Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I know the feeling.” Lalani looked at the enormous book in front of Elenore and asked, “What’s that? Something to do with my family?”
“There’s one of these around here somewhere. I’m sure Suzanne put it somewhere safe. We’ll have to look for it to pass along to someone else in your family.”
“I have family members still alive?” Lalani asked.
“Suzanne didn’t share that she had a son with her husband? Those two never got along. Suzanne’s husband and her son. I always thought it was a shame he didn’t come back after his father passed.”
“What’s his name?” Lalani said, leaning forward in her chair.
“Oh, let me think. It’s been a long time. I think it was Derek? Yes, that’s it, Derek Lowe. He left right after he graduated from high school. Jumped on his motorcycle one afternoon and never came back. Just like my grandson, Brooks.”
She had a half-brother? Lalani tried to remember the name Derek Lowe as Elenore kept talking.
As if understanding that one piece of news blew her mind, Elenore reached over and patted her hand. “Go write it down, Lalani. Derek Lowe. He was a handsome teenager. The girls all went crazy over him. He would be older now, of course.”
Lalani jumped up and opened a drawer. She remembered her mother had a notepad and pens there for messages. Quickly, Lalani wrote out the name and the word, half-brother—like she was going to forget. Looking at that line again, she deliberately crossed out the word half. The link with her mother was the most important—she didn’t care that they had different fathers.
“Sorry. I’m a bit frazzled by that news. My mother never told me I had siblings. There aren’t any pictures here of a boy or teenager around the house.”
“There was a bit of a scandal when he left. Suzanne’s husband took down all the pictures and virtually erased him from the family,” Elenore explained. “Suzanne didn’t think he’d done anything wrong. She always thought the sun and moon rose just for him.”
Lalani repeated the name in her head. Derek Lowe. He could tell her more about her mother. She saw Elenore studying her and tried to drag her brain back to their conversation. Her visitor had said something about a grandson.
“Your grandson is out there somewhere? He didn’t get back to Wyvern?” Lalani asked, feeling her brows draw together in concern as she tried to pay attention to Elenore.
“It’s okay. Brooks always does things on his time. He’ll get back here someday. When he’s ready.”
“I hope I get to meet him.”
“Me, too. You’d like him. He’s a charmer in a biker guy kind of way,” Elenore said with a smile.
“I always liked the bad boys,” Lalani confessed.
“Well, you certainly ended up with one. Mated to a dragon. You can’t get much more I‘m not going to follow the rules, I make the rules, than a dragon.”
The two both laughed.
“Let me show you a few things in this book. Then, if you would like, we can use it to find the location of your family’s book. They’re all linked together. I’ll show you,” Elenore suggested.
“What do I do with it once we find it?”
“You hold on to it until Derek comes back,” Elenore answered confidently.
“What if he doesn’t come back?”
“A family has never ceased to exist up to this point. Even when major plagues or sickness hit. At least one person has continued the line. I’m going to hope a pact with the dragons somehow controls the future. He’s going to come back.”
“I’m going to think that, too,” Lalani stated positively.
“Perfect. Now, let me find a few things in here. You’ll want to explore your book, too. It has a lot about your family in it. Your family name is Morgan. So now you can read everything and pick out who your forefathers were.”
“Morgan, hmmm. That makes sense that the women change names when they get married and their children would have their spouse’s family name. That really jumbles things up.”
“Here’s a list of the families. Look, there’s Morgan.”
“Henry Morgan helped create the pact,” Lalani read out loud. A shiver went down her back. She’d thought her family was all gone when her birth mother had passed away. Now, there was hope other family members existed.
Are you happy, mate?
I am. Elenore is here teaching me about my family.
This pleases me, Princess. I know how important family is to you. Listen to what she says. Ignore any message from your dragon mate.
Never. Love you.
I love you, too, Lalani.
“You have a strong bond to your mate,” Elenore observed, somehow sensing that Lalani was communicating with him.
“I have nothing to compare it to, but I do feel very connected to him,” Lalani shared.
“That is good. I hope you have many happy years together. Shall we take a minute and see if your family’s book is here?”