Familial Bond Werewolf Short Stories & Homewrecker Cheating Novels

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.

Despite being a healthy werewolf, I had terrible night blindness. The moment the sun went down, I couldn't see a thing. On the night of my sister's birthday, my parents booked the best restaurant in town to celebrate. After dinner, she suddenly said she wanted to walk home. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see the road, so I tried to turn her down. My future mate, Theodore, cut me off. He told me it was Willow's birthday and I should let her have her way. Then he promised he'd hold my hand the whole way and told me not to be scared. I finally agreed. I never noticed the knowing look Theodore and my sister exchanged. Before long, we turned into a dark alley. I could no longer see where I was going, so I clung to Theodore's sleeve, too afraid to let go. A few steps later, there was suddenly nothing beneath my foot. I lost my balance and fell straight into a creek beside the road. The next second, four phone flashlights swung onto me and the laughter broke out all at once. That was when I realized Theodore had slipped out of his jacket without me noticing. I had been holding on to an empty jacket the whole time. My parents laughed and pointed at me while Willow took pictures of me at my worst. My future mate stood beside her, holding her carefully so she wouldn't lose her balance. It was obvious now. They had used the mind-link to plan the whole prank without me knowing. At that moment, I no longer wanted to call this place home. There was no warmth here for me anyway.

In my fifth year of serving the Moon Goddess on behalf of the pack, the mother-and-child necklace around my neck suddenly shattered. It had been passed down from one Luna to the next, carrying the bond between mother and child. When the mother's half breaks, it means the child is dead. Something had happened to my daughter. I gathered the broken pieces in my hands and saw a vision of her final moments. She lay facedown on the ground, her body covered in wounds, repeating the same words over and over: "Mom, it hurts so much." I could hear the werewolves around her laughing. "Poor thing. The Luna's been gone for years, and things have only gotten worse for her daughter. Now she's been poisoned with wolfsbane, and she can't even get the antidote." "That's what she gets for not being able to have pups. She can't give the Alpha an heir, and she can't even keep her mate, Mark, interested in her." "The Alpha's bloodline can't be allowed to die out. If she can't give him an heir, then naturally, that responsibility falls to Faye. She has Alpha blood too, after all." "Honestly, the wolfsbane is a blessing. Mark is the son-in-law the Alpha chose himself. Once she's gone, he can take Faye as his mate and give the pack an heir with Alpha blood." The voices cut off, and a chill ran through me. Five years ago, for the sake of the pack, I'd agreed to my mate Lucas's request and secluded myself on Moon Goddess Mountain to serve the Moon Goddess. He'd promised to take care of our only daughter. By the time I came home, I'd be a grandmother. Instead, he used her inability to have pups as an excuse and turned a blind eye while Mark slept with Faye, Lucas's niece and the daughter of his widowed sister-in-law, Mina. When my daughter was poisoned with wolfsbane, he stood by and watched her die. I felt her wolf fading, along with the pup inside her. Tears slipped down my cheeks. I raised my hand and shattered the crystal pillar. It had taken five years of offerings and was almost ready

At a Halloween costume parade, I suddenly spotted a familiar figure. I watched him with a she-wolf. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. The she-wolf was draped against him in a succubus costume that showed off her curves. The male wolf was dressed as a lord of Hell. His face was flushed, his body tense, and his hands gripped the she-wolf's waist tightly. The people around them laughed good-naturedly. I froze. That was my father, Elias Thorne, the stiff, conservative man who had rushed off to work late even on Halloween. I called him right away and kept my tone casual. "Dad, can you come pick me up in a little while?" His voice faltered for a moment, then returned to its usual warmth. "Sorry, sweetheart, I'm at the office working late. I can't come get you. When I get home tonight, I'll make you the apple pie you love." I didn't argue. I said yes like a good daughter and smiled into the phone. When the call ended, I let out a breath and walked toward the couple who should never have been together.

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.