Page 43 of The Girl in the Forest

“I’d scream if it did,” she gasped, waving her stemmed glass through the air, making me fear she’d spill the alcohol. “I’d think a worm or something had burrowed into my skin—why?” Her gaze dropped to my wrist. “Does yours twitch?”

“No,” I lied. Although, it wasn’t a lie now.

“No one believes in mate marks these days,” Vasha said, having joined us without me noticing with the crowd. Her face was still flushed from dancing. “Why aren’t you out on the dance floor?”

“We’re going.” Laura grabbed my arm and tugged me into the crowd. “Don’t mind them. It’s what everyone does with the full moon. We get a little crazy.”

“Why isn’t Fallon here?” I asked as Laura danced.

“The alphas never come.”

She moved to the music, her eyes closed, arms in the air. Neon bracelets like the ones Vasha wore tinted her skin with rose, pale blue. Pearl white. But the only marks on her wrist were from the Alpen’s ropes. She danced with her head back, her hair flowing. Beautiful, I thought, and so very good at hiding the scars she carried on the inside, remembering how she’d been all those years ago… wounded, whimpering… and I asked, “Would you ever want a mate mark? Even a superficial one?”

“No, not unless he was someone special.” She glanced at me. “I wish I was like you, Noa. And then I’m glad that I’m not. Having someone special and still being so lonely.”

Heat drained from my face. Laura stopped dancing, enveloped me in a hug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“It’s okay.”

She didn’t believe me, but laughter distracted her because the men had arrived—wolves—weaving through the women as if energized. I gazed at my friends, twirling, flirting, getting a little crazy with the full moon. While Laura was lost in the music, dancing despite her pain. Or perhaps because pain had become a comfort. Proof of survival.

The music grew sultry and secretive. The sounds gentled, and I didn’t want to think about anything when my friends wanted to celebrate. I drank more. Danced more. Watched the couples form and disappear in the night.

But as the moon rose over the distant hills… as a breeze brushed against my skin… I knew in some terribly certain way that the black rune wasn’t silent because I’d broken it, or because the King of the Forest changed the rules. It wasn’t silent because Grayson controlled it.

The dread lord’s sigil didn’t twitch because it was waiting.

CHAPTER 12

Noa

In the morning, Fallon pounded on my door and said it was time to visit the witches. I should bring a backpack with enough clothes for an overnight, and my bow—both items now sat on the rear seat of the battered tan jeep she drove.

The top was down, and the wind from driving whipped eagerly across my face. I sat beside her, smiling until my cheeks hurt. We were heading north, toward the old mine that closed because of a bear attack, although I suspected it wasn’t a bear that had done the damage.

I’d be meeting Julien. He’d take me to the passage where Grayson waited. From there, we would sneak into Alpen territory.

But for now, I slipped on a pair of sunglasses and faced the sun, relishing the autumn warmth on my face and this small pleasure.

“I’ve always loved driving,” I admitted. “It’s the closest I’ll ever come to running free like the wolves.”

Fallon shrugged. “You want to drive?”

My pulse jumped. “Could I?”

She pulled to the side of the road and we changed places, giggling. I wasn’t even sure why we giggled. Maybe we were Thelma and Louise, off on a buddy road trip.

“You can’t get lost,” she said as I floored the accelerator. “Only one road, and I’ll warn you when we get close.”

I glanced at her. “You weren’t at the celebration last night.”

“The alphas don’t mingle on moon nights.”

She meant the drunk dancing, going a little crazy with the hook-ups, and I could see her point. Authority would be difficult to assert in the morning.

“Why don’t the younger women want lasting relationships?” The idea still bothered me.

“They aren’t shallow,” Fallon said. “But it’s hard to love when loss and grief wait in the shadows. Good people died in the pack war. Fathers, brothers, mothers. Wolves who left in the morning and never came home.”

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