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.

A voice

around, expecting to see Austin,

of my advisors; he only approached me when he had important information or when I summoned him. But this time,

overwhelming. So overwhelming that I still ended up missing things, like Phil's arrival. I had

and it was a reasonable question; in my state, I didn't think

to my question. Usually masking my emotions 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... mess lately and I

to one of the deadliest banes was a secret-one that only

me a keen observer. I know about your... immunity to wolfsbane." Now he had my full attention. He took a step back as if to create a good distance between the both of us. "It had always been speculation-l had no real proof. But after

still doesn't explain why you are