Lahat ng Kabanata ng Contractually Yours, Alpha: Kabanata 181 - Kabanata 190

"I would have preferred going with you," Nick says. "You have to stay here," I reminded him. Nick helped me with the hood mask; I was fully clothed; only my eyes and the little portion for my wings were left unclothed. A sword had been secured to my side, two daggers in my boot, and a single gun at the other side of my hip. I was armed. The scenturia potion emitted a sharp smell but I could live through that. I stared at the mirror. I wouldn't recognize 'me'. Green contact lenses had been used to cover the blue of my eyes. "Ready?" he asked me, and I nodded. But the truth was that I wasn't ready; I wasn't ready to see Thane again. Neither was I ready to return back to the Nightshade pack. "We would see soon," he says as if hoping for any reassurance from me, but I didn't trust my voice to speak, so I only nodded again. "Remember, the paths are all on the map," he added, patting my back. We stared at each other; this was the moment we were supposed to kiss, but I couldn't bring m

"Get up" I ordered "I can't," the man says, I could see it in his eyes, he had already given up."Help me lift him," I said. We managed to lift him, he groaned in pain as his injured leg scraped against the bare ground. Together, we carried the man away, heading for the pack borders. I doubted we'd be as lucky walking past undetected, or escape as easily as we had entered.Damn he was heavy, we managed to travel only a short distance before the gun shot stopped us. The man I had been carrying slumped. The bullet had gotten him in the side.It was one of the Nightshade soldiers, he fired another shot and it got the other man in the arm, he cried out. I let go of the man, but before I could reach for my gun, there was yet another shot. This one had been fired from another direction. Not at me, but at the Nightshade soldiers. Gabriel was back.He rushed to us, quickly checking on the man who laid on the floor."He would survive," he said to me and I nodded."I need to get you out of here

"The last time I was here, you seemed to be in such a hurry to do just that.""I thought I was keeping you safe; if only I knew you were like a problem magnet.""So let me guess, you would give me a whole crap talk about how you were willing to hurt me, humiliate me, just to ‘protect’ me."That silenced him, and then his gaze found something I had left on, my engagement ring. For some reason, I felt the need to hide it.He grasped my hand, staring at it."What is this?""What does it look like?""You're engaged?" He said the words like it didn't make sense."Yes, and keeping me here isn't really helping me in any way."His eyes were once again those cold orbs that sent chills down my spine."I guess I deserve this," he says more to himself than to me. "I should be happy you've moved on, but I can't be happy for you, Riley," he says, looking away from me as if it hurts to stare.Bullshit. I pulled my hands away from his hold, taking some steps backwards."I never wanted this Thane. I l

A healer tended to my wounds in the dungeons; Thane had offered that I stay in the available guests room since we both knew I wouldn't be agreeing on returning back to the room we once shared, but I didn’t need his generosity; if he thought I couldn’t handle the cold floors of the dungeons, then he was indeed mistaken.I didn’t like how the healer kept staring at me. I am sure Thane had informed her not to tell anyone about this, but still her gaze was unnerving.“I think that would be all,” she said after the last stitch. “Is there anything else you need?”“No, you may leave,” I said to her, and she rose to her feet and offered a bow before walking away.A few hours passed, and Thane entered with a tray of food. He set it before me, but my gaze remained fixed on the wall, ignoring him entirely.“You’ve lost a lot of blood; you need to eat Riley, please,” he says softly.My eyes never left the wall, and finally he left, giving me some space to think about my escape. Yes, I needed stre

**THANE’S POV“She is engaged Thane, she was moving on quite well, you need to let her go” Axel says and he was right, but we both knew I wouldn’t do that. I wasn’t going to screw things up the second time. She couldn’t even bear to look me in th eyes anymore, damn she was starving herself just to get back at me and it was working, I couldn't eat either, not with the knowledge that she is down there, cold and starving. I should let her go, that was the easiest way, but it had taken everything in me to make that decision the last time and now, seeing her after two months, I knew I could never let her go, not ever again.“She is mine, my mate” I say, knowing well how stupid that sounded and already knowing what Axel would say next.“You did send her away, I hate to break it to you, but she doesn’t belong to you anymore, she is betrothed to another” he reminds me and I hated that reminder.If only he understood that I couldn’t imagine Riley with any other person, it took everything in me