This is my kingdom come

Alastor heard paws entering the den, but he did not turn to greet whoever had come home. He was drowning in his thoughts and his emotional turbulence, drinking swallow after swallow of high proof liquor until he felt the burn melt away the anger and pain and upset. Manea's voice cut through the silence. So it was his wife who had come home. Alastor didn't turn to address her. She spoke his name again and asked what was wrong. Again he did not respond. How could he? What would he tell her? He didn't want to speak the painful truth, let alone think about it. A large paw rested on his shoulder, urging him gently to turn around. That was when he finally relented, turning his head but not his body to regard his mate with a blank expression, but deep in his black eyes a violent and painful storm raged.

After looking at Manea for a long moment, Alastor lifted the bottle of bourbon back to his lips and swallowed again. He wasn't drunk yet, but he was starting to feel the punch of the alcohol in his brain. He could still remember though. He could still remember and he desperately did not want to. The bottle that had been full was now half empty. Alastor set the bottle down with a hard clink of glass on stone and turned his face away from Manea. Ashamed? Maybe. Protecting her from what he had inadvertently done with Relm? Also possible. "Relm was pregnant," he muttered under his breath, gemstone claws scratching restlessly at the stone floor of their den. "She just had a miscarriage. Irilyth's looking after her."

"Alastor Mendacium"