Page 48 of Forced By the Alpha

It didn’t matter how many times I was told that I couldn’t break the curse—my determination remained the same. Giving up wasn’t an option. Especially now that I could see a real future with Franco, I couldn’t imagine leaving him to live under the pain of the curse. My father was the one who had done this. It was my duty to make things right, no matter what it cost.

And it wasn’t just for the sake of myself and Franco that I felt such a desire to continue down this path. Franco’s people deserved to be free of their need to kill and fight. They had been fighting for so long I worried that they would eventually forget who they truly were.

Which is why I found myself, yet again, confronting my father.

“I already told you, Sienna, the curse can’t be broken,” Tom said.

“That’s not what you said before,” I replied. “You said breaking it would be difficult and would take a strong emotion. My desire to fix your mistake is strong enough to overcome the curse.”

“That just proves my point. If you think a curse created out of grief and hate can be broken by a simple desire to do good, you’re kidding yourself,” he scoffed. “Attempting it will only result in your own death.”

Anger welled up in me at how dismissive he was being of the plight of the Forsaken Shadows pack.

“You should be the one pushing to break the curse,” I snapped. “You’re the one who made it in the first place. Don’t you feel any guilt for what you’ve done to them?”

“Of course,” he sighed. “I wish I hadn’t placed the curse on them, but I did. Wishing that it wasn’t so won’t turn back time.”

“You keep saying that breaking the curse will kill me, but I don’t think it will. When I was with Franco’s pack, I awakened a stronger magic inside me. You think I won’t be able to do it because you don’t know how powerful I am now. I managed to access those powers when I thought I didn’t have any, don’t you think I would be able to access even greater ones with your guidance?”

“I’m not willing to risk your life for the lives of others,” Tom argued. “Especially not for a selfish man who delighted in hurting others.”

I sighed, trying to come up with a way of breaking through my father’s prejudice against Franco. He wasn’t wrong in his assessment of who Franco used to be, but he didn’t know him as he was now—a strong leader, a thoughtful and rational man, and a caring person who wanted the world to be a better place.

Just then, an idea struck me. If I could show my dad that Franco had changed, maybe he would be more willing to help lift the curse.

“Fine,” I said. “I’m heading to the pack house. Luna Grace said there was some storm damage at the school and they’re gathering people to fix it. She said they could use our help, if you want to come with me.”

“I can help. Maybe you can show me some of your new magic, too,” he said.

Nearly a dozen people were already at the pack house when we arrived, ready to help with the clean-up process. Theschool was right next door, a two-story building made of brick that took up half the block.

When the storm passed through a few days ago, branches from a few larger trees out front snapped off from the high winds. One of the branches had been thrown into a window, shattering it and knocking out a large section of the wall. Water damage had permeated into the classroom, creating a mess that needed to be dealt with before mold set in.

“Woah,” Tom said with a low whistle. “That’s gonna take a while.”

“Depends how many hands are helping,” Killian said, sidling up beside us.

Franco was with him, as I had expected he would be. I had casually mentioned the issue with the schoolhouse to him earlier today and knew he would get permission from Alpha Lex to help. I smiled at the brothers. So far, my plan was working.

“Fancy seeing you here,” I told them.

“Many hands make light work,” Franco smiled. “Isn’t that the saying?”

“I’m surprised Lex is allowing you to be here,” Tom said, his tone full of disapproval. “Didn’t he say you weren’t allowed within the town borders?”

“He was happy to make an exception when we offered to move that tree limb,” Killian explained.

“We’d better get moving,” Franco said. “The sooner we get it out, the sooner we can start patching up those bricks.”

They moved off to get to work. I saw my father’s eyes follow them. He still looked suspicious, but I could see something else brewing beneath the surface. Tom was beginning to realize Franco had grown out of being the brash child hehad met all those years ago. Gone was the spoiled boy who demanded everything he wanted, and in his place was a man willing to do what was best for others—even if those people didn’t want him around.

“Tom, Sienna, thank you for coming,” Grace said. “As you can see, the storm did a lot of damage. Anything you can do to help would be so appreciated. We want to try to get the kids back into their classroom as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” I said.

My dad and I headed toward the classroom to survey the damage. While most of my spell work had focused on healing, I was confident I could focus my energy on a task like this.

“It’s been a while since I used magic for cleaning,” Tom admitted. “Your mom never liked it when I took a shortcut to doing housework, and I guess I never picked the habit back up.”

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