4- Slippers and surprises

I wake to a loud banging sound. It takes me a moment to realise it is someone knocking really, really loudly on my front door.

I groan and pick up my phone to check the time. Eight twenty-two AM. Who could possibly be visiting me?

Maggie should be at the markets right now and Logan on his way to school, besides, neither of them would ever knock so... aggressively.

I force myself to climb out from under my covers and shiver as the cool morning air hits me. I glance in the mirror  as I pass it and realise my ponytail from the night before has twisted and now sits awkwardly on one side of my head with half my hair pulled loose in a weird loop. I pull the tie from my hair and slip it over my wrist. The banging continues.

“I'm COMING, chill out already would you.” I grumble. Oddly enough the banging does actually stop. Whoever is on the other side of the door clearly has great hearing if they heard what I just said. That or they gave up on me answering and went home. I hope for the latter because I really want to just go back to bed.

I shuffle to the door and swing it open. My actions might seem a little reckless, I probably should have glanced through the window to see who it was at least before answering. But I am tired and not awake enough to consider things like my own safety.

In fact I feel that the person on the other side of the door should probably be the one who is afraid of me considering how irritated I am.

Standing in my doorway is a man that I can only describe as breathtaking.

He is tall and muscular with black hair that has a slight wave to it and golden eyes. A glance at his arm tells me he is a Shifter.

In fact, he is the same kind of Shifter as Megan. He is wearing blue jeans, a black button up shirt and is standing with his arms crossed, his expression impatient.

I open my mouth to speak when I notice something that my sleepy brain hadn't registered until this moment.

I rub my tired eyes as I stare. There is a red thread coming from the Shifter man's chest.

The truly surprising part of this is that it leads straight across to mine. I stare up at him with wide eyes, not sure how to react.

My soul mate is a Shifter?

And he is standing right in front of me. Half of me wants to throw myself at him. I am so excited to meet him at last.

The rest of me wants to go build a blanket fort and hide. I'm not sure I'm ready for a soul mate just yet, and I barely know this guy. I chastise myself internally. I am being ridiculous. This man has no idea that we are tied by the red string of fate, I need to treat him normally and get to know him, not act all creepy.

This reminds me that he is still standing and staring at me, his nostrils flaring slightly as he looks me over. He doesn't seem impressed with my unicorn flannels and bunny slippers. Go figure. I pull myself together enough to act (mostly) normal.

“Um, good morning?” I greet him, my voice a question. When he speaks his tone is stern and all business.

“Are you R.G?” he demands.

“Excuse me?” I ask. He rolls his eyes.

“Are you being deliberately stupid or are you really this slow? Are you the R.G who wrote this note to my twin sister Megan?” he demands again, this time waving the note I had written the night before in my face. I flinch back as it comes a little too close. Rude much?

“Oh, that. Um... yes? My name is Ryann Gale.” I introduce myself.

“I'm Bellamy Kane. We need to talk.” Without asking, he pushes his way past me and enters my apartment. My temper rises at the intrusion.

“What are you doing? This is my home, you can't just let yourself in!” I try and keep my voice firm but when he turns and fixes me with his golden eyes I shrink back.

The look he gives me is imperious and I automatically drop my eyes to the floor as is my habit. Then I force myself to look back up again. He doesn't notice me looking up because he's already looked away from me.

He's being rude, I refuse to show that he's scaring me, even though he most definitely is. He glances around and after realising that since my couch is currently piled high with laundry, the only place to sit is the little table with its two chairs he points to it.

“Sit.” he orders. I glare at him. Who is he to order me around like this? How can someone this obnoxious possibly be my soul mate? Maybe I'm still asleep. I pinch my arm and my eyes water a little from the sting of pain. Okay, not asleep then. I cross my arms and stare at the man, although I avoid his eyes.

Bellamy Kane.

He seems like someone who is used to getting his own way. Usually I am not the type to pick fights. If someone wants me to sit, I'll probably do it, because really, why not? But if this man is my soul mate then I refuse to allow him to treat me as anything but an equal, even if he doesn't know it yet. He won’t hurt me, at least I’m mostly sure he won’t. I don't think I could ever fall for someone who would hurt me, so it stands to reason that he wouldn't.

“Mr Kane, you can't just barge your way into my home and order me around.” He rolls his eyes at me again.

“Would you rather I phrase my demand sweeter, and have no doubt this is a demand not a request. Miss Gale, would you be so gracious as to take a seat so that I can speak to you properly about the rather vague note you left for my sister last night.” He phrased the words politely, but his tone is sarcastic and still every bit as demanding.

I want to keep arguing but I also really want to know more about Megan. I hope the note didn't upset her too much. I decide to give into his demands this once and sit down. I try to retain whatever dignity I have left as I take a seat.

“Are you happy now?” I gesture at the other chair for him to sit down too. He sits across from me and I do my best to appear confident and put together. Well, as put together as one can look with bed head and bunny slippers.

“Why did you leave my sister that note?” he questions. I shrug.

“I saw that man, Tristan was it? Propose to her. I know it's not right so I wrote her a note.” The Shifter narrows his golden eyes at me and suddenly I am certain that he is some kind of feline Shifter. Something about his eyes is so cat-like.

“And how did you 'know it's not right'?” He mimics me in a childish tone. I sigh. Explaining my magic is always frustrating. People either think I'm making it all up, since no one else has the same power as me, or they think I'm odd and start to interrogate me wanting to know about their friendships and relationships.

“I know it's not right because of my magic.” I state, trying to keep my voice even. He leans in closer to me.

“But you're human. You smell human.” he informs me, his expression looks like one of disgust. Since I know that humans don't smell any worse than Shifters, just different, I know the disgust is at the idea of me being human, not my actual smell. I raise an eyebrow.

“Stop sniffing at me, and I'm not human.” I state firmly. He crosses his arms over his chest again.

“Then what are you?” he demands. I shrug.

“Beats me, if you can figure it out let me know.” I say casually. His eyes open in surprise.

“You are an unknown Magic?” His tone is incredulous. He inhales deeply again, if I didn't know he was a Shifter I wouldn't really think it odd, but now I know he's... sniffing... It's my turn to roll my eyes.

“I know, I know. Big shock right? How can this be and blah blah blah. I am an orphan and even though I know my power, it doesn't fit into any species, so I'm stuck as an unknown.” Okay, so maybe that came out a little more aggressive than I intended.

What can I say, I have issues and he touched a nerve. He ignores my sass and continues his interrogation. It is far too early for this.

“What is your power then?” I give a brief explanation of my ability to see the threads of fate and a run down of the common types.

“Tristan has a red thread but it isn't linked to Megan. I usually try to ignore this kind of thing. Fate always sorts itself out after all. But I have a blue thread, the friendship one, linked to Megan. If she is fated to be my friend then I don't want her to suffer when I can prevent it.” Mr Kane seems doubtful of my explanation.

“You can see if people are fated to be together, and you believe you are meant to be friends with my twin sister?”

Twin?

Well that's unusual. Magics don't often have twins, but when they do, they're powerful.

I nod at him. Now might be a good time to mention that I can see a red thread connecting the two of us. I glance up at his expression which is still suspicious.

Or maybe not.