Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan
Chapter 18

Strings of Fate.

18- Waiting and watching

Bellamy’s mood seems to have improved. Every now and then I glance up at him and every time he smiles at me. It’s actually almost scary. We finish eating then Bellamy pays for the food and leave to walk to his car which he claims is only a few streets away. His mood is still bright, in fact he might even be more cheerful than he was while we were eating.

“What’s with you all of a sudden?” I ask thoughtlessly. The smile on his face fades.

“What do you mean?” he asks cautiously. I shrug.

“I don’t know, you’re all happy. I can’t figure out why.” Bellamy looks

“What is it?” I demand.

away.

“Well, that meal went better than the last one. You didn’t even argue when I paid for the

food.” I roll my eyes at him.

“I figured I would just give you cash later, or pay if we end up eating out again.” Bellamy

shakes his head.

“Just leave it.” I open my mouth to object. He turns a dazzling smile on me.

“Please?” I frown. He is trying to charm me into compliance with that smile which just makes me more suspicious of it.

“Why?” Bellamy just shrugs.

“I like feeding you.” He freezes when his mind catches up with his words and realises how

odd it sounded.

“I mean… I. It’s no inconvenience, just think of it as a thank you for helping with my sister and…” he trails off awkwardly. I’m blushing and I drop my eyes to the ground. I think back to what Megan said about Shifters feeling generous towards their mates. I suppose there isn’t a lot I can do to change that, but I promise myself I will try not to take advantage of it.

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18–Waiting and watching

“Fine, just this once. But now you’ve used the ‘thanks for helping my sister excuse‘. Next time I’m paying for myself.” Bellamy chuckles under his breath.

“Of course Ryann.” I feel rather guilty that I haven’t told Bellamy what I know about us, but I just can’t bring myself to. I still don’t really know why he was so rude when we first met, plus: if he knew that we’re fated, he would probably feel obligated to me and would treat me oddly. Not to mention the obligation that I’m already feeling towards him. Every time Megan mentions how important it is that he replaces a mate as soon as possible I feel awful because I could basically solve half his life problems. Although I’m not really sure if a non–Shifter mate is what the Betas are expecting from him. Still, I think I would rather get to know Bellamy without the pressure, at least he won’t feel the pressure. I’ll just ignore it as best as I can. The problem is that the longer I leave it the harder it is going to be to tell the truth. This is so frustrating. We reach the car and Bellamy opens the passenger door for me. Once we are in, he starts the car and drives back towards the Shifter compound where Tristan is apparently going to be collecting Megan for their dinner date. Bellamy parks the car out the front of the compound and kills the lights as we sit and wait for Tristan to arrive. After a few minutes of waiting I notice a black thread floating from Bellamy’s chest. I have a terrible feeling about this. It has to be with Tristan surely. Who else could it be? Sure enough when Tristan drives up the black thread joins them.

“Well, I can’t say that’s a surprise.” I sigh as Megan climbs in the car with Tristan. We follow them as they drive away. Bellamy is careful to keep enough space between us that they won’t

see us.

“What’s a not a surprise?” Bellamy’s tone is curious and despite the serious situation, still quite light. I hesitate for a second. If I tell Bellamy, is it going to make him hate Tristan more. or change how he views him? I banish the thought from my head. Bellamy already hates the guy. I can’t really make the relationship worse and telling him probably won’t change.

anything.

“Your threads… well you have a black one.” I say slowly. Bellamy nods.

“Tristan?” he confirms. I nod, pushing a strand of my midnight blue hair from my eyes as I try to gauge his reaction.

“I’m not sure if I feel better or worse knowing that I was fated to be enemies with the guy. I

suppose

it doesn’t actually matter, it doesn’t change anything between us.” Bellamy goes silent for a moment and when he speaks again his demeanour is cautious,

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18- Waiting and watching

“I thought you said you wouldn’t tell me about my threads?” The words came out as a

question.

“Actually, what I said is that you can’t ask me. Not that I wouldn’t tell you.” I remind him. He

frowns.

“Is there a difference?”

“Definitely, this way I choose when and what I tell you about them.” Bellamy raises ant

eyebrow.

“Them? So you have seen at least two then. I can’t say I’m not curious.”

“Bellamy…” my tone is a warning.

“Ah, don’t worry. I won’t ask. I did promise you. I’m just saying that if you DID feel like telling me, I wouldn’t say no.” I can barely believe my eyes as Bellamy actually turns and winks at me. Part of me is screaming that this could be a perfect time to tell him about OUR thread. He’s in a good mood and we haven’t fought in at least thirty minutes. But I talk myself out of it. For starters, I am not giving him such shocking information while he is behind the wheel of a car. He would likely kill us both. I jump when he speaks again, still caught up in my

internal debate.

“I have a question about the threads. Don’t worry, not about my own. If you know someone hasn’t met those people they are fated to meet, does that mean that you know that person

won’t die? What if, theoretically of course, you were to shoot one. Does that change the fates?” He seems incredibly curious. I shrug.

“Fate knows what it’s doing. I don’t need to supervise it. If I were to try and interfere, my

interference would have been accounted for in planning that person’s fate. If I shot someone, I might miss and just hurt them and they might meet the person they are meant to meet at the hospital. Maybe they will be dying and then the person they were meant to meet would show up in time to try and save them, get attached, then lose them. Which by the way I have seen once and it was the most depressing thing. I know if they’re fated, not how long they will last.” I try to explain. Bellamy is already prepared with his next question.

“If fate happens no matter what, then why does it matter if you tell people their threads?”

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18- Waiting and watching

“Because fate is so much easier to face when you don’t see it coming. If you know what someone is going to be to you, you will treat them differently which makes everything more complicated. If I told a couple that they were fated to be together, assuming they actually believed me. Then sure, they might get together, but they would probably not be honest with each other, they would treat each other how they think they should and would probably not be their genuine selves which would result in trouble which they would then have to resolve later. Trouble which could have been avoided if I left them alone and let them come together

naturally. Does that make sense?” Bellamy shrugs.

“I think so, but I still have a few doubts.” I roll my eyes.

“The entire question is irrelevant because people don’t believe me if I do say something.” I

remind him.

“I believed you.” he points out.

“Not until after you made me prove myself, and I didn’t tell you anything about yourself. It’s harder to accept when it happens to you.”

“I found your note and didn’t ignore it.” he argues. I shake my head.

“You didn’t trust that what I wrote was true, you just really wanted to believe it so you gave it a chance. It’s not the same thing. People will believe anything if they want it to be true, or if they’re scared that it might be true.”

“Whatever.” he grumbles. He pulls over to the side of the street, right outside my work.

“They must really like it here.” Bellamy comments. I shrug.

“The food isn’t bad and some of the staff are nice enough.” I state casually. Bellamy laughs.

“Only some?”

“One of the shift managers is kind of annoying, and a few of the servers have serious attitude towards customers behind their backs. Some make inappropriate comments about the Succubi customers, complain that the coven of Witches are snobby and so on.” I explain.

18- Waiting and watching

“Are they snobby?”

“Oh definitely, but that’s not the point. We’re paid to be there and work, not judge people off one single interaction. If the worst part of my shift is just talking to a rude customer then it really wasn’t that bad a day. It’s not like they’re really being rude to me, they’re being rude to an unknown server. There’s no reason to take it personally.” Bellamy stares at me.

“That’s… a very mature way of looking at it I suppose.”

“Thanks, I guess…. so what now?” I gesture at Borderline. Bellamy pushes his car seat back.

and leans backwards.

“Now we watch and see if Tristan meets up with anyone, or if you see any threads that could

lead to clues.” Well that is kind of boring.

‘So… we wait?” I confirm.

“We wait.” I sigh and copy Bellamy in pushing my seat backwards.