Oblivion | Alec Volturi |

Part 0: 06

Annalise drew closer to the clearing and she swore that if her heart could still beat, it would be beating erratically in her chest. She could feel him and with every consecutive step she took to the clearing, it got stronger and stronger. The pull was unlike anything she had ever felt before, it was nothing like with her brothers. While there was a strong sibling bond between the three of them, one that they could feel each other with and concerning Theodore and Annalise, they could actually feel each other's pain sometimes, this bond - the mating bond - was a completely different entity that Annalise simply didn't know how approach. All she wanted to do was be with him and stay with him forever, and she felt that if she walked away, the agony would be unbearable. She couldn't fathom how she would feel when she finally met him face to face.

Her mind and heart were at utter war: her mind telling her to up and run because it knew that the moment they spoke to one another, the moment they touched one another, she wouldn't be able to leave; her heart, on the other hand, begged her to move faster, to run to her mate, her other half, begged her to never leave him, to stay with him forever. Honestly, Annalise was leaning more towards her heart than her mind even though she knew that she would rather dive headfirst into a blazing pyre than reside in Volterra with the Volturi.

She reached the edge of the clearing and she saw him. She saw him leaning against a tree, looking up at the flurries drifting down from the sky. She watched him for a moment, admiring her mate before she took a step into the clearing, making herself known. Alec immediately turned towards her, so quickly that his hair fell slightly into his eyes and he had to move it out of his face and he just stared at her, his lips barely parted, his expression of half-admiration, half-shock.

"I..." he began and just that one word made Annalise come to the realization that she never, ever wanted him to stop talking because his voice was heaven. "I don't know what to say," he admitted, "I've spent so long thinking of the moment that I'd finally find you, I'd play out conversations in my head to prepare myself for this but... now that I've finally met you, I don't even know where to begin. I have so much I want to say."

Annalise didn't speak for a moment, not sure of what to say before she confessed, "And conversely," she said lightly, "I'm at a complete loss for words. My brother - Theo, that is, - and I toyed with the idea that we didn't even have mates because we had each other and that was simple enough for us. Now... now I've met you."

Alec laughed softly, "And I, you," he said and took half a step forward before pausing, unsure of if he should come closer or not. "May I...?" he trailed off, looked at her cautiously - hopefully.

Annalise watched him briefly before nodding once and then he was in front of her, less than half a foot away, his hand hovering in the air next to her cheek. Annalise noticed that his hand was ever so slightly trembling, as if he couldn't believe this were real - as if he were afraid the moment he touched her, she would disappear.

In a split second decision, Annalise took his hand in hers and pressed it against her cheek. At once, Alec let out a breath and Annalise wasn't sure if it were a breath of relief that she wasn't a hallucination or breath of shock assuming he felt the same jarring jolt that she did as soon as their skins touched. Annalise unconsciously leaned her face into his touch and Alec took a small step forward, taking his other hand to hold her own hand lightly as he gently ran his fingers along her cheekbone and down the side of her face, tracing every detail he could find.

The emotion she felt was unlike anything she had experienced before. Annalise had had lovers before, naturally. She had had people touch her intimately but none had ever given her this feeling of security, of unadulterated, unconditional love. "I've waited twelve hundred years for this," he murmured, more to himself than to her, "It was worth it, you were worth it."