Big Bad Rogue

A Chance

  The rogue didn't talk to me for the rest of the day as he followed me around the forest while I was photographing things. He was just grumpy-looking and had his hands shoved deep into his pockets the entire time, but I wasn't complaining.

  The quiet helped me to relax and find animals to take pictures of. I was immersing myself in my work so that I wouldn't have to worry about what my mother had told me and so that I could ignore the man trailing after me as much as possible. He was angry, that much was clear from his tense silence, but so was I.

  This entire situation sucked.

  But at the end of the day after eating dinner with the Omegas, it was just the rogue and I in that confined room, and the silence was now unnerving. Zipping up my backpack after putting away my toothbrush, I sat on the edge of the bed while looking at the rogue. Taking in a deep breath through my nose, I slowly let it out through my mouth while dropping my hands into my lap.

  The things that he had shouted at me had been repeating in my head, and the thing he seemed to insist on the most was wanting a chance. I didn't truly know anything about his past other than how he had become a rogue by getting kicked out. I believed his repetition of wanting a chance may actually have something to do with him just not wanting me to turn him away.

  As he had said before, it was rare for a rogue to find their fated or to even have one. He clearly didn't want to let go of this chance, but that also meant I held the power here. That fact he must have been well aware of early on but wouldn't outright say. It was me that could deny him and move on easily compared to him.

  If I denied him, he'd have no choice but to go back to fighting for his survival in the wild. I could find a chosen, Hell, I already had an offer, and there wasn't much he could do about it. This was my decision to make in the end.

  "Okay." I spoke up, my voice soft as he was lying on the cot and staring at the ceiling. One hand lay on his chest while the other was under his head, and he didn't even look at me when I talked. "I'll try it. Giving you a chance, that is. If you honestly want to change from....whatever it is that you are, then I'll give you the opportunity to. However, you only get the one chance, and that's all. Screw it up, and you won't ever see me no matter how hard you try to find me." His ruby eyes drifted to the corners of his eyes as he looked at me.

  "Bullshit. You're probably just saying that so I'll go to sleep and give you the perfect opportunity to run again." His voice was flat and without much emotion. It would be smart to leave while he slept, and if he was caught alone, the Sparrow Wing Alpha would try to execute him if he couldn't get away. But I didn't intend to do that.

  "I'm serious."

  "Why should I believe you? I don't even know you."

  "Says the rogue?" I popped off. His brows slightly furrowed with irritation, and I raised a hand while slightly cringing and shaking my head. "What I mean to say is neither of us really knows the other, but our bond isn't giving us much of a chance to do that. And yes, my running isn't helping that either, but I had reason. However, you made a point earlier. We are fated, so there must be something just waiting to be found between us. But that something isn't always enough for some mates. I'm willing to see what that something is first before I actually decide anything." I kept my voice low so that the Omegas a few rooms over wouldn't hear us. "So, wanna try this again?" I asked while holding out my hand. "I'm Mia Jones."