I alternate between feeling miserable and furious on his behalf as I listen to the Canine and Avian Alphas going on and on about how he is trying to fulfil a role that he, as a man, is just not suited for which is just completely sexist. Alpha Kohen chimes in with a slightly more reasonable argument.
“While I don’t think this is the right time to be discussing this, the workload an Alpha has is intended for two people. I don’t know how I would manage without my wife.” He admits dryly. Okay, so maybe that’s a slightly better point.“I have help.” Bellamy mildly answers.“Your sister hardly counts. She’s not the Alpha, she can’t make any REAL decisions.” The Canine Alpha grumbles.“I don’t see your mate being permitted to make any decisions further than social events and taking care of your children.” Bellamy grumbles.“EXCUSE YOU?” The Canine Alpha growls. I can practically feel Bellamy repressing an eye roll.“Now, now everyone. We’re all here for a reasoThe moment Alpha Kohen leaves, Bellamy releases me and spins my chair to face him. I barely have time to breathe before he presses his lips to mine. This kiss is passionate and a little out of control. Bellamy doesn’t hesitate or hold anything back. He’s holding me so tight that I can’t even move to wrap my arms around him. I start getting lightheaded and he must be too because he finally pulls back, breathing heavily. I can feel him purring deep in his chest. Still squeezing me tight, he’s as breathless as I am when he breathes out his confession.“I love you.” He sounds absolutely elated. I am probably so bright red that I could outshine a stop sign. Even Bellamy looks a little flushed for once. I somehow end up in a slightly hysterical giggle. “I can’t believe I said it first.” I admit. Bellamy leans back to look me in the eye, his own eyes are practically glowing with pleasure.“To be honest… I can’t believe you said it first either. Although I might have thought ab
Despite what I said about needing to avoid the kitchen, that’s actually my first stop when leaving the office. Bellamy got me a little well… hot. I desperately need a glass of water. Or one of those cold showers that Bellamy is so ‘fond’ of taking lately. Bellamy trails behind me, apparently not willing to leave my side just yet. I freeze momentarily when I walk in and find Megan sitting in the same bar stool at the bench that I vacated earlier. I force myself to keep moving. Darrien is on the other side of the bench. He’s apparently in a great mood and is humming along to a playlist that they have playing while he assembles what looks like the sandwich to end all sandwiches. Seriously, it’s already way too big for anyone to actually bite into and he is still adding stuff to it. Megan is watching on in awe. “Hi guys.” I drop into the second stool beside Megan while Bellamy gets me a cold drink. As he passes it to me, his phone vibrates. He checks it quickly and frowns.“I n
Just like I have every other time I’ve managed to communicate with Kiara, I come back to myself feeling dizzy and kind of like throwing up. Not sick exactly, more like I’ve pushed myself way too far. I don’t know why it’s so exhausting to speak to her when watching her, particularly in my sleep, it takes no effort at all. In fact I can’t seem to STOP doing that. It’s frustrating but worth it. I can feel a little tired and unwell if it helps Kiara cope with what she’s going through until we can get to her. My phone vibrates and I move too fast to grab it, making my head spin. Woah, that's confusing. I have a text from… Bellamy? Isn’t he downstairs? Unless he went out while I was meditating, but I doubt he would leave without telling me first. He’s way too freaked out about the psychos threatening me. I open the message.Bellamy- S.O.S. You have a guest…S.O.S? Why would me having a guest require an S.O.S. Unless… who would Bellamy want rescuing from? I suspect I know the answ
Nothing happens. Well that was anticlimactic. “So… is something meant to happen?” Harry asks. I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m not a Witch.” I point out.“Well… can you let go of the bottle now?” Bellamy asks. Without hesitation, Harry opens his fingers and the GLASS bottle goes tumbling towards the floor. I gasp in horror. Bellamy’s hand snaps out and catches it at the last second. “Oops. Talk about cat-like reflexes though.” He holds up his now free hand to Bellamy for a high-five. Bellamy just glares at him and hands me the potion bottle.“Thanks. Good catch, Bels. Harry… I’m starting to see why Cam spelled the bottle onto your hand. Why would you just DROP the potion?” I demand. “You said to let go. I let go.” He says unrepentantly. “I didn’t mean- Ugh. Why am I even bothering? This is a waste of time.” A thought occurs to me and I smirk at Harry. He looks at me suspiciously. “What? What did you just think of?” He demands. I shrug.“Oh, nothing mu
Huh. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but this isn’t it. I guess I didn’t expect this girl’s problem to actually be so relatable. I mean, I totally appreciate Bellamy keeping me safe, but it is a little chafing. I can’t imagine what it would be like being eighteen and not being able to go out alone anywhere. I mean, I didn’t exactly go out a lot and socialise until I met Megan and Bellamy, but I have always been very independent. Sure, that might not have been by choice. I never exactly had the chance to depend on anyone. But I can’t imagine having no chance to stand on your own two feet is ideal either. If this girl feels ready to step out on her own, even just a little, she should be able to do that. It’s sweet that she wants to be considerate of her father. I mean, I’m sure there are lots of teenagers who would just scream, throw a tantrum and walk out, probably ruining whatever relationship they have. Oky, so I definitely want to help her, I just don’t really know how.
Bellamy sighs deeply and I can see he looks kind of frustrated. My question must show on my face because when he looks up and makes eye contact he explains. “You know, I can kind of see why the girl didn’t want to approach me with her problem. I thought that I was doing alright dealing with the Shifter’s personal issues, that they all knew they could come to me. But my first reaction was to dismiss her complaint as childish whining.” He sounds very disheartened. “I’m now wondering if I’ve been failing all this time. I thought I was managing. Maybe the other Alphas are right and I can’t do this.” He says it like he is second guessing every decision he’s made since taking over as Alpha. His confidence has just taken a serious hit. I hate it. Bellamy is usually a fairly confident person. I frown at him. “Why is it that every time he second guesses himself it has something to do with me? With something I’ve said. I was trying to help and now it looks like you’re having an
Another night, another murder. I see Kiara is forced to reach out again. It has to be connected to her magic in some way. Her species magic. Not her magic as a representative of fate. The poor girl barely even made a sound during this one. She moved around like a zombie afterwards and when she was finally able to collapse onto the floor, she just sobbed until she passed out. I wake up seriously stupidly early in the morning. I don’t want to face the day yet and accept that once again, there is nothing I can actually DO. So I end up just curling up with Bellamy who is still sleeping. He does wake up and check on me. Peering at me through bleary eyes as I move around, but at this point I don’t really want to talk. So I just hug him close and for a while, I try not to think. It is probably another two hours until Bellamy really wakes up. He strokes a hand over my hair and pushes it away from my face, then moves back a little so that he can see my face. “Morning love.” He greets me
We all sit there in horrified silence, no one quite knowing what to say. Finally, Harry is the one to speak up. “Well, they don’t look EXACTLY like you. They all have long, black hair. Your hair is blue. Although it does look black unless you’re in the daylight. They also all have blue or grey eyes, your eyes are very different, so they couldn't match that…” He trails off, his false optimism fading as he reasons away his own arguments. His face falls as he gives up trying to reason away what we all know. “It’s all about you, every threat, every murder… they’re all directed at you. Even when they couldn’t get to you anymore, the threats didn’t stop. They just chose a different way of threatening you.” Darrien states the obvious. I feel sick. All these women, Kiara’s kidnapping. All because someone hates me? Someone who didn’t even make enough of an impression for me to know who they are, wants me dead. What could I have done? Up until a couple weeks ago I was a waitress! I
“Well, I think that it might actually be nice having an extra person around the house. Extra security and company. Besides, you spend most of your time here anyway. Might as well save you the commute. That is, as long as no one else has any objection?” I say pointedly looking at Megan. Sure, Bellamy could object but I already know that he won’t. Megan briefly makes eye contact with me, gives a slight nod, then finds something to stare at on the ceiling. She is clearly trying to look like she doesn’t care but she is blushing bright red. True to form, Darrien is watching her closely trying to work out how she really feels about my suggestion. Realising that she isn’t going to provide any input, he decides to push it a little. “Megan? I would like to hear your opinion. I am still courting you and I don’t want to screw anything up by making a decision like this without your input.” Darrien says clearly. His voice is mostly calm with just the slightest hint of anxiety as he monitors her r
I wake up late in the morning, it might even be early afternoon. I wriggle around a little which prompts Bellamy to do the same, he is apparently already awake. He raises a finger to his lips to shush me before I speak and I can see why. Kiara is still sleeping, lying in the bed between us. She is still loosely holding onto my arm, even in sleep. I slowly disentangle myself from her light grip and slide out of bed. Bellamy follows, clearly doing his best not to jostle her and wake her up. She definitely needs the sleep. She was restless for a good part of the night and almost definitely was having nightmares, but she seems like she’s sleeping soundly now. My own sleep was blissfully quiet. No visions or anything thank goodness. I’m looking forward to having several weeks of steady sleep and so help me if anything tragic or dramatic happens for the next few weeks then whoever is responsible should probably be terrified of me. We step into the hallway to talk without disturbing Kiara.
I cross my arms in irritation. “Kiara would never! How would she even do that? She’s just a kid!” I object. Dr Dae rolls her eyes at me.“Oh calm yourself girl. I’m not saying she chose to murder anyone. I assume that she was forced to comply somehow. You’ll have to ask the girl when she’s ready to talk. As for the how, the child is a Reaper.” She says it as if it’s obvious but it really isn’t. I know that Reapers exist, but they’re the kind of Magic that most people have heard of but no one has ever met. I suppose Kiara’s dad must have been a Reaper too and why the MRO was so secretive about her markings. Most people are kind of scared of Reapers, they’re kind of the boogeymen of our society. Mostly because they can kill on a whim. All it takes is one touch and they can free your soul from your body. Obviously with no soul you die, and I guess your soul moves on to wherever souls go when you pass on. I suppose that a Reaper would make sense for the representative of Atropos. Her add
Since Kiara probably isn’t up to braving the stairs and she really doesn’t want to be carried around everywhere, we decide to ask Dr Dae to come up to the bedroom. It’s actually kind of weird having so many people in here. Bellamy is a fairly private person, he doesn’t generally invite people to hang out in his… our room. Dr Dae shuffles in clutching her usual bag. I’m surprised that Bellamy isn’t carrying it for her because it looks kind of heavy, but I suspect that she wouldn’t hand it over anyway. I immediately greet her.“Thank you so much for your help. Your contact has become a great friend and she’s a huge part of the reason we were able to find Kiara here.” I nudge Kiara gently with my elbow and give her a little smile. She looks very small and delicate in the oversized, mismatched clothes with her hair dripping down her shoulders. She’s so pale that the bruises on her skin stand out and look even worse than they actually are. Dr Dae gives me a half nod of acknowledgement then
We all turn to face Alex in confusion. I glance up at Bellamy to see if he has any idea what’s going on but he looks just as lost as the rest of us. I continue to stroke Kiara’s hair trying to keep her calm. “Explain.” Bellamy says firmly. Alex flushes red under the attention of everyone in the room. “Uh, well. I assisted Miss Gale in updating her registration with the MRO, and uh, since her position is one of… well almost authority, over the fate’s representatives the updated registration reflects this. So she should be able to make decisions about Kiara’s care like an Alpha would for their Shifters or like a Coven leader would for their Witches. Admittedly it’s a very small group of Magics, but according to the Magic Registration Office, she is in charge of it.” He explains, his voice starts off weak but gets stronger as he becomes more confident in what he’s saying. The police seem a little stunned but I guess Alex isn’t technically wrong. If Kiara were a Shifter, her Alpha would
When we pull up to the house, there’s a police car waiting. There are two cops standing by it, one looks bored and irritated and the other has a fake ‘customer service’ type smile plastered on his face that I know well from experience. Yeah neither of these guys want to be here. They’re probably pissed that we made them come down here. Not to mention uncomfortable being in the Shifter compound. Non-Shifters aren’t invited here often, although I suppose that isn’t exactly true anymore with all our new friends stopping by regularly. Standing beside them looking awkward and uncomfortable is Alex. I bet they’ve been taking their impatience out on him. I narrow my eyes at them and prepare myself. One snotty comment and I am going to tear into them, it’s been a long night. Bellamy parks the car and I wait for him to get out. He speaks with the police briefly and Alex escorts them inside the house. Bellamy returns and opens the door next to Kiara. “Hey, can I help you get inside? The police
As we step outside, I’m confused to find that I actually have no idea where we are. I really was just running and following the tracking spell. I don’t know how far I ran. It’s a good thing the others are here to bring back the cars because I would be wandering all night trying to find my way back. I’m also fairly sure that I left my phone in the car when I jumped out in a hurry. Kiara clutches my hand tightly as the cars pull up on the street in front of us. “Megan, Darrien. You stay here and speak to the police when they arrive. Direct further questions to me. Shaun, you stay with them too.” Bellamy directs as Shaun hops out the car. At Megan’s insistence he stays a good couple of metres away from us.“Yes Alpha Kane.” He responds cheerfully. Aaron and Rio also climb out of the vehicles. Rio stops to chat with one of the other Shifters whose name I still don’t know. Aaron immediately approaches me. Actually a better way to phrase it is that he storms over. He looks almost angry. Or
Darrien is the closest to her and he sees her at the same time I do. He takes a step towards her and she whimpers in fear. He freezes and backs away slowly, trying not to startle her. I gesture for everyone else to stay back and take a few steps closer. I stop a good metre away from the little table and then slowly lower myself to the floor. Kneeling down so that I can see her properly. Kiara is covered in soot and I can see little trails of tears smudging around on her face. She is still crying and whimpering. I am careful to keep my voice gentle and calm. “Kiara?” I call her name. She doesn’t answer or look up, but her whimpering quiets a little and I can see her tensing up like she’s listening carefully. “Kiara sweetheart. You’re safe now. You can come out. We can get some something to eat, you can have a nice bath and some clean clothes. How does that sound?” I try to sound soothing. Her crying stops and she looks up at me with wide, teary, red-rimmed eyes. She doesn’t
Look, I’m no fighter and the Shifters move way faster than I can even properly process in this stressful situation. I watched the Shifter woman leap towards the redhead (I have got to learn these people’s names!) and the next thing I know, both women are screaming and the living room is lit up with blue flames that are steadily growing. I watch as Shaun and Darrien leap at the Shifter woman and help her tear off her burning shirt. Bellamy takes the chance to shift and a few moments later his large black cat form is launching towards the Witch in an attempt to knock her down. He pulls back at the last second as flames light up in front of him, spreading and essentially splitting the room in half with us on one side and the Witch on the other. She’s completely trapped, both by us and the fire which is steadily going out of control. There is smoke in the air making it hard to see what’s going on and the smoke in the air is making it difficult to breathe. My throat is so dry and my lung