Alec pressed his lips gently against mine. He moved his hands from my face down to grip my hips. My own hands felt awkward just leaving them by my sides, so I rested them on his chest because there was no room to put them anywhere else. If someone told me Alec would be kissing me in the woods, I would have laughed at them. Now, I was too shocked to even think of laughing.

It was short, maybe five seconds at the most, but it was still a sweet gesture. Alec's face never did move far away from mine, even after he pulled away. He was probably just as surprised as I was. We stood there, with Alec's hands on my waist, longer than the actual kiss lasted. To be honest, I didn't feel like moving away.

There was no butterflies in my stomach, nor did my heart start fluttering. Alec's face remained passive, and I wasn't a mind reader, so I couldn't tell what he was feeling. Though, I didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Alec enjoyed the kiss more than I did. I didn't feel like I was in love or I was blissfully happy. I felt like plain old Annika.

I've never had experience with boys before so I had no idea what to do next. Should I just stand here and stare back at him? Push him away? Say something? What would I say? I went with the first choice, just stand there and stare back at him. It seemed like Alec didn't know what to do either.

"Um, I'm sorry." Alec broke the silence.

"No, it's okay. I didn't mind," I responded. He nodded and let go of my waist after I let my hands drop from his chest. "Sooo...yeah." Yes, I am a woman of many words. Alec looked extremely embarrassed right now. I have to admit, this wasn't exactly the most comfortable conversation ever. Letting Felix do my laundry, with my underwear included, was less awkward. Everyone knows how Felix is when he gets his hands on a bra.

"Good work," Alec said, unsure.

"Yeah, you too." We both knew this wasn't going to get anywhere, so I finally just ended it before Alec could make himself look stupid. Oh, wait. I guess it's too late for that. "Let's keep walking."

Alec and I walked side by side in silence, and this time I didn't complain about going slow. Mostly because I was very distracted at the moment and had to focus on keeping my eyes staring forward instead of looking at Alec. That wasn't very easy because out of the corner of my eye I could see him glance at me occasionally.

I would consider us friends, in a way. We both most certainly trust each other more than we did a month ago. Yeah, a month ago I left Volterra, and yet here I am. In the middle of the woods alone with Alec. We should have been in Romania by now, but I think staying in the village and Alec's procrastinating postponed that.

A month ago if you asked what I thought of Alec, I would called him a vile person. Now, I don't even know what I think of him. One thing I don't want Alec to think of me is a lover. Sadly for Alec, I will never love him that way. Yes, I've already made a decision. Though, if I reject him, I'll feel terrible so maybe I shouldn't even be friends with him. Maybe, when we return home to Aro and survive the day after, I'll just isolate myself from him. Sounds easy enough, but I don't think it will be for me.

To be fair, and to reduce the amount of guilt I will feel, I won't be any romantic relationship for the rest of my existence.

There was a sudden boom that shook the sky. I looked up only to have a rain drop fall onto my cheek. Gradually, it started to pour, and that meant Alec wanted to stop again. He didn't even have to say anything and I knew what he wanted to do.

Sure enough, he stopped in his tracks and waited for me to stop as well. Sighing softly, I turned to face him. Today, Alec's eyes were a dark burgundy, and personally I loved that color. He looked so lonely at that moment, I almost wanted to kiss him again. Almost, of course.

"Did you want to stop?" I asked and he nodded. Alec reached up and grasped a low branch, heaving himself up. Sitting in trees didn't provide much cover from rain. We both still got soaking wet, but it didn't really matter at this point. Getting clean was worthless because the next day, Alec and I would be just as filthy if not dirtier.

I also have been wondering what country we were in now. We couldn't be in Italy anymore, it isn't that wide of a country. Every step I take forward, is one step farther away from home I have been. I'm betting Alec and I were somewhere along the edge of Austria. I wish I could actually see more of the country than hiding in the woods because I'm afraid of being caught in the sunlight.

Thinking about what country I'm in is used more as an excuse to keep my mind off of other things. Just like every other random topic I ramble about.

Out of curiosity, I glanced over at Alec. He was up on a high branch, with his eyes closed and his head leaned up against a different branch. Alec looked peaceful just sitting there. Almost like he was sleeping. The lines across his forehead that he got when he was stressed were gone and he was taking deep calming breaths, even though he didn't need to breathe.

I hopped up to sit on the branch slightly above his. Alec's hair was sticky to his face from becoming wet. Hesitantly, I reached out to brush it off his face, like he had done with my hair so many times before. I made it spike straight up and it made me laugh a little because it looked strange. Alec opened his eyes to stare back up at me and slicked his hair back from his forehead.

Alec smiled at me in a friendly way and sat up. That's when I felt my heart flutter.

My own smile was wiped from my face and I backed away from him. I didn't want to love him, ever, and especially not now. Of all the moments in the world, now was the worst time to start loving him.

Alec looked confused when I start to back away from him, dropping to lower branches.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked. Why does this have to happen to me?

"Oh, no. You're fine. I just...don't like that particular branch I was sitting on," I said. Alec looked over at the branch where I was perched before then turned back to me.

"What's wrong with it? Looks fine to me," Alec remarked. He jumped down to lower branches, only making me feel like I needed to drop also, to create more space between us.

"It's not at the right angle for me." It was a dumb response and we both knew it. I dropped out of the tree and sat by the base. Of course Alec had to sit down right next to me. I didn't want him to, I wanted him to go away. I wanted to go home to Volterra. Alec's eyes were staring at me intently and I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

Alec seemed to notice this because he looked confused again. I probably looked distressed. There was a great blaze of lightning with thundering rolling after it. I turned my head quickly in the direction of the light then back to face Alec. I hated it when Alec could sense there was something wrong. Unfortunately for me, I didn't even know what was wrong with me.

"Are you sure I didn't do anything?" Alec questioned and I shook my head slowly to answer. "Okay, then." He still didn't look convinced, but he truly didn't do anything. It was just me and my own problems.

His eyes were soft and opening. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me again because he scooted closer to me, and that was one of the last things I wanted him to do. Instead, Alec wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my body closer to his. I still wasn't comfortable with this position, but I didn't bother fighting with him. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder and I felt his cheek press against the top of my head.

Eventually, the closeness didn't bother me and it turned into something quite comforting. Not for long, though, because the next moment Alec wasn't anywhere near me and he was in a protective crouch. Please, tell me someone isn't attacking us again. That fiasco with Demetri was enough for me for the next couple of weeks.

I stood up myself to scan the trees for an intruder. If it was someone else from the guard, that would be the last straw. I would run all the way back to Aro and smack him hard if it was.

With me and Alec, the expected never happened.

When Alec got out a few meters in front of me, I felt a vice grip pull me back to the ground. I didn't see who it was, and surprisingly Alec didn't notice I was in trouble, he was so focus in searching for the visitor somewhere in front of us. I wanted to scream and tell Alec he was looking in the wrong direction, the little idiot, but I couldn't make a sound. Not a peep.

This greatly worried me. I felt paralyzed and I knew it was over. I knew it was vampires carrying me off because there was no way any other creature would be strong enough to take me down. Besides a werewolf, but the most recent full moon was last week when Alec and I were in that little town.

I've never felt more helpless than right now. Being kidnapped was not on my list of things I wanted to do today. Then I could feel myself shoved into a bag. Yes, a bag. These kidnappers were definitely old school. I could hear the voices of my captives because I still had control over my senses even though I was paralyzed. Two males and a female.

"Knew Aro was going to send his two best guards after us," one of the males said. "Just make sure the girl doesn't smile at you, or you're in for a lot of pain." They thought I was Jane. Well that's just great.

"She shouldn't be smiling at all with May's power holding her," the other man responded.

"I really wish you two will shut up. And I don't understand why you're waiting so long. Aro isn't going to let his guard down, he never does," the woman cut in. I stopped listening to them after that. All three of them didn't sound pleasant or up to any good.

And away I was carried. Away from my task I had originally set out to do, away from hope, and away from my Alec.

I have brought shame to the Volturi Guard.

A/N: Thank you all very much for reviewing, faving, and alerting, as always, of course. And much thanks for all my readers who took the time to read this. I say "thank you" a lot, don't I? Ah, well. I'll update as soon as can.

Thanks (darn, I did it again) for reading!