Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan

Cam 46 -Charges and changes 

The first thing the police do is have Harry release Simon and they put Simon in handcuffs. The moment he is no longer needed to restrain Simon, Harry is at my side and pulling me into his arms in a tight hug. I immediately melt into his hold but only for a few seconds. before I shove him away and begin checking him for injuries. He took a pretty nasty fall at the start there when Simon surprised us. 

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” I worry, poking and prodding at Harry’s arms and trying to step behind him to get a better look at his back. Harry steps around me, places his hands on the sides of my shoulders and pulls me around to face him. 

“Relax, I’m fine. Nothing worse than a few bruises. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were angling to get a look at my ass.” He winks at me and I glare. 

“This isn’t funny!” I object, crossing my arms over my chest. Harry sighs. 

“I know, but I really am fine.” He promises. I narrow my eyes and examine his face, searching for any sign of pain or hint that he might be lying but he does seem totally okay. I reluctantly give up my examination. 

With Simon loaded into the back seat of the police car and locked in, the police come to talk 

to us. 

“Why don’t you tell us what happened here exactly.” The older of the two ask. He’s a kindly looking gentleman and I have no trouble talking to him and explaining that Simon is a friend. of my grandmother and their attempts at setting us up and my ultimately‘ rejecting him. It explain that he’s been messaging me and I suspect stalking me and the messages have been getting increasingly aggressive. 

“I was just at the point of going to the police when this happened. Harry and I were out at dinner and he took me home, we were on the doorstep and Simon just showed up and began to attack Harry, he was ranting about how Harry is manipulating me and that I’m not in my right mind. He pushed me, but he was mostly attacking Harry. Then Harry just… well honestly I’m not sure what happened exactly but Harry did something with his magic, then while Simon was distracted he totally kicked his ass.” I turn to Harry. 

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you ulu that.” I tell him, my tone a clear question. The police turn to him expectantly, waiting for him to explain himself further. Harry shrugs. 

“Well, as Cam said, the creep showed up and yanked me off the steps, throwing me to the floor. He continued to try to assault me. I blasted my magic as much as I could to distract him, then I took him down and pinned him while he was distracted.” He says it like it was some simple task. The cops seem just as confused by the whole situation as I am. 

“You distracted some guy with… sex magic?” The younger cop asks, his tone doubtful. Harry shakes his head, 

“Nah, unless he was already into men I couldn’t make him feel lust. But I can push other emotions sometimes. In this case I dosed him with anxiety and anticipation. I was kind of hoping the combination would make him back down and leave us be, but sadly that didn’t work out. But the magic did still throw off his focus and made it easier to pin him.” He explains. 

“Yeah, about that. Since when do you have ninja skills?” I demand. Harry laughs. 

“I’m hardly a ninja, but I can hold my own in a fight.” He answers casually. I roll my eyes. 

“I just can’t believe it. I never would have guessed.” I press on. Harry tilts his head curiously. 

“Why not?” He questions. I raise an eyebrow, isn’t an obvious? 

Bor 

07: 

“Because you always seemed like the epitome of the phrase ‘lover not a fighter‘. Why do you even know how to fight?” I just want to understand what the hell just happened. My entire view of Harry is tilting. Harry laughs at my confusion. 

“You know I never understood that saying. As far as I can tell, lovers are the ones who need to fight the most, or at least have the most to fight for. As for why I learned… the dingbat is not the first man to randomly accuse me of stealing his girl and try taking a swing at me. It’s stupid, it’s not like women are come commodity that I can steal away. Regardless, I can take care of myself when it comes to jealous idiots. At least the regular ones. I wouldn’t want to take on a Shifter or any of the other more athletic species.” He adds at the end. He stares into the distance like he’s trying to work out exactly which groups of people he COULD take in a fight. Actually I’m almost certain that is what he’s thinking. The police officers continue to 

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Cam 46 -Charges and changes 

take notes, meanwhile Simon is literally banging on the car window and yelling something, but the sound is too muffled by the closed car door for me to make it out properly. The younger cop glances back and rolls his eyes. He clearly doesn’t have as much practice at pretending to be professional as his partner does. The older cop stays on topic. 

“You say he’s been sending you messages and that this is not your first altercation with him? I am going to have to ask you to come down to the station and give a full statement. Bring your phone and any messages or other evidence you have. We will want copies. Basically anything you have that shows your interactions with him or about him should help. That is assuming you plan to press charges.” He waits for me to confirm. 

“I definitely want to press charges for stalking, vandalism and assault. Harry should too, right Harry?” I tug on his arm and he nods. 

“Sure. I won’t be in trouble for restraining him, will I? I don’t think I hurt him badly, but his shoulder might end up a little sore and he might have broken his nose when he hit the ground.” Harry frowns, as if disappointed that he somehow messed up and hurt the guy. I roll my eyes. Simon deserves a broken nose and much worse as far as I’m concerned. The cops 

wave off Harry’s concern. 

“Your girlfriend here is a witness that you were just defending yourself and her, and if she also has the messages she says she does then I am sure there won’t be any trouble.” He assures us. I jolt in surprise at being called Harry’s girlfriend, but that’s what I am I suppose. 

It’s going to take some getting used to. 

The police leave, carting Simon off with them and after a quick trip inside to use the bathroom and to have a glass of water to steady my nerves. Harry drives us both to the station where we spend the next three and a half hours detailing our every interaction with. Simon, writing it all down, signing it. I hand over my phone and some guy makes copies of all the messages from Simon as well as the messages from my mother and grandmother. Apparently they might be relevant too although I’m not really sure why. By the time Harry drives me home it is stupidly late and we are both completely exhausted. My plans for the evening are definitely completely ruined. Not to mention I still have work tomorrow. I think Harry is meant to be working too. I’m starting to suspect that he does a lot of his work at night because there is no way he actually gets everything done in the few hours he works. during the day. One day I’m going to figure out his schedule. It would probably help if I knew more than the bare minimum about what he actually does and his life outside of his time with me. As I’m drifting off to sleep, I promise myself that starting tomorrow I am going to 

+1 

Boi 

07 

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Cam 46 -Charges and changes 

put as much effort into getting to know Harry as he has put into getting to know me. Maybe 

can take a turn annoying him at work for once. Either way, Simon is out of the way and things can only get better from here.