A shrill ring erupted from the other side of the room.

The bite never came.

I placed my hand on Alec's chest, but he had already pulled back on his own. The darkness of pure coal rippled across his eyes as he sought mine. My heart dropped for a second at the sight, but I let the nerves fade away and furrowed my brows to question him. Maybe I just didn't feel it? I went to check my neck, but Alec stopped me, his hair slightly falling as he shook his head.

I lifted my palm to his cheek, and he leaned into it, his eyes falling closed. We seemed to share the same trepidation, but voicing so would invite a new level of dreaded complications. His eyes flickered between mine as he hovered over me. The phone continued to screech in the background.

"You should probably get that," I breathed out finally, just as the phone went silent.

It was an instant later that the ringtone broke the air, and Alec grunted, disappearing from above me to fish the object from his jacket pocket. I would have expected it to turn to dust from the fire in his glare. "Don't break it." I cautioned, somehow managing a playful tone.

He raised an eyebrow at me before answering the phone. "What." I rolled my eyes. Goodness, he was rude.

I took a deep breath, fully sitting up and bringing my hand to my neck. I traced three fingers across the smooth, undisturbed skin. Alec was at my side in an instant, cupping my hand away from my throat before leaning in, his lips barely brushing against my temple. The act made me swoon like a freaking schoolgirl.

There was a distinct shift in his demeanour as the person on the other line introduced new information, their voice deepening so that I could hear it without trying. I stilled to watch his expression harden and he pivoted sharply to pace the floor, dragging his hand through his hair. Without any prompting from me, he pulled the phone away from him.

"Stop," Alec demanded of the person, flashing back to me and standing beside the bed. I scooted closer as he placed the phone on the comforter. "From the beginning."

"That human your mate contacted is dead." John, Alec's former mentor and guy that tried to freak Alec out by putting an open flame under my palm. With Jane's story in my mind, I now knew why. How did he know I'd called my father's old accomplice? Alec seemed unsurprised by the news, which meant Aro had filled him in on all of my activities during my little running away excursion.

"Are you certain?"

John chuckled. "I'm looking at what's left of the poor bastard now." There was a bump from the other side of the phone and I cringed inwardly, trying to keep my imagination from picturing whatever it could have been. John was still giddy. "I doubt even Hades would take his soul after this."

Alec huffed impatiently, "and?"

"It's a goddamn bloodbath – his blood, that is. Whoever killed him definitely worked up an appetite 'cause the little girl and his missus had theirs sucked right outta their necks instead." I grimaced, the distasteful image hitting me too quickly to hide it from Alec. But I could almost see it. A little girl's bedroom, probably a favourite colour splashed across the walls and matching her bed. Stuffed animals in a corner. Maybe one grasped between her fingers when –

I was gonna be sick. First, my recklessness half-orphaned Victor Tima's son and daughter and made his wife a widow. Now, I'd led a monster to slaughter an entire family. Con men didn't have families, and somehow I had found a rare two that did and tore them apart. How could a simple phone call kill a man? Did he know something? Or was he just a victim of my selfishness, Mr. Tima, Travis, and now a man I could hardly remember the name of. I think it was James.

Alec was watching me carefully. "Less graphic, if you don't mind, John."

"Ah. Hello Princessa." I could picture his smug grin, blood thickening under the vampire's deceptively handsome features.

Alec warned, "get on."

"I am still looking for the man's stash. But I reckon the policia will be on their way soon." There was a crunch on the other side of the line and a grunt. "Ain't no way neighbors didn't hear the screams."

I bit, before I could realize he was baiting me, "how do we know you didn't just do it yourself?" Alec put a hand on the back of my neck, rubbing his thumb in small circles. The sparks from his touch calmed me. But only a little.

John ignored the accusation anyways as Alec prompted, "anything else?" I crossed my arms, Alec's hand falling from my body as I flopped back onto the bed and turned away. I hated this guy.

"Yeah. Those agents on your case," he started. There was some shuffling and a few scratches on the phone's connection before he spoke again. "They've been missing for a few months now."

"A few months!" My head whipped to Alec. Had it really been that long since we'd seen them?

His tongue ran along his bottom lip, creases appearing between his brows.

"Somebody wants your daddy to stay dead, sweetheart – found it."

A cracking sound was followed by a rumbling crash that I could only identify as stray rubble like a wall falling in on itself after the collapse of a building. A few beeps from John's side had me imagining a safe before the squeal of peeling metal interrupted his attempt. Guess he couldn't figure out the code. "Cash, identities. Nothing useful."

"Did you check his office?"

John barked sarcastically, "the human's a genius now." I'll take that as a yes. His tone shifted, "hang on. Boy."

Alec grit his teeth as he answered, "what?"

"Lose the attitude, kid." He waited, but Alec didn't snap back. But telling from how hard he was biting his cheek, he wanted to. "Isn't there a Jaspére painting in the portrait hall?" I pinned this new location in the back of my mind, ready to question how no one had thought to let me at least glance in such a room. I was almost offended, but now was not the time.

Alec managed a coarse, "why?"

"I'll wait." Alec couldn't have been gone more than ten seconds before he was gripping the phone again and pacing his room, leaving it on speaker as I climbed to hang my legs over the side of the bed. The phone had been replaced beside me with a painting the size of the Mona Lisa. I turned the frame carefully towards me as the two men tried to communicate.

The boy informed, "it is here."

As if he expected Alec to be lying, John scoffed, "then, this is some extraordinary replica I'm looking at." I tried to bite my tongue, but a mute gasp passed over my tongue.

"Alec." He held up a finger with an apologetic look that lasted for the brief moment he made eye contact with me.

"Speak plainly," Alec demanded.

"It's mine." I interrupted. Against my better instincts, I trailed a finger over the centre of the canvas before dipping my nails into the thick paint to scratch it away. Alec's eyes widened, horrified by my actions and he gripped my hand away from the art. I snatched it back. It was good to know he appreciated these things as much as I did. Even if he couldn't spot a forgery when he saw one. "Look."

You could just barely make out a small circle underneath the paint, enough to tell there was a definite mark, a delicate circle outlining a few loopy letters etched into the fabric, hidden from a backward view as it was printed on the wooden slate. My calling card.

Alec raised the phone back to his ear, the fact that he hadn't turned the speakerphone off didn't seem to matter. "Examine the painting," he ordered but from the sound of it, John already was.

"Gently!" I urged, jumping up. The art appreciation side of me not finding any excuse for destroying the original.

There was silence on the other line and Alec squeezed my hand. I hadn't realized I was gripping his for dear life – or rather, for the painting's life.

I clutched Alec's arm, both of us staring at the phone with growing distress.

"Tell your Masters their time is up," John mumbled ominously. Then slowly, barely verbal, "there are words here: cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war."

The next few hours were a blur. Alec was seething but he never let me out of his sight, first bringing me with him to the throne room to discuss the threat John had relayed to us with the Kings. At least, I think that's what they were talking about. I was in a daze, trying to process everything we'd been told and the implications aligned. My distraction was hardly a nuisance, except when on our way to Alec's meeting he opted for carrying me after I'd tripped over my own feet.

Either way, I was now sitting on a couch that sunk way too deep, my knees tight to my chest as I stared forward at an empty table. Empty except for Alec's task force, who sat in an intense discussion around it. Demetri, Felix, and Jane had joined this session, Prosper now seated on Jane's other side. Alec stood behind the chair at the head of the table, his forearms resting on the back as he listened to the others and their debatably polite arguments.

The collar of his velvet frock coat was flipped up around his neck. It ended below the cut of his jaw, still slightly rounded by boyhood but sharpened by his high cheekbones. The shadows of the room darkened his eyes and hid behind his bangs, which had been swept to the side by the constant running of his fingers through his hair. His eyebrows were furrowed with such intensity that the deep set lines extended above his thick brows with dark ruby eyes narrowed into the table. His full lips remained in their natural pout, thinned only by the drag of his tongue across his lower lip.

The cutout in his high collar shirt revealed his Adam's apple, which bobbed up and down as he swallowed, and the Volturi crest hung proudly around his neck. I glanced up to see his eyes already on me, not daring to break the impassive soldiering expression he dawned in his position of power. But I felt the pull as well. I pushed myself to my feet and crossed behind the vampires. Not even Dorian acknowledged me.

Alec rolled his chair back enough for me to sit, pushing it back in once I had. Sitting at the head of the table was an odd sensation, but I seemed to be the only one to notice it. Only one or two pairs of eyes flickered to acknowledge me, a small smile following before they refocused. However, my presence seemed to bring about the one topic I'd been avoiding in these last several hours.

"And what does Saffiya's father have to do with any of this?"

There was a break in the conversation as all heads turned to Alec. "I am sending Prosper to assist John in identifying any possible connections."

"So, in other words, we have no idea." Jane turned a glare on Dorian, whose attitude was practically begging for her gift. She held back, however. Alec had made it clear that he wanted a team, and that meant they couldn't be afraid to disagree with him. When appropriate. As if fear wasn't his favourite way to get things done.

However, neither twin needed to make a move, as Hamzah slapped his hands down on the table and leaned across it. "Hey Dorian, you tried to eat the boss's mate. Maybe he'll move past it if you offer something useful instead of just being a prick, yeah?"

Dorian's face turned furious and he went to stand when Percy's hand landed on his shoulder. He sunk back in his chair, dark eyes fixed on the smug brown skinned male across from him.

"Hamzah." Alec growled harmlessly once they'd settled. Hamzah defended him and shamed the Albanian man for attacking me all at once. If he wasn't before, he was definitely on Alec's good side, despite the dramatics. I tried to hide the snicker on my lips as said guy, older than twenty but as mature as a twelve-year-old, rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. If he could blush, he'd be red as a tomato.

"Maliq." We'd moved on. "You're to handle Isander in the meantime. This takes precedence." Who?

A malicious grin grew on Maliq's face as naturally as sandpaper. "What's a few more weeks in the cells?" The rhetorical question had Alec nodding, but he neither praised nor condemned the response.

Prosper stepped in to assist, "those without an assignment need to reach out to the reserve guard, per the Kings' orders."

Amaya leaned forward, her red hair pulled back into a loose braid. "And if they are not willing?"

"Remind them that prey is simpler to catch when it remains oblivious to the pursuit."

Jane's cold tone left an uncomfortable cloud over the room and the occupants were clearly itching to escape the threat of a new world order. Alec decided his sister's words were a suitable closure.

"Dismissed."

None of the lower guards stuck around this time, including Jane, who left with a sharp look towards her brother. She'd faked it under the eyes of the other guards, but their reconciliation would have to take a backseat to the matter at hand. Felix and Demetri either didn't notice or took care not to.

Demetri nudged me, "you okay, kiddo?"

I smiled softly, hoping to get away with the false display. His frown showed I hadn't fooled him, but before either of them could push, Demetri glanced behind me.

"We'll give you two a minute."

As soon as the door closed, I was on my feet. Alec was already by my side, catching me as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He returned the gesture, sending lightning through my spine and not letting me go too far when I broke the embrace.

I rested my hands on his chest, closing the distance between us as I fiddled with the button on his tunic. I think the emotions of the last few hours had weighed us down, leaving us to act even more on instinct than before. The nerves still fluttered in my stomach, stunned that I'd just hugged him so outwardly and he hadn't even hesitated to bring me in closer.

"What happens now?" I asked.

His fingers ran along my sides absentmindedly, just as restless as me. "Now, we know Razin's Resistance lacks the requisite strength to engage us directly."

"As in attack Volterra?" He nodded. The very idea was improbable, yet it had been Zafir's earliest threat. His claim that Razin would stand on the Volturi's ashes in the throne room was perceived as a nuisance until we began to connect the dots, Elizabeth's kidnapping, and the attack on the train. My voice dropped to a near whisper as I breathed out, "how do you figure that?"

Alec tilted his head side to side before answering. "If he believed his newborn army could prevail against us on our own territory, he would not have orchestrated such an elaborate production," Alec shared. "Instead, he attempts to intimidate us into submission." By murdering innocent humans in a, and I quote, 'bloodbath'. The Volturi hardly managed to care about my human life. Why would Razin think this attack would make the Volturi fear him enough to step aside? It was ludicrous – unless we'd given him more credit than he deserved.

"It may suggest that targeting you and me is no longer Razin's main priority." Or he was just waiting for us to come out in the open, which was what Alec had always feared. "Though I suspect it never was."

I closed my eyes, leaning my chin on his chest. "You think it's because we've been secluded inside the castle. Don't you?"

He hesitated, his lack of conviction surprising me as his arm tightened around my waist. "It is possible that Vladimir's failure to secure our capture or death may have been a deterrent to pursuing us further. Razin knew he could no longer catch us unaware." I refrained from commenting back. We'd known this since the Cullens, which was apparently months ago. I prodded for actual information rather than his processing.

"Then why me? Why my father? What –" My voice cracked and my hands pulled the fabric of his shirt as they tightened into fists. He tried to avoid the questions or rather the answers, but that was pretty hard when he refused to release me either. "I know you," I practically pleaded with him. "I know you have a theory."

Alec shook his head at himself before risking a glance at me. He gave in, clarifying, "I have observations. Nothing concrete." Same difference.

I pushed, "Well?" He pursed his lips.

"We…" he corrected himself, "the Volturi has no weakness." I waited, shrugging my shoulders expectantly. "But you do."

I pushed away from him at the half-realization, stepping back again when he tried to follow me. I already knew that Alec's enemies would target me simply because of my title in his life. It was why the Kings tried, and were still trying to keep my existence a secret. But between Huda and her two coven members, the Cullens, and now John…it was only a matter of time until Razin was not the only threat. But even that didn't bother me as much as what Alec was implying now.

I swallowed and timidly acknowledged, "And I'm yours."

Of course, I was his weakness. That had been established as Razin's reasoning for going after me. But for Alec to be weak could mean the downfall of the entire coven. That had only become clearer to me the more familiar I became with their coven's inner workings. Alec, then Jane, and fear of the unknown. It didn't matter if I was human or not, I still had connections to the outside world, even if they were minor. And I wasn't strong enough to let go. The pressure was building, and I was unable to weigh the murder of three strangers with less importance than the more relevant matters at hand.

His steel exterior softened a bit as he tried again to get close to me. When I didn't stop him, he gently coaxed me in by my waist and lowered his forehead to mine. His touch set off sparks throughout my skin as he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear to regain my attention.

"I would give everything to keep you safe." Admitting both the truth and the danger with one sentence.

That's what I was afraid of.

"You were already pulling away," I mumbled. "Before John's call." I could see him struggling not to retreat now as I brought up the fact that he'd been mere milliseconds from turning me into one of them mere hours ago in his room. Turning me, or ending my life. I couldn't believe this thought; but thank the gods for John's timing. We dodged a bullet. And from the look on Alec's face, he agreed.

"Aye, I was."

"Why?"

Alec lowered himself into the chair at the head of the table, taking my hands in his as he searched for his rationale. "It is as you said. Aro is my creator. I must trust him." He paused before patiently returning the question, "I noticed you did the same."

I sucked in a sharp breath, but Alec's thumb caressed the inside of my palm. My shoulders fell as I talked it out, somewhat mumbling, "I believe the Kings have a more objective view than us. And they want what's best for you."

"You are what is best for me."

I rolled my eyes, making Alec dig his fingers into my sides to send a burst of laughter through me. I shrieked, squirming through giggles to try and get away. He let me escape, but his hands captured my hips a second later, bringing me onto his lap. My calves settled on either side of him, mimicking our position from this morning.

Only this was different. The energy in the room was charged, static. My laughter caught in my throat as I realized just how close we were. Our chests nearly touching, with his face inches from mine. God, how do I breathe again?

Alec chuckled at my alarm, brushing my hair off my forehead and continuing to run his fingers through my hair. They caught in a tangle, incidentally tugging on the section above the nape of my neck. The butterflies found their way to my chest and my lips parted with a short breath as Alec accidentally tilted my head up as his hand fell.

His fingers pressed into my thighs, the ghost of an apology on his lips. He froze when my eyes met his, the red swirling to a deep burgundy. Alec's hand found my chin, his index fingers swiping up and across my parted lips.

"My beautiful, Saffiya," he murmured lowly.

I couldn't tell you what made me do it. Sure, it was stupid. Poor timing considering everything going on. But none of that stopped me from relinquishing control, and connecting my lips with his.

Alec pulled away almost immediately, his expression the epitome of shock. I froze, gasping as regret and doubt hit me like a thunderstorm. I scrambled off of him, backing up into the table.

"I'm sorry!" I blurted out, "I just –"

Alec silenced me with his mouth on mine, stealing my words and my sanity in one fell swoop.

~•~•~•~

A/N: The cliffhanger wasn't intentional (sort of) so I hope this chapter makes up for any distress - like sitting and processing five minutes in front of your computer after reading ;)

If anyone is disappointed he didn't end up turning her, I know, I'm sorry! To help, just a reminder that I am still debating ending the entire series when and if that does happen. Not by choice, but depending on life changes I would just feel awful keeping you guys waiting for an indeterminate amount of time for a new post. But it's not over yet!

Next chapter is in progress. Thank you to everyone for reading!

Also, fixing the link in my bio best I can - thank you Guest for letting me know! Hopefully. The wiki's site is:

heartbeat-series on Fandom Wiki

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