A MAZE OF GREED

The evening sky was painted with pretty shades of pink and violets. The flocks of the birds flew on the way of their nests. Edwin and Lester were picked up by a carriage, just outside the habitation of the town.

They reached the Wright's mansion before the Sunset. Mrs Wright arranged for evening tea for both of them before joining her husband in the garden, where the couple liked to have their evening tea every day.

"What did you do?" Edwin was about to touch the brim of the cup to his lips when he heard the door burst open and an angry Thea standing in front of him with a scowl.

"Excuse me?"

"No, you are not excused My Lord! Tell me this instant, what did you do with Ruth?"

Edwin and Lester shared a sideways glance. Although, Thea was just Edwin's head maid, she was never taken lightly, even by Edwin when it came to Ruth. She always went banshee on anyone who dared to trouble her best friend.

Sometimes Edwin wondered if just like them all, Thea was also born with a purpose of standing like a tall wall covering up for Ruth?!

"Calm down Tiger! We can-"

"No!"

Lester jumped to aid his friend, but he was shut up instantly by Thea.

Edwin slowly put down his cup and leaned back in his seat. He looked up at her with a calm face.

"What happened?" He asked.

"That is you are suppose to tell me! What happened in your room? Since Ruth has come from there she has locked up herself in her room. She is not even answering Lady Elsie's calls." Although Thea looked angry, her voice was filled with concern.

Before Edwin opened his mouth, Rees rushed into the room.

"Thea! What the hell?!! You are too loud that I heard your voice in the corridor. What is wrong with you?" Rees chided her.

But that only irked her more.

"Oh nothing is wrong with me dear husband. But you should definitely try asking that question to your dearest Master." Her words were full of sarcasm that even Lester also cringed.

"Thea! Do not forget who you are talking about." Rees could not tolerate anyone insulting his master, not even Thea.

Lester wished he had some snacks while watching the drama unfolding. For the time being, he decided to manage with the cookies his mother had served with the tea.

Edwin passed him a disapproving glare to which he just shrugged innocently.

"Rees! I have already told you hundred times and I am repeating it once again. I have done everything only for the sake of Ruth. If anyone tries to hurt her in any way, then that person needs to deal with me. Whoever the person is!" She passed a glare at Edwin's way at the end.

Edwin was speechless. He was a werewolf leader, a man who was born to create a history for God's sake!

But humans do not care about even God if it meant things won't go their way.

Rees was angry yet helpless. His eyes kept bouncing between his stubborn and hot-headed wife and his rock-like Master. Then he saw Lester, chewing on the cookie in his hand while watching everything with interest.

"You know what? You all men are the same! You do not understand us, women. You have no idea how to deal with our emotions and heart. You think that only saying I love you is enough.

But no! It is not enough!! The words do not sound convincing until you prove it through your actions. You always think with your brain, but we women think with our hearts. And maybe that is our problem!" She spat in anger.

All three men were stunned at their respective places. Nobody dared to open their mouth.

"You are about politics, you care about business. You know the prices of land and unique commodities. You may even reach the moon one day. But the thought of gifting a single flower to the woman you claim you love does not cross your mind." By the end of her ranting, she was breathing heavily.

Lester slowly raised his hand up, asking for their attention.

"Umm... that all sounded very... passionate." He added passionate after much effort of searching for the right word. "But your point is?" He asked, smiling sheepishly.

Thea smacked her forehead as she groaned in irritation. "Mother was right! The men are so clueless!!" She muttered under her breath.

"You know we are werewolves and can hear you clearly." Lester said in a deadpan tone.

He always considered him the romantic one and thus did not like how Thea counted him with Edwin and Rees. Only Elsie knew how thick was that romantic bone in him!

'Loosers!' Lester thought.

"Enough Thea. You are dragging the topic to a wrong turn." Rees finally had enough of her accusations.

"I am taking a wrong turn, Rees? No. I do not think so, Mr husband! Because not only me but we all are wrong here. We all want Ruth to dance to our song when she is surrounded by a web of lies.

We want her to be the mate Lord Edwin deserves when she does not even know who he is. How can you expect someone to believe that one day humans will live on the moon when he does not even know what is the moon?" She asked.

"You know your examples are very weird to imagine." Lester interjected.

But she ignored him.

"I do not know what happened between you two. But what I am observing since you two have gotten close is that Ruth is trying to climb that invisible wall that you are unwilling to break down. Do not make her take a hard way, Lord Edwin. She has gone through enough!

And if you cannot be the man she deserves, then do not expect her to be a Luna you and your people deserves!"

Rees wanted to correct her that it was not only his people, but Thea was also a part of them. These women, detached themselves from their husband's family according to their convenience just to prove their point. He shook his head but froze when she glared at him.

Edwin was silent during the whole outburst of Thea. Not only because he did not want to be rude to her but also because he needed that eyeopener. He needed that push that would help him overpower his fear of losing Ruth.

He could not go on like this without telling her the truth about him.

The door of the room opened once again, and Elsie entered. She looked tired but as soon as she sensed the tension in the room, she gave a questioning look to them.

"I will give you the details later," Lester added quickly before Thea resumes her outburst. For he knew that then Elsie would also join her.

He was happy in his love life and did not want the repercussions of Edwin's foolishness affecting it.

"Brother Edwin, I spoke with the lady who was there at the time of the kidnapping. But did not find anything other than what she has already told." She informed, coming straight to the point.

The previous subject was pushed in the background as everyone's including Thea's attention was on what Elsie had to tell.

"What about that sample of saliva?" Rees asked.

"I met the man you recommended Lester. But unfortunately he failed to give any breakthrough. He could not recognise what is mixed with that saliva."

Edwin had a slight idea about it, but it was better to take every chance.

"We have found more such samples and we suspect by the amount that it does not belong to only one rogue. There were probably others too." Lester informed.

"What?" Elsie was shocked to hear that.

She had seen how dangerous that rogue looked, especially his red eyes. And the possibility of more of them lingering around the Bluemoon pack sent chills up her spine.

"This is a troublesome situation. What are we going to do now? What if they come back?" Thea asked in alarm.

All her zeal of fighting drained down the drainage in a minute.

Lester shook his head. "I do not think they will come back after knowing that we are aware of their presence around our borders."

"Do you... do you think that as Rees had pointed out before, that there is any connection between these rogues and the kidnappings?" Elsie asked suspiciously.

Lester's face was masked in seriousness. "Then what about the Vampires if we trust Ruth's dream?"

"Oh God this is so confusing!" Thea grumbled.

"We only have one proof, these samples of saliva that may solve both the mysteries or at least one for sure. But what are we going to do with it now if the man I recommended failed to help us with it?" Lester again brought their attention to what they had in their hands.

Elsie watched Edwin sitting in silence, lost in his world of thoughts.

"Brother Edwin, why are you not saying anything? What are we going to do with these samples?" Elsie asked, unaware of the turmoil raging inside him.

Edwin paused before answering.

"Do not worry about that.. I think I have a name in mind who can help us with it."