The Imperial Wolf Series

Kate POV

I begin my day, as usual, cleaning this disgusting house as my idiot father tries to figure out how to get money to go to the Moon River Pack casino. He is pacing, sweating like a drug addict, and watching the window. He owes money again; I can tell by his fear; I can smell it on him. There is nothing left for him to sell for gambling money. He takes a beer out of the almost empty refrigerator and walks into the living room. He sits on the floor because the sofa is gone, sold for beer and gambling money.

“There is no food for breakfast, dad,” I say to him as he walks away from me.

He ignores me as usual; he doesn’t want me here. I should leave and never come back. I turn twenty-one next week. I need to leave and never look back. I have no idea where I would go. There has to be somewhere for me. My father is an outcast. His pack turned on him years ago when my mother died. When the pack cast him out, it left me alone with no one to turn to after her death. I am all alone with a father who doesn’t want me and barely has cared for me over the years.

A big black truck pulls fast into the driveway. I hear screaming coming from outside. I see two of the Alpha’s henchmen from the moon river pack getting out of the big black truck. My father throws down his beer and rushes out of the house to meet the Alpha’s henchmen. He must owe the Alpha and the casino a lot of money if the henchmen are here. What the hell have you done, dad? They will kill you if you do not stop gambling.

“We need the money Thomas,” Jackson screams at my father.

I watch from the dirty living room window, terrified the Alpha’s henchmen will kill my father this time. They grab my father by the shirt and throw him to the ground hard. He is no match for the henchmen; they are solid wolves, and my father is weak from years of drinking.

“I will have it, I cannot pay right now, but I will have it soon. Tell the Alpha I will pay him next week,” my father cowers as the henchmen stand over him, kicking and spitting on him.

“We need the money or your life. It would help if you didn’t place bets you cannot cover. Why don’t you try staying out of the casino, old man,” Jackson continues to scream at my father.

My mother is dead. It is only my father and me now, not that he has ever been a caregiver to me; he lives in the werewolf casino, placing bets he knows he cannot cover later. The henchmen have often come to our home to beat or scare him into paying somehow. My father has given them every possession we own over time. There is nothing left for him to bargain with for this time. He will die today.

The henchmen begin hitting my father with a cane. He screams out in pain. “You got to give us something, Thomas. We cannot return to the Alpha empty-handed, or we can take him your head? What is it going to be, old man?” Jackson screams as he kicks my father.

My father lies on the ground, bleeding. I am too afraid to go outside to help him. I begin to scream. I do not want to watch him die. The henchmen look into the window and see me standing there watching them beat my father.

“Go get her,” Jackson says to Theo. Theo obeys his order. He enters our dirty, almost empty home and pulls me out the front door. “You are coming with me,” Theo says.

I kick and scream as he pulls me out of the house. I do not want to die at the hands of the henchmen because of my father’s gambling problems. “Leave me alone,” I scream as I try to break free from him.

“Well, it looks like you have one last thing left of value here, Thomas, the Alpha can sell her to a whore house, or she can be his slave,” Jackson says as Theo brings me out of the house.

My father looks at Jackson. “You can have her for my debt and twenty thousand dollars,” my father says to Jackson.

“What! Are you going to sell me? Are you fucking crazy?” I scream at him.

Theo holds me as I spit on my father. I kick and scream, trying to get away from Theo, but he is much stronger than I am. “Please, let me go,” I beg Theo.

“You know I can’t,” Theo says to me.

I begin to sob; I am angry. “Please let me go!” I scream. Jackson hits me in the face. My face aches from the pain. I look to Theo.

“Please,” I say softly to Theo.

I know he cannot let me go; Jackson would kill him if he allowed me to escape. “Take her; she is of no use to me. She is worthless,” my father says.

“Your debt is covered, and I will credit the casino five thousand dollars for you to gamble away and not a penny more,” Jackson says.

My father nods his head in agreement—that bastard.

My father walks away as Jackson and Theo drag me to their truck.

“I will kill you,” I scream at my father.

“Shut up, or I will shut you up,” Jackson screams at me.

I sit quietly in the truck.

“What are we going to do with her?” Theo asks Jackson.

Jackson looks at me and smiles.

“How old are you?” Jackson asks.

“I am twenty-one,” I answer.

“It is not up to us; she belongs to the Alpha now; he can do with her as he sees fit,” Jackson answers.

“It doesn’t seem right,” Theo says.

“Well, the old bastard owes money; she is the only thing of value he has. Do you want to go back and tell the Alpha that we could not collect the debt, or do you want to take her to him?” Jackson asks Theo.

“Don’t I have a say?” I ask Jackson.

“No, you don’t. Now, shut up,” Jackson says.

Jackson drives the three of us to the Alpha’s house. I have not been around a pack since my mother died. When my pack disowned my father, they disowned me. It is so unfair. I lost my mother and my pack because my father is an idiot, and now he has sold me to the Alpha to cover his stupid gambling debt. I hate him.