Hardin After

The wolves of our pack are different from most. At five years old, every pup must undergo their first shift. But my son Ash was born with a broken wolf. He couldn't complete the shift on his own. The healer said the only way to stabilize him was for my Alpha mate, Kael, to transfer fifteen percent of his power to Ash. Otherwise, Ash would die during the first shift. The Five Packs Alliance summit was approaching. Any loss of strength could put Silver Fang at a disadvantage in negotiations. Kael weighed his options and decided to postpone. He said Ash could hold on through this moon cycle — they'd do it after the summit. I begged him to perform the ritual as soon as possible. Kael gave me his word. But the summit kept getting pushed back. First, Kael's childhood sweetheart Nora said her daughter Lily had a fever and she couldn't manage alone. Kael dropped everything and stayed with them for two days. Then Nora asked to take Lily to the Northern Frost Pack's Bonfire Festival. She said Lily had never had a father, had never attended a single pack celebration, and wanted Kael to go as family. When Ash was losing his breath in my arms, I called Kael. He said: "Lily's first shift ceremony is in three days. I have to stay and guide her. Don't worry — I'll be back as soon as it's over. Ash isn't urgent. Didn't the Elder say there's still a month? Stop overreacting." Three days later, Kael rushed home. All he found was Ash's cold body.

I am Ayna Radolf, the only White Wolf in Moonshadow Pack. Everyone says I grew up cherished by Carlson Moonclaw, the Alpha. When I was three, my father died in battle. Carlson held me in a pool of blood and swore to protect me for life. When I was five, I was bullied in the pack because of my unusual fur color. He announced to the entire pack that anyone who touched me was his enemy. For 15 years, I have lived under his protection, offering him my heart and my life without reservation. At 18, Carlson falls under the vampires' death curse. I willingly sacrifice half of my lifespan and beg a witch to use a forbidden spell to transfer the curse onto me. With that, I take on his certain death. On that same day, as I watch his unconscious form and tightly furrowed brows, I cannot help but kiss the corner of his lips. He wakes up. Unexpectedly, there isn't any tenderness or any trace of emotion—only overwhelming rage and disgust. He grips my chin with horror in his eyes, as if he is looking at a filthy maggot. "Ayna, I am your brother! How dare you have such disgusting thoughts?" From that day on, Carlson has avoided me like the plague. This goes on until Selena Fang, his so-called fated mate, returns. She cries and tells him that she is abused and abandoned by her former mate. Now, she is blind and covered in injuries. The healer declares that only my White Wolf's eyes are a perfect match for her. So my Alpha, the brother I loved for 15 years, comes to me. Carlson stands in front of me and says solemnly, "Ayna, I know this is unfair to you. But if Selena doesn't have eyes, she will live in darkness for the rest of her life. As long as you give her your eyes, I will do anything you ask—except give you my love." I snap back to reality and dig my fingers hard into my palm. The sharp pain clears my mind instantly. I am not dreaming. I am reborn and back to the day Carlson forces me to give up my eyes. In my previous life, I refused to the end. During the struggle, Serena "accidentally" fell off a cliff, and her body was never found. Carlson blamed me for everything. On my birthday, he gouged out my eyes and threw me into the dungeon where rogue wolves were imprisoned. There, I was assaulted endlessly. In the end, I died in the cold, damp darkness like a piece of discarded trash. The despair and pain from before my death still linger in my bones. I look at the man in front of me. The love that once filled my chest completely fizzles out into nothingness. I will give him these eyes as repayment for the 15 years he has protected and raised me. From now on, we will go our own ways, and we owe each other nothing.

Five years after my death, my daughter, Emma, dialed Xander Green’s number. She cautiously asked, "Do you like my mom?" She was trying to get an answer to the question I once wrote in my diary. "Xander, do you like me?" Unexpectedly, the voice on the other end sneered, "Did your mom put you up to this? Using her own daughter like a pawn? What an unfaithful woman! She’s already with your dad, yet still trying to rekindle things with me?"

Fate has other plans for Aurelia and Dimitri. On the night of their mating ceremony, their pack is torn apart by a savage witch coven's attack. Desperate to save his mate, Dimitri sends her into hiding with a promise of reunion—a promise that shatters he is forced to get mated to another. Aurelia returns to find her mate bound to another. Broken and betrayed, she flees to a bar and had a one-night stand with a mysterious stranger that changes everything when she finds out she is pregnant and have to fight for her very life. But survival comes at a price, and the evil threatening her pack demands a sacrifice. With her second chance mate by her side, Aurelia must confront the darkness that tore her world apart. Can she save her pack, or will ancient vengeance consume them all? A tale of love, betrayal, and redemption where nothing is as it seems.

The daughter of my father's first love suffered from heatstroke because she was left in the car, so he tied me up in a fit of anger and locked me in the car boot. He looked at me with utter disgust and said, "I don't have a vicious daughter like you. Stay here and reflect on yourself." I begged him, apologized to him, and pleaded for him to let me out, but all I got in return was his ruthless order. "Unless she dies, no one is allowed to let her out." The car was parked in the garage. No one could hear me no matter how much I screamed for help. Seven days later, he finally remembered me and decided to let me out. However, he had no idea that I had already died in that trunk and could never wake up again.

When Matteo Ricci threatens to end our engagement for the 100th time unless I take Lydia Capone's place in the famiglia's drug trial, I don't cry or make a scene. I just sign my name on the engagement termination agreement and calmly hand over the man I've loved for eight years to my twin sister. A few days later, Lydia storms the mafia summit like she owns the room, insulting the Pirelli family and daring anyone to stop her. I'm forced to step in and bear the full weight of her chaos. And now they're saying Lydia's body can't handle the trial after all, so they want me, the older sister, to take her place. The moment I agree, my parents smile at me for the first time in years. Even Matteo, who barely notices me, hovers nearby and murmurs, "Don't be afraid. The trial isn't lethal. When you get out, I'll take you for your favorite spaghetti alla Napoletana." But he has no idea that there's a late-stage stomach cancer diagnosis tucked inside my pocket. No matter what horrors the trial holds, he will never witness me walk out alive.

Gwendolyn was never meant to be weak but six years of marriage to Cole turned her into a woman who endured everything until he crossed the line. When their five years old daughter Josie is dying as a result of her wolf awakening too soon, destroying poor little Josie from the insides, Cole doesn’t just neglect them, he files for a divorce, cuts Gwen off any means of income and walks away with another woman. Desperate to save her child, Gwen turns to the only man powerful enough to help. Xavier Holt, her husband’s stepbrother. Xavier comes to her rescue, except he has a request. A request that puts Gwen in a dilemma. A marriage, one without boundaries or rules. Gwen doesn’t break, she chooses revenge. With Xavier by her side, she’s no longer the omega they once underestimated. She’s the woman who will destroy them all.

"Sign the papers, Damien. Set us both free." For six years, Elara Blackwood endured a gilded cage—playing the perfect wife to a billionaire who married her out of duty, his heart forever claimed by another. Their daughter Lily was the only light in her lonely world. But that light was snuffed out by the cruelest betrayal. When their dying daughter needed him most, Damien was embracing his past love. Lily cried, "Mommy, does Daddy not love me?" Elara couldn’t bear to tell her: it wasn’t that Daddy didn’t love her—he just didn’t love Mommy, and by extension, couldn’t bring himself to care for her. After Lily’s death, Elara confronted him: "You chose her over our dying daughter—how could you?" Her decision to leave followed, but Damien dismissed her departure and accusations as a dramatic—even laughable—ploy for attention, refusing to believe their daughter could truly be gone. Yet when the truth dawns, everything shifts: Lily’s death, Elara’s broken smile, and her departure with their newborn. Drowned in regret, Damien finally confronts the love he’d long denied. The billionaire tycoon scoured the city, proclaiming her his one true love—all for a second chance.

At our engagement party, my sister said she saw my fiancee at the hospital for a prenatal checkup. Inga Lane looked at me nervously, then smiled and handed the test results to our parents. “I’m one month pregnant.” Both families were over the moon. I was the only one who could not smile. After everyone left, Inga said, “I’m sorry. I’m pregnant. I was drunk that night. The baby is Xion’s.” I clenched my fists and tried to stay calm. “Then, why did you come to the engagement today?” She leaned toward me and said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to marry Xion. He has cancer. He doesn’t have much time left. “We grew up together. He’s the only child in his family. I just wanted to give him a child to carry on his family line.”

It's been five years since I started trying to win over Zachary Pierce. I even went so far as to have a child through IVF, hoping it would finally make him care. But no matter what I do, I can never reach 100 percent affection from him. It always stays at 99 percent. Sometimes it even drops lower. One day, exhausted and aching, I go looking for him. As I reach his room, I hear laughter coming from inside. "She still hasn't figured out the egg wasn't even hers. The moment the baby was born, Zach's affection score for her dropped to zero." "So what if she finds out? She should be grateful that her face looks so much like Yvonne's. Honestly, I'm done entertaining her. It's exhausting." At that moment, everything clicks. All the hope I've held onto, every sacrifice I've made, they were all just a joke. I turn away and say to the system, "End this for me. Send me to another world."