The Little Rose

More Questions Than Answers

“Did you miss me?”  Roisin’s lips said the words but the glowing green eyes looking back at me told me it was not Roisin who was talking to me.

No, this was impossible. I yanked my hands from Roisin’s body and stepped back too fast, stumbling in my haste. Shaking my head in denial, I closed my eyes and stuck my fingers to my temples, applying pressure, trying to dislodge the hallucination that had to be happening. Gracie was dead. She was gone.

“I told you, I’ve been telling you… she is our mate. Our Gracie came back to us.”  Odin was muttering in wonder, even though he had been speculating this scenario since we had found her, he could not fully believe it anymore then I could.

“This is impossible! Isn’t it? Is Gracie body snatching Odette? And who is Roisin? Is she really Odette’s spirit? Odin, I don’t know if I can do this right now.”  I knew I sounded weak; I knew I sounded ungrateful. But this was too good to be true… was I really so lucky as to get my mate back just seven years after losing her?

“Orion.”  Roisin called to me; the electricity that jumped along my arm told me she was running her hand along my skin, and I jerked back, away from her. My eyes snapped open, and I watched as hurt flashed through her glowing green eyes; eyes just like my Gracie’s when flashing her wolf. Did Roisin have a wolf? No. She was a Siren. All of this was driving me crazy. Perhaps I was just sleep deprived?

“Odin? My big bad wolfy? Orion? My Alpha Prince?”  She was stepping closer to me again, and I was unsure what to do. One side of me wanted to sweep her into my arms, crush her to me and never let go, that side wanted me to accept all of this, accept her, for who she said she was. But the other part kept saying this was too good to be true.

“I don’t understand…”  I mumbled, fighting myself, that one part tried to jump forward and take her in my arms, my more rational half reigning that in by a thread.

“I can attempt to explain… but I have a condition.”  Her softly spoken words from between those smiling lips had me flashing back to the night I discovered Gracie was my mate, sitting on the forest floor as she agreed to give me a chance, us a chance.

I had my mate in my arms, her feet flying in the air as I spun us around, my beautiful Gracie’s head thrown back laughing at the joy of it all. When I stopped and placed Gracie on her feet, I leaned down to plant a kiss, only for her to place a finger on my lips, a sweet smile on those very lips. “Not so fast mister, I have a condition.”

“Okay, anything, just name it.”  I answered, wrapping my lips around that finger pressed to my mouth, smirking when she shivered and yanked her hand away from my face.

“Anything,” I breathed the word out in a rush, my mind snapping back to the present. “Just name it.”

“Put your shirt on for the love of all that is holy…”  She whispered, stepping closer to me.

“Put your shirt on for the love of all that is holy…”  Gracie’s words in the clearing that night flashed through my mind.

“Is it really you?”  I asked, leaning into her, my hands cupping her face as tears filled her eyes and a brilliant smile turned up the corners of her lips.

“Yes. Yes, it’s me.”  She whispered as tears slid down her cheeks. Her hands wrapped around my own as they cupped her face and she closed her eyes, enjoying the electricity declaring her my mate as much as I was. When her lashes fluttered up once more her glowing eyes were flickering, like static when a channel was trying to break through.

“What’s going on with your eyes Gracie? They’re flickering?” 

“She’s trying to take control back. I’m not strong enough to take over...” Gracie’s words left me with more questions, my confusion having shown on my face as Gracie smiled and patted my hands comfortingly. “It’s all a jumbled mess, none of this went as planned.”

“As planned? What are you talking about Gracie? What is going on? How are you here?”  I slid my arms around her and pulled her to me, burying my nose in her hair and breathing in the scent that had always been my Gracie’s personal, natural perfume. I had her back.

“I don’t have time to explain Orion, I’m so sorry my love. You need to find a witch; a witch can help us figure out what is going on and how to fix it.”  Gracie’s eyes flickered again, I felt our time coming to a close, not that it was truly the end, she was here, she was just pushed to the back. But she was here.

“But what of Roisin?”  Odin’s concerned voice filled my mind, and for a split second I froze… our Little Rose was not our Gracie, they were separate, yet sharing a body. I wanted my Gracie back, but what would happen to Roisin?

“Who is Roisin?”  I asked Gracie, concerned for the spirit I had come to care for in just the past forty-eight hours. “Is she Odette?”

“No, Odette is gone, her spirit had to leave this body before I could be placed in it. Roisin is-“ Gracie’s eyes flickered again, breaking into her explanation before the glowing was gone completely and Roisin’s beautiful ocean eyes were blinking up at me momentarily before her lashes fluttered down and she went limp in my arms. She had fainted.

I lifted her easily, cradling my mate’s body to my own as I moved towards the bed and placed her upon it, in the middle with her head resting among the pile of pillows. Swiping the red curls out of her face I leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, watching her for a moment and trying to understand everything that had just happened.

“Can someone please help me?”  Nullar calling from the bathroom broke me out of my musing. Grabbing one of the towels I had brought back from the laundry room, I went to turn off the shower and throw Nullar the towel, chuckling at him being unable to move much with the huge white tail taking over the entire shower floor, and half the bathroom as well, as it spilled out of the shower stall.

“Well, don’t flop around like a fish out of water, though I guess you kind of are, get dried off and join me in the bedroom, I’ll explain everything I just learned from Roisin.”

“You think you’re the most hilarious thing in this world don’t you.”  Nullar groaned from the shower floor, shaking the towel out over his tail rubbing in an attempt to dry himself.

“Was good of you to get a shower, what with the fish smell, should have waited until you got that Transformation Stone thing back though, would have been a little easier.” Eyeing him I wondered again what had caused the upset between him and Roisin that had made him take an unplanned shower. And it was unplanned according to the clothes he was still wearing.

“This wasn’t by choice, but an accident.”  He was muttering, looking uncomfortable as he avoided my gaze. I would figure it out eventually, turning I walked out of the bathroom and shut the door behind me to give him a little privacy.

My eyes went straight to Roisin, laying in the middle of the huge bed she looked small and fragile, though she was anything but. This was all such a mess. Who was Roisin? How had Gracie come to be in Odette’s body? What happened to Odette’s spirit? How and why was all of this happening? I sank down on to the ouch and dropped my head into my hands with a sigh. So many questions and not nearly enough answers.

How was I supposed to tell Nullar that his love had died and was gone though her body was still alive? Would he even believe me? If I were a betting man, I would say no, there was no way he was going to believe me, he would just assume I was making things up to get him out of the way. While I was still wondering over how to explain to him what had happened the bathroom door open and Nullar walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist in a similar fashion to myself.

“Take a seat.”  I told him, wincing inwardly at how harsh that had sounded, Nullar just raised a white eyebrow and sat in a chair near the window, waiting for me to start. “Gracie is in Roisin’s body.”

“You mean Odette’s body.”  Nullar stated, glancing over at her still form in the bed.

“No, I mean Roisin’s body.”  I took a deep breath before continuing in a rush. “Gracie said that in order for her to enter Odette’s body, she had to die, and her spirit move on, Odette is gone.”

“No.”  Nullar said, his face impassive as we stared at each other, both of us sure in our beliefs and neither willing to give in.

“I’m sorry Nullar, but it’s true, Odette died and has passed on.”

“Her heart is beating, she speaks. Would you like to tell me again how my fiancé is dead and yet alive?” Rising to his feet Nullar moved toward the door, planning to leave the room and this conversation.

“I don’t know Nullar, but you can’t run from this. What’s done is done.”  I told him, keeping my words soft, seven years ago I had been the one in his shoes, I had been the one to lose the love of his life.

“Oh, what’s done is done?” Nullar demanded, turning, and swiping his arm up to point at the bed and the woman who owned both of our hearts. “My fiancé is alive and lying in that bed! She is breathing! Your mate is buried in the ground!”

His words felt like a whip across my chest, searing pain burning its way through my mind and heart. “You don’t know what you are talking about.” I growled out, trying to keep myself and Odin calm despite the onslaught of memories that were pressing forward. Flashes of Gracie and her strawberry blonde frizzy hair a cloud around her as I held her limp and cold body against me. My chest got tight, like a vice grip was squeezing my heart and my lungs refused to take in air.

“Oh I don’t?!  You sit there and tell me how Odette is dead and gone, when her body is there in that bed, breathing. Where is your mate, mutt? In the ground, cold and lifeless. You are not getting rid of me that easy, I will be by her side until she tells me otherwise. You had best accept that!”  He was shouting as he found the exact words to bring me to my knees, not that he cared, before the last word was uttered, he was out the door, slamming it behind him.

I could not breathe. I was gasping for air, but my lungs did not want to accept it, refusing to do the one function I needed them to at this moment. Flashes of Gracie lying lifeless in my arms kept flashing through my mind, mixed with images of the man in a black cloak and hood as he pulled the knife across her throat, her last words ringing in my ears as she told me she loved me.

“Go to her Orion, go to Roisin.”  Odin urged me, his words having my eyes flashing to our mate, peacefully sleeping in the bed. I did not want to infect her with my darkness… I did not want to disrupt her happy dreams.

“I can’t.”

“You can, and you will, she is the only one who can save us go to her. Neither of them would want you to suffer alone.”  Damn it but he was right, neither of them would want me to suffer alone. The flashes were getting more intense, and I knew soon the blackness would overtake me.

Standing from the couch I stumbled to the bed, sitting on the edge I reached over and placed my hand on her arm, the coolness of her skin began chilling the searing pain racing through me, the electricity dancing between us sent pleasure pulsating in my blood, moving to erase the bad memories that were assaulting me. I found myself lying beside her, pulling her against me and tucking her head under my chin, my arms wrapped around her as I closed my eyes and breathed in her tranquil scent. Soon the memories were pushed back, my heart began to calm, and my lungs were taking in deep, steady breaths.

As I laid there with her in my arms, the events of the day begin to catch up to me and drain me of what little energy I had left, I needed to sleep, had to sleep. I am not sure if it was minutes or hours later, but I was drifting off to sleep, my mate in my arms and calming thoughts in my mind.