242 Test of Strength (14)

Light was coming from the many windows, but Iris could not see any of it. Her gaze was focused on the door, on the thin barrier that kept her away from something unimaginable. What would they do to her once they caught her? It was already too late to think of escape.

On wooden legs, she tried to stand up, but it was a task beyond her. If not for changing into a fox, she would have crumbled right where she stood. A loud meow came from near her, and she turned to see Lucy looking at her with one eye open.

His whiskers were shaking. Without bothering to stand up, he hissed at her. It wasn't an angry sound, but more like disappointed. If she were to guess, he was mocking her.

The door was thrown open, and Iris jumped back, closer to the cat. On instinct, she lowered her head in a threatening pose from which she could dash forward or back at any moment. A loud screech left her mouth, and she didn't stop it.

The noise startled the uniformed men, but they didn't pay her much attention after realizing she was just a pet. They spread out through the house, entering every room and looking into every nook and cranny.

'They don't know that I can change,' Iris realized. Her heartbeat calmed by a fraction, but she didn't move from her defensive pose. Apprehension filled her instead. There was just something really disconcerting about strangers going through her things and not being able to do anything about it.

The men collected some of her clothes, picked a few hair that might have been hers. Once the initial bout of fear had passed, she wanted to rush to them and scream at their faces to get out, but that didn't seem like a very intelligent choice. Since they saw her as no more than a fancy house pet, no one could be certain that they just wouldn't kick her away if she started bothering them.

When they were about to finish, there was the sound of another car outside. Footsteps followed after, and Kyro's voice reached Iris' ears. He was arguing something with the people outside.

Iris jumped off the sofa and sprinted out of the house. Her feet slid a little, nails not finding purchase, but she didn't slow down one bit. Like a bullet, she launched herself at the unsuspecting Kyro.

His hands flailed a little, but in the end he managed to catch her. Without a word, he enveloped her in his arms, then turned to the person with whom he'd been speaking. "So that's how careful you are? That my pets get frightened out of their minds?"

"I apologize for the damages, but you have been harboring a wanted criminal," the man said, trying to keep his calm, but a touch of accusation still leaked into his words.

"Criminal? What did she even do?"

Before the other man could answer, an officer from the house came out. "She lived here," he stated.

Kyro nodded. "I could have told you that if you had asked."

Feeling safe, Iris peeked at the officer. He was looking at Kyro like a pest that he couldn't do anything about. "There are traces of her being there just moments ago. She should have left through the back door, but she shouldn't make it far. Both her phone and wallet are inside."

The first man nodded, then chose a group of officers to go after. He also sent a couple men to the security post to go through the cameras by all the exists of the neighborhood.

"When will you leave?" Kyro asked, his voice calm, but there was a trace of something in it that made Iris raise her head. Was that a disguised threat?

"Once we're done, Mr. Hemming. There was no need for you to rush over."

"Right, you come to go through my personal belongings the moment my company is hanging on a precipice and I should just look the other way? I don't believe in such coincidences."

The man looked at Kyro from over his notebook. "It was because of that woman."

"Sure." Kyro smiled, but it was a mockery of the expression. "She's fine for months, but the moment my footing becomes shaky, she turns into a criminal. Do you really think I'm that much of a fool?"

The officer from the house glared at him openly. "Don't think that we don't know how your friend warned her to run," he said. "Once we catch her, I'm sure she's gonna sing us many interesting stories."

Iris could feel Kyro's arms around her tightening. He was really pissed, but his face didn't change the least bit. "You think?" he asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Then come back when you have something. Now however, get out. You know she's not here."

The officer seemed to want to say something more, but the other man just shook his head. He went to check if the whole house had been searched and the necessary information collected, then had everyone retreat.

"Thank you for you cooperation, Mr. Hemming. We won't intrude upon you anymore."

"Cooperation," Kyro murmured to himself, his eyes on the officers piling into the cars. When they left, he entered the house, and Iris was horrified by what she saw.

There wasn't an item in the whole building that hadn't been upturned. A hurricane seemed to have went through, throwing everything around. Every drawer had been pulled open, most of their contents emptied on the ground. Clothes and bedding had been dumped on the floor as well to make sure nothing was hiding inside the wardrobe.

Kyro turned on his heel and went to pick up the cat carrier, but even it had been smashed open. Someone had found it a nuisance and kicked its side.

A curse left Kyro's mouth, and he just went to pick Lucy from the sofa, then brought him to his car. He placed Iris on the passenger seat, then returned to the house to get Lucy's bowl and his favorite dry food.

When he returned to the car, he sat down at the wheel and looked back at the house. Iris could not see it with her height, but her memory supplied the image. It was a beautiful place, full of open spaces and light, but with a broken door, it spoke of something wrong. And it was Kyro's childhood home.

'I'm sorry,' she whined, coming to sit on his knees. He looked down at her and patted her head.

"It's not your fault, don't worry about it." He placed her back on the passenger seat and started the car. "I'll bring you to my parents. You should be safe there."

His words lacked any inflection, but it was the part that terrified Iris. What happened was out of anyone's expectations. At this point, even if she somehow retrieved her real passport, she would probably never be allowed to enter the states.

And it wasn't like she could just ask him to leave everything behind and go live with her. His whole life was here, and it wasn't like she had anything to offer for him in turn. Even her rented room would have certainly been given away to someone else by then.

Curling up in silence, Iris stared at the dashboard with a blank mind. If nothing changed, she would be forced to return. She had thought to do that, to face her inner demons, but she had never considered that it might become a permanent state of affairs - her returning and never coming back.

Could she live without Kyro? Her gaze wandered to the left where he sat with both his hands on the wheel, his eyes focused on the road ahead.

It was hard for her to imagine not seeing him every day, not being able to talk to him about nothing and everything. How had she done it before? Her life without him felt light years away, like a dream she'd once had.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered again, not knowing for what she was apologizing. But it had to have been a mistake of hers, something she'd done. 'I'll do better next time.'

Only problem was that she didn't know if there would be a next time. What if it was the end?