Cerita Pendek & Novel Countdown Werewolf

In the Blackthorn Pack, every wolf born into an Alpha bloodline received a moonstone after their first shift. At eighteen, during the Pack Recognition Ceremony, the Alpha set it into a ceremonial collar, marking their official place in the Pack. A week before my twin sister Sienna and I turned eighteen, my brother Rowan brought home our ceremonial collars. Sienna’s glittered with two moonstones. “Why does she have my moonstone?” I asked. Rowan shrugged. “Sienna wanted hers to look more special.” Then he handed me an old ceremonial collar pulled from the Pack vault. It was tarnished, with half the moonstone missing. Mother sighed. “You’re still being recognized as an Alpha’s daughter, Aria. Does the collar really matter that much?” All my life, I had been expected to give up one thing after another for Sienna. I thought the Recognition Ceremony would finally prove that I had a place in this Pack too. I was wrong. They took my moonstone and gave it to her. My phone vibrated with Moonridge University’s final admission deadline—the most prestigious university in the werewolf world. the most prestigious university in the werewolf world, nearly three thousands miles from my pack. This time, I pressed ACCEPT. They could celebrate Sienna as the daughter they wanted. I was done fighting for a place in a Pack that had never made room for me.

Three years ago, my father sent me to Damian’s side. Every day is a battle of wits with that cold, ruthless Alpha. Every night, I lose myself in his arms. I think… I've finally found the love I am destined for. I was so happy, so sure of our future, that I started planning our bonding ceremony. Until Clara showed up. By then, I realized just how naive I had been. For Clara, Damian locked me away in the isolation cell to teach me a lesson. He spent millions on her without a second thought, but left me alone in a hospital ward unconscious for seven hours. When it came down to life and death, he never hesitated to choose Clara, leaving me bleeding on the ground. The most ironic part? When I finally gave up and walked away, he lost his mind. He started insisting that I am his mate, his one true love. Damian, you're too late.

During our graduation trip, we got trapped in a snowstorm and were forced to spend the night in a cave. There were five of us. My boyfriend, Marcus, the future Alpha heir, took the blankets out of his backpack. Without hesitation, he shook out two and draped them over Lily. Lily was an Omega wolf who had recently been found and brought back to our pack. There were two blankets left. I had just reached for one when Victor and Henry, my other two childhood friends, snatched them up and covered Lily with them as well. When they noticed me staring, they merely smiled nonchalantly. "We only brought four. You're usually pretty tough. You can manage one night without a blanket." At midnight, Lily complained that she was hungry. Marcus immediately handed her the last piece of chocolate. Victor took out a thermos of hot water, while Henry hurried to open a packet of crackers for her. I sat on the freezing ground, watching the three of them fuss over Lily. The gnawing hunger in my stomach suddenly disappeared. I remembered how they'd forgotten only my plane ticket for this trip, forcing me to buy a seat on the next red-eye flight. I remembered how, whenever we went out to eat, they somehow always managed to forget to order anything for me. There were always five of us, yet Lily was always the only one who received all three people's affection. By dawn, the blizzard had finally stopped, and the rescue team found us. The four of them walked toward the helicopter together, laughing and chatting. Not one of them looked back at me, sitting alone in the corner. I said nothing. I simply took out my phone and checked the admission offer from an overseas academy specializing in werewolf genetics. If their world only had room for four people, then I'd leave with my dignity intact.

When I was 18 years old, I stepped between Eric Ludlow and a silver arrow loosed by another contender so I could help him win the Alpha Trials. The silver sank deep into my wolf. Ever since then, I've lived as a broken werewolf without a mind-link and unable to conceive. Drowning in guilt, Eric decided to mark me. He pulled me close and vowed, "I'll love you for the rest of my life, Evelyn. I'll never see you as less." I really did believe him back then. At 25, he wins the pack war again and emerges as the strongest Alpha. But he turns our mate bond into a joke. At the celebration dinner, during a thoughtless game of Truth or Dare with his secretary, Mia Sadler, he speaks across the mind-link to everyone. "Evelyn, you're painfully dull. You're not the least bit appealing, your scent is thin, and you can't even bear a pup. You're just dead weight. I wish you'd never been saved back then. I wish you'd died." I clutch the medical report that says my wolf is about to be gone for good, staying silent. He assumes I can't hear anything since I don't have a mind-link. I beg the pack healer for a brutal, life-draining potion, just to know what a mate bond with him feels like. It's fine. I'll be dead soon, just the way Eric wants.

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.

For four years, I was mated to Kieran Blackwood, Alpha of the Blackpine Pack. For nearly half of those nights, he slept at the lakeside villa instead of coming home to me. His older brother, Damon, had died in an accident, leaving behind Vivienne, Blackpine's former Luna. Kieran said looking after his brother's widow was part of the duty he had inherited along with the Alpha title. I believed him. So I put up with the empty chair beside mine at full-moon celebrations. I let him walk out in the middle of dinner whenever Vivienne called. I ignored the pack members who snickered behind my back and called me the substitute Luna. Then came the crash. Three vehicles collided on a rain-slick highway. I was trapped in the passenger seat with the twisted door crushing my side and the seat belt cutting across my thirty-week belly. Blood ran down the seat while I pounded on the cracked window and begged Kieran to save our baby. He reached my door first. Then Vivienne screamed from the back seat, and he let go. He carried her out even though she had only a shallow cut on her forehead. He pulled her against his chest and kept telling her, "Don't look, Viv. I've got you." Through a spiderweb of broken glass, I watched him leave in her ambulance. If my child and I would always come second in his life, then I was done waiting to be chosen. I was taking back my name, my future, and every part of myself I'd handed over to an Alpha who never deserved any of it.

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.

After Alpha Ethan passed away, I sorted through his belongings. In his study, I found his final letter. He wrote about so many things. He wrote about the pack, about our daughter, and about every detail of the twenty years we had spent together as mates. I wept so hard I could barely read through it, believing it was the last piece of tenderness he had left for me. Until I turned to the very last page: [If I could live my life over again, I wish Vivian had been my mate.] My fingers instantly froze. [When I was twenty-two, if only I had been a little braver, I should have gone to the airport and convinced Vivian to stay.] Ethan had given up on chasing after her and chose to stay by my side for twenty years instead. I thought that was love. Turns out, he just couldn't bear the guilt of abandoning me. I prayed to the Moon Goddess, and she answered by granting me a second chance, sending me back to the exact day Vivian was about to leave. Ethan was sitting beside my hospital bed, and a boarding alert for Vivian's flight popped up on his phone. In my past life, he wanted to go, but I clung to him and begged him to stay. As a result, the plane crashed, and Vivian died on her journey. Her death became Ethan's lifelong regret. This time, I picked up his jacket for him and hailed a Taxi on my phone: "There are thirty minutes until her flight boards. If you leave now, you can still make it." This time, I won't beg for his love anymore. So why... did Ethan end up full of regret?

I am the daughter of the Alpha of the strongest pack in the Northern Lands, the Crescent Pack. From the moment I was born, all the pack’s territories, mining rights, and company shares were registered under my name. But ever since I was a child, I had never been interested in the schemes and power struggles that came with authority. The Elder Council had no choice but to appoint Theo as the Acting Alpha, allowing him to manage the pack on my behalf, with the position renewed every year. At the first full moon of every year, Theo had to wait for me to stamp his appointment document with my seal. For twelve years, whenever I reviewed the pack’s financial reports, I would simply skim through them and sign my name without asking too many questions. Over time, Theo began to believe that his appointment was nothing more than a little game the Elder Council played to humor me because of my parents. Then he met his fated mate, Mia. I was genuinely happy for him and gifted Mia the mining rights to three mines as her welcome present. However, on the very first day after their mating ceremony, they asked the Elder Council to cancel my black card. Their reasoning was that Theo, the “Alpha” of the Crescent Pack, should not have to support a parasite of an adopted sister whose wolf still hadn’t awakened. Did she really think that because Theo had been Acting Alpha for twelve years, the pack belonged to him? He was only a Beta whose authority was renewed by my seal every single year. Well, as it happens, I don’t feel like renewing his appointment this year.

When graduation season arrived, the academy held a bonfire party. During the group photo, I stood next to Hudson. He was the boy I grew up with, and I stood by him just as I always had. Someone in the crowd shouted, "Come on, let the future mates stand together!" I had heard this kind of joke countless times, but the secret hidden deep down still made my cheeks burn. Hudson stood next to me, not saying a word. The photographer started the countdown. The bonfire crackled, and right at that moment, a stray thought broke into my mind. "She's so annoying. Can she just stop clinging to me?" Deep, familiar, and laced with irritation. It was Hudson. I was born with a weak wolf, leaving severe flaws in my mental barriers. Other people's thoughts would occasionally slip into my head through the mind-link. This time, I heard it with absolute clarity. The second the camera flash went off, he turned and walked away from the bonfire. I stood alone in front of the dancing flames for a long time before leaving in silence. Passing by the ancient tree hung with wishing charms, I reached up and took down the wooden piece Hudson and I had once hung together. It had our promise written on it, saying we would get into Blood Moon Academy together. I stared at it for a few seconds, then raised my arm and threw it straight into the roaring bonfire. The wood hit the ashes at the edge of the fire, its edges curling and turning black. This time, I was stepping completely out of Hudson's world.

I’d been Albert’s Luna for ten years. Everyone said we were the perfect fated pair. That day, he held me close and said softly, “Grace, I’ve planned a seven-day trip for you down south. You need to relax.” I found it strange. Albert was fiercely possessive; I’d never been away from him for more than three days. It wasn't until I overheard our pup, Leo, asking him, “Dad, are you and Auntie Maria going to be mates? What about Mom?” Maria. Albert’s childhood sweetheart. Albert just chuckled. “It’s just for show. Auntie Maria lost her mate. As her Alpha, I have a duty to look after her.” Then his voice dropped. “Be a good boy, Leo, and keep this a secret. Don’t tell your mom, and I’ll buy you that toy you wanted.” I heard everything, but I didn’t confront him. Instead, I called my former mentor, the Director of the Institute for Ancient Lycan Bloodlines. “About your earlier offer… I’m accepting it. I’ll be at the Southern Pack in three days.” Then, I sent a message to the pack’s Head Elder: “I'm formally rejecting our mate bond.”

Among our kind, there's an old rule. Every Luna must carry a token of her rank, and only the woman wearing that token has the right to stand at the Alpha's side. I'd been with Damien Cole for seven years. For the Luna token, I gave him everything. I took care of him down to the smallest detail. I once threw myself between him and a rogue's claws, which is why there's a scar across my stomach that will never fade. And then, at the pack banquet, Serena walked in on Damien's arm in a couture gown and, in front of everyone, dared me to hand over the moonstone ring that marked me as Luna. Damien saw the whole thing. He said nothing. He let it happen. Everyone waited for me to scream, to make a scene. I didn't. I slid the moonstone ring off my finger, calm as anything, and pushed it onto hers. "It suits you better than it ever suited me." Something like surprise flickered behind Damien's eyes, but it melted fast into smugness. "Aurora. You finally learned your place." I kept my head down. The corner of my mouth curved. I hadn't learned my place. A month ago, I got back every memory I'd lost. I'm the Alpha King's long-lost daughter. In three days, he's coming to take me home himself.

My mate, Xander Smith, falls into the Red Moon pack's fire trap when he's out. I'm burned, heavily injured, and rendered unconscious while saving him. When I blearily come to in the clinic, I hear him tell the healer to kill my wolf. "Are you sure? Ophelia bore your heir. How can you hurt her wolf?" The healer's hand trembles as he clutches a silver needle. He's unwilling to be so cruel to me. However, Xander says firmly, "Dahlia is back, and I want her to attend the appointment ceremony as the mother of my heir. The only way to stop Ophelia from fighting Dahlia for this is by making her as weak as an Omega. "Dahlia has already been banished from the Red Moon pack after losing her mate. I can't let the werewolves in the New Moon pack scorn her. As for Ophelia… she'll forever be my Luna." I clench my fists and squeeze my eyes shut. My love for him dies as my wolf does. Since Xander insists on giving another woman a place in his life, it's time for me to take my leave.

How much could an Alpha compensate a woman before the compensation started to look like a joke? Kaelan Blackthorne was very good at compensating me. He was rich enough to own mines, ports, a pharmaceutical empire, and half a financial district. He was also the strongest Alpha the Blackthorn Pack had produced in centuries. And I was his unmarked mate. For three years, every time he postponed our mate ceremony to comfort Vera, his widowed sister-in-law, he sent me another gift. A blue diamond necklace. A room of couture gowns. His mother’s platinum crown. Every time a velvet box arrived at my door, Vera sent me a video. [So what if he buys you pretty things? I’m the one he stays with when the moon rises.] [You get his guilt. I get his time.] I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg. I didn’t grab his sleeve and ask why he was leaving me behind again. When Kaelan postponed the ceremony for the sixth time, he finally promised it would happen in three days. This time, I only picked the most expensive crown on the list and handed him the transfer papers. He signed without looking. For the first time in days, his eyes softened. “After the ceremony, Eve, I’ll take you to the Full Moon Vow Ball. Every pack will know you’re mine.” I smiled, put the papers away, and said, “Okay.” I just didn’t tell him what he had really signed. It wasn’t another gift list. It was my application to cancel our mate ceremony.

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?

I am a Servant of Death, sent to the werewolf realm by the Dark Goddess of the Underworld. She gave me a single rule. Every year during the pack's Dark Moon Festival, I must receive a water lantern carrying a genuine blessing. The first year, my future Alpha mate, my brother, and my childhood best friend all wrote my name on their lanterns. The second year, my childhood friend Julian said my adopted sister, Chloe, was too weak, so he wanted to pray for her just this once. The third year, even my brother, Ryker, who swore to protect me forever, gave his lantern to Chloe. Only my fated mate, Declan, left one for me. This was the fourth year. I couldn't sleep at all, so I finally told them the truth. "Please, just leave one lantern with my name on it. That's all I ask." The three of them smiled and promised. "Don't worry, you'll get every single one." But on the night of the Dark Moon Festival, the pack's sacred lake was filled with water lanterns drifting toward the Underworld River. Not a single one bore my name. I searched everywhere with tear-filled eyes, only to find the three men surrounding Chloe in celebration. "Four lanterns! I'm the one with the most blessings from the Moon Goddess this year!" Pain stabbed through my chest, and my voice trembled. "You promised me." Ryker looked away. "Chloe is under a lot of pressure for her Werewolf Academy interview this year." Julian, my once-gentle childhood friend, shrugged. "You've had so many before anyway. Missing one year won't kill you." Declan, my Alpha mate, didn't even look up. "To fight over a few lanterns, you even made up this 'Servant of Death' nonsense. Aren't you embarrassed?" Chloe leaned on his shoulder, covering her mouth to hide a laugh. "Stop making a scene, Amara. If you're a Servant of Death, then I'm the true daughter of the Moon Goddess." But they had no idea that if I failed to receive a single lantern, the Dark Goddess would take me back to the Underworld.

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."

When I woke up from wolfsbane poison, I decided to scare my Alpha mate-to-be by pretending I’d lost my memory. “Who are you?” I asked. Nolan Hayes stepped back, putting distance between us. “I’m your sister’s mate-to-be. She hasn’t been feeling well, so she asked me to check on you.” I thought he was joking and turned to my adopted sister, Megan, who had just arrived. She immediately slipped her hand around Nolan’s arm. “Allison, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.” “Our bonding ceremony is in three days. You even promised to make my ceremony dress.” Mom and Dad rushed to the hospital when they heard about my memory loss. Clinging to one last shred of hope, I asked. “Is Nolan really going to be Megan’s mate?” Mom sighed. “Allison, their ceremony is just days away.” “You need to leave him alone. Your sister has a heart condition. She can’t handle this kind of stress.” Dad sounded relieved. “You used to chase after Nolan, insisting he could never be anyone’s mate but yours.” “Maybe losing your memory is a good thing. At least you won’t embarrass us in front of the pack anymore.” As he finished speaking, I felt the last of my hope drain away. Fine. Megan could have both my parents and Nolan. It’s time for me to leave the pack 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.

On our seventh anniversary, my Alpha, Alex Doyle, abandons me once again to care for Lily Hayes and her pup. "She lost her mate. Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise a pup alone? As the Luna of our pack, you should be more compassionate," he says, his brows drawing together. Certain I'll never leave him, he speaks with the confidence of someone who takes my devotion for granted. This time, I don't beg him to stay like I always do. Instead, I choose to be the bigger person and show Lily compassion. I'm even willing to give up my position as Luna and allow him to fulfill his so-called noble duties and promises to her. I sever our mate bond on my own and leave the pack's territory without looking back. But when I finally disappear into the depths of the forest, Alex, the Alpha who's always carried himself as if he's untouchable, completely loses his mind. With bloodshot eyes, he follows the faint traces of my scent and desperately begs me not to leave.