Page 5 of Forced By the Alpha

“You need to stop this,” I said to Franco in a quiet voice. He didn’t reply, except to shake his head tersely.

Sven lifted his arms up as he walked around the outside of the makeshift arena, eliciting whoops and cheers from his admirers. A scuffle behind him made him turn around just as the rogue rammed into his legs. The impact caused him to fall to the ground with a lurch. He roared in anger at the upheaval and immediately grabbed for the rogue, grasping his neck with one arm.

He rained a fury of blows down on the rogue’s skull, over and over, as the crowd went wild. Blood flew with each impact, and I looked away, knowing that these seconds were the last this man would spend alive.

A wet-sounding crash soon followed as his skull was broken open. I tried not to look, but I glanced back at Sven. Although his foe was defeated, he continued to pummel hislifeless body into the ground. I felt bile rising in my throat at the grisly spectacle and turned toward Franco.

“Look at the rest of them,” he commanded me, tilting my head toward the crowd.

I watched as the entire pack became even more animated than before. A frenzy seemed to be moving through them, as if the sight of the man’s death had caused them to turn insane. A few of them began to shove each other, and others clawed at their own bodies as if they were tormented by something unseen.

“What’s happening to them?”

Once again, Franco didn’t respond. Instead, he grabbed me roughly and pulled me back toward his cabin. When we were inside, he closed the door, bolting it firmly behind us. He leaned his head against the wooden frame. His shoulders slumped, and I could see that he was emotional. Whether it was about the events we had just witnessed or something else entirely, I couldn’t tell.

He turned slowly, looking at me with madness in his eyes. I shrank back, fearing that whatever had overcome the pack would cause him to lash out at me as Sven had done to the other rogue.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said. “Not needlessly, anyway. I have more control than most of the pack.”

“Why are they acting like that?”

“Your father,” Franco said. “I told you before. Tom did something to us—a curse of some kind—that has caused all of us to devolve into the worst kind of monsters. All humans and werewolves have a dark side to them, but whatever he did to us triggered the darkest desires of our kind. We need to harm andkill. If we don’t sate our desires, we are in constant, agonizing pain.”

Franco winced as he said the word, and I realized that he was fighting against that very desire right now. The strength of his alpha blood seemed to be helping him stave off the need, but if what he was saying was true, then he wouldn’t be able to last forever—especially not with his entire pack in a frenzy just a few dozen feet away.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said to him as I processed his words. “I don’t deny that something may be causing this, but it isn’t my dad. He has never used magic for evil.”

“Forgive me, princess, but your assurances mean nothing to me,” Franco replied.

“I’m not a princess,” I reminded him.

“But you will be a luna,” he said.

I gave a sharp intake of breath at his words, sensing the meaning behind them immediately.

“No,” I replied.

“Yes,” he argued, stalking toward me. “You will become my mate as soon as possible. We will marry, and then you will be forced to deal with your father’s curse for the rest of your life. However long that might be.

Chapter 4 - Franco

“Please! Mommy!” I shouted. “Don’t leave me behind!”

“It’s for your own good. Now let go of me and go back inside.”

Strong hands came from behind me, prying my hands off her shirt as I clung to it desperately. I was only eight, but even with my limited strength, it took a great deal of effort for my father to gain control of me. I thrashed around as he wrapped his arms solidly around my wiry frame.

“No! Ki, don’t let her do this to us. You have to stop her!”

“I’m sorry, Franco,” my older brother replied sadly.

Realization struck me as I saw the backpack slung across his shoulders. They were both abandoning me. The only two people in the world that I loved—and who loved me—were leaving me behind with a monster.

I began to sob as they turned their backs and walked away. My body collapsed in a heap, barely held up by my father.

“Inside, boy,” he growled. “You’re making a scene.”

He looked at the windows of the houses on our street, where neighbors peered out from their curtains. But I was too distraught to care. What did it matter that people saw me? I was alone.

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