Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

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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.