by Lola Gabriel
“Of course I have,” he said.
After lunch, Draven had excused himself and he was now heading back to his apartment. As he walked, he considered how he felt. He honestly didn’t feel any different to how he had felt before the enchantment, and he was starting to wonder if maybe it hadn’t worked, but then he remembered his dragon responding when he swallowed the potion and he knew it had to have worked. Right?
Whether the enchantment had or hadn’t worked didn’t much matter to Draven right now. He had already made up his mind that even if the enchantment worked and led him to his true mate, he would resist the pull of it and just keep away from whoever the girl turned out to be. He had no intention of being mated, certainly not now, maybe not ever.
He knew he would have to do something to appease his parents, though, and indeed the pack as a whole. Now that he was twenty-nine, it was no secret that he would soon be finding his one true mate and every eye would be on him, watching and waiting for him to find her.
As he reached his apartment building, a plan started to form in his mind and he grinned to himself, sure it would work. All he had to do was buy himself some time while he found a way to break the enchantment. He could do that; he was almost certain of it. He just needed to find a warlock who was willing to go against the norm and help him.
2
Draven stepped into the elevator in his apartment building, but instead of heading up to the penthouse apartment, he hit the button for the fifth floor and got out there instead. He was smiling to himself as he made his way along the corridor toward Morgan’s apartment. Morgan was Draven’s best friend; they had known each other since they had started kindergarten, and she had begged him to come to her apartment and celebrate his birthday with her today after the enchantment had taken place. He had refused, telling her he didn’t want to celebrate his birthday, but he knew she would be pleased to see him now that he had changed his mind. Because now he had a plan, he had something to celebrate after all. And who better to understand this idea than his best friend?
Draven rang Morgan’s doorbell and waited for her to come to the door. He heard her footsteps approaching and then the door opened and she smiled out at him. He grinned at her, taking in her long blonde curls and her pretty green eyes. As he looked at Morgan, it occurred to him for the first time how gorgeous she was. He had always known she was pretty—he wasn’t blind—but it was only now that he realized she was actually beautiful.
“Hey,” she said, stepping back and letting Draven inside. “Happy birthday.”
“You could say that,” Draven said, going to Morgan’s couch and sitting down.
“Oh, stop being such a killjoy,” Morgan smiled. “Today is a big day. Turning twenty-nine is a big deal, especially for you. Did you receive the enchantment?”
Draven nodded, watching Morgan as she moved toward the kitchen area. Her apartment was open plan, like his own, although much smaller. He couldn’t help but notice the way Morgan’s hips swayed from side to side, a kind of rolling motion, as she walked and he shook his head, telling himself to stop this.
Morgan filled two glasses with ice and then she added big measures of vodka and topped them up with Coke. She came over to the couch and, handing a drink to Draven, sat down next to him.
“Cheers,” she said, raising her glass.
“Cheers,” Draven repeated and they both drank.
Draven grimaced as the strong measure of vodka hit the back of his throat. Morgan laughed as she watched his face.
“So, what do you want to do, then? Hit the town later on?” she asked.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I thought we would just stay here. I have a favor to ask you, Morgan. A big favor,” Draven said.
“Okay,” Morgan said, eyeing him a little suspiciously. “What do you need?”
Draven took a long gulp of his drink and then he took a deep breath and turned to face Morgan, looking her in the eye as he spoke. This was it. The moment he learned if Morgan really was willing to put herself on the line for him, if she really was his best friend or not. Would he do this for her? He liked to think he would, but it was really hard to say if you hadn’t been in this situation before.
“I need you to pretend to my parents that you’re going to be my mate,” he said.
“I…what?” Morgan said, looking at Draven in surprise.
“It’ll only be for a few weeks,” Draven rushed on, not wanting her to say no before he got it all out. “Just to keep my parents off my case while I work out how to break this enchantment.”
“Why do you want to break the enchantment?” Morgan asked.
“Because if I can break it without my parents finding out, then they’ll have to accept that I am meant to be a lone ruler. They’re rare, but they do exist. And if my parents believe that I am still enchanted and I don’t find my forever mate, then they will have no choice but to accept that,” Draven explained.
He paused to give Morgan a chance to respond, but she just looked down into her glass and he knew he had to find the right words to convince her to do this for him.
“Like I said, it’ll only be for a few weeks. Once I find out how to break the enchantment, we can split up. I’ll come up with some sort of story about how I thought you were the one but then you weren’t or something. They’ll believe that. They’ll think I just tried to take the easy way out and end up with my best friend. But don’t worry. I won’t let it go too far, I promise. And if, at any point, you are uncomfortable with it, then I promise I’ll end the whole thing and come clean with my parents.”
“I don’t get it, Draven. Why don’t you want to find your one true mate? You’ve been given a chance to find what so many of us crave so desperately,” Morgan said.
“I guess I’m just happy being single,” Draven shrugged.
It sounded lame even to his own ears and Morgan shook her head.
“No, you’re not. You’re not a loner, Draven. If you want me to do this, at least have the decency to be honest with me about why you feel it’s necessary,” she said.
“Okay, you want the truth? Fine. There’s an uprising brewing,” Draven said. “My parents are handling it, but there’s a pack that has broken away from their rule. This happened decades ago. Do you know about it?”
“Of course,” Morgan said. “They taught us all about it at our afterschool club, remember? The dragon one, obviously.”
“Yes. I remember. But what they don’t teach at the club, and what I am not supposed to be telling anyone, is that pack is interested in trying to overthrow the ruling couple. They believe all packs should be free to have their own rules. Like I said, my parents are handling it, but it’s a problem.”
“Okay,” Morgan said. “I get that. But what does that have to do with you finding your one true mate?”
“If I were to find my one true mate, there would eventually be a mating ceremony and everyone would know who she was. How long do you think it would take for the rogue pack to try to use her against us? She would be a target. And I’m not confident I could protect her.”
“Of course you could protect her, Draven,” Morgan said. “I’ve seen you fight. She would be fine with you.”
“But what if they take her when I’m not around? Anything could happen to her.” Draven paused, unsure if he should go on. He decided to tell Morgan the whole truth. She was the person he trusted most in the world and he knew she would never repeat anything he told her in confidence. “They would then use my mate to get my parents to relinquish their power. And I could never say this to them, which is why I went along with the enchantment in the first place, but I know my parents. They wouldn’t give up their power. They would sacrifice my mate to keep the pack running their way.”
“You don’t really think they would just let the pack kill your mate, do you?” Morgan asked, a look of shock on her face.
“I think they would try to rescue her. Send in soldiers,” Draven said. “But if that didn’t work, then yes, I do.”
/> “Shit,” Morgan said.
She took a long drink of her vodka and shook her head.
“I guess now I understand why you don’t want to find your one true mate just yet,” she said. “You want to wait until your parents deal with the threat first.”
“Pretty much, yeah. So? Will you help me?” Draven asked. He gave Morgan a nervous smile. “Morgan Peck, will you be my fake one true mate?”
3
Morgan sat back against the couch and thought about what Draven was asking of her. It was a lot to take in. All of the talk of uprisings and learning how his parents would sacrifice Draven’s mate for the good of the pack. It worried her greatly, but at the same time, she understood it. The pack always had to come first to the ruling couple, and the good of one or two members could never come above the good of the whole pack’s needs. It must be a hell of a horrible position to find yourself in, Morgan thought to herself.
She could understand why Draven didn’t want to find his one true mate at this point, and she was inclined to agree that the best way around it was to find a way to break the enchantment and then just act like he was meant to be a lone ruler. She could even understand why he wanted her to play the part of his future mate. It would keep his parents from getting on his case all the time, always trying to force him into situations where he might end up meeting his one true mate.
Morgan wanted to help Draven. He was her best friend, after all, and until a few moments ago when he had made his request, she would have said there was nothing he could ask of her that she wouldn’t be willing to do for him. But now, she wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t that she didn’t agree with what he was doing—it was more that she was worried she would end up getting hurt.
Morgan had had a crush on Draven for as long as she could remember. He was hot, with his short black hair, his gorgeous brown eyes, and his toned body. But he had never given her any impression that he felt the same way about her, and she had resigned herself to the fact that they would only ever be friends. Over the last few years, Morgan’s crush had become something more—something that she thought was awfully close to love.
It hurt her to listen to Draven talking about finding his one true mate and knowing it could never be her, and for that reason alone, it made sense for her to agree to his plan. To make sure he couldn’t find someone and leave her in a position where she could only watch from the sidelines, befriending the woman. But that made her feel selfish and she wondered if she should try to talk Draven out of this plan. She knew his mind was made up, though, and if she didn’t agree to do it for him, he would find someone who would.
Her main fear was that she would end up getting her heart broken. It was hard enough being around Draven and keeping her feelings in check when they were just friends. How much harder would it be to remind herself that this was never going to happen while they were in the middle of pretending it was happening?
Morgan knew she should say no, and yet she found herself nodding her head and telling Draven she would do it.
Draven beamed at her and pulled her in for a hug. His touch sent shivers through Morgan and she hugged him quickly and then moved back out of his arms. He frowned at her.
“Morgan, are you sure about this? You’re acting weird,” Draven said.
Morgan forced herself to smile as she stood up from the couch.
“I’m sure,” she said. “I’m not being weird. I’m just going to freshen up our drinks. Now that we have this sorted, there’s no excuse to not celebrate your birthday properly.”
“What if they don’t think I’m good enough for you?” Morgan asked for the third time as Draven pulled up outside of his parents’ house.
He cut the engine but he made no move to get out of the car. Instead, he turned in his seat so he was facing her and he smiled.
“For the third time, my parents love you. They always have. And if they give even the slightest hint that they think anything badly about this, then we’ll leave,” he said.
Morgan smiled and looked down into her lap for a moment, avoiding Draven’s gaze. She looked back up at him finally, shaking her head slightly.
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I mean, it’s not like this is even real, is it? It doesn’t really matter whether your parents are happy about it or not,” she said.
Despite her words, she did care whether or not Draven’s parents approved of them being together. As much as she tried to tell herself this was only an act, already, only two days after they had discussed the plan in her apartment, she was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, Draven would start to see her as more than just his best friend. And she knew if that happened, she could convince him not to worry about her being used against him. She didn’t need him or his parents to protect her. She was perfectly capable of looking after herself.
“Morgan, seriously, relax. They’re going to be so happy about this that I actually feel a bit guilty knowing we’re lying about it all,” Draven said. “Now, come on, before you worry yourself to the point where you can barely speak.”
He laughed and Morgan laughed with him, although it was a fake laugh on her part. She was already regretting that she agreed to do this. She had obviously known that the whole point of the lie was to fool Draven’s parents, but for some reason, it hadn’t really occurred to her that she would have to parade around in front of them as their son’s mate and pretend like this was all real. She had really assumed Draven would just tell them about it and that would be it. In hindsight, she should have known it would have to be more official than that. If it was going to be that easy, Draven wouldn’t have needed her at all. He could have just given his parents a name and been done with it.
Draven opened his car door and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Morgan followed suit, slamming her door shut a little bit too hard. Draven frowned, but he didn’t say anything and Morgan knew he was worried that her nerves would get the better of her and give away their ruse. She walked around the front of the car as Draven locked it and told herself to shape up. She had agreed to this and now she had to do her best to pull it off.
She walked along Draven’s parents’ garden path, heading up to their front door. She could feel the sweat beading in her hair line as nerves filled her and once again, she told herself to shape up. All I have to do is relax, she told herself. Loads of people think Draven and I are a couple all of the time because of how we are together. I just need to be normal with him, that’s all. His parents have no reason to think we might be lying to them.
Draven opened the front door and gestured for Morgan to enter. She stepped inside. The house was familiar to her—she had spent many evenings here after school when she and Draven were growing up—but somehow now, it felt different. Almost ominous.
She allowed Draven to lead her to the kitchen where his parents sat at the table drinking cups of tea.
“Ah, there you are, dear. What’s this important announcement you have to make?” Joy, Draven’s mom, smiled.
“Well,” Draven said, taking Morgan’s hand and pulling her into the kitchen. “I found my one true mate and I thought you guys might like to know about it.”
Joy and Miller, Draven’s dad, both looked at Morgan and they both beamed. Morgan felt herself relax a little when she saw how genuinely happy they seemed to find out that she was the one true mate of their son.
“Oh, this is amazing,” Joy trilled.
She jumped to her feet and hugged Morgan, taking her by surprise. Morgan caught herself and hugged Joy back.
“I should have seen this coming. You two were always so close. This is perfect,” Joy gushed.
She released Morgan and nodded to a chair.
“Sit down, dear,” she said.
Morgan sat down. She could feel that her smile was becoming genuine as she allowed herself to get caught up in the excitement in the room. Miller was looking at her now, looking almost as excited as Joy. He looked at Draven as Draven took a seat at the table too and Joy began pouring tea for
them both.
“I’m proud of you, son,” Miller said. “You chose well.”
“Yes,” Draven smiled. “I really did.”
He reached across to Morgan and squeezed her hand across the table. She felt her skin tingle where he touched her, and heat spread to her cheeks. She wanted to pull her hand away, embarrassed by her reaction, but she knew it would shatter the illusion if she appeared to be uncomfortable with Draven in any way. Once a dragon found their one true mate, public displays of affection were expected as their dragons pushed them to remain in physical contact with one another, especially in the beginning when they began forming their sacred bond.
“What do your parents think about it all, Morgan?” Joy asked.
Morgan was glad of the question. It allowed her to focus on something other than how her hand felt in Draven’s hand, and it was a question she could answer honestly without worrying about giving anything away.
“I haven’t told them yet,” she smiled. “It seemed disrespectful not having the ruling couple know first.”
“Oh, there’s no need for all of that deferential stuff with us, Morgan. We’ve known you since you were five years old,” Miller said.
“I think they’ll be pleased,” Morgan added.
She knew they would be. Especially her mother, who knew she had feelings for Draven. She was really hoping she could avoid telling her parents about this at all, but she knew if she had to tell them, she would tell them the whole truth. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mother being so excited for her and then having to pretend that she had realized she and Draven weren’t meant to be together after all.
“They’re actually in Europe at the moment, though,” Morgan said. “And I don’t want to tell them this over the phone. I’ll be sure to tell them as soon as they get back.”
That her parents were in Europe was the truth and she really wouldn’t have wanted to tell them something so big over the phone. She hoped that by the time they got back, in just under three weeks’ time, this would all be over and she would never have to tell them anything except that she and Draven had tried being together and decided it wasn’t right for them. Maybe not even that much if they managed to keep their relationship quiet, claiming they didn’t want it to go public until the mating ceremony.
