Forced By the Alpha (Sparkle Hollow Wolves #7)

Chapter 20 - Franco

“What do you mean you couldn’t catch them?” I roared at the trio of wolves standing before me. They had just returned from a chase across the territory, following a van that contained Sienna and my half-brother.

“It’s not their fault,” Sven said, defending his underlings. “There was no warning—no one even saw them come in. By the time we saw Sienna escape, they were already at the van.”

I howled at the loss of my mate, knowing deep down that it was all my fault. If I hadn’t locked her up, she wouldn’t have felt the need to run away. It had taken ten minutes for the wolves who had seen the van to find me and relay the incident to me. By that time, there was no way to catch up with her.

“We’re sorry, Alpha,” one of the guards said.

All three were hanging their heads in shame. There was no use in me chastising them further. They had done their duty. It was I who had failed the pack.

“Go back to your posts,” I told them.

“What do you wanna do, boss?” Dylan asked. “Should we put a group together and go after her?”

I was at my wit’s end, knowing that she was gone. I was struggling to make up a cohesive plan. I wanted—needed—her to come back, but I also knew that leaving had been her choice. Was I willing to drag her back yet again, only to lock her up and force her not to use magic to break the curse? Was I as heartless as I believed myself to be, or had I learned from my mistakes?

“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “We still need her to break the curse, but I don’t have a plan for how to do that yet. I need some time to think.”

“Whatever you need,” Dylan said.

He was about to walk away when Sven and the three wolves I had just dismissed came barreling back to the edge of the cabins. They were in wolf form, and as soon as they reached us, they whirled around and took a defensive position.

“Something’s coming, get the pack. Now!” I said to my second.

He disappeared to rally everyone just as a line of wolves came stalking toward us. I walked to stand in front of the quartet of Forsaken Shadows wolves and stare down our enemies.

“Colson!” I shouted. “You’re on the wrong side of town!”

They stopped twenty yards away and shifted into their human forms just as Dylan reappeared with the bulk of our pack, each of them ready for a fight. We stared at each other for a long moment before Colson finally spoke.

“We heard about the commotion,” he began. “Someone in town said they saw an unmarked van peeling out of the forest after picking up a red-headed woman wearing shackles.”

“What happens in our territory doesn’t concern you,” I replied.

“It does when it impacts the human population we coexist with,” Colson snapped. “You’ve been stirring up trouble since the moment you came to Preston, and we’ve had enough of it. The Crescent Shield is here to challenge you for the right to settle on this land.”

“You think you can make us leave?” I sneered. “You have no clue who you’re dealing with.”

“On the contrary, I’m aware that we’re dealing with an inhuman, evil, disrespectful pack of mobsters who relish in violence and bloodshed,” he retorted.

Growls emanated from my pack behind me. His words had offended them, as he had intended, but he was dangerously close to setting a spark to the ember of their bloodlust. Even now, I could feel the urge to rip flesh from bone and feel the hot trickle of blood on my hands. If we chose to fight today, it would result in the deaths of many—from both packs.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I lied, hoping to make it into the truth. The words left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I felt the pain of ignoring the curse’s urges. Bile rose in my throat as I quashed down my lust for blood.

“Does your pack agree?” Colson asked.

One by one, my wolves transformed into their human selves.

“We follow our alpha,” Dylan said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. I saw him wince as he experienced the pain of the curse as well. None of the others had ever had cause to fight against it before. We had rules to protect ourselves and keep our issue a secret, but the most they had ever done was divert their attention to a preferred target.

“No fighting,” Sven agreed as he became the last of the pack to transform. His knees buckled as he doubled over in pain, but he remained strong.

My heart swelled with pride as I watched each of them fight against their desire to kill. They were willing to follow me, no matter the cost to themselves. It was all an alpha could hope for.

And now it was my job to protect them.

“We haven’t made any trouble for you, or the humans in town,” I reminded Colson. “Our packs are evenly matched. Do you really want to risk the lives of your people over something so trivial as a rumor?”

Colson glanced to the side and caught eyes with his beta. Now that we were squared up, the Crescent Shield wolves looked much less interested in the kind of fight their alpha was asking for.

“We will continue to monitor your behavior,” Colson warned.

I nodded in acknowledgment as our rivals backed away. The group took a communal sigh of relief as they disappeared over the hill and back into the trees.

I spent the next few hours talking with each wolf about how to channel their bloodlust to alleviate the pain. It wouldn’t erase it, but it made it more manageable. A few members couldn’t settle themselves and were sent off to hunt for small game in the forest. Overall, it was as successful a day as it could have been.

For the first time, I realized that we had all been feeling hopeless. The longer we’d lived under the curse, the easier it had become to give in. If we continued down that path, it was only a matter of time before we completely succumbed to it.

Sienna was the one who had given us something to hold onto: hope. She was the only person from outside the pack who had ever tried to help us. For years, we had scavenged, lied, cheated, and stolen what we needed to survive. With her help, a new possibility had opened up before us. A new life, with real meaning.

***

I hadn’t realized how close we had become during her time here, but every day, I found things that reminded me of her. Each funny moment was tinged with sadness, and I realized I would miss her until the day we were reunited again. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like that might not happen during this lifetime.

No messages came from Sparkle Hollow or Killian after her departure. There were no threats of retribution, which was reassuring for the pack, but it saddened me that Sienna didn’t reach out. Even if it was only to let me know that she was safe, I would have taken that. It was clear that she wanted nothing to do with me. Everything we had been through together had been for nothing.

After a week of no contact, I finally began to resign myself to her loss. Dylan had offered his help if I wanted to track her down and bring her back, but I had made my decision. I wouldn’t force her to return. Instead, I secluded myself in my cabin and mourned for what could have been.

As I sat ruminating over my many mistakes, a buzzing told me I had a new message. I felt a flutter of hope and wondered whether it was news of my mate, but I quashed it. I would only be torturing myself by thinking she could ever care about me again.

SOS town bridge: visitor.

“Not this again,” I groaned. If Colson had come back to complain about our presence again, I would be hard-pressed to resist fighting him.

I hurried to the bridge but stopped short when I saw who was waiting for me.

“Ki?” I asked weakly.

Although my half-brother’s expression was stern, he didn’t look angry or upset. “We need to talk,” he said.

“Sienna, is she…” I trailed off as my voice broke with emotion.

“She’s safe, in Sparkle Hollow,” he replied. “I’m here for the truth. You need to tell me why you kidnapped her.”

Admitting the truth to Killian—about the curse, my inability to break it, and the terrible things I had done because of it—would be difficult. But I had hurt him far too much to do it again. He deserved honesty, at the very least. If I ever wanted to make amends with him, it had to start now.

“You remember how badly I was acting when you joined my pack,” I began. “Well, shortly after you left, I ordered my wolves to rob a man on the road. It turned out it was a witch. He fought back and put a curse on our entire pack. Anyone who had sworn fealty to me was affected by it. If we don’t appease the curse with violence, we experience debilitating pain. I’ve been trying to find a way to break it ever since.”

“And how does Sienna factor into this?” Killian asked.

“About a year ago, I found out the identity of the man who cursed us,” I continued. “I tried to get to him, but he lived in a town protected by a strong wolf pack. There was no way to break through the defenses without risking death. But then I found out he had a child, and that child was friends with your luna. I decided to kidnap her and force her to use her magic—her father’s magic—to break the curse.”

There was no use in sugar-coating my explanation or the reasoning behind my decisions. Killian had come for the facts, and that was what I would give him.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad you decided to tell me the truth, brother.”

I looked into his eyes, surprised at the term of endearment. “You knew?” I asked.

“Sienna told me everything. But there’s one other part I need you to explain,” Killian demanded. “I saw the mark on Sienna’s neck.”

My heart ached, and I closed my eyes to take a deep breath at the thought of my mate so far away from me.

“The bloodlust put her in danger from the pack. I marked her to ensure her safety. None of the pack would harm their luna,” I said.

He looked at me suspiciously. “There’s more you aren’t saying about her, isn’t there?”

“I can’t say it out loud,” I admitted quietly. “I never even got the chance to tell her.”

The pain must have been evident on my face, because Killian moved closer and gave me a hug. I dropped my forehead to his shoulder and let out a long sigh of relief and desperation. It had been years since my big brother had shown me affection. Years of yearning for belonging and love. And here he was, ready and willing to pick up the pieces of my broken life and help me put them back together.

“I can see how much you love her, brother,” Killian said. “From the way she described you, I had a feeling. I only came here to confirm it.”

“What do I do?”

“You mean, what do we do?” he corrected me. “That’s the other reason I’m here. I’m going to help you fight for her.”