Plot Twists Werewolf Short Stories & Homewrecker Novels

The day I confirmed I was three months pregnant, I went to Oliver's office to drop off some files. I was finally going to tell him the good news. The Pack was in the grip of a record heat wave, and with the temperature climbing toward 122 degrees, I reached over to switch on the AC. His secretary stopped me before I could. "Luna, I'm on my period, and our Pack wolves already carry the Cold Curse. It isn't hot enough to need the AC." But I was afraid the heat would hurt the tiny life growing inside me. I shot her a glance, said nothing, and turned it on anyway. Late that night, Oliver came home from a business dinner and led with an accusation the second he walked in. "Sophia already gets cramps and nausea on her period, and you blasted cold air at her for forty-one minutes and thirty-eight seconds. You put her in the ICU with stomach spasms." "Oliver, air conditioning doesn't hurt anyone, and I've had periods too. Never mind that. There's something important I need to tell you. I'm preg—" Oliver pulled the corner of his mouth into a smile, drew me into his arms, and cut off the words before I could finish. "I lost my head. You're right." He kissed my forehead the way he always did, murmuring softly until I fell asleep. But when I woke, I was inside a transparent glass freezer room. Every face around me belonged to someone important in the Pack. Outside the glass, Oliver stood with a hand on Sophia's soft waist, watching me with a smile. "You like the cold air? Then today you can have all you want." My heart sank. I pulled out my phone and photographed the people around me. Then I made a call. "Dad. None of these people need to live to see tomorrow's sun."

Three months after we lost our pup, Gavin took me to Moon Goddess Peak to pray for the baby we'd never gotten to hold. On the way, his ex-mate, Mia, joined us with their daughter, Leah. Halfway up, an old injury sent Mia's wolf into a violent flare. Gavin held her tightly in his arms. "Erin, go back to camp and get her wolf stabilizer." "Mia barely survived wolfsbane poisoning. If her wolf slips out of balance again, she could be in real danger." Weak from the night before the new moon, I fought my way back through the freezing mountain wind. By the time I reached the pass with Mia's medicine, they had vanished. All that remained were three stacked moonstones and a Polaroid. In the photo, the three of them stood before the moonstones. Gavin held Leah. A message was scrawled across the back: "A family pilgrimage should be made as a family." Gavin's voice sounded in my head through the bond. "Erin? Why are you still on the mountain? We're already back at camp." "I figured once you saw we were gone, you'd come down on your own. A storm's coming. Don't go any higher. You've always been good with directions." The night before a new moon was when a wolf's power ran thinnest. And it had only been three months since I'd lost my pup. My body stood no chance against the silver frost. I crawled desperately through the snow. Just before I blacked out, a mountain patrol ranger found me and dragged me to safety. When I pushed open the door, the three of them were gathered around the fireplace, looking through the photos they'd taken. Gavin didn't even look up. "What took you so long?" He finally glanced at me. His gaze swept from my frost-covered hair to my soaked coat, and a crease formed between his brows. "Go change before you make yourself sick. Mia still isn't stable, and I can't handle two patients tonight." Forget it. I deleted the rest of the pilgrimage itinerary. Then I signed the acceptance letter for the Geneva posting.

On the night of our mating ceremony, I found out my mate, Alpha Cain, had an Omega mistress. And they already had two pups together. Seeing he couldn't hide it anymore, he finally told the truth. "You were poisoned by silver, and the pack doctor said it'd be hard for you to get pregnant. Jasmine is a highly fertile Omega..." He hugged me, his eyes red as he promised. "Aurora, you are my Luna, my mate. I swear on my wolf, I only love you. As long as you just accept this, a mistress like her can never threaten your position." My wolf whimpered in agony. In my grief, I smashed everything and screamed the words to reject our mate bond. But I didn't expect my family to face his retaliation so soon. After my family was ruined, he locked me in a silver room and tortured me to death. "I told you, as long as you accepted it, you'd still be my Luna! Why did you have to break the bond? Why betray our love and make us both suffer the backlash?" My consciousness faded, and I died completely. When I opened my eyes, I was back. Back on the night of our mating ceremony. Right when I discovered his filthy secret. This time, I didn't cry or scream. Instead, I calmly took Cain's arm. "You are my Alpha. I could never blame you." When the time is right, I will send him straight to hell.

My mate and I have been together for five years, but he always said he wanted to save up $500,000 before marrying me. To help him reach that number faster, I secretly became the most sought-after fidelity tester in the city. One day, I landed a big case. The client complained to me, "We've been together for four years, and he's very generous. He's even planning to propose because he's worried I feel insecure, and he bought me a house." "But I heard he had a mate before me, so just want to make sure he really loves me." She was complaining, sure, but the happiness on her face was impossible to hide. She even showed me photos from their date last month. The moment I saw the photos, I froze. The couple in the pictures were vacationing at the most popular resort in pack territory, their faces pressed close together. They looked blissful and sweet. If only the man in the photo hadn't been Alexander.

Eight years ago, at Black Pine Pack's full moon trial, my wolf went silent forever. Vivian Hale was responsible. She was my best friend. She was also the woman my Alpha mate Adrian Cross had protected since childhood and never been able to let go of. After the accident, Adrian personally banished Vivian from Black Pine territory and severed her mind-link with the pack. Vivian bore the blame before the Inter-Pack Council. For eight years, she was too afraid to return, and Adrian never said a word in her defense. Adrian stayed by my side through the agony of every failed shift and helped me adjust to a life where I could no longer hear my wolf or feel the pack. Then Vivian came back. She wanted to rejoin Black Pine Pack, and she asked Adrian to preside over her reinstatement ceremony himself. I refused on Adrian's behalf. I said, "She hurt the pack's future Luna eight years ago. She has no right to stand before the Moon Goddess and take the oath." But Adrian suddenly smiled. The smile stayed on his face even as his eyes reddened. "Eight years. "I haven't seen her, haven't protected her, haven't spent a single full moon with her. "Because of you, she lost her pack, her family, and her standing. She's been in exile for eight years. "All you lost was a wolf. "What she lost was me." My inner world went dead silent. But he seemed unable to feel the mate bond in my chest suddenly constrict. "I've already acknowledged you as my fated mate and let you serve as acting Luna for eight years. "What more do you want from me?" I once believed that losing my wolf was the most hopeless moment of my life. It wasn't until that moment that I learned what despair really was. That night, I signed off on the paperwork for Vivian's reinstatement ceremony. Then I left my resignation as acting Luna on Adrian's desk. Then I booked a flight to Silver Ridge territory. From that day on. His pack, his beloved, his belated concern—none of it had anything to do with me anymore.

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.

During the thunderstorm, I struggled through the Pack Institute alone, dragging a heavy feed cart behind me. My rain-soaked lab coat clung to my skin, and my shoes were caked with mud. The message I had sent through the mind-link to my fated mate, Arthur Voss, half an hour ago was still unanswered. "Could you come down and bring me an umbrella?" I should have heard back from him instantly, but there was still no response. The power had gone out in the animal facility during the downpour. I pulled out my nearly dead phone and found Arthur's number. He was listed as the lab's emergency contact. My finger hovered over the call button. Then I looked up. Through the thick curtain of rain, I saw two figures sitting side by side inside the glass-walled lab. They were my mate, Arthur, and Lina Brooks, a junior researcher in our lab. He was gently ruffling Lina's hair. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything for you." The instruments on the table were the same ones I had begged Arthur to teach me to use three years ago. His voice was as gentle as I'd ever heard it. I remembered how I had been when I first met Arthur. Back then, I was too scared to take a cab alone. When my wolf spiraled out of control, I would panic. When problems came up, I would hide. When an experiment failed, I would call him for help and keep him on the phone for three hours. Every single time, he brushed aside my pleas for help. "Irene, you need to solve your own problems. You can't keep waiting for someone to rescue you." So I learned. I gritted my teeth and handled everything alone. When samples were contaminated, I tracked down the cause myself. When a project fell apart, I dealt with it on my own. I spent countless nights teaching myself technical skills that had once seemed impossible to master. Yet none of it ever earned me even a hint of his approval. I looked down. This time, I didn't hesitate. With the last sliver of battery, I deleted Arthur's number.

When I was eight, a prank by my little sister, Alice, left silver poison eating away at my heart. To save me, my dad knelt at the Temple of the Moon Goddess for ninety-nine days. Only then did he win two moonstone pendants from the Goddess, enough to hold the poison at bay. After that, Alice became the family pariah. They stopped speaking to her. They wouldn't even let her smile. For my sake, my father traveled far and wide searching for a cure for the silver poison. My mom quit her work as a healer to care for me, because the moonstone pendants needed her at the Moon Temple every day to replenish their magic. I always believed the Moon Goddess watched over me, blessing me with the best family in the world. That belief lasted until the day registration for the Imperial Academy closed. Three minutes remained before the Imperial Academy's registration portal closed. Then a sudden thunderstorm drained the portal's power crystal. Without hesitation, my mother ripped the pendant from around my neck and poured its magic into the portal. I clutched at her clothes, my lips turning blue. "Mom... I can't breathe..." But she looked at me with nothing but disappointment. "Grace, you've already taken all the love and resources that should have been Alice's. Now you want to rob her of her future too? "You still have the backup pendant, and yet here you are playing the victim! I'm so disappointed in you!" She shoved me into my bedroom and locked the door. But she didn't know. Alice had borrowed the other pendant for her graduation ball.

My fiancé's stepsister, Adina Mercer, claimed to be a messenger of the Moon Goddess, able to relay divine decrees on Her behalf. Because of that, everything in our relationship had to be arranged by her. From when I should go to the hospital after an injury to the brand of protection we used in bed, she decided everything. Today marked the ninety-ninth time Kellan Ashford had skipped our mating ceremony because of something she said, leaving me standing alone at the altar. When I called, his voice was calm as he gave me the same line he always did. "Adina divined it. Today isn't a good day for us to mate. If we force it, we'll put both our lives at risk." I gripped my phone and laughed. "Did she also divine that if you keep refusing to mate with me, your pack will be destroyed?" A beat of stunned silence. Then he softened his tone. "I know you're upset, but there's nothing I can do. It's the Moon Goddess's decree. "Be good. There'll be another auspicious date next month, and I'll definitely mark you then. "Adina hurt her hand. I need to go bandage it for her. Figure out how to explain this to everyone." The call ended. Every wolf in the hall was watching me, waiting for my humiliation. I closed my eyes and let the stillness settle over me. They had no idea that their pack should have been swallowed whole by the far more powerful Mooncrest Pack long ago. I had fallen in love with their Alpha and begged my father to turn a conquest into a marriage alliance. That was the only reason they had known peace. Too bad they didn't appreciate it. Fine, then. Let Mooncrest's claws tear this land apart.

My father disappeared for seventeen years. The first time he surfaced, it was to offer me fifty thousand dollars for my bone marrow to save the daughter he'd had with his lover. My mother slapped me twice right there, demanding I refuse his dirty money. But I got into the car the Alpha had sent, handprints still burning on my face, and walked into his multimillion-dollar estate. They all thought I was so desperate I'd sell my own blood for cash. That changed when I pointed at the most expensive car in his garage and told my father, "Either restore my name to the Blackwood family registry or give me the car's value in cash: three hundred thousand dollars." "Your daughter needs my bone marrow to survive. My mother needs three hundred thousand dollars to stay alive." "If you can't part with the money, then watch her die." After that, everyone thought all I cared about was money. Only I knew the truth: I was selling my own blood to buy my mother a chance at life.

The day of my mating ceremony with Alpha Kian, I arrived at the lake house villa—the venue we had chosen for our sacred ritual. My heart was pounding with anticipation. But when I pushed the doors open, the place was completely empty. I quickly mind-linked my parents. "Where is everyone? I'm at the villa, but it's empty. And my gown is gone." There was a heavy silence before my mother finally answered. "Freya... we temporarily changed the location." "Without telling me? Why?" "Isolde's wolf is fading," my father chimed in. "She is dying. Her last wish is to wear the Luna crown for just one day. So, we are holding the ceremony for her instead." "Freya, you're her only sister. Be the bigger person. Just let her have this." Even Kian, my Alpha, tried to soothe me over the link. "Don't worry, Freya. It's just a ceremony for her. A trick for the Moon Goddess. It'll just block our mate bond for a little while. We can have our real ceremony anytime after she's stable." I refused. It was insane. "You're being unreasonable, Freya," Kian sighed impatiently. "Just stay at the lake house and calm down." Then, they cut the mind-link completely. I was left all alone in the abandoned villa. Then the Rogues attacked. Wolfsbane burned the air. It choked my wolf. I couldn't scream. I couldn't fight. In desperation, I used our mate bond. I reached out to Kian with everything I had left. He just sighed through the bond. He thought I was throwing a tantrum over the ceremony. Then he severed the bond completely. When their fake ceremony was over, they finally remembered me. But all they found on the villa floor… was my body. Torn to shreds by Rogues.

Three years ago, on a full moon night, my mother jolted awake at midnight, claiming the Moon Goddess had delivered a prophecy: On the day of my twentieth birthday, the feral gene inside me would spiral out of control. I would shift into a wolf and kill my sister. At first, my parents were skeptical. But after I awakened my wolf at eighteen, my sister would seize up whenever she was near me, clutching her chest and collapsing to the ground in violent fits of gasping. To protect her and force my wolf into dormancy, my parents resorted to every harsh measure they could devise. They poured suppression potions down my throat that ate away at my organs, and clamped a restraining collar around my neck so my sister could keep me on a leash. Eventually, my wolf vanished completely. And somehow, I survived to my twentieth birthday. A flash of joy hit me, and I reached for the cake on the table. My father backhanded me so hard I went flying. "That feral gene in your blood really is impossible to tame! "If anyone eats first, it's your sister. What makes you think you can touch it?" Clara stepped forward as if to soothe things over, but my mother pulled her behind her back, eyes full of wariness as she edged away from me. Then my father dragged me up to the attic and bolted the door shut. Through the door, they said, "Stay put and get through tonight. The prophecy will be broken. "After this, we'll give you half the love we've shown your sister." I sank my teeth into my lip, not daring to make a sound. Years of the suppression potion had already hollowed out my body. My consciousness was fading, piece by piece. Mom, Dad, in that dream the Moon Goddess sent you, did she happen to mention this part? That the one dying today might be me?

My Mate, Alpha Cain, froze all my assets. Right when I was about to have our first pup. The voice on the phone belonged to his new assistant. A smug Beta she-wolf named Jasmine. She sneered. “Every penny you spend goes through me now. Cain bled for this pack. He won’t waste his money on a weak wolf who can’t even hold a shift.” That same day, the contractions started. They rushed me to the pack hospital. Every single one of my cards was declined. But that wasn’t enough. She kicked my parents out of the "Moonlight Sanctuary," the new healing center I’d built for them. Threw them into a basic room. Her reason? “Two old-timers don’t deserve the Alpha’s resources.” I laughed. She had no idea. Those "old-timers"? They're the Alpha King and Luna of the Crestfall bloodline. The rulers of all the Northern packs. She had no idea Cain’s pack, his mines, his Alpha title—everything he has—was a gift from the Crestfalls. My parents were about to step down. To give me the entire North. And to Cain. Too bad. Cain let his mistress humiliate the only true royalty he would ever touch. Three days later, Cain threw a huge party. A welcome party for the powerful benefactor backing his Northern territory. In front of all his guests, his Beta dialed the benefactor’s number. A second later, my phone rang.

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.

The Price of Failing a Bond On the second day of Alpha Andy’s “Routine Patrol and Pack Bond” with his junior assistant, Scarlett, I completed all my administrative handovers within the pack and went to the High Elder to process my Pack Withdrawal. In less than ten minutes, my phone vibrated with a notification: Alpha Andy had “APPROVED” my departure. “Looks like she is leaving.” “Do you think Alpha Andy wanted to get rid of her from her position?” “I don’t know. It looks like Alpha Andy is good enough to her. She is the one complaining. Maybe she’s self-aware enough to leave.” “She is always making a fuss out of a molehill. Who knows if she is the spy another pack!” “Yeah, a future Luna from another pack only brings frustration to our pack. It’s better for her to leave early. Not only from her position, but from our pack.” “I agree. How could she be in that high position but for Alpha Andy. If she is on herself, she won’t survive a day outside.” “Why are we low-level wolves worrying about her? She’s Alpha Andy’s future fated mate. I dare say she gets a lot of gold coins from him, so she’ll live an adequate life.” “Who knows?” While I packed up my personal belongings, my pack-mates hurled sarcastic remarks, watching my embarrassment with glee. Laugh as you like, but soon we won’t be pack-mates any more. I was used to it. I, Lynda Roskruhe, was from another pack. My grandfather and Andy’s grandfather became friends due to a joint fight against the common enemy. When Andy and I grew up, we fell in love with each other. He persuaded me to live with him. So I moved here and helped him with the pack business. We had a very happy time. Then everything changed after Scarlett became his assistant. From the very beginning, Scarlett and I didn’t get along. My fiancé, Andy? To everyone’s great surprise, he always took Scarlett’s side just like the other pack members. He said she was young and innocent, and that I should help her to be familiar with the work. Initially, the pack

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.

My mate, Alex, had a childhood friend named Emily who was a healer. When she discovered that I was a highly sensitive person, she volunteered to put me through what she called 'desensitization therapy.' The first time, she told me I needed to learn to control my emotions, so she locked me in a noisy bar's storage room for an entire night. The second time, she said I needed to overcome my tactile sensitivity. She drenched me in ice-cold water and forced me to stand in the freezing wind for three hours. Alex was present every single time. Each time, he told her, "Thank you for all your hard work, Emily. I know how much you're doing for her." Then came the banquet, where she poured an entire vial of wolfsbane-laced potion into my champagne and announced that this would be my final desensitization therapy session. I clutched my swollen throat and collapsed to the floor. I couldn't speak or catch my breath. Alex merely frowned and said coldly, "Elena, this is for your own good. Just get through this one last session." Lying among the shattered glass, I closed my eyes and pressed the beacon badge I had never used before. When Dad finally burst through the doors, tears I'd held back for three years streamed down my face. It was time to end this.