The Draglen Brothers - DRAKEN (BK 1)

—
D R A K E N —

Copyright © 2013 by Solease M Barner

First Edition – September 2013

Illustration by Patti Roberts

ISBN:
9781301878123

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you
share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it,
or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return
to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for
respecting the author's work. This book is entirely a work of
fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents depicted
herein are either products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

I have to thank all my readers, who
support me in my writing. I appreciate all the thoughtful things
you do to share my book with others. I feel very blessed when I
encounter many of you on my website, Facebook, emails, and even in
public. I hope to encounter more of you in the future.

I hope you enjoy the new
series, readers!


I must thank a few people
individually,

Jane A. Bowen. Jane, you are a special
woman. I love how you take the time to do sweet things that help
promote my books. I love my special banner you created! I thank you
from the bottom of my heart and I hope you enjoy the new
series!

Denise Bush take a bow, you go far and
above what is required. The love you pour out to all authors is
amazing. Thank you for supporting me, and for letting me grace your
FB cover among so many great other authors. Thanks for the gifts
you make for my books, they are special to me. I’m happy you enjoy
my books, and hope you enjoy this new series!

Diana B. Tan, thank you for always
retweeting my books on Twitter. I’m not experienced on twitter, I’m
truly grateful for any help I get. I thank you for supporting my
work, sharing and always coming to party with me!

There are so many of you
who go out of your way for me, I can’t name you all, but know I
love you all! I look forward to getting feedback on this series
from you all!


The Special People working on the book
to make it perfect,

Tabitha Ormiston-Smith,
you know how to make a girl work. You are the best editor I’ve
encountered. I love you when the book is complete, and think you
are a evil witch during editing lol

I know I can say that to you. I
always say to myself, Tabitha and I are in a love/hate
relationship. I know when you are angry when I see caps in comments
on edits. I also know when something made you giggle as well. I
appreciate you teaching me to be better at writing, and keeping my
feet to the fire. I love working with you and look forward to more
books together!

Patti Roberts, you are
full of talent! I look forward to doing covers with you. The way
you bring life to my vision on a cover is amazing. I’m like a kid
in a candy store when I know we are working on covers. You’re
always so patient with me, very accommodating, and kind.

I always say you’re
heaven sent and I mean that. I can’t wait to work with you, it’s
such joy to spend time working on covers with you, even when I ask
for changes after I’ve said ‘I love it’, you change it without
complaint, and for that I thank you deep down.

Beta Readers

I LOVE YOU ALL!! I truly
enjoy how you are all so truthful with me about my books. I won’t
give names, because I like to keep my beta readers to
myself!

You all
know who you are, my first readers. I always look forward to your
feedback. You are all awesome!

I’m not ashamed and will always thank
my heavenly father Jesus Christ. I would not even be here without
Him. I have to thank my wonderful husband. I’m so blessed to share
my life with you. I love that you are so accepting of my madness,
when writing, editing, promoting, and the crazy schedule I have,
still you never complain. To my precious daughter, Mommy loves our
time together. I love that smile and how we can talk about
anything. You will always be my baby. Thank you Mom and Dad, for
supporting me with all the wisdom you give me. I love you both, and
consider it a blessing to have you as parents. I love all my
sisters and love each one of you for being there for me no matter
what. Shatina, my manager, I love you so much; you always make sure
I stay focused, reminding me of all the important things, and
pushing out the negative. Thank you. To my nephew/son, I love
talking with you. You are so wise at such a young age, your advice
is appreciated. To my friend who is awesome, I love reading books
with you and discussing our fictional boyfriends, you know who you
are, SWH!!! LOL. To the best book club ever, I love all of you and
enjoy our meetings, with such great food and wine! If I have missed
anyone please don’t charge it to my heart. I love all my family and
friends!

Solease M Barner

You were not planned

You invaded my life

You changed me

You caused me pain

You even lied to me

Yet, here I stand

Loving You

Wanting You

Needing You

Caressing You

Now, when it’s my time to

Reign,

We both shall wear the
crown,

Called the

Purple Reign!

BOOM! Bang, bang, BOOM, is the sound I
hear first thing in the morning. The new neighbors are moving in
two houses down, and I can hear all their noise as I try to sleep.
It’s Saturday and my day off from work and school. It’s my senior
year in college, and I’m still at home with my parents. I decided
to go local rather than leave the nest. I love my home, and I want
to save money to take my dream trip after I graduate, to beautiful
historic Italy, without any help from my parents. I have always
wanted to go, enjoying the people and the history. That’s why it’s
so important for me to get my rest, as midterms are coming. I must
continue with my GPA of 3.8 if I want the gift my parents promised,
which is my very own first place, with them paying the first six
months rent. I drag myself out of bed and stumble over to the
window to see why all the noise. Glancing at the clock, I notice
it’s only 8:00 a.m. I wouldn’t normally be out of bed until at
least 11:00 a.m. My parents are gone for the weekend, and D, who is
my twin brother and best friend, will sleep until noon. Nothing
will wake him, not even if the house was on fire. I look out the
window harder, to see if the neighbors are visible. I only see that
it’s four men carrying boxes. I grab my binoculars to get a better
look. I focus and see a man giving orders. I can’t see his face, as
his back is to me. I try to focus on the others, but they are
behind the moving truck. I feel like Mrs. Peters, the Nosey Parker.
I crawl back into bed and try to go back to sleep, but my chance
has passed, and I decide to have breakfast. I usually have a yogurt
and some toast, but today I’ll eat a man’s breakfast. I start
making pancakes, eggs, sausage, toast, and hash casserole. If I’m
going to be up, I might as well eat good food. I could have asked
Gloria (she is our live - in maid, plus she cooks better than the
cook) to prepare the meal, but I like cooking for myself sometimes.
It’s not long before my twin brother smells the food, and comes
into the kitchen sniffing.

“Cess, I know you made enough for me?
I was out late with the guys, and I’m starving,” he says, grabbing
himself a sausage right out of the pan.

“Hey, I’m not sure if they are done.”
I smile.

“Doesn’t matter to me, if I die from
one small half-done sausage then I guess it was my time,” D says,
grabbing the orange juice. He pours himself a big glass, and
proceeds to tell me about his wild night out. His story is
interrupted by loud laughter outside.

“Who the hell is laughing like that?”
D says, shaking his head. I frown at him, because D can be
extremely loud sometimes. The laughter is loud, and the houses are
not that close together in this area.

“That might be our neighbors . . . let
me go see,” I say, walking into the front room. The laughter gets
louder. I peek out the window and it’s those guys who just moved
in. Now that I’m fully awake, I can see them clearly. It’s four of
them, and they look amazing. They are all over 6 feet, closer to
6’6” then 6’4”. My mouth is open when D comes and interrupts my
fantasy.

“Cess, you are not ready to be in
another relationship, you just broke up with Travis,” he mumbles
through toast and sausage.

“Look D, I’m over Travis. I thought we
agreed not to mention his name in this house,” I say, as I turn to
finish gazing at these fine men. There is nothing wrong with
looking, but I will not break my promise. No men until I’m done
with school and have started my career. They can be such a
distraction, and looking at these guys, they could be a huge
distraction. I will stay away from them.