Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan
Chapter 226

Bellamy 5- Sharing and showing

I sigh and face her again.

“You’re right.” I mumble the words.

“Excuse me?” She sounds incredulous. Ugh, she’s going to make me repeat it?

“You’re right okay? I should have tried asking you first. I will try to remember to do so in the future. I have been worried about my sister and after hearing she got engaged I might have. gone a little out of control. Don’t worry about your job. I know the man who owns Borderline, I will make sure you don’t get in trouble for missing your shift today.” I take another deep breath and I’m careful with my choice of words this time. I don’t like having to ask for help.

“I am hoping that you will agree to help me protect my sister by further investigating Tristan.” Ryann raises an eyebrow at me.

“I thought you didn’t really believe in my power?” I shrug.

“I’m not sure I do. Maybe it is just because you seem to be the only other person around here who is suspicious of Tristan, but I replace I really want to trust you.” At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself.

“So you have decided you do believe me?” She asks. I shrug and tell her about the test I have planned to confirm her abilities. It shouldn’t be difficult, but she looks unsure.

“I don’t know about this. I usually try to avoid sharing what I see. It seems a bit like a violation of privacy to share what threads I can see on people.” Huh, I hadn’t considered that. It’s actually kind of decent of her. I probably wouldn’t want my personal business shared with anyone who asks. But still, I need to know.

“Perhaps, but I can think of no other way to be sure.” She considers my words, her brow furrowing.

“I will tell you, but I have a few conditions. First, you can’t share the information I tell not even with the people themselves. Fate knows what it’s doing. I don’t need anyone

you,

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Bellamy 5- Sharing and showing

interfering with it.” I nod my acceptance.

“I can agree to that. What else?”

“Second. I won’t tell you anything about your own threads, not unless I feel you really need to know. Most of the time you are better off not knowing.” Oh. I mean, I hadn’t really considered asking about my own threads. But it could be helpful. If she could replace my mate for me the other Alphas would finally back off. but I can understand her reluctance. Maybe I can change her mind later. I nod slowly.

“Fine. Anything else?” he asks. She seems surprised that I agreed but nods that she isn’t done

with her conditions.

“One more thing. If I do tell you about someone’s threads. I need you to promise you will try your best not to judge them. No one is perfect and sometimes the threads get tangled and mixed up and will take time to sort themselves out. It is easy to be frustrated with people when you feel they are making the wrong decisions, but you have to remember they don’t know. Do you understand?”

“I understand. I can’t judge anyone anyway. It’s not like I have my life all figured out.” She

nods firmly.

“Okay, I’ll do your test then.” She finally agrees.

I can’t help but grin at her reluctance.

“Excellent. If you will follow me then.” I instinctively offer an arm to her and I’m almost surprised at my own actions. Offering to escort and protect her like I would a female Shifter isn’t like me. But it feels right. She hesitates a moment then takes my arm and I’m ridiculously pleased. Her hand is warm on my arm and rests there lightly. I lead her outside. to where I have arranged for a group of Shifters who live in the compound to wait. They have no idea what they’re actually here for, but they’ve agreed to spare me a few minutes either

way.

“I was confident you would agree, so here they are.“I can’t help but brag a little bit that I still ended up getting exactly what I hoped for, although I suppose she did win a few battles in making me ask for her help. I can tell that she thinks so too because of how she rolls her eyes

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dramatically.

“You didn’t plan to give me much choice so it’s not a surprise. Just pick someone.” She grumbles. Now I want to roll my eyes although I resist. I suspect that no one could make this woman do anything if she didn’t want to. I ask her a series of questions about the relationships between those present. She answers them easily and even provides more information than I asked for. Finally, I have one last test, this one might be a little unfair but

1 need to be certain.

“Okay, one more.” I point out old Beth. Her mate passed away a few months ago, so I don’t expect much. Rather than answer me, Ryann just starts walking. At first I think she’s avoiding. the question but then I realise she has a destination in mind. We make our way to the small cemetery that we keep and she stops in front of the most recent tombstone, kneels in front of it and runs her hands over it. Oh shit, is she crying? I didn’t mean to make her cry! I have no idea what to say or how to make this better. So I just stay silent and let her express herself. Eventually she breathes a deep sigh then gets to her feet and faces me, wiping tears on her sleeve. She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a watery eyed glare.

“Are you satisfied?” She demands, clearly upset.

“I… I didn’t think you would see anything for her. I expected you to say you couldn’t answer.” Except I’m remembering that she said something about seeing the threads after death when we first met. I thought that she was being dramatic. Can she really see a thread still

connecting them?

“Will you tell me what you see?” I ask, a little unsure. I’m not totally sure I want the answer anymore, but some morbidly curious part of me needs to know.

“The same thing I see for everyone else. There’s a red thread–connecting their hearts.” My heart races as she gently places her hand on my chest over my heart. It is only for a half second before she drops it but the feeling stays with me.

“From right here. It never fades, as long as one of the pair is still living. It seems that fate doesn’t believe in the saying ‘until death do us part. She stares at the gravestone looking melancholy for a minute before apparently shaking off her mood and turning her attention

back to me.

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“So, do you believe me now?” She asks. I nod. There’s no denying it. She answered every question right, and a few that I didn’t ask. She also managed to use the thread to navigate to replace this cemetery which she couldn’t have known about.

“Yes, definitely.” I assure her. I ask her if she is willing to hide the reason I asked her here from Megan but she seems uncomfortable with the idea. She did mention that she doesn’t like sharing information about people’s threads, how is this different?

“You want me to hide my powers from her? I’m fated to be her friend, I’m not sure I want to do that.” Ah, she doesn’t want to build a friendship based on lies. That is fair, I don’t think I would want Megan to have a liar for a friend either.

just

“No, I think you should tell her about your powers, don’t tell her that you’re here to investigate her and Tristan. I don’t think it would be useful to tell everyone about your powers though, if you don’t mind.” Mostly because if all the other Alphas and Shifters knew about her abilities she would be constantly harassed to replace people’s mates and to tell them if they’re dating the right person.

“I usually prefer it that way. You’re the first person I’ve told about my magic in years actually.” Huh? Really? But she told me right away. I mean I suppose I was pretty pushy. But she could have lied or kicked me out sooner. Why didn’t she?

“So what am I supposed to tell Megan about why I am here?” She asks. Damn, we are going to need a good reason. Something that only we would know about. Something personal but that Megan would support. An idea occurs to me, but I suspect it’s going to be embarrassing for me. Still, if it helps Megan I suppose I can deal with it. Maybe it will give me a chance to get to know Ryann a little more. Yes, I think she and I are going to be spending a lot of time together if I have any say in it.

“Tell her you’re here to replace my soul mate.”