Comfort Zone Novels & Stories

The housekeeper’s daughter, Selena Greene, deliberately chose to get married on the same day, at the same hotel as me. When our cars passed each other on the way to our weddings, she rolled down her window and asked to switch my bridal bouquet with hers. My bouquet, however, wasn’t just any bouquet. It was hand-carved from priceless jadeite by my grandfather himself—a one-of-a-kind heirloom and his blessing for my wedding day. “Trish,” she pleaded softly, “please. I’ve sacrificed so much for this wedding. I just want it to be perfect. I’ll give it back to you as soon as we get out of the cars.” My heart softened. Against my better judgment, I handed her my bouquet and took her cheap, plastic flowers instead. However, when we stepped out of our cars, she refused to return it. Worse still, during her ceremony, she tossed my jade bouquet onto the floor, shattering it into countless pieces. That bouquet had been my grandfather’s way of being present at my wedding. It was all I had left of him. Yet, in front of everyone, Selena put on an innocent act and accused me, “Who takes back a bouquet after a switch? A glass bouquet like this is all over online shopping platforms for ten bucks. I’ll just pay you back. Trish, you’ve made my life hard enough on normal days. Do you have to humiliate me on the most important day of my life, too?” Furious, I confronted her, but she ducked behind my fiancé and my brother, wiping at her eyes like the victim. My fiancé immediately went to comfort her, leaving me standing alone at the ceremony, humiliated and ridiculed by everyone. My brother, too, called me cruel and heartless. He cut me off financially and threw me out of the family home. Selena’s husband, having quickly risen to success with the help of powerful backers, unleashed his relentless revenge on the now penniless and alone me. In the dead of winter, hired thugs found me and brutalized me to death. And Selena? She became their princess, adored by all three of them. I sank into darkness, full of rage and regret. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was transported back to the day of the wedding.

Alpha Xavier Anderson of the Shadowveil pack and I have gotten reborn to the night before I awaken my wolf. In my previous life, I was his Luna. We kept each other company and remained deeply in love with each other for the rest of our lives. In this lifetime, Xavier brings over the forbidden drug and forces me to switch wolves with my younger sister, Lina Davis. "Ella, Lina is your sister. How could you bear to watch her get tortured to death by that crazy Alpha from the Silvermoon pack?" Xavier's voice keeps quivering as he speaks. "Lina is Alpha Ryan Miller's fated mate. If you don't switch wolves with her, once she awakens her wolf, Ryan will take her away by force and mark her. If we dare to resist him, that pureblooded lunatic will definitely annihilate the entire Shadowveil pack!" I just sneer mentally at Xavier. All he knows is that Lina had died tragically in our previous lifetime. He thinks that he wasn't able to protect the innocent she-wolf who had admired him since she was a pup. Of course, he doesn't know that Lina had been jealous of me since we were both pups during our previous lifetime. That she-wolf would keep fighting with me over everything in this world. Naturally, Xavier has no idea that Lina kept pestering him shamelessly despite being Ryan's mate. Not only that, but she also had affairs with other wolves. In order to please Xavier, Lina has colluded with the Shadowveil pack and betrayed the Silvermoon pack's core interests. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to hide you well. Ryan will leave once he fails to locate his fated mate. When the time comes, you can take the antidote of the forbidden drug, which allows you to switch wolves with Lina once again. You will always be my Luna, Ella." I just ignore Xavier's conceited speech and grab the drug. Then, I down it in one go. Xavier heaves a sigh of relief. He then turns to comfort Lina, who's still in shock. He won't ever find out that there's no such thing as an antidote for a forbidden drug that's designed to defy the Moon Goddess' will.

On the day my love fades away for good, I've finally learned something about my mate, Ethan Langley. He's not hopeless when it comes to directions—he just can't remember which path it is that leads to me. Ethan is the Alpha of the pack, whereas I'm his mate. We've been mates for ten years. But whenever I need him, he always gets lost. On the day of our marking ceremony, Ethan got lost in the pack territory. Because of that, the ceremony was delayed for another three days. Every year on the marking anniversary, Ethan would always get lost. The food in the evening banquet I always prepared would always go stone cold. When I was eight months pregnant with my pup, I sent an SOS message to him through the mind-link after I suffered from a bad fall. While Ethan screamed at me that he'd be there through the mind-link, he was physically lost in the pack territory for five hours. By the time our packmates came to my rescue, my pup was already dead. As I lay on the stone bed in the healing center, my packmates came over to comfort me. "Ethan can't navigate at all to save his life. He didn't do this on purpose. Don't get mad at him, okay? You two will still have pups in the future." I could only nod in a daze. But on the day we were supposed to attend our pup's funeral, I realized that Ethan was familiar with the road when he was behind the wheel in the SUV. He even took a detour just to drop by the residence of Lyria Jeffries, a female Beta. "Elena, there's still some time before the funeral starts. I'm going to send Lyria home first so that she can visit her family." Before I could object, the car had already stopped right outside Lyria's residence. Lyria got into the front passenger seat as though it was the most natural thing to do in the world. She wore a bright smile as she said, "Look at how well I've groomed you, Ethan! If you ever forget the way to my place, I'll make sure to skin you alive!" Only then did Lyria notice me, who sat in the backseat. She pretended to be bashful as she stuck out her tongue. "I was just kidding, Elena." I endured Lyria's "harmless" quips with a stony expression. But right after Ethan dropped Lyria off, he forgot the way to the funeral immediately. Because of that, the funeral was delayed by half an hour. As I held my pup's tiny urn, I felt my heart sinking into the pits of my stomach. It turns out that there exists someone who can be exempted from Ethan's hopeless sense of direction. It's just that… my pup and I are never the exception.