Mishaps and Wolves (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 15 - Accident or Purpose?

Chapter 15 - Accident or Purpose?

Roman watched as Marissa cooed softly at the cub in her hands. She looked so happy and at peace with him. When she instinctively helped the child, Roman knew that he was doomed.

She had a wonderful heart. He could tell that by the way she kept asking the cub if he was alright with what she was doing and by explaining it so that he wouldn't be afraid. He could smell the cub's fear pheromones drop very quickly.

When she watched after him, he imagined her with her own child; he could instinctively tell that she would be fiercely protective of her own. That's when his mind decided it would be a good idea to shove an image of her carrying a child in her arms with a mix of his eyes and her spirit.

Damn it! he shook the picture from his head. He didn't want to just fall; he knew that she was his mate but it didn't meant that they were going to be together. He was going to try, but there was no point in just wearing his heart on his sleeve-she'd just freak out and flat-out refuse him.

When she looked up at him, he saw the light in her eyes. She looked more stunning now with warmth filling her gaze than when her anger filled her with fire, and had her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He knew he was staring at her, but he couldn't help noticing the change in her.

I am so doomed, he thought to himself.

"Um...what should I do with the tooth?" she asked.

"Keep it. You can give it to him when you see him tomorrow at breakfast," he told her, knowing the boy would probably want to put it under his pillow for luck and trying to snap out of his shocked state. He had to distract himself or his open nature would freak her out and she'd escape with or without her friend.

Shutting his laptop, he picked up his plate and took over to the sink. She went after him, heading directly towards the compost bin first - he had no clue when she'd noticed it - before going over to the actual bin. He just lay his laptop on the counter and went over to the sink to rinse his plate before placing it in the dishwasher. She followed his lead, then jogged after him as he picked up his laptop and headed to the back door.

"Where are we going?" she asked him as she shut the door behind her.

"Back to the house that burnt down. I need to check on it and make sure that the reconstruction's going along quickly and smoothly," he told her over his shoulder, angling towards the burnt house. Yes he needed to check on the house, but he also needed to listen to a voice of reason and that voice was currently making sure that everything was being cleared up in that house.

When they got there, furniture was being moved out of the house and tossed into a pile outside. The walked through, jumping over the small holes in the ground where burnt wood had been cut out and was waiting to be replaced.

He jumped over a gap in the ground to head up the stairs towards the first floor where his beta Nicholas was waiting. As he climbed up the stairs carefully, avoiding the weak spots, he turned to watch Marissa over his shoulder.

She wasn't as graceful as a shifter was, her steps a little unbalanced and no trust in her feet at all, but she was still following his footsteps across the hallway into the house. By the time she reached the stairs, he found himself still watching the look of determination on her face. She made it to the first step which creaked ominously beneath her.

She stood absolutely still. "Is this going to break any moment?" she asked him, barely moving or breathing as she asked him.

He smiled, now knowing she definitely wasn't insane and did actually care about herself enough to be cautious. "Probably," he joked, "but you can always climb the rest of the stairs. You might not even fall down to the cellar if you jump up them fast enough."

She moved back off the step and onto the ground floor before she looked up scowling at his laughing face. Roman just smiled back and she stuck her tongue out.

"Never took you for a scaredy-cat, Mer," he mocked.

"I'm not. I'd just rather have a good view when you fall through instead. Stuff like that is comedy gold," she smirked at him.

"Stay here," he told her before he spun away and climbed the rest of the stairs.

"Where else am I gonna go?" he heard her mutter under her breath.

He climbed to the top of the stairs and turned to head down the corridor. He saw the broken window at the end and the smashed in door to his right. Turning through it he found Nicholas directing a few people around the room, putting in new furniture and curtains.

"Alpha," Nicholas greeted over his shoulder. He still wore his black-shirt-and-dreams uniform that all sentinels wore when they were out patrolling the outskirts of their territory. Nicholas was the one in charge of those patrols and had been making sure that there were no breaches whilst every available hand had been dowsing all the flames.

Roman walked up to his friends side. The two were completely the opposite. Roman was a cat whilst Nicholas was a falcon. Where Roman's features were sharp whereas Nicholas's features were more relaxed, his face covered with laugh lines that had become a permanent feature of his character since he was born. Nicholas' eyes were the colour of the sky he flew through and never missed anything as he scanned and helped Roman watch over the pack that was their family.

"How is everything?" Roman asked his friend.

"Everything is in order. I have Cameron checking on the patrols on the furthest edges of our territory with two of the trainees. We'll need to train them faster and induct them sooner than previously planned."

Roman nodded his agreement, knowing his beta was right. "Any more news on the orb yet? We can't put our people in danger like this."

Nicholas closed his eyes, "Nothing. There's been no word, just that they have it. And I'm not even sure we can keep our pack safe. This," he said as he opened his eyes and gestured around the room, "could have turned out so much worse if it hadn't been for that human."

"She also knows where the orb is," Roman told him calmly.

Nicholas blinked before he sagged in relief, "Oh thank the merciful Creator! Now we have a target and we can stop all this." He smiled and Roman could see the relief not only in being able to actually get the orb back but to stop the possibility that more of their family could have been injured. "Well, where is it?"

Roman crossed his arms over his chest, "Central park in Regan's town, directly in the centre of the park maze."

Nicholas' smile froze before a rare curse flew from his mouth. "Shit! Those twats couldn't make it a little less challenging for us?" He held a hand to the back of his neck, trying to massage away all the strain that wouldn't go away until their pack's prize was back in its rightful place.

Roman felt the same strain in his own body every day. "How did the fire in this house start?"

Nicholas sighed, "Probably one of the wires downstairs. A lot of cubs run through this house. They probably chewed on enough wires and with all our bad luck..."

Roman sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "How did a bunch of cubs chew through enough wire to make a fire that big? There aren't even many electrical appliances in this house that have wires that they can reach."

"That's because the cubs aren't to blame for this." Roman spun around at Marissa's voice behind him.

A/N: So, there may or not be a surprise for you tonight but that's only because I'm having serious procrastination time over here :P Anyway, here's Nicholas on the side >>>> We may or may not see him again later, especially if he gets his own sequel to this story...wouldn't you just love to know?