Betrothed and Mated

[ALICE’s Point of View]

“Hey! Stop! What are you doing?!”

My heart was pounding hard against my chest after I witnessed the living area of our home being destroyed by three huge men. One of them pinned my father against the wall, his hand grabbing my dad’s neck and lifting him a few inches from the ground.

It was as if my blood went up my head, making it throb in adrenaline as I pulled the man’s massive arm away from the scrawny neck of my father. But one of them kicked me from behind. A few bones snapped and I was sent flying on the other side of the room, landing on the corner with a moan.

“Stay out of this, Alice! Your father has to pay me! This bastard owes me five hundred grand and I want my money now!” The biggest one among the three, and the one that was choking my father to death, snarled. “Pay me, Gabriel, or I will take your daughter and make her the freshest part of my harem!”

My skin crawled as I heard the lust in his voice. He turned to look at me with a sneer that made my stomach tighten with disgust.

“I-I told you I don’t have it right now!” my father cried, trembling, as he struggled miserably to free himself from the man’s deadly grip. “Give me three days to pay you, Maverick! I swear I have the money!”

My eyes widened in horror. NO. He didn’t have that kind of money! We barely survive with our basic needs! If I didn’t have three jobs, we would have probably lived on the streets like rats!

Father turned to look at me and he gave me a knowing look, as if silently telling me that he got it—that there was nothing for me to panic about, which made me more furious. I wanted to scream at him and ask why he did it again. I told him so many times not to go back to that cursed gambling house but he never listened. He kept on hoping for luck that would never come. He was so desperate to get us out of this miserable slum that he was willing to risk his life.

Our lives.

Maverick scowled but he released his father and my old man dropped to the floor. His knees popped as they hit the hard surface.

“I want that f*cking money in three days, Gabriel! Or I will take your daughter as payment!” the blond guy glared at my father, and his eyes went to me, scanning my body with that ravenous look in his eyes. I looked away with a repulsive feeling in my gut. Too scared to meet him in the eye.

And then they finally decided to leave and kicked the door, completely destroying it on their way out.

“Alice—” father quickly crawled towards me with worry and fear in his eyes but I stood and flinched away from him with anger that I failed to suppress. My teeth clenched and my hands curled into fists and I hated him. I hated him because he was supposed to be the one who should make life easier for the both of us. And there he was, planning to sell me to the guy who wanted me so badly to warm his bed at night.

“I told you before not to make a bet with Maverick, father! He…” I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I would scream, punch the wall, or just kill myself after this huge trouble my father caused me. “He clearly tricked you so I wouldn’t have any more choice but to agree to join his harem, father! I thought you knew better!”

“It’s all my fault, Alice! I thought—I thought I finally had luck on my side—”

I groaned in anger and marched out of the house before I blurted out something to my father that I knew I would surely regret. I hated that after making my life miserable, I still loved him and I couldn’t abandon him no matter how much I wanted to.

I had to get out of the house before I lost my wit. The night was cold and the streets of this poor side of the Moon Claw Pack territory were still buzzing with exhausted people heading to their second or third job to earn extra money to survive the brutal winter. The place where Omegas who were poor as church mice, clustered to live near the border, away from the city, where rich and high-ranking werewolves enjoyed their lives like royalties.

Especially me. A hybrid with a Lycan mother and a warlock father.

The thought wanted me to laugh dryly. It's a pity my father couldn’t magic our way out of this poverty. And he made it even worse.

Lost in thoughts, I didn’t notice that I was already in the darkest part of the alley towards the flea market. My Lycan instinct told me there was something strange underneath the shadows and when I turned my heel to run, it was already too late.

Two strong hands grabbed me from behind. One covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming for help and the other was around my waist as he pressed me tight against his huge body.

“Not fast enough, huh?” Maverick’s gruff voice sent chills all over my spine as my eyes widened in terror. In front of me were two of his men, grinning at me like hyenas, ready for their meal.

“I can’t believe you needed two more men to scare a tiny lady, Maverick.”

A deep, baritone voice caught Maverick and his men’s attention. Maverick’s snarl rumbled in his chest and reverberated against my back. The stranger stepped away from the shadows of the alley and there, in front of me, was a handsome guy with dark hair and amber eyes.

The man behind me spat on the ground before he scowled at the werewolf. “What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be in this place!”

“Just let the girl go and we’ll talk about this, Mav.” He scratched his forehead with his index finger and smiled wryly. “I was sent here to settle the debt. You don’t have to harass the poor lady.”

I frowned. “What do you mean, debt?! Are you talking about my father’s—”

But the handsome man with alluring amber eyes ignored me as his focus fixed on Maverick. “Let the girl go and you will have your money sent straight to your bank account.”

The tension rose between them as the air suddenly turned heavy. My blood was singing in my veins as a minute passed, and both of them just stared at each other while Maverick contemplated the guy’s offer.

And then his grip on me loosened and I immediately ran away from him. I slammed against the awfully cold brick wall and the stranger who saved me gestured for me to go behind him as he and Maverick still measured each other to see whether they would settle it with money or with their lives.

Maverick scoffed and then turned his back on us. But before he walked away, he threw me one last glance and sneered, “You are still not safe from me, Alice. I will still take you one way or another!”

And then he was gone.

I was left with the stranger who smiled at me and I just gave him a suspicious look after refusing to hold his hand when he offered his to shake. I bit my lower lip hard. It was hard to recover from those threatening words Maverick threw at me. I wasn’t safe. I would never be safe from him.

“Why did you do that? Who are you?” I asked with sharpness, which made the guy raise an eyebrow at me. For the second time, he ignored my words and just sighed.

He slipped his hand into the pockets of his dark jeans and gave me a concerned look. “Let me walk you to wherever you are going, Miss. Just to make sure Maverick won’t go after you again.”