Strings of Fate

60 - Couches and company | turn to Bellamy about to ask how he’s doing when he sweepsup into a hug, pulling met right off my feet.

“Thankyou so much. | thought | could handle her but then she started crying. Usually | don’t have a problem with dealing with people who get angry but it’s not like SHE did anything wrong and I just... got stuck.” | can feel him breathing into my hair as he placesback on my feet, holdingclose. | stay still a few moments until he releases me.

“Sorry if | overstepped. | just didn’t like seeing her yell at you. Also | was worried she would wake Megan, she’s finally asleep.” Bellamy shakes his head.

“You didn’t overstep. | know you aren't ready to be... well, all in yet. But helping with this kind of thing, emotional Shifters. That is what the Alpha female does. You are going to be so. good at this, | just know it.” | take a step back in shock.

“l...um. Didn’t mean to...this doesn’t mean.” | stammer out. Bellamy takes my hand and runs.

his thumb over the back of my hand soothingly.

“Don’t worry, | understand. I'm just saying you're better at this dealing with emotions stuff than you think you are, even if you do turn bright red every t| flirt with you.” He pauses. and winks at me, then sighs.

“This kind of thing is why the other Alphas are so obsessed withfinding a mate. This isn’t the first tI've folded to tears.” He shrugs and shuffles his feet awkwardly, running his free hand through his hair.

“But don’t worry about that, | promised not to pressure you and | meant it. I'm just trying to say | appreciate your help.” | give him a small smile.

“You're welcome. And | don’t mind hearing stuff like this. | don’t want you to bottle things up and deal with them all yourself. | want to help you where | can. | just need tto get used to... us?” Bellamy givesa bright smile.

“Thankyou, and | really do understand. | know being withcomes with a lot of 1/5 60 - Couches and company responsibilities that you haven't exactly signed up for. | just hope you don’t resentfor it too much.” | shake my head at him and ze his hand.

“I don’t resent you. | just don’t want to rush into anything. Now, you look like you could use a brownie.” | lead him to the kitchen and settle into a chair while he raids the brownies we left in the fridge. He glances at a clock and sighs.

“I have more work | should probably try and get done.”l can see he’s reluctant to leaveby myself. | hop to my feet and wave my phone in front of him.

“I was going to just keep playing on my phone, maybe watch a movie or read a book. Megan is sleeping so | don’t want to bother her. Is there somewhere | could sit quietly and hang out?” | ask. His face lights up immediately and he responds almost too quickly.

“My office. You can sit there while i'm working.” | smile and nod following him to his office. | glance around unsure where | should sit. There's a chair across from his desk but that might be a bit distracting.

“Are you sure | won't be in the way?” | hesitate. Bellamy just grins at me.

puts “Wait here a sec.” He dashes out of the room and a minute later comes back carrying one of the comfy recliners from the living room that | never seem to end up using. Megan and | always seem to be in the kitchen or her room. I've never even sat in the recliners. Bellamy it down and then begins shoving his bookshelf and desk around until he’s cleared a corner to the left of the room, with far more ease than | expected, he shows off his strength by moving the recliner into the newly cleared corner. The colour of the black recliner doesn’t quite match the wood and blue coloured decor of the office, but it fits in the space well enough. | settle in and Bellamy moves to sit behind his desk. On this angle he is still facingbut I'm off to the side a bit, not directly in his line of sight unless he turns his chair a little. I sit and find a movie to watch online. | keep the vollow so | don’t disturb him. At one point he gets up and leaves the office for a few minutes. He returns and drapes a blanket over my lap and handsa plate with a brownie and a glass of water, | thank him and he gets back to work.

My movie finishes and | glance up at Bellamy. | expect him to be looking at papers or his laptop, but he’s watching me. In fact | don’t think I've heard him typing for a few minutes now. He doesn’t even seem to notice I'm looking back at him. He's completely zoned out. | 2/5 60 - Couches and company clear my throat and he jumps. He givesa half smile.

“Good movie?” He asks. | shrug.

“Not bad.” | respond. He opens his mouth to say something then pauses and hesitates. | raise an eyebrow in question. He pushes his chair back from his desk a little and angles it towards 1. me.

“Want to cover here for a bit?” He asks. I'm not totally sure what he wants but | push my blanket aside, hop up and cross over to his side of the desk. | stop a step away from him. He doesn’t hesitate and grabs my hand pullingin closer until | stumble into him. He catchesand sitssideways on his lap. | immediately blush red.

“Uhm... hi.” | say awkwardly. Bellamy chuckles.

“Hi. Is this alright?” He asks. | nod and hide my face against his shoulder. He wraps his arm aroundand strokes my back.

“How did your conversation with Megan go??” He asks. | sit up a little and give a light shrug.

“Not too bad, she’s not really mad atat least. You're going to have to apologise for never saying anything though, properly apologise. She's a bit grumpy with you. That's about all she said about how she’s doing. She really didn’t want to talk about it.” | explained.

“Ah, | see. I'll have to apologise.” | can feel him cringing at the thought. | laugh.

“I'll help you. It's not so bad.” | assure him. He shrugs.

“What did the two of you talk about then? he asks.

“We talked about the Shifter courting stuff you toldthis morning, and why she never said. anything. I'm still so embarrassed.” | hide my face again as Bellamy laughs and continues to stoke my back soothingly.

“I know, | know. | wasn’t sure how to bring it up, especially since you haven't always been very... receptive to my attempts at courting.” | mumble into his chest.

3/5 60 - Couches and company “I might have if | knew what you were doing.” He somehow makes out the words.

“Really? Because you ran away the first t| tried to kiss you.” He points out. | sit up and glare at him.

“Because | wasn't expecting it! | didn’t think you were even interested, | had no idea, | thought Darrien was exaggerating when he said you liked me.” | complain. Bellamy raises an eyebrow.

“You discussed this with Darrien?” “Uhm, yeah. Before we went out to dinner that time. That was when he figured it out. | did say we were talking about boys.” | joke. Bellamy rolls his eyes.

“I knew it. You said you had been talking about the movie. But | knew you were too comfortable with him all of a sudden for it to just be that!” | giggle.

“Well we did discuss the couple in the movie, but we didn’t JUST talk about them.” | admit.

“I'm still not sure how you didn’t realise | was interested in you. Even excluding the Shifter stuff | wasn’t exactly subtle. | mean, fancy dinner, excuses to chang out with you, shopping, dancing together...” “I might have been in denial a bit, | didn’t want to read into anything and be wrong. Besides, | have no idea how any of these things work. I've always shut down anyone who even tried to get close toin that kind of way. | don’t date. Or | didn’t before at least.” | flush red again. Bellamy looks pleased.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore, you know now. What did Megan tell you about the Shifter courting stuff?” “Among other things, she toldhow the women are meant to reciprocate. We were talking about what things the women give as gifts.” | explain.

“You know you don’t have to do all that, | don’t expect you to giveanything. You aren't at Shifter. | understand if you want to do things differently.” | give a half shrug.

4/5 60- Couches and company “I, 1 think | want to try. | don’t know about the whole making sure everyone knows publicly thing, but if this stuff is important to you | can at least look at getting you a gift.” | explain awkwardly. Bellamy makes eye contact withfor a moment before moving in closer. Before 1 know it his lips are on mine. My heart is racing but I kiss him back. This kiss is relaxed and unhurried and I sink into it. Bellamy continues running his hand up and down my back. His hand slips lightly under the edge of my tshirt and | pause and pull back slightly trying to decide how I feel about it. His hand stills and I'm about to kiss him again when Megan clears her throat in the doorway.