Page 23 of Forced By the Alpha

I bared my teeth at him, and he scurried back to his friends, mumbling something about “jealous bros.” I chuckled and turned back to Sienna, expecting her to be on the same page as me.

Instead, I saw her walking away toward the trees.

“Hey!” I called, jogging to meet up with her. “Where are you going?”

“Away from you,” Sienna hissed. “What the hell was that about? He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just being friendly, and you decided to be rude to him? You’re setting a pretty poor example for the pack when you get physical with someone completely innocent.”

“No one in the pack would bat an eye at what just happened,” I pointed out.

“Maybe they should,” she suggested. “Who do you think you are?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. It matters whoyouare,” I said.

“And who is that? A spoiled princess?” she asked sarcastically.

“No. You are mine.”

There was no humor in my voice as I spoke the word. I hadn’t claimed her since our mating ceremony when I had placed the mark on her neck, nearly healed now. Until now, I hadn’t realized that she’d never used a healing spell on the injury.

But her mark was the least of my concerns when I looked from it to her eyes, and saw the same excitement that had been present the night before.

Something happened when our eyes locked. The tether that had been keeping me in her radius all day vanished into nothing, and the lust I had been concealing all day overcame me. I wanted—needed—to touch her.

I reached out with both hands and grasped her around the waist, drawing her into me. She responded immediately, closing her eyes as I covered her lips with mine in a passionate embrace. My hands trailed over the small of her back, crushing her into me with a deep yearning.

“Franco,” she mumbled against my lips before nibbling my bottom lip gently with her teeth. I moaned at the erotic pleasure of the surprise gesture, returning my own love bite before kissing her again.

The world around me seemed to disappear, reducing itself to the two of us in this moment. She moved her hands down to the hem of my shirt and teased it upwards until she could touch my bare skin. Every inch she explored felt like it was on fire. All I wanted was more.

I reached up to grab her ponytail with one hand and pulled her head backwards, exposing her neck. Her breathing hitched as I placed a gentle kiss on her mark. The contact sent a pulse of electricity through me, heightening my senses even more. Her skin felt like delicate flower petals beneath my lips, and the scent of vanilla and something earthy emanated from her.

Just then, a loud noise broke my concentration. I growled in frustration as I broke off my attention toward Sienna and turned my focus toward the rest of the pack. The sound of glass shattering was unmistakable, and the laughter and voices had increased in volume.

“What is it?” Sienna asked.

“They’re getting too rambunctious for my liking,” I said. “I need to end the party before it gets out of hand. There are humans here. I can’t have them witnessing anything suspicious and forcing us to leave.”

“Need any help?”

I shook my head. “No, I can handle it. But don’t think you’re off the hook. We’re going to continue this another time. You’re mine,” I reminded her.

I saw a shiver course through her before I walked away.

Chapter 11 - Sienna

Ever since our kiss the night before, I had been avoiding Franco. It wasn’t that I had ignored him because I was upset. Quite the opposite.

Something had changed when I opened myself up to him, and I’d felt a kind of excitement that I hadn’t experienced since I felt the first touches of magic coursing through my veins as a child. That kiss had been more powerful than I had anticipated. Something about touching him had unleashed more magic within me. Not much, but enough to make me feel more like myself. I was more alive. More free.

I had thought it was a one-time occurrence, but now I knew better. When he kissed my mark, it happened again—a spark of electricity had ignited inside me. It was a kind of magic I wasn’t familiar with, and I needed to find out if there was a way to unleash more of it. This could be the key.

With Franco busy dealing with the pack, I had some free time, so I hurried to the library to research my hunch. He had been telling me all along that I had the power necessary to break the curse that had been put on them. What if he was right? Now that I had a lead, I could figure out if there was more I could be doing to help the Forsaken Shadows pack.

“Hello, dear,” Muriel said when I opened the door to the library. “Back for some more research?”

“Yes,” I said. “I think I’ve got a lead.”

“Anything I can help you find?”

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