A MAZE OF GREED

After the blood bonding ceremony of Rees and Thea, Edwin did not wait before exiting the cave. His wolf had come out after a long time. After he controlled his wolf with weeks of torture and a very high dosage of wolfsbane potion, he was conscious of not letting his wolf have its freedom.

Because now that his wolf had come out, he was craving to see his mate.

Edwin took quick steps walking through the cave and then through the woods, in the direction of 'the great manor'. The place he was calling his home did not feel like a home until Ruth came to live there.

They might not be living under one roof, but Edwin was hopeful. He believed in the plans of Moon Goddess, and he had faith in the purity of his feelings for her, although he had yet to put a tag on them.

All he and his wolf knew was that hazel-eyed woman with toffee brown hair and an innocent face was their home.

'The great manor' was Edwin's home, a legacy of his forefathers. He was born and brought up there. He knew the place like the back of his hand.

The knowledge helped him get into the servants quarters easily and unnoticed. He knew it was wrong. Who trespasses in their own home?

But the urge of seeing her drove him and his wolf crazy. It was late in the night, and the whole place was quiet. He climbed the building with his power and jumped on the balcony of her room.

He knew that Mrs Payne was staying at the Green's house, and thus Ruth would be alone. With light feet, he neared the door and was relieved that it was open.

He peeked inside to see the darkness. Before advancing another step, he hesitated. His rationale was still alive. His mind told him that he should wait till the morning, but his wolf argued against it.

After today, Edwin was worried for Ruth. He had never seen her act so strange. The way she looked at him while dancing, the things her eyes were trying to communicate with him, the way she kept biting her cheek and the lines on her forehead made him concerned.

He was sure that there must be something wrong. And the only probability that came to his mind was of Harold Davies.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, Edwin slowly opened the door. His eyes could see clearly in the dark as he tip-toed inside with his huge body.

The first thing he noticed was the mess in the room. All the things were scattered on the floor as if someone had thrown them in rage.

He then saw a handkerchief that Ruth carried all day. Then he saw her socks. The pins she had used to style her hair, were thrown carelessly. Her stockings and dress lay on the floor.

Edwin's heart started beating fast. But when he saw her on the floor in nothing but her thin white petticoat, he forgot to breathe.

He was by her side instantly. He refrained his eyes from derailing the right path as his first concern was her safety.

He could hear her heart beating steadily. Her breaths were normal. There was no smell of blood. But then he could see her dishevelled form. He removed her hair from her face to see her tear-stricken face.

She was crying!

Edwin turned her so that now she lay on her back. He checked for any other injuries but found none. Then he realised his mistake.

He should not have turned her around.

The thin white fabric did nothing to hide her curves and, her erected nobs on her bosoms. Edwin gulped audibly as his throat went dry suddenly.

The V-shaped neckline of her petticoat was low, but not too much. It was low enough to hint a way to the dark valley in the middle of her chest. Her smooth skin looked delicious in that flimsy cloth.

Edwin's now darkened eyes froze on her chest as it moved up and down as she breathed. His lips parted at that tempting sight.

He moved his eyes down on her abdomen. The dip of her navel twitched his fingers. His eyes sinfully moved further down to see that her petticoat was stuck between her thighs, giving an enchanting view of her V-shaped part.

Edwin's breath faltered at the sight of that part and her long creamy legs. The petticoat ended her midthigh, exposing the rest of her legs to his hungry eyes.

Oh, Moon Goddess, she looked ravishing in her raw beauty. Edwin thought that today was the first time he had seen the pinnacle of her beauty, but he was proven wrong the same day.

She looked beyond this world in her purest and rawest form.

She stirred in sleep, turning her head to the side that exposed her neck to the bad black wolf. Edwin's eyes darkened as lust filled his veins, running at the speed of light, making him feel alive again.

He could hear her pulsating heart. His gums pained, eager to mark his mate. He covered his mouth with his hand. No, this was not the right time!

But she looked so tempting, lying there unaware of the monster lurking around her. She looked so innocent, like a sweet dream flower.

But her tears stained face made him concerned. Why was she crying that much? Why was she only in her petticoat? And, why was she sleeping on the cold floor?

Edwin's little mate was a mystery to him. A mystery that he was afraid to solve in fear of ruining it. But it was so intriguing that he could not stop himself from falling into its trap.

"Ruth..."

He whispered as light as the soft breeze of the wind. Her name felt so good coming from his mouth.

"Do you hear me my Luna?"

Edwin sat comfortably beside her, watching her and tasting her with his eyes.

"I do not know what you are doing to me. I do not know what I feel about you." He whispered as if she was listening to him.

"But when I saw Thea's state during the blood bond ceremony, my mind ran to you."

Edwin's voice came thick with emotions.

"Me and my wolf, we both imagined you in her place. And that... that was terrifying, Ruth." He felt shivers run down his spine as he revisited those thoughts.

"I have fought many battles, I have taken many scars. But nothing... and I mean nothing pained me as much as that thought."

Edwin knew that she was fast asleep and was not listening to a word he said. But that made him put his feelings into words. Words were never his best forte, anyway. But caging everything inside was torturous.

Looking at her pink lips, he smiled. He smiled like a fool.

"You are my dream flower, my mate. My sweet, delicate, pretty dream flower. My heart wants to shield you, cherish you and keep you near my chest for the rest of my life.

How can I see you go through that torment? How can I see you cry and beg for it to stop? And what if your body and mind decide to give up?"

That thought made Edwin restless. At some point, he thought that Thea's mind and body were about to give up. But when she heard the cry of her mate, her love for him rejuvenated her will to fight.

Their love saved them tonight.

But when he thought of him and Ruth, he knew that there was no love. He did not know if he was in 'love' with her, but one thing he knew was that his heart harboured some special feelings for Ruth. Those were only for her and only because of her.

But Ruth... she did not love him. She, in fact, hated him. Even if he trapped her in marrying him for the sake of both worlds, he was not sure if she could go through the blood bond ceremony.

The ultimate test of human and werewolf mate bond and their love!

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not realise when his fingers advanced to skim over her soft skin. His fingers ran from her forehead to her nose and, then lingered a second longer on her lips, only to trail further down on her throat and her chest.

He was hypnotised, lost of all his consciousness. He was about to trail down his fingers further down when he heard her moan.

That sweet melodious voice shook him to his core. He did not know that such a soft and light sound could shake a leader like him in such a shocking way until this moment.

Her moan did not only stir his mind and his wolf but also, the lust that was building its empire in his soul. He realised that he had touched her at some particular point that brought that reaction from her.

He commanded his fingers to repeat the treachery to find she moaned again when his fingers brushed against her throat.

Goosebumps rose on his skin at her seducing sounds. He could feel the control slipping from his hands like sand. He slowly moved down till he hovered above her.

Her pink lips were calling him. It was too easy for him to taste them, at least this one time. She was in deep slumber, oblivious of the world around her. Just one peck and, he would cherish her taste and her feelings with him forever.

Yes... he was right there.

He brushed his lips against hers as light as humanly possible, and before the contact got intense, he decided to move down at the last fraction of a second and kissed her neck instead.

The next minute, he was out of her room, and out in the garden. He had that one chance he and his wolf were cravings for. He could have kissed her, and nothing would have changed.

But the voice at the back of his mind stopped him at the last moment. That was not right. He wanted their first kiss to be special. He was not expecting a dreamy sequence from those romantic plays.

But he wanted her to live that moment, feel it and kept in her mind as a memory.. And for that, he was ready to wait some more.