Chapter 1 Chapter 1

On the day of our anniversary party, Sebastian Garland, my mate, brought another lover home for the 96th time. This time, he only brought one home with him. Her name was Isabella Stewart, but to me, she was "Lover 99". I felt like I'd maxed out my tolerance. I said I wanted to break our bond, but my words only drew waves of laughter. "Let's place our bets!" someone shouted, fanning the flames by eagerly egging the others on. "I bet she'll start regretting it before she even makes it out the door!""I bet half a million that she won't actually go through with it!""I'll bet 200 thousand!" The other werewolves simply considered me a laughingstock, and my actions were nothing more than a farce to them. "I think she's leaving for real this time!" A deep voice rang out, one that sounded rather familiar. I looked around, but there were too many people around for me to pick out who had spoken. "Listen up, Cassandra," Sebastian uttered icily as he stood with one arm wrapped around Isabella, his latest fling. "Your threats don't work on me. It's time you knew your place. Now do as you're told and bring the gown over." My gaze was now still and hollow. "It's upstairs, in the second drawer of the closet. Get it yourself." Every second I spent in this room suffocated me. Once I finished speaking, I turned to leave. Perhaps the fact that I was no longer the meek pushover I used to be made Sebastian grab my wrist. He gripped it so tightly that it hurt. "Where do you think you're going? I'm warning you! I've had it with your nonsense, so don't push it!" As I flung him off me, I retorted, "Where I go is none of your business. Your Lover 99 is waiting for you." My defiance clearly enraged Sebastian. His eyes bored into me, and his mouth curled into a vicious smile. "I've changed my mind. Take off what you're wearing, now. Let Isabella wear it.""You want me to undress myself here?" I stared at him in disbelief. He came up with all sorts of ways to torment, and each time, it made me feel as though he was a stranger whom I was getting to know for the first time. How was he the same Sebastian that I once loved dearly? He gripped my chin disdainfully. "What's the matter? Is there something wrong with that? Back when your father's pack was on the verge of collapse, your mother was so desperate to make me marry you as soon as possible that she stripped you naked and threw you onto my bed. You were nothing but a slutty whore then, so why are you pretending to be so chaste now?" I felt as though an icy grip had tightened around my heart. This was the root of all the conflict and resentment between Sebastian and me. Not long after he brought back the antidote for my Silver Moon disease, Father's pack faced bankruptcy. To save the pack—and to gain Sebastian's help—Mother did as he had said. That night was the beginning of all the humiliation I was forced to endure. If she hadn't interfered, maybe Sebastian and I could have had a good life together. But ever since then, he kept bringing new lovers home, getting more and more outrageous each time. I shut my eyes and forced out the words that made my whole body tremble. "I'll take it off." As everyone else looked in with mocking and scornful gazes, my shaking hands undid the gown I'd carefully chosen for our anniversary celebration. When the gown slid down my body, I felt the gazes burning into my skin like a scorching branding iron. The humiliation, agony, and rage almost swallowed me whole. Sebastian had just squandered his 97th chance. I thought he'd be gloating with satisfaction, but instead, his expression darkened, and his eyes churned with fury. He ripped off his suit jacket and threw it at me, bellowing, "Get the hell out, you filthy bitch!"

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

I fled the party in disgrace. That night, a blizzard raged outside. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, before finally dozing off past midnight. After some time, I was jolted awake by the piercing sound of a phone ringing. "Ms. Lincoln? Please come to the border hospital at once! Your mother was mauled by a Rogue. The healers are still trying to save her." In an instant, all of my sleepiness vanished. My heart started pounding wildly. "You're way better than her, babe. She just lies there like a dead fish…" This explained why I felt the familiar burning sensation from our mate bond after I'd woken up. As I swallowed back my bile, I hammered on the door. "Sebastian! Open up! Sebastian!" Lately, Rogues had been sighted near the border of the werewolf territory. As the Alpha, Sebastian had given a strict order that no werewolves were to go near the border at night without his permission. Anyone caught would be executed on the spot. This meant that I needed his approval to go to the hospital. It felt like an entire century had passed before the door was finally opened. Sebastian stood there in a loose robe, his chest covered in hickeys. Isabella was clinging to his waist like a koala bear. "You'd better have an actual emergency," Sebastian snarled darkly. "My mom was attacked by a Rogue at the border! Please let me go to the hospital!" I begged tearfully. "It's not good to lie, Cassandra," Isabella remarked with a feigned syrupy smile. "It's 4:00 am, and there's a blizzard outside. Why would your mom go to the border?" Sebastian sneered as well. "Are you doing this to get my attention? Or are you trying to get even with me? Either way, you're asking for it!" He shoved me violently into the room and locked the door from the outside. "Sebastian! I'm telling the truth! Please, I'm begging you! Let me out! My mom's life is in danger!" I pounded my fists against the door in desperation, but all I got in response was the sound of Sebastian walking away. Now drowning in despair, I slumped to the floor. No. I couldn't give up like that. My eyes flew around the room before landing on the window. After roughly wiping my tears away, I grabbed a heavy ornament and banged it against the bulletproof glass with all my strength. I kept doing it until my hands were covered in blood, but at last, the window cracked. Sebastian's room was on the 7th floor. There was no way anyone could make a safe landing from that height, but I couldn't care about that right now. Unleashing my wolf strength, I leapt through the window. The wind howled in my ears as I kept my eyes fixed on the ground, attempting to find a place to land that wouldn't kill me. All of a sudden, a black silhouette streaked out. A massive black wolf lunged at me. His warm, large body shielded me completely. I fell safely on top of him, and we rolled in the snow. After scrambling back onto my feet in a panic, I met a pair of familiar eyes. It was Damian Thorne, my best friend when I was young. Damian placed me on his back before running straight to the border. "Damian, why are you in Sebastian's territory?" I asked. He was the Alpha of another pack. To my knowledge, there hadn't been any Alpha gatherings lately. What was he doing here, in the dead of night? However, he stayed quiet. All I could do was stare at his solid back. Damian had changed from the moment Sebastian and I got together. Sometimes, I wondered if some witch had stolen away the gentle Damian I once knew. We were almost at the hospital when he finally said, "The Cassandra Lincoln I knew was brave, proud, and loved to laugh. Look at what you've become." I had no reply. He was right. As we passed by a frozen lake, I caught the reflection of my gaunt, haggard face. I felt like a stranger to myself, too. "Once you've come back to your senses, you can come to me. I'll help you," Damian said before placing me down. He'd turned back into the Damian I was familiar with. After dusting off the snow, he passed me a business card. My heart ached as I clutched the card that was still warm from his touch. However, I had no time to dwell on my sorrow. I rushed into the hospital. But before I could ask about my mother, a doctor came out, pushing a stretcher with a white sheet draped over it. "Ms. Lincoln?" The healer's eyes brimmed with pity. "I'm so sorry. She was stabbed in the heart with a silver weapon… We tried our best." The world seemed to have gone silent and started spinning. Although the healer's lips were still moving, I couldn't hear a thing. I staggered forward, gasping for air as I stood before the stretcher. Eventually, I pulled back the white sheet with a trembling hand. Mother's beautiful face was now covered in wounds. There was a frightening black hole in her chest. I tried to speak, but my tears came first. A heart-wrenching agony consumed me. It hurt. This was too much pain for me to bear. It suffocated me. I felt like I was about to faint. I once resented Mother deeply when I found out had tossed me naked onto Sebastian's bed. I'd assumed that if she hadn't interfered, Sebastian and I would've been able to live happily ever after. But later on, I unearthed the cruel truth. The bankruptcy that befell Father's pack was merely an excuse. It turned out that since I was little, I'd been suffering from a bloodline curse. Only the mark of an Alpha could keep me alive. Sebastian's father, Francis Garland, scorned me, for Father's pack was too weak to be of any use to him. Thus, he didn't allow Sebastian to mark me. That was why Mother resorted to extreme measures. It wasn't the Silver Moon disease that nearly took my life back then. It'd been the curse taking effect. "Your mother waited as long as she could. She wanted to see you one last time. She asked me to give you this." The healer passed me a medicinal herb. "She said she crossed the border to bring this to you, saying, 'The time has come again, and we can't afford any delays.'" The herb could ease the pain that came whenever the symptoms of the bloodline curse struck every three months. My mother had gone through far too much just for the sake of her cursed daughter. She'd even sacrificed her life to help me one last time. I clutched the herb as I crumpled onto the floor of the cold and empty hospital lobby, sobbing my heart out. It felt like the hole in my heart could never be filled again. No amount of tears could wash away the pain. My father died a year ago. And now, my mother, the only family I had left in this world, was gone as well. If Sebastian had believed me and let me out, then maybe I could've seen Mother one last time. But there were no maybes in life. He'd continued to waste away the chances I'd sworn to give him. I didn't know how much time was left before he used up the 99th chance, but I knew it wouldn't take much longer.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

When I got home, Sebastian and Isabella were having breakfast. She was perched on his lap, the two of them all pressed up intimately against each other. Sebastian didn't even bother looking at me when I came in. I went straight upstairs and drafted a mate-bond breakage agreement. Then, I slammed it down on the dining table in front of him and said, "Sign it." Snorting, Sebastian remarked, "So, you jumped down from the 7th floor just to show me this nonsense?" My gaze had never been as resolute as it was now. "I don't owe you anything anymore, Sebastian. I owed you because you got me the antidote, and my mother tricked you into getting in bed with me. But throughout our one year of marriage, you've brought back countless lovers. This makes us even now. I've repaid my debt to you. I don't love you anymore." Sebastian stared at me in disbelief, as if he were seeing a whole new side of me, the pushover who'd put up with his abuse for an entire year now. His mouth opened, but he couldn't get any words out. "What's this?" Isabella suddenly exclaimed while pointing at the floor. She bent down and picked up a business card—Damian's business card! I instinctively touched my pocket, only to find it empty. Just as I was about to snatch the card back, Sebastian had already grabbed it from Isabella. "Damian Thorne?" he muttered. His expression turned stormy as he glared fixedly at me. "Guess you spent the night fooling around with Damian, didn't you?" Sebastian's eyes were bloodshot as he marched toward me, his voice raw. "You don't love me anymore, huh? It's because you've hooked up with him, isn't it, you bitch!" His hands flew at my throat, choking me. He was the Alpha. If he snapped my neck right here, no one would dare say a word. My lungs began running out of oxygen. My entire body was quaking from fear. Desperate, I grabbed the vase on the table to defend myself, but I accidentally bashed it against Isabella's forehead instead. When Isabella touched her forehead and saw the blood on her hand, she immediately shrieked. She was half-human, half-werewolf, and she'd inherited her human father's haemophilia, which meant that her wound wouldn't stop bleeding on its own. For the werewolf healers, this condition was easy enough to treat, but Sebastian stopped them. "Treat her using the humans' method. Give her a blood transfusion," he instructed them. Sebastian eyed me coldly and jabbed a finger in my direction. "You're going to give her your blood. If anything happens to her, you're screwed! You're going to pay for what you've done, Cassandra!" I knew what was happening. This was his way of taking revenge against me—to get even with me for daring to suggest breaking our mate bond and for hurting his new fling. Under Sebastian's command, the healers nearly drained out all my blood. By the time I stumbled out of the room, my body was cold as ice, and my skin as pale as a ghost. I looked into the mirror and saw the reflection of a wreck of someone who was barely alive. I wanted to laugh, but my throat was tight, and my eyes welled up with tears instead. What had I gotten out of love? It'd been nothing but endless disappointment. That was the 99th chance. I'd fully repaid Sebastian now. That night, while Sebastian and Isabella were still out together, I silently packed my things. I left the mate-bond breakage agreement on the table. It didn't matter whether he signed it or not. I'd already submitted my request to the council of elders. Once the time came, it would automatically take effect. Dragging my suitcase along, I walked out the front gates. Damien's black Jeep was waiting at the curb. We didn't say anything, but we exchanged a look of understanding. I opened the door and got into the car. And with a roar of the engine, I was whisked away from this prison. As the familiar scenery whizzed past me, a foreign feeling took over me—the sense of freedom. … Sebastian came back to the house the next morning. He scowled when he saw the agreement on the table and shot upstairs in anger to look for me. However, the room was empty, and all of my day-to-day clothes were no longer in the closet. He felt a flicker of unease. While swallowing down the agitation, he summoned Norma Atwood, the maid, and asked, "Where's Cassandra?" Norma shook her head to indicate she didn't know. "I'll call her mother then!" Sebastian scoffed. "It's time she taught her daughter what it means to be a dutiful wife!" Norma was startled. "Don't you know, Alpha? Her mother… passed away after getting attacked by a Rogue at the border." Sebastian felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He stumbled and had to clutch the dining table for support. "W-What did you say? How's that possible?""It's true!" Norma exclaimed. "I heard it from the healer myself.""Why didn't she tell me?" Sebastian roared, not realizing the panic in his voice. Just then, his Beta rushed in and informed him, "Alpha, the guards at the border just reported that the Luna… has left the territory." Only then did it finally hit Sebastian that the last of my tolerance had been used up. I would no longer put up with his actions. "Stop her!" Sebastian howled before shifting into his wolf and dashing out the door.