Sweethearts Cradle Novels & Stories

My mate, David Hayes, who is the Alpha, has been cold to me ever since he claimed me as Luna of the pack. He assumes that I gave him a dose of pheromones under the full moon. That was why I got the chance to mate with him and ended up being pregnant so quickly. So, as an Alpha, and for the sake of his reputation, he decides to mark me. That is how I became his "mystery Luna". The pack only knows that he has a Luna, but no one knows it's me. When I gave birth to our pup the next year, he showed no interest in the slightest. When a lupine maid brings the newborn to him, he glances at the pup with disgust and turns away. "Let's hope he's nothing like his mother—scheming, manipulative, and a disgrace to the pack!" I lie in bed, weak and exhausted, but the tears won't stop. … Today, David's childhood friend, Sophia Sinclair, returned to the pack. The moment he heard the news, he lit up with excitement. That night, after coming back from Sophia's place, drunk out of his mind, he pulled our pup into his arms. My son, Joseph Hayes, was over the moon. He snuggled closer to him and whispered to me, "Mom, he hugged me on his own… Does that mean he accepts me now?" I held him tight, tears stinging my eyes. "His mate has come back. We're leaving the pack." What he didn't know was that the healer had already told me I have Wolf Spirit Degeneration, which leaves me only three days to live. Before I die, I'll take Joseph to my parents, where he'll be loved and cared for, and not hated and abandoned by his own father. In three days, David will never see me or our pup again—and for the rest of his life.

John Garnett's secretary fed me to the dogs on my own birthday. I called his number endlessly to call for help, only for him to block my number immediately, as he fooled around with his secretary at the presidential suite in broad daylight. All I felt was agony as I was ripped into countless little pieces, still holding on to the black rose seeds he had given me when we were younger. That was not thrilling enough for the secretary, however, she buried me in the backyard of John' villa, intent on making my perished soul watch their bedroom activities. It was not until rain poured a month later, and a cluster of black roses suddenly grew in the backyard. "Where's Claire? I was just scaring her with the dogs—did she run away just to spite me?"

I was born with a strange condition. I couldn't recognize faces and could only identify people by their clothes. Vincent Lancaster, my boyfriend, never minded. He said it didn't change the way he loved me. That was, until our wedding day. He answered a phone call. His childhood friend, Grace Langley, was in labor, life hanging by a thread, and she demanded he come immediately. My voice shook with despair. "Vincent! If you drive away now, we'll never be husband and wife!" But he left anyway, not looking back. Grace had always loved seeing him in white, so he threw aside the black suit I had sewn for him with my own hands and changed into white. A year later, Vincent returned. By then, my belly was swollen with life, and I was holding onto another man while hosting a baby shower. And the man wore the black suit Vincent had thrown away. Vincent went mad, claiming he was my husband, but no one believed him.

My best friend Caleb and I mated with the most beautiful and strongest female Alpha twins of the Creek Pack. Everyone said we were the luckiest guys in the territory. But the pack didn't know that Victor, their stepbrother, was the one the female Alpha twins truly loved. My best friend Caleb and I planned to sever the mate bond, but the night before we were due to leave, Caleb was poisoned with wolfsbane. I called his mate Selene, but she sneered, "Ryan, my sister says your and Caleb's little tricks are getting really old. Are you going to tell me tomorrow that Caleb accidentally fell off the cliff?"

The day my husband left the country on a business trip with his assistant, I learned—by sheer accident—that his archenemy was plotting revenge overseas. Without a second thought, I raced to the airport and stopped him from boarding the plane. But his assistant went ahead, alone. And over there, she was killed brutally. Not a trace of her remains was ever found. When my husband received the news, he fell apart. Wracked with guilt, eaten alive by remorse, he spiraled into a relentless, violent mania. In the past three years, I'd been in and out of hospitals more times than I could count because of him. And this time, he pushed me so far—I lost our child. Then I overheard a conversation between him and his secretary. "Sir, Casey is still alive. Why keep pretending you're sick? Aren't you afraid your wife will find out and leave you?" "Leave me? What right does she have to be angry?" He laughed coldly. "If she hadn't stopped me from going abroad, Casey would've never been lured away by that bastard. Everything Linda's suffering now—she brought it on herself."

The news spread quickly—my mate, David Jonson, had been promoted to Tactical Analyst and was heading to Texline to take on a new assignment. He proudly shared the news with every member of the pack—everyone except me, his mate. I was the only one he hid the truth from. Why? Because in his eyes, I wasn't a smart mate. My wolf had been badly damaged in the past, so I had a poor memory and I tended to be clingy constantly, something he looked down on with disdain. "I'm really grateful to my best friend, Commander Johnson, who governs in Texas, for recommending me so I could get this promotion." I overheard him say to someone. "As for Pearl? That clingy she-wolf who follows me everywhere—there's no need to tell her. She'll come to Texline looking for me anyway." Hearing his words, I was excited—finally, a chance to prove I had a sharp memory after all. I stormed to my room and began packing my clothes. David had always made decisions without me, often leaving me behind. But this time, I would leave first. I would get to Texline before him, and when he arrived to find me already there, he'd be shocked at how clever I could be. But the next day, when I arrived at the airport, my confidence crumbled. I stood at the counter, suddenly blank. I couldn't remember where I was supposed to go—Texline, Texas, or Tennessee? My damaged memory failed me again. The last flight to Texas was about to depart, and the impatient airport staff didn't want to wait for me. She rolled her eyes and was about to close the gate. Worried I might miss the flight, I gave her a pleading smile and said, "Texas, Miss. I'm going to Texas."

After I proposed to Kathy Johnson, my girlfriend of seven years, we went to City Hall to get our marriage license. Instead, she had her bodyguards throw me onto the street. Then, she walked through the doors, hand in hand with her childhood friend, Nate. She didn’t even blink when he saw me sitting there on the ground, shaking with disbelief. "Nate's son needs a legal guardian to secure his inheritance from the Johnson Group. The fastest way is for me to marry Nate and adopt the boy." "As soon as the paperwork is finalized, we'll get a divorce. You'll still be the one I really marry." Everyone assumed that I, the man who had been devoted to her for so long, would foolishly wait. After all, I had already waited for seven long years. But that night, I accepted the arranged business marriage my family had prepared for me and took a flight to Center City on the East Coast. I vanished from Kathy's world completely, and no one saw it coming. Five years later, I returned to Westlake City to visit my family. My wife, Rhea Weyland, was the sole heir to the Weyland family, a powerhouse that practically controlled the entire West Coast economy. She was tied up in a sudden international merger meeting. She had specially arranged for someone to pick me up from the airport. But I never dreamed that the "someone" she sent would be Kathy. The moment she saw me, her gaze immediately fell on the glittering watch on my wrist. "I can't believe that after all these years, you've stooped so low you're wearing a cheap knockoff." "Are you done with your little pity party? It's time to come crawling back. Nate's son is starting at an elite private school, and you're just in time to be his full-time driver and bodyguard." I gently stroked the watch on my wrist. What she didn't know was that this was one of the more modest gifts Rhea had given me.

"Are you sure about this, Nancy? Marrying that powerful man means ending things with Tad." "I'm sure. But not yet. Don't tell anyone. Especially not Celia." Celia — the girl I once begged my father to adopt, the one I defended and called sister — betrayed me. The two men who used to treat me like their world — my boyfriend Tad and our family friend Leo — now orbit around her like moths to a flame. I thought I saved her, but she only wanted to replace me. When Celia fell, they blamed me. When she got shot, they blamed me again. When I was in a car crash, they said it was an excuse to avoid "taking care of Celia." But I am Don DeLuca's daughter. And no one treats me this way and walks away unscathed. My boyfriend? He can go to hell. My so-called friends? They can rot with him.

On the day of the SAT exam, my girlfriend, Heidi Moore, makes the entire class stay with her and wait for her childhood friend, Jeffrey Price, who's running late. But it's less than an hour before the exam starts. If they keep waiting for Jeffrey, they will definitely miss the exam. In my previous lifetime, I played my part as the class president by advising everyone to take the exam first. But all I received was their scolding. "You're just jealous that Jeffrey and Heidi are extremely close friends! That's why you want to ditch Jeffrey so that he can miss the exam, huh?" I could only stand in the pouring rain while begging my classmates relentlessly. Only then did everyone leave for the exam venue reluctantly. In the end, we were able to arrive at the exam venue one minute before the exam started. But after the exam was over, I was pushed off a building by Jeffrey, which caused my death. However, Heidi and the rest of my classmates gave the police their fake testimonies. "Finley caused Jeffrey to miss the exam. That's why he killed himself out of guilt!" Jeffrey even used the opportunity to sell his sob story and become a popular influencer. Mom tried to seek justice for me, only to get cyberbullied by the Internet users, who were blind to the truth. Dazed and disoriented, she drove off a cliff, and her body was nowhere to be found since then. Only after I died did I realize that this was just a part of Jeffrey's scheme. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Heidi tells the entire class to wait for Jeffrey before departing to the exam venue together. In this lifetime, I won't stop my ungrateful classmates from ruining their own lives.

After my 99th confession, my childhood best friend, Michael Leight, finally says yes. I am overjoyed, believing that my years of unrequited love have finally paid off. But when I walk past the pantry, I overhear him speaking tenderly to our family chef, Tahlia Duvey. "Once I take everything from the Kingstons, I'll kick that idiot Ariel to the curb and throw us a grand wedding. Everything here will be yours." My heart feels like a sword has been plunged into it. That night, I storm into Grandpa's study and point at a photo of the Gordon family's heir—Charles, known for always keeping his distance from women. "Grandpa! I want to marry him!" I announce.