The Alpha's Contract: Love And Revenge

Sarah's POV 

The harsh sound of a fist slamming against the polished wooden counter made me jump.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a caged beast.

"Do you really think ignoring the Alpha’s summons or refusing to answer our pack link makes you invincible, little omega?" growled the taller of the two enforcers. 

He pulled a deep drag from a thick cigar, blowing a plume of acrid, grey smoke directly into my face.

I choked, coughing violently as the ash burned my throat. 

The irritation only seemed to anger the enforcer further. His fist came crashing down onto the counter a second time, cracking the varnish.

"Answer me!" he roared.

My knees wobbled, sending me staggering backward into the shelf of silver-polished cutlery. 

"Please... please..." The words barely stumbled out of my mouth as he lunged forward, his heavy, claw-tipped hands gripping my shoulders roughly through my apron. 

His grip was tight enough to bruise, his aura suffocating the air in the room.

"Look at us, girl. We’re being gentlemen. Don't make us behave out of character, okay?" his partner chimed in, leaning against the doorframe with an unsettlingly calm smirk. "Just pay the debt your family owes, and we get off your back. Not hard, is it?"

The leader raised a dark eyebrow, then shook me so hard my teeth rattled and my neck snapped back. 

The scent of copper filled my mouth as my lip split.

"Give me more time," I gasped, my voice trembling as I stared into the glowing amber eyes of the rogue enforcers standing before me. "It's a massive debt for a rogue pack loan. I’m working double shifts, I’m trying to gather it…"

Two years ago, when my father passed away from a sudden, mysterious affliction, I discovered the crushing truth. 

He had taken loans from predatory werewolf loan sharks, rogue enforcers running underground debt rings totaling $300,000 from the pack treasury and bank combined. 

He had put up our family estate, our ancestral land, and his prized library as collateral. 

How? 

Why? 

Those were questions I had been asking every single day, but no one in the pack had answers.

"Please," I pleaded again, lifting my hands defensively. "Just give me until next month!"

The leader stepped closer, his boots heavy on the floorboards. 

He didn't look angry; he looked utterly bored, which was terrifying. 

He reached out, his thick fingers gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear before his hand suddenly slammed straight into my stomach.

A low, brutal blow.

The breath exploded from my lungs. I collapsed to my knees, clutching my stomach as pain radiated through my core. 

I slammed hard against the wooden legs of the display table.

"That’s for today's interest," the leader remarked coldly, wiping his hand on his pants.

As I doubled over, gasping and gasping for air, clutching my abdomen, he reached down and grabbed the scruff of my collar.

With supernatural strength, he lifted me off the floor and slammed me back against the wall, right beside the wall clock.

"We’ll leave the third mark for when we come back next month," he growled, his face inches from mine, his hot, carnivorous breath reeking of raw meat. "But if you don't have the money by then, we won't just hit you. We'll snap your spine."

He took hold of my hand, his claws extending slightly, pricking the skin of my fingers. He stared intently at my trembling hand.

"I wonder which of your fingers you'd like to take home as a souvenir?" he whispered, chuckling darkly. 

He straightened up, glancing over toward the back door where my supervisor, Mr. Luke, was cowering behind a stack of crates.

"No! Stop! Don't drag him into this!" I shouted, trying to pull my hand away.

"You!" the enforcer barked, pointing a claw at Mr. Luke. "She's done here."

Mr. Luke scrambled out from behind the crates, his face pale and eyes wide with fear. 

"I-I can't allow this! Those thugs coming around my shop are absolutely awful for my business.

“Sarah! I can't have blood shed in here, nor can I have debt collectors scaring away customers!"

"Mr. Luke, please!" I cried out, reaching a hand toward him. "It wasn't my fault! They cornered me!"

He maintained a sharp, cold glare, refusing to meet my eyes. 

"You can't remain here any longer, Sarah. Pack rules or not, you're a liability. Get out."

Dread filled my mind, heavier and colder than the pain in my stomach. 

"Mr. Luke, no! I need this job! How am I supposed to pay them back?" I reached out to grab his arm, desperate for mercy, but he yanked his arm off violently, disgusted by the connection.

"I said leave!" he snapped, turning his back on me. "Hand in your uniform and get out before I call the guard to drag you off the property!"

Unshed tears blurred my vision as I stumbled out the back door into the rainy evening.

The cool rain stung the fresh cut on my lip. My stomach throbbed, and my chest felt completely hollow. 

With this job gone, I had nothing left. I had worked two years of back-breaking night shifts, saving every dollar, working myself to the bone, yet the interest on my father's debt never reduced.

"Reid will know what to do," I whispered to myself, trying to anchor my spiraling thoughts. "Reid is waiting."

I rushed through the pack territory, taking the long, dark alleyways toward the small apartment Reid and I rented on the edge of the town borders. 

Reid was my mate, or as close to one as I had. 

We had lived together for over a year, and though he was a low-ranking wolf, he had always promised we would figure out a way to pay off the debt together.

Reaching the building, I hurried up the creaky wooden stairs. I grabbed the door handle, shocked to find it unlocked. 

Reid was usually never back from his shift at the pack forge by this time.

"Reid?" I called out, pushing the heavy apartment door open.

I froze at the sight that welcomed me.

The apartment was oddly, hauntingly empty. The television was gone. 

The gaming console Reid cherished was missing. 

Even the expensive espresso machine we had saved up for months to buy had vanished from the kitchen counter.

My breath hitched in my throat as the terrifying realization began to settle in. 

We had been robbed. 

A break-in? 

Did the loan sharks come here too?

Panic seized me. "No, no, no!"

Cold fear filled my chest as I ran to the corner of the bedroom where I had hidden our emergency safe inside the back of the closet. I dropped to my knees, pushing aside old coats.

The small iron safe was still there, completely untouched. It seemed perfectly okay. 

My hands shook violently as I punched in the combination, my fingers slipping on the keypad three times before the lock finally clicked.

I opened the heavy door, expecting to see the stack of hard-earned cash we had accumulated over the past two years.

It was gone. Every single bill.

In its place sat a single piece of yellow lined paper.

A sticky note.

My brows furrowed in utter confusion, my mind refusing to accept what my eyes were seeing. 

My hand reached out, trembling, as I picked up the paper. 

The handwritten ink drove an invisible knife straight into my heart, tearing it apart piece by piece.

[I'm sorry, Sarah. I didn't want to do this, but I'm done struggling with you and your cursed debt. You were always so focused on the money you owed that you forgot how to actually live. I need a fresh start, and I need to get out of this pack.]

[Consider this my 'consultation f*e' for the four years I wasted waiting for you to fix your life and be a real mate. Goodbye, Reid.]

A sound tore from my throat, a raw, guttural scream of pure agony and betrayal that didn't sound human at all. It sounded like a wounded animal howling into the void.

"Reid!" I screamed into the empty, stripped-bare apartment, collapsing onto

the old floorboards as the full weight of the ruin washed over me. 

I had been looted, betrayed, and left to the wolves by the one person I trusted most.

---