99 Times for Alpha’s Bestie novel Chapter 175

CLAIRE POV

I whirled around at the sudden commotion. My eyes widened at the sight of Liam, cornered like a rat, and the incriminating phone clutched in his fist.

Liam, again? When will this stop?!

White hot fury erupted in my chest.

I tore free from Lucien’s grip and bulldozed through the seething crowd. I yanked Liam up by his collar–his pristine suit now a wrinkled disaster–and slammed a fist into his chest.

“Liam,” I seethed, “how many times do I have to catch you skulking around before it finally sinks in?”

“Claire, please explain to everyone that I am not some creep! I am your mate!” Liam’s eyes widened at the sight of me as if I were his saving grace. He desperately grabbed for my hand.

But the word “mate” made me jerk my hand away, as if I’d been shocked. My expression turned to ice.

“Liam, mind your words. You are my ex–mate. We have separated and rejected one another ages ago.”

The crowd broke into murmurs of understanding. “So that is it. Sneaking around like that? No wonder he is an ex!”

“If the bond has been rejected and broken for this long, why is he still hounding her? He must have done something awful and now regrets it.”

“Exactly! Just like in those soap operas, a typical heartbreaker who cannot handle her moving on to someone better.”

“That new guy is a total catch, tall and rugged, just oozing pure Alpha masculinity. Not like this pasty, pretty boy who screams ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing“.”

“Preach! He is a grade A weasel! He should quit stalking her. Men like him make me sick!”

***LIAM POV***

I had never imagined being verbally ambushed by a group of grocery shopping grandmothers. No fists were thrown, yet I felt completely exposed under their collective judgment, the humiliation burning my skin.

My gaze instinctively sought Claire’s, pleading for some recognition. But then the demon king himself, Lucien, stepped forward, possessively resting his hand on her shoulder like a claim staked. “Claire, they are waiting for us back at the estate. Let us not waste any more time on someone beneath us.”

“Do not go–Claire, stay–please.”

My legs felt like lead weights how I longed for the woman who had once loved me to her very core to show me even a shred of tenderness again.

But without a moment of hesitation, she turned and walked away with Lucien.

“Claire,” my voice splintered, raw and broken, “have you really let go? Do you not regret this at all?”

For a single heartbeat, she paused. I froze too, a wild hope flaring inside me. Would she turn around?

Then she merely adjusted an ill–fitting heel and walked on, never looking back.

My heart lurched. My wolf howled in understanding and pain of her public rejection.

That very rejection choked me, stealing my breath as I shouted, my voice hoarse and broken.

“Claire! After today, I will not ask again! I will not even look for you! Even if you crawl through broken glass to get back to me someday, I will turn you away! Are you sure you will not look back?”

My glassy eyes stared blankly ahead as my rigid body folded stiffly into the leather seat. “Someone aimed at my heart and ripped it out for all to see. No hospital can fix this. I am hollowed.”

Soren panicked, frantically shaking my shoulders. “Alpha! You need to snap out of it! What the hell happened? Did your mate send someone to-”

I jolted upright as if electrocuted, “Shut it! She is beneath that title now! Today, she treats me like trash? Just wait, soon she will come begging only to find my door slammed in her face! Soren, I have had an epiphany!”

Soren stared, seemingly bewildered by the whiplash.

Just then, like a man deprived of basic human kindness, I abruptly yanked my Gamma into a desperate, crushing bear hug, bawling with the raw, snotty desperation of an abandoned child. “Soren, what do I do? She threw me away like yesterday’s trash! My wolf is angry and pulled away. I feel like I cannot breathe! I

just want to die!”

I thrashed against the tsunami of my grief, utterly broken and raw. The last time I had wept this bitterly was back in high school when I had failed my exam.

As the pampered golden boy who had always gotten everything handed to me, this was life’s first real, devastating gut punch. In this moment, I was not the untouchable Alpha of the Sterling Moon pack anymore, just a humiliated man with his pride ground into dust.

“Alpha–let go—” Soren wheezed, his face turning violet from asphyxiation. “It is me–I can’t breathe- please.”

When I finally released him, Soren’s tongue protruded as he gulped for air for nearly a full minute before he could speak again.

Rubbing his sore chest, Soren finally snapped. “I nearly became collateral damage for your doomed love affair! Get a grip! Heartbroken people are everywhere, but this is incredibly dramatic for a mess you made yourself.”

“What did you just say?” My head jerked up.

Steeling himself, Soren fired back with brutal honesty. “Let me be blunt! This desperate act? The more you grovel, the cheaper your love appears. You were the one who continued to push her away when she loved you, and you are still driving her away now that she’s had enough and left! Real love is built on self–respect, not acting like some pathetic lovesick puppy begging for scraps!”