A MAZE OF GREED

Today Lester accompanied Rees for the formal talking with the alpha, who had complained about the kidnappings of the cubs.

They did not find much different than they already knew. But this meeting was important for the people to know that their leader had taken their plea into serious consideration, and he was already working on it.

They also did not want to create unnecessary fear amongst the people. Hence Lester chose a simple wagon for the travel rather than the official carriage of the O'Dell family with their official symbol of a roaring lion. Although, they went for official work.

Lester and Rees rode in the same wagon with one of their men.

"My Lord, you are in thought." Rees noted.

Lester's face was serious, unlike his usual sassy personality.

"Yes. I am thinking about my father's spy. I have tried all the possibile theories but none of them seems reasonable to me."

"Perhaps we should wait for some clue before tackling more possibilities." Rees suggested.

Lester nodded his head. "I know. But there is this feelings that tell me there is more to this than we think. And I- STOP!"

Lester suddenly yelled. The man riding the wagon, startled yet with his werewolf instincts, screeched the wagon to an abrupt halt.

The dust rose in the air as the wheels scraped harshly against the ground. The horse lifted its front legs high in the air while neighing loudly.

"What happened, My Lord?" Rees was instantly on alert beside Lester.

The rider turned his head behind to see what his Lord had to see. Both men waited patiently while Lester strained his ears wordlessly.

"Get down." He said after a minute.

Rees quickly followed Lester's lead and jumped on the ground, his feet landed firmly on the ground.

"Stay there and run if it leads to that," Lester ordered the rider.

He walked forward a few steps. Instead of looking at the road ahead, his focus was on the roadside forest. They were in the buffer zone around Vincardine.

Rees was puzzled. He also observed the forest, his posture right to defend an unexpected attack.

He glanced in Lester's way to see him pointing at his ear.

Listen, Lester was telling him.

Rees gave a subtle nod in understanding and strained his ears. The ride was also ready to get in action.

Lester narrowed his eyes in concentration on any slightest sound. For a few seconds, all he heard was a soft tune of occasional wind and slightly rubbing leaves on each other with that wind.

But then his eyes widened in alarm when he heard a wheezing sound, and before any one of them could say a word, a brown wolf jumped out of the forest, taking Lester down with its front paws.

But Lester was quick to free himself and get back on his feet. Rees ran to stand beside him.

The brown wolf was salivating profusely. The way dirt was stuck in his teeth, it was clear that it was on run.

"He is a rogue," Rees said, looking at the wolf that looked different from the normal wolves.

He could see its bones protruding under his skin at various places. He was not getting enough food, it seemed. But what made them confused was his eyes. They were not yellow with golden streaks in them, like other wolves. They were also not obsidian like some strongest alphas.

Instead, they were shining bright red.

The wolf hissed, baring his teeth at them. The rider was ready with the leashes tightly held in his hands. If it got out of hands, he was ready to run from there and contact Edwin first after crossing Vincardine's border.

The five feet wolf jumped again at the two men ahead. Lester pushed Rees to the side and took the wolf with both hands. The wolf growled dangerously.

Lester held his front paws as the wolf pushed him behind with the help of his hind legs.

"My Lord, watch your head," Rees yelled in warning when the brown wolf ducked down, aiming for Lester's head. But Lester managed to save his head from its sharp saw-like teeth.

Rees turned around, sniffing and hearing keenly in the direction of the forest. He knew that as alpha, that brown rogue was no match for Lester's strength.

Rees was concerned about having more than one rogue in their way.

He turned around to the fight when he heard the rogue graning in pain after it was thrown on the nearby tree by Lester.

Lester already had his olive-green eyes darkening to the extent of black. His fangs were out, along with his sharp claws. His head turned into a muzzle, and dark brown hair had already covered his limbs.

As the rogue growled in the challenge, the alpha wolf of the Bluemoon pack could not take it lightly.

Lester pushed the ground with his legs as he jumped high in the air to the height of more than twelve feet. But what landed on the rogue was not a half-human and half-wolf, he was Lester's dark brown wolf with obsidian eyes and golden streaks in them that was about seven feet tall, monstrous animal.

The rogue unexpectedly did not cower after the alpha wolf's bone-chilling growl. Even Rees and the rider's wolves whined in submission to the next alpha of the Bluemoon pack.

Strange!

The rogue pushed the alpha wolf enough to free himself. Both wolves glared down at each other as they walked in a circle but in opposite directions.

They jumped at each other, trying to overpower the opponent. Lester's wolf dodged the rogue's attack. Quickly turning around, he struck him with his right paw, his claws digging deep in the rogue's skin.

The dark brown wolf growled in domination, pulling his paw mercilessly, tearing the rogue's skin, drawing his inner flesh out.

The rogue whined loudly in pain. But it also agitated him even more. His eyes gleamed in dark red colour.

The rogue ran in Lester's direction and hit him in the chest with his head. That forceful impact pushed the alpha wolf a few meters behind. Lester could kill the rogue easily, but he wanted to catch him alive.

He was already injured. If only he made him shift into his human form, he could ask him the questions that ran in his mind.

Lester's wolf narrowed his eyes before he leapt forward again. He turned at the last moment to the rogues right, and before he understood it, Lester's wolf dug his canines into his neck.

The rogue howled gut-wrenchingly after the alpha wolf tore a chunk of his flesh.

Rees kicked into action and brought the thick rope and, tied the rogue. The rider of the wagon also jumped and helped Rees drag the rogue to a nearby banyan tree. They tied the severely injured rogue to its thick trunk.

They watched the big brown wolf still fuming in anger. The chunk of flesh was still in its mouth, the blood dripped from it in a thin string of droplets, collecting in a small puddle on the ground.

Rees ran to him but stopped at a safe distance.

"My Lord, you defeated him. Please, shift back." He called loudly.

The only problem with these alpha wolves was they did not calm down easily, once they began fighting. That was where their mates came into the picture.

Whenever a werewolf- alpha or not- found it difficult to control their wolf, their mates could calm them faster and easier. That was why the stronger the werewolf, the stronger his or her mate, became an ideal equation in their world.

But Rees had no problem in handling such situations after working with the most egotistic wolf amongst the entire werewolf population.

The solution was simple- pamper their ego. Make them feel dominating.

"Lord Lester, you have him at your feet. We need to ask him information. You need to shift back for that."

The big dark brown wolf threw the flesh in his mouth on the ground. He growled again dangerously, displaying his dominance. His eyes slowly changed, and so did his body. And soon, Lester's human form stood proud in his stark naked glory without any injury except the red mark on his chest where the rogue had crashed his head.

Lester stalked towards the beaten rogue, who also had shifted back into his human form. The face was unfamiliar for both Lester and Rees.

The blood oozing from his back and neck made a puddle after staining his body in red. He whimpered in pain. And now his eyes were natural in colour.

Lester looked down at him in victory.

"Who are you?" He asked in a hard voice.

The man coughed, spilling more blood out of his mouth.

"y-you do not n-need to know it." He breathed out.

Rees squatted down and slapped him hard across his bloodied face.

Unruffled, the man laughed like a maniac.

"I-I know what... you are going to a-ask next, L-Lord Lester. W-What I was doing here?"

"Then save me the efforts!" Lester said with a frown. His wolf was still on the verge.

The man coughed some more, then shook his head.

"T-that is not w-what you should know."

Rees and Lester shared a look but waited patiently to hear what he had to say.

All the humour drained down instantly, as the man's eyes clouded with fear.

"Lord L-Lester. S-save your l-leader. Th-they are c-coming. This time.. th-they are coming.... to s-snatch everything away from you."

With that said, the man buried his own claws in the already severe wound on his neck. He engaged them in a conversation and managed to free his one hand.

"NO!" All the three men screamed in shock. But it was too late.

The man's soul already escaped his body with the previous fear intact in his dead eyes.