The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Sixteen, Part One - Close Encounters

If I had been Human, I would've been scared to walk the streets of Harbor alone at night. Something about this grey town was mysterious and enchanting during the day, but daunting and lonely at night. Strangers who might spare you a nod during the daytime, turned up their jackets and pretended not to notice when they passed you on the street at night. But I didn't mind. I was too mistrustful of strangers anyway to spare much thought for slights.

It was a short trek from the Fairway to the Piney Cove Stream–a thin snake of water that wriggled in a more wooded, discreet area of Harbor. I walked a mile before the old oak bridge came into view. From a good distance away I could see Eve, leaning on the grey stones of the curved overpass as she gazed into the bubbling stream below.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're late honeybun." She straightened when I approached and I could see a folder in her gloved hands.

"Well, I'm here now. And you've got something I want."

"Oh, you mean the evidence?" She wagged the folder in an exasperating manner. "Well, it's right here waiting for you."

"I'm not talking about that, Eve, and you know it. I'm talking about the ring you stole from me. It's dangerous and you need to give it back."

She smirked, ignoring the command. "Have you made a decision then?"

"Yeah, I have..." In the back of mind, the decision had been there all along, right from the very start. I knew what needed to be done, no matter what the decision might cost me. "After thinking about it, I realized that Ethan deserves to suffer. He played you to get what he needed, and then tossed you aside like a toy he'd just broken. You were easily replaced, just like I was easily dispensable, and you have a right to want vengeance."

"Yes--then you understand." Eve's voice was low and husky. She blinked rapidly to stem the sudden flow of angry tears. She sighed, dabbed at her eyes, then straightened her back and shoulders, prideful as ever. "We deserve this--you and me. He used us and now we can make him pay. We can make him suffer--"

"I can't." I shook my head but Eve kept looking at me with that same, frigid austerity and no change in expression–like she'd expected this answer from the beginning. "If I help you, not only will I destroy Mathew Knight's reputation as a Pack Leader but I'll jeopardize Ethan's faith in me. He's my Champion--I need him on my side. Plus, it's just bad karma."

Eve looked down, and when she showed her face again, there was a pronounced anger to replace her previous chill. "You let old Doe Eyes get to you from the very beginning. I knew you'd be too weak to come through for me, so I took out a little insurance."

Eve placed the folder between her teeth, then used the fingers of her left hand to remove the glove from her right. There, glinting in the moonlight was the Countess' ring on the forefinger of her right hand.

"You stupid... Eve, that ring is cursed!" I couldn't believe it. She was the one in real trouble, but in the end I would suffer just as much for her self-centered actions. "You selfish bitch--that ring causes insanity, and now you can't take it off until I get you help."

"Help?" Eve scoffed and raised her eyebrows. "Um, no thanks. I think I'll just hold on to this until you do what has to be done."

"Damnit, I don't wanna fight you Eve." Even so, I clenched my fists. "But I'm not gonna betray Ethan, and you're not leaving my sight with that ring."

My Human nails turned black, elongating into several inches of sharp, lethal claws. I felt thudding pain as my teeth re-grew within jaws too human to comfortably house my powerful Wolf's teeth. I gnashed them angrily, growling as I flexed hands prepared to slash and strike.