Page 91 of The Girl in the Forest

Fallon followed, fury on her face. Worry in her eyes. Mace was closing the distance. Anson’s second—Elijah—stalked at Mace’s side, but his aggression turned blatant as he shoulder-bumped Mace, nearly knocking my second off balance as he passed.

Mace flashed canines and growled, but Anson was shouting, holding his cell toward me, although the screen was black and the call had ended.

“You fecking want to tell me why you have people in Carmag while I’m here being entertained?”

“Anson,” Fallon said, but he turned on her.

“And you,” he snarled. “I gave you more respect than you deserve.”

“Salas!” Mace bristled, already volatile.

Elijah moved to block him. Anson held out a hand to hold his man in place.

“Deal with me, Anson,” I snapped. “Not Fallon. She followed my orders.”

He swung back in my direction. “They triggered the wards, man. Sentries tracked a small group. Looked like a boy and two women—is Noa even fecking here right now?”

I was rigid and barely civil. “She’s none of your business.”

“Not if she’s on my land—my men are there. They tell me there’s dead men in the forest.”

Mace’s expression turned stony. Fallon was unmoving at his side, as if she was afraid to step away. Shock paled her face.

Anson jabbed at his cell. “An empty house, with blood on the floor, a black knit hat with a strand of silver hair—should I go on? Enough detail for you? Or would you rather fecking stand there and lie to my face?”

My heart froze. “What the fuck are you saying?”

“I’m saying if she was there—then she’s gone—and the fact that you can’t check in with them right now is proof enough.” Anson was shoving his shirt back into the waistband of his pants. I had no idea where his jacket was, and for a brief, insane moment, I wondered how far Fallon had taken her distraction.

“You have an hour to get your people out,” the Alpha of Carmag said. “Anyone caught after that—there’ll be no safe passage.”

My mind had already closed down to one objective. Noa!

Mace’s voice was sharp through the pack bond. “No one’s answering, Gray.”

The answer I gave him was a snarl.

CHAPTER 28

Noa

The mist cloaking the forest made the pine-needled ground slippery while the path nearly disappeared in the dark. Levi was a shadowy form in front of me. Laura moved with stealth a few steps behind. But this was what we’d practiced. What I trained for until my body ached with the muscle memory.

The cold sliced bone deep; I swiped at my eyelids, tried to ease the numbing in my face. The moonstone runes along my spine grew restless; those on my arm tingled. Grayson had inked them on my skin months ago. The Green Man’s runes for protection.

The black wolf sigil on my wrist was Grayson’s promise, but it remained silent. We were too far away from Sentinel Falls for the pack bond. If anything went wrong, we’d be on our own. Like being lost on the backside of the moon without communication.

But the worsening weather meant getting in and out before the guards sought shelter—not that we hadn’t planned for it. If guards were in the house, Levi would shift into his wolf and attack. Be the distraction while I syphoned energy, got close enough to incapacitate them. Even Laura was ready to shift, and I understood the cost to her, because she’d confided how her wolf still harbored fears even Grayson couldn’t assuage.

The house windows—all two of them—were dark. No wavering glow from a banked fire or hooded lantern. No smoke curling from the chimney. My faille sense picked up nothing current, no wolf or vampire energy, although Julien’s information had been accurate. A girl had been here, leaving traces, whispers. But not enough to feel confident.

I followed Levi up three steps to a porch, through the doorway into the dark. Mace’s countdown became a drumbeat in my head.

Back to the doorjamb... identify the obstacles... move toward your objective.

Dull moonlight wavered through the windows. My eyes adjusted, and darker shapes within the room became chairs. A table. No movement other than Levi, off to my right. Laura was to the left; she took a quick, backward step to check the door. Her movements matched my rapid breathing, harsh in my ears. No… scents, I realized. The air had the staleness of a forgotten room.

Keep moving, Noa.

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