Independence Werewolf 단편 소설 & Countdown 소설

The first time I found Kieran and his assistant, Talia, exchanging good nights through their private mind-link after midnight, we had our biggest fight yet. After that, when I asked him to keep his distance, he deliberately got even closer to her, determined to make me stop being so sensitive. He took Talia shopping for furniture for our future home, let her run beside him beneath the full moon, and when I was sick with a fever, left me alone while he took her to his family’s lodge. Every time I said something hurt me, Kieran pushed a little further. Eventually, I stopped asking. Kieran thought he had finally won. At the celebration for our new Alpha House, I pressed my palm against the entrance ward. Scent not recognized. His friends laughed. “Stop trying, Mara. Talia’s scent was registered days ago.” Then one of them grinned. “Kieran bet you wouldn’t make a scene. He said if you could handle this, you were finally ready to be his mate.” Everyone waited for me to explode. I stared at the red light and realized Kieran had gotten exactly what he wanted. I didn’t care anymore. “Then don’t register mine.” I turned toward the steps. “Cancel the mating ceremony too.” I was leaving anyway. There was no point in having the ceremony anymore.

Alpha Kael Blackthorn’s childhood sweetheart was pregnant. On the night of our ninth anniversary, he brought her home and spoke as if assigning ordinary household matters. “She’s carrying a pureblood heir. Her appetite is delicate, so her meals can’t repeat.” “She startles easily at night. Clear out your things and move into the guest room.” I said nothing. I picked up the suitcase I had packed long ago and walked toward the door. The house steward looked ready to stop me, but Kael only laughed. “Let her go.” “She won’t last three days before she comes crawling back.” That made everyone laugh. Right in front of me, they placed a ten-million wager that I would be back before morning, begging him to let me in. After all, for nine years, no matter how much he hurt me, I always came back. But this time, the black sedan outside had already been arranged. This time, I was really leaving.

My mate, Alpha Kade, loved testing my limits using his childhood friend. The more I pushed back, the more he enjoyed it. For the pack retreat, I suggested heading north to see the Northern Lights. He took Ruby to a southern island instead. I spent six months growing rare herbs in the greenhouse. Right before they bloomed, he ordered them torn out. He replaced them with Ruby's favorite roses. I confronted him about it once. He didn't care. "You know I respond better when you're sweet. The more you push, the more I push back. Just be a good girl and listen to me." After that, I learned to compromise. He demanded to bring Ruby as his date to the pack's inner circle dinner. I just nodded. Over the weekend, Ruby wanted to visit the former Luna at the main estate. I stayed calm. "No problem. Do what you want." Kade slammed me against the wall the second the words left my mouth. "Cora, what kind of attitude is that? You're okay with another woman visiting my mother?" I pulled free from his grip. "I'm just following your rules so I don't upset you." Kade froze, completely speechless. Ruby played innocent. "Cora is just acting out. Don't take it to heart." Then came tonight's private pack party. Everyone played Truth or Dare to celebrate the end of his bachelor days before our mating ceremony. The Dare Roulette was the main event. The spinner landed right on Kade and Ruby. They had to do a series of couple's dares together. The Beta running the game tried to smooth things over. "This challenge gets pretty physical. You can still use an immunity card to skip it." Kade didn't care. He pulled Ruby into his chest and looked at me. "It's just a game. She's my partner for tonight. I'll be yours tomorrow." The pack elites whistled and cheered. I kept my posture straight and gave him a blank look. "Fine by me." I had already accepted a transfer to the United Pack Medical Center. I didn't want this mate bond anymore.

Before the graduation assessment, the academy announces that they are sending five people over to the Stonefang pack to participate in the warrior training there. My childhood friends urge me to go along with them, but since I'm planning to be a healer, I refuse. That is, until Arthur Pickard, the werewolf I've been crushing on for many years, accepts my profession under the moonlight. "Once the training is over, we'll hold a marking ceremony." Because of his promise, I sign my name on the application form. The night before we're supposed to depart, I head over to deliver them some herbs when I hear them talking from outside the door. "Without us with her, will she be okay going to the Stonefang pack alone?" "If she remains, Beth won't have a valid excuse to join our team now, will she? After all, we are the strongest team around—Team Gamma!" "Arthur's already promised to go through the marking ceremony with her when she returns, so she's not going to mind. Even if she does get angry, she's going to come crying back to us in the end anyway." Unable to believe what I'm hearing, I fling the door open. My childhood friends, whom I've fought side by side with for years, freeze in surprise. Arthur furrows his brow in displeasure. "Beth is just too weak. We can't exactly leave her behind in the academy to be picked on, all because you don't want to be alone, right? You go on ahead first, and we'll join you later." The others are quick to chime in. "It'll be five months, at the most, before we're together again." My lips twitch as I watch them shift, standing protectively in front of Beth Tilman. What they don't know is that I've applied to join a confidential project at the Royal Academy of Healers. For the next ten years, I will be at the border, researching potions. Since you're all working together to trick me away from here, all for the sake of another she-wolf, I'll oblige and never return.

A week before the marking ceremony, my fiance, Alpha Mason Wallace, suddenly switches the venue to Firefly Grove. His friends tease him. "You changed the venue just because Serena wants to see fireflies? And you didn't even tell Cora? What if she shows up at an empty site? "Besides, Cora's the one who picked Moonlight Bay. Do you really think she'll go along with this?" Mason says casually, "She burned her skin saving me. She won't fight me over a venue change. Besides, she planned every detail herself. She'll notice the update." I stand outside the doorway, listening in silence. Then, I slip away without a word. When the day finally comes, Mason calls from Firefly Grove, panic in his voice. "The ceremony's about to start. Where are you?" I stare at the shimmer on Moonlight Bay and answer calmly, "I'm already here. My ceremony is about to start too."

On the eve of my mating ceremony, I caught my parents and the entire pack holding a secret Luna ceremony for my Alpha fiance, Caden, and my adopted sister, Lydia. Lydia's biological parents had died saving mine. Now terminal wolfsbane poisoning had left her with three months to live, and her final wish was to be buried as the Luna of Blackridge Pack. Caden stood with his back to me, his voice soft and patient. "Lydia, don't worry. Before you leave this world, I'll give you everything a Luna deserves—the ceremony, the title, the place at my side. It's the least I can do for you." My father placed her hand in Caden's. My mother draped my Luna mantle over her shoulders, while my own brother struck my name from the Luna registry. Caden exchanged rings and vows with Lydia, then signed the record naming her Blackridge's first Luna. They all believed that because I was healthy, I had years ahead of me and should give this one chance to Lydia. I watched the ceremony to the end and deleted the message announcing my pregnancy. Later, I left with my unborn pup to become Frost River Pack's chief investigator, reclaiming the future I had surrendered for Caden. I left only my pregnancy report, mate-contract dissolution, and bloodline severance declaration. By the time Caden learned the truth, I had already crossed the northern border. His desperate call came too late.

My family is always tricking me into believing there's an emergency over the smallest things. When Dad faked an attack signal, I forfeited a championship final, only to discover he'd simply misplaced his favorite newspaper. The time Grandma claimed her wolf was vanishing, I missed my promotion review, only to find out she just wanted me to clean the lawn. Every single time, I rush to their side in a panic. And all I get is the same perfunctory, casual explanation—"We just wanted you to come home sooner." Eventually, it becomes an unspoken game of testing how quickly I will come running. On the night of the Full Moon Festival, I'm negotiating at the Alliance headquarters when my younger sister, Leah Holmes, suddenly calls. "Erin, Mom's wolf is fading… She keeps calling for you." The next second, my blood bond with Mom suddenly weakens. A sharp pain grips my heart. I can barely manage to excuse myself before bracing against the wall and rushing out of the conference room. But when I arrive home, Mom is on the terrace, carving a roast turkey. Upon seeing me, Leah excitedly waves her phone. "I win! She didn't even grab her coat!" Mom holds up the moonstone used to simulate distress signals and chides her, laughing. "You should tell Erin now. Look how terrified she is." My future mate, Nolan Harding, walks over and holds my cold hands in his. In the past, whenever my blood telepathy acted up, he'd always hold my hands like this and stay with me until the pain in my chest subsided. But this time, he advises me in a lowered voice, "Leah spent all afternoon preparing this. She just wanted everyone to have a happy holiday. Take a moment to calm down before blaming her." Leah bursts out laughing behind him. "Erin, I'm not the only one to blame. Nolan was the one who taught Mom how to use the moonstone." I slowly withdraw my hands. Of course. He knows better than anyone how to make me feel safe, and how to make me afraid. That night, I accept a three-year transfer to the West Coast branch and withdraw my application to form a mate bond.

My Alpha fiancé, Evan Hillard, wants me to get a crescent moon tattooed on the side of my neck. "At the marking ceremony seven days from now, I'll leave my bite right here," he says. I lower my head without answering. For three years, our marking ceremony has been postponed again and again as I try to become the perfect mate he wants. He likes golden-brown fur, so every two weeks, I endure the burning pain of dyeing mine. He says a red beauty mark near the corner of the eye looks stunning, so I let a witch doctor tattoo one there with a fine needle. Then I accidentally see a message on his phone from his first love, Vera Dawson. "Can you have her get the same crescent moon tattoo as mine?" she asks. "That way, you can pretend I'm the one you mark." My hands turn ice-cold. Trembling, I tap her profile picture. She has golden-brown fur, a red beauty mark near the corner of the eye, and a crescent moon on her neck. Everything becomes clear. All the pain I've endured over the past three years has been for nothing. I'm just a cheap imitation, molded in the image of the woman he truly loves. I don't cry. I calmly exit the chat and reply to the Healers' Association. "I accept the job offer. I'll report for duty in seven days."

After learning the silver poison had sunk deep into my heart with no cure left, I secretly returned to the pack I'd left five years ago. I just wanted to see Leon Frost one last time. The one who was now their Alpha. Instead, I walked right into news that he was about to mate with his new chosen, Shelly Davis. Worse—they caught me. My mother had me in a wheelchair. Leon's eyes flickered with something unreadable when he saw me. He didn't speak. But Shelly sure did. "Well. Look who finally crawled back. Five years and you look like hell. Can't even walk anymore?" Her voice dripped with mockery. I held back the tears and tugged at my sleeve, hiding the decay spreading across my arms. "It's nothing. Just tripped and hurt my leg." Shelly's laugh cut through the air again. "Since Leon and I are holding our bonding ceremony, you should come witness it. Ten days from now. Full moon night." I kept my face calm and forced a smile. "Can't make it. I'm heading somewhere far away." Then I glanced at Leon—his face still empty, still silent—and signaled my mother to wheel me home. The further he got, the harder the tears fell. Leon, I wasn't lying. I have less than ten days. Before your ceremony even starts, I'll be gone.

After finishing his duties for the day, my mate Lucas—Alpha of the Blackstone Pack—finally noticed, much too late, that I hadn't come to him even once. I usually told him everything. Seeing how unusually quiet I was, he assumed I'd finally come around. He ruffled my hair with a satisfied look. "Eileen, you finally get it. This is the most critical time for the pack. I have to be responsible for the whole pack." Ever since he brought home the sister of the comrade who died saving his life, he'd been saying the same thing day in and day out: "Pack business is too busy. I can't get away." When I reached out to him, he said he had to inspect the defenses and had no time. On my birthday, I waited for him all night. He put me off, saying military matters were urgent and he couldn't break away. But then I saw him patiently spending an entire afternoon by the creek with Vivian, picking grass blades for her to weave flower crowns. Sitting by the warm campfire, listening in a soft voice as she chattered about all those trivial little things. When I told him how much it hurt me, he just gave me some hollow brush-off: "Eileen, Vivian's brother saved my life. I can't just abandon her." "You're the Luna of this pack. Show some grace. Be understanding. Don't hold it against her." The distance between us grew wider and wider, until all that was left was an empty shell of a mate bond. Then yesterday, rogues ambushed the pack's border. A rogue tore open my calf, and Lucas walked right past me lying on the ground. Without a flicker of feeling. He scooped up Vivian, who was completely unharmed and crying softly behind him: "Don't be scared, Vivian. I'm here. No one's going to hurt you." I just lay there quietly in the cold mud. I didn't call out to him. And I hadn't told him I was carrying his child. He thought I'd finally learned my place. But he had no idea. On the full moon, three days from then, I would be gone from him forever.

I grew up with James Brown, the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack. We were inseparable. I thought I was going to be his Luna. Then I brought home an abandoned female wolf from the border. After that, she lived in James's eyes. He couldn't see through her act, and he kept pinning her mistakes on me. After countless heartbreaks, I finally woke up. "Olivia, the bonding ceremony we arranged for you and Lucas Johnson, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, is in a week. Do you... want to go through with it? If you still don't want to, I'll go to the Johnson family and call the whole thing off." It was the eighth time my mom had brought it up. Just when she thought I'd turn her down again, I spoke. "I'll do it. I'll bond with Lucas." Mom froze. "You... you will?" "I will." My voice was calm. "But I have some loose ends to tie up in the Blackwood Pack. I'll be back in time for the ceremony."

After ten years of being mates with Ryan, he rescued Sophia, a werewolf without a wolf, from the northern territory. From that day on, the cold, ruthless Alpha became her gentle protector. Ryan draped my cloak over Sophia's shoulders, shielded her with my Moonlight Scepter, and even allowed her to sit in the seat of honor that was supposed to be mine. With tears in my eyes, I once demanded to know when he planned to send her away. Ryan had frowned. His eyes were filled with confusion and disappointment. "Elena, you're the Luna of the pack, and you possess extraordinary healing abilities. No one can threaten your position. "Sophia doesn't even have a wolf! If we send her away, she'll die! Why can't you show a little more compassion for someone weaker than you?" Even our son, Luke, stood in front of Sophia and glared at me with disgust. "You're so powerful, so why do you have to bully Sophia? You have no compassion at all! I don't want you to be my mom!" Looking at my mate, who acted as if everything he did was perfectly justified, and my son, who clung to Sophia's arms, I finally understood. In this family, my greatest sin was being strong. That very afternoon, I submitted an application to the royal family to join their Healing Research Program. In three days, my identity would be erased, and Elena would cease to exist in this world.

In Mistbrook Valley, there's a custom. If a she-wolf still hasn't met her fated mate after her first shift, she can choose a mate herself. All she has to do is carve a little horn lantern and hang it on a hawthorn tree. Whoever wants her takes it down. Silas Rowan, the Moon Goddess's priest, and I grew up together. That lantern should have been his to take. But I waited all night, and the one who finally took it down was Gideon Ward, the young Alpha who had just returned from the North. "I fell for you the moment I saw you." His voice was low, and the tips of his ears were red. "Marry me, Evelyn." After we bonded, when I had a fever, he'd carry me on his back over three ridges through the night to find a healer. After full-moon hunts, he'd pick a pink hawthorn blossom and tuck it behind my ear. There was always such heat in his eyes when he looked at me. I thought we'd live like that forever. But after Silas and I survived a landslide together, I found out I was pregnant. No one around us believed the baby was Gideon's. Even Gideon looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and asked me a single question. "Evelyn, do we really have to keep this baby?" Something in my heart died for good.

My fated mate, Alpha Ryker, postponed our bonding ceremony thirty-three times after my Luna Ceremony. All because his student, Isla, always had some new problem. Our first ceremony, Isla claimed she was attacked by rogues and her shift failed. She needed help. Ryker left me at the altar. I waited all night. Alone. The second time, Isla said her wolf was weak, that she was about to collapse on the training grounds. Ryker dropped my hand and ran to her. Without a second thought. After that, every time we tried to have our ceremony, every time he was about to mark me, Isla would interrupt. I swallowed the sharp pain in my chest and finally decided to reject him. But the moment I did, Ryker went feral. He started tearing the entire werewolf world apart, just to find me.

For the seven years we've been mates, my Alpha, Ryan Grayback, has never allowed our pup, Sofia Grayback, to call him "Daddy". He insists that she call him "Alpha Ryan" instead. But on the day his first love, Claire Barker, returns to the pack, Ryan changes. That night, the usually aloof Ryan gets drunk for the first time. He smiles as he gathers Sofia into his arms so gently and tenderly, acting for the first time like he's her father. Sofia is surprised and delighted. She wraps her arms around his neck and whispers to me, "Mommy, is Alpha Ryan starting to like me?" My eyes redden with tears as I crouch down and pull her into an embrace. "It's because the person he likes has come back. That's why we shouldn't disturb him anymore." I decide to take Sofia and leave the pack, but she tugs on my hand and asks, "Mommy, can we please give Alpha Ryan three more chances?" The first time, Ryan forgets about Sofia's parent night because of Claire. The second time, Ryan tenderly picks up Claire's pup, Lily Barker, right in front of Sofia. The third time, he chooses them again without a moment's hesitation. This time, Sofia gives up on waiting for him. She hugs me tightly and says, "Let's go, Mommy." So I drink the potion that severs the mate bond and take Sofia away from the pack where we'd lived for seven years. And this time, we are never looking back.

I'm Alpha Kaelen's fated mate. It took him ninety-nine tries to win me over, and every wolf in the pack knows he loves me more than life itself. But after we were mated, he started breaking his promises. My birthday, our anniversary... he always had an excuse. "Sorry, baby, an important ally is visiting. I have to be there." "Honey, there's trouble on the border. I have to handle it. You'll have to spend your birthday alone." Every time he bailed, he'd give me a ridiculously expensive house to make up for it. So, even though I was disappointed, I still believed he loved me. Until the day he gave me the ninety-ninth house. That's when I got the photo from his ex-girlfriend, Eileen. In the picture, Kaelen was asleep beside her, completely unguarded. "Did he tell you he had pack business last night? The truth is, I told him I wasn't feeling well, and he came running. ;)" So all ninety-nine times before... it was always her. My heart shattered. This time, I was the one to hand over the papers. The one-hundredth property transfer. And tucked inside, I'd added something a little extra: our bond dissolution papers. Kaelen didn't even look. He signed it without a second thought. And in one month, on the night of the full moon, our bond would officially be broken.

A legend exists among the werewolf packs. If mates who form their mate bond at the Moon Goddess' altar under the full moon miss their full-moon rendezvous three times in a row, it means they aren't meant to be together. Randy Foster stands me up seven times, and I become an outcast among the pack as they accuse me of blaspheming the Moon Goddess. The first time, he brings Annie Pike around the territory. "Nora, please be understanding. Annie just got here, and everything is new to her. As the Alpha, it's my duty to help her settle in and become part of the pack." Randy gently strokes my cheek, his voice soft. "I promise I'll take you south to see the flowers in full bloom once winter is over." I choose to believe him, only to end up waiting for five years. Over the next five years, he shows Annie around the territory, helps her fit into the pack, and teaches her combat skills and healing techniques. Meanwhile, I get disappointed again and again as I wait for him, becoming the pack's laughingstock. Every wolf mocks me. "Randy is the Alpha, and Annie is the future of the pack's healing center. You're just an Omega. Stop deluding yourself into thinking you can be with the Alpha." Randy's voice echoes in my mind again, "Nora, just wait a few more days. Annie's entry into the healing center cannot be delayed." I don't wait for him like I used to. Instead, I pack my bags and prepare to leave. I don't need anyone to accompany me. I can make it to the south on my own.

Seven days before our bonding ceremony, I overheard my mate joking with his friends. He had already moved our bonding from the snowfield altar I chose to the coastside grounds because Lyra liked the sea. But that was not the part that made them fall silent. What shocked them was that he had also prepared a Luna crown for her. One of them laughed nervously. “Changing the bonding site is one thing. Maybe Serena will forgive that. But the Luna crown? That’s different. For a woman, that crown means everything. Aren’t you afraid she’ll leave?” My mate only smiled, calm and certain. “It’s just a crown. Serena won’t care.” “She loves me. When has she ever refused me anything? She’s not going to throw a tantrum over something this small.” And for the first time, I realized he was right about one thing. I had loved him enough to forgive too much. But not anymore. So when the bonding day came and he stood at the coastside grounds calling for me again and again, I only watched the snow fall outside the window and thought: He was right. I did not make a scene. I did not demand an explanation. I just walked away without a word. He thought that meant it was nothing. He would only understand later that a woman who leaves in silence is not giving you another chance—she is leaving you with nothing but regret.

There was a strict rule in my pack. Any female werewolf at the age of twenty‑nine who had not gone through a mate bond had to return to the pack for the Moonpick Ceremony, where the Alpha would personally choose her mate. When I showed the chairman of the Werewolf Council, Jonah Gregot, my pack’s notice to return, he gave a low laugh. “Is Sovereign Moon Pack still stuck in the olden days, Jade?” He leaned back in his leather chair and spoke in a casual tone. “I told you we would have our mate bond ceremony, and I promise it will happen. Do not try to use your pack’s law to force me into anything.” He took a ring box from the pocket of his suit and tossed it to his secretary, who stood beside him. The young woman caught it in a panic, and the tips of her ears turned red. “I planned to make our relationship official tonight, but it is clear that you care more about legitimacy than us. Maybe we need some space.” Jonah shrugged and walked out of the office. Silence filled the room. I stared at the ring box and did not know how to react. I could not believe he had thrown our mate bond ring to another woman so easily. Sapphire Kane hesitated as she held the ring box out to me. “You should take this, Jade. Jonah bought it for you.” I did not reach for it. “You should keep it now that he gave it to you.” Sapphire’s eyes widened. I stood and left the office with my pack’s notice. “Tell Jonah that I will not wait for him anymore on the day of the Moonpick Ceremony.”

When I was twenty, my alpha mate's brother died protecting him from a rogue attack. To repay that debt, Adrian moved his widowed sister-in-law, Vanessa, into the pack estate. From that day on, everything I had—my home, my future, even my place beside my fated mate—came second to her. Vanessa swallowed a handful of pills and claimed I'd driven her to suicide. Adrian slapped me in front of the pack guards, stripped me of my Luna privileges, and threw me out of our home. "Get out. I don't need a vicious woman for a mate." Later, to make Vanessa feel "useful," he gave her the research position he'd promised me. This time, I didn't argue. I simply signed the waiver and let her have it. Adrian thought I'd finally grown up and stopped being jealous. He planned to make it up to me on the fifth anniversary of our mating bond by giving me the Luna ring I'd waited years for. What he didn't know was that our anniversary was also the day I was leaving for a classified research institute in Alaska. By the time he realized my room was empty, my number had been disconnected and my pack transfer was complete. The only thing I left behind was one final email. [Adrian, I don't want you anymore.]