25- Taking Maeve’s spot

After dinner he took her back to his house and she got her duffle bag out of the car and followed him. 

He opened the door and said, "sorry, we don't get visitors a lot, so it's a bit untidy." 

Saoirse looked around the room and there were plants everywhere. Hanging pots hung from a wooden beam in the ceiling and shelves of pottery housed vines and things like zebra plants. 

There were more pots in the windowsill of the living room, and the kitchen had an herb garden that grew under the light of a solar lamp. A watering can was resting on the coffee table and flowery pillows decorated the couch. 

"It's cute!" Soairse exclaimed with wonder, "Maeve grows all of these plants?" She went and began examining the neatly decorated shelves of plants that ranged from cactus to succulents and even vines. 

"Yeah." She loves it. Sirius said. He set the box of leftovers from the restaurant into the fridge and poured himself a glass of blood and took a sip, leaning on the kitchen counter. 

"I like her." Saoirse decided. "She seems really nice." 

Sirius finished watering the plants for Maeve while Saoirse got herself ready for bed. 

Tomorrow she was going to face the Alpha and he was determined to help her. He had called into work and informed his superior about what he wanted to do, and he was told that because it was outside of the law enforcement's jurisdiction, he wouldn't be able to have backup or anything, but his boss would give him paid time off for the time that he needed. 

Carlston hadn't returned home yet so he wasn't able to ask for a ride into Pembrookeshire territory, but Saoirse reassured him that she knew how to get there. 

He turned out the kitchen light and the room stayed pretty lit still because of Maeve's UV lights. He sighed. She would probably be wondering why he didn't come right away to get her, but this pack stuff was dangerous. In all reality, he didn't know if he would return from this one, there could be thousands of wolves he'd have to face and the Alpha and his gang didn't follow the rules. 

Even if Saoirse defeated the Alpha, and even with some of the gang being on his side, or promising respect for Saoirse, he knew that there could still be quite the battle on their hands. He didn't want to go to Maeve until he knew that she would be safe. 

A lot was resting on his shoulders with this mission, but if she was so far away, maybe she wouldn't be feeling the pain if he got hurt. 

——-

Saoirse finished getting ready for bed and left the bathroom when Sirius exited the kitchen. They both found themselves in Sirius' bedroom looking at the two beds that were there and feeling a bit awkward about what kind of sleeping situation they were going to have. 

"Well, good thing there's two beds." Sirius said breaking the silence. 

Saoirse nodded but she felt very uncomfortable sleeping in Maeve's bed. "Is it ok if I sleep on the couch?" She asked after a while. "That's Maeve's bed, I don't want to go using all of her things, it would be so inconsiderate of me." She said. 

Sirius understood where she was coming from, he too didn't know how Maeve would feel about being replaced like that. "I can sleep in her bed if that works." Sirius said, "she wouldn't mind it. You can have mine."

Saoirse didn't know how she felt about sleeping in a man's bed either, but at least he wasn't trying to make her sleep together with him on the first night of knowing each other, so she nodded. "Ok that would work better for me." She sank into the warm blanket and it engulfed her in Sirius' smell. She smiled. "Goodnight." 

Sirius decided he would take a shower too first before going to sleep, so he said "Goodnight." And went into the bathroom. 

As he washed himself, he closed his eyes and felt the warm water rushing over him, and he sighed relieved again. He liked Saoirse a lot. More than he could have ever imagined. He had feelings for Maeve too, but he still felt like those feelings weren't romantic. 

She was such a nice person, he didn't want to hurt her, but he had to let her go, because this love he felt for Saoirse was stronger than he could understand and that meant that she really was his true wife. He couldn't have two, it wasn't his type of thing to do. 

Gods and demigods sometimes had two wives or even many many of them, Loki had married a couple of different times, but Sirius just wanted Saoirse. 

"Tomorrow, once we defeat the Alpha, I'll go get her, and I'll unmark her so she can be free." He whispered. 

This was the real reason he hadn't gone to her yet and introduced Saoirse to her. That was the conversation he didn't want to have. What if she cried? What if she got a broken heart? How could he make her cry? But it was the right decision to free her and he knew that. 

He turned off the water and dried off before dressing himself in his pajamas. Quietly he opened the bathroom door and saw Saoirse sleeping there. She was so beautiful. From the moment he laid eyes on her he couldn't believe that she chose to be with him. He wished he could remember his past and know how he had done it, how he had met her back then. He imagined it would have been a lovely day, instead of meeting her now in a situation of life and death. 

He smiled, laid down in Maeve's bed, and went to sleep.