We went to one of the Security Guard facilities, but Max was denied a pass for some reason, claiming they were in private training. We waited for him outside while he tried again. Much of the building was part of the high wall of the city. Sirius was wearing the sunglasses, just in case someone noticed him. He looked to the building's side, and his eyebrows drew together in a gesture of doubt and confusion.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly.

"I detect the smell of some EH," he muttered.

Max crossed the street, quite annoyed.

"Well, it'll be another day," he growled, looked at us, and realized something was up. "What?"

"Sirius says he sniffs out more evolved," Marcus explained.

Max looked at us, confused.

"They might be corpses from some attack," he said after shrugging.

"No," Sirius replied. "I know what a corpse smells like."

He walked, and we followed him. We went down a narrow alley, and there was an old rusty door half open. Sirius stopped me.

"Stay back," he whispered.

Max stepped between the two of us.

"Preferably, further back," he completed.

I frowned.

Sirius guided us. It seemed an abandoned part of the building, with some forgotten metal furniture. The dusk made everything look worthy of a horror movie. A rat ran past and surprised me, but I didn't scream. I was expecting to find something like that.

As I advanced, I began to pick up slight sounds, like men training or fighting. As we moved further, I could make out other noises: gunshots, short explosions, heavy blows, and the rubbing of shoes on the floor. Until another new sound made me shudder: evolved's grunts and screams.

We went into a spacious room, and we could hear those noises clearly on the other side of an old door.

"If this happens, gentlemen," exclaimed a male voice. "I want you to try this... Private Ryan will show you."

We hurried to the door since it had a narrow window. Sirius and Max took it, and Marcus and I had to settle for some holes in the material caused by rust.

I was horrified. An EH with a metal mask, as if to avoid biting, with no claws, and full of cuts, bleeding and exhausted, waiting. In front of him was a soldier. Further back stood the one I assumed was the boss. A few men, who seemed to be some elite of this organization, observed the arena.

"Soldier," ordered the one who had been speaking.

The man took a weapon. I was never good at firearms, so I only knew that it was one of those rifles with a metal blade like a dagger at the end, a very old one. I was distraught when someone not in my field of vision forced the EH to move forward.

He went on the attack. What 'attack'?! He was wholly deprived of his natural weapons! The soldier dodged him, crouching and turning, moving the gun with him, and cutting the abdomen of the evolved man, who screamed and fell to the ground.

"Very good," the sergeant congratulated him. "As you can see, these weapons are handy..." The soldier breathed heavily, watching the EH on the floor. "Easy, soldier, he will heal. It's just a beast," the man rebuked.

I was horrified. The stories were true. Still, that was not like fighting against a healthy, evolved man. That was not fair. That was a sick spectacle.

I noticed that Sirius was tense. "Let's go," I whispered.

Marcus was also horrified. He was surprised, so I looked through the hole again to see why. They were bringing in two evolved men who seemed to be healthier. They released their hands, and one lunged for the attack, but an electric shock knocked him to the ground, and the other was pushed to the center of the arena. After a while, the one who had been electrocuted followed him.

"Good evening, gentlemen," greeted the boss, and both growled at him. "Easy," he calmed them. "Your people turned their back to you. You were exiled, but we will be generous. You will fight to the death. Whoever wins will stay here and help us train. Give us a good show."

The men in the public were euphoric.

"Urgh. All of this is cruel even to me," Max muttered, disgusted.

I noticed Sirius emitting a very low and deep growl, and his fists were clenched. He put his hand on the door's handle, and I clung to his arm as tightly as I could.

"No, please, don't," I begged him.

I shuddered, hearing the furious roars of the evolved men who had started to fight, but I was not going to let go of him even if I died. Max noticed and stopped him by the shoulders.

"Stay out of it. They'll kill us all!" he exclaimed in a low voice. "Think about it. Control yourself."

Sirius took a deep breath, calming down.

"As you see," announced the man from the other side of the door, "they are wild beasts. They don't control their instincts. They only kill."

I prayed we could get out of that place soon.

"I recorded," said Max, showing a mini camera. "We will accuse them with those of the protection societies and the government itself if necessary."

We left right away.

"I'll call a friend I have in one of those associations," Max muttered as he dialed a number on his mobile.

I approached Sirius. He had leaned his back against the wall and was very annoyed, with his arms crossed and looking at the ground. I stood in front of him. He looked up, relaxing for a few seconds, and then looked down with the same angry expression. What could I do?

There was nothing I could do. I felt useless. It was just as Ursa had said.

I crossed my arms, also looking at the ground sadly. What would she have done? I pursed my lips, turning my mouth into a straight line on my face, frustrated. Max was talking to his friend on the phone. Marcus came over to us, sighed, and also leaned against the wall.

"Done," Max announced, approaching. "I'll go see him early tomorrow. Go back to the hospital now. It won't take long for those people to leave this place."

I nodded; Sirius was still in the same position. He sighed and leaned against the wall, looking up at the sky for a few seconds, then looked at us. He was no longer angry, but he was still tense.

"I know how you feel," Max said. "I'm in a good position. I have a platoon. We can organize with more people and do something. I don't know... Some resistance. The protective societies are going to cry to the sky. We could even start a civil war."

"What are you talking about, Max?" Marcus replied. "We are facing something huge; this has its roots in some kind of corruption, something bigger than us."

"Yes, but we will not remain silent. I want you to come with me tomorrow," Max suggested. "Let's go."

Sirius walked beside me, but I didn't feel like he was there. When we got to the hospital, we hardly had dinner.

"What's going on?" Rosy asked us. "You have a face of tragedy."

Marcus gave us a look.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

We finished dinner and went to our room.

I took a shower. I didn't want to face Sirius' silence. I didn't know what to do. Foolishly, I wished to have some communication with Ursa to ask her what she would do. I realized that I was standing in the shower, expressionless, as the water poured over me. I finished my bath and put on my pajamas.

As I got out, I saw Sirius leaning on the window frame, like the first time I went to his room, but he was quiet. He looked at me and smiled slightly, a smile that didn't impact his deep gaze, and then looked back up at the night sky.

I walked over and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I shook my head against his back in denial.

"I can't stand seeing you sad," I whispered. My voice betrayed me, breaking a little.

"No... I'm not," he murmured.

"So?" My voice broke again. Geez.

"Maybe I feel indignant, helpless; these things happen when there are wars. Surely, those evolved men also killed humans. They were quite wild already." He sighed. "But even so, they are also victims of the heads behind those battles, including leaders like Orion."

"There is no excuse for what these men do. They are crazy. It's sick, inhuman," I murmured.

"I know... I'm sorry you had to see that, and I'm sorry I worried you."

I shook my head again.

"Forgive me for not knowing how to cheer you up."

"Don't say that," he murmured sweetly. "You don't have to apologize. It's not your duty to know how to cheer me up or..."

"Sure I do," I interrupted. "I am your wife; I should know. I feel useless."

He wanted to turn to see me, so I had to let go of him to let him do it. He stared at me.

"You are not useless." His eyebrows were together in an expression of concern and sadness.

I lowered my gaze. Now, I was making things more difficult for him. Great.

"Sorry," I whispered, "but..." I shut. I didn't know if bringing up what Ursa had told me just now was a good idea. No, it was not a good idea; it had been days ago, and it was stupid and immature of me. "Nothing, don't worry, forget it."

His lips tightened, accentuating his expression further.

"I won't forget it. Saying 'forget it' will not automatically erase it from my head. Tell me what you were going to say to me," he spoke.

I felt tiny. Were we arguing now? A lump formed in my throat. I cleared it a bit so I could speak.

"Ursa..." I looked briefly to see his expression; now, he was confused. "She told me that I was not worth it to you because I didn't know many things about you, and among those, the fact of not knowing what to do if something made you angry..." How silly I was. I didn't even remember well. "Apparently, she did know a lot about you. I don't even know when your birthday is. Your mom would be happy if you were with her." A treacherous tear ran down my cheek.

I noticed it and cursed under my breath, wiping it off right away. I was behaving like a baby. I wanted to cry more, but out of anger!

He delicately cleaned another of my stupid tears, and I shook my head.

"Forgive me. I'm a fool. I'm too old for these things..." He pressed his lips against mine, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me towards his body, and lifting me off the floor.

I wrapped his neck with my arms; it felt like the first kiss I had given him. We kissed softly and intensely. I again enjoyed the perfect thickness of his lips and his aroma.

"Ouch," I exclaimed in a low voice without meaning to.

My lower lip had been caught fleetingly by his fangs on the right side, pocking me. He stopped instantly.

"Sorry. I'm not doing it intentionally."

I smiled a little.

"I know, don't worry, I like it. I like your fangs," I whispered. I brushed my nose with his, then his lips with mine, and breathed his delicious breath, smiling. "They are not even that long. They barely protrude from the other teeth. You even look super cute sometimes."

He frowned in amusement.

"Yeah, uh, I don't know why I don't want you to see me as cute."

I chuckled.

"Then how? Manly?" I whispered in the end, kissing him again. "Sexy?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I laughed again and melted back into a new and intense kiss.

"Forgive me," I said with a sigh against his lips.

"There is nothing to forgive; be yourself, period. Forget what Ursa said. There is no one I want by my side more than you. I think I am easy to decipher. If you still don't know some things about me, it will not be difficult to find out with time. Also, if you want to know something, just ask me."

"Hmm," I murmured, still touching his lips with mine gently and slowly. "I'm curious. When is your birthday?"

He smiled and gave me a soft kiss.

"May first. I believe."

"You believe?" I chuckled. "Aren't you sure?"

"Only my parents remember it and celebrate it alone. Nobody else is concerned. After all, they got me that day, you know? It's not like I got myself," he explained with amusement.

Oh wow! Oh, man... Okay...

I laughed and silenced my laughter, giving him more kisses. "What cheers you up?"

"It depends. If I'm stressed, I run. If I'm sad, I run." I giggled. "If I'm distressed about something, I run. And if there are obstacles, much better. I thought you already figured it out."

I kissed him. I loved him. I wanted to surrender to the passion and him... Wait, I had to teach him...!

"Hmm..." I reluctantly pulled away. "Give me a second."

He looked at me, arching an eyebrow as he released me. I winked at him, and he smiled.

"Well," he murmured. "We must go to denounce those corrupt tomorrow, so..."

I sighed with some sadness all of a sudden. He had been through stress and was exhausted. Perhaps it was not time to enter a new topic.

"Yes, let's sleep," I said. It would be the next day, then. "I'll give you a back massage. Do you want it?"

"Uhmmm," he thought. "Okay, show me. I really don't know how it is, but give me a few minutes..."

He took his things and stepped into the shower. I fell into the bed to wait for him with a smile on my face and relief inside me. Everything was going to be okay. We just needed to speak. That was really important.

I felt him press me against his hot body since I was already half-asleep and barely conscious. I brushed his fresh, warm skin with my cheek, slightly smiling, buried my face in his chest, kissed him there, and fell asleep again without even realizing it.

Geez.

***

I woke up with his soft caresses like the day before. I didn't know what to do if I missed all this one day. I stretched out a bit, kissed his chin, settled myself sliding over him, and ended up on top. I lost myself in his deep green feline eyes. I brushed my nose with his.

"...Morning," he whispered.

"Ummm," I purred in my own way as I kissed his lips, making him smile.

I was brushing my hair, ready to go out and start the day. He came out of the shower with a navy blue shirt in hand and black cargo pants on, and I got perplexed. I had forgotten that they had given him a uniform, but also because I saw him as too sexy and handsome. I blushed and smiled just like a teenager.

He caught me looking at him and approached me, leaving the shirt on one side of the dresser to take me by the waist.

"Will you stay with me for a while?" He stepped back, leading me to bed with him.

I chuckled. I ended up on top of him like earlier, and we kissed. I liked him a lot. He made me fly like a teenager in love. I ran my finger across his chest, biting his lower lip softly.

"You like having me on top of you," I murmured with a funny but daring smile, touching him again to provoke those new sensations.

He seemed to love it.

"Yes, that... And to play in bed with you."

I laughed.

"I'm sorry. Last night, I couldn't give you the massage. Later, I will, okay?" I whispered and went back to kiss him, taking advantage of touching that hot and sexy chest.

He smiled. "If you continue like this, I feel like I'll do something to you. I don't know what, but you provoke me to do something to you."

"Oh yeah?" I noticed that my voice sounded seductive. "What is it? You could figure it out and do me... one of these days." I arched an eyebrow with an alluring smile at him.

He was staring at me, and I chuckled at the slight blush on his cheeks. He seemed to have entered a crossroads.

"I don't know if it's a good idea," he whispered.

"Oh, so you do know what you want." He blushed a little more and denied it. "Tell me, tell me," I asked him as I gave him many kisses.

"I would like to... touch you too," he confessed in a low voice. "No... I'm dying to do it." He tightened his lips. "Forgive me. I can't help it. And the desire I have is so strong that it scares me, and I don't want to hurt you."

Now, I was the one who had blushed.

"You can do it; you won't hurt me," I whispered, causing him to be surprised.

"But you do it softly; instead, I don't know if I..."

I kissed him again.

"I trust you. Please do it."

His eyes swept over me, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. His gaze was curious but also mischievous. He took my waist, and his hands slipped under my blouse as he stole my breath again with another kiss, but the loud ringing of my phone made us jump.

"Geez," I complained as I reluctantly pulled away to go answer.

It was next to another phone. Sirius had also received one, but apparently, it was turned off.

"Hello," Max greeted from the other side of the line. "After lunch, we will see my friend at the association of those protectors."

"Oh, yeah..."

"And let your pet know he has to come now and turn on that phone."

I snorted furiously.

"Don't refer to Sirius that way!" I warned him.

I heard he was laughing in amusement.

"Sure, sure. See you."

I hung up, frustrated, and looked at Sirius, who was smiling. He stood up.

"Don't worry. I'll knock him unconscious as soon as I get a chance."

I should have guessed he was going to listen easily, too. I chuckled as I watched him go over his shirt and put it on. He looked so handsome... I wanted to run my hands all over that statuesque body...

I stopped him at the door, taking the small nameplate that hung from his neck by a chain Max had given him.

"Tonight, you are not escaping me," I whispered, gently tugging at the collar of his shirt as I pushed myself up and devoured his lips.

Someone cleared his throat, causing us to stop. It was Marcus. I felt ashamed that he had seen us like this. Was it that today, everything was going to interrupt us?

"Let's go?" He said.

"Yes," I replied and turned to see Sirius. "See you later." I smiled sweetly at him.

He smiled back at me and left. Marcus raised his eyebrows.

"You look like a teenager in love," he said in an amused tone as we walked, but I knew he was blaming me.

"I don't know. I didn't plan on being seen," I replied.

Sigh.

"Well, it was getting late, and I wanted to pass by to see you."

I realized that there was something strange in his expression. Maybe something was wrong. We head to the morgue. A stretcher and a body on it were covered with a white sheet. Marcus looked at me and nodded. I approached and partially removed the fabric. It was an EH.

"They told me they brought it from another city where there was an attack, but..."

"It's the one from yesterday," I completed his sentence.

"His neck is broken. Another EH can only do that." I shuddered and pulled away a bit. "Well... it will serve to continue investigating. I already took a sample to see the genetic code and trace it if possible." He observed it for a few more seconds. "I'll put it away."

Afterward, we went to the laboratory to continue cell classification. I wondered how Sirius would be. How much longer would it take to have a real life with him? Or maybe this would be my life in times of war.

I had been thinking of nothing while observing a cell in bone tissue.

"They are wild, right?" Marcus asked, his voice barely audible.

"A little..."

"You should be careful," he muttered.

"Why?" I raised my eyebrows in doubt at his question.

"He is also an EH." He cleared his throat somewhat nervously. "You know... They're dangerous."

"Sirius is not dangerous," I revealed, slightly annoyed at what he said.

"Yeah, but... surely you've seen him fight against others..."

"Well, it's not dangerous for me," I insisted in the same way.

He sighed, switched samples on the microscope, and looked at it, then continued, "It worries me, just that. The thing is... No one can control an animal or a wild being. Instinct always wins out over them."

I huffed in frustration.

"Why does everyone see them as animals?" I asked impatiently.

"Just looking at their cells, I deduce that they might not even be completely human, Marien."

I looked at him with a frown but was intrigued at the same time. I had also thought about that. All the qualities they possessed were very different. They were indeed like the improved version of a human being, but so much genetic code indicating those changes could also mean that we weren't compatible at all. I had lowered my gaze in coming to that conclusion. Marcus had some point.

"See?" he inquired.

I looked at him briefly and looked back into the microscope.

"Yes... I see it," I muttered, "but Sirius wouldn't hurt me."

"Well, that's not all," he continued. "What kind of life could you lead with him?"

"What do you mean?" I feigned doubt. I knew what he meant. I had wondered the same thing when Sirius wanted to join me.

"We are in bad times. He can't be in the city without Security trying to kill him and use him in their sickly internal shows. And now he's training with Max's platoon. Don't you think that could bring out his wildest side like the other evolved men dominated by their instinct?"

"He won't go wild," I said but felt slightly silly fear. "He has already trained most of his life in his town, 'wildly,' as you say."

"That is another point. He belongs to his world, and you to this. You cannot abandon your life to live in his city, and he cannot stay here forever... In the long run, it will have to be that way."

I felt a lump in my throat. I had thought the same thing once. Sadness invaded me. I didn't want to separate myself from Sirius. Maybe I not only loved him but was also captivated. Those reasons were enough not to have fallen in love with him, but I couldn't help it.

I felt my heart clench when I thought that maybe that day would come in which we would have to separate for those reasons and that all this would have been a simple madness, staying in the past to be forgotten—my fleeting romance with an evolved man. If I thought about it, we hadn't even been dating for years. I hardly knew him.

"I love him," I whispered with a somewhat cracked voice, as if that was the only absolute truth, the only reason that justified everything else, the only thing that annulled why we should not be together.

"Yes, I see it..." He sighed. "Don't worry, forget it. I was just saying. Sorry for telling you all that... You have to think about everything, you know. As a scientist, I tend to think a lot."

"Okay." I took a deep breath to improve my voice. "I had also thought about it. I had tried to make him understand, but I don't know if he is aware of this."

Maybe, in the end, it would be like that, and I would have to get used to the idea that everything would end one day to not die of pain.