Maia's request echoed in Rex's head, and in a part of him, those desires he kept trying to keep quiet were screaming louder than he could control.

"You don't know what you are talking about..." he told her, jolting upward, stepping back away from her. His hands trembled and he felt his mouth ran dry.

The rain poured outside heavily, and as thunder struck, booming in the near distance, he felt her hand grasping onto his.

"You have to mark me, Rex," she pleaded, "please."

Her skin burned against his, and their chests ached, filed with that stinging sensation, it spread from where they touched, and pulsed through miles of veins, into the core of their beings.

Rex dug his fangs in the inside of his cheek and inhaled deeply. Her scent poisoned his thoughts.

"You don't mean that..." he finally said, gently removing her hand away from him. She wanted to make him stay. They had to talk things out. And much to her surprise, small vines started sticking to him, as if they could listen to her thoughts, and he felt his feet heavy on the ground.

"I heard what Prisscil told you before he left," she confessed. "Why didn't you tell me there was something I could do about all this?"

"There is nothing you can do. Marking is not child's play," he emphasized.

"You are telling me there is this thing that might help me not go berserk to kill someone again, but it is actually something I shouldn't do?" She glared at him. "Tell me something that makes sense."

"You should go to sleep; we aren't going to talk about this right now."

"Yes, we are," she protested.

"Do you have any idea what you are asking of me?" he raised his voice, turning around, his blood boiling.

Maia never heard him raise his voice before, not at her. And he thought he should regain his composure. But she wasn't planning on leaving things as they were.

"What can possibly be so bad?" she questioned; his fists clenched together as she raised on her feet to face him face forward. "Do enlighten me!"

Rex felt his face burning with anger, and he clenched his jaw as that pair of eyes, which filled him with treacherous desires, fixed on him.

"What can possibly be so bad? Huh?" she asked again, her cheeks flushing red, as her heartbeat raised in her chest.

"We are not doing this!" he declared, trying to step away from her.

She grabbed his hand yet again, causing shivers to run down his spine.

"Let go, woman," he demanded, "you are playing with fire right now."

"You are not leaving here until we set things clear," she insisted. "Do you honestly expect me to just pretend I didn't hear all that in the woods?"

"And I am telling you," he argued, turning around fully, and he grabbed her arm, inching closer to her, "I am telling you," he lowered his voice, his whispers brushing against her neck. "You don't know what you heard."

"Are you trying to gaslight me right now?"

"What?" he asked perplexed. "What does that even mean?"

She frowned, exhaling sharply.

"Is this some other type of your pack blood oaths or whatnot? Is that it?"

Thunder boomed again, as the unusual night heat filled the room, thin sweat droplets slid down to the curves of her collarbones, and Rex found himself exhaling sharply.

"Answer me!" she commanded. "Is this what it is about?"

Their faces were now inches apart, and the words that they threw at each other felt heavier than that should have. The two burned in a manner they could not explain, but both knew there was more to it than the other let on.

"What is a few more of my blood spilled, Rex?"

"Don't," his voice trembled, "Don't ever say that again."

"Am I wrong, though?" She bit her lower lip, tears gathering on the surface of her eyelashes, like water from a dam ready to spill. "Tell me..." she begged, her other hand venturing towards him.

The raindrops fell on the roof of the tent, and their feet sunk into the freshly grown grass.

"You feast on one's flesh when you mark them," he finally told her, as she rested her forehead against his chest. "I can't possibly do that to you."

"Feast on one's flesh?" she questioned, startled by the gruesome idea.

"We..." he paused to gather his thoughts, "There are certain things that set our kind apart." He gently traced his hand up her arm, towards her bandaged-up neck, making the baby hairs on her back stand up. "Marking is a gift from the gods for us," he continued, "But it is not a pleasant act."

She looked up at him, and their gazes linked together, as he traced his fingers stopping at the nape of her neck.

"Here..." he said, gently brushing her hair away. "During a full moon, a brute bite is placed on the back of the neck, and such a thing, for our kind, links the bitten person to its sire. And that is just the beginning."

She pulled away from him, placing her hand on her neck, letting his words sink in.

"Do you see why I can't possibly do something like that to you?" he asked, burring his face in his palms.

"What do I have to lose?" she finally said.

"Did you not hear me?" he retorted, his eyebrows lowering, "Marking another race is dangerous. Your constitution cannot process the bite. The lykan venom may ultimately prove to be fatal to you."

"Since when have you people had any issue in putting me in dangerous situations?"

Rex looked at her, remorse filling his expression, and she reached out, tenderly grabbing his hand.

"I didn't mean it like that..." she whispered. "So...please."

"You could die," he told Maia, feeling his nerves boiling. "I'm not willing to take any more chances."

"I would rather die than live like..." She stopped staring at the vines that sprung upward the walls of the tent. She felt them as if they were a part of her own being. The way they intertwined around each other, the bugs that crawled up on them, the way they leached onto the material of the wall. Everything. It creeped her out. "I'd rather be dead than live like some freak!"

Thunder boomed over her voice, leaving Rex's heart to beat uneasily in his chest, the color leaving his face.

"Even if you live," he pondered, "which has never happened before, nobody knows how your body will react. Marking changes a person, be it lykan or not. You don't know what it can do to your body and mind. A mark links someone's soul with another, it is not child's play."

"I am saying I am willing-"

"You're not even one of us," he interrupted her, "You don't belong here, Maia. You don't belong to me."

Rex pulled himself away, walking towards the exit, only stopping briefly, not being able to look back at her, even though all the voices in his head urged him otherwise. He knew that, if he did spare her another glance, he could not leave.

If she asked one more time, he wasn't sure what would happen.

"You are a digressive, after all," he finally said. "I will not have you."

"So, it's me?" Maia asked, pain filling her chest, and she pressed her hand on her wound. "Does the idea of marking me disgust you that much?"