Scarred Luna

Kieran’s POV

I stood rooted to my spot, hoping he would just go away. It was silly, but anything would do at this point. I had specifically found Sabrina, just so I wouldn’t have to bump into him, and yet, look at what had happened.

“What’s going on here?” His voice had echoed all around the living room. The deep baritone of his voice was more than enough to cut through my explanation. “Sabrina? Kieran?”

Time seemed to slow to a halt as I refused to acknowledge his presence. In my mind, I was in my world, with his voice nothing but a distant distraction. But even with all of my imagination, it still wasn’t enough. I was really aware of the man behind me and every part of my body felt it. A couple of inches was the only thing separating us both, but I could still feel him all around me.

His signature scent wafted through my nostrils and I found myself taking him all in, even against my wishes. Like I hadn’t gone through enough, he just had to call out to me, and even that did wonders on my skin. The mere sound of his voice was all it took to have me shuddering, and as I did so, I muttered a quick prayer to the moon goddess that he hadn’t seen it.

“Kieran?” He called out to me again and I pressed my eyes shut. There was something about the way my name rolled off his lips. I could literally feel the angst in every breath. “Did you hear me?”

“Ah.” Sabrina exclaimed, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her interference. It had come at the right time. “Alpha Xander, you’re back.”

I didn’t know he had gone out earlier, I thought to myself. But I figured he probably went to the palace or something.

No, I cautioned myself. I was still mad at him and this wasn’t the time to be concerned with his business.

“Yes.” He huffed and I swear I felt his chest reverberate behind me. “I came in just a couple of minutes ago. I checked for you in the kitchen and everywhere else, but you were nowhere to be found.”

“Oh, I just came here to talk to Kieran.” Sabrina beamed. With the way her eyes twinkled, it was obvious she was oblivious to the whole thing playing out in front of her. “She had quite a busy day herself. She started at her new job today.”

Silence. Pin drop silence followed after that. The air around us crackled with pure and undiluted tension. It was so thick, you could cut out slices with a pie knife and still have enough to feed the entire mansion.

“I see.” Xander quipped. His voice was low, too low, and I didn’t like it. “How was work, Kieran?”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Fine.” My response was short and simple. A bit blunt if you looked at it closely, and I definitely didn’t miss the pointed look Sabrina shot at me. “Work was fine.”

“Kieran.” Sabrina called, the exact moment I muttered. “I think I’ll be on my way to my room now. Mrs Eliza gave me something to do.”

“Oh, alright then” Sabrina nodded. “I’ll have your dinner brought up to you then.”

“Kieran.” Sabrina had barely finished her sentence before Xander called out again.

“I want to talk to you.” he said and I froze.

His words hit me square in the jaw and I fought the urge to scoff. No way in hell was that going to happen. At this point, I would rather chew my way through glass than talk to Xander.

“Did you hear me?” He asked again, after he hadn’t gotten a response from me. “I said I want to talk to you.”

“Okay.” I nodded slowly. It was taking everything in me not to snap at him right now. Maybe if Sabrina wasn’t here, I would have done that. “I’m listening.”

“In private.” His voice was a literal growl. “I want to talk to you in private.”

It was my turn to gape now. Eyes wide and with my mouth wide open, I spun to face him. Before I came face to face with the man, I’d entertained the thought that perhaps I had just imagined what he’d just said. Why would Xander want to speak to me in private? And why did he have to say it in front of Sabrina too?

I blinked back a couple of times, literally too stunned to speak. I waited for a sign, any sign to tell me that he didn’t mean it or I hadn’t heard right. But if the stoic experience he wore on his face meant anything, I could swear that he was serious.

“What?” I muttered. I was breathless and it was barely a whisper and I doubted he heard me. “What did you say?”

“I said I want to talk to you.” Xander wasn’t mincing words. Like I needed any more confirmation, I watched his stoic expression morph into a steely one. “In private.”

“In private?” The shock in Sabrina’s voice was evident. “What do you mean you want to talk to her in private?” she asked.

“Kieran?” It sounded more of a warning than anything else.

“Are you coming or not?” he asked me, completely ignoring her.

“Xander,” Xander’s gaze darted to Sabrina at the sound of his name.

“Why do you want to speak to her in private? If there’s anything you want to say, I think you should…”

The rest of Sabrina’s words were left unfinished as Xander’s hand wrapped around mine immediately. Reflexively, my gaze darted to the spot where our skins touched and back to him again. I parted my lips slowly, but before I could get any more words out, Xander yanked hard on my arm, pulling me along.

“Xander!” I yelled, his grip on me still so strong, enough to pull me along with him against all my struggle. I stumbled on my feet as he led us down the hallway, but he didn’t stop. “Xander, let me go.”

No matter how hard I yelled, Xander said nothing, only pulling me along. Small tendrils of pain shot up my arm, but I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on and where we were headed to care.

“Xander! Let me go right now!” And just as he was told, he did. I rubbed my wrist immediately, trying to cool the burning effect that was circling around my arm. ” What the hell are you doing? What did you do that for?” I asked, feeling slightly agitated.

“I said I wanted to talk.” Xander huffed and I scoffed. By the time I was done rubbing my wrist, it took me a couple of seconds to realize where we were. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes.” I snapped, focusing my gaze on the backdrop behind him. Xander had brought us to the garden and I stared at the side array of flowers behind, I couldn’t help but recall the few intimate memories we’d shared over here.

“Yes it is, because I don’t want to talk to you.” I said and he frowned.

“Why?” His voice was strained and for a moment I couldn’t help but think he was in pain, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Why don’t you want to talk to me?” he asked, his voice and face void of emotions.

I said nothing. With a deep scowl on my face, I fold my arms over my chest. He may have pulled me out of the dinning against my will, but there was no way he would be able to get me to talk. Over my dead body.

“Kieran, I know you’re mad at me.” He said softly. “It’s pretty obvious, given the way you’ve been actively avoiding me but I have no idea what I did wrong and I’m sick of waiting around to find out” he said and I rolled my eyes.

Wrong. Well, only a part of that statement was wrong anyway. I was mad at him and I was sure he was fully aware of the reason.

“How are we supposed to fix things if you don’t talk to me?” Xander prodded.

“How are we going to put this past us if you refuse to speak to me?” he said.

“You know what you did.” I rolled my eyes. “So, stop pretending.” I said.

“I don’t.” Xander shook his head. “I really don’t. I swear I have no idea what I’ve done wrong. After our date, you just started acting weird. Did you not like it?” he asked.

I shook my head. It was a lie. It had to be. Right? He was only trying to bait me into talking to him. That had to be it.

“You could have told me you didn’t like the date.” Xander’s voice came down a notch.

I stole a glance at him, and for a quick second, all I saw was sadness in his eyes but again, it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“I just thought it would be something you liked. And you looked really happy during the date, so there was no way I could have known.” he said and I almost groaned.

Was he serious right now? I wasn’t mad about the date. I loved it. What I was mad about was what he did after.

The mere thought of it was more than enough to have my blood boiling

“I’m not mad at you because I didn’t like the date.” I frowned. “I’m mad at you for what you did after that.”

“What?! What did I do?” he asked as he seemed to try to thinking of it himself but found nothing.

“Just minutes after promising not to tell anyone.”

I pointed a finger at him.

“You did just that. You went ahead to tell Alice about our secret!” I said accusingly and he froze.

“Wait, what? No! I didn’t do anything like that!” he said defensively and it was my turn to freeze.

Huh?