Awakening Werewolf-Kurzgeschichten & -Kurzromane

Seven years. My fated mate, Alpha Julian, and I only have one topic: Yes or No. "Yes" means he comes home. "No" means he goes to Chloe—his childhood friend. Ninety-eight times. Every time I needed him, he chose her. Tonight is our mating ceremony. One bite on my neck, and the bond seals forever. The banquet hall glows. Elders and elites raise glasses, congratulating me on finally taming the Supreme Alpha. But his phone keeps buzzing. I know it's Chloe. Her "broken wolf spirit" is "losing control" again. He tenses. Ready to bolt. I press my fingers against his hand. "It's our mating ceremony. Do you have to go?" He grips my hand, thumb rubbing my knuckles. "Chloe's wolf is severely broken. She can't survive without me. I'll be right back. Trust me." He buries his face in my neck, inhaling. "You are my fated mate. My one and only Luna." Then he pulls away and walks out the door. No hesitation. Just like every other time. But he doesn't know. The second he walks out, he's not just leaving the party. He's leaving my life. Forever.

On the day of my bonding ceremony, I somehow slept for six straight hours. By the time I reached the Moon Temple, the ceremony was long over. My fiancé, the Alpha of the Shadow Pack, had already completed the bonding rite with my sister. When he saw me burst in, drenched in sweat, Charles gave me a careless smile. “A rogue has his eye on Annie. The only way to protect her was to beat him to it and go through a fake ceremony with her first. She didn’t want to be claimed by some filthy rogue. Babe, you know I was just trying to help her.” He didn’t even think he’d done anything wrong. He went on, completely relaxed. “Don’t make a scene, Lilith. I’ll take you to seal the mate bond next week.” “I’ll get you a new bonding gown too. A more expensive one, with a train way bigger than hers. Okay?” I had spent almost half a year choosing that bonding gown myself. The hall went quiet. Everyone was waiting to watch me fall apart. But I only let out a long breath. Good. I didn’t want to be his mate anymore either. That rite would bind my sister’s wolf to Charles’s. She would never be able to awaken the bloodline power that belongs to our family. And I would leave the Shadow Pack and head for our ancestral land, where my own awakening ritual was waiting for me.

It's the final round of this year's Pack Pup Tournament. I can't take my eyes off my pup, Patrick Grant, as he wins the title. When the host calls Patrick's parents onstage to celebrate, I leap up, thrilled. But then I see Nicholas Grant, my Alpha mate, walk up with his secretary, Natalia Lawson. They stand side by side under the spotlight, kissing Patrick on both cheeks. It's as if Natalia is the mother, as if she's the Luna of our pack, as if they're the perfect family. I can only stand there in the audience, feeling the weight of countless startled stares, too ashamed to lift my head. Later, Nicholas brushes the incident off. "You were seated farther back. It was easier to bring Natalia up on stage," he explains. Easier? I swallow the humiliation and force myself to believe it was just an unfortunate coincidence—until today, that is. I sense through our blood bond that something's wrong with Patrick, so I drop everything and race to the pack hospital. But when I arrive, Patrick is lying in Natalia's lap, whining to her in a soft voice. I step forward to introduce myself, but the healer only looks surprised. "The emergency contact form lists Natalia as his mom, though." It turns out Patrick himself had stripped me of my role as his mother. And Nicholas didn't stop him. I finally understand. I don't belong in this family anymore. That night, I tell Nicholas I want to dissolve the mate bond between us. He doesn't even look up as he says, "Don't be dramatic. You'd dissolve our bond over a single name on a form?" "Yes."

Liam Hurley's favorite thing to say to me is, "Don't worry." Don't worry. Once he consolidates his power and ends the internal strife of the pack, we'll reveal our relationship. Because of that, I waited for two years. Don't worry. We'll hold the bonding ceremony as soon as his mother accepts me. I waited for another three. In the fifth year, at the banquet celebrating Liam's rise to Alpha of the Ashmoon pack, his mother, Elana Gibson, unclasps the moonstone necklace from around her neck in front of everyone. Liam told me long ago that passing down the moonstone necklace is the Ashmoon pack's official ritual for acknowledging a Luna. I figure Liam won't be telling me not to worry this time. "Here, let me put this on you." Elana walks right past me and gently fastens the necklace around the neck of Lilith Powell, Liam's assistant. The whole banquet hall falls dead silent. Elana pats the back of her hand with a warm smile. "Lilith is so sweet and kind, and she's been a massive help to Liam. She has a special place in my heart." I hear someone whisper, "What about Freya?" Liam lowers his voice. "My mother cherishes bonds. Lilith really has done a lot for me, so don't take it personally. Don't worry, okay? Next month, I'll take you to pick out a better moonstone necklace that's way more valuable than that one." As the crowd scatters, Lilith strokes the necklace and gives me a smug smile. "Freya, are you jealous? Elana says this moonstone has been passed down for seven generations in the Ashmoon pack." I tell her I am. Just then, my phone buzzes in my pocket. "Have you made up your mind? When are you coming to Nordravia?"

I am Aurora, Princess of the Crimson Moon, the North's most powerful pack. But I gave my heart to a worthless rogue named Blake. In my past life, I defied tradition to make him my personal guard. We were inseparable. I fought my own pack to make him my mate. But on the night of our mating ceremony, under the Blood Moon... He plunged a silver dagger straight into my heart. I was three months pregnant with his child. As I bled out, he whispered in my ear, his voice dripping with venom, "If it weren't for you, I'd already be with Clara. You deserve this!" That's when I understood. He never loved me. He only craved power. He had always wanted my sister, Clara—the pack's chosen heir. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back. Back at the guard selection ceremony. He rejected me in front of everyone. He declared his love for Clara and refused to be my guard. The entire pack stared at me with pity. This time, I just smiled. And I chose my silent childhood friend, Ronan. Blake thinks siding with Clara will lead to ultimate power. He's a fool. The pack's true Alpha isn't chosen by birthright. He is chosen by me.

My younger sister, Ivy, was engaged to Nathan, the heir to the Silver Moon Pack. After Nathan and I drank laurel wine laced with an aphrodisiac, we lost control and slept together. To preserve the alliance between our packs, Mother had me take Ivy's place. Nathan and I completed the mate bond, while Ivy was sent north to marry its elderly, gravely ill Alpha. On the day of her mating ceremony, however, Ivy's convoy was attacked by rogue wolves. She died at the border. Nathan hated me from that day forward. For more than twenty years, our bond brought me only neglect and humiliation. When I died after a long illness, he did not visit. He sent only one message. "Tessa, stay away from me in your next life." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the drugged wine was placed in my hand. Before I could react, Nathan snatched the glass away and smashed it against the floor. The moment I saw the way he looked at Ivy, I knew that he had been reborn too. Before the elders of both packs, he took Ivy's hand and announced, "Ivy and I will hold our mating ceremony this month." He led her away without looking at me. Once they were out of earshot, Mother drew me aside. "North Ridge has agreed to an alliance. You'll marry their Alpha." Memories of my final moments flashed through my mind. This time, I decided to give Nathan exactly what he wanted. "All right," I said. "I agree."

There was a strict rule in my pack. Any female werewolf at the age of twenty‑nine who had not gone through a mate bond had to return to the pack for the Moonpick Ceremony, where the Alpha would personally choose her mate. When I showed the chairman of the Werewolf Council, Jonah Gregot, my pack’s notice to return, he gave a low laugh. “Is Sovereign Moon Pack still stuck in the olden days, Jade?” He leaned back in his leather chair and spoke in a casual tone. “I told you we would have our mate bond ceremony, and I promise it will happen. Do not try to use your pack’s law to force me into anything.” He took a ring box from the pocket of his suit and tossed it to his secretary, who stood beside him. The young woman caught it in a panic, and the tips of her ears turned red. “I planned to make our relationship official tonight, but it is clear that you care more about legitimacy than us. Maybe we need some space.” Jonah shrugged and walked out of the office. Silence filled the room. I stared at the ring box and did not know how to react. I could not believe he had thrown our mate bond ring to another woman so easily. Sapphire Kane hesitated as she held the ring box out to me. “You should take this, Jade. Jonah bought it for you.” I did not reach for it. “You should keep it now that he gave it to you.” Sapphire’s eyes widened. I stood and left the office with my pack’s notice. “Tell Jonah that I will not wait for him anymore on the day of the Moonpick Ceremony.”

I was packing for our tenth mating anniversary trip. Then my Alpha husband, Kade, suddenly changed our destination to a ski resort. I stopped packing. I watched the father and son exchange a knowing look. "If Mom disagrees, we'll vote. Like always." Over the years, my sister Ruby and I rarely saw eye to eye. Whenever we clashed, my husband and son used a vote to settle things. They called it fair. For my birthday, I wanted grilled steak. They voted for Ruby's choice. They claimed salads were healthier. My wolf was restless. My heart raced all night, and I wanted to see the pack healer. They voted to stay with Ruby. They claimed I was just bored and acting dramatic. This time, the vote was two to one again. I was the loser. Again. I swallowed the throbbing pain in my chest. I kept my voice low. "Kade, Moonstone Lake is sacred. It's where we completed our mate bond." He didn't even look up. His fingers swiped across his screen. He was booking a suite at the mountain summit. "Baby, don't look so sad," he said smoothly. "We can make beautiful memories anywhere we go, right?" Kade confirmed the booking without hesitation. He reserved the dome suite at the peak. "Oh, just one little thing. The summit suite only sleeps three. You know what to do, right?" "Just book a standard room for yourself at the base of the mountain." He grouped himself, our son, and Ruby together. He left me out completely. I didn't argue. I reached up and took off my necklace. It was the symbol of my status as the pack Luna. Then I bought a plane ticket to Moonstone Lake. Just for myself. I could get there on my own.

I came back to life. The first thing I did was sever the Mate Bond with Alpha Asher. At his coronation. In front of thousands. Last lifetime, he publicly accused me of impersonating his mate in front of everyone, saying I didn't carry a Mate's sweetness but reeked of Wolfsbane that made him sick. For Elena, his first love, he sent me to the black market where they stripped away my wolf. Without my wolf, I died in a rogue attack shortly after. This lifetime, when he furrows his brow and tells me to get out of his sight, I don't shed a single tear. I just turn and leave. He says my existence makes Elena unhappy, so I move to the border cottage. He says he doesn't want to live in the same Pack with me, so I submit my transfer application. I thrive in the neighboring Pack and meet a powerful wolf with a hidden identity. When we appear hand-in-hand at the Northern Alliance Summit, Alpha Asher loses control. He catches my scent,another male's mark on my skin,and his sanity shatters. He blocks my path, a low growl rumbling from his chest. "Wash that male's scent off you, Rhea." "Weren't you disgusted by me?" I smile and step back. "Now I belong to someone else, and suddenly I smell good to you?"

For five years, Gideon—my brother's Beta—and I had a secret. We were supposed to announce our mating at the pack's Winter Solstice festival. Instead, he breathed hot against my ear. "Babe, we've been sleeping together for five years. I'm bored with you. Find someone else for the marking ceremony, alright?" I didn't cry. I just gave a calm, simple nod. "Alright." Only because in my last life, I had begged him through tears to complete the bond. After he finally marked me, he grew cold. He never again woke me by rubbing his stubbled chin against my forehead. Even when we made love, he kept his eyes shut, as if he were with someone else, just using my body. When I was in agony giving birth to our pup, fighting for my life, he left me. He was going to comfort his savior, Aveline. The old wound she suffered saving him had relapsed, sending her into a mental spiral. In that moment, I finally understood. A mark I had to beg for was nothing but a curse, a wound that would never heal. This time, I pulled away with a smile, removing his hand from my waist. "You're right. I'm tired of it, too. We're done."

Declan, the Alpha heir of the Nighthowl Pack and my arranged mate, proposed to me right after donating his Alpha marrow to his childhood sweetheart. In my past life, I said yes out of love and for the sake of our pack alliance. But after we mated, the weight of two territories fell entirely on my shoulders. Losing that marrow broke Declan’s inner wolf. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t shift. He couldn’t even give me a strong heir. I had to run the crystal mines while fighting off rogues for him. Before I even turned forty, I dropped dead. Utterly drained. Worked to death. And Declan? He comfortably took all the territory resources I had bled for and marked his little sweetheart. They lived happily ever after in my manor. So, reborn and facing his deep, affectionate proposal once again, I just looked at him calmly and said no. "You gave away your Alpha marrow. Your wolf is broken. What makes you think a defective piece of trash like you deserves me?"

My adopted Omega sister, Maya Bardolph, is known to be innocent and kindhearted. Before the practical admission assessment, I specifically tell her not to interfere in any way. But she secretly puts a prohibited performance booster into my water bottle. I am reported for cheating on the spot. My results are canceled, and I am permanently blacklisted. When I break down and demand an explanation, she bursts into tears, looking pitiful and wronged. She weeps, "Sierra, I just wanted you to get first place... I didn't know things would turn out like this." My boyfriend, Dale Ashshade, immediately pulls her into his arms and blames me instead. He scolds, "She is only trying to help. Why are you being so harsh to her?" My parents chastise me frostily as well. "Isn't it just one practical assessment? She's an Omega. She doesn't understand these things. Can't you be more patient with her?" To apologize, Maya smilingly brings me a cup of herbal tea later. "Sierra, I made this just for you. Promise you won't be mad at me anymore after you drink it, okay?" Without thinking much about it, I drink the tea. But what she uses to brew the tea is highly poisonous silver oleander. I die from the poisoning. Outside the emergency room, Maya cries hysterically, "I'm sorry! I didn't know silver oleander is poisonous... I just wanted to apologize to Sierra..." When questioned by the Enforcers, Dale calmly gives false testimony. "After Sierra was caught cheating, she became mentally unstable. She couldn't accept how things turned out and took silver oleander to kill herself..." When I open my eyes again, I return to the day before the assessment.

Edward kept a note tucked inside his pocket watch. I had secretly read it once. “To Edward, the future strongest Alpha: Train hard, or I’ll make you hunt ten rabbits for me.” The handwriting was delicate and elegant, as if it belonged to a female werewolf. He looked perfectly calm as he rubbed my cheek and explained. “She was my partner during the Spring Hunt years ago. I thought the note was worth keeping as a memento. You’re the only one destined to be my mate, so don’t overthink it.” I nodded and let it go. Until the night of the Full Moon Ceremony, when Edward introduced me to his childhood friends, a girl in a red dress joined us midway through the gathering. Someone explained, “Monica left for the Northern Pack after something happened to her family. This is her first time back.” Someone else, drunk and eager to stir things up, chimed in, “Back then, we used to see Monica playing with Edward all over the hills every day. Everyone envied Edward for dating such a lively werewolf.” I took a sip of wine and listened quietly. So that note had been kept to commemorate a love story.

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.”

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.

I was the future Luna, chosen and arranged by the current Alpha to be the mate of his son, Kelvin. But Kelvin—the heir to the pack—was unlike any other wolf. He had been blessed by the Moon Goddess with two mates. On the night of the full moon, he was confessed to by Amanda, the daughter of the Alpha from the Shadow Pack. Unlike the traditional, quiet, and graceful she-wolves from our own pack, Amanda enjoyed riding horses, hunting rabbits, shooting arrows, and drinking like a soldier. These wild traits deeply attracted Kelvin. But despite his obvious interest, Kelvin said, "Amanda is not quiet or considerate. With such a bold personality, she could never become the Luna of this pack." Even though he claimed to dislike her high-profile behavior, his eyes never left her when she was hunting in the forest. On his birthday, everything remained uncertain—until he declared that he would bond with Amanda and make her his second mate. However, Amanda rejected him outright, saying, "There's no tradition in our pack where the Alpha's daughter becomes a second mate. We can only be Lunas, and we deserve to be the only ones loved by our mates." Hearing this, Kelvin turned to me and said awkwardly, "Jenny, Luna is just a title. Could you give this title to Amanda? She's still young and doesn't understand our pack's rules. You're both my mates, and there's no difference between you. But since there can only be one Luna in the pack, let her have the title. You'll still be my true Luna—the one who actually handles all affairs of the pack." His words made my heart tremble. Tears welled up in my eyes. And at that moment, the moonstone ring he had given me as a symbol of our mate bond slipped off my finger, hit the floor, and shattered into pieces. Seeing that, I knew—our bond was severed. For good. But when he cried and howled, begging for his true Luna to come back... I was already gone, vanished from the pack entirely.

I was pregnant with Alpha Jaxon's heir. His childhood friend, Hattie, volunteered to drive me to the Pack Medical Center for a checkup. On the bridge over Wolf’s Hollow River, she didn't hesitate. She yanked the steering wheel right into the rusty guardrail. I didn't fight her for the wheel like I did in my past life. Because in my last life, I stopped the crash, but she was thrown from the car into the rapids. They never found her body. My Alpha claimed he didn't blame me. He even ground evening primrose by hand every day to soothe the pup, his eyes full of tender anticipation for our baby. But on the day I gave birth to his heir, he forced me and our newborn pup into his car, slammed his foot on the gas, and drove us straight into the raging sea. "She wouldn't have died if you hadn't gone insane with jealousy and grabbed the wheel! Did you think playing the victim would fool me? " "You like staging 'accidents', don't you? Then let's see how you like the freezing depths of the river!" When I opened my eyes again, I was back in Hattie's out-of-control sports car.

No one knew that I was the Thorn pack’s head Alpha’s soulmate. He and Carol, who had been best friends since they were kids, were very close. Everyone in the pack thought they were soulmates while I was just a mistress threatening their bond. To protect Carol’s reputation, Barnett lied to the pack, claiming Carol was carrying his pup. This made our child illegitimate. When I confronted him in pain, demanding why, he explained, “Carol is known for her gentle and quiet nature. If our packmates knew she was pregnant without a mate, they would shame her. She's too fragile to go through all this.” For the first time, I looked at the man I thought was my mate and questioned if the Moon Goddess had made a mistake. Later on, while Barnett was away gathering herbs for Carol, the elders forced me to terminate my pregnancy, branding our pup as a disgrace to the Thorn pack. By the time Barnett returned, our pup was gone, and so was I.

Mating with Kaelen, the strongest Alpha around, I thought I'd be the happiest Luna ever. That was until my Silver Moon Ceremony, the one that would officially make me Luna of the Night-fang pack. That's when I found Kaelen on his knees before some red-haired she-wolf. He was doing a blood-bond ritual, one that drains all your spirit, all to protect her kid. His kid, in her belly. For this cub, he was even willing to push back our Silver Moon Ceremony, making me look like a fool in front of the whole pack. He conveniently forgot that I was pregnant too – with his actual first heir. So, the night our Silver Moon Ceremony was supposed to happen, I started a different ritual: the Moon Eclipse Unbinding. Come the full moon, I'm using an ancient ritual from the old texts to cut our mate bond for good. And when I do, Kaelen will feel the same gut-wrenching pain I'm feeling.

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.