Page 32 of The Girl in the Forest

Which meant Grayson had enough wealth to warrant a private banker. I spoke with the man, who offered me the same courtesy he’d offered Fallon, walking me through the transfers, moving the funds from my small bank account into the new account. The amount Grayson paid was staggering. I double-checked to be sure. But the banker assured me the balance was correct. Then he helped me change the banking account on the photo website. When we finished, he put in security protocols and guaranteed no one could trace the funds or track them to my location. I was officially off the financial grid. I thanked him, still shocked by the efficiency. And the abundance I now had.

I shook my head, vowing to confront Grayson, but Laura merely laughed and said, “Go ahead and try, Noa. If you’re into lost causes.”

Fallon agreed, slapping my shoulder when she rose to her feet. “You’ve got two days before you’re back on my training schedule, no-wolf,” she warned. “Better take advantage of the time off.”

Laura and I decided the best time off included sharing coffee beneath a red umbrella, sitting at a circular table outside Azul’s most popular café. I tipped my face toward the sun, relishing the breeze on my skin, savoring the scent of honeysuckle and grilling meat—which was an oddly comforting kind of normal.

When a woman stopped at our table, Laura glanced up. “Noa, this is Theta Blake. I think you’ll want to talk to her.”

Then Laura excused herself, and the woman sat down. I was too surprised to object, although Theta posed no threat. She was my mother’s age, with gleaming auburn hair hinting at gray, calm blue eyes, and a cautious smile.

But when she set a wooden keepsake box on the table between us, my pulse bobbled.

“Yes, Noa. It’s your mother’s box.”

Theta spoke as if she’d known me for years, while I didn’t remember meeting her.

“Andrea left it with me the last time she was here. She worried that if something ever happened to her, the box would be… lost.”

Stewart. He would have thrown the box into the trash, along with everything else my mother owned.

“She asked me to keep it safe,” Theta continued. “To give it to you if you ever came back. And to… tell you about your father.”

I counted my breaths, leaning back for additional space between us—between what she wanted to say and what I was reluctant to hear.

“Andrea and I were childhood friends—and you’re so like her, Noa. Quiet. Introspective.”

Theta gave a sideways laugh and swiped at her eyes as if the sun was too bright.

“She would climb trees and read for hours, hidden in the leaves. Called it her secret place. People thought she was shy, but she wasn’t. Not if you’d ever heard her sing. She danced, too, but never did in front of anyone here in Sentinel Falls. She always did it at midnight, in the forest. And she dreamed of a better life for you. Someplace safe.”

I reached out to trace a fingertip along the carved wooden box, feeling the ridges. Flowers, with twining vines, and a small, gold-rimmed keyhole in the front. A small key was wedged into the opening.

Theta slid the box another inch toward me.

“His name was Bronson Dade.” Her smile softened. “She called him Bron, and I’d tease her and say she meant brawny. We were kids still, eighteen. What did we know of the world?”

Theta paused while a server delivered steaming coffee, although Theta didn’t seem interested, while I lifted my cup to unsteady lips.

“He was passing through. That part is true. The attraction—love—was instantaneous. You were conceived on the night they met. Bron—he was alpha to a smaller pack, hundreds of miles from here. He had to go home and begged her to go with him. But she was afraid because she was a faille, and the packs back east were less tolerant. Leo was ill, and she didn’t want to leave him. So Bron left that morning, and when Andrea realized she was pregnant, she sent word. He promised to come back. Never did.”

I turned to stare at the distant trees. My voice croaked. “Did she…”

“Regret you? Never. You were conceived in a love that could never be. As for why he never came back… I think she knew long before the letter came. It’s in the box. And after she read it… the life inside her died. Eventually, it was too much, staying here. She took you away to start over.”

Silver hair drifted against my cheek. I pushed it back. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Your mother wanted you to have these things, Noa,” Theta murmured. “I’m sorry if they’re painful. Perhaps a day will come when it feels more like comfort.”

After Theta left, I rubbed my trembling fingers and turned the key. Lifting the lid, I found treasures. Tiny pink shoes with the laces neatly tied. Crumbled flower petals. A book of nursery rhymes. When I opened the cover, my eyes burned. On the first page, circled with pink hearts—Noa’s favorite.

Hush little baby, don’t you cry…

The song I’d sung to Laura. To Levi.

I breathed through parted lips until I could close the book and open the letter in a white envelope.

My darling Andrea, if you are reading this, then the trouble I warned about has come, and I am…

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