A MAZE OF GREED

Thea was feeling confident with every passing moment and every positive reaction. She was finally getting hold of everything. And now, she was ready for the final step of the ceremony.

"Thea..."

She watched Edwin with a smile, but the seriousness on his face made it falter slowly.

"This is the last step of the ceremony. After this, you and Rees will be bonded by your blood. His blood will improve your healing abilities. And thus, you will live longer than your expected lifespan. You will grow old with your husband, and may the death succumb you both at the same time.

Because once the blood bond is established, it is very hard for humans too to live without their mate."

Thea listened to Edwin carefully. She knew the gravity of his words and was ready to do anything for her husband.

"I understand Young Master!" She said politely.

Edwin gave her a nod. The woman who had collected drops of Rees's blood in a rufous coloured liquid walked to Thea.

"You need to drink this." Edwin told.

Thea had not seen that coming. The liquid looked tempting, but the fact that it also had Rees's blood in it made her a little hesitant.

Drinking her own husband's blood? That sounded cringy to her ears. If her mother was here, then she would have freaked out by now.

Thea took the glass in her hand. She looked up at Rees, but the worry in his eyes confused her. She caught eyes with Ida to see the same worry in hers too.

Every person that cared about her had the same worry in their eyes.

But why?

To keep her confusion at bay, Thea decided to lock her eyes with the only person that motivated her to go through everything in life- Rees.

She did not break eye contact with him as she drank the rufous liquid. Rees watched as it drained down her throat.

She emptied the glass and gave it back to the woman, who was waiting patiently for her to finish. Thea did not realise that slowly everyone stepped away from her. They removed all the things on the stage.

What were they doing? Was she supposed to go for a wrestling match here?

Thea stood staring at Rees. With every passing moment, the worry in his eyes intensified.

Suddenly Thea's body temperature started rising. Her palms got clammy, and a thin layer of perspiration appeared on her forehead. Her eyes began itching.

With a frown, she blinked rapidly as her vision turned misty. Pain shot first in her head.

"Ttsshhh", She hissed when another wave of pain erupted in the stomach.

The wave travelled in all directions in her body- slowly and torturously. She could hear her heart pumping blood faster than normal. She gasped for air when the pain turned unbearable.

She felt like her insides were set on fire. The acid burned her throat.

"R-Rees?" She gasped.

Rees could not see her in that state. His wolf fought to run to his mate, but Edwin placed his hand on Rees's chest.

"Aaahhhh.... stop! Please make it stop! It is p-painful!" Thea's screams of pleading filled the space.

A loud growl rumbled in Rees' throat. His wolf- anxious and agitated- attempted to come out to save his mate. His eyes turned darker and then into golden orbs with black streaks. His canines grew as well as his claws.

He tried pushing Edwin's hand away when another scream shook Thea violently.

But he was dealing with none other than his leader. Edwin did not want his wolf to come out as he was not sure, how he would handle the situation after coming out for a long time.

Edwin applied more force as he took a warning step towards Rees.

Edwin's cerulean blue eyes darkened in a warning.

"Lester..." Elsie clutched his hand tightly in worry.

Lester knew that Edwin's wolf was not in a state of calming easily if the things escalated dramatically. It was always nasty when the two powerful males fall into a fight.

"Do not worry Elsie. I am here."

Lester looked in Mr Welby's way, and a silent agreement passed between them. If things go out of hand, then they would intervene. But till then, Thea needed to fight her own battle. She needed to prove that she was no less than a werewolf female.

Her body needed to accept Rees's blood. A werewolf's blood was more powerful and quite different from a human's blood. As it entered Thea's system, it initiated overpowering her senses.

A human body was not used to such abrupt changes and thus carried on its defence mechanism at its optimum use.

There were only three ways for Thea in this situation.

First- Her body had to accept and adapt to this change.

Second- If her body was strong enough, then she would vomit blood, taking every bit of Rees's blood out of her body. And that would mean a blood bond could not be established between them.

That would also mean that she would grow old like an average human and would die before Rees.

Third- It was the most devastating way. If her body surrendered to the pain and could not take out Rees's blood from her body then... it would lead to only one outcome. Death!

Aware of these circumstances, Rees's wolf decided to put up a fight against his alpha. He could not see his mate in pain.

The veins in Thea's body strained as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Her vision had turned dark. The tears were nowhere near stopping.

Her whole body shook and was burning like a furnace. A tornado was casting havoc on her stomach. Her chest felt compressed as her lungs failed to function properly.

With another loud growl, Rees pushed Edwin a couple of steps back. He ran to Thea, but Edwin was quick to put himself between the two.

Thea fell on her knees as she lost all her energy.

Edwin pushed Rees back with his hands. Rees slid back on his feet but balanced himself before he fell from the platform.

The crowd was watching silently. Some even shook their heads in disappointment. They thought that humans might not be as weak as they thought. But they saw their perspective was not wrong after all.

Ida was frustrated with her people. The supernatural world was brutal. They did not care about emotions and circumstances. The one who had strength had the respect of everyone.

Other things did not really matter to them.

Forgetting the protocols, Ida jumped down from her seat. She ran near the foot of the platform. Looking up at Thea's broken form, she yelled.

"Thea! Thea... do not give up. You can do this Thea!"

People gasped at the young woman's madness. She was supporting a human against the protocols of the ceremony.

But, Ida knew that if Ruth was here, then she would not have given a damn about the world before helping her friend.

Lester was about to call back Ida, but when he realised that Elsie had joined her, he was speechless. It was unlikely of an O'Dell member to act that way. But he knew that Thea needed their encouragement.

The crowd went crazy. Edwin was trying his best to control Rees's wolf without calling his wolf out. And the crowd did not like the way a young O'Dell daughter and their servant broke the protocol to support a human.

~"Lord Lester... what should we do now?"~ He heard Mr Welby's alarming tone.

Lester had to act fast. His first priority was controlling the crowd. Their noises did not let Elsie and Ida's voices fall on Thea's ears. If Thea's body responded in any of the first two ways that are already mentioned, then the situation would be solved.

Not thinking twice, Lester jumped down his seat and stood in front of the crowd with a face that screamed- no-shit-taken.

The crowd slowly realised what it meant. Lester Wright was an alpha of the Bluemoon pack and their leader's beloved friend. He enjoyed authority that was more than any one of them.

The complaints and shouting melded down, and the silence spread like water spreading on the fire.

"Thea... breath. Focus! Think about your husband. Think about your love." Elsie yelled from below.

Thea could hear them faintly, but the pain she felt was too much to use her rationale.

Losing control, Rees kicked Edwin in the stomach, and he fell on the back with a thud.

The whole crowd gasped in shock. Every person present shot up from their seat, as they watched with wide eyes. Lester cursed under his breath because Rees's wolf had just woken up the beast.

And in the next moment, Rees's wolf faced a giant black wolf with shiny fur and two pits of blue fire as his eyes. Edwin's wolf jumped on Rees, tackling him down. Rees had not yet shifted completely.

Edwin's wolf howled so loudly that the vibrations of his noise shook everybody in a tremor of fear.

Thea's body was slowly giving up. But when Edwin's wolf hit Rees's head with his paw, Rees screamed in agony. That call of him shook Thea. Her brain went into a frenzy, her senses began searching for her mate.

"yes... yes. Thea! Fight it... fight it for rees. Rees needs you, Thea!" Both Ida and Elsie were yelling from below like crazy.

Rees's whimpers and hisses clouded Thea's mind. The pain was too much, but the fear of Rees getting hurt was tyrannical. She needed to find him. She needed to save him.

"Reeeesss!" Thea's ear-splitting scream reverberated in the entire space.

This time her will won over her body. She felt the burning calming down. Her misty vision began clearing as she started dragging air in her body.

She could feel some energy travelling in her body, in her veins, in her blood. When her vision cleared, she saw a black giant wolf above her husband.

"Reees!"

And that call of hers finally tamed Rees' wolf. Everyone sighed in relief. And a minute of deadly silence later, they watched Rees's wolf giving up. Edwin growled so loudly that it shook the walls of the cave.

He stepped away from Rees and shifted back in his human form. Before anyone could get an opportunity of seeing their devilishly handsome leader in all of his masculinity, a man rushed with a cloth to cover his bottom.

Edwin put it around his waist. But many females in the crowd had already imagined the unimaginable at the sight of his sweat-glistening bare torso.

Rees also shifted back in human form. And when his eyes met with Thea's, he felt like he had won over the world.

"I annouce that the ceremony is successfully competed!" Edwin declared in his composed voice as if nothing had happened.

The crowd then cheered up in overjoy. Ida and Elsie jumped like little girls, clapping their hands.. As everyone celebrated and welcomed the new member of their pack, Rees and Thea had found comfort in each other's arms.