The Debt

Seventy-two hours.

I had seventy-two hours to find five million dollars or lose everything.

I sat on the floor of my destroyed living room, staring at the official debt notice. The numbers didn't make sense. My father was a Pack Elder. He worked in archives. He made maybe fifty thousand a year.

Where would he even get money to bribe a Rogue?

"This is insane." Maya paced back and forth. "They can't just arrest someone without proof."

"They have his confession." I held up the document. "Right here. Signed and everything."

"Then it's fake. Your dad wouldn't run. He wouldn't leave you with this mess."

She was right. My father had raised me alone after Mom died. He'd never abandon me. Which meant something else was happening. Something I didn't understand yet.

My phone buzzed again. Another text.

Unknown number.

Looking for your father? I know where he is. Meet me at Rusty's Bar. Midnight. Come alone.

I showed Maya the message.

"It's a trap," she said immediately.

"Probably."

"So you're not going."

I looked around my destroyed home. At the debt notice that would make me a slave to the Pack. At my entire life falling apart.

"I'm going," I said.

"Aria—"

"What choice do I have?" I stood up, my legs shaky. "If there's even a chance someone knows where Dad is, I have to take it."

Maya grabbed my arm. "Then I'm coming with you."

"No. If it is a trap, I don't want you caught in it too."

"That's exactly why I should come!"

"Maya." I hugged her tight. "You're the only friend I have left. Please. Stay safe. If something happens to me, find my father. Tell him I tried."

She was crying when I pulled away.

"You better come back," she whispered.

"I will."

I didn't know if that was true.

Rusty's Bar sat on the border between Pack territory and the Rogue-controlled parts of the city. Neutral ground, technically. But everyone knew the Rogues owned this place.

I'd never been here before. Good Pack wolves didn't associate with Rogues.

But I wasn't a good Pack wolf anymore, was I?

The bar was dark and crowded. Wolves everywhere but not Pack wolves. These were Rogues. Outcasts. Criminals. The kind of wolves my father had warned me about my whole life.

They all turned to stare when I walked in.

I kept my head up, my wolf pushed down. Showing fear here would be like bleeding in shark-infested water.

"You lost, sweetheart?" A large Rogue blocked my path. He smelled like alcohol and violence.

"I'm meeting someone."

"Yeah? Who?"

"Me."

The voice came from the back corner booth. Deep. Commanding. The kind of voice that made every wolf in the room go quiet.

The Rogue in front of me paled and stepped aside immediately.

I walked toward the booth, my heart hammering.

A man sat in the shadows. I could only see his outline. Broad shoulders. Dark hair. But the power rolling off him made my wolf whimper and bow inside me.

Alpha power.

Not just any Alpha. Something stronger.

"Sit," he said.

I sat.

He leaned forward into the light, and my breath caught.

Victor Thorne.

I'd never seen him in person before, but every wolf knew his face. The Rogue Alpha. The most dangerous wolf in the city. The man who controlled everything the Packs couldn't the underground, the black markets, the spaces between laws.

Kael had nightmares about this man.

And now I was sitting across from him.

"You're Aria Thorne," Victor said. It wasn't a question.

"How did you know I'd come?"

"Because you're desperate." He smiled, but it wasn't warm. "And desperate wolves make interesting choices."

He was beautiful in a terrifying way. Sharp features. Dark eyes that saw too much. Scars on his knuckles that said he'd killed with his bare hands.

I forced myself to speak. "You said you know where my father is."

"I do."

"Where?"

"Safe. For now." Victor leaned back, studying me. "Your father came to me three days ago. Asked for protection. Said the Pack was going to frame him for something he didn't do."

My chest tightened. "So he didn't bribe anyone?"

"No. But he knew about the bribe. Found evidence of it while working in the archives." Victor's expression darkened. "Your Beta has been paying Rogues to stage attacks on Pack borders. Making everyone scared. Making himself look like a hero when he 'stops' them."

Beta Marcus. Kael's father.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Control. Fear keeps wolves obedient." Victor drummed his fingers on the table. "Your father was going to expose him. So Marcus struck first. Framed him for the very crime he was investigating."

It made horrible sense.

"Where is my father now?" I asked again.

"Somewhere Marcus can't reach him. But keeping him hidden costs me resources. Protection. Risk." Victor's eyes locked on mine. "Nothing is free, little wolf."

There it was. The trap.

"What do you want?"

"Your father's debt is real now. The Pack made it official. Five million dollars." Victor pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the table. "I can pay it. Make it disappear completely. And I can keep your father safe indefinitely."

I looked at the paper. It was a contract. My hands shook as I picked it up.

"What's the price?" My voice barely worked.

"You."

The word hung in the air between us.

"One year," Victor continued. "You work for me. My personal Tracker and Enforcer. You go where I say. Do what I command. Complete loyalty."

"You want me to betray my Pack."

"You don't have a Pack anymore." His voice was cold. "They rejected you. Framed your father. Took everything from you. What loyalty do you owe them?"

None. The answer was none.

But working for Victor Thorne? That made me a traitor. A Rogue. Everything I'd been raised to hate.

"I need to think—"

"You have sixty-eight hours left," Victor interrupted. "In sixty-eight hours, the Pack will seize your assets. Your home. Everything your mother left you. And they'll sell you to the highest bidder to cover the debt."

My blood went cold. "They can't do that."

"Pack law is clear. Outstanding debts can be settled through servitude." Victor leaned forward. "At least with me, you choose. You sign willingly. You maintain some dignity."

"This isn't a choice. It's coercion."

"Yes." He didn't even pretend otherwise. "But it's the only option you have."

I looked at the contract again. One year of my life. One year serving the enemy.

But my father would be safe. And I'd be free from the Pack that had destroyed me.

"If I sign, I want to see my father first," I said. "I need to know he's really okay."

Victor smiled. A real smile this time. Like I'd impressed him somehow.

"Deal." He stood up, towering over me. "But understand this, Aria. Once you sign that contract, you belong to me. My rules. My world. There's no going back."

"I understand."

"Do you?" He moved closer, his Alpha presence washing over me like a physical force. "Because the moment you put your name on that paper, you become mine. And I protect what's mine."

The way he said "mine" sent shivers down my spine.

Fear or something else, I couldn't tell.

"When can I see my father?" I asked.

"Tomorrow night. Same time, different location. I'll send you the address." Victor turned to leave, then paused. "One more thing. Come alone again. And don't tell anyone about this meeting. Not even your little friend Maya."

"How did you—"

"I know everything that happens in my city, little wolf." His dark eyes gleamed. "Including what happened to you tonight at the Pack House. That rejection. That humiliation."

Shame burned through me.

"Kael's a fool," Victor said softly. "He threw away something valuable for something temporary. Power built on politics always crumbles."

Then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd like smoke.

I sat alone in the booth, the contract burning in my hands.

One year of my life.

Was my father's freedom worth it?

Was my own freedom worth it?

I looked around at the Rogues in the bar. At the world I was about to enter.

And I realized I'd already made my choice the moment I walked through that door.

Tomorrow night, I would see my father.

And then I would sign my soul away to the Rogue Alpha.