269 The Return (1)

For the next couple days, Kyro might as well have not lived at his parents' place. If Iris saw a glimpse of him in the middle of the night, it could already be considered lucky.

Since he was so busy, she spent most of the time annoying Lucy. The cat often hid somewhere where he thought he wouldn't be interrupted, so Iris played hide and seek with him. Every time he disappeared, she would run all around the house to find him.

The black giant wasn't happy about being interrupted again and again, so he started hiding in places she couldn't reach. Unlike him, Iris wasn't that good at climbing, but that didn't mean she was powerless. The moment she saw him napping on some shelf, she would start screaming to wake him up, then run away and repeat if he didn't come chasing after her.

Once evening came, Lucy went to the bed. He seemed dissatisfied that Kyro wasn't present, but still stretched out to sleep by the feet area. Iris wandered close, testing if he would attack her.

He didn't. His one good eye opened, then closed.

When Iris lay down by his back, he didn't move a muscle. Happy for his tolerance, she fell asleep right away. All the running around during the day had exhausted her.

In a few days, Kyro finally returned during daytime. "Ready to go home?" he asked with a smile. Iris nodded, but didn't miss the bags under his eyes. Just how much did he work to prepare everything in a week? Was it really okay for him to leave for a time?

Doubt hounded her, but Kyro didn't seem to share her feelings. He quickly packed some stuff for himself, saying he was going to buy everything they needed when they were over there. The idea sounded alien to Iris, but she let him do as he thought was best. Out of the two of them, she was certainly not the one who'd traveled the most or who was actually financing the journey.

At last, Kyro went down on one knee before the bed and pulled Lucy in for a hug. The cat looked at him with his one eye, clearly sensing that something wasn't right. He meowed, expressing his discomfort.

Kyro put him down on the bed, then caressed his head. "Be a good boy and don't give my parents trouble, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise."

His words didn't have the expected effect. Instead of accepting it, Lucy jumped off the bed and went next to his carrier which stood in the corner of the room. Used to always traveling with his owner, he knew that this was the object which he had to enter to go together.

"Lucy…" Kyro went to the cat and picked him up again.

In the sidelines, Iris felt guilty as all hell. Lucy didn't seem to understand that he couldn't go this time. Habit told him that when Kyro packed things, they'd travel somewhere together. From what Iris knew, the two were inseparable.

And now Kyro was planning to leave Lucy behind because they were going really far away. There, they'd live at a hotel and spend most of the time outside, trying to piece back the missing pieces of her life. Lucy would feel stifled and lost being left alone at an unfamiliar place, which was why it wasn't a good idea to bring him along.

"Hey, I'll be back real soon," Kyro promised again, even if he knew that Lucy wouldn't understand. "Don't worry, okay?" He scratched the cat's ear, trying to relax him.

Lucy wasn't buying it, but he was a cat; he didn't understand what was really happening either. All he knew was that for some reason his companion was preparing to leave, but not planning to bring him along.

When Kyro put him down to collect the last things, Iris ventured over, wanting to give the cat some comfort, but Lucy lashed out at her. A paw with claws extended came at her face, ready to tear her apart. Iris barely managed to avoid it by falling flat on her stomach.

A whimper escaped her lips in surprise. It attracted Kyro's attention, but before he could come over, Lucy took a step forward and bumped his forehead with hers in apology. At that moment, she realized that she'd come from his blind side and lowered her head in shame.

Noticing her distress, Lucy pulled her over and began cleaning her coat. The familiar act distracted him from what he'd been doing before, and he totally forgot all about it. Instead, he focused all of his attention on making sure Iris couldn't escape his ministrations.

Kyro chuckled on the side while Iris glared at him. She had wanted to make Lucy feel better, but that didn't mean she needed a bath! She was a really clean fennec, okay?

Her complaints went unheard, however. Both men, human and cat, pretended to have gone deaf for the next half an hour.

In the end, she gave up and just sat still. It was all for a good cause. After all, as she deepened her relationship with the black monster, she was also deepening it with its master. Besides, she did feel guilty for Lucy having to stay alone for at least a couple weeks.

Once he was done washing her coat, she played around with him, pulling on his tail or walking over him. It annoyed the cat to no end, but he didn't say anything, tolerating her with unbelievable patience. Only once in while would his paw threaten to hit her when she went too far.

In a few hours, their games had to end however. Kyro was done, and they had to leave. "The jet is waiting for us. I thought to take a commercial plane, but Gale called me a fool and said I should use his private jet instead."

Iris stared at him, her eyes wide. She hadn't been on a plane before, and now she was going to fly with a private jet? Wasn't that too great of a change?

For the last time, Kyro caressed Lucy's head, then picked Iris up and left the room. The single suitcase was already in the car's trunk, so they just needed to sit down and drive away. Kyro did just that while Iris took a last glance at the house.

When was she going to return here? Would it still be in this lifetime?

They were just going to bring back her things, tie up the loose ends of her life in the UK, but would it be so easy? She couldn't help worrying that something would go terribly wrong and get her stuck there, unable to leave.

When they reached the jet, there were uniformed officers standing around it. They demanded to look through the jet and Kyro's things. He refused at first, but then they provided a writ which gave them lawful right to do just that.

Kyro then stepped back, but Iris saw him type something in his phone. Was he sending a message?

In an hour, the search was over without any results. They were looking for Iris, so of course they hadn't found anything. As long as they didn't know that she could turn into a fox, it was impossible. Kyro had also not brought a single thing for her, so no shadow could be cast over him. For all intents and purposes, it looked like he was leaving to discuss business instead of taking a holiday or sneaking out a wanted criminal out of the country.

Once the officers were forced to leave with empty hands, Kyro boarded the plane, and Iris sat in his lap, waiting for what was to come next. Her heart throbbed with fear, anticipation, and guilt.

She couldn't forget a dark shape she'd seen on the first floor window staring at them when she'd turned back to glance at the house.