A MAZE OF GREED

The three guards relaxed visibly, and so did Rees. They had turned back to their human form. Rees stared at his master, who lay on the dirty floor with blood all over his body and clothes.

Wiping the beads of sweat from the forehead, Rees ordered the other guards. "Destroy this body. And make sure that no one finds what happened tonight." ​​

"Yes!"

"And you... help me to get the master at some better place."

Nodding their heads, everyone rushed to their assigned jobs.

The guard who had brought the amber coloured bottle helped Rees to lift Edwin's heavy body from the ground.

Rees put the bottle in his pocket, and with the help of the guard, dragged unconscious Edwin to the first floor of the building. Edwin was a tall and muscular man. He was as light as a feather when it came to fighting swiftly with the enemies.

But now that he was unconscious, his body felt heavy to drag with efforts. After reaching the room on the first floor. Rees and the guard stopped. The guard opened the door of the room, and they dragged Edwin inside.

This room was meant for taking rest for the guards. But whenever Edwin felt the need to isolate himself from the rest of the world, he lived in this room.

The room was simple, but unlike the ground floor, it was clean and neat with no foul smell of blood, sweat and other unspeakable things.

Rees and the guard lay Edwin on the bed, their breaths still had not come to normal.

"How are we going to get Young Master into 'the great manor' in this state?" The guard asked in worry.

Rees exhaled a long breath. "We can't. That is why it is better if he stays here tonight."

"But-but what if he wakes up and..."

Rees was aware of the guard's concern. "Don't worry. He will not harm any of us. You know that!"

With a glance at his master's disoriented figure, the guard nodded in understanding.

"I will get him some food and water. Also, he needs to be cleaned."

Not waiting for Rees's reply, the guard rushed out of the room. But Rees stood by the bed looking at his master with furrowed brows.

He expected Edwin's torturous ways to deal with the suspect, but he had not expected him to lose control of his wolf, like that. He shuddered at the thought that if anyone else had witnessed Edwin's dark side.

First, he didn't understand what made Edwin lose his control. It was not the first time that someone had threatened Edwin with his family, but he had never reacted in such a brutal way before. Then why now?

But the answer was presented to Rees when Edwin's wolf almost took over his mind and body. In between that chaos, Rees didn't miss the word that left Edwin's wolf's mind.

'Ruth!'

Clenching his fists and eyes, Rees tried to tame his wild thoughts. The mention of Ruth made him remember that he had promised Thea to meet at her place as her parents were out of town.

But his mind and heart called him to complete his duty. He couldn't leave Edwin in such a state. But he couldn't also miss the chance he had got tonight. The full-moon night was nearing, and he had to make sure to control everything before that.

He was brought back from his thoughts when the guard came with food, water and a set of clean clothes. He started unbuttoning Edwin's blood-soaked shirt to clean his body with water.

Contemplating for some more minutes, Rees came to the decision. Edwin would not wake up before the morning because of the solution that he inhaled.

"Listen, I have important work to attend to. Keep your eyes and ears open all the time. No one should get a whiff of tonight's events. Take care of master. I will be back in the morning."

"Okay!"

Rees pulled out the amber coloured bottle from his pocket. He put it on the side table. "When he wakes up, prepare him a drink. He needs to control his beast."

After giving some more instructions to the guard, Rees started walking in the direction of the main door of the building.

Rees had decided to spend this night with Thea. He knew that Edwin would not mind his absence because he was the one who advised Rees to do what he had to do.

Within the next half an hour and making sure that Augustus's guards had not seen him, Rees slipped out of 'the great manor' to disappear into the dark. His mind was buzzing with many thoughts. He didn't realise when his feet halted outside Thea's home.

It was past midnight, and the neighbourhood was fast asleep with no lights and in peaceful silence. Rees knocked on the door twice, but when the door didn't open for long, he thought of using a window to enter the house.

'Maybe Thea has fallen asleep while waiting for me.'

Suddenly the door creaked, and Thea's sleepy figure appeared in the doorway. Rees's eyes took her in from top to bottom and something stirred in his heart.

Her hair was tousled, eyes looked sleepy. She was wearing a simple white cotton dress. And even in that half-awoken state, she looked beautiful under the mild light of the moon, and the candle, that she was holding in her one hand.

"Are you not coming inside?" Thea asked while rubbing her eyes.

Rees realised that he was lost in watching his mate. He cleared his throat awkwardly, then followed Thea into the house.

"Sit, I will get you some water." Rees obeyed her command silently.

"Here. I thought you were not coming." Rees heard relief and hurt in her tone.

He drank the water then placed the glass on the table. Looking into her eyes, he asked, "You were waiting for me?'

The intensity of his look and the overwhelming emotions in his voice threw Thea's sleepiness out of the window. She suddenly got aware of the situation. She only nodded her head in affirmation while avoiding his intense gaze.

After a minute of silence, she asked. "Have you eaten dinner? Do you want something to eat?" She bent over to pick the glass that Rees had put on the table, but he grabbed her stretched hand and pulled her towards him.

Thea gasped in surprise, her head collided with his hard chest. Before she could struggle to get up or say something, Rees captured her soft lips into his. Another gasp that was about to escape from her mouth left unheard.

Rees encircled his hands around her waist to pull her near him if that was even possible. Slowly Thea picked up his pace and relaxed her stiff body in his arms.

The kiss that was initially started as a soft one soon turned rough and demanding. Rees bit on her lower lip and slipped his warm tongue inside her mouth. Thea's body shuddered with the bolts of currents that went through all over her insides.

A satisfied moan escaped from her while her hands clutched Rees's shirt tightly. Now that Rees had revealed his secret to Thea, she understood his possessiveness and demanding actions.

She didn't mind the way his lips, teeth and tongue assaulted her mouth. She enjoyed every bit of it. She wanted to get more of it.

When Rees didn't come even after midnight, Thea's heart sank in her chest with sadness. She was excited to meet him and spend some time with him. Also, they had planned something, and this was the perfect time they had to execute that plan.

Thea kept waiting for him and didn't realise when she drifted into the slumber. But when she heard the knocks on the door, she immediately ran to open it. She couldn't describe how ecstatic she felt after watching Rees at her doorstep. He had kept his word!

Reluctantly Thea managed to pull away from him a little when she came with short breaths. As a werewolf, Rees could have gone long kissing his mate, but Thea was a human and didn't have that stamina to cope with his.

Her face was flushed, her lips looked red and a little swollen. Her eyes dilated as the fire of passion had ignited in her with that kiss.

Taking deep breaths to fill her lungs with ample oxygen, she didn't lose her hold on Rees. Thea closed her eyes, reliving the moments that just happened, and Rees felt greedy to taste more of her.

The loud thumping of her heart soothed his eccentric nerves. He smiled warmly while tucking the strands of her hair behind her ear.

Thea slowly opened her eyes to peer deep into his warm brown ones, but she was taken back to see their changed colour. Rees's eyes had turned a shade darker, indicating that his wolf was also present to meet his mate.

"Are you scared?" Rees noticed the way Thea's eyes glued to his. He knew that it was all happening too fast, and Thea had yet to get used to the fact that her fiancee was not a human but a supernatural creature.

He didn't blame her, and how could he? She was not even aware of it's existence a few days before, and suddenly out of the blue, she was informed about the most shocking truth of her life. It was too much to take for her.

"no. I am not!" Thea whispered with a smile on her lips. She glided her one hand through his hairs affectionately, and her eyes followed the movement.

But suddenly, her face got covered in shock, her eyes wide open.

"What-" The words didn't come out when Rees looked down at his shirt that had bloodstains on it.

And his face paled at that.