The Marking

Jack's first love, Alice, came in for her prenatal checkup. Tested positive for Corrosion Sickness. I told him right away. But Jack insisted I was spouting nonsense and went around the pack slandering me—claiming I had no medical ethics, that my surgical skills were a joke, and that I’d killed a fellow werewolf through malpractice. Because of him, the Werewolf Medical Association revoked my healer title, and I was nearly torn apart by the patient’s furious family! On our third mating anniversary, Jack sank silver into my veins. I begged him to save me, but he locked me in a cellar and left me there to die. "Just die already," he said. "I need your estate to have marking ceremony with Alice." The next second, I opened my eyes—I wasn’t dead. I was reborn! I was reborn on the day Alice came in for her prenatal checkup! This time, I won’t tell him the truth. I’m leaving that scumbag behind! Let him and Alice enjoy their filthy love!

My fated mate, Alpha Baton, had once shackled his bloodlust for me. He’d built a corporate empire from the ashes of his bloody conquests, all to give me a civilized home. Even when my father was framed for murdering the brother of his first love, Seraphina, he held me gently. "Don't worry, Tricia. I'll face this with you." But on the day of the trial, my father was condemned as a murderer and exiled to the North. And Baton? He was celebrating, with his arm wrapped around Seraphina. I hunted down the witness, demanding answers, only to find him trembling as he stared at Baton, who stood right behind me. It was Baton. He had threatened the witness into lying. He was willing to destroy my father, just to make Seraphina happy. "Seraphina's brother is dead. Someone has to pay the price." The mate bond between us didn't just snap—it shattered. Agony ripped through my soul. If I meant nothing to him, our marking ceremony was a promise. And now, it was one I had to break.

Cold and proud to all, Beamon Slade, Northarch's strongest Alpha, reserves his gentleness solely for me. Everyone knows that I'm his Luna. But today, his first love is infected with deadly wolfsbane and on the brink of death. He hands me a herbal pill that can seal memories and temporarily remove the mate mark. "Eiro won't last another three days, Swan. "Could you give me three days to fulfill her dream of becoming a Luna through a symbolic marking ceremony? I won't hurt you. This pill temporarily severs the bond and makes you forget me. "When the ceremony ends three days later, take the antidote and you'll remember everything. We'll get back together." Looking at his calm, gentle expression, I silently swallow the pill without hesitation. He has no idea, but I crafted the pill with my own hands. There's no such thing as an antidote. Three days from now, I'll completely forget him. All our embraces, vows, marks, and his past gentleness will vanish with the wind.

I'm supposed to be Kyle Thornwood's Luna. But for the past five years, he has abandoned 52 of our marking ceremonies, proving to the Moon Goddess that he doesn't deserve me. The first time, Elara Bennett—the Omega he took in—gets lost during a hunt. He cuts the ceremony short to find her, leaving me alone on the ritual altar while our bond unravels into nothing. The second time, right in the middle of negotiations with a rival pack, he senses through the mind-link that someone is bothering Elara. He drops everything and runs back, leaving me to face a room full of hostile wolves alone. After that, it doesn't matter which full moon I choose. Elara always has some crisis that needs him. She gets hurt during training, other wolves pick on her, or she has a bad dream. Eventually, something inside me breaks. I decide to sever this so-called destined mate bond for good. The day I leave the Graywolf pack, Kyle loses it completely. He tracks my scent everywhere, clinging to whatever is left of our connection.

I was different from the others in my pack. My wolf could hear the truths hidden deep in someone’s heart. Whenever someone lied, she would immediately whisper their real thoughts to me. During the two years I was with Jace, my wolf stayed silent. I knew his love for me was real. But on the day before our marking ceremony, my wolf finally spoke. "I need to stall Leah tomorrow. I have to mark Elena." "Elena's pregnant. She has to be marked to be accepted by the pack. Leah loves me too much to blame me." My hand tightened around the pregnancy test tucked deep in my bag. A cold dread swept over me. Jace, I was pregnant too. But I wouldn't tell you. I played along with his plan, pretending I didn't know the truth. I let him make Elena his mate, father to her pup. After their ceremony, all he'd find was the discarded pregnancy test I left behind. His heir and I would be gone from his world—forever.

Pathetic Isla. Worthless Isla. Hated Isla. Isla Kingston is the designated trash bag and unwanted omega of her cruel pack. Even with the biggest mating event at hand, she has no hope for love or finding her partner. However, her life takes a drastic turn when Axel Pendragon, the dangerously attractive Alpha prince, calls her his mate and steals her breath away. It’s love and lust at first sight, and Isla gives herself to this mysterious man, letting him own every inch of her skin and marking her as his, all in one night of wild passion. But Isla’s rude awakening comes in the morning when Axel brutally rejects her with no explanation. Her reputation is tarnished, and she has no choice but to run far away from home, carrying a deadly secret. Years later, Isla is successful and now engaged to a powerful billionaire, but when her twin daughter needs a transplant from her father, she knows she has to go back to her old pack and confront the man who had once rejected her, now a ruthless Alpha King, Axel Pendragon.

I've been mated to Alpha Damon for five years. I helped him build a business empire, but he kept delaying our marking ceremony 99 times. Right before the ceremony was supposed to happen, he told me the pack’s resources were tight. He demanded I stop the expansion of the Alpha’s manor and scrapped the nursery I’d designed for our future pups. Then he turned around and bought a thirty-million-dollar penthouse for Isabella, a new omega in our pack. When Isabella and I were in a car crash at the same time, he didn't even glance my way. He ran straight to her. He wrapped her in his Alpha scent, holding her tight. Their scents mingling was like a knife to my heart. In the pack council hall, in front of all the Elders, I looked at him with ice in my eyes. "I, Elena, reject you, Damon, as my mate." Through the gut-wrenching pain of the mate bond snapping, I sent a message to the Alpha of another pack. "I rejected him. I'll be at your Crescent Moon Pack tomorrow."

My name is Susan, and I'm the daughter of the Dark Moon Pack's Alpha. Per tradition, I was betrothed to Daniel, the crown prince of South Dania and the future Alpha King, to become his Luna Queen. However, he had been postponing our Marking Ceremony repeatedly, using the excuse that he wanted his coronation first. I thought he was simply being prudent, until I witnessed him proposing to another she-wolf, telling her that she was the one he truly wanted. He was even laughing about the engagement, calling it a necessary tool. Understanding that, I realized that he never formed the mate bond with me because he needed the freedom for adultery and not suffer the pain of backlash in treachery. He wouldn't acknowledge my status, but insisted that I fulfill my spousal obligations nonetheless. He didn't Mark me, while keeping me tangled in his web of lies. I hence decided to disappear in three days under the new moon, when everyone would be waiting to witness our Marking. I wanted to show him that not every wolf was willing to be a tool.

My mate Mason not only inherited the Alpha position of the tribe, but also his stepmother Olivia. Mason always explained to me after being intimate with her: “Evelyn, don’t mind it. I had no choice.” “You’re the only one I truly love. Once Olivia gets pregnant and gives birth, I’ll hold the marking ceremony with you.” He said it was the condition set by the Alpha King for him to inherit the Phantom Pack Alpha title. In one year, Mason spent at least three hundred days with Olivia. When Olivia finally got pregnant, I thought I could finally stand by his side as his mate. That’s when I realized—Mason had given both his love and his body to Olivia. I completely gave up and turned to my seven-year-old daughter: “Baby, do you want to leave with Mommy?” “Yes, I want to stay with Mommy,” she said. Mason didn’t know, what I wanted was never the Luna title. All I wanted was wholehearted love. If you can’t give it to me, then I’ll leave.

After my pack fell, my father and I joined the Black Moon Pack. Alpha Victor admired my gift for runes and promised to make me his Luna. I was so full of hope, I didn’t even mind that he was using my gift to shield his entire pack. But he kept delaying our marking ceremony, leaving me to endure the pack’s scorn for my fallen bloodline. On the eve of my father’s death, he even temporarily marked Seraphina, the daughter of another Alpha. He claimed it was to secure an alliance. I cried myself dry in the endless wait, only to hold my father as he died in my arms. Victor, however, continued to use my gift, commissioning runes from me only to give them to Seraphina. The final straw was when Seraphina destroyed my rune sanctum and flaunted the very pendant I’d crafted for my own bonding ceremony. That’s when my heart finally shattered. I no longer cared about being his Luna. I simply walked away. But after I left, Victor’s desperate plea echoed from the Moon Goddess altar. “Come back and be my Luna. Please.”