Strings of Fate

Strings of Fate 159- Lectures and letting go Bellamy answers the door and leads what has to be the smallest Shifter woman | have ever seen, through to his office. | follow along and make myself comfortable in my usual recliner. Bellamy sits behind his desk and gestures for the tiny woman to take a seat across from him. She glances curiously atand Bellamy notices her eyes drifting towards me.

“Shelly, this is my friend Ryann. Ryann, this is Shelly.” He waits as | give an awkward little wave and Shelly gives a half smile.

“Ryann is here because it might be a little more comfortable for you if there is another woman present and my sister is currently unavailable.” Bellamy explains my presence. Shelly's eyebrows fly up and she considersfor a moment before turning back to Bellamy.

“Thank you Alpha Kane, that’s very... considerate of you.” She turns back toand gives a proper smile this time. Huh, seems like she actually does wanthere. Fancy that. | thought she would be uncomfortable with a stranger here. Bellamy goes to answer the door a second time, leavingalone with Shelly for a minute. She watchescuriously and | can tell she wants to asksomething, but she keeps her mouth shut and when Bellamy returns it’s too late forto find out what she wanted to know. The two Shifter men who follow Bellamy into the room are just as big as all the other Shifter men I've met so far. At this point | am fairly convinced all Shifters have a tendency to be large, tall and muscular. Shelly is a clear exception. Not that she doesn’t look fit. She is just kind of compact. The two men stand on either side of Shelly. Bellamy also remains standing, apparently unwilling to sit while they stand over him. He gives them both the sexplanation for my presence and introduces them as Rick and Adrian. The first thing I notice is that neither of the men have a red thread with Shelly, or any thread at all. So not mates, not that it makes their feelings any less valid now. But it's useful to know | guess. What is interesting though is that both men do have a thread to each other. A blue one. So like Megan and |, they're meant to be friends. Not that you would know based on how they're currently glaring at each other.

“Do you all know why you've been called here?” Bellamy asks. Adrian nods while Rick gives a non-committal half shrug.

Both men look kind of pissed off but they turn their focus to Bellamy and pay attention.

“Okay, well to make it clear. You have both been courting Shelly and are becoming increasingly aggressive towards each other. It has escalated too far and you are here so that | 1/4 159- Lectures and letting go can put a stop to it. First, Shelly. Do you have anything you want to say?” Shelly seems to be a rather timid person and she glances back atbefore answering.

“I... just what | wrote to you before. | just want the fighting to stop.” She answers, her voice barely more than a whisper. Bellamy nods and Adrian at least looks a little guilty. Rick just rolls his eyes.

“Thank you Shelly. Now, one at a time. What is going on? Rick, you go first.” Bellamy orders. Rick rolls his shoulders back and from the way he’s standing you would think he was preparing to fight.

“I asked Shelly out first and then this bastard started sniffing around her all the time. He's constantly getting in my way!” He says aggressively. Bellamy doesn’t react, just turns to Adrian.

“And you?” He prompts. Adrian shrugs.

“She's single and I'm interested. This prick picks a fight every t| so much as talk to her.” He isn't as aggressive, but he doesn’t look happy. If anything | would say he’s just better at controlling his temper, or hiding it at very least.

“You shouldn’t BE talking to her. You know I'm courting her! Just back the hell off!” He growls.

“Make me.” Adrian taunts. Rick takes a step towards him and Bellamy intervenes.

“Enough!” He doesn’t raise his voice, but there is no questioning his authority. Both men freeze and move back to their original positions on either side of Shelly.

“I don’t care who saw her first or who asked her out first or anything like that. It is no excuse to start fights. | expect more control than that.” Bellamy keeps his voice controlled but | can tell he’s getting annoyed. | can’t blhim. These two grown men are acting like children. fighting over a toy in the playground.

“It ends now.” Bellamy orders. Both men reluctantly nod, but | can see that they are even more pissed off than they were when they got here. | think Shelly sees it too because her shoulders slump forwards. Something about how hopeless she looks triggers my temper and | 2/4 159- Lectures and letting go push my way up out of the recliner.

“May 1?” | ask Bellamy, gesturing at the two men. He raises an eyebrow curiously and gives a single nod.

“Thanks.” | turn to Shelly first.

“Shelly, do you want to date Rick?” | bluntly ask. She shakes her head.

“No.” She answers quietly but firmly.

“Do you want to date Adrian?” | follow up.

“No.” She repeats, sounding a little more confident. | turn to the men.

“Well, that's that then. You are both competing for a prize that neither of you are even in the running to win. You need to get it through your heads. Shelly isn’t interested in you. She does. not want you to court her. Your childish attempts to change her mind are not only disrespectful of the choice she has made, they are going to drive her further away.” | lecture.

“You both need to move on already, you are actually both very similar and if you could stop insulting each other for five minutes you would probably find that you get along great. Basically what I'm saying is pull your heads out of your asses and grow up!” | cross my arms over my ch*st and glare at them. Adrian looks contrite but Rick is just glaring at me. He opens his mouth to argue but | cut him off.

“No, | don’t want to hear it. There is no good reason to behave the way you're acting. Do you feel good about yourself? You are scaring and upsetting the woman you claim to care for to the point that she had to go to her Alpha for help. All you're doing is hurting her.” | reprimand him. Finally, | see a hint of shin his eyes.

“I apologise Shelly. | will do better respecting your boundaries and controlling my temper.” Adrian apologies.

FINALLY, something is getting through to them. Rick follows right away.

too, I'm sorry Shelly. No more fighting. I'll...leave you be. But if you ever change your mind, letknow.” He says with a grin. Shelly rolls her eyes.

3/4 159- Lectures and letting go “Good. Much better, both of you. | suggest you find something else to compete over, you clearly have saggression and competitiveness to work out.” | grumble. Bellamy nods his agreement.

“I agree with Ryann. Now, is there anything else we need to discuss?” Bellamy demands. All three of them shake their heads and Bellamy dismisses them..

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