Stafford, and he was terminally ill. What she didn't know was that I was the very "Phantom Surgeon" his entire family had been on their knees begging for three months—pleading with me to fly to Scallow City and perform his surgery today. Since they threw me off the plane, I won't be doing that operation. As for William, he can go ahead and wait for death.

Fire suddenly breaks out at the hotel where we're hosting our wedding. My fiance, Alan Godwin, doesn't hesitate to pick up Brenda Larkin, my cousin who has already collapsed out of fright, and rush out to safety. Meanwhile, my parents and older brother hurriedly cart away the wedding gift Brenda has made. They don't want her to get sad if the gift is damaged in any way. As for me, I've twisted my ankle, making it inconvenient for me to escape from the hotel. Everyone has already forgotten all about me, so I end up getting severe burns all over my body. When they look at the bandages wrapped around my body, they shoot me disgusted looks. "Why are you such a jinx? How is it possible for a fire to break out at your own wedding? Thanks to you, Brenda has fainted out of shock!" "Well, it's not like you're suited for any public appearances when you look like this, anyway. Brenda's figure is similar to yours. Why don't you let her replace you in the wedding?" I just nod calmly and agree to the suggestion. After that, I sort out the details of getting dispatched overseas for my job with my boss. One month later, I board my flight on the day Brenda is set to wed Alan. I no longer want Alan, who's blind to the truth, and my family, who are nothing but biased toward Brenda. But why is it that they are filled with regret after I leave them?

My cold-blooded Mafia boss, Don Cassius, tore my painting to shreds. Right in front of everyone. I needed to vent. I texted a picture of my legs in fishnets to my dark web sugar daddy. [Wanna be stepped on by your Mistress? Stroke it for me. Now.] I looked up. Cassius—usually an untouchable iceberg in a bespoke suit—swallowed hard. His ears flushed a dark red. Curious, I sneaked a peek at his phone. My photo. My filthy command. Both flashing on his screen. Holy shit. Ice shot through my veins. My stupid fucking thumb slipped... and hit the video call button.

On my wedding day, my sworn enemy, Kieran Steel, slams his foot on the gas and rams his car straight into my wedding car. If he can't have me, then he'd rather die with me. He ends up gravely injured, while I lose my memory. He limps over to me and pulls me into his arms. His face is alight with joy as he tells me he's the man I love. After tying the knot, Kieran cherishes and keeps me hidden away like his most prized treasure for five whole years until he finally grows tired of me. A young woman named Talulah Clive shows up at our friends' gathering. Both her appearance and personality are identical to the old me. With a cheeky grin, she insists we play "Never Have I Ever". "I've been with my boss. He even stole his wife's wedding ring and gave it to me. That's not all…" Her smile turns brazen and taunting. "I'm four months pregnant with his child. You lose, Kendall! So, as punishment, Mr. Steel belongs to me for the next six months, okay? He promised he'd be there for me when I bring our baby into the world." Everyone present holds their breath, not daring to make a sound. Kieran's the only one whose dark gaze shifts back and forth between Talulah and me. After a long while, he parts his lips, yet I can't be bothered to hear what he has to say. "Sure. He's all yours!" His expression changes drastically. He has no idea that I've regained my memories. Before he enters the picture, my lover's a man named Jasper Slate. He's drop-dead gorgeous, crazy as hell, and never lets a single slight go unpunished. And I'm cut from the same cloth. With that, Kieran's so done.

The Cecil family has a century-old rule: on the day a daughter marries, her father gives her a list. It lists the names of twelve bodyguards her father has trained for her since she was a child. They will serve the bride for life as her last line of defense in her husband's household. My twin sister Valentina and I married on the same day. At the ceremony, she held the contract, which was covered in red handprints. Our father patted her shoulder. "I chose every one of them for you. If anyone mistreats my darling girl, these men will make them pay." Our mother beamed. "Valentina will always be the treasure of our family." All I received was a single flimsy, worthless sheet of paper. It didn't even bear a seal. "Father, where is my list?" His gaze darted away for a moment. Then he looked back at me, his expression brazen and self-righteous. "Your sister is marrying Don Moretti's oldest son. The Moretti family is one of Sicily's most powerful Mafia families. Of course she needs more men. "I added your twelve men to her list. She needs twenty-four guards to make sure no one looks down on the Cecil family." Our mother backed him up. "The outsider you're marrying can't even fire a gun. Why would you need bodyguards? Stop thinking only of yourself." I looked at the worthless sheet of paper and smiled bitterly. In their eyes, I was nothing more than a disposable pawn.

On the night college applications closed, I received a message from a mysterious stranger. The sender claimed to be me seven years in the future and even sent me a video. In the video, Noah’s best friend asked him, “You secretly changed Claire’s application to a school thousands of miles away. Aren’t you worried she’ll get angry and leave you?” Noah, my childhood best friend, sounded completely unconcerned. “She cares about me too much to ever leave. Besides, it’s only a few years. Maybe this will finally teach her to stop following me around all day and getting in the way of me and Isabella.” I sat there in stunned silence long after the video ended, still unable to believe what I had just seen. It wasn’t until I logged into the application portal to check that I discovered the local state university I had originally chosen had really been replaced with an obscure school thousands of miles away. My hands and feet instantly went cold. When I finally came back to my senses, the first thing I did was change the application to one of the country’s top universities in the medical field. Just as Noah wanted, I would leave him for good.

I was once Fiona's consigliere. I put the Falcone Family in her hands，helping her become the untouchable Don. And when a rival family put out a hit, I took the car bomb meant for her. It cost me my eyes. She knelt by my hospital bed and swore a blood oath. She would be my eyes. I would be her only husband. Later, after an operation by a top surgeon, my eyes recovered. I couldn't wait to rush home to surprise her. But when I pushed open the door, I saw her tangled together with Leo, her bodyguard, on the desk I had custom-made for her. Fiona was pressed against Leo in revealing clothing, her face flushed. Crumpled white tissues littered the floor. Between ragged breaths, she called Leo’s name repeatedly. "Fiona, why are you still keeping that useless blind fuck around? Let me take care of him for you." "Leo, shut up. I need more time. Now, get inside me. That's all that matters." The Chicago winter rain was bone-chilling that night. I completely gave up. After walking out of the house in just my shirt, I pulled out my phone and booked a one-way ticket to Sicily. I will cut ties completely with this family and with her.

Seven days of overtime through Thanksgiving. I was ready to kill someone. First day back at Silver Moon territory after the holiday, Luna Sophia came storming into the council hall in heeled boots, screaming at the top of her lungs. "I'm going to find that homewrecker!" "I'm going to find the shameless tramp who kept my mate away from the territory for seven days!" Every wolf in the middle of pack business froze. Some of them even pulled out their phones to record. In my previous life, a young she-wolf named Evelyn had stood in the crowd and pointed at me, timid as a church mouse. "During Thanksgiving break... it seems like Viola was the only one who stayed with Alpha Kane to handle border affairs..." I'd barely lifted my head, eyes swollen and bloodshot from lack of sleep, when a slap cracked across my face. Sophia grabbed my hair and screamed in front of the entire pack that I was a shameless fox who'd used pack business as an excuse to seduce the Alpha, that I'd hogged Kane to myself all through Thanksgiving. Kane didn't say a word in my defense. He even said, right there in front of everyone, cold as ice, that I was the one who'd been clinging to him. Then he personally stripped my badge and threw me out of the core territory. I lost my position and the pack I'd spent years protecting. The humiliation spread to every neighboring territory within days. Everyone was talking. Saying Viola from Silver Moon had no shame. That she'd gone after a mated Alpha. That she got what she deserved. Then Sophia, still furious, came after me in her car while I was leaving the territory. Ran me right into the snowbank by the frozen lake. When I opened my eyes again, I was right back at the moment Sophia burst into the council hall. She hadn't even opened her mouth yet. I slammed my hands on the table and shot to my feet. "Sis, you're looking for the cheater?" "God damn it, so am I! I wanna know which she-wolf has a death wish big enough to steal the Alpha!"

On the day of our wedding, all the guests take their seats, and the photographers and lighting crew are ready to go. The emcee announces, "Please welcome the bride, Lana Bowen!" Even though he has repeated himself three times, Lana is still nowhere to be seen. I call Lana, and she only picks up on my fifth try. I can hear the noisy bustle of a mall in the background. "Mark, Nick says he wants to be your groomsman. He's picking out a suit right now. Give me an hour. Once Nick gets changed and gets his hair done, we'll head over." My palms are getting clammy as I softly say, "Lana, this is our wedding day, not some casual get-together." She clicks her tongue. "Mark Waters, it's not like I said I wasn't going. Nick's going to be your groomsman. I can't exactly have him showing up in a T-shirt and shorts, can I?" My good friend Robert Decker is so mad that he's ready to give her a piece of his mind, but she hangs up the moment Nicholas Sampson calls her name. The emcee comes over and asks if we should postpone the ceremony. I turn to my parents, who are waiting expectantly, then to my future in-laws, who have looks of disdain on their faces. "Start on schedule, but change the bride's name." I tap Robert on the shoulder. "Get your sister to help me out and go through the wedding with me instead."

The Blood Moon Pack had one inviolable iron law: the Alpha’s mate must also be a werewolf. I was the human girl the pack had adopted. Even so, Alpha Wilson chose to form a mate bond with me. To stay with me, he openly defied the Elders’ orders. They locked him in a stone cell and gave him ninety-nine lashes. Even when blood soaked through his shirt, he still smiled at me, bowed his head, and kissed away my tears: “Lily, you will always be the only mate I have ever claimed.” In the end the Elders agreed to let me become Luna, on the condition that I quickly give Wilson an heir. It was not until the third year of our marriage that I finally became pregnant. Just as I was filled with joy and about to tell Wilson, his childhood sweetheart, missing for years, returned. She was a werewolf, and the ideal Luna in the Elders’ eyes. The Elders demanded that Wilson marry her at once and produce a legitimate heir for the pack. According to pack law, as long as I lived I would occupy the position of Luna, and he could not take a second mate. This time, Wilson chose to compromise. He pressed a bottle of fake-death potion into my hand, eyes red, and begged me. “Lily, please help me this once. Once she gives birth to the heir, I’ll bring you back.” I never had the chance to tell him that I was already pregnant. My adoptive Beta brother and Delta brother also urged me to take the medicine and leave. They said it was only a temporary measure; everyone was doing it for the good of the Pack. They all believed I would obediently fake my death, hide in some corner, and wait for Wilson to keep his promise. What they did not know was that from the moment I agreed to take the medicine, I had already begun arranging my own way out. This time, I would stage my own funeral with my own hands.

The day before the start of a new semester, Gianna Sutton, my online girlfriend, tells me she lost me to her best friend in a dice game. I haven't even figured out what's going on when she suddenly adds me to the group chat with more than a hundred people. I notice the newly made announcement pinned to the top. "Congratulations to Natalia, our campus belle, for winning herself a 220-pound boyfriend!" Just then, someone posts a photo of me from high school. I am wearing an oversized uniform in the photo, my stomach pushing against the desk before me. I am so overweight that my eyes are barely visible. Those in the group chat immediately go wild. "That thing can't be human! It's clearly a pig in disguise!" "I actually feel kind of bad for Natalia. I mean, imagine having to complete couple tasks with a pig like him." "It's a total mismatch between a total knockout and an absolute beast!" It doesn't take long before someone sets up a betting pool over whether I'll show up tomorrow night. Gianna drops 4,500 dollars, betting that I won't show up. "I hope you won't blame me for this, Natalia. You're the one who rolled a six and won him in the game." Natalia Dafforn, the campus belle, remains completely silent. Cameron Gunter, the acknowledged scion in the freshman group chat, suddenly tags me. "You're definitely showing up tomorrow, right, Zachary?" I look at the messages piling up in the group chat and smile. I have already lost 145 pounds—from 275 to 130—just to meet Gianna in real life, something no one is aware of. In the past two months alone, I have been asked for my contact info more times than in my past 18 years combined. I quietly throw down 450 dollars, betting that I'll show up on time. Then, surrounded by everyone egging me on, I simply send one message. "A bet is a bet."