A MAZE OF GREED

In a large meeting room in the Garfield castle of Kinsville, eight people gathered around a semi-circular table.

Ambrose was angry that he was disturbed by the interruption by Marcus when he was about to devour his wife. But he had to put a smile on his face to hide his frustration.

Aurora followed her husband's steps and did the same. The sexual tension was palpable between them, but they had to slid it aside for a while.

The murmuring stopped immediately as Ambrose's clicking shoes against the floor announced his arrival before he appeared through the door, followed by Aurora.

Marching straight to the middle chair, Ambrose stopped to look at the eight people gathered in the room.

Aurora had her seat next to her husband.

"Good evening, everyone! I am happy that you all arrived at such short notice. Please take your seats." He commanded.

The eight people- four men and their respective wives- took their seats. Everyone was clad in black that complimented their pale skin.

Every one of them was beautiful and carried themselves with such a grace that the whole world would shy in front of them.

No wonder they considered themselves higher and better than the rest of the world.

"May I ask the reason for this urgent meeting, My Lord?" One of the men inquired.

"Respected members of our coven, we all are already aware of our plan regarding Vincardine."

"Has there any news?" A woman with a long nose asked in excitement.

Aurora nodded her head. "Yes, there is!"

"Barret Addington paid a visit recently." Ambrose revealed.

Another wave of murmur erupted amongst the listeners.

"And we have a little problem in hand." That statement seized the murmur abruptly.

"What is it, My Lord?" The man sounded angry.

"Lord Augustus O'Dell." Ambrose's eyes roamed to the other end of the table, where a man with peppery hair sat with a serious face.

Their eyes met for a fleeting second, and Ambrose did not miss the slight twitch of the man's jaw.

"What that bastard has done now?" The angry man from before growled. He was immediately quietened by his wife with a signal of her eyes.

Ambrose recited everything that Barret Addington had told him. He also told them about Barret's plan.

A minute of silence passed.

"My Lord is it wise to strike again when Lord Augustus is anticipating our move? Should not we wait for some time?" A woman with curly hair suggested.

Aurora shared a look with her husband. "Why should we wait when we are so near to get what we want?"

"But they might call for war." Another man was concerned.

A long wicked smirk appeared on the man's face, who sat at the other end of the semi-round table.

"And that is exactly what we want!"

*

*

*

Rees waited for Thea in a public park that was near Mr Cooper's shop. He was anxious and kept running his hand through his hair numerous times.

Lester had persuaded him into his brilliant plan that was far from brilliant in Rees's opinion. It took Lester two days to get Rees to agree for at least one try.

Rees had already cleared to Lester that his plan was not going to be successful. But he could not win against Lester when he got an alliance with Elsie.

Rees could not believe that Elsie supported Lester's plan. He expected her to say otherwise, but she was the one who talked Rees into the plan.

'That woman is blinded in her love for her brother!' Rees sighed.

He kept throwing pebbles and rubbing his shoes against the grass to distract his mind.

'Where are you, Thea? You kept nagging me for the answers, and when I am ready to reveal them, you have to get late.' He huffed in annoyance.

After fifteen more minutes, he saw a woman bouncing on the balls of her feet coming in his direction. She was far, but Rees could tell that she was Thea.

As soon as she neared him, she paused for a second and straightened herself. Keeping a face void of any expressions, she took her sweet time walking his way.

Rees knew what that meant. She was letting him know that she was still mad at him for letting Augustus's maid touch him.

Rees was amused. In the morning, when he stopped by her house to convey her message about their this meeting, he could hear her heart racing against her chest while she listened to him from behind her bedroom door.

She avoided showing in front of him, and made up a lame excuse that she was taking a bath. Mrs Green had to receive Rees's message on her behalf.

Rees watched as she neared her and heard her heart beating loudly. Her breaths were short and rapid by all the running she had done, but she tried to not let it show.

Reaching near him, she released a deep breath. "You asked to meet you?!"

She avoided looking at his face and kept her face ahead. Her tone was formal.

Rees stifled his laugh and decided to play along.

"Yes, I did."

He paused, and those moments of silence felt excruciating to her.

"Well?" She prompted.

Rees only shrugged his shoulders and sighed dejectedly. He looked down at his hands when it became hard to control his laugh.

Thea, on the other hand, became nervous. Why was he acting like that? Was it something related to that maid? Her eyes widened at that possibility.

'Please, say that you do not want to call off our marriage because you find that witch more beautiful than me!' She prayed in anticipation.

And this time, Rees burst out laughing. His shoulders shook with the fit of laughter.

"Oh, Moon Goddess. Have some mercy on me!" He laughed even more.

Thea looked at him, puzzled. "Wh-what?"

"You never fails to amuse me, my dear mate. And I have told you before that werewolf or not, I can never ask anyone else than you."

Finally, her heart fell to ease. She glared at him for his joke.

"It was not funny!"

"I never said it was. It was amusing though!"

She hit his shoulder with her bag then sat beside him.

"If you are done, then tell me why did you called me here?"

Rees sobered up instantly. "First, tell me what took you so long?"

"I had to avoid Ruth. I thought you wanted to talk about that witch's thing. And I did not want Ruth to hear it. So it took me time answering her pile of questions, and when she was satisfied with all the answers, she let me go." Thea exhaled a long breath.

"Thea, I have told you before to not use witch as a curse word, they do not like it." He said in all seriousness.

"Is that why you called me?" Thea was upset again.

"No. Actually yes. I mean..." He trailed off.

She also did not pry more and decided to give him some time to collect his thoughts.

"I am truly sorry for that incident, Thea. I was so angry at myself. That guilt of touching another woman and sweet-talking with her kept eating me alive.

I cursed myself for doing that. I have only you in my heart. You are my mate, and I did not want to do that with you. Trust me when I say that I am truly and utterly sorry."

"But you did it anyway."

She was hurt. She had every right to feel that way. She knew how possessive Rees and his wolf were. They did not like when she admired another man, or think about him.

Then how could she let the fact slide that his mate had shared a private moment with another woman?

"I did because I had to. Master told me to do it." Rees sounded desperate and begging at the same time.

"I am not going to ask why because I know that you will not tell me. You say that there will be no secrets between us, and yet you end up drawing a riddle in front of me that no matter how much I try, I could not do it."

She sounded tired. And she indeed was. She was tired of this game of 'hide and seek'. She was tired of listening to his riddles. She was tired of being patient.

Rees could read her every thought. Aware of that, she did not try to hide them this time. She wanted him to understand how she felt. She wanted him to understand that they could not spend their whole lives playing this game of 'hide and seek'.

If they wanted to spend their lives together, then they had to hide together and seek together.

The guilt intensified in Rees, and he recalled what he advised Lester the other day.

*"When we accept someone as our mate, we must put our complete trust in them. If we expect them to understand us, then we first need to learn to share our burden with them."*

He stood up abruptly, which made Thea confused. She looked up at him dumbfoundedly.

She was about to open her mouth when he extended his hand for her.

"Rees?"

'Was he angry again?' She pondered.

Shaking his head lightly, he answered her unspoken question.

"No, Thea. I am not angry with you."

Thea gazed at his extended hand questioningly.

"Today, I want to answer every question you have. And this time, there will be no riddles and no more partial truths.. I will tell you everything crystal clear."