DESCENT

XV - Of sweetness and bitterness

ALASTOR NYX:

Had Alistair not returned, Alastor would have been physically dragged by Sean (or worse, summoned by the Elders–) to return to the North as soon as possible with his mate or not.

Even though he would have very much preferred to return home with his mate by his side... thankfully, it didn't have to come to that because his twin—the rightful alpha of the Northern pack is back—and according to snippets of Harry's screeching in the background, Alistair was alright aside from a few 'helluva healing scrapes and bruises that should heal ASAP.'

But more importantly, Alistair Nyx was the one calling the shots again... as it should have been all these years ago.

Which means Alastor can peacefully go back in his comfort zone, back to being spare and the next-in-line again... and hopefully the third or fourth once his brother finds his mate and quickly have a lot of nieces and nephews Alastor can spoil–hahahahah, oh yes!

Sign him up for that.

And after one lengthy phone call that spanned hours after much screaming and crying on both sides not that they'd ever admit it out loud because bro, what the hell? Where the fuck were you?!, Alistair had finally managed to rope Alastor into promising all that Alistair wanted to know about his 'future sister-in-law' in person because Alistair and Harry will be, ahem, escaping Sean by going to a club not far from where Alastor's hotel was to meet him and in Harry, words:

"–TO GET DRUNK AND HIGH AS HELL! Oh, and with a bunch of pretty girls around us to turn your mate into a jellybean!"

The twins ignored him.

While Alastor was pleased, worried but pleased nonetheless to finally see his long, lost twin brother after so long... there still is one teeny, tiny problem. Just this afternoon, an unknown number had messaged him in Morse:

Selena's at 8.

Alastor just knew it was William, no matter how badly he wished it was Winters. For a moment, he toyed with the idea if she texts in Morse too.

Does she know how to speak Morse?

He didn't mind teaching her if she doesn't, but it would be really cool for them to communicate in code. It could be their own thing–

Ahem, getting off topic here.

On one hand, Alastor had nearly melted in sweeet relief that William was coming around and granting him a chance despite their bad start—even giving him the green light to 'date' his sister; on the other hand, if only Winters would be the one to text him, life would be absolutely great right now. But hey, he already has his twin brother back, no need to get greedy...

Alastor winced, typing, and then deleting his response, re-typing at least a hundred more see you there or sorry family emergency but still not daring to hit send.

He wanted to.

Alastor really wanted to go more than anything else but Winters–

Wait, no.

His mate was not the problem.

From the get-go, it had been him.

Alastor had acted like a horny, jerk of a teen and forcefully kissed Winters even when she made it clear she wasn't interested—he had scared her off right from the start too, even causing her to have some sort of panic attack in the middle of a moment he had been sure they were having just because he wouldn't take no for an answer, and no amount of helping or rescuing them from any Cyclopes or vampires will wipe the slate clean.