Page 20 of Forced By the Alpha

“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m listening.”

“It was shortly after Killian left that my pack encountered your father on the road near Sparkle Hollow,” he began. “We needed money, and he looked like an easy mark. But we were wrong. He cursed us—all of us, anyone who claimed fealty to me—and turned us into what we are today: savage beasts who can’t help but take and can never feel happiness.”

“Bestial hunger,” I said in sudden realization, my eyes wide.

Franco lifted his eyes to look at me. “So, you know the spell.”

“Not the exact spell, but I’ve heard of it,” I admitted. “It doesn’t just work on werewolves, but it brings out the darkest parts of whoever it’s used on. They go into a rage if they don’t sate whatever their need is. It’s essentially a greed spell.”

Franco nodded. “We were violent toward him, and now we cannot help ourselves.”

“That’s why there are no children,” I replied with a sigh. “I wondered why everyone here was over the age of twenty.”

“We can’t give, only take,” he agreed. “And there’s no way for us to stop until the curse is removed. If it isn’t, our entire pack will die off, slowly, through violence or age.”

I opened the bottle of salve and began rubbing it on the marks covering Franco’s chest. Whatever animal he had killed had put up a fight, but the scratches weren’t deep.

“This will stop any infection and help you heal faster,” I told him. “I’d use magic, but I’ve already used so much today.”

I did my best to focus on my task, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Franco’s sad story. I was horrified by everything he had been through. Even now, with the bloodlust coursing through his veins for so many years, he was still trying to find a way to save his people.

“I want to help you,” I said after a few minutes of silence.

“You already have,” Franco replied. “I’ll be healed by morning.”

“Not with that,” I said. “With the curse. I’ll help you find a way to get rid of it. I didn’t understand before what it had done to all of you. I want to make it right.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

His ice-blue eyes seemed to melt as we stared into each other’s eyes. My hands caressed his chest as I finished rubbing the salve into his skin, but I couldn’t seem to make them stop. I didn’twantto stop.

“Sienna,” he whispered.

I didn’t even think about what I was doing when I leaned forward, wrapped my arms behind Franco’s neck, and kissed him. His lips were warm and inviting, and he smelled like a mixture of iron from his wounds and the salve I had made from chamomile and rose oil.

He drew in a sharp breath as I climbed onto his lap and straddled him, deepening our kiss as I twisted my fingers into his hair. His tongue caressed my lips as he gave in to my passionate embrace and placed his hands on my hips.

My lips parted, allowing him to explore my mouth with his tongue. His right hand found the crook of my knee as he turned me onto my back and covered my body with his, keeping my legs wrapped around his waist.

“Sienna,” he said as he pulled back. “You have no idea how badly I want to keep kissing you.”

“But?”

“Today has been a long day for both of us. I’m not sure we have the energy for this,” he said wryly.

I sighed. As much as I wanted to see where this was leading, I knew he was right.

“Lay down,” I said.

Without hesitation, he curled up next to me and placed his head on my chest. His head was comfortingly heavy as I wrapped him in my arms securely, comforting him. My lips brushed the top of his head as his breathing deepened, and he fell asleep. Before I realized it, the soothing pressure of his head lulled me to sleep as well.

Chapter 10 - Franco

For the first time since she had joined the pack, Sienna had woken up before me. The sun had fully risen by the time I woke up to find her missing from the cabin. As I had fallen asleep last night, I had been looking forward to a continuation of our kisses. In fact, my dreams had been full of nothing but her. Instead, I was left with a cold and lonely morning.

If I had known she would be gone in the morning, I might have tried to stay up and see where things went with her,I thought.

You and I both know you wouldn’t have been able to,Blizzard replied ruefully.

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