Chapter Four

Monday started like any other day.

I had just finished ringing up a customer at the bar when the entrance bell chimed. 

I didn't bother looking up right away, my mind was too occupied with the register.

“Welcome to Club Soda,” I said in the same cheerful tone my boss said I should sound like every time someone walks in.

I had barely lifted my head to see who just walked in when I suddenly smelled it. 

A scent so familiar it sent a shockwave right through me.

Sandalwood, Lavender, Wildberries.

My stomach flipped.

Oh no.

I forced myself to lift my gaze and there he was. 

Tall. 

Powerful.

Dangerous.

His blue eyes locked on mine and mine widened in shock. 

Like a flame catching fire, recognition flickered in his eyes, and suddenly, the space between us felt suffocating.

It was HIM!

I knew him nor in the way you know so someone from a casual conversation but no —

I knew him from the way his touch burned my skin. 

He was the stranger from that night.

He was the — Oh God — the father of my child.

My mate.

I gripped the counter, my breath hitching.

His gaze swept over me before settling on my stomach.

Seconds stretched like hours and I wanted so much to run.

I almost did but then his lips parted. 

“I've been looking all over for you,” he said.

I swallowed.

My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms.

I tried to ground myself in place but I was about to keel over any second.

Looking for me?

He had been looking for me?

Well, no shit.

I wasn't ready for this.

I did not rest for him. At all.

“Aurelia,” he muttered, stepping closer. My name on his lips sent memories of that night flooding back to me — him whispering my name in the dark over and over again.

I had told him my name that night.

I swallowed hard. Again. “You…”

I was pretending not to know him but I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to tell me this was a dream and his name wasn't — 

“Kieran.” He said.

Oh. Fuck.

His name.

The name I'd remembered the second he’d walk back into my life after 3 months like he never left.

I didn't feel relieved.

All I felt was rage. 

An anger that he had found me now, when I was barely holding myself together.

I had longed for his touch once. One that fate slapped in my face without a care in the world. 

Fate was cruel enough to tie us together.

“What do you want from me?” I said, my voice shaking.

“You.” He cut me off.

I flushed at the word.

Me?

“You're my mate, Aurelia.” He added.

Mate — that word had once meant everything to me. Now, it felt like a chain around my neck, nearly choking me.

“I — I don't care.” I bit out, my voice trembling despite my best effort.

Kieran's eyes darkened. “You don't mean that.”

“I know what I mean.” 

I turned away, pretending to busy myself with mixing drinks but my hands were trembling.

I felt Kieran move closer

I felt the heat of his body wrapping around me with an unshakable force.

“I never forgot your scent, Aurelia.” He spoke softer this time.

God. I hated the way his voice made my chest ache and I hated the way part of me wanted to believe him.

“Kieran…” I whispered, shaking my head.

He stepped beside me, close enough for me to hear his voice break. “I searched all over for you, Aurelia. I thought I'd lost you.”

I looked at him now and my heart was pounding heavily in my chest. “You did lose me.” 

The words hung in the air like a dagger between us. 

His hands curled into fists at the sides. “That night… I didn't know who you were. If I had known —”

“It wouldn't have changed anything,” I snapped. “You don't get to show up now and act like I matter. Like any of these matters.” 

“It does matter,” he said.

I shook my head. “No. You don't get to decide that for me.”

Silence stretched between us and damn, I wanted him to say something. Do something!

When he didn't say anything, I whispered. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Aurelia, please don't leave.” He pleaded in a cracked voice and the air in my lungs turned to stone. 

The bell above the door chimed and I used it as my escape. 

“Welcome to Club Soda.” I said sniffling quietly. 

I spent the rest of the day ignoring Keiran as I served customers and eventually went home.

I thought he'd stop with the way I embarrassed him at the bar but Kieran wasn't giving up just yet.

He followed me everywhere.

At some point, I stopped going out at all.

One time, my manager at the club called me, demanding why I hadn't showed up at work in a while. I wanted to tell him I was avoiding a particular blue eyed man but lied instead. I told him I wasn't feeling very well and he believed me which was weird.

I wasn't happy but I was comfortable with myself but it became a torment for me.

I kept seeing Keiran everywhere. In the hospital, in the kitchen, in the movies I saw. 

It was driving me crazy and I hated it.

I stumbled into Keiran again and lost all resolve. 

This time he asks me out on a date.

I should've said no.

I should've laughed in his face and told him to leave.

Or maybe I should've walked away but as I stared at the tiny crack in his armour, my heart sank.

Kieran had pressed gently at first, but somehow, somehow, I found myself agreeing. 

It was a curiosity.

It was the pull of the mate bond.

It was just me being lonely.

Two weeks later, I sat across from him in an expensive restaurant with both two of us in attendance. Apparently, Keiran had paid for every table in the entire restaurant just for us to have some privacy to ourselves.

While we ate, he watched me with soft blue eyes. I loved the way he looked at me. 

I hadn't realized I'd been blushing when he reached across the table to touch my face. 

“You're beautiful,” he said, his lips quivering in a way that made it impossible not to smile.

But my smile faded quickly and he caught on immediately.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, brushing his finger against mine. I tensed but he didn't pull away.

I forced myself to breathe. “No… Kieran, I —”

“Aurelia.” He repeated my name and I almost cried.

No, I did.

“I… I have something to tell you.” I said instead. 

His brows furrowed and his grip on my hand tightening slightly. “Talk to me.”

I pulled my hand back, feeling ashamed for no reason exactly. 

“Aurelia?” Kieran sat back, watching me with curious eyes. 

I closed my eyes and blurted out. “I'm pregnant.” 

Those words hung thick in the air and for a moment, Kieran didn't move but his expression didn't change. 

Then, slowly, he asked. “How far along?”

I looked down. “3 months.”

His jaw tensed.

That was all he needed to hear. The math was easy. Three months. It was the same amount of time since that night. Our night.

I watched his lips part as if to say something but no words came out.

My heart pounded in my chest. 

I knew what he was going to say. 

He was going to leave.

He was going to say this was too much.

He wouldn't want me. 

I had prepared myself to hear all of it but I didn't.

“You're expecting a baby.” He exhaled sharply.

I blinked back tears. “Kieran —”

“Is the baby mine?” He asked all of a sudden. 

I hesitated. And not because I didn't know the answer. 

I hesitated because saying it felt like unsealing something I had sealed for a long time.

But this wasn't about me.

If anything I owed him the truth.

“Yes.” 

Kieran closed his eyes for a moment, his chest rising and falling with deep, controlled breaths.

When his eyes found mine again, there was something in his eyes I couldn't place. 

But it was steady, warm and —

“It doesn't change anything, darling.” Kieran whispered.

I was stunned. “What?”

He reached for my hand again and I let him. “You. Me. Us. It doesn't change anything. I still want you. Both of you.”

Tears stung at my eyes and Let them fall. “You're not upset?”

“Mad?” He chuckled. “Aurelia, I'm happy!”

“What?”

He leaned closer. “I'm not running. I'm not leaving. I'm not afraid or angry, Aurelia. I'm here.”

I feel my hands lift and Kieran helps me to my feet and he steps his arms around me.

For the first time in a while, I wasn't alone.