Plot Twists Werewolf Short Stories & Bias Countdown Novels

My mother, Margaret Harper, carries the blood of a Word Witch. Once every lunar cycle, she can speak one blessing that fate itself is forced to obey. But all my life, the only thing she ever gave me was half a sentence. When I was eighteen, I received early admission to the Northern Royal Healers' Academy. My mother looked at the letter and said, "If you go north..." Her instincts had never been wrong, so I thought she'd seen danger waiting for me there. I turned the academy down with my own hands. Months later, she used her recommendation and a binding blessing to send my younger sister, Chloe, to the best healing school near our pack, even though Chloe had nowhere near my talent. After that, I stopped asking about my future. I started at the bottom of Black Pine Pack's medical system and fought my way up until the Northern Royal Pack appointed me Chief Healer. One month before I was due to leave, my mother saw the appointment letter and still offered me nothing but another unfinished warning. "Climbing too high might..." That same night, I heard her give Chloe the only blessing she could use that month. "You'll pass the senior healer examination. Your wolf will remain calm, and every examiner will recognize your ability." So that's the truth. My mother wasn't unable to finish a sentence. She simply never thought I was worth one. If every blessing she had belonged to Chloe, then Margaret didn't need to know that in one month, I would leave her house and Black Pine Pack for good.

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.

My daughter, who'd always hated the cold, suddenly started begging to vacation in the freezing Northern Territories. I dismissed it as a passing whim and told her no. I never thought she'd actually soak herself in a tub of ice for two days straight, just to prove she wasn't afraid of the cold. I gave in. I took her north. My mate, Cassian, stayed behind to handle pack affairs. The North was bitter. After only a few days, my daughter started showing signs of cold-sickness, coughing constantly. I wasn't going to gamble with her health. I decided to bring her home immediately. But my daughter threw a fit. At the time, I thought she just loved the North too much to leave. Until I happened to overhear her conversation with my husband, Cassian: "Daddy! These last few days in the North, I put scent-blocker in Mommy's water every single day! Aren't I clever? Now she'd never find out about you and Auntie Kayla!" "Mommy is so annoying, always nagging! I wish Auntie Kayla were my mommy instead!" I stood there cold, watching the cozy little scene inside the room, gripping the vial of scent-blocker I'd just dug out of my daughter's backpack — the drug meant to numb the link between Cassian and me. Fine. If they loved Kayla so much, then let them have her. I'd give them my blessing. So why, after I gave you everything you wanted, did the three of you end up on your knees begging for my forgiveness?

Everyone envied me — an orphan who'd become the Luna of the most powerful Alpha in the Southern Territory: Cain. For three years of our mating, he treated me like I was the center of his world. Then Serena — his childhood sweetheart — severed her bond with her former mate and came back to our pack. Cain started patrolling the territory every night. Coming home later and later. He didn't even ask me before moving Serena into our pack house. "Her ex-mate has been stalking her. She and I grew up together — how could I just stand by and let someone threaten her?" Serena spent every day in lingerie, draped over Cain. The two of them flipping through old photos, reminiscing about the time Cain got into a brawl because some guy had been hitting on her. I didn't say a word. I quietly tucked away the pregnancy test and brought Cain a bowl of "calming tonic." He drank it without hesitation. What he didn't know was that it was a witch's potion — one that could forcibly sever a mate bond. It would take effect on the next full moon. When it was done, I made a phone call. "Alpha Ethan, I'm ready to come to the Northern Territory. Come get me."

Before our fifth mating anniversary, I was just about to tell my mate that I was about to inherit the pack my Alpha father left behind, when I saw him embracing and kissing the she-wolf who once bullied me. "This game has been going on for five years. It's time to end it." "Watching her come and go like a dog whenever called is really boring. What a fool. A fake mating certificate was enough to fool her completely. Did she really think an orphan like her could marry into the Shadowmoon Pack and become Luna? If she hadn't looked decent back then, I wouldn't have bothered with this charade." I felt like I'd fallen into an ice cave, sobbing uncontrollably. So the salvation that pulled me out of the bullying abyss was nothing but his amusing joke from beginning to end. If that's the case, I don't want this false love anymore.

I spent five years being Alpha Finn's hidden mate. He promised to announce me as his mate and Luna to the pack, but each time his 'best friend,' Adeline, showed up, I became an afterthought. Every time he betrayed me, he handed me an apology token with a promise never to fail again. And I forgave him every time. By the time Adeline finally returned to the pack, I was almost at a hundred tokens. And just as expected, Finn again chose her over me. This time, he expected that he would return, I'd forgive him, and we'd continue the cycle. Until he felt our bond disappear in the middle of the night and realized he had just signed away his mate. In terror, he ran after me, begging on his knees. But it was too late. Because just a few days before his final betrayal, I discovered something Finn had never known. I wasn't wolfless. I wasn't useless. And I wasn't going to be anyone's backup plan.

The day before our marking ceremony, a vengeful witch laid a curse on me. Over the next seven days, I would slowly forget the man I loved. For the two hours it took Adrian Blackwood to return to the packhouse, I rehearsed a dozen different ways to tell him. After all, he had once defied the Elders to make me—an Omega—his Luna. But before I could say a word, Adrian took my hand, his features hardening with urgency. “Evelyn, we may have to postpone tomorrow’s ceremony.” “Serena is back from the Frostlands Pack. She’s been diagnosed with Wolf-Soul Wasting. Her dying wish is to experience a complete marking ceremony before she goes.” “You and I have the rest of our lives. Once she returns to the Moon Goddess, I’ll hold another ceremony and make you my Luna. All right?” He looked at me with the same quiet hope he had worn the night he asked me to be his mate. Only now, he was asking my permission to hold a marking ceremony with another woman first. I held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded. “All right,” I whispered. “You have my blessing.” Within seven days, I would not even remember the man I had given it to.

There was a legend in Mist Pack that whoever possessed the Moonstone Pendant, which was passed down through generations of the pack, would spend a lifetime with their fated mate. When my mate, Lucas, fastened the Moonstone Pendant around my neck, he promised he would never betray me. Later, on the day he publicly ordered me to take it off so he could place it around Layla's neck himself, every werewolf in the pack waited to see how I would react. After all, everyone knew how deeply I loved Lucas. Every time he led a hunting party, I would wait for him atop the pack's highest watchtower. It didn't matter how fiercely the snowstorm raged or if I had to stand there until dawn. Every werewolf wondered how I would tear Layla apart. But when Layla appeared before me while elegantly linking her arm through Lucas's, I simply removed the pendant and fastened it around her neck myself. While holding Layla in his arms, Lucas looked at me with contempt. "Diana, if you can stay as obedient as you are today, I might just let you remain by my side." I touched my bare neck with a blank expression on my face. What Lucas didn't know was that just before the ceremony, all of my memories had returned. I was the daughter of the Alpha King. I was also his only heiress. In three days, my dad would arrive at Mist Pack with his elite guards to bring me home.

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.

Five years ago, my Alpha mate, Bryan Ravensworth, returned from the war with the vampires on the brink of death. I spent the next five years nursing him back to strength, repeatedly soothing him whenever he lost control. He spends three months searching for the purest moonstone and makes me a necklace from it. He puts it on me himself and tells me I'm his one and only Luna. But as Alpha, he spends his days buried in pack affairs and can only spare Saturday nights to have dinner with me. I prepare ahead every single time, looking forward to the hours that belong to just us. Then one Saturday evening, I'm walking the pack border with another patrol team when I spot a figure I know all too well. Bryan is out with his female assistant, Hazel Linfield, who wants to pick moonflowers. When Rogues show up, he uses his Alpha power to overwhelm them and drive them back. One of the patrol wolves reminds him to mind his old injuries. He brushes it off. "I'm fine. Just keep Hazel safe!" That's when I realize he'd rather spend his time off taking Hazel to pick moonflowers than come home for even one more dinner with me. That same day, I request clearance to leave the pack and agree to become the Frostmoon pack's appointed healer. I decide to leave behind the moonstone necklace that has marked me as his Luna for five years.

My Alpha Female, my mate, had been gone a week surveying her territory. The moment she got back, I rejected our bond. "Just because I forgot your little trinket?" She laughed, blue eyes careless as ever. "Yes." I stared at her, face a mask. Seven days ago, Rowan, Alpha Female of the Silvermoon Ridge Pack, took her core warriors to inspect a newly acquired mining territory. When she returned, she had gifts for everyone. Even the border patrol got aged liquor. She forgot the only thing that mattered. The pure Moonstone I needed to soothe my burning Alpha blood. I'd waited two months. Then her new Omega scribe, Finn, posted a selfie on the pack network—showing off a wolf-fang necklace carved from raw Moonstone. [Thank you to the most powerful Alpha Female in the world! My loyalty will never fade!] Rowan's comment sat right below: [You deserve it.] I stared a long time. Then I deleted the message I'd been typing to her: "Waiting for you to come home, my Alpha." Rowan and I grew up together. Twenty years intertwined. When we came of age, she became the Alpha Female, I became her Beta. Once, I was the only one by her throne. Then, slowly, the entire pack got in line ahead of me. Just like now. We were breaking our bond—the most serious thing imaginable. But her phone lit up with Finn's message. "Need your guidance on the territory resource files." She didn't even look up. "Stop making a scene, Caleb. It's just a rock. I'll get you one before next month's ceremony. Finn has something urgent. Drive yourself back." She hurried away. I didn't stop her. I pulled out my phone and replied to the Alpha of the Blackpeak Pack. He'd invited me seven times. "I'm in. Flight's tomorrow night. See you in Blackpeak." I pulled the moonstone bracelet from my wrist and left it in the drawer of her office desk. Rowan. From now on, you have your throne. I'll get mine.

A week before our marking ceremony, I told Ethan Stormwind I wanted to break up at his friend's party. Everyone laughed. They all knew that for the past six years, my life's goal had been to become his marked Luna. With only a week left until the ceremony, how could I possibly want to break up? Even Ethan thought I was being unreasonable. "Just because I need to take Selene to the healer for her follow-up on our ceremony day, you're throwing a tantrum about breaking up?" "We're both adults. Can you act more mature? You could just reschedule the ceremony. Why do you insist on that specific day? I don't have time for your jealous games." I nodded silently. Yes, something needed to be changed. But it wasn't the ceremony date. It was him. I was going to accept someone else's mark instead.

I had a rule with my three childhood friends since we were pups: when something important came up, we'd write our choices on our palms and reveal them at the same time. They said if we truly had that unspoken connection, our answers would match exactly. But for all these years, I was the only one who kept guessing wrong and getting left behind. Two days before the pack application deadline, I reminded them: "The pack applications close the day after tomorrow. Have you guys decided which pack you want to train with?" They exchanged looks and smiled mysteriously. "Same as always. You guess." Caleb said offhandedly, "I heard the maple leaves at Bloodmoon Ridge have turned red." He was my arranged match, and the one I liked. I immediately submitted my application to Bloodmoon Pack. That afternoon, Derek mentioned to me, "The moonlight at Moonstone Lake is the most enchanting." Afraid of being left out, I changed my application to Moonstone Pack. By evening, Ian was going on and on about the Frostfang Valley venue. In less than a day, I changed my application seven times, so anxious I couldn't sleep. I wanted to be with them, like we'd been for the past years. But on the morning of the deadline, I accidentally overheard the three of them talking with Mira. Mira said, "I can only apply to Blackstone Pack. Are you guys really going to come with me?" All three answered in unison: "Of course." Mira asked, "What about Vera?" Caleb replied carelessly: "Let's see if she can guess right. She'll always find a way to follow us in the end anyway." So every time, they'd made their decision behind my back, then watched me scramble to catch up. And I'd been grateful to tears that they were willing to wait for me. This time, I didn't apply to Blackstone before the deadline. I locked in the Intelligence Bureau's targeted recruitment program instead. I was tired. I could no longer chase after the answers in their palms. But after I left, why did they come chasing after me again?

My wolf was cursed. I had three days left. But my parents and my mate, Alpha Edwin, forced me to surrender my Luna title to Meggie. All because she claimed a curse was killing her, too. In my despair, I agreed. The moment our mate bond shattered, the backlash nearly broke me. With tears in my eyes, I asked them, "If I died, would you even miss me?" They told me to stop faking it, their expressions ice-cold. But they didn't know. Meggie's curse was a lie. And mine was all her doing. It wasn't until my wolf faded to nothing that Meggie's true colors were revealed. Only then did they scream at her, blaming her for my death. But Meggie just snarled back, "I wasn't the only one who killed Hazel. You all did, too, didn't you?"

I was about to toast him. My mate. Alpha Ryker. That’s when he announced it. Our mating ceremony was being postponed. Again. To the next full moon. I took a slow sip of my wine, letting the red burn its way down my throat. “Okay.” He glanced at me, a flash of surprise in his eyes. “You’re… not mad?” I swirled the wine in my glass. My voice was flat. “No. I’m not mad.” We’d known we were mates for a year. This was the 17th time he had postponed our final bonding. We were both used to it. I drained my glass and stood up to go upstairs. As I passed him, he grabbed me, pulling me into his arms. The possessive scent of an Alpha wrapped around me instantly. “Aurora, I swear I will officially mark you in front of the pack at the next full moon. You’re already mine. The whole pack knows it. What’s a few more days?” “Trust me. I won’t break my promise this time.” I looked down at his hand on my waist, then back up at his face. I leaned into his chest with a small smile. “Okay.” In the last year, he’d said “next week” nine times. He’d said “I swear” thirteen times. He’d said “trust me” sixteen times. But the ceremony that would finally bond our souls and bodies never happened. And it wouldn’t happen next month, either. Because this time, it was my turn to break the promise.

It wasn't until my first month of college that I found out the entire pack had been calling me a leech behind my back. The nickname came from Sienna Blackwood—Lucas's partner. To every wolf in Silvermoon, I was just some weakling squatting on pack land. They saw me use Lucas's pass, saw the tiny cabin at the edge of his territory, and filled in the blanks themselves. I went to find Lucas, thinking he'd defend me like he used to when we were pups. But he just waved a hand, didn't even look up from whatever he was doing, and said, "It's just a nickname, Elena. Sienna's joking around. You're being too sensitive." Then he added, "Besides, you're always around me. You use my pass, you live a stone's throw away—to everyone else, yeah, it kind of looks like that." In that moment, something inside me just... broke. Eighteen years of being by his side, and all he saw was a wolf leeching off her Alpha. I didn't cry. I didn't get mad. I just opened my logbook, calm as anything, and submitted my withdrawal from the pack. They had no idea who I really was. They had no idea I wasn't some leech clinging to anyone for survival. Seven days left until I walked out of Silvermoon for good.

After Seraphina Vale stole three men fate had once chosen for me, I swore I would never let another wolf claim me. Until Dorian Blackthorn, the Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack, claimed me in front of everyone. He swore his loyalty under the moon oath, turning away every approach from Seraphina. He even called out her behavior publicly in the council hall. For the first time, I thought I had found a wolf worth entrusting my soul to. Three years into marriage, I saw Seraphina again. Someone asked her, “What’s the most reckless thing you’ve ever done?” She licked her lips, eyes unfocused. “Of course, having Dorian Blackthorn mark me. His mate still foolishly thinks he truly hates me.” “In truth, I’ve borne his pup, lived in his territory, driven his car, spent his money.” Everyone’s eyes turned to me. After all, I was Dorian’s Lunna. I did not react. I simply sent the letter I had drafted for three days to the Black Moon Medical Team. The reply came swiftly to my mind: [Your appointment has been confirmed.] [The Black Moon Medical Team welcomes you as its new chief healer. Your office and residence have been prepared.] My wolf growled low in my chest. In two days, I would leave this pack and take up my new post.

My Alpha husband and I were both liars. He lied to me a thousand times—said he would forget his ex, but he never did. Me? I only lied to him once. I tricked him into signing the Mating Dissolution Agreement. Today is my last day. Three hours left. I packed all my bags. Bought a ticket to Northbridge. Two hours left. I cut him out of every photo. The album only has me now. One hour left. I recorded a final video for him. "Damon… this is my tenth year loving you. And my first day leaving you."

Kael had one rule he never broke. Every piece of pack business, big or small, personal or official, he handled in strict order of priority. Never missed a beat. I'm Ella, his promised mate. I'd teased him about it more times than I could count. One evening, I tossed out the same question I'd asked a hundred times before: "Our Moon Vow ceremony has to be at the top of your list by now, right?" Every time I asked, he'd change the subject. There was always something more important. I could never figure out what could possibly matter more than bonding with me. Until the night I accidentally drank wine laced with wolfsbane at a banquet. The pain was unbearable. Kael scooped me up and drove straight for the healing cottage. I was starting to feel safe. Then a message came in and he turned the car around. "Lysandra's wolf spirit lost control. She cut her own palm. I have to go." Lysandra was my close friend. She'd just awakened her wolf, and Kael had been personally training her to manage her power. I could feel my wolf spirit going dormant. I begged him to take me to the healer first. But he ran into Lysandra's quarters without looking back. That's when his phone, which had slipped off his lap and landed beside me, lit up. His priority list. Over two hundred entries about Lysandra. All matters concerning Lysandra: highest priority. Apply to the Elder Council for a new residence for her. Pay off Lysandra's debts. Commission a custom moonstone pendant for Lysandra. I scrolled to the very bottom. That's where I finally found my name. Tucked beneath everything else, in smaller text than the rest: Moon Vow ceremony. The thing I'd been waiting for my whole life was dead last on his list. With what little strength I had left, I lifted my finger and deleted that line from the screen. Like it had never been there. If the Moon Vow meant that little to him, then it didn't need to happen at all.

Without Kaelen's knowledge, I had his little plaything sent out of North America. That same night, he cast a blood-vine curse on my parents, banishing them to the wilds—a wasteland prowled by rogues. He was going to trade my parents' lives for the whereabouts of his plaything. Kaelen pushed a communication crystal in front of me. Inside it, my parents were ensnared by blood-red vines, the thorns digging deep into their flesh. Drops of dark crimson blood fell, one by one, onto the barren earth. A countdown timer pulsed in stark red digits on their chests. 23:59:59 23:59:58 He sat across from me, a black suit tailored to perfection molded to his lean, powerful frame. His long fingers tapped a light, steady rhythm on the solid wood table, as if he were waiting for a trivial business deal to close. "Estelle, you have twenty-four hours." His voice was low and calm, laced with a venomous tenderness. "Tell me, where did you send Cassandra?"