A MAZE OF GREED

"Rees… Rees! Listen to me once, please!" Thea ran behind fuming Rees, who took long strides in an unknown direction.

Ruth's words and the distrust in her eyes had sliced his heart deeply. He was very upset and didn't know what to do.

~"Talk to her and this time, don't lie."~ Edwin reached to him through the mind link that they shared and then Rees sensed Edwin blocking his mind link.

Rees was not sure what he wanted to do at that moment but he trusted his master wholeheartedly.

After reaching a secluded place, he abruptly stopped. Thea panted loudly to catch her breath but was relieved that at least he stopped.

After a couple of deep breaths, Thea wiped her eyes with the back of her hand then gulped down her saliva. She slowly approached Rees tasting the waters.

"Will you… will you believe me if I say I am sorry and I didn't mean what I said that day?"

Rees heard her heart pounding loudly in her chest and he could feel the turmoil of emotions that she had in her heart.

"Why should I believe you?" He didn't face her yet.

"B-because that is what the lovers do. They believe in each other." Came Thea's natural reply.

That made Rees turn around to face her with an enigmatic expression on his face. "Doesn't that rule apply to you too, Thea?" Hostility was still evident in his voice.

"Then tell me the truth. If you want me to believe you then tell me the truth." She said earnestly.

He clenched his jaw and fists. "I can't!"

Edwin had told him to not lie anymore but he didn't know how to tell Thea his secret. This was the very reason that he was trying to postpone the wedding date as much as possible. Before the marriage, he wanted to reveal everything to her but his wolf was afraid of losing her.

Rees's parents had told him that Thea was his mate and she should understand everything. With the passing time, she would accept him for who he was but still, Rees's insecurities couldn't let him make a brave move.

He couldn't muster up the courage to tell her... not even now when Edwin had willingly taken the responsibility to handle the aftermath.

Thea suppressed the pang of hurt that awoke because of Rees's nonchalant reply because she knew what she had to do after tonight's events.

"I know how much you love me Rees and if you are not telling me something then there is only one possibility that comes to my mind. And that is you are hiding a secret to protect me."

His eyes snapped at hers with a shock. Did Edwin tell her anything? No, that's remotely possible as he was not the kind of person to get involved in other's matters without their permission.

Sensing his confusion, Thea clarified. "Don't think too much. No one has said anything to me. Neither Ruth nor Edwin O'Dell. I came to you because that was what my heart told me to do."

"What? How?" Rees couldn't believe that Thea knew that the person he introduced as his childhood friend was, in fact, his master.

Not addressing his concern at that time, Thea continued with the main topic of discussion.

"I am truly sorry Rees. Not only for all the fights but also because I also kept a secret from you. I was scared and wanted to protect you. But now only I realised how wrong I was when I tasted my own medicine.

Keeping secrets from our loved one's only damages the relationship even if you are trying to protect them by doing so.

I am ready to trust you with my secret and I know that you will understand it. But… are you ready to put that same trust in me?" While maintaining eye contact with him, she decreased the distance between them until she was a hand's distance from him.

"I love you and I have realised that my insecurities can not overpower my love for you. I want to spend my whole life with you, Rees. Would you give me one chance to prove you that I mean every word that I said?"

The billow of emotions in her eyes was potent enough to coerce Rees into agreeing.

-"Talk to her and this time, don't lie."-

His master's words encouraged him further. He had a chance to let his mate know his secret and she was willing to believe him.

He gingerly touched Thea's face and ran his thumb below her eye to wipe her tears. His brown orbs tried to convey his sincere feelings as he took a step ahead.

A breeze passed by making strands of her hair fall on her face. Under the moonlight and starry sky, she looked beautiful.

"Are you sure about this, Thea? Because once you know my secret, there is no way for you to turn back." Rees's gaze pierced through her soul in an attempt to know her thoughts.

A resolve flashed in her teary eyes. "I am sure about this because I don't want to turn back anymore!" With that said, she rose on her tiptoes and captured his lips into hers, sealing her promise for once and all!

*

*

*

"Will you please stop following me?" Ruth said exasperatedly for the fourth time.

But as if he was a deaf man, Edwin didn't listen to her. He kept walking at a hand's distance from her without uttering a word.

Ruth's mental state was too disordered to keep her tone of speech in control not giving a dime that she was talking with none other than Edwin O'Dell himself.

Groaning at his indifferent and adamant behaviour, she decided to ignore him and kept walking towards her home. All she wanted to do was get away from this obnoxious man as soon as possible. Today's day had taken a great emotional toll on her.

She missed her mother, Bertha Moore and thought if she had her mother's shoulder to cry on. She was in a dire need of someone to lean on, to share her feelings and that person to tell her where she went wrong with the people she cared for.

Alas! There was no one for her.

"There are two kinds of women in the world." Edwin finally broke the silence but kept walking matching her pace.

She first considered ignoring his words but what she had heard tonight from him over the dinner made her decide otherwise. In addition to that, she wanted a distraction and the distance to reach her home felt unbelievingly long.

"One, who are very easy to understand and another ones are… unpredictable. They are hard to crack and tough to handle. You can never guess what goes in their head." He said as if he was telling some universal truth.

"And both types interests you." Came Ruth's reply with a flavour of sarcasm.

Edwin chuckled at her response. "Woman is a woman. Whichever kind, she interests men anytime."

Ruth rolled her eyes thinking he was a pervert and she shouldn't have opened her mouth to entertain him. 'So it was all just a sham,' She thought bitterly because somewhere a tiny part of her heart started changing her opinion about him after he talked with Mr and Mrs Green.

Suddenly turning serious, Edwin asked, "But do you know which kind intrigues me?"

"I don't-"

"It's you!"

Ruth halted in her tracks and turned at him with a puzzled face. She blinked in confusion. "Pardon?"

"It's you Ms Moore, you intrigue me."

Taming her haywire nerves, she gulped down nervously. His cerulean blue eyes spoke a million things that she didn't understand rather she didn't want to understand.

"But... I don't belong to those both kinds."

"Yes, you don't. Because you are one of a kind!" The sincerity in his voice sent the ripples to her soul and body. For a flitting moment, she lost the sense of reality as she walked towards the restricted path through his eyes.

But the reality is a cruel thing. It bites you to bring back to your senses when you start believing in illusions.

She wanted to yell at him to stop with his amorous tactics but she was already in trouble with him by insulting him in the morning. It was a miracle that Edwin O'Dell let her breathe after that. And Ruth was in no mood to test her lady luck more than once in a day neither she could let him had his way.

"By whatever experience I have earned till now, I figured that there are two kinds of men. One, who are capable of loving their woman selflessly and are loyal to her. And the second are those who are selfish and self-centered and can never be loyal to their woman."

She looked at him innocently. "And do you know which kind repulses me?"

"Ms Moore-"

"It's you! It's you who repulses me, the kind I loathed!" She spat, jabbing her finger at his chest.

Edwin's calm composure crumbled down to ashes at her act of mocking. He gripped her wrist tightly. "Think twice before you talk with me, Ms Moore. Being lenient once does not mean that it is one of my virtues." He hissed deadly.

Ruth wriggled her hand and he let her go. "Don't think that I am afraid of you, Mr O'Dell." She glared at him with her hazel eyes.

"You are no better than those filthy rich spoiled men of the western part of the Vincardine with the corrupted mind. And if you expect me to show you some respect because of your family name then let me clear it to you.

Bearing a respectable family name does not make you eligible to be respect-worthy. You have to earn it!"

Not waiting for his reaction, Ruth ran out of there, away from him. And all that he could do was watch her running away from him, her abhorrent words still burning in his ears and mind.