Strings of Fate

Strings of Fate 161- Subtlety and specially The next hour passes peacefully. Megan and | go through tons of items of clothing and sort through what we like and don't like. | try to limit the number of items I say yes to, trying not to overdo it but Megan has no such scruples. Bellamy hovers around, tidying the kitchen and occasionally chiming in with his opinion about specific items. Megan is just entering Bellamy’s credit card details which she apparently has memorised when Bellamy comes and hugsfrom behind. He seems more thrilled with the purchases than | am, which is probably the reason | feel okay about it.

“It’s almost tfor the meeting. We should go make sure the link is working properly and everything.” Bellamy says eagerly. | look up at him and | can see excitement on his face. | hadn't realised he was so enthusiastic about this, but | suppose he is almost as invested as | am, he’s just not quite as traumatised and exhausted asright now. Megan heads to the living room, lettingknow that we can just holler if we need her for anything while Bellamy and | return to his office to get set up.

| insist on moving a second chair behind the desk so that we can both fit in the camera's view.

“You could just sit on my lap.” Bellamy suggests with a cheeky grin. | roll my eyes.

“Yeah because that’s a good first impression.” | answer sarcastically. Bellamy shrugs.

“I'm pretty sure if | was meeting someone for the first t| would be impressed if they had a girl as gorgeous as you on their lap.” He points out. | choke out a laugh.

“I was talking about their first impression of me!” “I already know they'll love you. Who wouldn’t? Five minutes with any of our Shifters and they love you, why would these people be any different?” He reasons as he wavesaway and moves the chair from the opposite side of the desk that is usually used by guests, behind. the desk next to his seat. He shoves his chair to the side a bit so that my spot is more centred to the camera.

“I'm fairly sure that not all the Shifters love me.” | object and Bellamy shrugs.

1/4 161- Subtlety and specially “Okay, well maybe a few of them are jealous of you. But that’s only the ones you haven't spoken to directly and charmed yet. All the ones you've actually had proper interactions with like you plenty.” He seems reluctant to admit that any of the Shifters don’t like me. But it is true, I'm realistic enough to know that. I also suspect the two men from this morning probably aren't having particularly fond thoughts aboutright now since | tore into them a bit. Not that | regret it, | only told them things that they needed to hear. But people rarely actually like to hear the truth. That actually might be why | get along so well with Harry. He's always been willing to hear the truth. | settle into my spot and Bellamy sits next toin his seat.

“There should be an email with a link for the video call in my inbox. | had Alex set it up properly and send all the invitations, just in case. | figured it eliminates the chance ofmessing it up.” Bellamy explains. | nod and open up his email program. As usual, he has a ton of emails. It's the most recent one that grabs my attention though.

It cthrough maybe ten minutes ago and it’s from Shelly. Did something go wrong that she was too shy to tell us about? I click on it immediately.

Good Afternoon Alpha Kane, | wanted to thank you for your assistance this morning dealing with Rick and Adrian. | really was at a loss on how to deal with them and you while this morning was obviously kind of awkward, at least it’s over now. | would also like to ask if you could please pass along my thanks to your houseguest Ryann. | really appreciate her input and | think she really got through to them.

| hope | am not overstepping when | say that | believe you have chosen very well and she is great Alpha. She seems lovely and you deserve that. | am ashamed to say that | was initially uncomfortable asking you for help.

Please rest assured that it isn't because you're not a good Alpha, you are. But more because it is a sort of sensitive matter that | had only really discussed with my close female friends. But when their fighting becpublic there didn’t seem to be any point trying to conceal the issue and keep it private any longer. Still, my point is that it is the kind of issue | would have been more comfortable approaching a woman with. | thought it might be worth telling you that I'm actually not the only one who feels this way. | did notice that you have yet to make any kind of public announcement regarding the female Alpha, but | was wondering if it would be okay to let sof the other women know that Ryann is around and that they might approach her for help occasionally if they aren't comfortable talking to a man...

2/4 161- Subtlety and specially Thank you again for your help, Shelly | stare at the screen blank faced and Bellamy scoots forward a little so he can read the email too. He frowns.

“I don’t understand, how did she know we're together? Did | do something to give it away? | understand how figured it out, that was a stupid mistake on my part, but all I did was introduce you as my friend.” He sounds honestly baffled. I'm about to answer when Megan yells from the living room.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS BELLAMY?” she comes thundering down the hall so loudly that if I didn’t know better, | would have thought that someone twice her size was approaching. She skids to a halt in the doorway with her hands on her hips..

“What?” Bellamy asks, an eyebrow raised.

“Are you stupid?” Megan asks bluntly.

“Excuse me?” Bellamy glares at her and Megan rolls her eyes.

“I'm sorry but it’s obvious to anyone who is paying attention that you guys are together. Bels, | mean this in the nicest way possible... but you don’t really HAVE friends. Now suddenly you have a female friend who is staying with you for an extended period of time. Not to mention she is attending formal mediation meetings and is even contributing. You might think you're being subtle but Bels, you wear your heart on your sleeve and anyone who knows you can tell. that you treat Ry special.” Bellamy looks like she’s punched him.

“I'm not saying it's a bad thing, in fact it is completely, sickeningly, disgustingly, sweet. But it is also very obviously different to how you treat anyone else. As it should be.” She says with satisfaction. Bellamy is still looking completely dumbstruck. I'm fairly sure he is mentally replaying everything that happened this morning and trying to work out what he did that was so unusual. Megan whirls around and tically heads back down to the living room. Bellamy angles his chair to face me. He looks kind of embarrassed, | can see a tinge of red flushing his cheeks and the tips of his ears. It’s sort of adorable actually.

3/4 161- Subtlety and specially “I... 1 would have warned you or given you the option to stay upstairs if | knew that the meeting would be such a giveaway. | thought | was playing it cool but... apparently | was wrong.” He sounds guilty. | grab his hand and squeeze it in mine.

“It's alright. You didn’t realise. Besides, | like that you treatspecial. No one has ever done that before. | told you when found out. | don’t want either of us to lie or fake anything. I just don’t want too much attention on us all at once.” | remind him. He smiles athappily.

“Either way, | feel kind of bad. What do you want to do about her request?” He asks, his eyes flicking back to the screen. He looks... hopeful. | know what he wants from me, the question is if I'm ready for it.

“Ill think about it. Just givea little time.” | answer awkwardly. Bellamy nods supportively and glances at the time.

“It’s almost time, we should join the video call.” | nod and with my heart racing in my chest, | find the correct email and select the link.