A MAZE OF GREED

Edwin paused in front of his bedroom door. He gulped his spit down his dry throat. The memories of the day when he lost control of his wolf and attacked Elsie and Lester flashed in his mind.

He did not mean to harm them. How could he? They were his family. One of the handfuls of people who cared about him. And what they got in return for that?

Hurt and disappointment!

Edwin wanted to take a step ahead but hesitated. His mind wandered to Rees. He was with his family, and Edwin knew who else was there with him. He placed his hand on his pant pocket in which was the brown piece of cloth.

He did not know how long he stood there. Maybe minutes or hours, he did not know. But he could not stand there anymore. He had to override his weaknesses.

Mustering all his courage, he opened the door and stepped inside. The coldness greeted him like never before. As if it was waiting eagerly for his arrival for ages.

His chamber was cleaned and looked normal. As if nothing had happened there a few days ago. But Edwin and the walls of the chamber could never forget that incident. It was imprinted in their mind for eternity.

Edwin looked at the shelf where he had thrown Elsie. The shelf was replaced by a new one. The broken pieces of the furniture and glass were cleaned, and they were also replaced. Now he needed to replace his broken self with a new and better version of himself.

He was Edwin O'Dell. The alpha of alphas. He was the leader of one of the most paramount breed existed on the face of the earth. He could not let his personal problems be a hurdle in his path that would lead him to greatness.

He was born to carve his name in history with golden letters. He was born for serving a great purpose. He needed to be strong, act like a leader, fight like a warrior, live like a legend and die like a martyr if it takes him there.

He had set that in his mind. He was still adamant that Ruth should not be near him, but he knew what Lester thought was also appropriate.

If Edwin needed to take back the reigns of his life in his hand, then he wanted Ruth to be safe. If Lester's plan worked well, then Ruth would be in 'the great manor' soon. And even if it did not work well, Edwin did not mind as he had already thought of how to protect her.

She was his light, his hope, his sanity. He would not let himself lose control again because of his mate. He had resolved to be careful about that.

Edwin pulled out the brown cloth from his pocket. Ruth's scent had evaporated over time, but it still had the power of taming Edwin's beast.

"Ruth, I have always been a selfish man all over my life, and I never regretted it. I still do not! I want to be selfish for one more time in my life. But... I can not! If only I could tell you what lies in my heart.

I am afraid that you will not like it. Or, you will hate me more then. Maybe I deserve it. I do not know. But I promise you one thing that I will not let any harm come in your way. No matter what!"

Edwin whispered those words from the bottom of his heart. He sighed shakily then looked up at the dark sky. His little arched straight brows scrunched at the sight of the dark clouds that had gathered in the sky.

He could feel it in his bones. Something was about to happen. He did not know what, but he knew that the time of truce was ending fast.

All Edwin could do was be prepared to face whatever it was. He would protect his people. Their leader was back!

*

*

*

Mr Payne reached the place at the end of the woods where he found three men carrying the logs of wood from the carts, to stock them neatly in the open space that was a few steps apart from the carts.

He looked up to see that the sun had started setting, and soon the world would be engulfed by the dark. They needed to finish working before that and leave this place as sooner as possible.

"Mr Payne?" One of the men recognised him and skipped towards him.

"What are you doing here? Where is manager?" He asked.

"Sire could not come, so I am here instead of him." Mr Payne explained as they both walked towards the carts.

The man only nodded and did not question further.

"Where is the seller?" Mr Payne asked.

The man pointed at another man who was talking with other riders of the carts with a cigarette in his hand.

Mr Payne nodded. "Go and finish the work."

He then walked towards those men.

"Excuse me."

The man with the cigarette turned towards him.

"I am Mr Payne. I work in the factory and our manager has sent me to recieve the order and pay you the money that is already fixed."

The man threw his cigarette on the ground then crushed its lit end with the heel of his shoe.

"Yes. We have brought the comlete order. You have to give your thumb impression on these papers as a reciever of the order." He said.

The man called one of his men to get those papers.

Mr Payne put his thumb impression on them then gave the money that the manager had given him. After some minutes, the three men from his factory informed him that they had stocked every log carefully.

After making sure that there was no mistake in delivering the order, the caravan of sellers took their leave.

"Mr Payne, it is dark now. We should leave right now." The man suggested.

Mr Payne knew it was dangerous to stay anymore in this place, but he had some work to do.

"I have to count the number of logs. "

"But you know we can not stay in the woods after dark.. It is dangerous, Mr Payne."

Smiling at the three men, he said. "Do not wory. You have done your part of the job. Now I need to do my part."

Another man shook his head. "You do not have to do that just now. Let's get out of here first and we will take care of everything else in the morning." He suggested.

Mr Payne shook his head. "No. I have to count them now. What if a log gets missing to morrow morning?" Mr Payne queried.

The man gave him an incredulous look. "What? Who will dare to walk the woods in the night just to steal a log of wood?"

"Maybe the killer?" Mr Payne argued.

"But those deaths were animal attacks." The other man argued.

"They do not know surely. It might be a gang of thieves or killers." The third man contributed.

"Whatever it is. I can not leave without completing my responsibility. You three do not need to stay for me. I will finish the work and leave for home as soon as possible. You three go ahead."

The three workers looked conflicted. They knew that Mr Payne had just recovered from his illness. They were also aware that he had his wife to care of, and he had no children. If anything happened to him, then there was no one to take care of his wife.

They did not want to leave the old man behind. But they could not stay for him either. They also had their families to take care of. Their wives and children must be waiting for their return after work.

"Do not worry too much. Nothing will happen to me. I will see you three in the morning. Do not get late tomorrow. We have to take these logs to the factory. Now go!"

With that said, Mr Payne turned his back towards them and started counting the logs. By the amount of the stocked pile, it was clear that he would take another half an hour at least to finish his work.

The dark clouds in the sky were signalling ominous. Half-heartedly the three men took their leave and walked in the direction of the woods and to their homes. They prayed that whatever the danger was, today it should not be their day to face it.

*

*

*

Mrs Payne paced around her small rooms in worry. Her husband should have been home by now, yet there was no sign of him.

'Why is he late? Has something happen to him at work? Is he fine?'

She repeated those questions in her head over and over. For some reason, she felt restless. And the bad weather outside added to her solemn mood.

She could have asked Ruth to go and bring Mr Payne back home. But the girl had finally found some time after weeks for herself.

She was invited by Rees for dinner with his and Thea's family. Mrs Payne could not bother her at this time. She had no one to ask for help.

She only prayed to God for her husband's safety and decided to wait for some more time.

"He will be back soon. Safe and sound!" She kept mumbling that to herself with shaky hands and teary eyes. She hoped that her words would be true.

She could only hope and wait. Nothing else!