Caught in Possession

Cat's Eyes

Author notes:

A 'cat's eye' or 'road stud' is a retroreflective safety device used in road marking - denoting lanes or the edge of the road, reflecting headlights during hours of darkness or foggy weather, etc.

The name Paithoon is unisex and means cat eyes (the animal).

I will also include a full list of character name meanings with the next chapter, in case anyone is interested, because they are always chosen for specific reasons...

Hope you enjoy!!

- Lore 🦋💕
~~

The retroreflective 'cat's eye' markers glinted and winked from the roadside as the chauffeur-driven black BMW slunk along the dual carriageway, silent and deserted at 2am on a Sunday morning.

Mew and Gulf were the passengers, the latter deep in drunken sleep against the former's shoulder, head rolling with every vehicular swerve, but Mew's hand crooked back over it to keep the younger secure.

Light snores were the only sound as he gazed out the window, pupils flickering horizontally, surveying the speeding, shadowy scenery that passed - the noises were almost akin to a feline purring, the elder man mused, although perhaps he just had cats on his mind.

The purring sound. The cat's eye road studs that flashed by as the car accelerated through the orange glow of street-lit London darkness. All of it pulled him back to Paithoon - didn't everything? The human 'cat's eye' of Mew's heart, both by name and nature.

He had promised, and he would fulfill that promise. Or die trying.

A sudden jerk and whimper of "No!" from the man beside him brought Mew back to the smooth, upholstered, stone grey leather of the car's interior. He frowned down at Gulf, eyes twitching beneath closed lids then, evidently immersed in an R.E.M stage of his sleep cycle. Yet it wasn't a peaceful dream, Mew suspected with an internal tug - as another soft whimper escaped Gulf's pursed lips. After all, he knew well himself, it was the theatre of nighttime in which demon actors came to play.

And he found he couldn't bear to hear that helpless, hopeless little noise. Adjusting his position, Mew pulled Gulf's head gently down to rest instead in his lap. The interruption to his cycle serving to divert his unconscious mind forwards towards the next dream, Mew calculated - smiling, crescent eyes wicked, when the sound Gulf emitted minutes later was something closer to a delicious, sensual moan.

"Fan dee na krab", he whispered down to the sleeping man, rubbing a thumb in delicate circles atop his soft cheek - until becoming startlingly aware of his unguarded action, and withdrawing his hand hastily, to rest it across Gulf's chest, latching him into place.

But when Mew turned back to press his forehead against the frosty condensation of the car window once again, the faintest flutterings of February snow drifting timeless descent from a somehow pale - even in deepest night - blanketing sky, it was no longer cat's eyes that prowled vision and mind.

It was two almonds, with a warmest, molten chocolate centre. Creases below and prettiest lashes above. Eyes that burned with bitter fury and hard challenge the first time he had encountered them, but were much changed when he held their gaze in the white marble bathroom just an hour earlier this night. He'd had the sensation that they were unlocking his own darker orbs.

That they - uniquely - had the key.

//

Gulf blinked heavy, bleary eyes open, wincing in photophobia as he confronted the daylight that slanted through unfamiliar blinds. It wasn't a bright light - not the glorious, dazzling sunshine of home - but the fact that it was daylight at all informed that the hour must be somewhere between 10am-3pm. That narrow window of light in a British winter.