Page 8 of Forced By the Alpha

“Go to bed,” I ordered.

“You have no right to tell me what to do!” Sienna screamed. Her eyes were wild as she grabbed a towel and held it to her neck to stem the bleeding.

“I have every right,” I argued.

“If you think I’ll ever sleep with you, you’re dreaming. Do not touch me,” she warned.

“Don’t kid yourself, honey,” I laughed. “I don’t need you for that.”

I marched her over to her cot and covered her unceremoniously with the quilt that had fallen to the floor.

“Go to sleep,” I said. “You’re going to need it.”

Chapter 5 - Sienna

The horror of what I had experienced and seen since being kidnapped by Franco threatened to consume me almost daily. But so far, I was still alive. Injured and furious, but alive.

For the first day, Franco stayed in the cabin. He didn’t speak to me, nor did I to him. We just watched each other suspiciously, wondering what the other was planning. He had an excellent poker face and try as I might I wasn’t able to discern anything from his expressions.

When I woke up the next morning, I saw that he had left.

This is my chance to escape,I thought. I refused to allow what I had gone through to define the rest of my life. Getting back to Sparkle Hollow was my only thought. I didn’t care that he was my “mate,” or that we had a bond. I knew from the stories I had been told that it would be painful to be separated from my mate, but I couldn’t imagine anything more painful than being forced to live forever with someone who had force-marked me.

I peered out the window. When I didn’t see anyone watching, I decided to try the front door. To my surprise, it opened easily. Franco had forgotten to lock me inside.

It was broad daylight, so sneaking around wouldn’t do me much good. My best bet was to pretend I had every right to be wandering around the cabins and hope that no one questioned me. If anything, the ugly mark on my neck would protect me from Franco’s pack if they decided to approach me.

I stepped outside quietly and made my way confidently down the cabin steps. From my vague memories of my first night here, I remembered that the other cabins were set up in rows about fifty yards away from Franco’s. There was no point in going toward that area, so I walked toward the forest instead.

I made it just out of sight of Franco’s front door when I spotted a trap in front of me—a trench, dug six feet wide and a few feet deeper, lined with barbed wire. I looked to the left and right, where the crevice extended as far as I could see.

“Shit,” I muttered.

If it hadn’t been for the wire, I could jump the distance, but I had no tools to cut a hole. This trap was clearly meant to keep humans out of the pack’s territory, but unfortunately, it had the double purpose of keeping me inside. The wolves would have no problem scaling the height of the wire, but I wasn’t so lucky.

My only choice was to pick a direction and hope there was a break in the line. I turned right and began my trek. After only a few minutes, I heard a noise in the distance. I crouched down to move closer. There was a bridge over the trench, and at either end of the bridge stood two guards from Franco’s pack. I recognized one of them as the man, Sven, who had killed the rogue two nights ago.

I shuddered at the memory but pushed it down. I needed to focus on my surroundings. Just then, another man joined the group on the close side of the bridge and nodded to Sven.

“Alright, I’m off duty,” Sven said.

“Heading into town?” the other man asked.

“There’s nowhere else to go,” Sven replied crossly.

“Grab me some smokes while you’re there, would ya?”

Sven nodded and walked across the bridge, shouldered through the other two guards, and disappeared over a hill. He wasn’t moving quickly, so the town must not be far.

Between the isolation of the cabins, the rotating guard schedules, traps, and fences, my predicament was looking prettyhopeless. I realized now that Franco hadn’t forgotten to lock me up—he just didn’t need to. There was no way for me to escape. My best chance would be to blend in until I could figure out a new plan. If I could just get into town, maybe I could call for help.

Now that Sven had left, I felt emboldened to walk up to the guards. Franco had said his mark would protect me. Now was as good a time as any to test out that assertion.

“Good morning!” I called cheerily, walking toward the bridge.

The guards puffed their chests out as they turned toward me. Their eyes shifted around, looking for Franco as I approached. They clearly hadn’t been expecting to see their alpha’s new mate today. Not alone, at any rate.

“You shouldn’t be here,” one of the men said roughly. It took me a minute to realize that it was Franco’s beta—the wolf who had brought me to see the second fight. Although I felt uneasy, I did my best to hide it. If they saw me as a threat, they were more likely to make problems for me.

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