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

Chapter Three, Part Four - If Looks Could Kill

A few days later Adelle and I sat in her white Volkswagen. We were parked beneath the shade of two weeping willows, across the street from the darkening lot of the Quality Inn. The sun's shift ended and the moon began its steady ascent. Adelle was hunched over in the driver's seat, peering intently at room #4 with her camera held at the ready. It had been almost twenty minutes since Claire Briton and Jeremy Franks had entered.

"Hey Addy, you remember that note I told you about? The one that someone left on my door a few days ago?"

Addy paused and peered through the camera to snap a pretty picture of the willow's leaves in the fading light. "Mmm-hmm..."

"Well I was thinking – what if that note wasn't talking about just one person? I mean it said if 'they' find out, not if 'he' or 'she' finds out."

"I dunno babe, but maybe a better question is why someone would leave it in the first place."

"Beats me." I shrugged. "The only person I know who would've done something like that is..."

"Jack," said my friend, quietly. "Jack would've warned you."

"Yeah, except he wouldn't have just left a note. He would've told me in person. He's not like the rest of my family." I leaned back in my seat, casting my troubled gaze to the ceiling. "Whoever wrote this note – I have a feeling they might know things about me, or my past, that even I don't. They're afraid of something, and they think I should be too."

"Uh yeah, they're afraid that if you Wolf out in front of the wrong person you're gonna get yourself killed. So maybe you should listen."

I said nothing because I knew Adelle was right. I couldn't shift – not unless it was important. Not until we had this figured out.

"Soooo, are you sure you don't wanna just look on the security film? Come one Naomi – one little peek wouldn't hurt. It would take, like, two seconds."

"I've considered it once or twice, but I haven't changed my mind. I still think we should respect their privacy. This person, whoever they are, might've gone out on a limb to warn me and if they wanna stay hidden then I'll let them--for now." Silence reigned as we each interpreted the situation in our own separate ways. I thought of the note and all the people I was sure it hadn't come from–like Charles, and Paris. "Addy," I said, when I could think quietly no longer. "What happened to my family? Why are they so... broken?"

"I dunno." She tucked a lock of shiny red hair behind her ear. "But bad things happen to good people. And bad mothers happen to good people too."

Ironically, Paris didn't cross my mind. Instead, my thoughts fell on my great-grandmother–a young woman who had lived until the ripe old age of twenty-one. Her story was a dreary, twisted account that Adelle had narrated while on the road to the motel, and I cringed in pity each time I thought of it

Like the Noble women that came before her, Sully was young and she was pretty – and the men of the Garou were fully aware. And as Wolves are prone to do, they competed viciously for her affections. But the Elder, Edward Noble, guarded his daughter like a king with treasure, determined to shield her from the ravenous, potential Alphas he knew had eyes for his daughter.

Nevertheless, at the young and tender age of eighteen, Sully was finally able to venture from beneath the massive shadow of her father's protectiveness. When the equally young and handsome James Parker gathered the courage to approach her, Sully wasn't afraid to take the hand he offered. She knew that James was her ticket to freedom, and two years later she married her one, untrue love.

But as time passed, Sully realized that her happy ever after wasn't as blissful as she anticipated. Unfortunately, Sully's mother, Katherine, died just minutes after giving birth to her daughter, so she never had the chance to teach Sully just how complicated marriage could be. Otherwise, Katherine would've warned her daughter that getting pregnant and bringing a child into the world with a man you didn't love never yielded the results expected.