The brown wolf opened its jaws, its eyes were filled with bloodlust, Camila could feel its hot breath on her leg as it prepared to lunge and tear her to pieces.

"Careful, James...she bites."

Camila's face was filled with pure shock. Taine could not be serious right now.

The brown wolf eyes were ferocious and ready for the easy kill. He moved even closer to her. She took a step back fearing for her life. Taine was playing a dangerous game.

Taines echoed spoke louder than the hungry growls of the wolf. "Wait..."

Taine stepped so that he was standing in the space between Camila and the wolf ( who she now learned was James.) He faced both of them. She couldn't decipher his expression.

"Just to show you what kind of an Alpha I am, I will spare your life, if...you beg for it."

Fear slowly disappearing, Camila openly scoffed at her mate. Having realised that tonight was not going to end in her dismembered body on the forest floor, she regained some of her confidence.

"In that case, you might as well kill me, because I am not begging for anything."

There was a tension-filled silence as a staredown between Camila and Taine took place. Her jaw was tight and neither were showing signs of wavering their stance. In her peripheral vision, she could see that James was confused, not understanding why he couldn't have his pound of flesh.

Without taking his eyes of Camila, Taine commanded. "James, shift."

James looked back and forth between the pair, puzzled as ever, but he didn't dare refuse a command from his Alpha. He turned and ran to the spot where he had left his pants and shifted behind a dense area of foliage. He emerged trying to maintain his hostile demeanour despite the fact that he had no idea what was happening.

Camila could see the corner of Taine's mouth lift, ever so slightly.

"Alpha Alverio, why haven't we killed this disgusting rogue yet?"

Taine growled so low and threatening that it had James bowing his head to the ground.

Camila rolled her eyes, where was that sound when he had called her a vile female.

"Watch your tone, James. This is Camila." He smirked, "your Luna."

Despite the darkness that cloaked the area Camila could see the colour drain from James' face. He looked like he was about to faint.

--

Camila stormed into the house huffing. Taine trailed behind her. She turned around to yell at him but tripped over her own laces and landed on the floor with a scream. Taine ignored her. Stepped over her, and went to get water from the kitchen sink.

"Do you need some help, Mila?"

She yelled in response, "I can't believe you told him to kill me! You have such a sick twisted sense of humour."

Taine's lack of response irritated her even further. She stayed on the floor. trying to ignore the sharp pain in her ankle, she let her anger bubble. She watched him approach her and stick out his hand. She ignored the gesture for a moment but then rolled her eyes and decide to grab his hand. He pulled her up with one swift motion and suddenly she found herself staring into his eyes and holding her breath. Their bodies were almost pressed together. She was sure he could feel her heart beating, threatening to escape her rib cage.

"That's what happens when you try to run from me. Mate."

Camila was frozen in place, she was lost in his gaze and momentarily forgot how to speak. Shaking her head to bring her back to reality. She stole his glass of water, stepped back and broke the trance she had been in.

She downed the water before placing the glass on the kitchen counter. "I wasn't running away. I was just running. Like I have been at night for the past couple of weeks!"

The surprise was clear on Taines face. "Oh."

Before she could dwell on the fact that he really thought she was running away, his lack of apology angered her further.

"Oh? That's all you have to say? How about sorry?" "Camila poked a blue fingernail in his direction. "You disrespected me in front of a pack member! How am I ever going to be respected or taken seriously if that is how you treat me?"

That was the deeper issue here. Not that he had faked a death wish, but it was the fact that he thought so lowly of her and disrespected her without hesitation.

"What you did was dangerous, you could have gotten killed tonight." It didn't escape her that he completely ignored her

"Yes I know, you and your little buddy James seemed so hellbent on doing just that."

He folded his arms over his chest. "You know I wouldn't have actually let anything happen to you."

She looked at him incredulously. "I'm sorry that I didn't interpret your actions the right way when you said 'kill her.'"

Taine didn't know what to say. He had been working into the night. He assumed that Camila was asleep when James had called him. He sensed what James was feeling and fear shot through him like a lightning bolt when he felt the word, 'rogues.' He bolted immediately to Camila's room, to check if she was safe.

When he found the room empty, panic began to control his every movement as he bolted out of the house and into the woods. He smelt Camila's sent and the only thing that mattered to him was finding her.

When he had reached the woods, he could distantly see the outline of Cammila and Jake the guard that had contacted him. Fear was replaced with anger and hurt as he realised that she was the 'rogue' in these woods and she was running from him.

Yes, he had been angry with her. Yes, he wanted to make her scared, but he regretted it as soon as he saw the shock and horror in her face. To him, it was as if he was letting her down. Her expression when he arrived told him that she did not think he was capable of making her afraid. She trusted him with her safety. Camila was not truly scared until he made sure she was.

Apologies didn't come easily to him. She still should have told him what she was doing. He hated feeling like his emotions were out of his control. His natural instinct was to lay all the blame on her.

"Mila, I'm sorry."

She laughed in disbelief. "You can take your sorry and shove it up James' tail. I'm going to bed." And in keeping with the pattern of how most of their interactions ended, Camila bounded up the stairs and slammed her door.