HER FATHER’S DEBT.

“How much do you think I’ll make if I peeled off your entire skin, turned it into leather and sold it?” Denzel sneered as he watched Kiara’s father pleading for his life as he rolled his body on the floor.

Kiara had just gotten back from slaving away at the pack farms and the sweat on her forehead had barely dried up.

As she walked into the house she had called home for the past twenty one years, Kiara watched as her father lay flat and helpless on the floor, begging for his dear life as the Alpha Mafia king looked down on him like a merciless god would look down on pathetic mortals.

He didn’t come alone either, his henchmen stood over her father with guns and knives just waiting for the Alpha’s signal to finish off her old man.

“I promise I’ll pay every single dime back.” The old man, Kiara’s father, pleaded with his forehead touching the ground.

Kiara didn’t need a prophet to tell her what had happened here.

Her gambling father had borrowed huge sums of money from Alpha Denzel, gambled it all away yet again, was unable to pay and now the Mafia wanted their money back in blood.

A rush of shame, disappointment and most importantly, fear, flushed through her body.

“I don’t think that is possible. You owe me over 1million gold coins! How will a lowly farmer like you ever find that sort of money?”

Kiara staggered back in shock. She knew her father was a gambling addict but this time he had taken it too far.

1million gold coins in their economy could set them up for life. They could start their own farm, employ workers on it and even get a brand new house and not the rusty old leaky one they currently lived in.

“Please just take my word for it. I’ll pay you back. Just give me a week.” He pleaded still as he jammed his palms together.

“Your words mean absolutely nothing!” Denzel’s voice thundered. “The words of a disloyal man aren't even worth one gold coin talk more of one million.”

“ Just one more week. Please don’t kill me.”

“One more week?” Denzel enquired.“One more week, you say? You said that one week ago you wretched old man. Where’s my money now?”

Kiara watched as Alpha Denzel leaned closer to her father, while still seated on the couch like a tyrant king, as he spoke.

The words came out with such calmness and so casually that Kiara couldn’t help but feel her body shiver in fear for what the Alpha had in store for her father.

She had never had an encounter with him but just like every other lowly wolf of the town, she had heard word of his cruelty.

He had killed wolves for way less than 5000 gold coins, Kiara’s father stood no chance.

“Seize him.” He simply stated and two of his henchmen made the old man stand on his feet. 

Denzel’s long slicked back, curly hair and the scar that ran across his thick dark eyebrows just told Kiara he was no man to be bluffing.

“Hold him still.” He commanded with a low steady voice as he rose slowly from the couch, taking some steps closer to the old man.

Kiara did nothing but stand still at the front door. Her feet felt like they were frozen stuck into the ground. She felt as helpless as her father and incredibly invisible.

“Please, I’m begging you.” The old man’s voice was audibly shaky now, his body shaking in complete terror.

Denzel stretched his palm to the side, towards one of his henchmen, and a pocket knife was gently placed in his rough palm.

“Humans love collecting strange things. How much do you think a human colllector will pay for the skin of a old werewolf’s face?” He whispered as he traced the old man’s face with the knife.

Kiara watched as her father stood, held by both hands in place, shivering like a coward. 

Denzel pressed the knife a little too hard against the old man’s face and nicked it.

The blood that gave way through his skin was all Kiara needed to break out of the freeze spell she had found herself in.

“STOP!” She yelped as she lunged herself forward catching the attention of Alpha Denzel.

He simply looked her up and down as devastated tears streamed down her eyes.

“Please stop…” her voice was cracked, low and sober now in a pathetic plea…

“And who might you be?” He asked her and as she looked into his hazel eyes, she caught the glimpse of an unfamiliar darkness. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

The rumors were true. He was a monster.

“I’m… I’m his daughter. Don’t kill him. He’s no use to you dead” Kiara revealed.

Denzel abandoned his goal of skinning the old wolf alive right in his living room and focused his attention on Kiara, curiously laced in his expression.

“I see…” he trailed off before moving closer to her as she took a couple steps backwards, slowly. “And why exactly shouldn’t I? What could you, a wretched farm girl, possibly offer me that would worth 1 million.”

“Stay out of this, you stupid girl! Don’t make everything worse like you always do!” Her father’s voice broke through as he tried but failed to break free from his holds.

“Father…” her words came out shaky.

“Ever since you’ve been alive, you’ve been nothing but a curse to me! You’re the reason all this is happening. So before you make it worse, stay out of this!” He continued.

Kiara felt hurt and almost shed a tear but she was already so used to being treated like garbage by her father that she had grown numb to his hurtful words.

“Shut up, old man!” Denzel’s voice thundered. “Let the lady speak.”

He moved closer to her and her feet were once again frozen into the ground.

“Go on then…speak.” He commanded.

This time, she didn’t cower in fear. She stood her ground even with the fear in her eyes and the fact that her legs felt like spaghetti.

“Take me instead.” Kiara started. “ I’ll be collateral till he can pay you back.”

“And if the old man can’t pay_?”

“Then I’m yours to do whatever with for as long as you like. Use me , my labor will be your payment.” She cut him off.

She was going to regret those words. She watched as an evil smile creeped at the corner of his lips. Somehow he was impressed by her bravery.

He salivated at the thought of how much fun he’d have by slowly breaking her.

Denzel was a beast and was going to use her till her last drop of blood.