Strings of Fate

176- Anticlimactic and assistance Nothing happens. Well that was anticlimactic. “So... is something meant to happen?” Harry asks. | shrug.

“I don’t know. I'm not a Witch.” | 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. | 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 handsthe 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?” | demand.

“You said to let go. | let go.” He says unrepentantly.

“I didn’t mean- Ugh. Why am | even bothering? This is a waste of time.” A thought occurs toand | smirk at Harry. He looks atsuspiciously.

“What? What did you just think of?” He demands. | shrug.

“Oh, nothing much. Just that | should complement Cam on how thoughtful she was to spell this bottle to your hand after what | just saw, | did promise her an update.” | say, promise in my tone. Harry's eyes widen in horror.

“NO! Don’t do that! She already thinks I'm irresponsible!” He objects. Harry turns to Bellamy.

“I have Shifter friends, | knew you would catch it. Seriously, I did. | knew it wouldn't get broken!” He insists.

Bellamy looks tom between being smug and annoyed. Like he’s thinking “duh of course | can catch it, but you're still an ass.” Harry looks like he’s on the verge of a panic attack. | take pity on him.

“It’s alright Harry. | won't say anything. | know you wouldn't have broken it. Not really.” | reassure him. Bellamy still looks doubtful, but when Harry turns to look at him with pleading eyes he gives a slight nod and I smile at him. It’s sweet that Harry is actually taking it seriously with Cam, although I doubt she realises that yet. He isn't great at appearing like he takes anything seriously, especially himself. As is demonstrated by how he is currently licking the whiskey off his fingers.

“Mmm, this is good stuff. Can | get a proper drink?” Harry asks. Bellamy glances atand | shrug. With a sigh, Bellamy steps into the kitchen to grab a glass and returns with a drink for him. He also getsa drink, but not whiskey. It’s not really my thing. He bringsa glass of wine.

“You're not drinking?” Harry asks, Bellamy shakes his head.

“Nah, not right now. I'm having a great day. Don’t really want to dull it with alcohol.” He says cheerfully with a wink in my direction. | blush.

“0O00000000h.” Harry says in his most childish teasing tone.

“Did something HAPPEN?” He looks pointedly between Bellamy and I. Bellamy smirks and I roll my eyes.

1/3 176- Anticlimactic and assistance “Fine. Yes. But I'm only going to say this once, then you need to leave and | don’t want to hear a single word from you. Harassin the group chat later or something okay?” | stare him down. Harry mimes zipping and locking his lips then throwing away the key. | take a deep breath.

“Okay. | told Bellamy I love him.” | force out. Harry looks like he is repressing a squeal. Bellamy steps up besideand hooks his arm around my waist, pullingclose to his side.

“And | said it back, in case that wasn’t to the front door.

Vious.” He adds. At that, Harry rolls his eyes. Then he starts heading straight “Okay, I'm leaving and saying noth as promised. But keep an eye on the group chat. In the meantime, | need to go remind Cam that she totally owesfor helping with that delivery.” He grins and leaves in a hurry.

“Well, I guess | should put this somewhere safe until we find someone who actually knows Kiara well enough to be able to use it.” | say. | can’t decide if having the potion is exciting or depressing. It's like having the key to a car that doesn’t work. Sure, it’s great. You have a car and it MIGHT be useful. But unless you can get it working, all it does is take up space and make you feel guilty, particularly when you know how useful it COULD be.

Bellamy agrees and offers to put it in the safe. | frown.

“You have a safe?” | ask. He laughs.

e shows “We do. Yes. In the office. I'll show you, con.” He says cheerfully, leadingby the hand. In the office he showshow there is a safe built in behind one of the bookshelves. It's kind of awesome. The type of safe that you only see on TV.

“I'm so impressed. This is really cool.” Bellamy showshow to open the safe and givesthe code. Most of what is in it is random paperwork, but there are a few other items, jewellery, weird looking artefacts. | ask about them and Bellamy explains that most of the Shifter’s spelled or confiscated items are kept here. Most of them aren't really all that useful. He also keeps paperwork, proof of ownership and the important documentation for the many businesses the Shifters are involved in. | carefully place the potion in a little empty corner, pushing it back to make sure that it'll be safe and won't tip out or anything when the safe door gets opened again.

Since we're in the office anyway, Bellamy takes a moment to ch*ck his emails for anything urgent before we get ready for bed. | climb into the recliner and push it back as far as it goes. | have every intention of just zoning out, maybe scrolling aimlessly through ssocial media. Except wait, | have another message. It’s from an unknown number.

Unknown- Good afternoon, | don’t know exactly how to address this but | have an issue | was hoping to get help with. I'm not sure that Alpha Kane is the right person to discuss it with. A few of my friends suggested | message this number. They said you and the Alpha are good friends and you might be able to help me. It’s okay if you can’t. | just thought | would try.

Unknown- My nis Sara by the way.

Oh, wow. | know I gave out my number, but | didn’t think anyone would takeup on the offer so quickly. | answer immediately, not wanting her to think that I’m not willing to help.

Ryann- Hello Sara, you can callRyann. If you tellwhat's wrong I'll see what | can do to help you out. | understand that sometimes it might be hard to approach Alpha Kane with certain matters.

my Unknown: Maybe Sara- Thankyou! Okay, so my issue is that my dad is REALLY overprotective. Like | love him and 2/3 176- Anticlimactic and assistance everything but it’s getting ridiculous. I'm eighteen years old and he won't letgo out alone or with any other men as protection. | never get to go out unless he is with me. I'm stuck with him ALL the time. | understand that right now there are additional warnings in place for young women and I'm not trying to ignore them. But this has been going on for ages. | want to go to university next year but unless he plans to attend classes with me, I'm scared he’s going to refuse to letgo. | know | could just move out, get a job and all that, support myself. But | don’t want to completely cut my dad out or leave him alone. | just want him to understand | need a little more freedom. I'm not a little girl anymore. | didn’t think Alpha Kane would understand, | mean his sister is in university but she has a guard all the time, so maybe he would agree with my dad. But there are plenty of other Shifters who get to go out without babysitters. Sorry, | know this is a lot, but I just really don’t know what to do. | just really need sadvice please! Chapter Comments 9 POST COMMENT NOW SHARE