Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 31

31- Dinner and dominance

“It’s not a problem.” I say. I place a hand over Bellamy’s arm to reassure him that I can take care of this.She clearly meant no disrespect… to him. The hostesses eyes zero in on where I’m touching him.Releasing his arm, I push up the sleeve of my dress. It’s difficult since it’s fitted, but the fabric isstretchy so I manage to get it rolled up all the way so that my mark is visible.

“Is this enough evidence for you?” I ask her, keeping my tone pleasant. While I would usually keep myeyes down, this time I am sure to make proper eye contact with her so that she can feel the full force ofmy unnatural eyes. I can see her discomfort as her eyes flit to the floor. I can feel the second she givesin. Her expression remains polite, but where she stood up straight before, she keeps her head bowedslightly. She also refuses to make eye contact again. as she mutters something about the evidencebeing sufficient and shows us to a table. She then leaves us to consider the menu and promises that aserver will be with us shortly. I start reading over the menu but I can’t focus because Bellamy is lookingat me.

“Why are you staring?” I demand. Bellamy jumps slightly as if he had been deep in thought.

“I’m not, of at least I didn’t realise that I was staring. I was just thinking. That woman, the hostess.She’s considered a rather dominant Shifter. Her older brother is one of the Betas.” I

don’t really understand what he’s trying to tell me. Is he upset that I wasn’t nicer to her? Or maybe he’sinterested in her. I don’t give voice to either of these thoughts. I just shrug my shoulders casually.

“So?” I ask. Bellamy smiles at me, so he’s not upset I guess.

“So you had her submit to you in a matter of seconds. It suggests that you are quite dominant yourself.At least as much as her, probably more considering your friendship with my sister and the way you talk

back to me all the time.” he explains. I frown, I’ve never considered myself a dominant person. Most ofthe time I’m quite shy, I keep my eyes to the ground and

avoid conflict. Bellamy notices my expression.

“You disagree? I don’t see how you can. You took her down with just a few seconds of eye

contact.” he points out. I shake m

head.

“That was out of character for me. Usually I avoid eye contact with everyone. My eyes are

weird and make people uncomfortable,”

“Have you ever thought that maybe that it’s just that the eye contact shows your dominance. and thatmakes people uncomfortable? They don’t know how to react so they avold you. Bellamy seemsenthusiastic, like he’s had an epiphany and now needs me to catch up and reach the same conclusion.

“What makes you sa-” I stop as a server approaches us. I didn’t really read the menu properly. so I justpick the first thing that looks good. Some pasta ravioli dish. Bellamy chooses a steak. I wait for theserver to walk away before continuing.

“What makes you say that people avoid my eyes because I’m dominant?” I question. Bellamy shrugs.

“I like your eyes. I’ve never wanted to avoid them. Neither has my sister or Darrien for that matter. Itwould suggest that those who are your equal in dominance have no problem with your eyes.” Hesounds proud of himself for his reasoning. I remain unconvinced.

“I’m not even a Shifter.” I remind him.

“That doesn’t matter. Everyone is more or less dominant in some way. Witches have covens and ahierarchy of elders, Oracles are ranked by their age, even Humans tend to divide themselves by theamount of power and authority they possess. All species do, it’s just more obvious with Shifters. Weknow what it means so we behave accordingly.”

“If what you’re saying was actually true, it would mean that until I met you and Megan, I have literallynever met anyone else who is more dominant than me. That seems a bit far fetched.” I point out.Bellamy shakes his head.

“Not really, you forget that I am an Alpha. There aren’t many people who are my equal in dominance. Ifyou are nearly as dominant as me, then it’s entirely possible that you’ve never run into anyone asdominant as yourself before. Or if you did they might not have noticed your eyes or just chose not tosay anything.” he argues. I shake my head.

“This entire argument is pointless, because people don’t just avoid my eyes, I avoid theirs first. That’shardly the actions of someone dominant. I’m not powerful.” Bellamy shrugs at me again. It’s beginningto get really annoying.

“It would be if the dominant person is trying to blend in with people who are more submissive. I’m notsure why you would think you aren’t powerful, you’re one of the most powerful people I have ever met.You see fates, definite paths that people will take. Even Oracles only see potential futures. It’s a goodthing you are such a kind person because in the wrong hands your powers could be used to do anawful lot of damage. Not abusing power is not the same as having no power. We can test this later.Shaun is assigned to be your night. guard this evening. When I take you home, I’ll ask him to see if hecan hold your stare.” he suggests. I frown.

“What would that prove?”

“It’s basically a contest. First one to drop their gaze is the more submissive one. That’s not to say themore dominant one couldn’t look away first, but it would be basically just them agreeing to give in. LikeI do with Megan sometimes. She stares me down but we both know that when it comes down to it, I’mmore dominant. Although just barely. It doesn’t work if you are significantly more dominant though, theother person submits before you have a chance to.” he considers a moment.

“If Darrien is to be her mate, he must be more dominant than I realised, he should be her equal afterall.” He adds as an afterthought.

“Tristan is quite dominant too. I’m not sure if he is as dominant as Megs though. I doubt she’s evertested him.” I’m relieved that the conversation seems to have moved away from discussing mysupposed dominance. If I had known it would cause so much drama, I would

have never taken care of the hostess, I would have just left it to Bellamy. I didn’t know enough aboutthis dominance stuff. Megan mentioned it briefly, but mostly just to explain that mates have equaldominance. When she showed me around the compound, I avoided. everyone’s eyes as usual so Ididn’t notice if anyone reacted unusually. Megan occasionally commented if a particular Shifter wasespecially dominant or submissive but I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to the information since Ididn’t really know why it was relevant. Since I’m fated to be with Bellamy, I must be as dominant ashim. It’s that knowledge which is making it rather difficult to disagree with him. I had sort of assumedthat maybe the whole dominance thing didn’t really apply to me as much since I’m not a Shifter. I couldhave been wrong I suppose. The server finally arrives with our food and wow does it smell good. Weare both distracted from conversation for a few minutes as we dig in. Apparently awkward discussionswith future soul mates and fights with bitchy hostesses really amp up my appetite. Who knew!

31- Dinner and dominance

I’m about halfway through my meal (which FYI is amazing) and no longer feel like I’m going to starve todeath, so I begin searching for a new topic of conversation while Bellamy is still eating. If I can think ofsomething appropriately interesting then hopefully he won’t bring the discussion back to me. I reallydon’t want to ask about his hobbies or anything too personal, it will make this feel too date–like. Iinitially planned to discourage all date–type behaviours, but the catty hostess (literally… get it? Catty?Hahahaha…. okay moving on) ruined that plan. Suddenly my desire to stick it to her was moreimportant than my desire to keep Bellamy arms length. Well, there’s only one

topic that I can think of that is anything close to work–related.

“So, about Tristan. Assuming that is isn’t actually in love with Megan and is trying to take advantage ofher in some way, what is he actually trying to achieve?” I ask. Bellamy shrugs.

“It’s hard to be sure exactly but the usual motives I guess. Money, sex and power are usually whatpeople plot for. Money is always a possibility. I’m sure you’ve noticed that my family isn’t hurting forcash. But there are easier ways than marrying my sister. Sex…” Bellamy shudders.

“I don’t want to think about that, but Tristan has a soul mate so I seriously doubt that’s his goal.”

“Which just leaves power.” I conclude.