Cerita Pendek Tragic Love Werewolf & Novel Bias

In our pack, every child received a barrel of moonwine at birth, to be opened on one of the most important day of their life. When my adopted sister Rosalie and I received our college decisions, Mother gave her both her moonwine and mine. “Rosalie got into the Royal Wolf Academy,” Mother announced. “We should all celebrate her achievement.” My brother Callum brought out his own barrel, declaring, “Rosalie has made us all proud, so I’m opening mine as well.” Father poured Rosalie the first glass and raised a toast in her honor. Even my boyfriend, Julian, arrived with a bouquet of moon lilies for Rosalie. No one acknowledged me. “What about me?” I asked. Mother’s smile stiffened. “You’re the Alpha’s daughter, Aria. You already have everything. Besides, our family owes Rosalie.” Seven years ago, Rosalie’s father lost his wolf saving Father from a silver blade. My parents took Rosalie in afterward. Since then, my room, my place beside Father, and even my family slowly become hers. Now, even the moonwine Grandmother had brewed for me belonged to her. I opened the Moonridge Isolation Study offer I had kept hidden from them and signed my name. This time, I wouldn’t be coming back. I was done paying a debt that had never been mine.

My best friend, Lena, and I were dragged into an ancient werewolf kingdom. The Moon Goddess gave us one chance to return home, back to our pack and fated mate: Earn the trust of the ruthless Lycan Prince and the savage Rogue King. But the mission became a nightmare. The Lycan Prince shattered my ribs and threw me into a rogue prison. The Rogue King bound Lena’s legs with silver chains and burned away her voice. For two years, we lived like stray. Then, when the Moon Goddess finally announced our failure, the Lycan prince standing before me removed his mask. It was my fated mate all along, Jace. The Rogue King revealed himself as Rowan—Lena’s fated mate as well. “It was only a punishment,” Jace said. “You two hurt Selene and caused her to lose her pup. Now we’re even.” The kingdom was fake. The cruelty was an act. But they didn’t knew, the Moon Goddess had truly appeared in our minds. And when Lena and I were on the brink of death, we made a REAL bargain with her. Our wolf souls…in exchange for our loved one’s happiness. When the sun rises, Lena and I will disappear forever.

When the fire trapped me, my Alpha mate, Graeme Blackwood, was throwing a birthday party for my little sister, Ayana. I was locked in the basement, trembling so violently my bones clattered against each other. When the flames first caught, I called him. Begged him. His voice was ice. "Evelyn, stop the act. It's Ayana's birthday. I'm not letting you out just so you can ruin it. Let her have her night. Once she's happy, I'll let you out." I tried to explain. With the last shred of strength I had, I called him again. He hung up on me. So I just watched. Watched the flames swallow everything.

The first time my Alpha mate chose his childhood sweetheart over me, I forgave him. After all, Dylan saved my life seven times. Seven lives saved. Seven chances given. That was the deal I made with myself. Then Dylan skipped our Mate Anniversary to celebrate her birthday. He gave her the moonstone ring I’d carved for him with my own hands, saying she needed it for protection. And when rogues attacked us both, he stepped right past me as I lay wounded and carried her to safety first. I never fought him over any of it. Each time he chose her, I silently crossed off one of the lives I owed him. The pack thought I loved my Alpha so desperately that I would forgive him no matter how many times he put another Omega before me. But I was only waiting until all seven lives I owed him had been repaid. Then one day, he broke the Mate Vow we’d sworn at the Moon Altar for her yet again. “She has no one else,” he told me. “You’re my Luna. You should understand.” And just like that, the last of what I owed him was gone. “That’s seven. We’re done.” I picked up my suitcase and headed for the Nordic Wolf Alliance in herbal medicine. Dylan and I were over, and I would never see him again.

Today was the day Bryce had decided to mark me. I had waited three years for this, for the day I would finally become his mate. What I never expected was that he would refuse to mark me. Emily's shrill laugh cut across the clearing. "Ivy, Bryce doesn't want to mark you." The moment she said it, everyone who had come for the marking ceremony burst out laughing. "Third time. You may be Bryce's fated mate, but he's turned you down again. Looks like he doesn't want you as his Luna." I opened my eyes and stared at Bryce, who was smiling like none of it mattered. "Why?" "You're too clingy. You need toughening up. Being Luna of the Silvermane pack isn't as easy as you think." I clenched my fists as hard as I could, and my eyes landed on Rowan, the shaman standing at the altar. He came down and looked at Bryce and me kindly. "There will be a second blood moon in two hours. The marking can be done then." Emily laughed even louder. "Even the Moon Goddess knows how desperate you are to be marked. Two blood moons in one night. Let's go wait for it. It's the fourth time. Bryce definitely won't back out again." I gave Bryce one scornful look, then turned away and sent a message to his uncle, Vaughn. "Get to the altar within two hours. Mark me."

The third time Charles cheated on me, I broke down, grabbed a knife, and pressed it to my chest. "If I die today, the Moon Goddess will punish you. This is what you get for cheating!" That was what frightened him. The blade was silver. If it so much as touched my skin, the wound would never heal. My mother rushed over to wrestle the knife away from me. "Zoe, no matter what happens, don't hurt yourself!" "Leave me alone and let me die. He's out there chasing other women, so I'll die right in front of him!" In the struggle, the knife went straight into my mother's chest. She clutched at it, and blood soaked red through her clothes. She was barely breathing, and still she held on to my shirt. "Zoe, live a good life." After she died, Charles withdrew from everyone. He stayed with me every day, more attentive than he had been when we were dating. Every full moon, he prayed to the Moon Goddess for me. But I screamed like a madwoman every single day. "My mother isn't dead! I can feel that she's still alive!" Charles took me to a therapist, Dr. Merrick, who confirmed I had depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The most immediate effect was that my wolf disappeared. All my senses dulled. But I never stopped believing she was alive, even though the sharp knife and all that blood kept telling me I had killed her myself. Slowly, I started to believe I really was sick. That changed the day I saw her at a jewelry counter in a department store. But no matter how hard I told myself my mother was dead, it didn't work. I even heard her voice. "Charles, did you get rid of that knife? Don't let Zoe find it, or she'll go after Vivian." "Threw it out ages ago. Zoe will never know it was a retractable prop and not silver at all. You're the one who has to stay hidden, Marlene. You can never show your face in public again." My mother shook her head, smiling. "What you and Vivian have moves me. I'm only doing the right thing." I stood frozen where I was. It was as if a pair of invis

At my coming-of-age ceremony, I was supposed to accept the Chosen Mate Mark from my childhood sweetheart, the pack healer, Rowan. We were supposed to be bonded for life. But then Caleb, our Alpha, stepped in. In front of everyone, he pulled me into his arms—an irresistible force, a suffocating tenderness. He claimed it was a Fated Mate bond, that his wolf had lost control. He forcibly marked me. After crying all night, I had no choice but to accept it. I became the pack’s Luna. Everyone thought Caleb and his wolf were possessive. Insane for me. Then, two years into our bond, I finally got pregnant with his pup. That’s when he cupped my face, his eyes red-rimmed and gentle. He forced me onto a cold medical table. Rowan gave me the injection. A lethal dose of wolfsbane to kill our pup. The reason? I’d once been trapped with Rowan for three months in an abandoned silver mine during a rogue attack. A mine that suppressed our wolf powers. He was killing my pup to silence the pack’s rumors about its bloodline. But more than that, he was severing my last tie to Rowan. All so Rowan would be free to bond with his sister, Chloe. That’s when it hit me. My entire life since that ceremony? A lie. A carefully crafted trap. Fine. This sham of a mate bond? This pack? I don’t want any of it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Alpha mate, Leon Worth, brought a breathtaking mermaid into our estate. He named her Nerissa and tended to her every need with painstaking care. That day, the moment Leon stepped out, Nerissa walked right up to me—and placed my Luna Crown on her own head, right in front of my face. "Leon and I have known each other for six months now. He promised me with his own mouth—he'd take care of me for life." She traced a finger along the crown's rim, her smile poised. "I've made up my mind—I'm willing to drink the potion for him. I'll give up my tail. Delores, step aside and hand over the Luna position. It'll save everyone the humiliation in the end." I didn't argue with her. I just waited for Leon to come back and explain. But when he finally returned, he didn't even bother to take that crown off Nerissa's head. He left me standing there like I didn't exist, while he knelt beside her, gently cleaning her scales, his voice low and tender—like he was handling something fragile, something precious: "Just three more days. I'll get you a better heated pool." The way he looked at her—I'd seen that look for seven years. Now, it belonged to someone else. I turned and walked away. I didn't look back. My flight had barely broken through the clouds when my phone lit up. A message from Leon flashed across the screen: "Delores, don't go. I did all of this—to save you!"

Damian Blackwood, the Alpha heir of a neighboring pack, and I had grown up together, yet he told the entire pack I was worthless. "I'm going to be Alpha one day. I'll lead the entire Blackwood Pack. But you're stuffy and dull, and apart from a pretty face, you're worthless." After that, the entire pack knew me as nothing more than a pretty ornament who coasted on her father's name. Later, war came to the Blackwood Pack. The moment Damian rode out to suppress it, I asked my father to arrange a political match with another pack and let me bond with someone else. It was hard on my father, but he agreed. Six months later, Damian returned victorious, only to find that I had already become another man's mate. He came looking for me like a madman, his eyes red. "Why did you take someone else as your mate?" I turned the wedding ring on my finger and looked at him calmly. "You said it yourself. I'm stuffy and dull, and I'm not fit to be your Luna."

Before our mating ceremony, my mate, Pavel Blackwell, took me and my older sister, Vivienne, out for seafood. The server recognized them and came over smiling. "The usual for you two?" Pavel nodded. He slid into the seat beside Vivienne without a second thought. The crab came out of the steamer, and he cracked the shell open piece by piece and passed the meat to her. I had been put at a spare chair shoved into the aisle, without so much as a dish of sauce in front of me. Halfway through the meal, the server appeared with a couples' silverware set. "Pavel, Vivienne, this is your hundredth visit to us. That means you get your custom set." A line was engraved on the back of each piece. "Pavel and Vivienne. Never apart." The earliest date on the record was three years ago today. It took me a moment to place the date. That was the day a severe allergic reaction sent me into surgery and I nearly didn't make it out. So for the three hours my life hung in the balance, Pavel had not been waiting outside that door at all. Vivienne ran a finger over the engraving and gave a mischievous smile. "Pavel, once you and my little sister are mated, she won't stop you from going out with me, will she?" Pavel ruffled her hair and turned to look at me. "Of course not. She's always been reasonable. "Besides, you and I have known each other for ten years. Ashlyn and I have only known we were fated mates for four. If it bothers her, she can learn to live with it." On the way back, I got into the back seat on my own. The front seat had always belonged to Vivienne. Then the car's voice assistant chimed in. "Welcome aboard, Vivienne! Pavel will get you home safely!" I watched the scenery stream past the window, and suddenly I was tired of all of it. So I took out my phone and sent my father a message. "I agree to the pack's arranged mating." Ten years of closeness had turned the two of them into a habit. Then let me be the one to quit mine. Four years of it.

In the eighth year of our relationship, I took a silver blade meant for my Alpha, Adrian Blackwood. After confirming that I would survive, he promised me anything I wanted. Everyone expected me to demand the marking ceremony he had postponed for eight years. Instead, I looked at him calmly. “Release me from your claim.” Then I turned and walked away. Adrian only laughed. “She’s desperate for attention. Give her three days. She’ll come crying and beg me to take her back.” But Adrian was wrong. Because I had been reborn. In my previous life, I used the life debt he owed me to force him into the marking ceremony. That night, his first love, Ivy, jumped from a rooftop. Blaming me for Ivy’s suicide attempt, Adrian mutilated the ceremonial mark he had just placed on my body, scarred my face with silver, and imprisoned me underground. I bled to death in that underground cell. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day I took the silver blade for him. This time, I would give Adrian exactly what he had always wanted.

When Lilith Sterling showed up, I realized the years I'd spent being coddled by my three childhood friends had been nothing but a lie. My Alpha King father, though, still had no idea. He honestly believed I'd end up choosing one of the three. That's why, at the Pack gathering, he announced in front of everyone: "Aurora, whoever you want to bond with—your father will make it happen." Every pair of eyes turned to the three boys who'd once loved and protected me—Kael Blackwood, Orion Whitethorn, and Zephyr Stormrider. We were perfectly matched in status, had grown up together, shared years of deep affection. But when my father threw out that hint, the three of them acted like they hadn't heard a thing. Kael was draping his coat over Lilith's shoulders. Orion was massaging her feet. Zephyr was busy fighting through the crowd to snatch a gift for her. The silence was suffocating. My father's face went rigid with humiliation. I quickly spoke up: "Father, my future mate hasn't made it back yet. Once he returns, I'll bring him straight to you." The three of them scoffed at that, smirking like they'd just heard the best joke of the night. They thought I was lying. Everyone there assumed I'd have to pick one of the three. But the one I'd already chosen had nothing to do with any of them.

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.

Kyle Stanton misses our bonding ceremony. By the time the elder steps up for the third time to ask if we're still waiting, my phone buzzes. It's Kyle. He sounds exhausted and annoyed. "Naomi's having a severe separation anxiety attack. I need to stay with her. Serafina, just postpone the ceremony." I look out at the 218 clan members and the delegates from 12 neighboring packs. Then I take off my ceremonial crown. "No need to postpone it. The ceremony is canceled." Five hours later, Kyle rushes back into the empty hall, panicking at last. He thinks I'm just acting out. Later, he throws 100 make-up ceremonies to win me back. All he gets is an official notice from the Werewolf Council confirming the dissolution of our bond. By then, I am already long gone.

Grad school was about to start, and my fated mate, Elias Thorne, offered to buy my plane ticket. But on the day we were supposed to leave, he handed me a bus ticket with a smile. "We wanted to see what a weak little werewolf like you would look like after a full day on a bus, so we only bought you a bus ticket." He took my sister's hand and boarded a business-class flight while I hauled my suitcase off to begin a twenty-four-hour coach ride by myself. After a full day of travel, I reached the school at the very last moment of registration day. When I handed the staff member my enrollment paperwork under the name Liliana Moretti, he said the documents contained errors and did not match the information in the system. The delay cost me my last chance to register. Just as I was standing there in tears with no idea what to do, Elias appeared, pointed at me, and burst out laughing. "Got you. Your parents swapped your paperwork ages ago." My sister, Giulietta Moretti, stepped out from around the corner too, holding up her phone. "You look ridiculous right now, Liliana. I got it all on video. Mom and Dad think it's funny too." Elias patted my shoulder. "Don't be mad. It was only a prank." Looking at their smiles and the dark, hollow camera lens pointed at me, I suddenly could not shed another tear. I was done playing along with what they called a prank.

  I was born with a weak inner wolf. My parents, the Alpha and Luna, along with my older brother Caleb, treated me like glass growing up, terrified that something would happen to me. But everything changed after my adopted sister, Jessica, was diagnosed with the exact same illness. Their concern gradually shifted entirely to her. They even demanded that I give up the only healing serum capable of curing our condition so Jessica could have it. I refused. I got into a massive fight with my parents, demanding to know why they were so biased. Because of that, everyone decided I was cold-blooded, vicious, and had absolutely no sympathy for Jessica. The day before the injection was to be confirmed, Caleb strode into my hospital room. His handsome face was full of impatience and irritation. He glared down at me. "Jessica is only twenty. She has a gorgeous future ahead of her. Your wolf has been weak since birth. Even if you get the serum, how long can this broken body of yours actually hold on?" Just then, Jessica rushed into the room wearing a thin nightgown. She threw herself into Caleb’s arms, crying and asking if I was still refusing to give her the serum. Caleb gently stroked her blonde hair, murmuring, "Don't be scared. No one can take what I promised you." I gazed at him, my mind drifting back to the first time my illness flared up when we were pups. I was dying, and he was the one who carried me through a blizzard to get to the healers. Back then, he held my hand, eyes red, and swore that even if he had to tear his own wolf in half, he would keep me alive. Looking at his cold face now, I suddenly felt incredibly exhausted. I didn't want to fight anymore. I leaned back calmly against my pillows, looked right at him, and said, "I don't want the serum anymore."