Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Restraint

"Best not to damage the human, brother."

Alec pulled his wrist back from her grip, a reluctant glare matching his sister's as they stared each other down. He was the first to back off.

"Sister," he acknowledged her.

Why had she returned? Not that I was complaining.

As if to answer my question, she stated, "Aro wishes to see her." They both stood in front of me, neither one seeming to want to leave me alone with the other. Then Jane cautioned forcefully, "you need to feed."

The dark smoke had indeed returned to fill his irises. Realization spread across his face and he angled his head away from me. Coal black hair fell across the side of his face, fully blocking my view of him.

"I'm fine." His chest stopped moving in response to the deep intakes of breath he'd been using before Jane's arrival. He stepped away, turning his back on me completely. "Get her away from me." Something shoved against my chest in response to his sentence, as if the words themselves wanted to further elucidate how little he wanted to do with me. To be honest, even if it wasn't exactly news, it hurt my feelings and I think it showed on my face because Jane interrupted my moment of self pity.

"Come." She indicated that I follow her and I did, but I couldn't stop glancing back to Alec every few steps.

Everything had happened so quickly. Every little thing I did seemed to infuriate him to the point of losing control. The part of me that should've pointed this out and stopped me from egging him on was nowhere to be found during any interaction we had. It was simply him, me, and a lack of self-control from either of us.

Yet the anger and fear that had been recklessly in charge of the wheel only moments ago, had vanished. In fact, the remnants of the overwhelming emotions seemed to fade the further I got from him. Alec seemed to be the fuel to a fire that I didn't even know existed in me. It made me feel alive, and if I could learn to control it -

In one instant, he looked back at me.

"Saffiya." Jane's voice pulled me away. I had stopped in the middle of the hallway and she was watching me with an almost pitying expression, but she pressed on. "Aro is expecting us."

I glanced back again, but he was gone.

As I fell into step with Jane, the silence we so often found ourselves enjoying together settled in between us. And as usual, I was the first to break it. "Jane, about earlier..." She lazily raised her head to acknowledge my words, so I continued. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to anger you. I was just...curiosity killed the cat, I suppose..." I rubbed my arm, the apology escaping me without forethought.

There was no response from her for a second and I worried that I'd damaged whatever form of association we had with each other. "But satisfaction brought it back." She was wearing a disarming smile and I released a small breath in relief.

With nothing else to say, our silence returned. It was short-lived, however, as we turned a corner to a single short hallway. A pair of double doors settled, almost hidden, in the cubby of the hallway. I took a step forward, but was interrupted as Jane held out her arm in front of me.

It was her turn to interrupt the quiet. "He wouldn't have done it."

"Huh?" She rolled her eyes and I wondered if she was more annoyed with me or her brother for the start to the morning. Though there was a softness in her tone as she continued, similar to the one with which she spoke to her twin.

"Alec would never lay a hand on you."

Sarcastically, I chimed, "you sure about that?" The immediateness of her response stung.