Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
You hate Mondays?
Try finding out that the mother you thought was dead is actually alive, being attacked by elves - who are definitely not Santa's friendly little helpers - and discovering that you're not nearly as human as you believed you were.
Yeah.
All before five o'clock.
Oh, and just in case all that wasn't enough to have me reaching for a bottle of wine rather than a glass, it turns out I'm also mated to an ancient dragon.
An ancient dragon who just so happens to be my boss.
Argh.
Any chance this is just one giant cos-play convention I don't remember registering for?
No?
Well, it'd be irresponsible for me to not at least ask if that were a possibility.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Here are five songs from the Pleasing Platinum playlist!
Feel free to follow the playlist on Spotify to find more songs I felt related to the novel.
1. Loved Me Back to Life—Travie McCoy (Hip-hop)
2. Focus—Tyler Carter (R&B)
3. Nervous—X Ambassadors (Rock)
4. Crash My Party—Luke Bryan (Country)
5. Special—Lizzo (Rap)
More songs
Ptur
Now is not the fucking time for an ambush.
And yes, I know by definition that an ambush is meant to be a surprise attack, but they couldn’t have waited another hour or two?
Perhaps even twenty minutes so that I could finish the last of my Americano that I just had to have this morning instead of my quick and to the point black coffee?
Or at the very fucking least could they not have waited until after this phone call in which I’m receiving a bullshit corporate daranguing from people who answer to me?
Hm.
Is it ironic that I am being attacked on both the business front and personal in tandem?
Perhaps.
Irritating?
Fucking undoubtedly.
Another vent screw hits the top of my private office conference table to my left at the same time the voice in my Bluetooth headset snidely inquires, “Are you even listening, Mr. Draak?”
The one-word answer is given as I slowly rise to my feet. “Yes.”
“Good,” hisses Nadine Olsen, the next largest shareholder of DL & Co.—our family-owned jewelry company.
However, just to be perfectly clear, she’s not family—thank the fucking Great Ones for that.
Zilveren or Z and Auran aka A.D., my two younger brothers, and myself hold the highest stakes at the company—although, they now share those portions with their mates—while other members of the Draak kin—our cousins—own smaller percentages not only to partake in the immense financial benefits but to prevent greedy little gremlins like her from trying to take control of a business that is not hers—nor will it ever be hers—to control.
Mother of Dragons, do I fucking hate gremlins.
And not just because I tussled with one in my teens over his water nymph girlfriend who came on to me.
Great Ones know that shit was far from my fault.
What was I supposed to do?
Not look so good naked?
Fuck that.
The third screw tumbles to the table seconds prior to Nadine’s snipping continuing, “These are severe and quite troubling accusations that are causing major concern to myself along with the other large non Draak shareholders that are on this call.”
I silently approach the area where the intruder will be dropping from.
“Therefore,” she proceeds to overexplain, “Cameron Pennington, head of HR for all of DL & Co., has been summoned to your office in Dreki to not only provide better insight on the reports of ‘unfit working conditions’ and ‘out-of-date bias practices’ that have been leaked to the media—affecting stock prices as well as sales numbers in a negative nature—but to also prove to those that are watching closely that we are committed to correcting mistakes being made once they’ve been brought to our attention.”
Except that there are not mistakes being made.
Look, I know I am not a perfect being, regardless of how hard I strive to be, but the allegations we’re facing are complete bullshit.
Nothing more than “once upon a time…” level of make-believe.
We didn’t start having any of the aforementioned issues until we got mixed up in this shit with Magitek, a sinister organization that seems hellbent on harming shifters among other creatures for some unknown reason.
My working theory based on the presented evidence and timeline of events?
They’ve gotten to someone or possibly multiple someones on the inside.
It is now my job to discover who.
It is now my job to discover how.
It is now my job to discover why.
And I’m praying to The Great Ones that that’s what this HR nuisance will assist in doing.
Or at the very least not become another link in the choke chain around my extremely tense neck.
I have enough of those to last me several lifetimes thank you very fucking much.
I’ve already got the looming attacks from an evil corporation, newly bonded brothers, and a complicated Fated Mate situation with a cocky cousin who refuses to listen to advice. Add that to my walking a thin tightrope with a wolfpack, micromanaging a narcissistic Griffin, trying to convince a tortured flamingo to talk about her experience and governing an ever-growing household all the while running a multi-billion-dollar business as well as dealing with a newly restless inner dragon and taking a deep breath is suddenly a luxury activity.
How I don’t just droke out is only for The Great Ones to know.
Most creatures would’ve by now.
At least according to Dae, Zilveren’s mate.
She’s a doctor.
Er…
In training.
Still.
It hasn’t stopped her from literally saving our lives or lovingly nagging at me that I should invest in additional peace providing tools besides the basset hound shaped stress ball she gave me, which made my youngest brother happy and livid and humpy.
Both sides of bonded beings are notorious for being over the top possessive when it comes to their mate’s caring interactions with other creatures.