Once Upon A Winter's Date Novels & Stories

They would rather believe I was an ungrateful daughter who abandoned her mother and escaped alone. They had all forgotten. That day wasn’t just Lily’s birthday. It was mine too. I had only wanted their company for once. That was why I gathered the courage to say I wanted to go skiing. After the avalanche hit, Mrs. Sanders was buried under the snow. I dug with everything I had. I kept digging until I lost all feeling in my fingers. Only then did I finally pull her out. But by then, Mrs. Sanders had already passed out. I couldn’t save her on my own.

Near midnight, Carmilla sent a flood of new photos—hundreds of flight records showing Mario's secret trips to see her, and more of them in bed together, intimately entangled. The most painful part was one particular date—yesterday. Our wedding anniversary. Carmilla: [Dear sister, I'm coming home tomorrow. I just can't stop missing Mario.] I laughed bitterly, saved the photos, blocked her number, and lay awake till dawn. The fortune-teller had been wrong. Mario hadn't fallen in love with someone else in the seventh year of our marriage. He had loved her long before that.

It was forbidden ground, the den of the mad wolf Axel. ... This day brought the worst blizzard of the season. It was also the date carved into Axel's bones. It was his birthday and the anniversary of Seraphina's death. An old courier knelt trembling outside the tent. "Alpha... This is a package a lady left with us ten years ago. She paid ten times the normal fee and specified it be delivered to you today." Axel emerged from the tent. Ten years of weathering had streaked his temples with white, but his eyes remained as lifeless as they had been a decade ago.

“Whatever changes on Christmas Eve, we go into it together. The way we’ve gone into everything since the manor.” “Yes.” “And we come out the other side the same way.” “Yes.” I wanted to believe it as easily as she made it sound. She held my gaze, steady as stone. “Then the date is just a date. The elder council is just wolves. The winter gathering is just a night where we show up and let the wolf world remember what happened accurately. And after that, we come home.” The word landed somewhere deep in my chest. Home. Not a building. Not a territory. This woman who’d walked into my life with nothing and somehow ended up being everything.

However, the truth was, my name had been cleared. I took care of everything and sold the old house, ready to leave it all behind. Hank sent word he wanted to meet, but I did not want to see him. Outside, the snowmen stood like silent guests waiting for a wedding that would never happen. Nancy, with hands purple from the cold, drew a smile on a snowman's face. She smiled at me, just a little. She looked the same as always, but she seemed really tired. When I opened the door, she ran right into my arms.

Winter pulled away, shooting a sharp glance at Raphael in response to his unexpected kiss. However, he gently anchored his hand on the back of her head and once more drew her into a kiss. As an omega, Winter possessed an allure that heightened Raphael's attraction toward her. His resolve to resist her was tested when her icy fingers grazed his skin. Despite his efforts, his restraint crumbled as Winter unwittingly drew near to him.

Snow Spending the night crying felt like a kind of release, but I didn't count on Winter arriving early that day to sing happy birthday to me. She found the door open, walked in, dinner was served, and I lay on the floor with my face swollen from crying. “What happened?” my best friend asked fearfully. “Nothing happened and nothing is ever going to happen,” I said and she immediately understood. The good thing about my friendly relationship with Winter, was that she could read me easily. So I told her everything I hadn't told her, except about Sage, and she listened very attentively.

I look at Qaetanya, giving up at trying to contact my wolf. “Yeah?” She looks pale. “In one minute,” she admits, “a new day will dawn.” “So?” I ask, confused. I’ve been focusing so hard on finding my wolf that I hadn’t been paying any attention to the background She raises a brow at me. “In one minute, the winter solstice shall befall us.” I feel the world come to a stop. Oh. My heart drops to my stomach. “Did six days pass that fast?” I wheeze, more from myself than from Qaetanya. “He’s going to come for me now, isn’t he?”

She thought of texting but he was like her, they did a terrible job at replying. Her heart skipped twice when she saw the ID of the caller. He was calling... __$ 'Go on a date with me,' Clarissa remembered his words like it was just now. She collapsed on the bed with a loud sigh and her cheeks full of blushes. She squealed in excitement. She couldn't wait for him to come back from his business meeting. He did say it would take time by the way, so she had all the time to prepare. She had to look her best.

* Extremely Graphic Content Warning * Contains domestic abuse, verbal abuse and graphic violence. Mention of child endangerment and dark themes involving children are present. This chapter may be triggering for some readers. Strong language, as well. Extremely morbid content ahead. ~ January 13th 1973 Nate places the picture into the frame, before he lays it on the table, face up. Staring down at the picture, he feels a pang in his chest as he thinks about poor Darla.