DESCENT

III-Proserpina

ALASTOR NYX:

Finally, Harry aimed a kick to his back but Alastor, as though already sensing it, suddenly dodged out of the way, causing Harry to trip on his own two feet, gracelessly flailing his arms about as he fell face-first to the muddy ground with a high-pitched, indignant shriek.

"What the fuck, Al? What the hell's wrong with you?!" Harry demanded, wiping, and spitting out filth, "Aw, gross! That just got in my mouth..."

"I could ask you the same thing," Sean retorted, helping Alastor stand up, "...you just did try to kick our own alpha."

Between labored breaths, Alastor clumsily got on his own two feet and embarrassingly, with Sean's help, his legs trembling a bit as he ignored anything and everyone around him but the one simple fact that he just found his mate and she just freaking melted into the shadows.

Good news?

It answers one question: well, duh! —no wonder he never found his mate after all this time. Alastor's mate is not a werewolf or a normal human, after all... bad news? It brought out a lot more of headache inducing questions too such as: what was her name? Who was she? Where did she go? Why did she leave? How could she leave? Didn't she know?

But what is she?

She couldn't be a witch... the honorary daughters of Hecate aren't that aggressive to actually slay someone with too many witnesses no matter said transgressor's slight, he didn't even saw her being accompanied by the usual pet familiar either and witches are rarely left on their own unless they could handle themselves or are old grannies.

He couldn't be sure, though... maybe she's a hunter of the moon goddess, perhaps? Wait. No. No, Artemis, please no... because as much as the very idea greatly concerned him since hunters are sworn to maidenhood, Alastor reasoned out with himself that the hunters of Artemis travel as a large group and made it a point of staying away from werewolves, especially their affairs since their kind were treated as no less than beasts. Ugh, just thinking about the hunters made him feel a little annoyed.

Alastor had heard stories, had been told by Sean over and over again from his own experience what to expect upon meeting a mate for the first time, but never had Alastor imagined the intensity of his own reaction.

Never had he felt such a roller coaster of emotions being evoked by a single person who does personally nothing to him within a span of a minute.

It was spontaneous, frightening, maddening but above all, it was so enchanting—just find her damn it!—and he had never felt so cold, so alone when she turned away without so much as another glance and left him choking and breathless... quite literally.

"It... happened."

His friends immediately stopped their inane bickering, simultaneously turning to look at him with wide eyes.

They knew immediately what he spoke of.

Harry looked torn, a strange mix of proud and incredulous while Sean just looked plain horrified. How long had everyone in their pack been waiting for this moment?

"Wait. Wait a minute. You mean miss gloom and doom back there?" Harry suddenly asked, laughing as he stood up, spreading his muddy arms widely with a shit-eating grin, "Congrats, man! It's a match made in heaven!"

"You mean hell," Sean snapped, worriedly glancing where Alastor's mate is last spotted, looking like he expected her to pop back into existence.

Alastor wished she did.