28- The rivalry begins

The walk back for Sirius and Saoirse to the mansion was a bit quiet as the two of them thought about the upcoming fight.

"Thank you." Sirius said eventually. "For de-escalating all of that." He had been surprised that Saoirse commanded authority so naturally and had learned so much control over her abilities that fast. "The people saw you, did Linus teach you that?"

Saoirse nodded. "Yeah. He said that he had to figure out how to do it so his first wife could see him. They went on like that for nearly a year apparently. Her being unable to see him."

Sirius made a face at that.

"What?"

"Well, that just sounds like stalking if you ask me. I mean, I was just starting to like Linus but now I have to reconsider."

"He didn't stalk her." Saoirse laughed, "Though it sounds like it now that you put it like that."

Saoirse shifted into her wolf form and leapt up onto a cement wall that ran along the sidewalk. Walking beside him around the level of Sirius' head, she continued her story. "He kept trying to talk to her, leaving her notes and things like that, but she just couldn't see him." Saoirse explained.

"Oh."

Saoirse smiled, "Then one day, she wrote him a note back. She thought that she was going crazy, she wondered where the notes came from and who sent them. He tried to tell her that he was right there, but she didn't believe him. Even still, she wrote him a note that she would give him a chance, even if he was strange, and didn't show himself."

Sirius interrupted, "Saoirse, you're really making Linus seem like a real creep right now, like she really just decided to date someone she didn't know, without seeing him face to face, and you're saying she just went with it?"

"Isn't that what online dating is like?" Saoirse asked. She gave Sirius a smirk.

(Mom had a point here, sometimes you have to take a leap and hope you don't end up with some psychopath.)

Sirius blinked, "Wait-how do you know about online dating?" Sirius asked, a bit of nervousness in his tone.

Saoirse laughed. She clearly enjoyed the worry it caused him. "Anyways, they dated for a while and she called him her imaginary friend. I think it's cute!"

Sirius was still frowning a bit about the online dating service for ghosts, but Saoirse kept smiling at him and he decided to drop it.

"Alright then, I will try to get to know him. Even if he did trash my house. I got a bit of bravery because of him, so maybe I can learn a couple of things."

Saoirse smiled, her azure blue wolf eyes glistening in the moonlight. As they came near the mansion, Saoirse once again materialized and a butler calmly greeted them. He tried to pay attention to how she did it, but since he was a vampire, seeing ghosts was part of his nature and he couldn't figure it out.

The man escorted them to the private living quarters that Linus had arranged. It was always away from where the rest of the pack stayed. He handed Saoirse the key when they arrived and politely left.

As they entered, the first thing they noticed was it didn't feel like a room, it was an entire three bedroom townhouse. The ceilings were tall somehow, it had a large bay window to a private backyard. The sun was beginning to come up and the two of them felt a bit unsettled as they watched its rays, yet it didn't hurt them.

"Fascinating." Sirius whispered. I've never felt the sun before, it feels warm. Saoirse was used to feeling warm around Sirius, but the sunlight, and the atmosphere she felt when watching the sunrise with him felt like they were separated somehow from the universe, as if down here, the pack didn't exist.

Saoirse began to feel her eyelids droop as she leaned on Sirius' shoulder. "Well, I think we should go to sleep."

Sirius nodded. "I'm going to shower, sleep well."

"See you tomorrow." She responded.

They opened the door to the master bedroom and a heart of flower petals sat on the bed.

"Oh so cute!" Saoirse said enthusiastically. "Linus cares so much about other people look at that, so sweet!"

She tossed herself onto the bed and let the flower petals scatter all around her. She giggled.

Sirius, who had been through a stressful day saw her to this and it made him notice her curves. As soon as the thought crossed his head, he blushed and decided to go brush his teeth to distance himself from his wife's beautiful body.

Saoirse felt this and it caused her mood to drop a bit. The same tension that plagued them their whole marriage once again had surfaced.

She got off the bed and followed him into the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. She undressed herself and turned on the shower, not bothering to care even if Sirius was still watching. She stepped under the water and he turned to look at the curtain between them in shock at her sudden rebellion.

"Saoirse…" Sirius stammered, "what are you doing?"

"Taking a shower." She snapped. Matter of factly.

"B-but why are you doing it now?"

"What's wrong? Even after you got brave because of Linus, now your still afraid of seeing my body just because you don't have his blood in your veins?"

Sirius was taken aback at her sudden anger.

"Well… what did you expect me to do?"

She sighed. "Sometimes, I wish you could just…." Her tone softening a bit. "That maybe it could be different between us now, like you said. Like maybe you could be with me now, not just be next to me."

Sirius felt the air around them mix with the coldness of her feelings and the warmth of his aura. Two elements that should not mix. He remembered the feeling of her body touching his only a few weeks ago and quietly decided what to say. "I wanted to touch you again." He said quietly. "But I wasn't sure if you'd be ok with that."

"We can touch each other even if it's dangerous. We don't have to go too far." She said.

Sirius knew this was harder than she made it sound. The temptation to close the gap between them grew. "But we already have..." He said.

(In that moment, I realized what my parents was saying. What did he mean that they already had? A sudden flutter of excitement grew in my heart. Could that mean that perhaps that day, a few weeks ago, my parents had…finally decided to change their dynamic?)

"….I can feel myself even more tempted now..." He continued, worry evident in his voice.

(I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to know moms answer when all thoughts of Sirius and Saoirse deepening their relationship came to a halt.)

The shrill sound of a baby crying in the other room pierced the air.

"What is that?" Sirius asked.

Saoirse turned off the water. "Lachlan? Did Linus just bring him over without communicating with us?"