Filed To Story: Fated is Overrated Novel Free by Brenda Minnaard
I was wondering who would be the first of the men to speak up, and I don’t have to wait long for an answer when Drake asks “Keanu, would it be alright to speak to you and your team members separately? To get a feel of each person’s individual knowledge and experience?”. He phrased it as a question, but he might as well not have, as it is clear my boss would almost donate a kidney to reel them in. “Of course! I suggest..” my boss responds, but gets cut off mid-sentence. “Perfect! We would like to begin with the most junior team member” and from the presentation of course, they already know that’s me. I am anxious about being alone in the same room as them. Although they can’t exactly abduct me in the human world without consequences, I am still wary of any weird tricks they might have up their sleeves. Their expressions are inscrutable, which I am sure is just a facade until the humans are gone. My boss and Ricardo leave the room and I feel my palms getting sweaty, my heart rate picking up, and I am waiting for the shoe to drop. Drake – again – speaks up “you don’t have to be afraid of us Lola, we are just here to talk to you”. I tilt my head to the side, giving him a confident glare even though that is not how I’m feeling. Never let the enemy see your weakness. “Afraid? Of whom exactly? Last time I checked, it should be the other way around” I state cockily. I hope they don’t see through the bravado.
Drake smiles, but before he can speak up, I continue “I am in no mood to entertain, so state your business. What do you want?”. His smile never falters as he replies “goddess, you remind me so much of your mother”. Excuse me? Out of all the things I thought he was going to say, this definitely wasn’t it. My mouth drops open in surprise and confusion is written all over my face. I am too confused to speak all of a sudden. “Sorry for dropping a bomb like that” he scratches his neck. “I have had 2 long years to contemplate what to say to you, but obviously it wasn’t enough time to not sound like an *ss”. I finally find my voice, but my face is still scrunched up in confusion “how on earth did you know my mother? But regardless – I know you are full of it. She wasn’t my biological mother, and she was nothing like me”. My mother was the kindest and most trusting soul alive, whereas I am definitely not. “Not your adoptive mother honey, your birth mother”. I don’t know whether to be confused about what’s going on, curious to ask questions or angry at what I think he is insinuating. Being my favorite emotion, I choose the latter. I stand up angrily “Look, dragon. I don’t know what your game is here, but it’s a pretty cruel thing to refer to my birth mother, since the dipsh*ts over there probably told you my parents abandoned me already. Nobody, not even me, knows who she was. And frankly, I don’t care to find out either, as she was just the first of many to ditch me like trash” I am seething mad. “And oh by the way, do not call me honey!!!”.
I feel both Liberty and Justice pushing forward with me, pushing out our aura. I have learned in the past 2 years that whenever I am angered, my eyes glow like a raging fire. I am sure there is fire in them now too. Drake looks taken aback by my reply, but replaces his initial shock with a sad expression. “Honey, that’s not true. You and your mother were abducted. When they found your mother’s body they assumed you were dead as well, but that never stopped me from looking for you. I have searched all over the globe. Each dragon lair, each wolf pack we were allowed to go, I even visited the fae Kingdom. Unfortunately, Red Dagger was not allied to us. Goddess, I could have found you so much sooner if I had known”. I’m not really sure what to believe, and which version of events would wound my heart less. It was one thing to think you have been abandoned, it’s a whole other thing if someone actually loved you and died protecting you. I don’t know if I would be ready for such heartbreak. I shake off my thoughts and reply “who the hell are you to tell me this now anyway? Why should I trust a word you say? After all, it was your son and his cronies who chased me off, saying they would make me his s*x slave”. I am sounding a lot less confident than I had hoped. There’s even a slight crack in my voice I am unable to hide at the thought of my mother. I see all 3 pups visibly paling and Drake giving them all a seething glare. I guess he didn’t tell daddy dearest. Drake shifts his gaze back towards me and drops the next bomb. “Well… I am your father honey”.
Lola POV
I think my jaw couldn’t possibly drop any further. A thick silence stretches for what seems like forever, before Drake continues “and… I would like you to consider coming home”. I snort. Home is a few blocks from here. Just because I apparently have relatives all of a sudden – if it is even true – doesn’t make it my home. Before I can even protest, I hear Zeke and Zane growl. What now?! Zeke clears his throat and speaks for the first time today, with a pleading look on his face “Lola, we want you to come home with us, your mates”. I let out a full belly laugh, the nerve on this guy. “Oh that’s rich!” I continue laughing. “What happened to the filthy rogue who was unworthy of breathing the same air as you? You realized I am more powerful than you thought, and now all of a sudden you do want me? And FYI – you are not my mates anymore, I rejected you!” I all but yell at them. Zane now bursts through frantically “Lola we are so sorry. Please just give us a chance to explain why we hated rogues so much. It doesn’t justify what we did! But please know both of us were actually falling for you before the bond actually hit. Remember the sparring session? Please just give us a chance to talk”. “I am done talking, you had your chance” I yell back, while standing up to my feet. I notice the guards immediately tense up, but none of them move an inch yet. “As for you, Drake, I don’t know what to think of all this. Prove it to me, and I will need some time to gather my thoughts on this”. Drake nods “of course honey. If you will let me take your DNA with me, I will get you the results asap. But I know for sure already. Your mother was a Lycan, and you are part Lycan as well. And.. There hadn’t been a female royal dragon born, ever. The prophecy was that the first princess dragon to be born would have an ice dragon. Which is how I knew for sure the moment I saw your dragon”.
“We’ll see” I grumble. “And as for you 2!” I turn my attention to Zeke and Zane “why do I still smell your scent? I rejected you!”. Zeke replies hesitantly “well, we would have to accept the rejection in order for it to be effective. Also, Lycans only get one mate in their life. There are no second chances. We aren’t accepting the rejection Lola, we want to be with you”. “Yeah, well, you’re a little late for that. I have a boyfriend, and we are happy” I bluff, as Nick isn’t actually my boyfriend. “Yeah, so we have felt…” Zane grumbles moodily. I can’t help but blush a little at the fact that they felt the times I have fooled around with Nick a bit. They could still feel the betrayal pains all along? How? And how come I haven’t felt anything then? Am I immune to it because I have rejected them or something, and they are not because they haven’t accepted it? Zeke must have seen my confusion, as he answers my unasked question “we haven’t stepped outside of the mate bond ever since we found out you were our mate Lola, that’s why you haven’t felt anything”. My mouth falls open momentarily, before I recompose myself. They really went abstinent for 2 years? The playboy princes? As if! “Whatever, I don’t care. Just accept the rejection, and we can all move on with chosen mates”. “Like we said, we aren’t going to accept Lola. We will do whatever it takes to make it up to you. Please just give us 1 chance. Just go out with us at least once, so we can talk” Zane pleads with puppy eyes. All of a sudden it dawns on me that Liberty and Justice have been awfully quiet this entire meeting.
‘Girls? What’s up?’. ‘I… I don’t know Lola. It was easy rejecting them when they were total *ssholes. But they seem really sorry. And their wolves have been reaching out to me, profusely apologizing and saying they had deeply rooted reasons to hate rogues’ Liberty speaks up. ‘Oh come on! We were technically rogues, yes, but they knew very well I only had been one for 2 weeks, and was no threat to anyone! We weren’t feral!’ Liberty remains quiet now. A thought pops up into my head and I turn to Drake asking “what about dragons actually, do they have mates?”. “They do honey, they also get 1 true mate. But it’s near impossible nowadays for dragons to find their mates, as the population is spread pretty thin. But it could also be that Zeke and Zane are the mates to your dragon. I don’t know how it works with hybrids”. I am not sure I like this man calling me honey all the time, but I’m sure it’s a bit of a habit, just like Xena keeps calling me dear, so I’ll let it slide for now. But, since he is wanting to get into my good graces so much, I suppose I could ask him for a favor? Something I have been longing to get my hands on for years now. “That reminds me actually.. Since you are apparently not here to exterminate me, and are actually claiming to be my father, I could ask you for a favor I suppose? I would like to borrow any books you may have on white dragons. And anything about dragon hybrids, or hybrids in general. And if there’s any way you could get any info on white wolves, that would be great too” I almost mumble the last part. I’m sure he doesn’t have much info on white wolves, but I really don’t want to ask the dipsh*ts in front of me. Drake nods with a smile “sure honey, I will see what I can find and bring it to you. But we don’t have any books on white wolves I’m afraid, you would have to ask Zeke and Zane”. Yugh. I can see the smug grins on their faces already from the corner of my eye.
Lola POV
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.