Who Wrote 'Ten Years A Ward'?

During a family gathering, my daughter drove her rideable toy car straight into me and shattered my leg because she wanted to stand up for her live-in manny, Wilson Smith. As I lay on the ground in agony, she glared at me and said, "You're not my dad! Wilson takes care of me. He's kind to me. Mom and I both like him!" From where I had fallen, I looked up and saw Wilson standing at the center of the crowd, surrounded by smiles and admiration. At that moment, a bitter realization settled over me. I mattered less than a manny to my own family. I soon filed for divorce. Then, I signed up for a community revitalization initiative and spent the next twenty years helping struggling communities build better lives. My family did not need me, but somewhere else in the world, there were people who did.

Everyone in the Blood Moon pack is whispering that Alpha Cassian Ward only allows his pack to spend ten dollars a day. Yes, ten dollars. It's not a pack tradition, nor a decree from the elders. The rule comes from his new financial planner, Mira Langford. Even as Luna, the moment they discover I've spent a single dollar more—on medicine, no less—they drag me out and whip me 20 times in public. By the second lash, my back splits open, blood soaking through my skirt. My personal maid, Elsie Quinn, throws herself forward, sobbing. "Stop, please stop! Luna Sutton is fragile! She won't survive this!" But Mira only lashes harder. "Alpha Cassian said 20 lashes for every extra dollar. Who dares defy him?" I clutch my belly and manage a whisper. "Bring Alpha Cassian here..." A while later, Cassian arrives with his entourage. When he sees the blood streaking down my back, a flicker of pity crosses his eyes. "Mira, that's enough." Tears brim in Mira's eyes. "You said everyone would answer to me when you brought me back. I haven't even begun to be strict, and you're already going back on your word?" With that, she turns to leave. Cassian catches her hand. "Fine. I won't interfere. Don't tire yourself. Let the guards finish it." As the whip strikes me again and again, a warm, sticky pool of blood forms under me. A caustic laugh escapes my lips as tears streak down my face and into my tangled hair. By the time Cassian remembers me the next morning and finally sends for a healer, Elsie is bent over my body, trembling with grief. "Luna Sutton, how could this happen? You're gone, and so is the pup."

Although Kate Hopkins and I have been in a relationship for ten years, our love for each other has never faded away in the slightest. In the past, she has declared on a podium that she will always stay devoted to me. Naturally, I've always thought that she'll be my soulmate in this lifetime. Three years ago, Kate was transferred to a research station in Althoria. When I head over to visit her, I witness her wrapping a naked young man up with a blanket. After choosing to believe Kate's side of the story, I return to the country and do everything I can to take care of her mother while waiting for her return. Little do I know that this is just a huge lie. Just like that, my ten-year relationship has gone down the drain. Ten years seem like a short time—as short as a cicada's lifespan while it chirps through the summer. The polar night might seem like a long time—so long that a passionate relationship carved into my flesh and bones can be erased. But no matter how long the night is, there will always be an end to it. When dawnlight shines onto my world, it still remains intact even at Kate's absence.

I spent five years weaving this pack's wards. But my mate, Alpha Jayden, tore that power from my hands. He gave it to her. To Chloe, the new Beta. The girl can't even conjure a simple shield. How could she ever hold the pack’s wards? I confronted Jayden, furious. He fed me a line about wanting Chloe to learn. To ease my burden. He claimed it hurt him to see me so drained, so overworked for our pack. And like a fool, I fell for it. I actually believed he cared. But on our tenth mating anniversary… On our tenth anniversary, Jayden skipped the one ceremony that mattered. The full moon ritual to forge our eternal bond. He was with Chloe. He claimed it was pack business, but I felt it. He gave her a temporary mark. A mark reserved only for a true mate. Our bond fractured. The pain was a constant, searing agony. The final straw? Jayden gave Chloe the Luna’s sacred heirloom. Right in front of me. That's when I gave up. I left. And I took my power back. The wards collapsed. When the enemy pack attacked, Jayden’s wolf nearly shattered. Only then did he cast that useless Chloe aside. He crawled back to me, fell to his knees, and begged me to return and protect him.

On the day of Claire Brooks, my wife's funeral, a grieving stranger arrived carrying white lilies. After placing them beside her portrait, he walked straight toward me. "I've envied you for thirty years," he said. Confused, I frowned as his eyes lingered on her photograph. "For thirty years, she gave me everything—her love, her time, her money. She never held anything back." He paused before looking at me with quiet resentment. "The only thing she forbade was letting you know I existed." My heart skipped a beat. "What are you talking about?" He let out a bitter chuckle. "It means that while you were married to her for thirty years, she was with me for thirty years too." Then he walked away, leaving me frozen beside her coffin. I stared after him, struggling for breath. Thirty years of betrayal and lies. The shock sent my blood pressure surging, and I collapsed in the middle of the funeral hall. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Claire and I were supposed to be married. "Nathan Brooks, will you spend the rest of your life with me?" After a long silence, I took the ring from her hand and, without a moment's hesitation, threw it down the drain.

Mom had one rule, and she never let it go: one good deed a day. When I was little, I saved my allowance for an entire year to buy a doll. Then some girl beside me whispered that she wanted one too, and Mom ripped it out of my arms. "Do one good deed a day. Give her the doll." Later, I barely made it into the best high school in the county. I didn't even get to be happy before Mom told me she'd already signed me up for trade school. "Do one good deed a day. The girl who just missed the cutoff is poor. Give her your spot." Later, at trade school, my roommates stole every cent I had for food and rent. I called Mom, sobbing. "Do one good deed every day. Giving them your money still counts as doing something good." Later, I got a part-time job and ended up sold as a bride to some family way out in the sticks. I texted Mom, begging her to save me. Her reply popped up a second later. [Marriage means sticking it out. Give them a healthy baby boy, and that should cover ten years of good deeds.]