Page 7 of Forced By the Alpha

“Neverdo that again,” I ordered. “Sienna is off-limits. I will deal with her myself.”

“Of course, Alpha. My apologies.”

Dylan turned around to finish watching the battle as Sienna cowered next to me.

“You,” I said, turning my attention towards her. “Come with me.”

I dragged her away from the center of the ring toward the edge where the older members of the pack were standing. Elise, a wiry, silver-haired she-wolf with eyes like amber, was the closest thing the pack had to a medicine woman. She didn’t know much about healing, but she was very spiritual. For the past few decades, she had been the one in charge of any marriages within the pack.

“I need you to come with us,” I said to the old woman as I approached her.

“When the fight is done,” Elise replied, not looking away from the bloody battle taking place behind me. She was the only member of the pack who ever dared to speak to me in such a disrespectful way.

“Now,” I ordered.

Her eyes snapped toward me viciously, and I knew I was playing with fire by forcing any member away when their bloodlust was so heightened. It couldn’t be helped, though. This needed to be done as soon as possible. Waiting any longer would only cause more problems.

Something in my eyes convinced Elise not to argue with me, and she nodded at me in understanding. I walked a few dozen feet away from the group, pulling Sienna with me while Elise followed.

“What do you need?” Elise asked when the sounds of the jeering crowd abated.

“I need the ceremony performed immediately,” I said.

She nodded, and I knew she was keen to get her part out of the way so she could return to the fight.

“No!” Sienna cried. The trance she had been in since I had found her moments ago seemed to have broken at the mention of the mating ceremony. “I am not going to marry you.”

“Not that I care much for your well-being, but I do need you alive so you can repay your father’s debt to us,” I said. “If you don’t marry me, you won’t be safe here. Do you want that violence aimed at you?” I nodded in the direction we had just come from.

As if on cue, a loud scream echoed through the air from the rogue. Sienna shook next to me, but I ignored her emotional reaction. Feelings had no place in what she and I had entered into today.

“Go ahead, Elise,” I urged.

“So begins the mating ceremony between Alpha Franco Stone and…”

“Sienna Mowry of Sparkle Hollow,” I supplied.

“Between Alpha Franco Stone and Sienna Mowry of Sparkle Hollow,” Elise continued. “Exchange your vows.”

“I, Franco Stone, Alpha of the Pinedale Pack, take you, Sienna Mowry, to be my mate,” I said. “Now you.”

“I,” she whispered. “Sienna Mowry of Sparkle Hollow, take you, Alpha Franco Stone, to be my mate.”

“You may mark your mate,” Elise said.

She didn’t wait to witness the marking, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t important for anyone to see what was about to happen. The scar that my bite would leave on Sienna’s neck would be enough to let every werewolf know that she belonged to me.

“Mark?” Sienna asked.

There was no point in explaining it to her—best to get it out of the way quickly. I placed my mouth on her neck and allowed my teeth to sink into her flesh. Sienna let out a scream of fear and pain as my canines pierced her skin, but I didn’t prolong the process. The mark had been made.

I stood back up, placing a swift kiss on her lips to stifle her shriek. Blood dripped from her bottom lip as I withdrew, and she reached up to wipe her mouth with an expression of horror in her eyes. She looked down at her bloodied hand and up at me before cocking her head back and spitting into my face.

“You monster,” she cursed.

“There is no other way,” I explained, wiping the bloody spittle from my eyes.

Without another word, I grabbed her hand and marched her back to my cabin. I bolted the door behind me, unwillingto chance having another member of the pack enter without my permission.

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