A MAZE OF GREED

Hundreds of eyes strained on the three people standing in the centre of the circular space on a raised platform. Two of them stood unwavering, but Thea... she was shaking like a leaf in the storm.

She longed for Rees's touch, but with Edwin standing between them, the distance felt like miles away.

Thea saw her new family encouraging her from where they sat. Even Mr Welby, who did not care to express himself other times, gave her a firm nod that said- he was there if she needed him.

That touched her heart.

Thea was expecting some sort of recognition or welcome from the crowd as they did for Rees. However, disappointment settled when she was greeted by only hushed murmurs, frowns and blank faces.

She did not feel welcome at all.

"We shall begin the ceremony," Edwin announced loudly.

A woman came with a large bowl in her hand. Thea had not noticed when two chairs were brought on the stage. Rees extended his hand for her to take, and she clung onto it as if her life depended on it. He then walked her to the chairs. They sat in them, still holding each other's hands.

The woman who had come on the stage put the bowl on the armrests of the chairs. After Edwin gave him a nod, she took out some kind of paste from the bowl. Standing in front of Thea, she started rubbing the paste on her body from head to toe.

Thea felt very awkward as the woman's fingers glide against her skin. Her hold on Rees's hand tightened. Rees could sense how nervous she was. He wished he could communicate with her through a mind link. He could not calm her as he did not want people to think any less of her.

The supernatural creatures held female supremacy. In their world, women were considered more aggressive and treated with respect. A female was expected to be stronger both emotionally, mentally and equally stronger physically compared to her mate.

Although the werewolf world had seen a number of human mates in its history of existence, they have always and still considered humans to be weaker than them.

He knew that every werewolf could smell her fear. And if he came to her aid, then Thea could never change the pack's perspective about her. Rees wanted her to prove them wrong. He knew that his human mate was no less than any other supernatural creature even though the almighty creator had not gifted her with any supernatural powers like them.

The woman was done applying the paste on Thea's body. Ida had given her some fair idea about the ceremony.

The scented paste- a mixture of oils and herbs- was applied to the humans only to help them cope up with the sudden rise in their body temperature during the final step of the ceremony.

Thea did not like the fact that only she was the one covered in that paste, but it smelled good, and according to Ida, it helped in skin rejuvenation for humans, so Thea thought it was fine.

The woman left after that.

Another woman came and drew a small circle with some ash-like powder. She then drew another circle only bigger than the previous one. She drew two cross marks opposite to each other on the border of the outer circle.

Two men came with a stone stand in their hand that looked too heavy for four humans to carry. They put the long stand in the inner circle that the woman had drawn.

A large shallow circular vessel was brought to keep on the stand. The material that was used in making that vessel was unfamiliar to Thea. It was some different kind of stone.

All this time, Edwin stood at the side of the platform with his hands crossed behind his back.

The men then poured some florescent green coloured liquid into the shallow vessel. As soon as it was poured into the vessel, vapours started coming from it as if it was boiling on a very high flame.

With Rees's hand in hers, Thea had now got control over her haywire emotions. But the nervousness was still there persistent.

Thea's mind ran in many directions. Was it some kind of witchcraft?

But then she knew that werewolves could not do magic. It was done by other supernatural breeds like witches and fairies.

But was not all of their worlds filled with magic?

The only difference that she could think of was that in the human world the magic is known by the name- 'science'.

Edwin then nodded his head. Rees made Thea stand on one cross mark on the border of the outer circle, and he stood on the other same mark. They both were facing each other with the stone stand in between them.

Edwin came to stand beside them. He faced the crowd.

Edwin slipped his hand to his waist to draw a shining gold dagger from the pouch he was wearing on the waist. The sharp and edgy dagger made Thea's heart skip a beat in shock.

She alarmingly looked at rees but, his face was set in an expressionless mould. She dared to look at the crowd, yet everyone was calm about the situation.

Was this the time Edwin chose to get his revenge for the times she had disturbed his meetings with Ruth? If yes, then Thea was ready to get on her feet and begged for mercy without a second thought.

Rees opened his palm and held it in front of Edwin and above the vessel with the fluorescent green, bubbling liquid. He signalled Thea to do the same with his eyes.

Thea was scared, yet she did as Rees told her to do.

Edwin looked nothing less than a heartless assassin ready to shed blood all over the place with that dagger. "By the grace of the great Moon Goddess- our mother, our light, our protector- I summon all the five powers in nature to bestow you both with a symbol of your love."

Edwin held the dagger firmly in his hand and cut Rees's palm split open. Thea gasped in shock as the trail of blood fell into the liquid in the vessel. Rees did not flinch, neither he was scared. Maybe this wound was nothing to him as a werewolf.

But Thea felt the agonising pain when Edwin did the same with her palm. Tears streamed down her eyes, her entire body shook in shock and fright.

Ida watched with worry etched on her face. She had warned Thea that the ceremony was not going to be easy for the human.

-"You have to bear it all. You need to show them, that no danger can separate you from your mate. There is nothing that will scare you from stepping alongside your mate. You have to conquer the strongest fear of humans- the threat to life.

You have to rise as a survivor. If you back out, then you will put not only you but also your mate's life in danger. They will not let you go out of this cave alive. You know all of our secrets, and we need to keep them safe. That is what our survival instincts are."-

Thea recalled Ida's words. As she looked up through teary eyes at Rees, she saw the desperation and pain in them. He was desperate to complete this ceremony, and he was in pain because she was hurting and scared.

She then turned to see Edwin. He was as calm as she had seen him in grave situations before. Surprisingly, he blinked slowly, looking at her as if he was trying to assure her that nothing would happen to her.

A minute later, Thea saw the vapours rising in the air. She looked aghast as she heard the thundering, sound of wind wheezing loudly, water flowing, ground shaking and green flames rising in the air.

As Edwin had said, all five basic elements of nature appeared in those vapours.

She could feel the anticipation of the crowd as well as everyone had their eyes locked on the vapours. Slowly they started changing shape. The air in the space changed as the vapours now took a more comprehendible form.

An arrow.

The symbol is given to their bond by the Moon Goddess herself!

Rees once told, werewolves could not do magic, but their Moon Goddess definitely could!

The crowd cheered, seeing the sign in the vapours. That was the first positive reaction Thea had received after coming onto the platform.

The vapours then fell speedily in the shallow vessel again.

Two women stepped up. One had a glass filled with rufous coloured liquid in her hand. She took Rees hand and held it above the mouth of the glass. Rees's blood trickled down his palm, and a few drops fell into the glass's contents.

The other woman came and gave Edwin a plate. Thea saw a thing similar to a stamp.

"Thea, put this on Rees's neck, right where he has marked you."

Thea took that thing from the plate. Her palm pained like hell, blood still dripping from the wound. Rees had his neck ready for her to mark him as hers. She did not miss the smile in his eyes. He was happy!

That made her forget about the pain in her hand. The werewolves marked their mates with their canines. But as a human, Thea could not do that to Rees. The mark showed the world that the person was taken, they had found their mate.

That mark was a warning to the world that the person was off of their limits.

Thea carefully put the stamp on Rees's neck. She frowned when his face scrunched up in pain. She then smelled a burning smell. Horrified, she hastily removed the stamp from his neck. The result made her tongue-tied.

The stamp had burned Rees's skin in a symbol of an arrow. The same arrow, that the vapours had shown.

Before she freaked out about it, she saw a proud smile on Rees's face. Turning his head a little, he proudly showed the mark of his mate to the world.

The crowd howled and whistled animatedly. Maybe, they began accepting her at last.

But that was just the beginning. The main part of the ceremony was still yet to come.. And nothing in the world could prepare Thea for it.