Mishaps and Wolves (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 17 - Gracious Interruptions

Chapter 17 - Gracious Interruptions

Roman felt the world crumbling around him.

A traitor has breached our family, his panther hissed, pacing and clawing for a chance to be freed and tear down everything to sink its claws into the threat. Lord knew he already felt as though someone had shredded his heart.

He knew Marissa was only trying to help when she tried telling him that he could use the spy for his own gain, but the fact that someone would turn their back on everything that he had built and given to and given up for the pack, he just couldn't wrap his head around.

He shut his eyes, telling them to leave him be so that he could vent his frustration, try talking it out or just think it through. When the door shut after they'd left, he took a deep breath. However a single scent still hung in the room. Instead of thinking on how someone could have thrown back all he'd worked for and given them into his face, he focused on that scent and let it swim through his mind.

When she spoke up, her voice had been a hypnotic balm - soothing his rage and dragging him closer to her. Before he'd even realized it, he was right behind her. When she'd spun around, Roman had felt an urge to just kiss her and claim the comfort it could have brought for him. He knew she'd struck up the conversation to distract him and she'd succeeded. She'd just put her in the front line too.

Her cheeks had a pinkish hue to them. Her eyes were dilated, making them darker and stand out, tempting him like a siren would. She'd gone silent, completely in a trance and he loved that she was no longer fighting it but going along with what he knew was the bond that their souls had. He'd almost came close to kissing her when the knock at his door sounded.

She jumped and reality snapped back into place; he could see it in her eyes. She moved away from him, shaking her head. He almost growled at the interruption to his own interruption - didn't he deserve a moment to have his own gracious interruptions in life?

"Come in!" he called to whoever it was that had decided that they really needed to talk to him at this precise moment. He moved to sit on the edge of his desk as the door opened and Laura walked in. She still looked as haggard as she had earlier when she'd been pulled from her burning house and fought to get back in and get her daughter. Her hair was messily tied back, her shirt and jeans still had a bit of soot and a few minor burn holes but it was those bags beneath her red eyes and the slight smile on her face that dispersed his anger.

She came in and looked to him first, "Alpha, I just wanted to come and thank the human."

Marissa stepped forward with her hand out, "My name's Marissa, and there really is no need for your thanks. Anyone would have done it, and probably been smarter about it too," she joked as she shook Laura's hand. A light flush of embarrassment still graced her cheeks and Roman found it interesting that she wasn't comfortable with the praise; he'd have to file that away for later.

Laura smiled at her, a look of relief passing over her, "Thank you nonetheless. You did it even though you would have hurt yourself more than any of us."

Marissa smiled back at her, "How's your daughter doing?"

At this Laura was positively jumping, "She's good. Minor smoke inhalation but she's only under observation at this point and her lungs should clear out in the next day or so. She'll be jumping off the walls in no time."

"Then we'll let you get back to her, Laura. Vera's going to need her mother by her side whilst she recovers," Roman told her, wanting to get past this little meeting so he could get back to dissecting the mind of his future mate.

Laura nodded and turned to Marissa one last time, "I just want to let you know that if you need anything, you just have to ask me and I will do everything I can to help." Marissa blushed as Laura opened the door and was about to close behind her.

"Wait!" Marissa called after Laura. Laura poked her head back into the room, "How is the other woman that was pulled out of the fire?"

Laura smiled softly, "Cinna is still unconscious but she's with Doctor Andrew right now. I think she was in the fire for too trying to look for Vera before she managed to find her and pass out."

"Good to know that she's okay," Marissa sighed as Laura smiled one last time and shut the door behind her.

When she turned back to him, she couldn't meet his gaze and it was almost amusing to see her trying to avoid his gaze. But his mind wouldn't stick to this line of thinking anymore. Instead it turned over back to the bigger situation at hand.

"We have a traitor," he said. Saying it out loud made it seem undoubtable now.

"You might have one, yes. But there has to be a reason for someone to do as they've done. You just need to look for an answer," Marissa said softly.

When he heard her moving about, he looked up to see her heading for the door. "Where exactly do you think your going?"

Marissa paused by the door and took a breath and looked over her shoulder, meeting his gaze with one that was blank of any emotion. "I just remembered to ask for some clothes and a shower; I just remembered that the ones I brought aren't exactly at hand at the moment."

"You can shower in my room. But where are the clothes you brought with you? Did you think this trip was a one night kind of thing?"

Marissa shrugged, "Firstly, it might have been if we hadn't gotten slightly lost and ended up in that other town. Secondly, my bag is still in my car in the other town. Didn't really manage to get anything whilst we were running."Roman felt a slight pang at how he hadn't exactly helped out in her situation by trapping and capturing them in the middle of the forest.

"Don't worry about it for now. Just head straight back to my room and I'll send someone with clothes for you."

She rolled her eyes at him, "You have a real follow-everything-I-say complex, you know that?"

"Well," he smirked at her, "I am the Alpha of this pack. The complex comes with the job."

She stuck her tongue out at him before walking out the room and leaving him to his thoughts.

Roman sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop. When his mind refused to concentrate on the work he was trying to do, he leaned back and cleared his mind trying to find a calm in the storm of his thoughts. There was just one problem. Every time he tried, images of Marissa in his apartment, in his shower just made every sane thought in him scatter.

"I am in so much trouble", he sighed.

A/N: So I was going to post this last night but I was seriously tired and I still am despite the holidays. It isn't as edited as the other chapters so I'm going to post it then get a better look at it at a later date. Enjoy! How are you liking it so far?