Page 71 of The Girl in the Forest

“Now you ask me if I believe, when we both know the truth about the secrets passed from alpha to alpha. The A meant Andrea—my mother. The N means Noa. And your pack has been warning alphas for generations. Warning them for when we appear.”

“You don’t know that,” he argued roughly. “Those initials could mean anyone.”

I tipped my head back, laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “When I came, you gave me your sigil, and the wheel began to turn—don’t shake your head. Caerwen told me,” I hissed. “When I returned from Aine’s wrinkle, our fate was sealed. One to kill, Grayson. One to die for. Don’t stand there telling me you don’t believe that… is… us. That I’ll kill you by doing nothing. And you’ll die, fighting to protect me.”

The flash of his alpha canines came and went before I’d taken a breath. But in this house, where boards had been pounded to cover the tender places—I had to rip the scab off.

Because fate truly had a sick sense of humor if she’d locked us together in a battle with a heart-destroying cost.

“How long has your rune been working?”

He stiffened, but the wariness I saw in his expression made me want to curl my hands.

“No more lies, Grayson. The rune twitched when you found me in the cave, and I know that wasn’t an illusion.”

“I realized it was working the night you tried to burn the forest down. I thought I’d never feel you like that again.”

“It’s a connection for you?”

“Yes.” His voice was low and calm now. “It’s my rune, Noa. There will always be a thread of my magic that I recognize.”

I didn’t buy his explanation for an instant. “You knew the rune was working, but you still told me the Green Man changed the rules and you wouldn’t ask him why. You sat across from me and lied. What didn’t you want me to know? What secret have you been keeping all this time?”

I didn’t expect an answer, but as I walked to the polished table where I’d imagined family dinners, traced a finger along the smooth edge… I had hoped he’d tell me the truth.

“The whole hearing my thoughts…” I turned, leaning against the table edge because I didn’t trust my legs. “That wasn’t because you’re the alpha and I never learned to shield my thoughts from you, was it?”

“Noa…”

I held up a hand against him. “When I was in that illusion, when I thought vampires were making love to me, you were there, weren’t you? In my head.”

Telling me… Stop, Noa… Fight it…

Or had he been taking part in the seduction?

I’d sensed him there, recognized the hands that touched me differently. Reverently. Regretfully.

Then I remembered the whispered word… sorry. Thought about it.

His entire demeanor changed. A muscle jerked in his jaw. The skin around his eyes creased, and his deep inhale carried the struggle of forced control.

“I was there.” The grittiness in his voice had to be anger because it couldn’t be pain. “On my knees, screaming because I couldn’t break the wards. Couldn’t get through. I had to listen to every sound you made…”

He scrubbed both hands across his face. “I tried to help you the only way I could. Reach you… the only way I could. And maybe it was wrong, what I did. Maybe you hate me more than you hated the vampires. But I was on my knees for you. I was begging for you.”

“I was destroying things,” I said.

“Yes.”

“The wards?”

He nodded.

“That’s how you could get to me?”

He nodded again, slower this time.

I held his gaze. “Because of your dread lord sigil, the obligation to protect a faille. The king’s curse.” I moistened my lips. “Because of fate.”

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