Strings of Fate

19- Spies and stalkers

I really hope they don’t decide to stay for dessert. I expect Bellamy to pull out his phone and answer messages or scroll through Facebook or something, anything. But he doesn’t. His eyes are still on the restaurant but the way he’s angled himself in his seat, towards me, at least as

much as one can while in a car. Does he want to talk?

“Sooo….” I search for a conversation topic. His eyes dart to my face, then back to the

restaurant.

“Why isn’t Darrien here? Isn’t he Megan’s guard?” A look of irritation flashes across Bellamy’s

face.

“Sending him along would be implying that Tristan can’t protect his fiancee. It’s like a slap in

the face. Megan would never allow it.” I frown.

“I don’t get it, shouldn’t Tristan be grateful. A guard is just extra security right?” Bellamy

shakes his head.

“Definitely not. It would be like if you insisted a guard come with you while you’re out here with me. I can assure you that I would not be grateful.” I sigh. Then mentally freak out a moment. Is he implying that me seeing him is the equivalent of a date? Surely not. He’s probably just talking about trust in general again. Right? I’m definitely over analysing things.

“Men are exhausting.” Bellamy grins.

“I prefer to think of us as consistent.” I outright laugh at that.

“You mean predictably annoying?” Bellamy shrugs.

“Perhaps a little.” We fall silent again. This is a weird conversation. We’re talking, but since we’re also keeping a lookout neither of us is really looking at the other. At least not properly, with eye contact, and not for more than a few seconds. The silence drags on and my mind. drifts back to the matter of Darrien. The poor guy must be heartbroken since Megan got engaged. I hope someone is taking care of him at least. I decide to ask Bellamy about it.

“Bellamy?”

“Yeah?”

“About Darrien, does he have any close friends? You know, someone he might have told about his feelings for your sister. Someone who will make sure he is okay while Megan is with Tristan.” Bellamy looks like he is thinking really hard about it. A line creases his forehead as he furrows his brow in concentration.

“You know I really don’t think he has any friends. He is quiet as I am sure you have noticed. He moved here from another group of feline Shifters about a year ago and requested the position as Megan’s guard almost immediately. He spends most of his time tailing her.” Bellamy seems distressed at the realisation. He might be a bossy Alpha and he might not know Darrien well, but I can tell he cares, even if it didn’t occur to him until I brought it up.

He swears under his breath.

“It’s issues like this that destroy the other Alpha’s and the Beta’s trust in me to do my job.” He grumbles.

“What do you mean?” I ask cautiously. Bellamy slumps in his seat a little.

“Male Shifters are best at protecting and providing physically. Emotionally… that is usually

the role of the female Shifter. It doesn’t come to me naturally, it didn’t occur to me to be

concerned about Darrien’s… mental health.” He admits. I try for an optimistic tone of voice.

“Well now you know. I guess mission befriend Darrien has become even more urgent than I thought it was. Good thing it is already well underway. You know, it might be useful, to us

and him, if we let him in on it.” I comment.

“In on what?” He asks, he has a strange expression on his face and looks distracted, I’m not entirely sure he is actually paying attention to me now.

“Everything, what we think of Tristan, what we’re trying to do about it. It would give him a little hope I suppose. We wouldn’t even have to tell him WHY. He is Megan’s guard, it doesn’t seem too far out that we would consult him.” My suggestion catches Bellamy’s attention again, he looks doubtful.

“I’ll consider it. I think it more likely that he would run to Megan and tell her everything though.” I shrug.

“It’s up to you, but I think he would want to help us.” I let the subject drop as I notice a new thread appearing from Tristan. His red thread comes into view as whoever his fated soul mate is approaches. I whisper to Bellamy

“Bellamy, his red thread is visible. His soul mate has to be nearby.” I lean closer to the

window to keep an eye out. My nose bumps against the cool glass and I try not to think about. how stalker–y we’re being. Bellamy pulls out his phone and turns on the camera mode. Okay, so we’re really, really stalker–y… He leans in towards the window. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck as he whispers in response.

“Point her out if you see her.” I nod. Wait, they can’t hear us…

“Bellamy, why are we whispering?” I whisper. Bellamy meets my eyes, his expression is almost childlike.

“I don’t know, you whispered first. It just feels like we should. It’s like we’re spies or something.” he whispers back to me. I giggle quietly.

“Spies sounds better than stalkers at least.” I can’t seem to stop giggling.

“Quiet! You make a terrible spy, you can’t take anything seriously.” He gives me a grin and I laugh even harder. I notice a tall, red haired woman approaching. Tristan’s soul mate. I point her out between bursts of laughter. Bellamy uses his phone to snap a picture of her and we both sit and watch, eager to see what she is going to do. She pauses outside the restaurant. and looks in through the glass window. She looks irritated. She then flicks her bright hair over her shoulder, turns and strides back the way she came.

“What was that?” I question, in a NORMAL volume. I turn to face Bellamy and my brain. screeches

to a halt when I realise how close he’s gotten. He releases a breath before slowly

leaning back. Then he shrugs.

“Maybe she was coming to check up on him? Even if it is part of some nefarious scheme, it can’t be fun watching your partner date someone else. Even if they haven’t got a romantic

type relationship yet.” I nod, makes sense to me. We watch as Megan and Tristan complete

19- Spies and stalkers

their meal and duck our heads as they exit Borderline and get back in their car. We follow

them as they drive back to the compound where Tristan drops Megan off. Once he drives off, I sit back in my seat and sigh.

“Well, that didn’t really reveal very much.” I complain.

“We go

got a photo of the mystery woman though. I’ll see if we can figure out who she is. It might give us a little insight. When I zoom in on a computer I might even be able to see her mark. I think she was wearing short sleeves.” I groan and close my eyes. It has been a long day of shopping and espionage. I am craving my bed and all my comfy pillows. I hear Bellamy chuckle beside me and I crack open my eyes to look at him.

“I

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guess I should get you home.” He starts the car up again and heads back to my place.

I am completely disoriented as Bellamy shakes me awake from the drivers seat. I hadn’t realised I was so tired that I would fall asleep. I blush, embarrassed. It wasn’t even a long drive. Only a few minutes.

“Sorry…” I apologise, Bellamy waves my apology off dismissively.

“If you’re tired enough to fall asleep in the car then you needed the sleep. I don’t mind.” He opens his car door and climbs out, I get my own door and do the same. Bellamy is halfway around the car by the time I’m out and immediately steps forward to offer me his arm. I still think it seems rather excessive. The stairs are only a few metres away and I’m unlikely to face. danger in the minute it will take me to get to my door. But I allow him his actions without objection. It doesn’t actually do me any harm to let him walk me, so why not? A flash of white in the corner of my eyes catches my attention and I turn to look. I don’t even manage. to turn my head all the way when someone grabs my arm and firmly yanks me out of Bellamy’s reach. I try and scream but a cold hand covers my mouth.