Chapter 130: Bite Marks and Bracelets

Reluctantly, Sophie logged out, erased the browser history, and pressed the shutdown button.

The monitor went dark.

The power quietly died.

It was as though nothing had ever happened.

When she had finished everything, Sophie slumped back into the chair, her eyes unfocused as she stared blankly at the ceiling. She stopped caring about the passage of time and simply let her mind drift in silence. She wanted to wait until she had gathered enough strength to face the Volturi again, compose herself, and return to the wedding.

It felt as though she had been sitting there forever.

Or perhaps only a minute or two had passed.

Maybe the ceremony had already ended.

Or perhaps...

Click.

The lock shifted.

Sophie jerked upright.

Someone outside had just twisted the doorknob clean off.

A heartbeat later came a deafening BANG! as the intruder shoved the walnut door inward with brute force.

Jane's petite figure appeared squarely in the doorway.

The twins really do open doors the exact same way, Sophie thought instinctively. How much does Aro spend every year replacing broken doors?

Jane flashed across the room and immediately grabbed Sophie by both shoulders, her red eyes sweeping every corner with vigilant precision.

The machine in front of Sophie still radiated an unnatural warmth.

Everything else appeared perfectly ordinary.

After confirming there was no one else inside, Jane finally spoke. Her voice was flat and unreadable, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

"Why did you come here? Alec said you were in the storage room."

Jane had slammed the door open with enough force that Sophie had expected another furious outburst like the night Jane caught her assisting Marcus.

Instead...

There was no accusation in her tone.

She merely stated the facts.

"I came to look for a ribbon..." Sophie reached toward the table, picked up the two jasmine bracelets, and held them out proudly as though presenting a treasure. "I made matching bracelets. One for each of us. Though if you really like them... you can have both."

Jane's expression softened immediately.

The hands gripping Sophie' shoulders gradually relaxed.

She still wondered why Sophie had been somewhere different from where Alec had said she'd be.

She also wondered why Sophie made no mention whatsoever of the computer that had clearly ...been running moments ago. But Sophie showed neither panic nor guilt, because she hadn't lied. She really had come looking for ribbon.

Jane chose to indulge her little secret. Still, she wasn't entirely willing to let Sophie escape so easily. That would make it seem as though she had no standards at all.

So Jane resorted to an astonishingly childish form of retaliation.

"Mmph... mmph... hey!"

Grabbing both of Sophie' cheeks, Jane stretched them outward into an absurd face, leaving Sophie protesting through garbled noises while trying to pull away. Yet before long, Jane herself failed to hold back and burst into laughter, covering her mouth as a delighted chuckle escaped. "I love them," she declared happily. "I'm keeping both."

Sophie quickly pried Jane's mischievous hands away from her face and finally regained her freedom. Laughing helplessly, she generously offered both jasmine bracelets.

Instead of taking them, however, Jane simply held out both hands side by side. Her meaning was unmistakable. She wanted Sophie to put them on for her.

The loose black sleeve slipped down Jane's forearm, exposing the extravagant bracelet already wrapped around her wrist. Diamonds and emeralds shimmered brilliantly, and against such priceless jewels, the jasmine blossoms and lace ribbon suddenly looked painfully cheap.

Sophie immediately lost her confidence. "Maybe..." she suggested awkwardly. "Maybe it'd look better if you wore both on the same wrist."

"What are you worried about?"

Following Sophie' gaze, Jane immediately discovered the source of her hesitation. Without the slightest pause, she unclasped the priceless jeweled bracelet and removed it.

The skin beneath it was finally exposed. There, a scar remained, its outline faint but unmistakable.

It was shaped exactly like a set of human bite marks.

Ignoring the strange look in Sophie' eyes, Jane urged impatiently, "Hurry up and put it on."

Those bite marks...

For some inexplicable reason, they looked strangely familiar. A dull ache pulsed inside Sophie' head as a fragment of memory flashed across her mind, then vanished before she could grasp it.

Were those wounds left by a werewolf? No... that can't be right.

Jane had already been wearing that jeweled bracelet before departing for Morocco. There was no way a werewolf could have bitten her while somehow leaving the bracelet untouched.

Growing impatient with Sophie' hesitation, Jane simply snatched one bracelet herself and slipped it onto her wrist. Then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, she extended her other empty hand once more. "Put the other one on me."

Still dazed, Sophie obediently did as she was told. The pale green ribbon and snowy white jasmine replaced glittering gemstones, gently concealing the ugly scar that crossed Jane's delicate wrist.

"Caius said your injury had already healed." Sophie subtly pointed toward the bite marks.

"Mhm. It healed."

Jane deliberately answered the wrong question, smoothly brushing aside what Sophie had truly meant. Instead, she casually weighed the expensive jeweled bracelet now resting in her palm before lifting it in front of Sophie. "Do you like it?"

By now, Sophie had begun to understand Jane's personality rather well. If she so much as nodded, Jane would probably do exactly what she had done with the apartment.

She would simply give it away.

There was absolutely no way Sophie could nod. Deliberately avoiding Jane's eyes, Sophie lowered her gaze with almost exaggerated restraint. "It looks much better on your wrist."

Every tiny movement, every carefully concealed thought, was completely transparent. Jane's smile never changed as she simply watched Sophie trying so earnestly to hide her intentions.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Jane lifted the hand resting on Sophie' lap. Then, before Sophie even realized what was happening, she fastened the jeweled bracelet around Sophie' wrist.

"As your reward," Jane said with perfect satisfaction, "you'll be keeping this bracelet for me from now on."

The entire motion flowed so naturally that Sophie never found a single opportunity to refuse.