A MAZE OF GREED

*Present*

Ruth refused to leave Edwin's side despite consistent requests by the guards. She was so angry at them that she resembled a lioness protecting her King.

Edwin had lost much blood. If not treated immediately, then the poison might spread in his system.

But how could they let Ruth see his nasty wounds? She would bombard them with questions that they could not answer.

One of the guards slipped out of the room and contacted Elsie through the mind link. But his voice reflected back after not reaching her.

When they were helplessly waiting for some miracle that would handle their uncontrolled Luna, Lester reached there at the right time.

Without a word, he ran to where they had kept Edwin. He halted when he saw Ruth by Edwin's side. Her hands and dress were stained in Edwin's blood as she held his hand, tears ran down her eyes.

"Why the hell his treatment has not started yet?" Lester thundered in anger.

One of the guards dared to open his mouth. "Lord Lester... Miss Ruth... she is not leaving Master's side."

Lester understood the situation well. He could not be patient with Ruth and let Edwin's health deteriorate more. He marched towards her and held her wrist tightly.

Ruth's head snapped up at him.

"Leave my hand!" She growled while glaring at Lester through her red and swollen eyes.

"Ruth! Come with me this instance or I will drag you out of here by myself." Lester warned.

But Ruth was not in a state of listening to him. He did not make any sense to her.

"You can not!"

She instantly regretted saying that as Lester pulled her up and dragged her out of the room forcefully. Ruth struggled, fought even cursed at Lester, yet he remained unaffected.

Lester dragged Ruth to the room on the first floor, where she had spent days while she was injured.

He pushed her inside the room. Ruth fell to the floor. She looked up at Lester as more tears streamed down her eyes.

"I am sorry!" She saw him whispering those words before he closed the door.

Ruth ran to the door, banging on it loudly. Pleading Lester to open the door, but all she heard was his fading voice as he barked orders at the guards.

*

*

*

Edwin did not move from the chair he sat in. He did not care to put on clothes. His body was burning in the scorching heat of the Sun. He did not eat, nor did he drink anything.

Not a single person dared to move from their place. The alpha of the Wildline pack was pacing in worry, praying that they could never find Kevin.

Lester was coordinating and guiding the guards of the Wildline pack in search of Kevin.

The minutes were running fast to turn into hours. And with the fastly running time, Edwin's patience was also running thin. He found it harder to control his beast as the frustration kept growing.

His mind was constantly running in two different directions. One of them was obviously Kevin, and the other was Ruth.

Ruth... she must be waiting for him. What she might be thinking at that time? Was she mad at Edwin? Was she worried for him? Or had she not worn those earrings at all?

Edwin was constantly thinking about her. Meanwhile, he was also observing how the Luna of the Wildline pack was taking care of her husband.

She was distressed, yet she was doing her double duty towards both her husband and her pack. She was the alpha's anchor as he was not in a state of standing strong.

Along with taking care of her husband, she was also attentive towards the state of her pack. She ordered the maids and the guards for arranging food and drinks for the pack members.

There were children, and a couple of women were expecting their cubs soon. She was taking extra care of them.

Edwin could not help but admire her for her patience, courage and ability to keep calm in such a situation. The occasional beads of tears that she wiped secretively showed that she was also hurt and scared, yet she stood strong for her people.

A thought of war peeked in Edwin's mind. If the war happened, would Ruth be able to discharge her duties as a Luna and the wife of the werewolf leader successfully?

It was not that Edwin doubted her capabilities, yet he was also aware that she must possess exceptional qualities for discharging her duties.

He sometimes felt guilty that Ruth needed to carry the immense burden of expectations on her shoulders. If she married a human, her life would have been easier... a lot easier.

Initially, Edwin thought of sacrificing himself for her happiness, but then, he realised how selfish love is. He would die or kill first then see Ruth smiling with another man.

He was ready to share her pain and burden then let her go.

Did not Kevin's mate think the same for him? Edwin wondered. How could she be so selfish after knowing all the risks?

The alpha of the Wildline pack was not wrong. Kevin did not deserve any punishment. He was at no fault. Sometimes at such instances, Edwin wished he could manipulate peoples hearts and minds for accepting their mates.

But even though he was a werewolf leader, he had no right of intervening in every werewolf's life. Accepting or rejecting a mate was one's choice, and even the Moon Goddess could not change that.

Soon the daylight began to fade as darkness reached the doorstep after conquering over the light. Yet, they had no news of Kevin.

Edwin was getting restless. He had to act fast before it was too late. The last time he wasted time because of emotions, it had cost hundreds of innocent human lives. That bloodshed, that destruction still haunted him to this date.

That was the time when Edwin pledged to never bring emotions between him and his duties. All he cared about was the welfare of his people, and to achieve that, he could go to any extent, he could even turn into a heartless monster.

"My Lord... Alpha..." Edwin was shaken from his thoughts by an urgent voice of a man.

He came running with fear-stricken eyes.

"What happened?"

Everyone was instantly on alert.

"Lord Kevin... he... he is approaching the town at a fast rate. If we do not stop him now, he will get to the habitation and..." The guard could not complete his sentence as the mere possibility made him shudder in fright.

"Lester, come on." Edwin jumped out of the chair and without wasting any time, ran in the direction the man had shown.

Lester was hot on Edwin's tail. Edwin's legs moved faster along with his brain.

He could not let history repeat itself. NO!

Edwin came to an abrupt halt, as he saw a dark grey wolf surrounded by four other wolves. The four wolves had surrounded Kevin from all sides. One could tell that he must have given them a hard time by the way they all were panting heavily.

"Beta, close the route to the town with a wall of your guards," Lester ordered, and the Beta immediately ran to get it done.

The Alpha tried taking a step ahead, overwhelmed at the sight of his brother, but Lester stopped him with a glare. He shook his head in a warning. The Luna immediately held onto her husband's hand, pleading with her eyes to stay away.

Their leader was there, and she trusted him completely. By this time, the crowd had reached the place, standing at a safe distance. It was a good thing that the place was surrounded by trees, and was still away from the habitation.

The dark grey wolf growled loudly before attacking one of the four wolves. Their growls and howls shook the ground and the trees as people kept gasping and shrieking with every wolf falling down.

In the end, only the dark grey wolf stood proud and raged.

Edwin anticipated this to happen. He had seen Kevin's abilities as a warrior, and he was sure that no warrior from his pack could match his strength and abilities, not even his Alpha.

"KEVIN!"

The grey wolf stilled momentarily and turned around to notice Edwin standing there with a bare chest.

"Shift!" Edwin commanded. Although, he himself doubted Kevin's wolf would listen to him in this condition.

The grey wolf shook his head while making grunting sounds at the back of his throat.

Lester made sure to not let anyone get too close. He stood like a protective wall between the pack members and the uncontrolled rogue.

Edwin confidently took a couple of steps ahead. The grey wolf reached just a couple of inches above Edwin's human height. The domination radiating from Edwin made Kevin's wolf feel threatened.

The shadows fell on his face making him look more lethal. The way Kevin's wolf refused the submission, Lester feared for the worse.

~"Edwin, be careful"~

Edwin had handled such situations before, but this time he had something else on his mind.