Free Fated: An Alpha Male Romance by K. Alex Walker Page A

headlights in that last moment before it was unexpectedly struck on an isolated road. Kai was in the corner, preoccupied by her mountain of gifts, and Grandma Evelyn was upstairs sleeping off a headache.
    “Do they know what’s in here?” I asked Roderick.
    “No,” he answered. “Hurry up.”
    I pulled away the wrapping paper until only the gift box was left. I lifted off the top and bile rose to the back of my throat when I saw a black, leathery square inside. A few months ago, my heart would have been pounding in anticipation for the day that I’d waited on for years. The day that meant that I was on the path to fulfilling the destiny that had been chosen for me. Now, all I could think was “ please, no. ”
    I overturned the box so that the slightly smaller one inside fell into my palm. Gia groaned and locked a nervous vise-grip onto Eli’s leg. Roderick shot her a look and very discreetly, she flipped him off. His face flushed and he shook his head as though he’d just chastised a hoodlum.
    I opened the cover.
    Diamond studs. Earrings.
    “Oh, how beautiful,” my mother gasped, moving over to sit on the floor next to me. Before she did, I noticed her eyes move in my father’s direction. He gave a curt nod, and then she situated herself beside me and tucked her legs underneath her body.
    “I noticed that you’d been coveting these earrings for a few months now,” Roderick spoke up.
    “Aren’t these the same ones that you’d called juvenile?” I asked, trying not to show too much relief that it was not an engagement ring.
    “I will admit that I was wrong,” he answered. “At first, I did think that they were beneath us. Studs are for little girls. Pearls are for women. But the governor’s wife was wearing some the other day, so I realized that it would be okay for you to wear them too.”
    I popped them in my ear. “Thank you, Rick. How do they look? Do you like them?”
    “They will grow on me.”
    “You look beautiful, Alle,” Eli offered.
    I smiled.
    “Well, it’s time for breakfast,” my mother announced, pushing up from the floor. “Come on, everybody.” She held out her hand. “Kai, come on.”
    Kai skipped over and grabbed my mother’s hand before they disappeared into the kitchen. Eli, Gia, and Roderick followed suit, but my father lingered behind. I knew that a lecture was coming, but as usual, I had no clue what it would be about.
    I began to push myself up from the floor simply to get him to start talking. If not, I’d be sitting under five minutes of his quiet, intense scrutiny. My father was like a less approachable version of Colin Powell in stature, presence, and appearance, rounded out with a James Earl Jones voice.
    “Sit down, Alexandra.”
    I returned to the floor. “What did I do, Daddy?”
    “Don’t Daddy me.” His frown burrowed deeper. “You know what you did.”
    “Ok. Well, I’m sorry.”
    “Sorry? You had that man worried sick, Alexandra!”
    My brain was still trying to piece everything together. “Who was worried sick? What is this about?”
    “Roderick told me that the last couple of days, the two of you have been periodically out of contact. That is inexcusable.”
    “Because I wasn’t feeling well and was spending time with Gia and Kai,” I lied. “I called him back.”
    “What has gotten into you, Alexandra? We’re used to you returning your phone calls, even when you’re at work, in under thirty minutes. Now, hours go by and it’s as though you’ve disappeared off the face of the Earth.” He pointed to the earrings. “Those are your fault.”
    I could feel myself wanting to submit, but something inside of me was fighting it. “My earrings are my fault? What does that even mean?”
    “It means that if you’d been on your best behavior, that would have been an engagement ring,” he explained.
    “Daddy, no offense, but my so-called disappearances happened two days ago. I’m pretty sure that Roderick bought these earrings way before