Strings of Fate
185- Honesty and hatred
As I approach the house, I can see neighbours peering out their windows at us. I give one of them, a
kid, a cheerful little wave before he ducks back behind the curtain. I guess the door breaking was a little
loud and this is a bit of a weird situation. I’m surprised the police haven’t turned up yet. Not that they
would do anything. A Shifter Alpha hasplete authority over their Shifters. If Bemy wants her in
jail or something, all he has to do is parade her up to the police station, prove who he is and tell them
how long she should be put away for. I swear, the only reason the different races don’t all have
separate prisons is because they just don’t need them that often. When you add magic and other
impressive abilities, most people whomit serious crimes go down swinging and end up dead, like
Tristain did. If he had dropped it then he probably would have just been locked away. It’s one of the
reasons the MRO doesn’t like having Unknown magics around. No faction is responsible for us. We’re
a nightmare forwyers. I can argue that as a Magic, only the leader of my particr race can sentence
me. Since no one knows what that actually is… well that’s where it gets confusing. Sure, I am sort of
human, but so are Witches and they are sentenced by their covens. Basically ourw system doesn’t
work if you don’t fit into one of their carefully prepared little boxes. Although I guess that now I’m
registered as the female Feline Alpha, I might actuallye under Shifter rules now. It’s hard to be
sure. Not that I n on rule breaking, it’s just a strange thought.
I carefully step over the wreckage that used to be the front door. It’s pretty much shattered. There will
be no saving this door. Shaun is the first one to notice me in the doorway and looks a little shocked. He
looks like he might object to my presence, but then he makes eye contact with me and after a moment
is forced to look away. He drops his gaze and says nothing. I am about to head into the living room
where I can hear talking when I remember the kid in the
window.
“Shaun, can you do me a favour?” I ask. He looks shocked.
“Of course Al- Miss Gale.” He seems surprised by his own slip. So am I. Was he about to call me
Alpha? I guess I did just force him to submit. Still, it’s enough to make me ch*ck myself. What am I
doing? Storming in here alone. I should wait for Bemy, we can figure this out together. Shaun seems
to notice the change in my expression because he rxes a little.
“What did you need?” He asks.
“Oh, I was going to ask if maybe you could go chat with the neighbours. I can see their awake. Maybe
just let them. know that the Shifter Alpha is here dealing with a Shifter who has stepped out of line.
Assure them that no one is being harmed and that they arepletely safe. We’ve got a bit of an
audience at the windows.” I point out. He raises an eyebrow but nods his agreement and heads out,
passing Bemy on the way and nodding respectfully.
“That was a good idea.” Bemyments. I shrug in response.
“I’d want to know.” Is all I tell him. He is looking at me warily and after a moment I sigh and hold my
hand out to him. He steps forward and sps my hand, twisting our fingers together and holding tight.
“We’ll talk to her together.” I say firmly and Bemy gives me a half smile as he nods before leading me
into the living
room.
Cheryl is tied to what looks like a dining chair. I’d say that’s enough to hold her, but she’s a Shifter. She
could probably break the ropes with enough effort, or just shift out of them. But she isn’t moving at all.
Not speaking either, just ring at everyone. There are guards on either side of her. I’ve seen them
around, but I don’t know them by name. I’ll have to remember to find outter so I can thank them
properly. I turn my focus back to Cheryl. Her blonde hair which was so perfectly styledst time I saw
her is a mess around her face and I can see regrowth at the roots like she’s been
1/2
185–Honesty and hatred
neglecting it for a while now. If it’s even possible she looks even thinner than she did before. She looks
like she’s barely eaten or slept. I’d be tempted to feel bad for her, except the way she’s ring at me
makes that impossible. If looks could kill I would be six feet under and then some.
“You can speak now.” Bemy tells her coldly. Immediately she starts spitting out threats and insults.
Oh, so that’s why she was quiet. Bemy did his Alphamand type thing. I assume that’s why she’s
not trying to escape either.
“Where is Kiara?” I demand. Cheryl pauses in her tirade and seems briefly confused before she
understands my question.
“Kiara? Is that the brat’s name? I don’t have her.” She looks smug and while I’ve never been a violent
person, I kind of want to hit her right now. I decide that instead of pushing her to answer questions she
doesn’t want to talk about, I’ll see what she IS willing to answer first so I cane up with better
questions.
N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
*Why did you take her?” I demand. She shrugs as well as she can with her arms pinned at her sides by
rope.
“She can be useful. But mostly I just figured you would notice. You didn’t even react to my first threat, I
thought I needed to step it up a bit. Then you moved in with the Alpha which made it difficult to get a
message to you. I thought this would make my point just as well. You took my son from me, so I took a
child from you. I assume she’s rted to you somehow. Your marks match and I’ve never seen anyone
else with that particr marking.” She grins at me in a way that definitely suits the psycho name that
we’ve been addressing her by.
“But why? I don’t even know her!” I realise I’m beginning to raise my voice and carefully take a deep
breath to steady myself. Bemy squeezes my hand in encouragement.
“You don’t? I just assumed you did. It doesn’t matter either way. Clearly taking the girl still got your
attention so it did what it was meant to do. Her powers aren’t the same as yours, but they’re simr
enough. It was a coincidence that I found her. Just saw her passing on the street and saw her mark.
But when I looked into it and realised that your magic is rted to the fates, well I knew what needed to
be done. If you weren’t so obsessed with fate none of this would have ever happened. Using the girl’s
ability to see death I’ve been picking out victims who aren’t meant to die yet, just like my son shouldn’t
have died.” She smirks and 1 stare in horror.
“Why? Why would you do that?” I ask quietly, my tone almostpletely t.
“To show you that you’re wrong. Fate is wrong. It changes all the time. If my son can be killed because
of fates meddling then why not someone else?” She is practically ranting at this point. She’s actually
insane. She killed all these people just to basically prove that my powers are useless? Everyst bit of
pity I had for her because she lost her son is gone now and all that’s left is hate. I hate her, I always will
hate her and if this is the kind of person she is, I don’t see how there was ever any other oue. For
half a second everything is dark, Like I’ve closed my eyes or blinked really slowly. When I open them I
see something new, something I’ve never seen before. My threads have changed. There is a ck
thread joining myself and Cheryl that most definitely was not there before.
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