A MAZE OF GREED

Thea only stared at Elsie with a blank face. Her words went flying over her head.

"I-I do not understand, Lady Elsie."

Rees tightened his hold on her hand as if he was warning her to brace herself from whatever was coming her way.

She waited anticipatedly to hear what Elsie had to say.

"Just like you love your friend, I love my brother. He is more than a cousin for me and he needs to heal."

Thea's level of confusion had skyrocketed. She could not understand why these people could not come straight on a point.

"But what does it have to do with Ruth?"

"She is the solution, Thea. Only Ruth can heal my brother Edwin."

Thea sucked a deep breath. She did not know what to make out of Elsie's words. How could Ruth be a solution? She could not even stand seeing Edwin's face. Neither he had given her a reason to act otherwise.

"Okay! With all due respect to both of you, I do not understand a thing going here. I do not care what you want from me, or Ruth. But let me enlighten you that they can not stand each other. Ruth HATES Ed- Young Master.

And for some reason, he keeps getting on her nerves. So, now amidst of all this, I do not understand why Young Master needs to heal and how can Ruth be the solution for that."

"Because Ruth is Edwin's mate, Thea!"

"oh, yes. Right! Just like I am cindrella according to my mother and Rees is the prince having my glass shoe." Thea blabbered, not caring that she was talking with the elites.

She was too pissed at this point that she would not have cared even if it was Lord Augustus in front of her.

"I am serious, Thea!" Lester tried again.

Having enough of all this, Thea stood up abruptly. Rees's hand slipped to his side as he watched at her in worry.

"I am also very serious, Lord Wright if you can not say that from my face." She was angry.

"Thea, please calm down!" Rees also stood up and tried to calm her.

"No! You do not tell me to calm down. You are calm and that is enough for both of us."

"Thea..."

"No, Rees. This is not a joke. You said you would answer all my questions. You always sought Ruth's trust and her friendship. And now, out of the blue, two elites are telling me that Ruth is Edwin O'Dell's mate?!

Does this make any sense to you? Is this how Edwin O'Dell has planned to trap her for insulting him? Is this his way of taking revenge on her? If it is so, then I am afraid to say that Ruth is right about her opinion of him!"

Thea took heavy breaths. Her face had turned red out of anger.

"Enough!" Lester stood up and was right in front of her face in a blink of an eye.

Thea was startled by his reaction and was about to step back when he grabbed her arm and stared deep into her widened eyes. Rees clenched his hands into fists, for he knew what Lester was doing.

He was compelling her to stay silent for a while by using his power of hypnotism. He did not want to use that way to pursue Thea to agree with their plan. But she had left no other choice for them.

"Look into my eyes, Thea. Are you?"

"Y-yes, My Lord." She stuttered but did not break her eye contact with Lester.

His eyes had turned a darker shade of green. "Now you will calm down and listen to everything silently. Your questions will be answered but you have to cooperate and listen everything carefully. Will you do that?" Lester asked in a steady tone.

Rees glanced towards Elsie hopefully, but she shook her head and told him to wait patiently.

"Will you do as I said, Thea?" Lester asked again when Thea did not answer right away.

The lines of anger disappeared from her face, and the panic in her heart had settled down a bit.

"Yes, My Lord! I will do as you said."

"Good" Lester removed his hand from her shoulder, and when she regained her sense, she saw him sitting beside Elsie and away from her.

She blinked in confusion. 'What just happened?' She questioned herself.

"Come on, love. You need to sit down." Rees helped her sit down on the couch and gave her the same glass of juice that she had left half-filled.

Thea wrapped her fingers around the glass and gulped down the remaining content in one go.

They gave Thea a couple of minutes to settle down.

Now Thea was recovered from her initial shock. She inhaled enough air in her system and confirmed her doubt.

"You mean, Ruth Moore, my best friend is Edwin O'dell's mate just like I and Rees?"

Elsie nodded. "Yes, just like you and Rees, and I and Lester." She smiled at her mate.

Thea was surprised to hear that. "You both are mates?"

"Fortunately, yes!" Lester took Elsie's hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the back of her fingers.

"Oh. my. God! This... this can not happen. I mean why? How? When?" Thea turned towards Rees with gazillions of questions in her mind.

They were too much for Rees that he stopped peeking into her mind a few minutes ago.

"Rees, you told me that the mates are decided by the Moon Goddess. And having a human mate is not common."

"Yes, Thea and that is right. And just like us, the Moon Goddess has chosen Ruth for my Master."

"But why Ruth? She does not even like your Master!" Thea cried.

"That is the reason why we were asking so many questions about her." Lester explained.

Thea tried to wrap her head around this blow that hit her right in the face.

"It means Ruth is suppose to be the wife of the leader of the werewolves?!" She literally shrieked in astonishment.

"Only if she accepts Edwin as her mate." Lester pointed out.

Rees then told Thea right from the night of the celebrations to how they all found the truth. Thea listened to everything carefully. Her mouth fell open and turned into an 'o' on several occasions throughout the narration.

But she did not interrupt Rees. She was shocked, to say the least, but now that she had answers to all her previous questions, the new ones stood in front of her with crossed arms.

Thea looked at Elsie. "Then why do you said that your brother needs to heal? And only Ruth is the solution?"

"When brother Edwin found out that after decades of wait, he had finally met the woman who was his destiny, he could not take that shock.

He decided to stay away from her and not let anyone know about this. But as Rees might have told you that staying away from mates is painful torture for werewolves.

He tried, Thea. Trust me that he tried. But his wolf is too powerful and demanding. That distance between him and Ruth turned his wolf insane. He lost his control and attacked not only me but also Lester."

Thea gasped in shock for the twentieth time in a single evening. She covered her mouth with her hands when Lester showed her his leg with claw marks made by Edwin.

"I would have been dead by my own brother's hand if it was not for Rees and Lester. After that dreadful day, everything ran down the hill."

Elsie told Thea how Lord Augustus threw Edwin behind the bars. She explained in detail how Edwin was tortured and suffered throughout days and nights. She told her how much effort it took for the guards, Rees and Lester to tame Edwin's animal.

With every detail, Thea shivered in disgust and fear. She could never wish those things even for her archnemesis.

Rees told what happened at the night when Thea and Ruth came looking for him. He told her how Ruth was about to see Edwin in his worst form, but Lester saved the day.

Thea's head spun with every bit of information. She had not expected to get such answers to her questions.

"But why he wants to stay away from her? Why can not he tell Ruth everything to her face? Although she does not like him, she is a mature person and would understand his situation." Thea suggested.

That made Rees laugh dryly.

"It took me four months to tell you that I am a werewolf and you expect Ruth to accept Master that easily?"

Now that she thought of it, her words did not make any sense to her mind.

"My brother is a leader of the werewolf breed. He is the alpha of all the alphas. With great powers comes greater responsibility.

For the whole world, he has a golden spoon in his mouth. But that is not the truth, Thea. He has a great purpose in life, and he has to serve it even at the cost of his life.

He has a lot of enemies to add to his problems. Now tell me, how can he put Ruth in such a position where she would constantly live under the shadows of fear?

Was that not a similar reason why Rees kept his identity secret from you?"

Elsie's words suddenly made sense to Thea.. She recalled that Rees told her the same reason that he did not want to frighten her with who he was.