Page 88 of The Girl in the Forest

“Then distract him,” Fallon argued. “Invite him here and keep him occupied during the time we take to go in and get out.”

“But not you,” Mace said to Grayson. “Your energy sets off every damn ward for miles.”

Grayson flashed alpha canines. “Not me. Noa goes in with enough wolves to keep her safe.”

“No,” I said, drawing his attention. “If Brin’s hurt, she’ll need a healer. She’ll trust me because I’m like her, and I can tell her what Adriel said. But she won’t trust a group of bristling male wolves who sold her in the first place, and we’d waste precious time trying to convince her otherwise.”

“I’ll go,” Fallon offered.

Mace shot her a look that chilled me. “Your energy is almost as strong as Gray’s, so no. You don’t go.”

“And I need you here,” Grayson added. “For Anson.”

Fallon stiffened, then said, “I’ll talk to Laura. See if she’s willing to go. Send Levi as their protection. You know he’s capable, and knowing Laura and Noa are involved will motivate him.”

“They’ll infiltrate,” Mace said. “Make the recovery. When they exit, I’ll have another team waiting. They’ll move in, get everyone out as quickly as possible.”

Grayson turned back to the maps pinned against the wall. “I want proof the girl is there.”

“I can verify movement,” Mace said. “The protection in place. No time to get someone inside.”

Grayson’s voice hardened. “We take Julien’s word that she’s there?”

“Your call, Gray.” Mace was just as hard. “You talked to him. Question is, do you trust him?”

That night, Grayson didn’t come to my bed. I was afraid to go to his and have him send me away, and in the morning, training began.

Mace said I had three days to get it right. I didn’t know how he’d constructed a replica overnight, but the house matched the drawing, including stairs to a dank basement, and for hours, Laura and I wore ourselves out trying to get through barricaded doors, past ambushes. Race down steep stairs nearly invisible in the dark and slick with wet mold.

I learned that each time I went down the stairs, I could see a little more. My feet were steadier. I also learned how to use syphoned energy to move things around. Tables and chairs. Then I opened a mini-passage in a wall; how I did it was a mystery. But Laura and I barely slid through before it closed, and we listened, laughed when Mace’s ambush hit—other wolves, who were gleefully playing the part. We could hear their grumbled confusion. They’d entered a room with no other exit except where they stood, while Laura and I ran down the cellar steps to retrieve our padded “target.”

“Sharpen it,” was all Mace said in the debrief when we discussed my new skill. I wondered what else I could move. If I could open passageways the way the queen did—because that was how she sent her creatures through.

Fallon and Grayson were working on a strategy of their own. Over dinner one evening, just Grayson and I, he laid out the plan.

“I’ve asked Anson to come for a meeting.”

He could have been discussing the weather with that disinterested tone.

“What excuse did you use?” I asked.

“Sutter. He knows about it, and he knows you’re here because he asked about you. You’ll greet him when he arrives. We’ll have dinner.” Grayson paused as he cut another piece of meat. “You’ll excuse yourself, say you need an early night. Fallon will take him to the guest house in Azul, and I’ll fill the following day with meetings.”

I toyed with my fork. “Won’t he expect to see me in the morning?”

“No. I’ll tell him you’re meeting with the nymphs.”

I sampled the wine, ran my tongue across my lips. “What if he doesn’t buy it?”

“He will.”

Oh—the adversaries we could become, two lovers, so polite over perfectly charred steak and fine wine.

But I still stiffened at his dogged tone. “I’ll be fine.”

Grayson’s mouth firmed. “I know you will. You’ll do it just as you practiced.”

Which meant I’d leave as soon as Anson was in Azul. Reach Carmag and be back in Sentinel Falls by dawn.

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