I elbow Bellamy in excitement and he takes my hand to keep me from bouncing in place. Megan stares at Darrien a minute longer before giving a very slow nod. The grin that crosses Darrien’s face is gorgeous and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him so happy. He places his own order and pays for the food. While he does this Megan turns to me, her eyes wild and her face flushed. She looks beyond nervous and her furrowed eyebrows ask a clear question. ‘Did I do the right thing?’ I give her a reassuring smile and nod. Her tense shoulders relax a little. Then, ever so slowly, she turns towards Bellamy to see his reaction. He has a serious case of poker face going. I squeeze his hand meaningfully. He glances sideways at me then back to his sister before lifting one shoulder in a half shrug and cracking a hint of a smile. Megan relaxes further and I realise she must have been barely breathing because she suddenly draws in a loud and deep breath and lets it out with a slight shake. She looks a
I decide to drop the topic and come back to it another time when i’ve had a chance to think of some decent answers. It’s hard to argue with someone who won’t stop complimenting you. I’m saved from the conversation I started when the waitress comes back to check on us. “Hi, is everything going alright? Do you need any drinks or anything?” she notices Bellamy’s untouched plate and frowns slightly. “Is there something wrong with the steak?” She asks very politely. I shake my head immediately. “No, not at all. He just got called away to an urgent meeting. Actually, would it be possible to get a takeout container or something so I can take it to him afterwards?” She smiles at me and agrees, she even takes his plate and moves it into a container for me (which I appreciate because I am fairly sure that I would have made a mess of it.) Darrien, Megan and I finish eating as the waitress returns and hands me Bellamy’s takeout meal. “Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.”“No problem. Do y
“You can’t know that he didn’t care for her, or that he was with someone else.” He objects. I raise an eyebrow. “I take it you haven’t heard what my particular brand of magic is then? I can see the strings of fate. I know who people’s destined soulmates are before they do half the time. And I can tell you with complete certainty that Tristain had found his soulmate and it wasn’t Megan. Also Megan did spare Tristain at first. Then he tried to attack again and was killed by accident.” The Canine Alpha seems to be stunned into silence. It’s Alpha Kohen who speaks first from his spot in the recliner.“Well, it looks like this meeting was for nothing. Alpha Kane has things well in hand. The complaints from that woman are just the denial of a woman who can’t admit her son isn’t perfect. Not that I can really blame her, no parent wants to believe their child was a bad person.” He pulls the lever on the side of the recliner and lays back, closing his eyes and relaxing. The Canine Alpha sputt
I release my breath as I realise he’s decided to let me direct the topic away from my own issues. “No, she basically ran up to her room as soon as we got back. She said she has homework but I suspect that she just wanted some time to process things. I bet she will want to talk about it tomorrow, or maybe even later tonight.” I explain. He nods. “Right, right. That makes sense. What… What are you going to tell her?” He questions nervously. “You mean am I going to tell her about your red thread? Well, honestly I’m not sure yet. It depends on what she asks me. If she wants to know she will ask and I won’t lie to her. But I doubt she will ask just yet. I will just be encouraging and when she’s ready I’m sure she will bring it up on her own.”“Yeah, okay. That’s fair. Good plan, I think.” He pauses before continuing. “Thanks for your help with this. And for being there today. I know it must have been awkward for you, particularly once Alpha Kane left. I didn’t anticipate that.” he says
“I- It was what the other Alphas said at the end of the meeting, saying you need your mate. I can mostly ignore them when they’re being jerks. But Alpha Kohen is nice, and he was actually being kind. It just left me feeling really guilty.” I confess. Bellamy takes both of my hands in his.“Hey, look at me.” I meet his gaze. His golden eyes are gentle. “It’s really okay. I know you’re stressed by it, but you shouldn’t feel guilty. I’m the one who is asking a lot of you in expecting you to take on extra duties as my mate one day. The very least I can do is give you time to be ready for it. The other Alphas have been saying stuff like that pretty much since I stepped up. It doesn’t bother me and I don’t want it to bother you either. My situation with the Alphas hasn’t changed, you’re not making anything more difficult for me, and when you are ready, you’re only going to make things easier. Besides, you might not be aware of it but you have already started stepping into the role in small
I lean down and pick up my slippers from the floor. I give them a good shake and a few shards of glass fall from them. I run my hands through the insides and once I’m fairly certain they’re safe, I slip them on my feet and stand up. I grab my phone and carefully make my way to my bedroom door, tiptoeing my way around the glass as well as I can in my slippers which are really not made for tiptoeing. I pause in the doorway and look back. My bedroom looks like a crime scene. Glass everywhere and smears of blood on the blankets, my bedside table and lamp. I look at my feet and realise my slippers are also covered in blood from my hand where I touched my arm. Pulling myself together, I head straight into the kitchen and grab a hand towel. I dampen it and wipe at my arm. I don’t think there’s any glass in it. I get another towel and press it against my arm. I hope I don’t need stitches. I’m wiping the blood off my phone so that I can call Bellamy when the banging on my front door starts. I
“Let me?” I repeat, glaring. He sighs dramatically. “You're not seriously going to argue are you? It’s not safe here right now, and I don’t think I could stand to let you out of my sight. Come stay with me. It doesn’t have to be forever. Just until this is sorted out.” He holds my gaze, pleading in his expression.“If you don’t come with me I won’t be leaving, and I’ll be keeping Shaun and Aaron here too.” He adds. I roll my eyes.“That’s just excessive. But I do see your point. I want to be there with you if it will help you feel better, and it will help me feel safe too. But also, my bedroom window is smashed to pieces and my bed is full of glass.” I pause, hesitating.“What is it?” he prompts. I sigh. “I’m worried about Maggie and the other people in the building. I know it’s not likely that anyone would attack them, but I just can’t help it.” I admit. “I’ll arrange for a security detail for the building until this is sorted out. They’ll be safe.” He pr
“Uhh, so… Where should I leave this?” I hold up the bag awkwardly, then immediately lower it again. It’s heavier than I realised. Bellamy freezes and looks me over, a calculating expression on his face.“Well, you can stay with me if you want. Or I can set up one of the empty bedrooms. If you don’t want to be alone or… with me… then I’m sure Megan wouldn’t mind if you stayed with her.” He seems to be assessing my expression. I don’t even know what kind of look is on my face right now, but he must not be finding it encouraging because he doesn’t look too happy. “What would YOU prefer?” I ask. I figure it’s better to have all the information before making a decision.“I won’t lie to you. Right now the idea of you being anywhere I can’t see you leaves me on the verge of a panic attack. But I should also say I always want you to stay with me. I don’t want to pressure you though. I just want to make it clear that I’m not just saying it because I’m… “ He stops, trying to thin
My automatic reaction is to panic and to mentally scream NO ABSOLUTELY NOT! She is just a child. She is way too young to already find the person she is fated to be with, not to mention she has been through too much. What if he is immature or goes through a jerk phase as he grows up? Or worse, what if he is a lot older than her? Four or five years might not mean much when she’s an adult, but at her age that is a LOT. And who could it be? Is he going to be good enough? What if I don’t approve of him, what if he’s a bad influence. I’ve seen people with red threads who hated each other and were terrible for each other when they were young and as they matured became more right for one another. Is it too soon for them to meet? She’s just gone through an incredibly traumatic circumstance and she does NOT need some guy messing with her head right now. I take a deep breath and try to relax. I don’t know who it is, we might not even be meeting him right now. The thread just tells me that he’s s
The next few days pass almost too quickly. Bellamy and I have our meeting with Sara and her father. He was a little curious as to why I was there, but he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t pleased, but he did agree to back off of Sara a little bit and seemed to appreciate the added security that we are arranging for the university students. On the drive home, Bellamy is grumbling about it. “He was barely polite to you.” He complains. I roll my eyes.“He was polite enough, how polite should he be to a stranger in his house telling him how to parent his child?” I point out Bellamy shakes his head.“You’re his Alpha, my mate, he should know better.” He continued to scowl.“It’s not like he knows that. We haven’t actually told everyone.” I remind him gently. Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes.“Of course he knows. It’s the worst kept secret around, remember? He’s just the traditional type. Isn’t sure how he feels about having a non-Shifter as an Alpha. He’ll get over it.” He says firmly. I f
“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