Chapter 6 - Franco
It didn’t matter to me much whether Sienna enjoyed her time in the Forsaken Shadows pack. What did matter was that she got adjusted to her new reality and came to terms with her purpose here. I didn’t need a luna or a partner. What I needed was for her to witness the effects of the curse her father had put on us and find a way to break it.
I had ordered my pack to give Sienna as much freedom as she wanted—within reason. The entire territory was inescapable. The system of traps, borders, and guards was flawless at keeping Sienna in and others out. There was no doubt in my mind that she was completely trapped and at my mercy.
The only issue I had needed to address was the pack’s proximity to the small town of Preston, but that had been easily overcome by putting another layer of guards on duty. At my request, Sienna was allowed to travel into town, but no further.
It had been a few weeks since she had been captured, and although I wanted to give her time to acclimate, I was beginning to get impatient with the seeming lack of progress. She still hadn’t accepted that her father was responsible for our predicament. Even more annoying, she had begun sneaking away without telling me where she was going.
You’ve got to be kidding me , I said to my wolf. We had just come back from an excursion away from town to find her missing yet again.
What did you expect? That she’d stay here? Blizzard scoffed. You should know better than that.
Damn witches.
We hadn’t even been gone for long. There had been trouble with a rival pack in the area, but nothing major. The scuffle had barely lasted a few minutes.
Let’s go find her , I sighed. I really wanted a shower, but that would have to wait. First, I needed to deal with my wayward mate.
There was no sign of her anywhere in or around the cabins, so I headed to the mess hall. Clara and Sienna had developed a casual friendship over the past few days. If anyone knew where she had gone, it would be Clara. And if not, there would be plenty of other wolves who might have a lead I could follow.
“Have you seen Sienna?” I asked the she-wolf.
“Not since yesterday,” Clara responded. “But I think she’s been visiting town more often.”
“You lookin’ for your mate?” Sven interjected. “She’s probably at the library. I’ve been tailing her there for the past week.”
“The library?” I echoed. As far as I knew, none of the pack members had utilized the library since we had settled near Preston.
I thanked Sven and jogged toward town, anxious to find her. There was no telling what she was up to. The sooner I found her, the better for everyone.
From the outside, the library looked small and dingy. The brick walls were chipped and cracking. It was in desperate need of some upkeep, and when I walked inside, I saw that the interior wasn’t faring much better.
“Can I help you?” An older woman with bejeweled glasses hanging from a chain around her neck greeted me from the desk near the front door. Her gray hair was frazzled, and she wore a long, dark, thick cardigan over a dark blue pantsuit.
“I’m looking for my… wife,” I said, hesitating over the last word. “Red hair, thin, green eyes?”
“Of course, she’s in the study,” the woman responded, nodding toward the back of the library.
“Thank you,” I replied.
I took quick steps toward the room the librarian had indicated. Now that I had located her, my temper was beginning to flare again. The door to the study room was closed. I opened it abruptly, stepped inside, and shut it firmly behind me.
Sienna was sitting alone at a large table with books and documents scattered across it. She looked up at me with wide eyes as I crossed my arms and glared at her.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” I demanded.
“Researching,” she replied.
“Researching,” I echoed with a scoff. “Please. You’re not going to find anything in this human library.”
“Actually, there’s a lot of information for me to sift through. Muriel has been very helpful.”
“Muriel?” I repeated.
“The librarian,” she explained, closing the book in front of her. “She’s a witch as well.”
“I highly doubt it,” I said sarcastically. Did every woman with glasses feel the need to claim witchcraft to maintain relevance nowadays?
“Whatever,” Sienna said flippantly.
That was my least favorite phrase. The dismissiveness in those three syllables grated on my nerves, and I clenched my teeth together in anger.
“You think I brought you to the Forsaken Shadows pack just so you could read books and waste my time?” I said.
“It’s not a waste of time,” Sienna argued.
“You’re procrastinating,” I continued. “You have your father’s blood and a link to his magic. Everything you need to break the curse is already inside you. So just do it already!”
“You’re wrong,” she countered, slamming a book down on the table. “My father had nothing to do with what happened to you. And even if he did, I don’t have the kind of magic you would need to break a curse. I can make potions and amulets—nothing more.”
“You lie.”
I moved to where she still sat and pulled the armrest abruptly, forcing her chair around so she was facing me. I had heard enough of her lies. It was time for her to tell me the truth about what she was capable of. Perhaps a bigger dose of fear would be the trigger to her honesty.
I bent down, placing my hands on the back of the seat in a pose reminiscent of the one I had used during our first encounter. Her breathing hitched. She was clearly intimidated by me, but there was another emotion buried in the sound she made. Excitement.
That won’t do, my wolf said. We need her to feel trapped if she’s going to tell us the truth about what it would take to break her father’s curse.
Stop distracting me , I snapped at him.
He growled at my rudeness, and I couldn’t blame him. If anything, he was the one keeping me on task. It was this witch who was distracting me from my true purpose.
“I’m not lying,” Sienna breathed, her voice trembling slightly.
“Don’t make me torture it out of you,” I warned, clenching my hands on the back of her chair. The flimsy plastic began to contort in my hands, and I saw her wince at the sound of its imminent destruction.
“I swear,” she whispered.
But a moment later, her expression changed from fear to one of concern. The sudden change unsettled me.
“What?” I demanded.
She reached up and grasped my face in her hands, turning my head to inspect it. Her touch startled me, and I backed away from her quickly. Unfazed by my retreat, Sienna stood up and grabbed my arm.
“What are you doing?” I asked again. I attempted to brush her hands away, but she was relentless.
“Inspecting you for injuries,” she said, lifting the hem of my shirt. “Why does it look like you’ve been in a fight? I didn’t notice right away because you were talking about something else, but your hair is a mess and your clothes are ripped. Is this blood?”
“It isn’t mine,” I assured her.
“Are you injured?”
“Of course not,” I scoffed, but a moment later, I felt myself soften toward her. Just moments ago, I had been intimidating her, but here she was, showing genuine concern for my well-being.
What kind of woman would care whether her captor was hurt ? I thought.
Don’t let the witch trick you , Blizzard replied. She isn’t worried about us. She’s just looking for weaknesses she can exploit .
His words rang with truth. It was highly probable that the daughter of the man who cursed me would look for ways to further my humiliation. But there was something about the way she moved. Something in her eyes told me this wasn’t a trick.
“Whose blood do you have on you?” Sienna asked.
“There’s another pack living near here,” I explained. “They haven’t taken kindly to the Forsaken Shadows pack settling in their area—even though we are clearly outside of their territory.”
“So, you attacked them?” she asked.
“No,” I said tersely. “They keep attacking us. They want to drive us out of the area because they think we’re trouble. Even though we have never encroached on their land by a single footstep.”
The look of concern remained on Sienna’s face, but I couldn’t gauge what she was thinking. Most likely, she wished the other pack had been successful in their attempts to force us into exile once again.
“If I had been hurt, what would you have done?” I asked.
I had thought Sienna would have been wishing for my death, but there was no malice in the way she was looking at me now. Her expression reminded me of the look one might give a child who had just asked an inane question.
“Heal you, of course,” she answered.
There was no lie in her eyes—she meant it.
“I order you to leave the library and go back home,” I said, utilizing my alpha tone to ensure her cooperation.
She frowned. “Why?”
From her tone and her immediate compliance with my order, I knew it wasn’t an insolent question. She wanted to know what had changed within the past few moments.
“You asked if I was injured, and I’m not,” I explained, holding open the door for her. “But there are plenty of other people in the pack that could use your help. You said you’d heal me if I was hurt. I think it’s time we put your talents to use.”