Contractually Yours, Alpha by Giftemmy

Chapter One Hundred and Forty One

I tried to keep it from her because I didn't want her to worry about me, but as the days passed, it became harder to conceal.

The withdrawal symptoms had kicked in hard. Kaida was only aware of the progress I was making, but I didn't let her know what I had to endure. I wiped away the blood trickling from my nose. It had been five days since I stopped taking the doses of wolfsbane, and every moment had been pure torment. Breaking free from my addiction' was easier said than done.

I rarely got any work done. The withdrawal symptoms were impossible to ignore- involuntary shaking, random bleeding, a relentless pounding in my head, dizziness, irritability, and the tiny lapses in time that seemed to stretch wider with each passing day without my doses.

I stared at the bottle of aged bourbon spiked with wolfsbane, sitting on the wooden cabinet. all I had to do was reach out, take a drink, and it would be all over; the pain would disappear. I hadn't realized when I rose from my chair and made my way toward it. I picked it up, pulled off the cap- then Kaida's face flashed through my mind. I had to do this for her.

With a sharp breath, I let the bottle slip from my grasp, watching in agony as the very last spiked liquor shattered against the floor.

voice called,

expecting to see Austin, but it was

important information or when I summoned him.

than ever but that didn't make things any easier. If anything, it only made them more... overwhelming. So overwhelming that I still ended up missing things, like Phil's arrival. I had been too caught up in my own head to hear

here?" I asked, and it was a reasonable question; in my state, I didn't think I could still ask

was easy, but now I couldn't help but feel irritated at the fact that Phil hadn't answered my question. "You've been a...

don't." My addiction to one of the deadliest banes was a secret-one that only a

between the both of us. "It had always been speculation-l had no real

still doesn't explain