After a Hundred Betrayals, I Severed the Bond

In five winters of our bond, my mate, Vladimir Barnes, had brought ninety-nine chosen she-wolves into our den.

At our union anniversary, he let the hundredth one trick me into drinking.

I cannot handle moon wine. It sent me into a fatal shock, and I woke in the healer's den. Still, he said to me, "Stop pretending to be weak, Abigail. Stella craves roasted meat from the hunt. Drag your frail self-home and prepare it."

Then the fire broke out in the pack’s storage house. Without a second thought, he rushed to save his chosen mate, carrying her out while leaving me behind. The flames roared, swallowing my cries for help, and when it was over, my right leg was left permanently crippled.

When I woke in the healer's sanctum, he was urging the healer to use rare moon herbs on Stella's arm, which only had a small scratch from the chaos. Something inside my soul finally snapped.

I said, "Vladimir, I want to sever our bond."

"Sever the bond? How dare you say that? Do you no longer care if your brother lives?" He laughed. "Does your weak little brother not need my pack's protection and medicine anymore?"

His mistress laughed with him. She even started a betting pool in the pack's mind-link.

[Come on, place your marks! How long will Abigail last this time after calling for a broken bond? One day? Or forever?]

Without a second of doubt, Vladimir linked back his bet. Ten million gold, betting I would break in one day.

I quietly put one silver coin on forever.

——

Shutting out their harsh voices, I cut the mind link and turned away. Then I called Vladimir's greatest rival.

"Darius. I am leaving him. You once said you would take me into your territory if I asked. Is the offer still open?"

"Of course it is! Where are you? I will come for you now!"

"No need to hurry. I have things to finish here. Let us meet in one month."

After that, I went straight to the pack law keeper. "Mr. Welch, I need two scrolls drafted. One for the severance scroll and one to give back my shares of the pack lands."

Welch looked worried. "Does Alpha Barnes know you are leaving the pack?"

I touched the wrap on my arm, still seeping blood. "He will."

For now, he was likely busy with Stella Facer.

That afternoon, Vladimir and I returned to the den one after the other. Seeing the cold hearth, his face turned hard. "Did I not tell you Stella wants sweet cream cake? Why have you not made it yet?"

I ignored his accusations and calmly took my seat.

His tone turned sharp. "Abigail, are you trying to anger me? Do not test me, or I will … "

"Cut off my brother's treatment," I finished, my eyes steady and cold. "Go ahead."

I had heard those threats more times than I could count. For winters, I had bowed to his will, all for my brother's sake.

Vladimir made me watch him court his lovers and clean up after their messes. He forced me to stand as a live target while his chosen ones practiced with bows, without any protection. He made me travel through moon storms for hours just to bring warm broth to some she-wolves.

However, I was still a living soul, and I had had enough of this shame.

I reached into my bag as I pulled out the scrolls. "Two scrolls. Mark them."

Vladimir frowned, clearly puzzled. He had never seen me stand so firm before. Just as his gaze dropped to the scrolls in my hands, his crystal communicator chimed. He didn’t even bother stepping aside before answering it.

Stella's sweet voice came through. "Alpha, why are you not back yet? My arm hurts again."

That man softened at once. "I am coming, sweetheart," he said, turning to leave.

I immediately grabbed his wrist. "Mark them first."

Annoyed, he glared at me. "Did you not hear her? Stella needs me. Why do you always make things harder?"

With clear impatience, he took the quill, turned to the last page, and placed his mark.

As I stared at his rushed, messy mark, my chest tightened.

If he had even looked at the scroll, he would have known it was the bond severance agreement. Sadly, he did not.

Vladimir stormed out, the heavy door shaking the frame behind him. The wind chime hanging by the entrance rang softly with his departure.

I sat there for a moment, frozen.

The wind chime. It was my half-sister, Isabella Lacroix's, favorite. She and Vladimir had been promised to each other since cubhood. But five winters ago, she was killed in a carriage crash.

The Lacroix’s could not bear to lose their bond ties with the Barnes, so they forced me into Vladimir's chamber.

I would never forget the look in his eyes that night, filled with nothing but disgust and hatred. He yelled at me, "You think pulling a low trick like this will make you my luna? Dream on. I will never let that happen!"

When the so-called shame was brought to light, my father broke down in tears and demanded that Vladimir take responsibility or face disgrace before all packs.

Ethan Barnes, his father, could not risk the family reputation. So, they made us bond.

I knew Vladimir never loved me, yet I still accepted the bond because I loved him. I thought that if I tried hard enough, I might one day warm his cold heart.

But on the night of our bonding, he brought home a woman who looked almost exactly like my sister, and that was only the beginning.

I made a promise to myself. The day he brought home the hundredth she-wolf, I would walk away.

Stella was the hundredth, and she resembled Isabella more than any of the others before her.