Anne K Small Novels & Stories

My fated mate, Riven, was the Alpha of a pathetic pack on the brink of collapse. For five years, I was his shadow, his strategist. I built his pack from nothing until the Alliance finally recognized us, and we were set to move to the fertile lands. Riven promised we'd have our mating ceremony once we settled in the new territory. But at the celebration feast, the night before the move, he threw me in a cell. He publicly announced that Jenna—the she-wolf carrying his pup—would be the pack's Luna. I couldn't believe it. I screamed at him, but he just sneered and pointed to a crystal pulsing with dark magic. "Jenna already has proof of your betrayal! Sleeping with Alphas for their support. You make me sick!" I begged him. But he just sliced my cheek with the silver-edged rejection letter, formally casting me aside. But he didn't know who I really was. I am the Alpha King's daughter. The strategies, the power, the alliances—they weren't his. They were mine. So I took it all back.

“I Marcus Brennon of Shadowmoon, hereby reject you as my mate,” he declared with finality. “Not only are you a disgrace to me, but you are a curse to this entire pack. I do not wish to be associated with such bad luck.” Marcus stood before me, his voice extremely cold as if we didn't just share a special bond a few hours back. As Marcus turned to leave, the pain of his rejection sliced deeply through me. I stumbled to my feet, my limbs feeling weak under the weight of the broken bond. *** Bella had it all, a face card that never declined and curves in all the right places, excellent college grades, and a lovely, peaceful home. But when her father Alpha Derek was mysteriously murdered, everybody turned against her and her world as she knew it comes crumbling down. Everyone but her knows her real identity and how she came to be a part of Alpha Derek's family. In a cruel twist of fate, the woman she thought was her mother does the unthinkable casting her out with nothing to her name. Betrayed by her own family, with nowhere to turn, Bella seeks comfort in her mate's arms, only to be met with rejection. Just as Bella was about to lose hope a friend saved her life unexpectedly. A few months down the line Bella met a fine young man who effortlessly set her heart ablaze. Would her life take a turn for the better or, does fate have something more special or perhaps even darker, for her?

Before our bonding ceremony, my mate, Alpha Zarya, told me she had to temporarily mark an Omega from our pack, Soren. She claimed he had a fatal moon-fade sickness, that his wolf was dying. If she didn’t mark him, he would die. I fought her on it. The next day, she moved Soren straight into the pack house penthouse. The suite meant for the future Head Mate. My suite. To calm me down, she even bowed her head—a rare show of weakness. “I’ll remove the mark as soon as he’s stable,” she promised. “You are still my only Head Mate.” But then Soren found me. He handed me a magical diagnostic report. Permanent Mark & Deep Knotting: Three Weeks. They hadn't just slept together. They had formed a permanent, deep-knotted bond long before she ever “confessed” to me. My world turned to ash. My pen bit into the calendar, scratching a vicious X over the date that was supposed to be our bonding ceremony. Then, I opened my laptop. The email from the Laureate Healers Guild of Europe was waiting. I typed two words. "I accept."

The day we were meant to be mated, my Alpha, Ford, was ambushed. Silver bullets shredded his car, sending it plunging off a bridge and into the river below. He was pronounced dead. Drowned. I was left pregnant with his heir, shattered by the raw agony of our severed mate bond. Then Ford's twin, Aiden, returned from abroad with his mate, Kyra. His identical face and a scent so similar to my mate's nearly drove me mad. A desperate part of me swore Ford was still alive. I told myself it was just grief. A widow's delusion. Until I overheard a hushed conversation and the horrifying truth slammed into me: the man pretending to be Aiden was Ford. He had faked his death. He'd let his own brother die in his place, all for Kyra—the other woman carrying his child. The grief that had crippled me instantly morphed into a cold, sharp rage. Ford didn't just break our bond; he shattered it. And I would make him pay. I wiped my tears and sent a single message to my brother, Billy, the Alpha of the Winterstone Pack. "Brother, I need a plane crash. He loves faking his death? Fine. Let him feel what it's like to truly lose a mate." Only when the news of my "death" spread did Ford reclaim his name. He knelt for seven days and nights in the ashes of the home we once shared, consumed by a grief of his own making.

I was a genius alchemist, but my mate, Alpha Clark, engineered my failure 99 times, shattering my reputation. He siphoned my very soul 99 times to gift it to another she-wolf, Layla, molding her into the Alchemy Master I was meant to be. He claimed Layla was his savior, that he owed her his life. It wasn't until I uncovered his betrayal and severed our bond that he learned the truth: I was the one who had saved him. Those scars on my back—the ones he scorned? They were the price I paid for his life. After I walked away, he knelt for 99 days, begging for me to return. But some betrayals can never be forgiven.

My wolf awakened on my eighteenth birthday. Soon after, the Feral Curse tore through the werewolf world. The curse nearly claimed me, but a young Alpha, Lachlan, saved my life. He brought me to his pack. His parents, the Alpha and Luna, took me in. They gave me the best room in the pack house and treated me like the daughter they never had. Lachlan never left my side. He risked catching the curse himself, patiently feeding me potions one sip at a time. His wolf knew. I was his fated mate. I was the envy of the pack. I had an Alpha's total devotion. Then one day, Lachlan knelt before me. In his hands was the Moonstone necklace—the symbol of every Luna who came before me. He held me tight, whispering a promise to show the world that I belonged to him, and him alone. I accepted the necklace. But that night, I twisted his love into a poison. A poison I used to murder his parents and eighteen of their loyal retainers.

After years of struggling to survive, Akayda Jordan finally lands her dream job — personal assistant/secretary in one of the best companies in the whole of California. To celebrate her new beginning, she decides to give one last “performance” at the elite club she’s about to leave behind. One night. One masked encounter. One forbidden act. But fate twists cruelly. The man she had danced for in the dark turns out to be her new boss — Damian Knight. He’s engaged. She’s desperate to keep her secret buried. But when Damian starts sensing something achingly familiar about his new assistant — the scent of her perfume, the way she looks away when he stares too long — the walls between them begin to crack. But he was sure the girl with the big glasses was not the girl with the mask and firefly tattoo who had woken up a hunger in him. Soon, professionalism turns into tension. Tension turns into temptation. And the closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous her secret becomes. Because if Damian ever discovers she’s the masked girl he’s been searching for… she might lose not just her job, but her heart.

As I was about to leave The Crimson Curtain, my brother Corvus's elite vampire club, a woman who claimed to be the manager stopped me. "Ma'am, you just helped yourself to a priceless vial of Elder's Blood. You have to pay." I looked at the unfamiliar face, sensing the weak blood of a lesser vampire. She must be a fledgling, I thought, new to the club and unaware of who I was. "Your boss approved it," I said flatly. "Take it up with him." But the woman just sneered at me. "Plenty of women try to get close to our boss. If every one of you took what you wanted, how would we stay in business?" She shoved a copy of the club rules at me. Anyone who takes Elder's Blood without permission pays with three times the amount in heart's blood. Or they don't leave. Vampire guards started to close in, some even drawing silver blades, ready to take me down. I laughed, a cold, sharp sound. I couldn't believe Corvus's club had such an insane rule. "I am the Lord of House Volkov. Corvus's own sister. If he needs compensation, he can come to me himself." But her mockery only sharpened. "You look like some low-born stray. Claiming ties to a noble house? Pathetic. Hand over the heart's blood. Now." My patience snapped. I sent a message to the family elders through our bloodline. "Tell Corvus to either make this woman disappear forever, or I'm taking back ownership of this club. All of it."

I bought my daughter Aria an island when her wolf spirit awakened. My mate, Alpha Kael, was supposed to come with me. We were going to hold our daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony on her new island. But he never showed. And he took half the Pack’s guards with him. I had no choice. I took Aria to the island myself. Just as we were about to land, we were attacked by rogues. A silver bullet tore through my daughter. She collapsed in my arms, screaming in pain. I screamed for Kael through our mind link. I called his phone. Nothing. My daughter died. I collapsed into Kael's arms when he finally showed up, sobbing. His eyes were red. "A Pack emergency held me up… I'm so sorry…" I thought he was grieving with me. Until I found his first love, Isabella, curled up in his arms. "You're so clever, Kael," she purred. "Since you never made Selena the official Luna, she had no authority over the guards. She couldn't protect that powerful daughter of hers." Kael kissed her forehead. He soothed her. "Aria's powerful wolf will cure the sickness in your son Leo's spirit. Her death was worth it. And this island… now that Aria's gone, it's the perfect recovery gift for Leo." My wolf howled in grief. My legs gave out. Tears streamed down my face. It was all a plan. He’d planned it all for his first love. I turned my back on him. I severed our mate bond. But then? He dropped to his knees, begging me to forgive him. Fine. I'll forgive him when he brings my poor Aria back. Can he do that?

I woke up from a nightmare, and I was back. Back in the year the Falcone family went to war with the Morozovs for the shipping lanes. I was the Donna of the Falcone family. The woman they all envied. And the first thing I did? I got rid of the baby in my belly. My husband's child. Don Enzo's. Because in my last life, on the day I gave birth, Enzo held up a baby with blue eyes. His own eyes were blazing. "How dare you sleep with a Morozov," he snarled, "and birth their blue-eyed bastard!" The family sentenced me to death. They threw me in a cell. I didn't learn the truth until the very end. That baby belonged to Eliana—Enzo's first love. She was the one sleeping with our sworn enemy. The Morozovs. And Enzo? He stole my rightful heir and swapped him for her bastard. They made me the family traitor. And left my body to rot in a cold, damp cell. And my own son—his mind twisted by that bitch—stood over my corpse and cursed my name. When I opened my eyes again, I was three months pregnant. I didn't hesitate. I walked into a clinic and ended it. Before I left, I took a different kind of shot. High-grade hormones, straight from the black market. It fakes the signs of pregnancy. Fools even the best blood tests. Enzo needed a baby to cover for Eliana's sins. Fine. Let's play.