Strings of Fate

Sharing and staring The car has barely stopped moving when | climb out. Bellamy followsbut once agam | refuse to take his arm.

| make my way up the stairs on my own although Bellamy still follows* close behind me. | ignore him. Waiting by my door is Shaun. My new guard for the evening. | greet him and unlock my door. | step inside then turn and stop, standing in the doorway so Bellamy can’t follow “I'd invite you in but | am apparently not intelligent enough to make decisions about these things. My tone is falsely polite but I'm sure Shaum can tell that. Oh well, | fumble with purse and pull out thirty dollars. | thrust the cash into Bellamy’s chest. He catches sof it but a couple notes fall to the ground.

“For my share of dinner.” | then step back and slam the door shut in his face, locking it behind me. | pause to take a few deep breaths. | can hear Bellamy talking through the door, but not to m “Unless it is for the sake of her safety, you are not to enter her home, even if she invites you.” He orders.

“As you say Alpha Kane.” Shaun replies formally. | want to scream. How dare he? | throw my stuff onto the table and head into the kitchen area where two plates of cookies awaitas well as a note.

Thankyou so much for helping with Logan today, | definitely owe you one. Please pass my thanks on to your Shifter friend along with his share of the cookies.

Thankyou again, Maggie.

Feeling irritated, | grab the plate of chocolate chip cookies and take it to my room. My bed is freshly made and waiting for me. | quickly change into my unicorn pyjamas and climb in under the blankets. | settle in to watch Netflix for a bit while | eat my cookies and try and forget the general stupidity of men. Or at least of one man in particular. My relaxation doesn’t last long because | get a text. It's from Megan.

Megan- Did you and Bels fight? He’s been in a rotten mood since he got home. | know he sIM you, | can smell it.

Ryann- In the nicest way possible | have to tell you that is kinda creepy. But ves we did fight | thought you said that letting him protectwould make him LESS bossy overbearing? Megan-Usually it would. There must be something else bothering Ryann- | guess so.

Ryann- What tdo you wantto ctomorrow? Megan- Cin the morning whenever you're ready. I'm thinking we should have a girls only spa day. We can treat ourselves before we get all doiled up for my party.

Ryann Okay, I'll see you in the morning.

| chuck the phone to the end of my bed. | glance at the plane off cookies besideand grimace. I've eaten way too many. That sort off explains why my stomach feels off and why I’m having trouble relaxing. Too much sugar probably.. | dug myself out from under my blankets and grab the remaining cookies. | take them to the kitchen and put them in a plastic container. I'm about to cover it up when | remember that Shram is still standing outside. | transfer a couple onto a plate before covering the rest. | then head to the front door. Whem | open it.

Shaun immediately turns to face me.

“I was going to ask if you were planning on going somewhere but based on your outfit I'm thinking no.” He smiles atand | laug “Are you dissing my unicorns.” | demand. The simater his head with a serious expression.

“Of course not Miss Gale. Just motting your lack off shoes. Obviously.” I all my eyes at him.

“Oh of course.” | respond sarcastically.

“Well, I actually cto bring you a smack.” | hold up the plate of cookies. His expression lights up.

“Thanks.” He barely manages to get the word out before shoving the first cookie in his mouth. | have to try not to giggle.

“You should just cins-" Shaun cutsoff.

“I can’t cin, Alpha Kane would kill me.” He givesan apologetic smile. | cross my arms. across my chest, annoyed and glare at him.

“But he’s being ridiculous. It's my home. | should be able to invite people in if | want to.” | complain. He hold his hands up in the universal gesture for ‘hey, chill out,” “Look, | can’t say | understand his reasoning, but he’s my Alpha and my boss. | can’t afford to get myself in trouble. We can’t all get away with slamming the door in his face.” | pout, annoyed. A breeze blows past and | shiver slightly. It's not exactly cold, but my pyjamas aren’t really designed to be worn outside either. Shaun notices my discomfort.

“You should head back inside.” he suggests. | kinda wanted to take the chance to test my dominance or whatever like Bellamy mentioned earlier, | didn't exactly give him a chance to bring it up again. | think it would be less awkward without him hovering anyway. | leave the door open as | head back in.

“Just a sec, I'll be right back.” I call out as | head to my room. | chuck on my slippers and find my fluffy dressing gown and slip it on, tying it loosely around my waist. Now | should be warm enough. Shaun is standing in the doorway peering inside curiously. It doesn’t escapehow careful he is not to pass the threshold though.

Bellamy is so annoying. | step outside. with Shaun.

“You really don’t need to hang around out here Miss Gale, I'm really fine out here by myself.” | shrug.

“I'm bored. Besides, | was hoping you could helptest something.” Shaun raises an eyebrow.

“Now I'm curious. As long as it doesn’t interfere with my guard duties I'll be happy to help.” He responds cheerfully. | decide to just go for it.

“During dinner, Bellamy and | ran into another Shifter. The woman was rude and annoyed met Sharing and staring and so | basically made her back off. Bellamy suspects that because of it | may actually bet quite dominant which would explain a bunch of other problems I've had throughout my life with people struggling to meet my eyes. | wanted to test that theory. He said he doesn’t have an issue with my eyes and Megan doesn’t either. But pretty much everyone else | meet seems to.” | explain.

“So you want to see if | can hold eye contact with you?” he predicts my request. | nod. He shrugs.

“Sure, why not. I'm not very dominant when compared to Alpha Kane, but I'm no pushover. Let’s give it a go.” He smiles at me. I'm kinda nervous. | hate making eye contact most of the time. | tend to only do it when I'm really comfortable or really annoyed.

“So what am | meant to do exactly?” Shaun laughs.

“Just pretend it’s a staring contest, although you are allowed to blink | suppose. The first person to look away loses.” He explains.

“Then why look away?” | question.

“It’s instinctive for Shifters to submit to those who are more dominant. If you are more dominant I'll look away naturally. I'm not sure if it works the sfor you but there's no harm in testing.” | take a deep breath.

“Okay.” | look up at him so | can properly meet his eyes. It feels a little ridiculous, he is much. taller thanso | have to adjust my position to be more comfortable. The moment our eyes. meet, Shaun’s go wide. | try not to look away as | usually do. | know I'm making him. uncomfortable, great. | only just have tto note that Shaun has green eyes with yellow. flecks when he flinches slightly and drops his gaze to the floor.