Tethered to You (Alastor X OC)

Ch 31

Alastor's POV

Between Vox's words and seeing Seviathan so close to Ariel, I was in a rage. Why must life in hell be so...hellish?!

My loft reformed around us, and I was trying to get my anger to simmer down. Why was Seviathan even speaking to her in the first place?

And why was she smiling?

A new feeling boiled in my chest, my eyes narrowed as I glanced to the side down at her. Her hands gripped onto me timidly, and she kept her head down.

As soon as the room around us was solid, she released my arm and sighed, stretching her arms above her head.

"Man, what a party huh?" She said, and turned to me with a little smile. The irritation and annoyance from tonight's events were currently on my back burner, but for some reason looking at her was moving it to the front.

"Why..." I started, my voice rumbling through my chest, "were you talking to Seviathan?"

I know it's not her fault...I know being angry with her is not what I want, but in the moment it's easy to mix up my emotions. I've never felt this way before.

All I could think about is what Vox said...and it made me acutely aware of the fact that Ariel is desirable.

Something I never thought of before...is that she can be taken from me.

I looked up at her, her eyes widened. Her face looked unsure, and her expression was...scared.

I took a step towards her, and she just looked up at me. The red from the pentagram leaked in through my balcony window, and gave her a soft glow.

"He...he came up to me- I was waiting for—"

I growled and she stopped talking.

I took another step towards her, and this time she took one back. God I'm so angry. Why am I so angry?

What has gotten into me? I can't see straight.

Her eyes were wide, staring up at me. Her chest rose and fell evenly, and she shook her head.

"I was waiting for you...I didn't...I didn't know you two had bad blood..."

"You think this is about blood?" I seethed at her, causing her to flinch. I stepped forward, closing the space between us and causing her to back against the wall.

"This is about trust. Loyalty. This is about you speaking to another man who's intent was obvious from the start, this is about you!"

She shrunk away from me, trembling. I didn't even notice my eyes had gone demonic, or that my teeth had thinned.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and they were wide and terrified.

"I didn't know, Alastor, I didn't...I promise..." her voice was shaking, but I couldn't hear anything over the ringing in my ears.

Vox's words rang through my head.

You'll hurt her. Eventually you will.

A growl rumbled through my chest. I stared down at her trembling figure, and it wasn't until the first tear fell from her eye that the growl stopped.

It all stopped.

A cold feeling spread through my chest, a deep panic striking through my heart. I quickly fixed my appearance, blinking away the radio dials in my eyes. Regret and shame quickly followed the panic I was feeling.

In an instant I was knelt before her, my hands on her cheeks, brushing the tears away with my thumbs as they fell. What have I done?

Have I no shame?