Cat Eyes: Sirius (Marien's POV only)

Chapter 24: Coupling to a new life

We left the building, and I had my hand clutching Sirius's.

"You know you don't need to do this," I said in a low voice, ensuring he only listened to me. "The government also pays me. We will try to stop the war, but I don't want you to get too involved. I'll buy an apartment, and we'll go there."

"Marien," he muttered in his soft, deep voice, "you have taken care of me a lot. They always instilled in me that I should take care of my family when I had one, and now I want to do it; from the moment I saw you, I wanted to take care of you."

"You will, but it doesn't mean I will not take care of you too. I won't stop protecting you. I wouldn't bear you to be separated from me."

"I want to feel useful; I want to be ready in case Orion comes to meet me one day. I don't want him to dare to touch you."

"Do you think I'd be happy if he came to hurt you?!" I asked, trying to measure my tone of voice.

Marcus came over, and I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Don't listen to Max, Anthony. Although if I were you, I would like to train with them instead of being in the hospital." I shot him a withering look to shut him up, and he looked at me, scared. "Okay, okay, sorry," he said. "Just saying."

I sighed.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry too," I mumbled sadly.

We walked in silence for a few minutes. As we continued our way, Rosy pulled me to the side and spoke to me in a low voice.

"Calm down. Everything is fine. Look, I thought if you'd like to go see a movie or something, then we leave you guys alone to have some kind of honeymoon, huh?" She smiled mischievously.

I couldn't help but laugh. Sirius looked at me and smiled in relief. I cleared my throat.

"Rosy, no... I already explained to you that they are a little different..."

"What? But their anatomy is the same as human men's, and you know what part of their anatomy I mean."

I laughed again.

"It's not that," I said, smiling.

I decided to explain to her what I knew about the rules of the evolved people as we calmly walked down the street. Marcus was asking Sirius questions, probably about his qualities. It had gotten dark pretty early, so I didn't worry too much about people seeing his eyes anymore. As I explained what I knew about the EH, she looked surprised.

"Wow... So, is it a miracle that Anthony has fallen in love with you?"

I giggled.

"I don't know. He didn't know what he was feeling. He just knew he liked me somehow, and that's it."

"Awe!" she exclaimed. "And how did he tell you? You guys have at least kissed, right?"

I gently shook my head, smiling yet feeling embarrassed.

"It was because of a crazy impulse of mine..." I carefully chose what I could tell her. I looked up and glanced at Sirius with a slight smile playing on my lips. "I told you that Anthony betrayed one of his own to save me, right?" Rosy nodded happily. "Well, I was locked in a cell for a few days, believing I would never see him again. So, when I saw him appear, I... I don't know. I thought it was another dream in which he was with me... and I kissed him."

Rosy smiled, more excited.

"How did he react? What did he say?" she asked anxiously.

"I assume I surprised him. At first, he froze, but then he started trying to reciprocate..."