Okay so before I start, let me just say that I can't believe that this book has hit 1k reads! (its actually 1001, which is pretty funny)

Thank you so much for reading! It means so much to me.

Don't forget to check out my other book if you have a chance :)

-Jasmine

Chapter 24:

Camila callously dropped the levelled spoon of sugar into her coffee. Her poor job of blending the two became obvious when pockets of sweet kissed her tongue followed by sips of bitter. She closed her eyes and they locked shut, refusing to open when she willed them to.

The fatigue was pleasant. It was nice to feel tired after a long week of work. Even if Taine made her feel like a nuisance most of the time, she knew she was relieving some pressure from him. The air around him was less tense... Her only resentment was that she hadn't started sooner.

Doing work helped her pass time. It helped her feel part of something bigger than herself.

She noticed the small changes. The way Taine seemed to wake up later in the mornings on the off chance that they could walk together. The way his gaze lingered on her when she entered and left the room, even if he had ignored her in the time between those two points. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, a seed of respect and appreciation had been planted and the more she got used to her life here, the more it blossomed.

She had become accustomed to going to the pack house so much that she couldn't stand being alone in this one. The role of Luna meant interacting with the pack more than anticipated and the pack was very eager to be with her. Meaning that she was constantly busy.

Once Taine realised she wasn't going anywhere. Her days mostly consisted of mundane paperwork and organisational tasks. The work wasn't challenging enough for her, but it was better than what Taine had subjected her to before and it was much better than being at home. She needed to show Taine and Ivory that she had a good work ethic before she let herself be bombarded with more gruelling activities.

---

Affording herself the simple pleasure of a late start, she made an appearance in Taine's office around 10 o 'clock.

She had walked in without knocking, earning a look of slight irritation from Taine who gestured to Ivory who was on the phone.

Raising her hands up in mock surrender, she mouthed a sorry before taking her designated seat on the couch.

An hour later, immersed in the spreadsheet she was making she heard Taine growl in her direction. She looked at him confused. Why was he constantly finding reasons to be angry with her?

"What?"

His glare reached more intimidating heights.

"Stop humming. It's irritating."

Camila held back a smile and bit her lip. She hadn't even realised she was doing it.

"Sorry....Don't worry I'll sing next time."

Nobody laughed at her joke.

--

Ivory broke the fragile silence that had settled between the trio, with an insightful comment. "I think Camila should get her own office. It might ease the tension in the room."

Camila beamed at Ivory, only processing the first part of the statement. "That's an awesome idea."

"She can share with you," Taine said dismissively.

Ivory's eyes widened and she shot him a helpless look which he didn't even raise his head to see.

Wow am I really that bad, Camila mentally scoffed.

She decided to help Ivory out. "I don't want to encroach on Ivory's personal space."

Taine scoffed. "You have no problem invading mine."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but you're my mate, you have to put up with me."

"Aren't I lucky." He stated, bored of the conversation.

Camila waited for Taine to make a useful suggestion, she waited another moment for Ivory to further push the topic. Her death stare clearly wasn't working its magic today.

She stood up abruptly and began to collect her things.

Ivory watched her with a confused expression written on her face. "Where are you going, Camila?"

As if the answer was simple and typed in bold on the screen of her laptop she answered, "I'm going to find my own office."

Taine finally decided to say his piece. "You're going to find your own office?"

She didn't dignify his question with a response as she closed the door shut and went in search of a new place to begin running her empire.

--

It had been two days since Taine had seen Camila. When he got home she wasn't and when he woke up in the morning it seemed from the way her perfume lingered in the air that she had just left. He tried to think of what he had done that could have potentially done to upset her, but no, this wasn't it... There would be more late-night vacuuming and passive-aggressive sighing. She was up to something and today he was going to find out what.

Entering the office buildings using his private door he was greeted by the sound of drills, hammers and Camila's laughter echoing through the halls. Approaching the source of the construction he moved closer with trepidation.

The scene he walked into was a sight to behold. Camila was wearing heels juxtaposed by a hammer in hand and a bright red plastic shell-hat on her head. She was calling out instructions to a few of the pack construction workers and paid no attention to Ivory standing behind her, biting her nails in nervousness.

Camila turned to the side and Taine almost laughed at the silver rhinestones that spelt her name on the back of the hard hat. She looked out of place next to the construction tape and tools. Too much like a princess to be surrounded by dust and rubble.

Marching over to the man hammering into a wall, she tapped him on the shoulder and sternly spoke to him. He looked at her in surprise before shrugging and handing her his hammer. She took off her heels, gave herself some room and began to swing and pound out chunks of plaster from the wall with a ferocity that Taine didn't think she could possess.

Nevermind. Not a princess.

At that moment, plaster flying into her hair and clothes, the sound of the hammer reverberating in his ears, he had never loved her more.

As soon as she spotted him, Ivory rushed over, quick to tell him she had nothing to do with the hole that was being hammered into the back of the supply closet. "Alpha Alverio, I have no idea what she is doing!"

She looked at Taine for an explanation and when he too gave none she placed a hand to her forehead in mock distress. "I think Camila is bad for my health."

Vanessa came to stand in the corner, glancing nervously around the room.

Taine watched as Camila put down the hammer, whipped out a ruler of her back pocket, oblivious to the gathering behind her. She measured a section of the wall and began to analyse the construction plans in front of her.

He tried to yell the name out of one of the men but the sound of hammering drowned out his voice. Camila finally spotting him, took a moment to acknowledge his existence by giving him a toothy grin and wave. She pointed at her ears and shook her head, with an impish grin on her face. Trying to tell him that she couldn't hear him, even though they both knew she could. The moment quickly over, she turned away and immersed herself in the task of pounding the crap out of the wall.

Rolling his eyes he made a beeline for her and from the way she didn't tense or move when he grabbed her arm, she had known it was coming. "Camila, what is this?"

Camila very intentionally turned around mid-swing, almost decapitating her mate in the process.

She raised her voice slightly to match his, "sorry I can't hear you, it's noisy!"

Resorting to more authoritative and aggressive tactics he commanded the room with a low, but vicious growl. The construction ceased. Ivory flinched at the power of it and Camila simply crossed her arms and waited for him to speak.

"May I have a minute alone with the Luna please?"

The men began filling out of the room and down the hallway. Camila called after them, while putting her shoes back on. "Nice work boys, but we're not done yet. Back to work in five."

As they left Taine glared at one of the younger men, who whispered not so loudly to his friend, "Damn, the Luna sure knows how to use a hammer."

When they were alone, they turned to each other. Both refusing to be the one to look away first. Tired of the power games Camila sighed, "I know my eyes are pretty, but can we just get the yelling over and done with. I have an office to build."

"Oh, so that's what this is."

Camila gestured to a chair in the corner of the room. " I'm sitting. My heels are more painful than this conversation. Close the door if you don't mind."

Taine walked over to the open door and callously swung it shut. As he did so, with a prolonged creek it detached itself from its hinges and fell on top of him.

Camila doubled over in laughter as an angry Taine pushed the detached door off him and into the adjacent wall. The sound of it echoed through the room in waves of hostility.

Almost afraid of the bewitching power her laugh had over him, he kept his distance and assessed her with a cool gaze.

"You can't just go around smashing holes into walls!"

"Relax! I'm not some Bob the builder wannabe, I know what I'm doing."

Taine fished into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "And I suppose I'm paying for all of this."

When he callously threw his credit card in her face dismissively, her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"You can take this card and shove it up your you-know-where!"

From the way he rolled his eyes and looked at her, she knew exactly what he was thinking. He was so set in his ways, he could never see or understand why she was reactive. Always making something of nothing. Always finding things to be offended about.

"What's your problem this time? The men are going to want to get something for all of this nonsense."

Camila knew she overreacted at the best of times. But it never occurred to Taine that it was because she was starved. Starved of conversation and of love, and sometimes the only way to fill herself was by forcing him, fighting him.

The fact that she was now the official Luna hadn't solved all their problems. It was cheap red nail polish that has been applied in haste. It was glossy and neat for a fleeting time, but now it was slowly chipping itself away. Looking worse than if it were never painted at all...

She sighed, trying to soften her voice. "I don't need your money. And throwing your card at me isn't going to make me like you more." She added.

In a deadpan tone, he answered, "Suit yourself."

Camila wasn't satisfied. He didn't understand.

She shook her head. "I don't think you realise that I've paid for all my expenses since I got here. I've paid for all the food, my clothes, I've paid for this whole office. I am financially independent and I don't need your money and I will never need it."

"Why are you so stubborn?"

She looked at him square in the face. "It's about being independent. I don't want to feel obligated or controlled by anyone else. I am capable of taking care of myself without charity."

Taine nodded and Camila saw the brief glint of respect in his eyes.

He looked around the room and the soft quality of his voice disappeared.

Taine crossed his arms and took a step towards her. "What happened to the thousands of files here? Did you just throw them away?"

Camila narrowed her eyes at him. "No, don't be ridiculous. I've spent the last few days converting them into digital records."

Taine raised his eyebrows. "You transferred all the files?"

She shrugged like it was simple child's play. "Come over here and look."

She motioned towards the laptop on a desk in the back of the room. She flipped the lid open. "Your filling system was so outdated, it wasn't easy to sort everything out." She said distastefully.

"I set it up so that with one click you can see everything. It's all is backed up and organised, by date, by letter, by purpose or even by who filed it. It's a shared file that you can access from anywhere in the world with any device."

Camila paused and laughed at the dumbfounded expression on Taines's face. "What?"

He quickly masked his expression of shock with a neutral one.

She closed the laptop shut and straightened her posture. "Well, if you don't mind Taine, I have an office to keep building. And I'm sure you have work to do."

"Yes. Try to keep it down."

She rolled her eyes, "no promises, Alpha."

Taine glanced around the room and mused, "you're going to have a bigger office than me."

Camila smirked and picked up the hammer. She twirled it round in a circle. "Well... isn't that a shame."

---