Cerita Pendek

I was five months pregnant when I watched my husband Lorenzo's adopted sister, Isabella, douse our penthouse terrace in gasoline. This time, I didn't press the emergency button on my wrist. In my last life, after I called for help, Lorenzo saved me, while Isabella was "shot" in the ensuing gunfight. He was as affectionate as ever, but on the fourth night after our son was born, he sank us both to the bottom of the icy lake, his excuse cold and simple: "Isabella took a bullet for you." As the frigid water swallowed me, he held me down with the same hands that had caressed me countless times, whispering in my ear, "Now you'll sink with what you treasure most." When I opened my eyes, I was back on the floor of our burning apartment.

What happens when a drug addicted girl and campus star player Alpha become mate?

On the day my twin pups were due, I bought every suppressant herb in the pack's territory and forced myself to delay labor. I held on until the next day, just in time to watch my mate, Damien, announce to the entire pack that Selena had been the first to bear him an Alpha heir. In my last life, I didn’t wait. I believed his lies. I thought giving him the firstborn would make him mine. But when my labor started, he murdered our pups inside my womb. "Selena and her pup died in childbirth," he snarled, dragging me to her fresh grave. "You tried to steal her son's birthright. Now you'll pay the price." He killed me with his own hands in front of Selena's grave. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to that day. This time, I would give that family of three exactly what they wanted.

I was seven months pregnant, lying on an operating table, and my own husband was the one holding me down. He believed the umbilical cord blood from our premature baby could save Sonia—the girl my family adopted. So he conspired with a private clinic to cut my child out of me. The moment they had harvested our baby's cord blood, he rushed away—leaving my fragile, premature child to die alone in an incubator. Later, my parents told me, "Harper, you owe Sonia. It's time you paid her back." My husband said, "We can always have another one. Is one child's life more important than Sonia's?" Rage and grief overwhelmed me, and I bled to death on that table. My soul floated above, watching them save Sonia with my child's lifeblood. They didn't even bother to cover my body with a clean sheet. No one mourned for me. My death caused no one pain. They pushed me into the morgue without a second thought and threw a party to celebrate Sonia's new lease on life. When I opened my eyes again, I had traveled three months into the past—to the day my family was pressuring me to sign the divorce papers.

In my past life, I was my Alpha's fated Luna. For him, I gave up my acceptance letter to a top university and my dream of becoming an alchemist. But he gave the Luna's token, which I had bought with my own hard-earned money, to the adopted sister he swore was "just a sister." On the day of my traumatic labor, he was next door, consoling that same sister, who had just severed her mate bond. When I was on my deathbed, my own daughter sat by my side and said, "Mom, just let go. Aunt Willa is better than you in every way. You should be grateful Dad stayed with you for all these years." In the end, I died in agony, the silver poisoning coursing through my veins, my heart consumed by hatred. After my rebirth, he once again handed me the blood contract, asking me to press my blood seal as his Luna. Pen in hand, I carefully wrote his adopted sister's name in the space reserved for the Luna.

My Alpha's chosen mate thought I was his secret lover. "I'll send you and your bastard pup straight to the Shadow Realm!" she snarled, her claws fully extended. She left me bleeding on cold stone, my face in ruins, my pup gone. Through the haze of pain, I heard my mate's voice through the mind-link. He was comforting *her*. "My poor moon, did she hurt you? Did she scratch you?" But when he realized the "intruder" his chosen one had destroyed was me— His fated mate, his bonded Luna— He shattered.

Six years after our divorce, I ran into Caleb at a chic French pastry shop on the Upper East Side. The staff’s faces lit up the moment they saw him. "Professor Foster! Here for your wife's rose macarons? The usual, I assume? I've got them ready for you." Caleb gave a slight nod. He noticed the two boxes of pistachio croissants in my hands and gestured to the clerk. "Add hers to my bill." I politely waved his offer away, pulling out my phone to pay. But he'd already swiped his card. "These are seventy-five dollars a box. I remember you used to save for what felt like an eternity just to buy one. Look, I'm a tenured professor at Columbia. I can afford it. Don't make this a scene." I insisted on paying him back. He glanced at the worn hoodie I was wearing and sighed softly. "Angela, it's been six years. You're not still holding onto all that, are you?" I replied with a faint, detached smile. "You're overthinking things." I absently stroked the yellow diamond wedding ring on my finger. I have a husband. A daughter. A new life. I don't have time for ghosts.

After my rebirth, I secretly changed my intended mate from the childhood friend who betrayed me in my past life to our Alpha's rebellious son. As the leader of the Argent clan, my dad was surprised by this change, but he still accepted my choice. In my previous life, when my dad asked who I most wanted to bond with, I had blushed and whispered Caleb Thorne's name. My dad had nodded. "Caleb grew up with you. You're both from pure bloodlines, well-matched in power. I'm sure he will treat you well." Later, Caleb and I held our bonding ceremony. The ritual was grand and solemn; even Alpha Alaric himself came to offer his blessings. But less than half a year after our bonding, Caleb applied for patrol duty on the border, claiming he wanted to contribute to the pack's safety. Not only did he abandon me to face his parents alone, but he also severed our mind-link after my dad was framed for treason against the pack. Just when I thought I couldn't bear the pain of my dad's imprisonment, I received the devastating news of Caleb's death in a bloody battle with rogue wolves. Under the double blow, my will to live shattered. I walked into a silver trap, letting the poison end my life. I never expected that, 40 years after my death, an elderly werewolf couple would visit the Moon Goddess Altar. Caleb, who was supposed to be dead, stood before my memorial, holding my cousin, Lila Vance. "Brandy, I'm sorry I deceived you. I only bonded with you to meet the clan's expectations. Lila is the one I've always loved." "Brandy, this is all my fault. I'm just asking you to stop tormenting Lila. If you have any resentment, direct it at me." So their love was that deep... To spend the rest of his life with Lila, Caleb had faked his own death to escape. He was even superstitious enough to believe that the curse afflicting Lila was my vengeful spirit. Once I learned the truth, my lingering obsession finally shattered, and I let myself dissolve into nothingness. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my dad asked me who I wanted as my mate.

After Alaric and I were bonded, the woman he loved, Caelia, took her own life. He hated me for it, and I was never one to back down. So, for the next thirty years, the most venomous curse we threw at each other was, "May you die a terrible death." The poison took hold after I drank a glass of water he handed me. He wanted to kill me to avenge Caelia. So, I held on until he came home, and with my last breath, I plunged a silver dagger into his chest. But in my final moments, I heard him use the last of his strength to command his men, "The antidote... Give it to her... After I'm gone... find who's been poisoning her... And... when she wakes up, don't tell her... I was the one who saved her..." Only then did I realize how terribly wrong we both had been. When I was reborn, the first thing I did was accept an overseas architecture project. I would travel far away, giving him the chance for a lifetime of peace with the one he truly loved.

Five months pregnant, I watched from the garage as my husband Linus's adopted sister, Lydia, severed the brake line of our car with a pair of pliers. This time, I didn't press the emergency button. In my previous life, after I called for help, Linus saved me, but Lydia lost her left leg in another "car accident." He acted as if nothing had changed, his touch still tender, but on the fourth night after our son was born, he ordered us thrown into the cold Chicago River. "Because of you, Lydia is a cripple," he’d snarled. He pushed me under the water with the same hands that had caressed me countless times, whispering in my ear, "I want you to sink with the one thing you cherish most." When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back in the Cadillac, careening uncontrollably off the highway.

Nine months pregnant, my husband's first love shoved me down the hospital's concrete steps. I lay on the pavement, bleeding out, begging her to save me. But she just smiled, pulled out her phone, and cooed to my husband, "Baby, I pricked my finger, and I'm freaking out. You have to come, now..." My hand shaking, I dialed his number, but he just roared, "Stop being so hysterical! Kendall needs me right now, I don't have time for this!" I passed out in a pool of my own blood. We lost the baby. When I woke up, I texted him asking for a divorce. He just snarled, "A divorce text? Is this another one of your tricks to get my attention?" On the other end of the line, his first love's sickeningly sweet voice chimed in, "Let me talk to her... Especially after how you took care of me today..." Seven days later, I saw a photo he posted from a beach in Cabo. His hand was clamped possessively on her hip, and the caption read— "Thank God, every time I turn around, you're still there." Those were the exact words he had said to me, seven years ago. Fine. The gloves were off.

After a ten-year marathon relationship, Warren Vaughn still had no intention of marrying me. I couldn't help but ask him if he would still marry me. He was very calm, giving a noncommittal answer as if he were just handling business. I looked down at the photo on my phone. His newly hired secretary was wearing a diamond ring hailed as a symbol of true love, and a wedding dress that was the only one of its kind in the world. Smiling, she nestled in his arms, while he gazed back at her with eyes full of tenderness. A future with him was something I suddenly no longer wanted.

The night before the Beta selection, my mate and my mother conspired to cast me into hell. They injected me with wolfsbane, locked me in the alchemy lab, and let the silver-laced flames consume my skin and my future. I clawed desperately at the door, my nails splintering against the wood as the searing heat roasted my skin. I listened to my mother's fake sobs as she claimed she had accidentally activated the lab's lockdown protocol. But as my wolf was about to shatter from the agony, I heard her—whispering with my mate, my Alpha, Rhys. My mother’s voice was a nervous whisper. Was this too cruel? Destroying me with silver fire just to let Dahlia get ahead? But Rhys's voice was ice. It was my debt to Dahlia, he claimed. A price the ambitious Avalon had to pay. He would shatter my pride, break my power, and then chain me to his bed, mark me, and make me his broken, beautiful, exclusive property—a gift, he called it, to a defective thing like me. His words pierced me like silver needles. The family I had loved, the mate I had trusted with everything—they had joined forces long ago to build my tomb. I bit my lip, trembling, tasting blood, bitterness, and betrayal. A single thought cut through the haze of pain: the man who swore he loved me, the mother who gave me life—I was done with them both. -- Main Text --

At my bonding ceremony, the Moon Power Crystal suddenly exploded. I stepped on the shattered silver chalice, and my ankle was instantly sliced open, blood welling from the cut. Searing pain shot through me as silver pierced my skin. I cried out to my Alpha through the mate bond that was moments from forming, begging for help. But even though he felt my pain, he ran right past me, rushing toward Willow Hayes in the audience. The backup moonstone flickered to life, and in its glow, I saw him holding Willow tightly, his voice a low, soothing murmur. "Did it scare you?" The elder froze on the altar, reminding him softly, "Alpha, Aria is injured, too." Only then did Jasper Westwood turn his head. He saw the blood pooling at my feet, and his brow furrowed for just a moment. "Willow's inner wolf is fragile. Stop being so dramatic." In that moment, the entire pack fell silent. Jasper was known as a cold Alpha, but Willow was his one exception. They grew up together; if she so much as whispered a word of fear, he would drop a crucial pack contract to rush to her side. And I had been his mate-to-be for three years. I helped him stabilize the volatile energies within the pack and even gave up a coveted opportunity to study at Silvermoon Pack for the sake of Crimson Peak Pack. He always said, "You're strong, Aria. Not like Willow. She needs looking after." It wasn't until tonight that I finally understood. My so-called strength was just his excuse not to comfort me when I was hurt. It turned out my role as his so-called fated mate was simply to be the one he was willing to sacrifice.

At my engagement party, my fiancé, Wyatt Prescott, the Prescott heir, was found locked in a passionate embrace with my sister, Chloe Grant, on the yacht’s lower deck. I became the laughingstock of East Coast high society. To save what little dignity I had left, my childhood friend, Dominic Sterling, the powerful CEO of the Sterling Group, proposed to me on the spot. For the next four years, he doted on me, catering to my every whim. I was finally pregnant with his child, believing I had at last found my safe harbor. Then, one day, I overheard a conversation that shattered everything. "You're a cold bastard, Dominic! Evelyn is utterly devoted to you, yet you're using her as a broodmare just to protect Chloe?" "Chloe has a severe heart condition. The strain of childbirth would kill her. But she needs a child to solidify her position in the Prescott family." "As for Evelyn, I'll tell her it was a stillbirth. Then I'll use her 'grief' as an excuse to kick her out. And if she refuses to go quietly... I'll silence her permanently." It turned out Dominic's affection was a lie, a carefully constructed cage to ensure I would be a surrogate for his true love. I immediately went to a private clinic. I would never give birth to their tainted child. And I would burn this sham of a marriage to the ground.

The Moonlight Celebration he promised when we formed our mate bond had been delayed for three years, and the thrill had all but faded for my inner wolf. Suppressing the frantic beating of my heart, I prepared all the ritual moonstones and dragon's blood herb three days in advance and rushed to the pack's teleportation pad, practically vibrating with anticipation. Only to find Idris's childhood friend, Freya, there as well. He avoided my questioning gaze and explained in a matter-of-fact tone that the portal's guardian spell could only carry two more people. And since Freya was desperate to bask in the moonlight of the sacred grounds, he’d already given her my spot on the teleportation roster. He touched my shoulder lightly, but the contact felt strangely cold. "Why don't you arrange for a private portal and join us tomorrow? Or we can just wait for the next time." It was "next time" all over again, but my wolf was done waiting. I gave them a perfect, brittle smile before turning on my heel to contact my father. I had him activate the Valerius Pack's highest-level portal access and cut off the priceless moon-silver vein supplying the Thorne Pack.

On the wedding day, Caleb Lockwood's Unforgettable Flame, who had gone abroad, returned. She held a critical illness notice, her smile shattered. "Caleb, I thought you would let me wear a wedding dress one last time." To fulfill her wish, Caleb Lockwood gave her my wedding dress, and the bride was switched to her. He locked me in the dressing room from the outside. Through the door, his voice was impatient. "You and I have a long future ahead of us, what's wrong with letting her have this?" Later, a wealthy heir who had a secret crush on me bought up all the shares of the Lockwood Group and used it to propose to me. Caleb Lockwood, with red-rimmed eyes, begged me, "Are you going to abandon me for his sake?" I took a step back. "Neither you nor I have a future together anymore. Why should I care about you?"

After Ellie's death, Ian Sinclair completely returned to the family. He no longer exercised with his female secretary in front of the company's floor-to-ceiling windows, no longer brought my best friend home to sleep, nor did he force me to deliver lingerie to his female companion late at night. He became a model husband, and it seemed as though we had returned to the year he loved me the most. On my birthday, he booked the entire The Azure Sail, letting a city's worth of fireworks bloom for me. After seven times in one night, he kissed my sweat-dampened hair. "Sylvia, let's have another child." I didn't respond. Instead, I opened my phone and pulled up a long list of spending records. "Actually, for the past six months, I've been dating different men." "The bed in our bedroom, the most expensive suite in Riverbend, and the cruise ship—I've tried all the places you slept with those women." "Look, these are the male models I've recently hired, all charged to your card. Honestly, the men in there have fantastic bodies. You really should take better care of yourself." Ian Sinclair grabbed my neck, the passion on his face vanishing in an instant: "Why would you do this to me? Why would you destroy our marriage?" I suddenly burst out laughing, laughing until tears streamed down my face. "Ian Sinclair, our marriage ended six months ago, when Ellie died." ...