I Remember Your Face

Seraphina continued to impress him by now retreating as soon as she could from him. It would have been just as easy for her to pull her paw back, pretend nothing had happened, but the smaller lady stayed her course, steeled herself against the nerves he knew must have been raging in the more primal part of her brain. She had learned a lot of self-control in the time since he'd last seen her, he realized. The smile that Alastor wore was a much more genuine one than he usually did.

Alastor never would have called himself a support system for anyone until he met Seraphina, and even that hadn't been intentional. Something about the younger, smaller wolf appealed to him, some part of his brain or heart that had gone untouched for most of his life. Maybe it was the way he related to her, empathized from his own traumatic upbringing. Misery loves company, after all...

Sera rose and grabbed a single fur to drape over herself as shielding against the frigid air, then joined him outside without a parting glance to any of the miscellaneous supplies and trinkets she'd gathered on her own. She offered to let him take any of the furs, and Alastor was happy to oblige, gathering a couple of choice pelts so he could help make her a more comfortable and spacious bedding when they arrived back home. Sera's words of thanks caught Alastor by surprise. No one had ever thanked him before. It wasn't a gesture he knew how to process. A crooked smile that showed only the faintest glimpse of teeth rose on his lips, strangely soft and nonthreatening for a wolf of his size and demeanor.

"Being unique is not always a good thing in this world, my darling Seraphina. But in this case, thank you for the compliment." He motioned with a nod for Sera to follow him, starting his path back along the Rio Grande bound for the northeast and for home. "So, before I end up upside-down again or impaled by spikes, where exactly did you lay these traps of yours?" he asked with an amused snicker.


"Alastor"