To Brynne, it was a perfect day.
* * *
***
Brynne
That summer was really hot, and Declan stopped by every day to check on Brynne and the baby. His euphoria over having a male cousin was adorable.
He was almost eight now, and thanks to a lot of experience with his younger sister and baby cousin, Isleen, he was ready to help take care of baby Finnegan. Of course, they’d stuck with the traditional Irish naming system.
On the first day of September, the baby still hadn’t come yet, so all of them loaded up and went to the lake. All four brothers were itching to shift, and so was Declan. School had started for him, and he had a lot of excess energy to burn off on the weekends.
The four of them shifted and swam under the surface, darting back and forth by the boat every now and then. Brynne climbed out of the boat and made her way to a sandbar. She lay back in the warm water and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her face while listening to the shouts of laughter all around her. They weren’t all dragon shifters, but they were her family. And she loved them. She still mourned for the clan that she lost, but she also treasured the family she’d found here with Liam.
As she reclined in the lake water and let the gentle waves roll over her, a sharp pain stabbed her in the back. It was uncomfortable but not excruciating. She rolled to her stomach and floated in the water, putting her face in every now and then and watching the fish dart by.
Not far from her, Declan was catching fish underwater while in dragon form. Lately, he never liked to be too far from her. His excitement for his baby boy cousin was palpable, and she couldn’t wait to watch that relationship grow.
After relaxing in the water for several hours, she was hungry. When she stood up, another sharp pain shot through her ribcage. She took a step forward, and another pain drove through her pelvis.
What in the world? She put her hand down at the bottom of her belly. Could this be labor? She always thought the labor pains would be more intense, but maybe they were just getting started. Honestly, she knew very little about dragon shifter birth. Her only knowledge was that of humans, and while she might look human, their reality was very different.
Declan popped out of the water, and within seconds he had shifted back to human. “Aunt Brynne, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine, but can you go find your Uncle Liam?”
Declan’s eyes widened into saucers. “Are you about to have the baby? Can it be born here on the island? Will you have it in the water, and will it be able to swim?”
This time the pain was so sharp that it took her breath away. She stumbled a little, and Declan was right there, catching her under the arm. He helped guide her to a tree on a small island in the lake. She stayed upright and hung on to the tree trunk.
Declan tilted his little head back and opened his mouth. Before he screamed, she grabbed him by the arm. “Hey, little man, I need you to go find him and not shout out his name, okay?”
Declan nodded. “I’ll go find them.”
Declan took off, swimming, thrashing, and splashing in the water in his human form. He seemed to know right where Liam was, which was good because Brynne couldn’t get enough air in her lungs to tell him.
Then it occurred to her—Liam was her mate. He’d been able to sense her when the witches attacked. Although their bond was very strong all the time, it was the strongest on that fateful day. Shouldn’t he be able to feel her going into labor?
She held on to the tree trunk, and then Clara and Juliana showed up. They had been hiking across the lake on one of the banks, but now they were here, and they had water bottles in one hand and clean towels in the other.
“Do you mind if I get closer?” Clara asked.
“No, get as close as you like,” she said. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, either,” Clara said. “I had both my kids at the hospital, so I’m no expert, but between the three of us, this is the fourth baby we’ve had, so surely we’ll figure it out.” She laid her hand on Brynne’s lower back and then touched her stomach. “Oh. Yeah, you’re having constant contractions. How far apart are they?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been counting.”
Clara pulled out her phone and began to time the contractions. Once she was done, her head shot up. “Your contractions are a minute apart. This baby’s going to be born very soon. I hope Liam gets his butt over here.” Juliana must have spotted him because she began waving her arms like a crazy person.
Within seconds, Liam appeared, dripping wet and sexy as ever. He came running up the sandbank and halted as he got closer to Brynne. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.
Clara guided him to stand behind her. “Just hold her up under her arms if she sags. Standing up is the easiest position to have a baby in. Well, it’s not easy, but it gets the baby out.”
At this point, Brynne noticed Brennan, Quinn, and Kellan getting all the kids together, including Declan, and putting them in the boat. Quinn waved his hand to Juliana. “‘I’m going to stay in the boat. You holler if you need me, and I’ll come over.”
It was unlikely that Brynne would need a doctor. Shifters were fortunate in that they had very few complications in childbirth
“Since you can hold her with one arm, you can use the other hand to rub her back if she wants you to,” Clara said.
Brynne nodded frantically. “Yes, please wack my back like you do when you’re giving me a massage.”
Liam’s hands were way more hesitant than she wanted, so Clara showed him how to message her back so that Brynne could actually feel it. She leaned her head against the tree trunk.
Brynne had a nice birth plan all typed up that included an inflatable baby pool, their bathroom at home, and some nice spa music and candles. She’d even had a little blanket and baby outfit laid out, waiting on baby Finnegan.
Out here on the lake, she only had everyone’s damp beach towels. If it wasn’t for Clara and Julian being super prepared, she wouldn’t even have that. This morning when they left, it had not occurred to Brynne that she could go into labor even though her due date was in two days.
Just as she was lamenting not being able to follow through on her birth plan, a massive contraction ripped through her body. Liam’s arms tightened under her arms, and Clara rubbed a cool washcloth over her forehead while Juliana forced her to take a few sips from a water bottle.
Brynne screamed.
Juliana said, “Shh. That’s going to bring the police out.” She cut off a small section of the towel with a knife and offered it to Brynne. “Stick that in your mouth, and then you can scream as loud as you want. The last thing we need is a bunch of humans getting involved and calling the police because they hear screaming.”
Even with the towel in her mouth, she let loose with non-stop screams. Finally, it felt like a bowling ball was bearing down in her pelvis.
“He’s coming. The baby’s coming.”
She felt his head crown, and then the pain evaporated. She crouched down closer to the ground and put her hand below her body so that she could catch him. Liam was still supporting her, and Juliana was close by in case she needed backup.
Seconds later, Finnegan Owen Murphy came into the world. She sank all the way to the ground, and Liam caught her. Clara had her bring the baby up to her chest and just sit and hold him, and they wrapped them both up in towels.
She gazed at her baby in awe. He was perfect.
“All right, you guys should be good to go. He should start to nurse sometime in the next hour. We should all just stay here for the rest of the day unless tourists come by and interrupt us.”
She could hear a little voice in the background. Declan was hopping from one foot to the other and screaming, “Can I meet him? I’m ready to meet him.”
Liam looked down at Brynne, and she nodded. “He’s welcome to meet his baby cousin.”
“Send the kid over,” Liam called out. Liam settled d
own next to her and put his arm around her. They both stared down at Finnegan together. Liam ran his finger over the baby’s cheek. “Welcome to our family. I think you’re going to like it.”
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Doctor Dragon’s Fake Bride (SNEAK PEEK)
Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Series
Blurb
A dragon shifter must fake a proposal with his virgin neighbor, to save her from a forced marriage.
* * *
The Virgin Mate
My family wants to trade me like a piece of property.
And force me to marry a cruel man who only wants my virginity.
I flee, and find refuge in Texas.
I get lucky, because my next door neighbor is a sexy doctor.
When I break my arm, my handsome doctor mends the bone, and
When my father sends a thug to kidnap me, my gorgeous doctor rescues me.
He promises to marry me, to protect me from the mob.
We host a fake wedding,
But when he touches me, my passion is real.
Our marriage might be pretend, but there is nothing fake about how much I want this smoking hot man.
* * *
The Irish Doctor
Thirteen years ago, my dragon shifter tribe was decimated by witches.
I followed my brother to the States to start a new life.
I miss my Irish home, but I’ve settled in Texas, as a doctor to humans.
The best part of my home is my neighbor, a beautiful young woman.
When a man breaks in, and tries to abduct her, I rescue her.
She confesses her secret.
She’s a virgin, and her family is forcing her to marry.
I vow to protect her, and fake a proposal.
Despite the fake marriage, this woman is my mate, but I hide the truth about my heritage.
Her family sends the mafia after us, and I will do anything to protect her.
Even if it reveals the truth about who I am.
* * *
Can an Irish dragon shifter protect his virgin bride from her past?
* * *
***
1
Juliana
On the evening of her twenty-fifth birthday, Juliana Costeau was not prepared for her life to change—forever.
“Juliana, don’t leave yet,” her mother said from across the wide mahogany table in their ornate family home.
Juliana folded her napkin and pushed her chair back from the table. “Mama, I have to go. I have an early meeting in the morning.”
The household staff took their empty dessert plates away, replacing them with steaming mugs of hot tea. Her mother laid her arm across Juliana’s. “No meeting is more important than this.”
Her mother’s fingers were ice cold against Juliana’s skin, and the tone of her mother’s voice set Juliana’s teeth on edge. “More important than my job? What’s that?” she asked.
Juliana had busted her ass for years to get to a place in her family’s business where she was respected. Her accounting degree had helped, but mostly what worked was her hard work, her tenacity, and her very thick skin. Despite all the advances in society, in the close-knit Romanian network, sons were still favored over daughters.
Her mother narrowed her eyes, sending Juliana a silent warning that said, “Do not argue.” Her mother pulled her arm away from Juliana’s and pressed her hands together. “We have found the man you will marry.”
Juliana must have misheard what her mother just said. “What?”
Her parents’ marriage had been arranged. So had the marriages of Juliana’s aunts and uncles, and even one of her older cousins. No one had said a word about it to Juliana, though. Sure, her parents were overly invested in her life, but they always claimed that’s just how Romanian parents were. In college, she’d learned that was absolutely not the case.
Her father leaned forward, somehow looming even while sitting down. “You are twenty-five now. It is your obligation to marry.”
“We have already chosen your groom,” her mother said. “It cannot be undone.”
What the fuck? Can’t be undone? What kind of bullshit were her parents pushing tonight? She was a professional woman with a professional job. This wasn’t the eighteenth century—she wasn’t their property. “There’s no way I can marry someone I don’t know.”
“Do not be naive. You will marry the man we have chosen for you,” her father said. “You will marry him in three months’ time, and you will be grateful to serve your family in this way.”
Juliana’s skin crawled. Her parents were old-fashioned, and she’d suspected for years that their business dealings were not all aboveboard. Well. If she was honest, she hadn’t just suspected. She’d been privy to too many discussions not to realize that her parents had some loose ties to the underground crime world.
“Who is it?” Juliana asked.
“Mihal Berceanu,” her father proclaimed.
Bile rose in her throat. Mihal was older than she was by at least fifteen years. He was known to be ruthless in the business world, with a cruel streak and a hard edge. He wasn’t just loosely affiliated with the gangsters that controlled the town, either—he was known to have very strong ties to both the Romanian and Russian crime families. His uncle was currently serving a fifteen-year sentence in the federal penitentiary for racketeering violations because he’d ordered his employees to commit crimes in his stead. His brother was known to be a mercenary who’d do any job for hire.
“But he’s a—”
“Do not speak that word in our home,” her father snapped.
She had planned to say gangster. What was preferable? Mobster? Thug? Criminal?
Her mother’s eyes pierced hers. “Do you not sit here and eat the food from our table? Mihal will provide for you in the same manner.”
“I don’t need to be provided for.”
Her mother didn’t acknowledge that statement. “Your engagement will be announced one week from today,” she said.
Juliana had to find a way out of this. She was smart enough to know that logic alone wasn’t going to work. “What’s the rush?”
“He is the owner of Ivanov Shipping Industries. They have a monopoly on the east coast,” her father said. “Our business will be merging with theirs.”
“So, this is about money.” And control, but she did not voice that part.
Her father’s eyes narrowed. “You need to watch the words coming out of your mouth, Juliana.”
Her mother nodded. “He knows that you are a virgin. See that you stay that way in the weeks to come.”
Hot rage flooded her veins. Shame and revulsion warred in her mind. Her parents had told Mihal she was a virgin? It was true, but how did they even know? If she let the obscenities she felt on her tongue spew out of her mouth, they’d lock her up until the wedding. She took a few calming breaths.
“I really do have to go,” she said.
She kissed them both goodbye and rushed to her car, where she dialed her cousin’s number. As soon as he picked up, she said, “Mama told me I have to marry Mihal Berceanu. Did you know about this?”
“Of course I knew. He’s the head of the Berceanu family, now. Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming.”
“No, I did not see this coming.” She rested her head against her steering wheel. “Can I stay with you?”
Her cousin didn’t even hesitate. “Hell no. Do you think I want my head on a pike?”
So, her cousin was just like the rest of them. Spineless. What a bunch of shit. She marched right back inside her parents’ opulent townhouse. Their butler let her in w
ithout asking what she was doing. She made her way to the dining room, but the household staff told her they’d already gone up to their bedroom. She made her way down the long hallway, and outside their bedroom, she heard their voices.
“We need her to make this arrangement work, and without any new-age attitude,” her father said. “You were always too indulgent with her.”
“I know.” Her mother sighed heavily. “I believed she would rebel less if I was not so heavy-handed.”
“We cannot afford to be lax in our line of business,” her father said. “Mihal wants her as his wife. If we were to refuse, it would cause damage. Significant damage.”
“Would the Berceanus respond with force?”
Juliana had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from gasping out loud.
“Without a doubt,” her father said in a low voice. “We will make her understand that.”
Juliana might be young, but she was not stupid. Clearly, her parents’ connection to the Romanian mafia that operated in select parts of New England was much more intense than she’d realized. Or maybe she was stupid. She grew up with bodyguards, her playdates were limited, and she was never allowed to attend summer camp. The other wealthy kids had bodyguards, but they’d been allowed to go anywhere they wanted with anyone they wanted. Not Juliana.
“Our territory has expanded. She has always enjoyed the fruits of our labor. She will adjust her viewpoint,” her father said, and his voice carried an air of finality.
Juliana’s stomach lurched. Her parents were heavily involved in organized crime. She couldn’t deny it any longer. She couldn’t write it off as business connections or networking.
Lawyer Dragon's Surrogate (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 3) Page 13