Xander’s POV
This was not how I saw things playing out. When me and Oliver had arrived here, a tiny part of me had swelled with hope, hope of finding Kieran after all this time. I didn’t even realize how much I had missed her until the thought of me actually finding her presented itself. Until that waitress had to burst our bubble, that is.
Oliver and I hung outside of the diner, like that was going to change anything. Even after persuading the waitress, she had blatantly refused to help us, talk more of giving us another audience.
Oliver had tried to use his charms to win her over, but she wasn’t having it. She even threatened to cause a scene in the diner and that was the last thing we wanted. A lot of the population didn’t know me, and the last thing I wanted was for them to finally know who I was in this way of all ways.
Imagine the kind of scandal it would cause if they found out me and a waitress were involved in some kind of scuffle.
“So what are we going to do now?” Oliver’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. He had his back pressed against the car, and truthfully, he looked tired.
“What’s the way forward?” he said.
“I have no idea.” I let out a sigh.
“This was your idea right?” I said, hoping he had another plan.
“I was only trying to help.” Oliver mused.
“If she had been a little bit receptive, then we would have definitely gotten something, whether she’s there or not” he said.
I kept quiet. He was right, but I couldn’t fault anyone and that made it all the more painful.
“I think we should head back home.” Oliver stood straight.
“We’ll meet up later and try to reconnect the dots. Maybe we are chasing the wrong lead” he said.
And that was it. After Oliver had gone his way, I drove back home. Even as I did, I found it next to impossible to get Kieran out of my mind. I decided to get my mind off it by attending to the mountain of workload waiting for me in my study, so I made that my first destination.
I was barely an hour in when I realized I was only deceiving myself. I couldn’t concentrate. Not one bit
“Fuck.” I muttered understand my breath, before slapping a file shut. It wasn’t necessary, but I pushed it off my desk. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was weird about the whole scenario that had happened at the diner. Not only was it wrong, it felt sketchy as hell.
Since when did it become a crime to make inquiries about an employee? If she really wanted us to come in as customers, the least she could have done would be to welcome us into the restaurant. But she didn’t do that. Almost like she knew us.
I wasn’t sure about Oliver, but none of it sat right with me. There was something more to what she let on and I’d be damned if I didn’t find out what she was hiding.
I was going to go back to the diner, and I would keep on going back till I had Kieran back in my arms again. I hoped to the goddess that she was there.
*********
I pressed my eyes shut, willing the loud noise to go away, but it didn’t. No matter how much I tried to tune out the workers, there was always one more person in the corner barking out orders, or pulling on the huge vases in the hallways unnecessarily.
All of the noise and commotion was necessary, especially since the ball was only a couple of days away. We had been preparing and anticipating the royal ball for over a month now, and despite the many preparations being made, it still looked like we hadn’t even begun yet. In fact, at this point, it was safe to say that the preparations had put a halt to my own plans.
It was two days since I went to the diner, but I hadn’t been able to go back there, thanks to all of the preparation. A whole lot of them needed my final say, and for a moment, I wondered if mum and Sabrina were actually doing anything. They were the ones who were obsessed about the whole thing in the first place.
As for me, the ball wouldn’t be memorable if I didn’t have Kieran, my mate by my side.
“Alpha.” A lone voice jerked me out of my thoughts. I snapped back to the present, just to come face to face with a maid.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s urgent.” she said and I struggled not to roll my eyes. It’s the same thing I heard all day.
“What is it?” I drawled. I tried hard to reel in my frustration, but it was more than hard.
“What do you want this time?” I asked with more aggression than necessary.
“It’s time for your fitting, Alpha.” She said, looking intimidated. As she should.
In the past thirty minutes, I had yelled at approximately ten guards and seven maids.
“The outfitter says if he doesn’t make the necessary adjustments today, you might not have an outfit for the ball.” she said, her head slightly lowered.
“Is that a threat?” I asked. I mean, it did sound like it.
She took a solid step back as fear clouded her features.
“Is he trying to tell me what to do?” I asked, genuinely wondering.
“No, no, no, sire.” She stuttered, fear flashing in her eyes.
“I just, I actually- I was- he said that-” Her words tumbled over each other as she tried to make sense.
“Get out.” I cut her off immediately.
“Get out of here, now!” I yelled.
And she did. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said she literally ran out of my room like her life depended on it but I didn’t care.
What irked me the most was the fact that I couldn’t get a moment to myself to actually leave the palace. At every turn, someone needed my attention or approval for the damned ball.
It was tiring, but at that point, I had enough already. I was going to go back to that diner today, and I’d be damned if I didn’t go through with the plan.
Luckily for me, the fitting didn’t take too much time, and of course, that was after the outfitter basically begged for his life. After that, I headed straight to the diner.
A strange sense of deja vu washed over me as I quickly settled into one of the seats. Even as I settled down, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone from yesterday would recognize me and that was the last thing I wanted.
A couple of minutes passed, and when a waitress entirely different from the one that had approached me and Oliver yesterday arrived at my table to take my order, I relaxed a bit.
“What would you like to order, sir?” the waitress beamed.
“We have an array of beverages ranging from coffee, lattes and you can check the menu for something to go with it.” she said, smiling warmly.
Placing my order didn’t take up to five minutes, and it took the diner roughly ten more minutes before I got my meal. I wouldn’t particularly say they wasted time, I wasn’t here for the food.
As I sipped my coffee, I allowed my eyes to roam all over the place. My gaze lingered on each and every person that walked through the door, and even the waitresses. As more time passed, I realized they worked here based on their shifts, but when I had watched two rotations take place without Kieran showing up in any one, I found my hope slowly fading away.
More time passed, and nothing interesting had caught my interest. I hadn’t bothered to check the time yet, but I was extremely sure I had spent so long here, sitting and pretending to eat.
Whenever a new waitress approached my table, I always gave them a tip and ordered something for a random customer. During my little acts of kindness, something caught my eye, or someone rather.
It wasn’t Kieran, but it was someone else and I watched her walk out from what looked to be the kitchen. As she appeared behind the counter, I realized she was dressed up differently, with an entirely different style and color. While the waitresses were dressed in white, this mystery person had a hint of blue in her uniform.
An idea popped into my mind immediately. What if Kieran was here, but she just wasn’t a waitress. Was she on kitchen duty? If yes, then it made perfect sense as to why I hadn’t seen her yet.
Everyone on kitchen duty hardly came out till it was closing time. I didn’t have to give it too much thought before I figured out what I had to do.
I was going to wait till closing time.
More and more people trickled out of the diner as time passed. When I realized it was super late, I was the only one left in the entire diner, and still no sign of Kieran.
“Um, sir. You have to leave now.” The waitress from earlier today walked up to me.
“Can I get some more minutes, I just need …”
“We’re closed, sir.” She cut me off. “You have to leave now.”
My mind whirled. I’d literally spent the whole day here, and she hadn’t shown up. Did that mean I had wasted my time?
Maybe she wasn’t here and me and Oliver had made a mistake. If she was here, then I would have seen her.
A small sigh slid past my lips as I got up to leave. I had barely turned to leave when something caught my attention. The door behind the counter swung open once again, and this time, I couldn’t believe who I saw.
A tired Kieran walked out of the door before going round the counter. She was headed for what seemed like a staircase that led to the next floor and I doubted she had seen me.
My wolf came to life immediately, it was almost like he had been asleep since she left. It took everything in me to keep him at bay. Even from here, I could smell her scent.
“Kieran.” Her name slipped out of my lips before I realized it. My voice was a low whisper, but I knew she had heard it because she froze right on her spot.