Short Tragic

When the lights came on at the end of the graduation party, the spotlight suddenly shifted and froze on a young couple kissing passionately at the back of the auditorium. The young man held up a bouquet of roses and shouted to the crowd, “Sophie, be my girlfriend!” The moment the girl covered her face and nodded, the cheers in the hall nearly lifted the roof. Amid the thunderous applause, my hand trembled around my phone. The screen still showed the message he had sent half an hour earlier. Rowan: [Wait for me. I’ll come to you right away.] After the party, I took off the couple’s bracelet from my wrist and threw it into the gutter, along with four years of love.

"A great alpha handles pack affairs outside, and chores at home." my mate Luke had posted. I stared at these words. It was a post from my mate, Luke's Instagram. In the picture he was in a vineyard pruning grapes. Chores at home? Luke who would not even help me to clean a table was actually helping someone else. He had left this morning saying he was going on werewolf business, but from these pictures he was at a she-wolf's vineyard in our pack. A bitter smile escaped my lips as I quietly liked the post and put of my phone. Whatever was coming next, I did not know. But I knew it was over.

In a world where power is claimed by bloodlines and ancient forces, Erin Windveil is a healer born with a cursed legacy—one tied to the awakening of the Wolf God. Marked as the Moon’s Orphan, she is the last of the Silverblood lineage, destined to wield the power of the Wolf God during the Blood Moon. But as the clans teeter on the brink of war, Erin must face the truth of her heritage—one that could either unite or destroy the fractured world. When she saves a mysterious warrior, Raynor Blackfang, she is thrust into a battle far greater than she could have imagined. Together, they must navigate betrayal, blood feuds, and a prophecy that seeks to control Erin’s every move. As Erin struggles to control the immense power inside her, she is forced to confront the shadows of her past and the future she never asked for. With enemies lurking at every corner and alliances shifting like sand, Erin must make a choice: embrace the power of the Wolf God and the throne it promises, or forge a new path that could save or doom them all. In the end, she must learn what it truly means to lead—and whether she can control the storm inside her before it consumes everything.

My boyfriend is a forensic doctor. I've been abducted and tied to a bomb—there's only ten minutes to detonation. The abductors force me to call my boyfriend, but all I get is a scolding. "What the hell do you want, Michelle? What are you playing at, using your life as an excuse just because you're jealous? "Vi's cat has already been stuck in a tree for three days. She loves it like it's her life! If you delay me from saving it, you'll be a murderer!" I hear a coquettish voice ring out on the other end of the line. "Thank you for this, Kev. You're amazing!" I recognize that voice—it belongs to my boyfriend's childhood friend. I text my boyfriend when the bomb is about to explode. "Farewell forever. I pray we won't meet each other again in another life."

**Recommended, but not necessary, to read The Reluctant Alpha before reading Her Second Chance Mate.** Holly Boland - Returning to Bloodmoon was meant to be quick—settle my in-laws’ estate and leave. But seeing Alex Whitland, my former Luna’s best friend and now my second chance mate, has turned my world upside down. I never imagined loving anyone after Nigel. Can I risk my heart again, or will the past keep holding me back? Alex Whitland - I’ve loved Holly Boland since the moment I saw her, but she was never mine to have. When Nigel died, I held her through the agony and let her go. Now, years later, she’s back, both of us with lives built around our sons. Fate has given us a second chance, and I won’t let it slip away. Bloodmoon Series: Book One - Alpha Logan Book Two - Beta's Surprise Mate Book Three - The Reluctant Alpha Book Four - The Hunted Hunter Book Five - The Genius Delta Short Story - Cult of Love (included in The Genius Delta) Short Story - Spy Games (included in The Genius Delta) Book Six - Seducing The Bloodmoon Princess Short Story - Warrior's Redemption (included in the Bloodmoon * Incubi Anthology) Short Story - Love After 40 (included in the Bloodmoon * Incubi Anthology) Short Story - The Hybrid's Rogue (included in the Bloodmoon * Incubi Anthology) Short Story - The Hybrid's Vampire (included in the Bloodmoon * Incubi Anthology) Book Seven - Her Second Chance Mate

Just one week before my marking ceremony with Lucien, I discovered his heart already belonged to someone else. His secretary, Anika, walked out of his office with a smirk that was a little too knowing. Her blouse was askew, her usually neat hair a tangled mess, and only the faintest trace of her crimson lipstick remained. My heart seized in my chest, and my fingers went cold on the doorknob. Two years ago, she had been a timid girl fresh from the countryside. All that pretense of innocence had vanished, replaced by a brazen ambition written across her face. Her relentless eagerness around Lucien had always grated on my nerves, and I had asked him more than once. "Lucien, can't you replace her?" His smile would always fade. "Anika saved my life," he'd say. "I can't be so heartless." Now, that single triumphant smirk was all it took for me to understand. What others once envied in me had already been trampled beneath her heels. My phone vibrated. It was a new proposal from the event planner. [The marking ceremony plan is nearly perfect. Can we finalize it?] I refused to be consumed by sorrow. I wiped a tear from my cheek and made one last adjustment to the document.——Replaced the bride's name withAnika I didn't want a false love, or a fake Alpha Lucien. Let them have the marking ceremony. Let Anika stand at his side as his Luna, his chosen mate. In seven days, I would be gone with my pup.

I break up with Ansel Wright when his enemies chase him for debt payment, and I start dating a rich man. Ansel says he loves me and begs me not to break up. He weeps and continues that he cannot live without me; I am in another man's arms as I pour whiskey on him and say scornfully, "Ansel, stop pestering me! I never want to hide with you and live without money again!" He leaves with a despondent look on his face. Six years later, he returns to Wall Street as a finance giant that everyone in New York takes notice of. The moment he gets back to the country, he brings his fiancée to show off to me, but he cannot find me, no matter how hard he tries, because I die the day he returns to the country.

My husband asked me if bras were more comfortable without underwire, and I was happy that he had finally become more mature. The next day, his assistant snatched the parcel I received in the mail, saying that it had the wrong address. That night, I saw Samantha Davis post on her social media, with the caption, “My boyfriend bought this for me. Isn’t it pretty?” It was a selfie taken in a hotel mirror, and there was a beautifully decorated box containing a bra lying beside her. So, as it turned out, it was not that men became mature later in life, it was that you weren’t the one they were willing to become mature for. Naturally, I gave the post a like and took a screenshot before sending it to my husband. "What a waste. You could have gotten an 20% discount if you bought the whole set."

Elena Jones and I became orphans on the same day. Her parents are killed in a mass murder, and my father—the killer—is executed on the spot. For a month straight, Harborfield's most notorious playboy waits outside the courthouse, intent on keeping Elena. However, she throws his black card right back at him, like a headstrong heroine straight out of a movie. "The Mr. Carter I admire is refined and noble. How could he have a nephew like you? I'd rather starve than accept anything from a thug." He lets out a sharp, amused laugh and crooks a finger at me. "A death row convict's daughter and a thug make a fitting pair. I'll back you. Are you willing?" While clutching the ten-million-dollar IOU my father left behind, I nod without hesitation. Later, he orders me to get into his uncle Daniel Carter's bed. "With all that sin on your shoulders, you're an even better match for him. That way, Elena will finally give up on him for good."

My newlywed husband wants to kill me. He's backing me to the balcony with a knife in his hand. The blade pierces my heart, and he shoves me off a 20-story building. At the same time, I see the tear streaks on his face. He says, "Long time no see, my perfect lover."