Strings of Fate

94- Looking and low-key “You're probably right. I'll think about it.” He agrees. He looks a bit sad and lost as he says it. though. | decide right now that | am making it my personal mission to help Bellamy rekindle his friendships. Maybe we could have a dinner party or games night or something. | might even invite Alpha Kohen and his wife. | think | would like to know them better and Bellamy seems friendly with the Bear Alpha. Although | suppose a night like that would have to wait until I'm comfortable telling people about our relationship because I feel like it would get out fast if we started having guests all the time.

The conversation lulls a bit and Bellamy loops back to our original discussion.

“I suppose based on the fact that you changed the topic that you don’t want to talk about tonight yet then?” He prompts.

“You know, | actually completely forgot that we were even discussing it. | got sidetracked. I'm okay to talk about it with you now if you would like.” I assure him.

“Okay. Well... how are you feeling about everything?” he asks awkwardly.

“I'm not completely sure yet. | think I'm still in a bit of shock and it hasn't completely sunk in yet. | was scared and freaked out earlier, but that went away as soon as you showed up and made sure | was safe. I'm a bit upset and angry about my hbeing attacked and damaged, and worried about Maggie.” | tell him.

“What about how | acted? Any questions or feelings about it? Or about moving in here?” He encouragesto continue.

“I don’t know how | feel about staying here yet. | think there are a lot of details that still need to be worked out.

But | know it’s the best of my options and I think it will be okay. As for how you acted. It’s honestly pretty much what | expected from you at this point. | mean, | was a bit concerned that you weren't talking at first. It was a bit extreme, but | can understand it. If | was trying to keep someone safe and they got hurt | would probably want to drag them off and lock us away somewhere safe too. The real difference is that | probably couldn't realistically manage it.” | tell him with a giggle.

1/4 94- Looking and low-key “I appreciate how understanding you're being about my current... clinginess.” He says quietly. He is shifting in place, moving his weight around and still fiddling with his string bracelet. He is starting to look a little antsy.

“You okay over there?” | ask.

“I'm fine. | mean my butt has gone numb but it’s no big deal. Not being able to see and look out for dangers is more uncomfortable. | look down at myself. The bath is still completely full of bubbles. | can’t see anything in the water past my neck. Would it really be so bad if I let him look around? | mean, he’s seenin a towel and he sawin my underwear when | was drunk. This isn’t really any worse. He would be able to see far less in this situation. He's been nothing but a perfect gentleman and from the floor he probably can’t see anything other than my head past the edge of the tub anyway. | take a deep breath to steady myself as I decide to be brave.

“I- it’s probably okay if you want to open your eyes, the bubbles coveranyway. Just...

Make sure to stay over there, okay?” | tell him. He stiffens up for a moment.

“You're sure?” he confirms. | nod.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I'm basically completely covered away.” Permission given, Bellamy’s eyes fly open. They immediately meet mine, then dart around as he checks the room for threats. He lets out a deep breath, clearly relieved to be able to look around. He moves around a bit and changes his position so he is sitting cross legged. It's a shneither of us thought to grab a towel or something for him to sit on BEFORE | got into the tub. Now that his eyes are open | can see that Bellamy’s attention is constantly being drawn back to the small bathroom window. | suppose the rock going through the window is still stuck in his brain, particularly since he is still clearly making an effort to not look in my direction too much. | need to find something to talk about to distract him.

“Uhm, so earlier today in that meeting. Did they just cto talk about Megan or was there something else?” | ask, trying to get him to engage in conversation again.

“Eh, they started with a few crappy reasons for meeting that were completely unimportant, stuff that could have been an email, or at the very least discussed later. Nothing a last minute meeting. I'm fairly sure that discussing Megan was their aim the whole time. The Canine Alpha has been constantly making efforts to getreplaced or undermine me. He 2/4 94- Looking and low-key thinks that ‘young people’ shouldnt be Alphas. Also, he hated my parents. They also asked why my sister was the one who fought when her guard was supposedly with her. Trying to explain that my sister does whatever she wants didn’t really sit well with them but it is what it is.” he sighs.

“Why didn’t they like it?” | question. It makes no sense to me, why shouldn’t she be allowed to defend herself? “They don't like it because the Canine and Avian Alphas are old fashioned and think all women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. They don’t appreciate that she knew how to defend herself in the first place.” He rolls his eyes tically.

“It’s ridiculous. | know that it might sound a little hypocritical fromgiven how overprotective | can be, but | would never stop a woman from defending herself, even if | would prefer to do it myself. Particularly when it comes to you. You don’t have claws afterall.” He admits. | laugh.

“That's true. I'm not much of a fighter anyway. | know my strengths and that isn’t one of them. Although | wouldn't be against learning how to defend myself a little, | suspect in a fight with a big cat or a wolf or any other Shifter, | would be fairly useless. But that's okay because | don’t intend to get into a fight.” A thought occurs toand | frown, unsure of my next question.

“You say you don’t mind if women fight, but you don’t have any female guards do you? So do you just refuse to hire them for that or is it something else?” | ask, hoping Bellamy doesn’t take offence. He just laughs.

“There ARE female guards. Not a lot mind you, but you just haven't met any of them. They tend to take on positions where the security needs to be more low-key. When we don’t want people to know that there are guards around. People, particularly the other Shifters, don’t expect a female guard so they assthere's no security at all.” He explains.

“I assumed you didn’t have any. | kind of thought if you did then | would have ended up with a female guard with how jealous you seem to be.” | comment. He shrugs.