Ten Thousand Ways To Lose

Just as it was that Alastor could know how Relm was feeling almost instinctually, so too would she be able to see through him as if he were a pane of glass with his innermost thoughts and feelings suspended in its translucent surface. He worried over Relm, felt compelled to take care of her. He wanted to make sure she was fed, provided for, kept warm and loved, loved so deeply in ways that she had been robbed of in her lifetime. When he had buried his own sociopathic father alive, the demon brute had made a vow to never allow another pup to be mistreated the ways he and his siblings had been. Relm fit into that criteria like a perfectly fitted block. Though Alastor did not blame himself for the childhood struggles and traumas she had endured, he did take it upon himself to make sure her life never returned to such dark places. So when she thanked him and took the fish he offered her, a wave of relief settled his agitated nerves knowing that she was being cared for the way she deserved.

Watching her eat quietly for a few minutes, Alastor considered Relm. No, he didn't feel sorry for her. He simply understood her. He understood the pain and the isolation she had felt, what it felt like when it seemed the entire world was against you and you were all alone drifting in an endless sea. Empathy was not sympathy, and Alastor did not sympathize for the girl. But oh gods, did he want to keep her as his and give her the life she deserved, the happiness and love she deserved. Maybe Relm would never know the way Alastor felt about her. She was so far from nothing to him, but she was a divergent path, a split away from what he had built before her. On one path, the pink and ebony fae nestled in at his side, and on the other, his family that he had created from the ashes of nothingness. Right now, the roads did not collide, but they did come close to intersecting. If they stayed apart, he could give Relm all that she wanted and still lead his life with Manea and their children. But the moment they crossed...

Alastor kept his obsidian gaze upon Relm the entire time she ate, and when she finished and peered up at him for the briefest of moments, he felt that spark between them jolt back to life once more. Every time silver met onyx, he felt the electricity in the air. Relm wasn't the only one affected by the sensations their unorthodox relationship had created. He caught her eyes glancing down between them, then saw her paw move hesitantly over towards his. The dire brute didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second, turning his paw over to gently take hers in his, her soft and warm paw pads pressing tenderly to his own. The simple touch roused fire beneath his skin, the warmth pooling in his belly and spreading throughout every nerve and inch of skin.

While they held paws, Alastor shifted to scoot closer to Relm, not stopping until he felt the softness of her coat brushing against his and her warmth at his side. The last time they had been together, she had asked him not to say anything and he had failed spectacularly. This time, he would let his actions speak for him. Dipping his muzzle in closer to hers, Alastor would move in to gently run his tongue over the side of Relm's muzzle, grooming her and cleaning her of any remnants of fish meat—a tender show of affection that was wholly uncharacteristic for the giant wolf, save for the wolves he held closest to his blackened heart.

"Alastor"