Forced By the Alpha (Sparkle Hollow Wolves #7)

Chapter 7 - Sienna

Back at the cabins, Franco led me to the hall, where many of the pack’s wolves had gathered after their altercation with the rival pack. Werewolves were known for their quick healing, but that didn’t mean it was instantaneous. Many of the Forsaken Shadows warriors had been injured in the scuffle. Everyone was doing what they could to alleviate their pain and suffering, but standard practices could only go so far.

Standing with Franco, I looked around the crowded room at the injured wolves, taking note of those with the most severe injuries.

“I’ll start with those three.” I pointed toward a trio being bandaged up by Clara and a few other she-wolves. They had barely made it inside the hall before collapsing on the floor, blood pooling near them as they grappled with their injuries and fought against those trying to help them. One was holding his hand, screaming in agony as blood spurted from a severed finger. Another’s leg was bent at an extreme angle—broken at the femur. The third was unconscious and very pale.

“What do you need from me?” Franco asked.

“Once I heal these three, they’ll need to be taken back to their cabins to rest. In the meantime, triage the rest of the group and bring me the ones that need healing the fastest.”

Franco nodded and immediately began to bring order to the hectic room. I pulled a bag from my pocket and dropped to the floor next to the unconscious man. As distressing as the other two’s plight was, whatever ailed this man needed to be dealt with first.

“What are those?” Clara asked.

“Healing crystals,” I explained as I selected a large opal. I brought it to my lips and spoke to the stone. “Please, allow me to find his injury,” I said to it. “Thank you for helping me heal him.”

Holding the opal in my right hand, I closed my eyes and trailed my closed fist around the man’s body.

Lead me to where my healing can be useful.

As my hand approached his left temple, it began to feel warm, and I knew whatever ailed him lay beneath the crystal.

“A healing spell, I will intone, flesh to flesh and bone to bone. Sinew to sinew, vein to vein. All that is broken shall be whole again,” I chanted.

As energy traveled out of my hand toward the man’s head, I took a deep, steadying breath. It had been a long time since I had used a healing spell for something so large. I had nearly forgotten the toll it could take on me. But my efforts were rewarded when, a moment later, the man’s eyes fluttered open.

“Luna?” he asked, blinking at me in confusion.

“No, it’s Sienna,” I corrected him gently. “You must have mistaken me for someone else, but that’s alright. How are you feeling?”

“He was referring to your title, not your name,” Clara pointed out.

“Yes, you are my luna,” the man agreed. “Thank you for healing me. I felt your energy even though I wasn’t awake. I feel so much better.”

I smiled in response and let Clara know that he could be moved to his cabin to rest. The title bestowed on me by the injured man echoed in my head as I turned toward my next patient.

It had hardly occurred to me that members of the pack would see me as their luna. After all, I wasn’t a werewolf. But I was the mate of their alpha. I wasn’t sure whether it was my marriage or my spell that had convinced the man that I was worthy of his respect. Hopefully, utilizing my skills for their benefit would prove to them once and for all that I wasn’t hiding any other abilities from them. I enjoyed their respect, but what I needed was their trust.

“Please, Luna,” the man with the broken leg begged. “Can you fix me?”

I placed a hand on his cheek gently as I pulled a tourmaline stone out of the bag. Once again, I closed my eyes and asked it for its assistance in healing. It grew warm as I hovered my right hand over his leg.

“A healing spell, I will intone,” I began again, more confidently this time. “Flesh to flesh and bone to bone. Sinew to sinew, vein to vein. All that is broken shall be whole again.”

As the last word left my lips, a loud crack split the air as his leg snapped back into place. He screamed from the pain, and it took everything in me not to scream along with him. My brow broke out into a sweat as energy was expelled from my body. I gulped unsteadily as it left me in a rush, but I managed to maintain my composure.

This was only the second injury. I needed to keep going.

“Put this in your hand,” I said to the third man, placing an aventurine crystal in his injured palm.

He obeyed dutifully, and I spoke the healing spell once again. The bleeding stopped immediately, and his skin began to regrow where it had been severed.

“It won’t regrow completely, but you’ll be okay,” I said.

“Thank you, Luna,” he said.

Franco helped him to his feet and passed him off to be accompanied back to his cabin before reaching a hand down to me.

“I have them set up in a line over here,” he explained. “Starting on the left.”

I nodded and followed him to the next patient. For the next hour, I healed each person, one by one, until everyone was stable.

“That’s all I can do for them right now,” I told Franco as the last woman was helped back to her bed. “Their sped-up healing should have them right as rain by morning. Remind me tomorrow to make some protection amulets so there are fewer injuries next time.”

“Tomorrow?” he asked.

“I can’t do them today. I need some supplies,” I explained. “I’ll make a list.”

It was true, but it wasn’t the whole reason for not making them today. The truth was, I was completely exhausted.

As the few remaining pack members talked with Franco, I snuck out of the room. All I could think about was getting into bed and taking a few minutes—or hours—to recharge. The healing had pushed my body to its limit, and I felt my last reserves of strength begin to fail me.

I barely made it out the door before my legs gave out from under me and the ground came up to greet me. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact, but it never came.

“Easy, I got you,” a deep voice said.

A pair of muscular arms had caught my fall. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Franco. He was looking at me, concern written all over his face as he held me tightly.

“I’m fine,” I said. I attempted to hold my own weight, but my legs buckled beneath me.

Franco held on to me tighter. His hands pressed into my torso, hot against the coldness that had permeated my body with each new person I healed.

“You’re not fine,” Franco argued.

With sure movements, he swung me up into his arms and carried me like a child to the cabin. I wanted to protest at the ridiculousness of him cradling me, as well as the physical closeness that I hadn’t agreed to, but I didn’t have the energy. Instead, I allowed my head to rest against his shoulder as I swayed in his arms. All too soon, we were back home, and he placed me gently on the bed.

“Explain,” he demanded.

The calm feeling that had washed over me moments ago dissipated, leaving behind a rage that had been buried.

“I told you already,” I hissed. “I don’t have the power you think I do. I’ve reached the limit of my abilities. All that healing has drained me—physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. You have no idea what kind of toll magic takes.”

“I know you have more power than you showed today,” Franco argued, though he sounded more encouraging than accusatory. He sat down on the bed next to me, further igniting my anger toward him.

“I don’t!” I shouted. “I have nothing more to give. Even if I did have the kind of magic you’re looking for, it’s locked somewhere deep inside me. It’s no good to either of us if I can’t access it.”

“You’re a witch. You’ve done magic like this before.”

“Not like this,” I said with a sigh, falling backwards onto the pillows. I couldn’t keep myself upright any longer.

“What kind of magic did you practice in Sparkle Hollow?” he asked.

“I’ve done spells before, of course, but I mostly relied on kitchen magic—herbs, potions, runes, amulets, those kinds of things,” I admitted.

“Is that easier?” Franco asked.

His question was genuine. I got the impression that he truly wanted to hear more about my life and the kind of magic I was used to using. It had been so long since I had the chance to have a real conversation with someone beyond day-to-day small talk. I felt myself relaxing in his presence, fueled by the kindness in his manner and the tiredness of my body.

“I’ve always done better magic when I have a physical object to focus on,” I explained.

My eyelids began to flutter closed. The weight on the bed shifted. I could tell that Franco had laid down beside me, but I was too tired to care.

“Did you learn magic from your mom or your dad?” he asked quietly.

“Both,” I explained. “My dad is a very powerful witch. He taught my siblings and me what he knew, but they took to spell work more than I did. He was always ready to help someone if they needed it, but he tried to keep a low profile in Sparkle Hollow.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Four—two older brothers and two younger sisters. Our house was always loud and full of laughter when I was a kid,” I said with a sleepy smile.

“I can imagine. What about your mom?” he asked.

“My mom was a hedge witch. She knew more about herbs than anyone else in the coven, and she taught me. We were really close.”

“Were?”

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled. I knew it wouldn’t be long now before I fell asleep.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Franco said quietly. His hand grasped mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. I felt a single teardrop leak through my closed eyelids as I thought of my mother.

“Her hair was red, like mine, but wild and curly,” I said. “When I was little, I asked her why it was different. She said it used to be straight, but she spent so much time making potions in her cauldron that the steam made it frizzy.”

“She sounds like a wonderful mother,” Franco said.

“I miss her,” I admitted. “I miss home, the way it used to be. My brothers left Sparkle Hollow when they graduated, and my sisters moved out to get a place together at the same time I left home. I’ve barely even seen my dad since my mom died.”

“Why not?”

“He changed after she died. He loved her so much that I think he lost parts of himself when she was gone.”

“The parts that would stop him from cursing a group of rogue werewolves, perhaps?” Franco asked.

I wrenched my eyelids open to glare at him, but the intent must have been lost in my exhaustion because all he did was chuckle.

“I already explained he wouldn’t do that,” I said. “He never used magic for evil.”

“Just because you didn’t see it happen doesn’t mean it didn’t,” Franco countered brusquely.

I allowed my eyes to close again as he began stroking my arm. I sighed contentedly as I began slipping toward unconsciousness. Franco shifted me onto his chest, and I allowed the sound of his steadily beating heart to lull me further into sleep.

He might believe that my dad had cursed them, but I refused to believe his claim. When I woke up, I would have to remember to tell him that.