“We’ll take you with us sometime,” he said. He hoped that wasn’t too forward, but he wanted her to feel welcome in his life. Not just as his surrogate, but as a fellow dragon shifter.
She blinked a few times but swallowed hard. She looked like she might cry but clearly stopped herself. “I like skiing because it’s the closest thing to shifting.”
His heart ached for her. “That makes perfect sense. But you can shift. We can do it and not be discovered. I’ll find us a snowstorm. We’ll go shift there and fly around the top of a mountain.”
“What if a drone flies by?”
“We’ll stay in places with low visibility.” He took her hand in his. “I’m grateful to the vampires for finding you that day after the witches destroyed our home. They probably saved your life. I wish we’d found you because we’d have taken you with us. But we didn’t. While I’m grateful to the vampires, they were wrong. They didn’t know what they were doing. They’re old, and they don’t understand our need to shift.” He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “We can do this. I promise.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
They got dressed in normal human ski gear. He wore what he had, but she had on an entirely new outfit. Her long legs were encased in hot pink ski pants, and she had on a white parka with a bright yellow scarf.
He tugged on the neon scarf. “I like the bright colors.”
“It helps my ski students locate me when they fall behind,” she said.
“You don’t need gloves,” he said. “No humans will be with us.”
Her face lit up as she dropped her ski gloves back on the dresser. He loved the way she smiled. Her eyes danced when she smiled, and it seemed to reach her entire face. It also fucking made his cock hard, but this wasn’t the time or the place for that.
He used a weather radar to find the closest mountain with a snowstorm. He’d rented a Jeep, and as they bumped along the curvy roads, he grinned. “I feel like I’m at home again.”
“Home?” She peered up at the mountain that loomed in front of them and at the big snowflakes that littered the windshield, even with the wipers turned on. “I’ve never been to Texas, but I assumed it was hot and lacked snow and mountains.”
He hadn’t meant to refer to Ireland as home. In his heart, Ireland was home, and yet he had accepted Texas long ago, even with all of its flaws that didn’t make the life of a shifter easy. “Yeah, you’re right about Texas. I meant home, as in Ireland.” He leaned closer to the steering wheel and craned his head up. On either side of the road, tall mountains rose toward the sky.
“Did you drive there?”
“No,” he said. “My parents never had any interest in a car, but I rode in a car a few times. The roads were narrow and winding, and the air was always damp and gray, just like this.”
Brynne propped her feet on the dashboard and watched him drive. He was relieved that there was no need for her to ask him to be careful—if they crashed the car, they’d be absolutely fine.
“Sometimes, the skies here are a perfect blue, but the roads do scare the shit out of the tourists.” She laughed. “I learned that the hard way when I was driving a group of skiers to a restaurant. I had to remind myself that they’d die if we careened over the side of the mountain.
Liam shot her a wicked grin. “You’re a mess. Scaring those poor innocent tourists like that.”
“Oh, they were far from innocent. It was a group of fraternity brothers, and one of them was getting married the following week. They were all very poorly behaved.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “So you took pleasure in tormenting them.”
“Oh, I did. The groom had given his number to several ladies at the bar we’d visited, so I made sure to get very close to the safety railing more than once. The guys in the car screamed and cried, and one even threw up.”
Liam made a face. “Ugh. That sounds like more of a punishment for you than him.”
“I made sure to pull over and shove him out into the snow.” She rubbed her hands together with glee. “But I pulled him back in before he got frostbite.”
He slapped the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “I love it.”
Soon, they arrived at the mountain. The gate was chained closed, with a big sign that read, “Closed.” It also said, “Warning. Dangerous conditions.”
“Not for us,” Brynne yelled.
It was selfish of him, but Liam was glad he was the one getting to share this with her—her first time to shift and fly in fifteen years. He couldn’t imagine having stifled the dragon inside of him for that long.
He took her by the hand, and they ran up the mountain together, sticking to the paved path at first and then venturing off into the snowy banks. The cold didn’t faze them, and they ran freely, collecting bits of pine needles in their hair as they went. Brynne’s anticipation was palpable, and Liam relished her bare hand in his.
“I won’t need to see your scarf,” he said to her. “I can tell where you are.”
Her face was priceless. “You have no idea what this means to me—being with another shifter.”
He shuddered at the thought of not having had Kellan, Quinn, and Brennan after the battle with the witches was over. They’d all grieved together. There were days when one of them didn’t want to get out of bed. There were days when they’d all barely eaten. They’d been seventeen when they were cast into an unknown human world, but at least they’d had each other. Brynne had been ten years old, still a child, and she’d been thrust into the bizarre world of the vampires. He ached for the little girl who’d been forced to adapt to Nicolae’s remote demeanor and his otherworldly way of speaking and relating to others.
At the top of the mountain, they found a wooden bench and took their clothes off with great delight, folding them over the seat of the bench.
“What if they get covered up with snow and we can’t find them?” she asked.
“Then I guess we’ll drive home naked,” Liam said. They both laughed again, full of amusement and reveling in their defiance of human rules. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“I’ll go first,” Liam said. He closed his eyes and let his body transform. Once he’d shifted, his bones felt at ease. He flapped his wings once for good measure. He was ready to fly.
In front of him, Brynne gazed up at him. She hadn’t shifted yet. She took a step forward with her hand out. She ran the palm of her hand down his neck and over his scales. He shivered at the contact.
“You’re so handsome, just like this,” she said. She cleared her throat and put her other hand on his neck. “I can’t believe this is really happening. It’s been fifteen years. I’d hoped, but I never really thought I’d see another shifter in my entire life.”
He dipped his head down. He couldn’t speak in this form, but he could feel all of her emotions. He spread his wings and let this tail thump against the snowy ground, hoping she’d understand that he felt for her and that he grieved along with her for the loss of their clan.
She let go of him and stepped back. She held her arms out to her sides and closed her eyes. As he watched, rapt, she transformed into a dragon. Her scales shimmered in the wintery light. They were a gorgeous bronze, and when she blinked open her almond-shaped eyes, they were bright yellow. He stamped at the ground and turned his head, releasing a roar with a blast of fire. This shifter belonged with him. She was from his clan.
She mimicked him, stomping at the ground and opening her mouth. At first, nothing happened, and she blinked a few times. Then she roared, loud and clear, and red-hot fire shot out of her mouth.
Liam flapped his wings and lifted himself off the ground. Once he was about ten feet into the air, he stopped and waited on her. She paced for a few minutes, flapping her wings slowly while taking long steps through the snow. Finally, she climbed on a fallen pine log and jumped. She faltered for just a second, and then she was airborne. She climbed up, spiraling in a circle overhead. Once she’d steadied
herself, Liam took off, flapping his wings and joining her in the sky.
The air was thick with snow at the summit, and they couldn’t see a thing, but it didn’t matter. They soared above the treeline at eleven thousand feet above sea level. This is what they were meant for. Not to live in highrises in New York City or isolated alone in the mountains, always in human form. They were meant to fly and to be with their own kind.
His dragon was content at last. He was flying with his mate.
She’s mine.
Once Liam was back in Texas, he texted his brothers and told them to meet him at the lake—alone. As much as he loved Kellan and Quinn’s kids, it was hard to finish a conversation around them.
With Kellan, Quinn, and Brennan all on board the boat, Liam pulled out an ice chest full of beer and sandwich meat, but before he could divide up the food for lunch, Brennan spoke up. “Tell us what’s up, man. You’ve been weird all day.”
Liam started to protest but realized Brennan was probably right. He was jittery. “I have something to tell you all.”
Kellan waved his hand in a circle, a go-on gesture, and Quinn said, “Yes. We can tell. You are not subtle.”
Liam felt like he was a logical, rational type of person. But had he become more dramatic over the years because he spent so much time in court? His brothers were acting like he was practically hysterical.
Liam forced himself not to fidget. He was an adult. He could tell his brothers the truth about his life choices. “I want to have a baby.”
Kellan and Brennan gaped at him, and Quinn just looked smug.
Liam didn’t give them a chance to start interrogating him. “I’ve hired a surrogate.”
“What the hell? We could have found you a woman,” Brennan said. “These two idiots found one, and you’re a lot nicer than they are.”
“Hey!” Kellan yelled, and he lunged for Brennan, and the two of them rolled onto the floor of the boat. They scuffled for a minute while Quinn uncapped his beer and laughed.
They showed no signs of stopping, so Liam said in a loud voice, “I hired a surrogate, and she’s a dragon shifter female.”
All the motion stopped. No one moved a muscle, not even Quinn, who’d assumed he had all the relevant details.
Brennan pushed himself off the floor of the boat and stood. “What the fuck?”
Quinn grabbed him by the arm. “Sit down, dumbass. He’ll tell us.”
Brennan whipped his head around. “Did you know about this?” he asked Quinn.
“I knew he wanted a kid. I had no fucking clue that there was a dragon shifter female in the mix.”
Kellan was still sitting on the floor of the boat with his mouth open. Liam waited until they’d settled back into their seats. “Anyone else want to freak out?”
Brennan put his hand over his mouth, and all three of his brothers were looking at Liam with narrowed eyes.
“I realize this is a surprise,” Liam said.
“Understatement,” Kellan muttered.
Liam crossed his arms. He was, admittedly, the most easy-going of the brothers, but he wasn’t going to let them derail him indefinitely. “Do you want to hear this or not? Because I’m happy to shift and go for a swim.”
Brennan rubbed his hand over his face. “Sorry, man. We want to hear it. Go ahead.”
Liam exhaled. “I get that you guys are pissed. I’d be pissed, too, if I found out you did something this significant without telling me.”
“So, why did you?” Kellan asked.
Liam glared. “I’ll explain if you’ll let me. On my birthday, I looked around and saw both of you with families, and I realized that I’m thirty-two now and that I always thought I’d have a mate and hatchlings by that point. I confessed that to Quinn, and he suggested a surrogate.”
Liam went on to explain the rest of his reasoning to his brothers, but when he reached the part about traveling to New York City, Kellan jumped to his feet. “You let me think you needed the jet for work. Not to go meet with the vampires,” Kellan said.
Liam sighed. “I know.” He hadn’t felt great about lying to his brother, but he’d felt it was necessary at the time. He had not been willing to let them try and talk him out of going.
Kellan collapsed back onto the bench. “You know I don’t care what you do with the jet, but since when does one of us just haul off to New York to see the vampires without telling the others?”
Kellan was right, but Liam didn’t regret what he’d done. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have met with the vampires without telling you all. I met with Aleksandr, and he sent me to Colorado. That’s where I met Brynne, who’s going to be my surrogate.”
Quinn and Kellan were still gaping at him, but Kellan recovered first.
“How did the vampires know she was there?” Kellan asked
Before Liam could explain, Brennan scowled at him. “How do you know we can trust her?”
A surge of raw fury rose up inside Liam. His claws started to come out, and he knew his eyes flashed yellow. “Do not question her integrity.”
All three of Liam’s brothers’ eyebrows shot up.
Liam took a deep breath to slow his racing heart.
Just then, Kellan’s face broke into a giant grin. “She’s your mate.” Kellan hopped up and slapped Liam on the back. “Dude, you should have said.”
Liam took a cleansing breath, one that was big enough to slow his racing heart. He wasn’t ready to talk about her being his mate. “She doesn’t know. She’s mine, but I don’t know that I’m hers.”
His brothers were mated, but they couldn’t advise him on this—both of their mates were human. While Clara and Juliana loved Kellan and Quinn, they didn’t form the same level of attachment that the dragon shifters did.
Liam cracked open a second beer and took a sip. “So, yeah. The whole mate thing complicates the surrogacy.”
“You haven’t told her. Why?” Brennan asked.
“I don’t want to spook her. She was living with the damn vampires, and then she was isolated, living with a bunch of humans. She’s been alone, and then I showed up and asked her if she wanted to have a baby. There’s no reason to throw that at her, too.”
“You should still tell her,” Kellan chimed in.
Liam looked at him. “I don’t remember you being upfront with Clara.”
Chastised, Kellan shut his mouth.
“Right,” Liam continued. “I will tell her, but it needs to come from me. When she gets here, I need y’all to act right.”
Brennan clapped him on the back. “Dude. You don’t have to tell us twice.”
Somehow, Liam doubted it would be that easy.
12
Brynne
Liam offered to send his brother’s private jet up to Colorado, but Brynne declined and flew to Texas on a commercial flight, although Liam did insist on upgrading her to first class. As the plane circled over the sprawling Dallas airport, Brynne looked out at the flat land that stretched on for miles. This was her first time visiting Texas, and the lack of mountains and forests left her feeling exposed.
You’re here to be with other shifters, not enjoy the landscape.
She collected her bags and went to find Liam, who’d insisted on picking her up from the airport. It was sweet that he wanted to take care of her. It was a nice change since she’d been taking care of herself since she was ten. Yes, the vampires had provided for her, but they’d seen no issue with sending an eleven-year-old out on the subway, day or night, and they certainly didn’t attend school events or conferences unless absolutely forced to.
She smiled at the memory of Nicolae signing her report card when she was fifteen. He’d been so stiff when the teacher handed him the pen. “Brynne has the highest marks in the class. I trust you are aware of her intellect,” Nicolae had said.
Brynne had wanted to melt into the floor from embarrassment, but Nicolae was old, even though he looked like a supermodel. He’d been born in 1781, in Ekaterinburg, Russia, when Catherine the Gre
at was ruling. She couldn’t blame him too much for being so weird.
Liam, however, was not weird. He was just smoking hot. He stood apart from the crowd. He was dressed up today in a black suit with a gray tie. He had one hand in his pocket, and he leaned against a column with an easy grace. Her stomach swirled with anticipation. He was so fucking hot, and she could barely stand it.
How often would he want to sleep with her? She couldn’t bring herself to ask yet, but she’d be up for multiple times per day.
When he saw her, his eyes lit up, and he smiled. He walked right up to her, kissed her on the mouth, and took her bags. “It’s good to see you again,” he said as they exited the airport and walked to his SUV. Between her legs, her core tingled. She liked the way he took over, even though she’d bristled any time a human man had tried to do the same.
“Cedar Lake’s not far from Dallas. My brothers and their wives are desperate to meet you.” He glanced at her as he drove. “But I figured you’d need a little time to settle in.”
“Do they know why I’m here?” she asked.
“Yes. They know.” He shot her a grin. “My brothers are really nosy, but their wives are sweet, so you’ll be fine.”
“Remember that I grew up in a vampire coven in New York City. I can handle your brothers.”
He laughed. “You’re right about that.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, and her eyes were drawn to his hands. She wanted to feel them on her body again soon. “Are you hungry?” he asked. “If we eat in Cedar Lake, at least ten people will stop and try to meet you.”
“No. I can wait.” If it were up to her, she’d avoid the prying eyes as long as possible. She’d be a conversation piece soon enough, once it became known that she was pregnant with Liam’s baby. “Is this going to be a scandal for you?”
“What? Hiring a surrogate? My brothers won’t tell anyone.”
“Then, everyone will think you knocked me up and didn’t marry me.”
“Surely, that’s an old-fashioned view.”
She shrugged. “Humans get all worked up about it. When my clients come for ski lessons, I hear all about their opinions. Lots of them are from Texas.”
Lawyer Dragon's Surrogate (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 3) Page 5