The Little Rose

At War

"s**t, s**t, s**t!"  I yelled out into the universe as I stood at the edge of the beach, the waves just brushing my toes as they rolled in.  

What the f**k had I just done?!  How had I let him take control like that?  In 6 years I had not lost the battle to keep him reigned in, not even once, always keeping a stronghold on Odin.  Then one red-headed woman washes up on my beach and before twenty-four hours is even up I have allowed him to push me back and take over.  And what he was going to do... how he was going to betray me.  I was pissed at myself for letting him out, but I was furious with him.  I felt betrayed yet again by the spirit I shared my body and mind with.

"I did not betray you."  Odin's disgruntled voice filled my mind.  

"You can not honestly think that what you did was okay?"  I growled back at him, stomping along the water's edge, picking up every shell I found and throwing them as far as I could out into the water.  The tiny splash the shells made was nowhere near what I needed to help alleviate the fury rolling through my veins.

"No, I do not, because I did nothing wrong.  I was going to mate and mark our mate, it's what we are supposed to do."   I could honestly rip my wolf's throat out at this point if it didn't mean me dying along with him and him then being able to come to Earth without me tethering him to reality. 

"Seriously?!  She is not our mate!  Our mate died, remember?  Our family died!  She is nothing but a woman who washed up on shore, a woman who I'll be taking back to the mainland soon.  Someone must be missing her."  Even as I said the words my soul rebelled at the very idea of handing her off to the authorities and turning my back on her.  But every time I looked at her, every time I smelled that intoxicating scent she was carrying with her, every time my fingertips sparked at our skin making contact, I thought of Gracie.  Of how she loved me to the very end and I was betraying her with the first woman to come along.

"We are not betraying Gracie,"  Odin said much softer than I would have expected after my threat of getting rid of her.  His tone carried the same pain I was feeling.  "Gracie would have wanted us to be happy, she would have wanted us to go on living in her memory.  Right?  I think you are just too afraid of getting hurt again that you are pushing her away instead."  He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in as I froze on the beach, my feet sinking into the sand as it was washed away by the tide.  "But Orion, if you choose to push her away and reject her, you are causing yourself pain anyways... even if choosing to take Roisin as our mate hurts us in the future, at least we would have the good.  What if we didn't have the good memories of Gracie to get us through her passing?"

"You mean there is a worse scenario than you going on a killing rampage?"  I muttered back sarcastically,  grabbing another handful of shells out of the sand and throwing them one by one into the water.

"I only killed those responsible I could have killed many more before you locked me back up if I hadn't had Gracie's goodness at the edge of my thoughts."  

Damn, he was right, we both knew he was right.  I was holding onto Gracie's memory in the wrong way, trying to protect myself from the pain I would feel when I attempted to reject Roisin, and I didn't want to reject her.  I wanted to claim her.  But I couldn't do that while she had no idea who she was.  Which meant we would need to make a trip to the mainland after all, if for no other reason than to uncover the mystery of who Roisin really was.

"Fine,"  I spoke softly into the breeze coming off of the water, my words meant for Odin.  "I will give her a chance, I will give whatever is going on between us a chance.  But we must protect her." 

"Of course.  With how powerful you and I are together, there is no one alive who can best us."  As I walked back towards the cabin and my Little Rose, I prayed Odin's words stood true, that no one could take her from me, from us.

When I entered the clearing I didn't see Roisin and assumed she was still inside.  Thinking over how I had left her I groaned in frustration and rubbed a hand down my face, she was probably upset with me, and rightfully so.  I had basically attacked her, forced myself upon her, then ran away as if her touch had burned me.  Well, Odin had done those things, really all I had done was run away.

"I didn't attack her, you are being a little overdramatic there... did you hear her say no?  Because I didn't?"  I rolled my eyes at my cocky wolf's statement and headed towards the fire pit, the fish had most likely burned by now, which would be a waste of a creature giving its life for our sustenance.

"Hard to argue with someone whose tongue is shoved down your throat,"  I muttered to him as I bent to extract the fish, a little confused when I found the fire empty of the silver tinfoil packets I'd put there.

"Who's throat has who's tongue shoved down it?"  I heard Roisin's melodic voice far too close behind me, I jumped to my feet and spun around, coming face to face with the red-headed vixen I was currently arguing with my wolf over.  She was watching me carefully, her head c****d to the side as she waited for my reply.

"Oh, umm, I was just talking to Odin."  I tried to take a step back as she took an excited one forward, but I almost ended up seated in the fire when the backs of my feet hit the bricks surrounding the pit.

"Oh!  Can I talk to him?  Is that possible?"  Her eyes were wide as she asked and I watched her in surprise, still a little in awe of how quickly she had accepted both of us.

"I mean, he kind of just attacked you in the cabin, so I think it's best you don't talk to him right now."  The breeze shifted and that mouth-watering scent that I was getting occasional whiffs of was now being blown full force in my face.  If I didn't know any better, I'd say a higher power was trying to force me to give in and accept Roisin, pushing me to mate and mark her.

"Oh, that was him?"  She asked thoughtfully, her hands sliding behind her back as she swayed gently from side to side as if she were in the sea and moving with the waves.  The way she had her arms behind her back pressed her breasts forward, pushing them against the material of my shirt that she was wearing.  

"s**t, look anywhere else...."  I thought as I forced my eyes away from her chest and back to her eyes.  "Yeah, that was Odin... sorry about that by the way, I'm normally in better control of him.  I'll try not to let it happen again."

"Oh, it'll happen again..."  Odin chuckled, laughing harder when my eyes drifted back down to Roisin's chest, I could see her n*****s pebbling under the material and I knew if I didn't get out of here soon I'd be in big trouble.  f**k.

"It's okay, really, I enjoyed it."  Her sweet voice stated as her blue-green eyes flickered to my lips, her tongue tracing her own, the pink tip just barely visible between them.  I groaned and threw my head back, my fingers entangling in my long tresses as I shut my eyes and tried to push the thoughts of how those words made me feel out of my mind.

"But you said we were going to give this a try, you said you'd give her a chance!"  Odin growled as he tried to throw my words back in my face, completely misunderstanding my thoughts.

"And I will!  But that doesn't mean I have to jump her here and now.  I want to get to know her a bit."  

"She has no memories... what exactly are you expecting to learn?"  Odin quipped back sarcastically, and though I wanted to argue, he was right.  There wasn't much to know about someone who had no memory of who they were or where they came from.

"What about a witch?"  I asked him excitedly, forming a plan in my mind to help us get to know our Little Rose, for us to know who she really was, and help her learn more about herself as well.

"You think she's a witch?  I mean... it's possible."  Odin said thoughtfully.

"No, we hire a witch to bring back her memories!"  I explained, keep my eyes shut tight even as I brought my head back down and brushed my fingers through my hair pulling the tie from the ponytail at the nape of my neck, and letting it flutter against my back in the soft breeze that was continuing to bombard my senses with Roisin's lavender and honey scent.

"Oh, that's brilliant!  How soon can we get one?"  My wolf asked, practically bouncing through my mind in excitement. Though I had to be honest, the feeling was mutual. Finally opening my eyes, I realized Roisins's scent was so strong because she was standing directly in front of me, less than a foot away, with her nose almost pressed to mine.

"You seemed to have gone far away, are you talking to Odin again?"  Why did her voice always sound like bells ringing or soft melodic music playing?  It was enough to drive a sane man craze and I was anything but sane.

"Yes. Yes, I was talking to him."  I answered her honestly, finding no reason to lie to her.

"What is he saying?"  She asked curiously, stepping back a couple of feet to continue her observation of me.

"We have agreed that we should take you to the mainland and see about finding a witch to help restore your memories."  Her face lit up at this and I felt a small burst of pride in my chest knowing that I was the reason that beautiful smile was now on her face.

"Sounds like a brilliant idea!  When do we leave?"  Shortly after her inquiry I heard thunder in the distance and turned to search the skies behind me, not surprised to see storm clouds headed our way.  It was always raining in the gulf and Florida.

"Looks like tomorrow at the soonest, don't want to be out on my little rowboat when a storm passes overhead, it may make us capsize."  And there was no way I was risking my mate's life.  If there were any other way off of this island I'd do that instead, but with no one knowing I was here and no cell service even if my phone had a charge, it was the only option.

"Do you even have any idea where to find a witch?"  Odin demanded shortly, causing me to contemplate for at least the fifth time today if I could strangle my wolf without killing myself.

"Of course I do, Luna and Vespian's pack houses towns with supernatural's only, witches being one of them, I know we'll find what we need there."  And if we didn't, we'd just keep looking until we found one.

"You're doing that thing again, where you are here but not really here,"   Roisin said with a giggle, the tunes of which danced around me and licked my skin with flames of desire.

"We're just discussing where to find a witch to perform the magic required to find and retrieve your memories,"  I answered her, stepping away from the fire pit and around her, striding towards the open door of my tiny home.

"Any luck?"  She called from behind me, apparently following me into the cabin, though she was what I was trying to get away from.

"Maybe, my sister and her husband run a pack up north that has witches living on the land, they should be more than happy to help us."  As I climbed onto the porch, I made my way into the cabin and towards my duffle back on the floor that served as my dresser.  I'd need to clean my clothes again soon, and by that, I mean beating them on rocks by the lake.  Picking up a clean pair of shorts and a new t-shirt I also made sure to grab my bar of soap, before turning back towards the door and almost colliding with Roisin.  Again.

"So I'll get to meet your family?"  She asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as if I'd just asked her to prom.

"Yes, I guess so,"  I mumbled, having not thought it through.  How would I even introduce her?

"Orion..."  Roisin's tone was full of vulnerability that had my eyes darting to hers, upset at the thought of her being unhappy about anything.  Her beautiful ocean eyes were wide as her fingers played with the little red curls sticking out of the end of her braid.

"Yes, Roisin?"  I asked her softly, unable to resist the urge to stick a hand out and gently cup her cheek, the sparks that rose on contact were still just as amazing as the first time I felt them yesterday.  

"I think that you are mine."   She took a gulping breath before continuing her emotional words.  "And that I am yours, but you keep pushing me away and I'm scared that if or when I get my memories back I won't feel like this anymore, but I like it.  I like this connection I have with you, even if you don't want me..."  She trailed off as her eyelids fluttered down and her lashes fanned across her pale cheeks. Taking a deep breath I dropped the clothes in my hand and cupped her face between my palms, making her look up and meet my gaze.

"No.  Never think I don't want you, I do, more than anything else in this world.  But It wouldn't be right to give in to this feeling between us... you can't make such life altering decions while you have no memories and it would be imorale of me to take advantage of your situation, especially given my mixed feelings..."  When her eyes grew teary I rushed to add on to my words.  "Not about you!  I don't have mixed feelings about you Roisin, you are beautiful and you seem to have an amazing sense of humor and a very loving and compassionate nature.  I have mixed feeling about wether or not it's in our best interest that I connect us... I have a past Roisin, one filled with pain and heart ache, and I don't know if I can over come it.  It may not be fair to drag you down with me."

"I understand Orion... just know that I am here if and when you want to share some of that load you carry around on your shoulders.  Okay?"  Her lips turned up into a sweet smile and I couldn't help but wonder what I had done to deserve such a sweet mate, not once, but twice, in my life.