Chapter 13 - Sienna
The last thing I expected Franco to say after rejecting my advances was that he wanted me to admit to having an attraction toward him. As much as I wanted to tell the truth and say that my feelings toward him had been changing, I couldn’t risk rejection again. Not when he turned me down less than an hour ago.
For all I tried to put on a tough exterior, I was a deeply sensitive person. For some reason, with Franco, that vulnerability was amplified.
Regardless of my hesitancy, we did need to talk about what our next plan was going to be. So when he asked if I would get a drink with him, I accepted his invitation.
“Two whiskey cokes, please,” he told the bartender when we sat down.
“Thanks,” I told him as he pushed one of the drinks toward me.
We both took big swigs of them as we sat awkwardly next to each other. I wasn’t sure where to go from here. He had shot down my offer of sex and forbidden me from going back to Sparkle Hollow. If he wanted the curse to be broken, the ball was in his court.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Franco told me quietly.
“Oh, do you?” I asked, eyebrow raised in disbelief.
“Yes,” he said. “You want to go back to your family to get help with breaking the curse. The problem is, I don’t think that’s what you would do. I think you would take the opportunity to disappear, leaving my pack with an unquenchable thirst for death.”
“I wouldn’t leave,” I argued. “I told you I would help you break the curse, and I’m not a liar.”
“Maybe not, but that’s not a risk I can take. Not when everyone is depending on me.”
I sighed in frustration because we appeared to be at an impasse still.
“What’s your solution, then?” I asked. “Do you want me to call my dad and have him come here?”
Franco growled in anger before quickly covering up his emotions. “I doubt the pack would take kindly to that witch being in their territory. I wouldn’t be able to ensure his safety.”
“Would you even try?” I asked.
His silence told me everything I needed to know about his feelings toward my father. We continued sipping our drinks as the minutes ticked by slowly.
“I’m doing everything I can to protect you ,” Franco said, finally breaking the silence. “That’s why I marked you to begin with.”
“Because you need me alive to break the curse,” I pointed out.
He shifted uncomfortably on his seat, his face bearing an odd expression. For the first time, I wondered if that was the only reason he had marked me. There were plenty of other ways he could have ensured my cooperation and safety besides making me his mate. Why had that been the option he had chosen?
“I do need you to break the curse,” he said. “That’s why you can’t leave. But that’s not all I’ve been doing to keep you safe. Why do you think I won’t sleep with you unless you want it?”
There were plenty of reasons a man would make that choice, but one reason I hadn’t considered was that it was for my own protection. If that were true, it wasn’t about my physical safety. It seemed far-fetched to believe he had any qualms about hurting my feelings.
“Because you would only find me attractive if I was fawning over you?” I guessed.
Franco’s icy gaze flashed at me. “Silly princess,” he whispered. “I thought I made it clear that my boundaries of decency were already being tested just by being near you.”
“I’m starting to get whiplash from all this hot-and-cold bullshit,” I told him. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to risk being rejected by him for a third time in a day. Our situation was a more complicated relationship than I could have fathomed being involved in, and there seemed to be no reprieve for either of us from its complexities.
Franco opened his mouth to reply, but once again, we were interrupted when his phone rang.
“Sven,” he answered, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand while he held his cell with the other. “Yes. Roger, we’ll be right there.” He hung up and slid a fifty onto the bar top. “Time to go back. Duty calls,” he sighed.
“What is it this time?”
“Dylan and Clara are fighting, and no one wants to intervene because of his position,” he explained.
“Dylan and Clara?” Of all the people to argue, those two were who I least expected. “I thought those two had a thing for each other.”
“I think that’s the problem.”
We hurried back to the cabins and found the pack circled around the offending parties. Dylan was on the ground, covering his head as Clara pummeled him with her fists.
“Enough!” Franco shouted.
I wasn’t a wolf, but even I could hear the alpha timbre in his voice as he commanded a halt to the violence. Clara’s hand stopped an inch from Dylan’s face as she whipped her head up to look into her alpha’s eyes.
“Both of you, get up,” Franco commanded. “The rest of you, back to your cabins. I think that’s enough for tonight.”
Everyone obeyed immediately. The wolves dispersed until only Franco, Clara, Dylan, and I remained outside.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Clara began. “I accept any punishment you deem fit for attacking my superior.”
“No punishment is needed,” Dylan cut in, though his nose had been broken and blood poured from his face as he spoke.
I hurried over toward him and performed a healing spell to halt the flow.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” the alpha pointed out, and Dylan bowed his head in submission as Franco ordered, “Explain what happened here.”
“I was going to ask Clara to go for a run with me to get away from the pack for a bit and spend some time together. But when I found her, she was… she…” Dylan trailed off as he became visibly angry and overwhelmed with the memory of what he had seen.
“Max and I were kissing,” Clara finished. “It wasn’t a big deal, just something to pass the time. You and I aren’t mates, you know.”
My heart sank for Dylan. From what I had seen of him, he wasn’t a bad guy. Cursed, like the rest of them, but when the bloodlust was down, he had been perfectly kind and helpful. He liked Clara, but from what I had seen, she had never returned the sentiment. Finding out that his chances were dashed by seeing her lips locked with another member of the pack would have been difficult, but it appeared that the timing of this revelation had been the worst part of the night.
“How did you end up fighting?” Franco pressed.
“I took a swing at Max,” Dylan confessed. “Clara stepped in to push me back, but all I could see was red.”
“And where is Max?”
Both shrugged, and the situation all became clearer to me. Clara was too young for anything serious, and Dylan was too old for anything casual. They were mismatched and would do better apart. For her part, Clara didn’t seem too upset about Max’s departure from the incident. She had simply fought Dylan to stop him from engaging in a more dangerous fight.
“I appreciate your explanation and honesty,” Franco said. “There will be no punishment, Clara. You can go.”
“And my punishment, Alpha?” Dylan asked as Clara walked back to her cabin.
“None,” Franco replied. “If this had happened earlier today, when the curse was less powerful, I doubt anything other than harsh words would have been traded. I won’t hold you responsible for this. But I recommend staying away from Clara for a while.”
Dylan mumbled his gratitude to the alpha and headed for his own cabin.
Watching Franco handle this altercation had forced the curse—and my mate—into a new light. Managing a pack was always a difficult job. That’s why alphas garnered so much respect from the magical world. But to handle a complicated conflict like this with ease, as I had just seen Franco do, while also contending with the effects of a curse that awakened the darkest parts of their psyches, was something I couldn’t imagine any other alpha doing well. He was doing his best for his pack despite the circumstances affecting him as well.
His insistence that he wouldn’t sleep with me unless I truly wanted to made even more sense now. All he wanted and needed was to feel normal in one aspect of his life.
I could give that to him.
“Come on,” I said to Franco, grabbing his hand and pulling him with me.
He allowed me to guide him back to our cabin silently. When we got home, he kicked his boots off and headed for his bedroom. I followed him and closed the door behind us.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and mustered up the last bit of courage I had so that I could be vulnerable with him. I knew I was risking his rejection once again, but there was no other option. It was time for me to tell him the truth.
“I’m seducing you,” I admitted. I unzipped my dress and let it fall to the ground around my ankles, revealing my bare breasts and a pair of lacy black panties.
His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open in shock as he took in my almost naked form.
I took a few steps forward and told myself there was no backing down now. “Before you argue with me again or turn me down, you should know that I want this. I wanted this earlier, but I was too afraid to admit it. I want your hands—” I grabbed one of his hands and cupped it around my breast “—on my skin. I want your lips on mine. I want you.”