Page 31 of Forced By the Alpha

My attempt to unlock my inner power through mating had failed—although I couldn’t deny that it had been an enjoyable experience. Franco hadn’t brought up the second option I had come up with since our talk at the bar. It seemed likely at this point that tapping into my father’s power would have equally disappointing results, and I knew my mate wasn’t keen to have me out of his sight. Especially if it meant me going back to Sparkle Hollow.

Still, I couldn’t help but think that it was worth a shot. With each passing day, I dreaded the next bloodlust that would take over the pack and reduce them to their basest instincts. Colson and his pack knew that there was something different about the wolves of the Forsaken Shadows, but they had no idea what they were really dealing with. If he found out about the curse, things could turn ugly fast. Without a plan to fix it, it was likely the Crescent Shield alpha would decide on a more permanent plan for preventing further bloodshed.

As difficult as my transition to being luna had been, the wolf pack was beginning to grow on me. Even big, scary Sven had earned a special place in my heart when he saved me three of Clara’s famous cinnamon rolls after overhearing me say how much I liked them.

The role of luna was never one I had aspired to. Witches weren’t often mated into werewolf packs, so the situation I found myself in was unique. But I wanted to take it seriously.

Aside from my desire to break the curse, I realized I hadn’t thought about trying to find a way back to Sparkle Hollow in a while. My original plan to gain the trust of the pack so that I could plot an easier escape had fallen by the wayside long ago. No longer was I scheming and plotting for an exit. Instead, I was focused on improving the lives of those around me. Everyone here needed help. If there was anything I could do to make their lives easier, I wanted to provide that for them.

Which was why today, I had roped Dylan into helping me organize a scavenger hunt for the entire pack. Franco had gone out to make sure our defenses were all still in place and told his second to keep an eye on me, so we had spent the past few hours writing clues and hiding the objects all over the territory.

“Is everybody ready?” I asked Sven when Dylan and I came back to the mess hall.

“Are you kidding? We haven’t done anything like this before,” Sven said excitedly. “They can’t wait!”

The animation in his voice was all I needed to know that I had made a good call in organizing this. The mood of the pack had been generally good lately, but with the curse, we never quite knew when a turn would happen. It was best to take advantage of these good moments whenever we could get them.

I had expected Colson’s surprise visit to spark anxiety in the pack, but so far, everyone had done a good job of coping with the threat from the rival pack. Hopefully, today’s activity would keep their minds off their situation for a little while Franco and I worked on a more permanent solution to our predicament.

“Everyone gather around,” I called out to the pack. “Get yourselves into groups of four. Dylan is going to pass out the clues here in a minute. The goal is simple: the first team tofind all the items on the list and bring them back to me will be declared the winner.”

“What do we win?” someone called out.

“The winning group will get seats of honor and these crowns to wear at a banquet tonight,” Dylan answered.

“And,” I added, “they’ll get to pick the menu for this evening.”

Cooking for such a large group had plenty of difficulties, not the least of which was that taking everyone’s food preferences into account was nearly impossible. The promise of selecting the dinner was an enticing one.

“A couple quick rules,” Dylan said. “No interfering with any other team’s attempts to solve a puzzle, no stealing, no fighting, and all of the objects are hidden within our territory.”

The crowd was abuzz with excitement as they collected their clues from Dylan and huddled together to solve their puzzles. It was like watching them return to a state of childlike innocence and fun. The air rang with laughter and joy as each person, young and old alike, searched for the hidden objects.

“We did it!” Elise exclaimed, hurrying back to me, trailed by the rest of her group. “We solved them all!”

They deposited the items—one pair of men’s trousers, a perfectly round stone the size of a fist, an empty journal, a whiskey bottle, and four drinking glasses—on the table in front of me.

“Amazing job. I wasn’t expecting anyone to find them that quickly,” I admitted.

Elise beamed with pride, and I was happy to see the usually grumpy woman enjoying herself.

“What are we having for dinner tonight?” Dylan asked the group.

“We decided on grilled skewers,” Elise answered. “Steak, shrimp, pineapple, and peppers.”

“You got it,” I said.

They walked away to show off their handmade paper crowns to the rest of the pack. From the way they wore them, you would think they were made of gold.

“Sienna? Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Franco had come back from his patrol earlier than anticipated. His face didn’t match the rest of the pack’s joyous celebration, and I felt myself getting defensive as I followed him to a secluded corner to talk.

“Before you say anything, Dylan signed off on this,” I told him. “I was looking for a way to keep everyone’s spirits up and give them a little friendly competition so that we could avoid another bloodlust debacle.”

“Easy, princess,” Franco said with a smile. “I’m not here to reprimand you.”

“You aren’t?”

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