Strings of Fate

31- Dinner and dominance “It’s not a problem.” | say. | place a hand over Bellamy’s arm to reassure him that | can take care of this. She clearly meant no disrespect... to him. The hostesses eyes zero in on where I'm touching him. Releasing his arm, | push up the sleeve of my dress. It's difficult since it’s fitted, but the fabric is stretchy so | manage to get it rolled up all the way so that my mark is visible.

“Is this enough evidence for you?” | ask her, keeping my tone pleasant. While | would usually keep my eyes down, this t| am sure to make proper eye contact with her so that she can feel the full force of my unnatural eyes. | can see her discomfort as her eyes flit to the floor. | can feel the second she gives in. Her expression remains polite, but where she stood up straight before, she keeps her head bowed slightly. She also refuses to make eye contact again. as she mutters something about the evidence being sufficient and shows us to a table.

She then leaves us to consider the menu and promises that a server will be with us shortly. | start reading over the menu but | can’t focus because Bellamy is looking at me.

“Why are you staring?” | demand. Bellamy jumps slightly as if he had been deep in thought.

“I'm not, of at least | didn’t realise that | was staring. | was just thinking. That woman, the hostess. She's considered a rather dominant Shifter. Her older brother is one of the Betas.” | don’t really understand what he’s trying to tell me. Is he upset that | wasn’t nicer to her? Or maybe he’s interested in her. | don’t give voice to either of these thoughts. | just shrug my shoulders casually.

“So?” | ask. Bellamy smiles at me, so he’s not upset | guess.

“So you had her submit to you in a matter of seconds. It suggests that you are quite dominant yourself. At least as much as her, probably more considering your friendship with my sister and the way you talk back toall the time.” he explains. | frown, I've never considered myself a dominant person. Most of the tI'm quite shy, | keep my eyes to the ground and avoid conflict. Bellamy notices my expression.

“You disagree? | don’t see how you can. You took her down with just a few seconds of eye contact.” he points out. | shake m head.

“That was out of character for me. Usually | avoid eye contact with everyone. My eyes are weird and make people uncomfortable,” “Have you ever thought that maybe that it’s just that the eye contact shows your dominance. and that makes people uncomfortable? They don’t know how to react so they avold you. Bellamy seems enthusiastic, like he's had an epiphany and now needsto catch up and reach the sconclusion.

“What makes you sa-" | stop as a server approaches us. | didn’t really read the menu properly. so I just pick the first thing that looks good. Spasta ravioli dish. Bellamy chooses a steak. | wait for the server to walk away before continuing.

“What makes you say that people avoid my eyes because I'm dominant?” | question. Bellamy shrugs.

“I like your eyes. I've never wanted to avoid them. Neither has my sister or Darrien for that matter. It would suggest that those who are your equal in dominance have no problem with your eyes.” He sounds proud of himself for his reasoning. | remain unconvinced.

“I'm not even a Shifter.” I remind him.

“That doesn’t matter. Everyone is more or less dominant in sway. Witches have covens and a hierarchy of elders, Oracles are ranked by their age, even Humans tend to divide themselves by the amount of power and authority they possess. All species do, it’s just more obvious with Shifters. We know what it means so we behave accordingly.” “If what you're saying was actually true, it would mean that until | met you and Megan, | have literally never met anyone else who is more dominant than me. That seems a bit far fetched.” | point out. Bellamy shakes his head.

“Not really, you forget that | am an Alpha. There aren't many people who are my equal in dominance. If you are nearly as dominant as me, then it's entirely possible that you've never run into anyone as dominant as yourself before. Or if you did they might not have noticed your eyes or just chose not to say anything.” he argues. | shake my head.

“This entire argument is pointless, because people don’t just avoid my eyes, | avoid theirs first. That's hardly the actions of someone dominant. I'm not powerful.” Bellamy shrugs atagain. It's beginning to get really annoying.

It would be if the dominant person is trying to blend in with people who are more submissive. I'm not sure why you would think you aren't powerful, you're one of the most powerful people | have ever met. You see fates, definite paths that people will take. Even Oracles only see potential futures. It’s a good thing you are such a kind person because in the wrong hands your powers could be used to do an awful lot of damage. Not abusing power is not the sas having no power. We can test this later. Shaun is assigned to be your night. guard this evening. When | take you home, I'll ask him to see if he can hold your stare.” he suggests. | frown.

“What would that prove?” “It’s basically a contest. First one to drop their gaze is the more submissive one. That's not to say the more dominant one couldn't look away first, but it would be basically just them agreeing to give in. Like | do with Megan sometimes. She staresdown but we both know that when it comes down to it, I'm more dominant.

Although just barely. It doesn’t work if you are significantly more dominant though, the other person submits before you have a chance to.” he considers a moment.

“If Darrien is to be her mate, he must be more dominant than | realised, he should be her equal after all.” He adds as an afterthought.

“Tristan is quite dominant too. I'm not sure if he is as dominant as Megs though. | doubt she’s ever tested him.” I'm relieved that the conversation seems to have moved away from discussing my supposed dominance. If | had known it would cause so much drama, | would have never taken care of the hostess, | would have just left it to Bellamy. | didn’t know enough about this dominance stuff. Megan mentioned it briefly, but mostly just to explain that mates have equal dominance. When she showedaround the compound, | avoided. everyone's eyes as usual so | didn’t notice if anyone reacted unusually. Megan occasionally commented if a particular Shifter was especially dominant or submissive but | didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the information since I didn’t really know why it was relevant. Since I'm fated to be with Bellamy, | must be as dominant as him. It's that knowledge which is making it rather difficult to disagree with him. | had sort of assumed that maybe the whole dominance thing didn’t really apply toas much since I'm not a Shifter. | could have been wrong | suppose. The server finally arrives with our food and wow does it smell good. We are both distracted from conversation for a few minutes as we dig in. Apparently awkward discussions with future soul mates and fights with bitchy hostesses really amp up my appetite. Who knew! Dinner and dominance I'm about halfway through my meal (which FYI is amazing) and no longer feel like I'm going to starve to death, so | begin searching for a new topic of conversation while Bellamy is still eating. If | can think of something appropriately interesting then hopefully he won't bring the discussion back to me. I really don’t want to ask about his hobbies or anything too personal, it will make this feel too date-like. I initially planned to discourage all date-type behaviours, but the catty hostess (literally... get it? Catty? Hahahaha.... okay moving on) ruined that plan. Suddenly my desire to stick it to her was more important than my desire to keep Bellamy arms length.

Well, there's only one topic that | can think of that is anything close to work-related.

“So, about Tristan. Assuming that is isn’t actually in love with Megan and is trying to take advantage of her in sway, what is he actually trying to achieve?” | ask. Bellamy shrugs.

“It's hard to be sure exactly but the usual motives | guess. Money, sex and power are usually what people plot for. Money is always a possibility. I'm sure you've noticed that my family isn’t hurting for cash. But there are easier ways than marrying my sister. Sex...” Bellamy shudders.

“I don’t want to think about that, but Tristan has a soul mate so | seriously doubt that’s his goal.” “Which just leaves power.” | conclude.