เรื่องสั้นแนว Tragic Love Werewolf และนิยายในฉาก Regret

For generations, every she-wolf born into the Frostmoon Pack has been an Omega. We aren't fighters, but our bloodline can stabilize an Alpha's power and produce exceptionally strong heirs. When I came of age, our pack's centuries-old tradition dictated that I should bond with Lucas Grant, the Alpha of the Blackstone Pack. My parents had always put pack law above everything else. Yet for the first time, they urged me to defy tradition and refuse. But I was already in love with Lucas. I ignored their warnings and bonded with him anyway. On our tenth bonding anniversary, I came home to find another she-wolf in our bedroom. She lay in our bed, carrying the unmistakable scent of a pregnant she-wolf. The same scent I carried. But Lucas forcibly shut down the link between us and shielded her. "Evelyn, I'm sorry. Vivian just found out she's carrying my pup. Her wolf is restless, and she needs my scent to calm down. Sleep in another room tonight. If you're upset, I can apologize." Even his apology sounded polite, as though he were simply telling me about a change in sleeping arrangements. He probably expected me to cry and cause a scene like I used to, demanding to know why he kept bringing other she-wolves home. But this time, I said nothing. I was already exhausted. What Lucas didn't know was that a mate bond without true love would eventually disappear. Ten years was the limit. At last, I was free to leave him.

The day the company opened up a vice president position, I was thrilled. I was sure the promotion was mine. Instead, the secretary called me into her office. "Ms. Carter, you took kickbacks from clients, falsified invoices, and carried on with clients. With conduct that disgraceful, the company cannot promote you to vice president." I couldn't understand a word of it, because I had done none of those things. I went home to ask my mate what on earth was going on, only for my mother, Diane Carter, to slap me to the floor. "How could you do something so disgraceful? I'm your mother, but even I can't cover for you anymore!" I was banished from the pack and had to scrape by on odd jobs outside it, but even strangers pointed and whispered, spreading rumors about me. When I learned that my mate, Allen Blackwood, planned to hold a ceremony to sever our mate bond, I returned to the pack. But before I even reached the door, I overheard Allen talking with his friend. "Allen, severing a mate bond is agony, and the bond between you two will be gone for good. Aren't you afraid she'll end up with someone else?" Allen let out a contemptuous laugh. "Jenny's own mother signed off on this. She's an Omega without even a wolf. Without me, what pack would ever take her in?" "Olivia needs this position more than she does. Once Olivia is settled into the role, I'll bring Jenny back. She'll be just as devoted to me as ever." I leaned against the doorframe, slowly closed my eyes, and let the tears fall. A vow? Fine. I agree. Once the mate bond is severed, we are nothing to each other.

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.

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.

The day before our marking ceremony, a vengeful witch laid a curse on me. Over the next seven days, I would slowly forget the man I loved. For the two hours it took Adrian Blackwood to return to the packhouse, I rehearsed a dozen different ways to tell him. After all, he had once defied the Elders to make me—an Omega—his Luna. But before I could say a word, Adrian took my hand, his features hardening with urgency. “Evelyn, we may have to postpone tomorrow’s ceremony.” “Serena is back from the Frostlands Pack. She’s been diagnosed with Wolf-Soul Wasting. Her dying wish is to experience a complete marking ceremony before she goes.” “You and I have the rest of our lives. Once she returns to the Moon Goddess, I’ll hold another ceremony and make you my Luna. All right?” He looked at me with the same quiet hope he had worn the night he asked me to be his mate. Only now, he was asking my permission to hold a marking ceremony with another woman first. I held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded. “All right,” I whispered. “You have my blessing.” Within seven days, I would not even remember the man I had given it to.

I'm the only Luna who has had her marking ceremony canceled 22 times. The first time, Cosmo Greymark's childhood sweetheart, Tallulah Lycaon, claims she has been attacked by rogues. He panics and abandons me. The second time, she calls him just as he's about to mark me, and he leaves to answer her call. Every single time, Cosmo promises it'll never happen again and swears he'll make it up to me with an even grander marking ceremony. Yet, whenever we are about to hold the ceremony, something always happens to Tallulah. At my 23rd marking ceremony, I calmly take off my crown amid everyone's mocking laughter. Three days ago, the Cecil Institute sent me an invitation to a ten-year closed-door experiment. I've already accepted it. But after I leave, why is he crying and begging me to come back?

When I was little, I nearly drowned. Later, I was poisoned with wolfsbane. Both left me timid to the bone, afraid of the dark, afraid of water, afraid of being alone. One time I fell into freezing water. Just when I thought I was going to die, Herman found me and pulled me out. He told me, "You scare easily. Don't do anything alone. If you need me, just call. I'll always come." So when my claustrophobia got worse, I called him. He said, "I've already found a therapist. Come to the pack and see me." When I arrived at the pack, he was playing video games with his best friend, Clara. Clara's eyes stayed on her phone. "See? She came here by herself," she mocked. "Scared out of her mind, and she calls herself a werewolf. How embarrassing." Herman patted her head. "Fine, you win. I'll take you to the haunted house tomorrow." I sank to the floor, too weak to stand, staring at them in disbelief. Herman kept staring at his phone. He didn't even glance at me. "If you're this much of a coward, you'll never survive in the real world. We're training you." I screamed, breaking down. "Do you have any idea I almost died just now!" Clara put down her phone, annoyed that she'd lost the game. "You're alive, aren't you? Stop screaming. Herman, just get the therapist." When Herman saw me crying, he walked out immediately. Clara followed him. I had barely caught my breath when the lights suddenly went out. The whole pack compound went dark. "Herman! Clara! Where are you? Why did the power go out?" I screamed their names, but no one answered. Then a text popped up on my phone. "Already scared, you little coward? Hang in there. This is training. It'll make you brave." Another text followed. "Stop relying on other people all the time. You need to learn to be independent." I was timid. I was weak. But I still had my dignity. If I was going to have to get used to being alone anyway, then the two of them could get out of my life for good.

On the day she miscarried because her mate chose his ex, Rae's wolf went completely dormant from the trauma. That killed every ounce of love she had left for him. She was done playing his pathetic doormat. No more running his family's empire. No more grilling him about staying out all night. He left her locked in a freezing pack holding cell for nine whole days. Why? To baby-sit his childhood sweetheart through a "full moon panic attack" in a luxury mansion. Rae didn't cry. She didn't scream. She didn't even bother making a phone call. Then came day ten. Colton finally rolled up in his custom black Cadillac. He looked down at her with those golden wolf eyes, calling her dramatic. Rae just pulled her designer coat tight around herself, smiled, and told him: She completely understood, and she would never make a scene again.

My mating ceremony with Chris kept getting interrupted, one reason after another. The first time, his adopted sister Lucy threw him a bachelor party. He drank too much and missed our slot. The second time, right before we set out, Lucy twisted her ankle. Chris took her to the hospital and missed it again. The third time, we were already standing at the vow platform when Lucy cried until she fainted below. Once again, Chris left me standing there. The fourth time, the fifth time... Lucy, every single time. "Hurry up, Sheila! This is the eighth time! There are only fifteen minutes left to receive the Moon Goddess's blessing. If you miss it again, the Moon Goddess will take it as proof the two of you were never meant to be mates!" My best friend Vivian shouted frantically. I took Chris's hand, and I had just started up the steps when Lucy's cry rang out behind us. "Chris, wait, my moonstone bracelet just snapped. It was your coming-of-age gift to me." Chris jerked his foot back mid-step. "Don't rush. I'll wait for you." The buzzing crowd went dead silent. Everyone exchanged looks. I looked at Chris, swallowing my anger. "Chris, there are only fifteen minutes left for the Moon Goddess's blessing." Chris glanced at Lucy, his tone indulgent. "We're already at the door. A few more minutes won't hurt." Watching Chris crouch down beside Lucy to gather her moonstone beads, I suddenly smiled. Then I opened my phone and pulled up a number I'd blocked three years ago. [Didn't you tell me three years ago to give you a chance?] [You have fifteen minutes. Come to Grayfang Pack's Moon Goddess Altar.]

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.

I have a secret. Whenever I touch someone, I can see the face of the person they love most. This is not an ability ordinary werewolves possess. I am a Moon Seer, a rarity that appears perhaps once in a century. I cannot read thoughts or memories, but I have never been wrong about a person’s heart. I had been the person Ronan Hartson loved most since he moved next door at seven. Our wolves recognized each other when we turned eighteen. When our Mate Bond awakened, I still saw only myself in his heart. Ronan officially claimed me at twenty two. He left his mark on my neck and announced before the entire Blackridge Pack that I was his only mate and the Luna of Blackridge. Our Mate Bond remained unshaken for three years. Then, at six weeks pregnant, I touched his collar before he left for work. I had known Ronan for twenty one years and touched him more than a hundred thousand times. This was the first time I discovered that I was no longer the only woman in his heart. That night, he lied about patrols. That night, I saw him feed her cake with his own hands. He thought our Mate Bond would keep me tethered to him forever. He thought I would never leave. But he forgot one thing: I don’t need a man to feel whole. And I will never raise my child in a house built on lies. He chose to protect her. I chose to protect myself.

Caine Black and I were in love for seven years. From our first meeting at the Imperial Academy to being officially recognized by both packs as promised mates, I thought we would be together forever. That certainty lasted until the day before our marking ceremony, when I canceled it. The priest stared at me in shock. "Eileen, the marking ceremony is in twelve hours. Are you sure you don't want to wait for Caine to come back?" I gently unclasped the pendant from my neck, the one that symbolized the Luna's status, and shook my head. "No. "He's under the northern lights on the Ice Plains right now, completing a marking ceremony with his first love."

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.

When we were small, a witch named Sybil predicted that my sister would not live past sixteen. Since then, every eye in the family turned toward her. All the love in that house gathered around Aurora and stopped there. Whatever she wanted, whatever she wanted to do, our parents backed her completely. Every scrap of tenderness and every resource they had went to her, while I was left out in the cold, and the things that should have been mine were handed to her too. Even so, I never complained, not once. I knew my sister was someone to be pitied. Then the day of the prophecy came, the day she turned sixteen, and I was the one who ended up poisoned with wolfsbane, of all people, hanging on the edge of death. My parents were busy with her. They decided I was making a scene, and they ordered the guards to throw me out of the castle. My arms and legs had no strength left. I dragged myself toward the doors and called out in a shaking voice, "Dad, Mom, let me in, please, it hurts so much..." Instead, from behind the doors my father's gentle voice said to my sister, "Don't worry, sweetheart. The one causing trouble has been put out. No one is going to take your parents' love away from you again." Hearing that, something in me died for good. With the sound of my family fussing over her drifting through the door, I slowly closed my eyes.

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.

At our werewolf academy's graduation party, someone asked the most popular girl in our class what the best decision she'd made in the past few years was. She stole a shy, coy glance at the man on the sofa, then pointed at me with open contempt. "Obviously, turning away some pathetic wretch when she came kneeling at our pack's gates, begging for help. "If that hadn't made her disappear without a word, how else would the Alpha have promised to make me his future Luna?" Everyone burst into laughter, their eyes full of scorn as they looked at me. "A lowborn Omega had the nerve to set her sights on becoming Luna? Her pack deserved to be wiped out!" Only the man whose very presence commanded authority went still, his pupils contracting. The wine glass in his hand shattered against the floor. I crouched down instinctively to pick up the shards, not even noticing when they sliced my fingers. His eyes blazed crimson, his gaze fixed on me as though he wanted to devour me whole. I cleaned up the mess and gave a faint bow. "Alpha, I'll take my leave." Some things, once missed, aren't worth going back for.

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.