Page 3 of The Girl in the Forest

Turning away, I smoothed the shirt I wore, buttoned, with long sleeves, more formal with the black jeans. Black was my choice. What I preferred, without the fighting leathers my seconds favored. Clothes were merely a symbol of authority. The pack would choose what they wanted to respect. Or doubt at their peril.

“Mace is back.” Fallon glanced toward the hills surrounding Azul, barely visible in the distance, and I scrubbed a hand over my eyes. I’d asked him to visit the settlements, talk to the elders and check on his soldiers. Sentinel Falls didn’t have a standing army. None of the packs did. What we had were wolves who reported to Mace and Fallon every month for training. They understood potential threats. Acted as mentors. But when faced with a threat, both the men and the women were skilled and lethal, respected by allies and enemies alike.

Few packs dared attack us. Until the Gathering.

Fallon slid into her alpha role, scanning the trees while she spoke. “I have squad leaders training the recruits, even those who aren’t sixteen. The men with fighting experience started teaching battle strategies. I’ve increased the patrols, and our best spies are reporting back. Everyone is waiting for you in Azul.”

I’d issued an order as Alpha of Sentinel Falls that none dared ignore. The pack would gather, along with every elder, as many as the meadow would accommodate. I would address them, then open the meeting to comments or complaints. Accusations.

The pack had mixed emotions about protecting Noa Bishop. A faille. I’d given her a pack mark. Then I’d marked her wrist with my black wolf rune. Claimed her. Pulled her into my inner circle, the few I trusted.

I was aware of the vicious rumors circulating, and those who started them.

If I lost support, a challenge would follow. I welcomed it. Part of me burned, hoping a wolf would step up, confront me. Face my vow to find the traitor hiding somewhere within the pack. Force him into the open before I ripped him apart.

That traitor had been feeding information to our enemies. He had betrayed the Gathering. The pack. Gone after Laura and Leo. After Noa.

By pack law, by my vengeance, once I found him, I would kill him.

And I’d savor every fucking moment.

To hell with my humanity. With the light.

A part of me was already deeply, viciously, vindictively in the dark.

CHAPTER 2

Grayson

Once we reached Azul, Fallon went ahead to find Mace. I looked for Levi and motioned him to my side. At sixteen, with a lanky build and floppy brown hair, Levi Porter looked too young to be a warrior. But during the shadow wolf attack on Sentinel Falls, he never hesitated. He lived up to his Pied Piper fame, leading dozens of children to safety. When the fighting overran Azul, Levi’s wolf protected Noa. Killed the creatures storming through the town. I wanted the pack to see him in a place of honor, walking beside me.

“You did good,” I said as we turned toward the grassy meadow. “I’m proud of you.”

Levi glanced up, grinned, then dipped his chin to me as a flush pinkened his face. Women threw flowers at our feet—a sign of respect—although I thought about the flowers tossed five days ago, during the funeral rite. Then, the women had thrown those petals toward the drifting boats that carried the dead toward eternal light.

Ahead, white wooden chairs filled the meadow in ordered rows. No trace of the recent violence remained. The grass was lushly green and sweet-scented. Small shrubs were re-blooming. Overhead, clouds drifted on wind currents that didn’t cool the air, and those who hadn’t dressed for the heat shifted in discomfort.

Shade was non-existent since the pine trees were too far away, and the single open-sided white canopy beside the dais offered shelter for the old wolves Leo tended. No one else. Not even the dais had a covering. I preferred the open, as most wolves did.

I glanced at the gathered crowd. A few females wore hats. Others fanned themselves, and when their focus shifted from me toward Levi, he stepped aside and stood next to his sister, Laura. He looked like any other of my inner circle, but without the leathers marking a status he was too young to hold.

For a moment, I listened to the hushed conversations between the waiting pack members.

Fallon had been right. After Noa’s arrival, my senses sharpened. I did more than eavesdrop through the pack bond. Every alpha required strength to survive. The same magic that chose the wolf and imprinted the tattoo on the man’s skin also flowed through the alpha’s veins, and the power I had now had increased in recent weeks. The wolves sensed it, and what thrummed from them held concern as much as pride.

Neither mattered, not in the predatory mood gripping me. For over a decade, I’d battled a private war against the secrets and predictions. The first prophesy came from the Gemini Witches when I’d been fifteen. Then a warning from the King of the Forest, when he revealed my destiny, beyond becoming the Alpha of Sentinel Falls.

Another warning came from the old alpha when he’d gripped my hand during the minutes before he died. He’d asked me to lean in so I could hear his whispered, terrified words. Words that, for centuries, one alpha spoke to the next alpha.

Whispered, because he hadn’t wanted to believe them.

But terrified, because he feared I’d have no choice but to believe.

I still hadn’t decided what might be true, although that was another battle I was fighting. The blindness Fallon accused me of having.

A center aisle split the rows of assigned seating, separating the various elder groups. Ahead was the raised dais, three steps up to the wooden platform where Sentinel Falls flags—blue, with a white diagonal stripe—swayed limply in the weak breeze.

Three empty chairs waited. Fallon now stood beside Mace. Their stance was official, legs braced, arms clasped behind their backs, and they wore the black leather as my seconds in command.

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