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.