Ch. 5 A Painful Confession

Saoirse POV:

I got up to open the door. I already knew who was at the door; Ronan. My mother's fated name. He took it upon himself to take care of my grandma after mom left. I had learned the truth of what happened to them back then, and I was both guilty and sad. I opened the door, and there he was. All six-foot fall, clad in a blue flannel shirt and jeans. His brown hair was uncombed, and his hazel eyes looked hopeful.

"Hi Ronan, come in. Grandma baked the scones you like?" Ronan kissed my cheek, and I heard a dangerous snarl.

"Not on my table, young man." Grandma snapped at Renzo, and Shane laughed.

"It's all right, Renzo, this is Ronan. My mom's fated mate."

Shane spat the coffee he was drinking, and Renzo shook his head, confused.

"Say what?" They both said at the same time.

"Is a long story. But he has been taking care of grandma since we left for the USA."

"Now, now. I don't need anybody to take care of me. Especially this boy. He is lucky I tolerate him enough to let him stick around."

Grandma said sternly, but Ronan and I knew she loved him like a son. He laughed and hugged Grandma as she was sitting on her chair and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you too, Meave. I came as fast as I could when I heard you have visitors from the States. I thought maybe finally Aela decided to come back."

"How did you hear so fast? Never mind those wolves and their mine link. They think they're all that."

Renzo seemed to realize something all of a sudden then.

"Grandma, now that you bring that up and without trying to offend you, I don't sense a wolf on you."

"That's because I don't have one boy. I am not a werewolf. My husband was, though. He approached me one day at the town's fair, out of the blue, claiming I was his fated mate. I told him to get lost. That was the worst pickup line I've ever heard. But he insisted, he was relentless. From that day on, I would see him everywhere. He would get into fights whenever a boy approached me or even looked at me. Believe me when I tell you I thought he was bewitched, but I had nothing to do with that. He confessed to me that he was a werewolf, and I confessed to him that I was a witch. Finally, I decided to give him a chance, and we lived happily for many years until he died trying to save my neighbor's child from a fire."

Shane was the first to speak as my grandma's eyes started to glisten.

"That sure was a great love story, Grandma Maeve."

"Is the kind of love story my dear Aela deserved. Not one that was forced on her."

Grandma reached for my hand and hugged it to her chest. I knew what she meant. Ronan and Mom were meant for each other, but Dad knew what he wanted and took it. Renzo looked between me, Grandma, and Ronan.

"What really happened between you and Aela, Ronan?

Ronan sat at the table and reached for a scone as he looked at me apologetically for what he was about to say.

"It's a sad story full of what-ifs. Colin was my best friend from high school, and he was Aela's neighbor. When I confessed to Colin that I had feelings for Aela, he convinced me that she wanted nothing to do with me. So, I never built the courage to ask her out. It was at her 17 birthday party that I finally decided to take my chances and asked her why she wanted nothing to do with me. She told me she thought I didn't like her. That Colin had told her I found her annoying. We started going out after that, and she gave herself to me. I was sure she was my mate. I could almost feel it. We both had our wolves, but we wouldn't have known until we turned 18." Colin sighed.

" All hell broke loose when my parents were killed in a rogue attack. I was still a minor. My uncle took me with him to Scotland despite my refusal. I promised Aela that I would be back for her. She was as devastated as I was. But my uncle got into an accident, and I had to help around with his store until he got better. It was almost two years before I was able to come back. All that time, I sent letters to Aela that were intercepted by Colin. When I came back, Saoirse was already a newborn. Nothing could have prepared me for the day I came back when I found Aela, not on her porch but on Colin's Porch, nursing his baby. While my wolf was crazy on my head repeating mate, mate. I learned that Colin falsified letters where I told her to move on. I had to move on and keep waiting for me. Aela found solace in Inlin. She felt indebted to him. I tried to tell her the truth but she never let me. She rejected me and told me that she would never destroy her baby's family. I kept trying until one day Colin took them away." His pain was palpable.

This is the second time I heard that story, and I feel more devastated than before. I would never take away someone's mate. I really hope I'm Renzo's mate because I would never be able to live without him nor with the guilt of having taken him away from his true mate.

"Ronan, would you consider coming to my pack with us? We're leaving tomorrow. Maybe you should try one more time to come clean with Aela, and if after that she still decides to stay with Colin, at least you know you tried."

Grandma Maeve pointed at him with her cane as she spoke.

"You go and bring me back my daughter, boy."

That night, I was on the porch with Renzo. He was sitting on my grandma's rocking chair, and I was sitting on his lap. I had always fitted perfectly there. I put my cheek on his chest while I traced some of the histhettoos on his arms. He was full of tattattoosw. I am underdone the buttons of his shirt, and his chest was covered in them, too. I gasped when I found my name written in cursive across his heart.

"When did you get this done?"

"It's the very first one I got, two years ago after I left. You were the first person I thought of every morning and the last one I thought of every night."

Renzo's gaze fixated on my lips. I licked my bottom lip, and that's when he grabbed my neck with one hand and, with the other pu, pulled me closer from my bottom. That was my first kiss ever. I opened my mouth fighting for air, and he plunged his tongue inside my mouth. My hands were trapped between me and his chest. I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him closer. He kissed and nibbled my lips with his teeth. He squeezed one of my breasts, and I whimpered. He cursed under his breath. I opened my eyes like saucers, and my cheeks turned scarlet. I told him good night, and I ran inside.