Dragon Tycoon's Fake Bride: A Howls Romance (Paranormal Dragon Billionaire Romance)

by Anya Nowlan

  His musing was cut short when his dragon felt a presence that he was dialed onto with near perfection now. Galen looked up to the back porch, catching his first glance of Alexis for the evening. She was dressed in a long, golden gown that kissed her complexion perfectly, the dragonstone hanging around her neck and nestling over her bosom. There was a nervous but excited smile on her face, her cheeks lit with a blush.

  “She’s beautiful,” Icarus commented, reverence in his tone as he smacked a palm on Galen’s back.

  “That she is,” Galen beamed.

  Both he and Alexis knew that there would be plenty of work to do after this union was solidified, but that would not mean that he could not enjoy the ceremony. With each day they spend together, he’d felt more and more sure that he had made the best decision he could possibly make for himself. She was not just an ends to a means. She was… she was special. She was everything.

  And he still hadn’t told her. At least not in the words that he could be sure she understood.

  The problem was, he didn’t dare to tell her all he felt. What if it was just him that felt so deeply? What if she ran? What if she never came back?

  Ten

  Alexis

  Alexis’ head was a jumble of mismatched thoughts and confusion as the two men gave themselves enough room to transform. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and she had to fight hard to keep them down as she, Grear, Icarus and Cassidy watched on as the two Calder brothers turned into their dragon forms.

  It was a magnificent sight, momentarily distracting Alexis from the nervous energy threatening to suffocate her.

  You knew this all along, she reminded herself. Just a deal, just something that had to be done.

  So why did it hurt so much when Galen hadn’t said anything in their defense?

  When the dark bodies of the two giant dragons took flight, a gust of wind whipped hair into Alexis’ face and she brushed it aside, noticing that her hands were trembling. The dragons seemed to suck light into themselves in the dark night sky and as they rose to great heights, it was only the brightness of the full moon that allowed her to see them at all.

  Her breath caught as she saw the first plume of dragonfire rocketing across the sky, as bright as the moon, licking at the sides of Galen. She couldn’t be sure how she knew, but she could tell the two dragons apart easily. Her heart was certain which was Galen, and which Georg.

  Though a very loud voice in her head was telling her to just run, go now and remove herself from the situation, her feet were unrelenting. She needed to stay, for him. Even if this whole thing was a sham, as she always knew. She just hadn’t been prepared for the fact that it might hurt.

  The dragons swooped at one another, clashing in the air in a tumble of wings and scales and dragonfire. Cassidy gasped and then giggled, clapping her hands together as Galen bit down violently on Georg’s wing and the hoarse roar of a dragon wounded rattled the skies. Alexis felt nothing but contempt for the woman. While she had no lost love for Georg, she still hated that either of the men had to get hurt to prove who was more worthy.

  The dragons backed away from one another, looping slightly lower as Georg fought to deal with his injured wing. Alexis could see smoke rising from Galen’s body, probably from burns of the dragonfire hitting the delicate ends of his wings.

  The men went for one another again, teeth bared, powerful bodies seeking to hurt and destroy. She could barely watch, but at the same time, she couldn’t look away.

  “Those two fools,” Icarus growled by her side. “They’ll leave nothing but ashes in their wake at this rate.”

  Alexis bit her lower lip, watching the dragons roll lower toward the ground again, ripping and shredding at one another, violent and enraged. A stark, acrid smell seemed to permeate the air and Alexis caught hints of smoke and blood in the scent, only adding to her worry.

  I don’t want him to get hurt, she thought, miserable.

  They were equally matched, with slight favor to Georg, as he was larger. Each attack resulted in wounds, deep slashes and cuts. Each flyby brought roars and dragonfire, scorching and destroying flesh in its wake.

  Alexis shuddered, terrified for Galen. The last two weeks had been a whirlwind of adventure and excitement. And sex, truth be told. But it wasn’t their physical connection that had made her stay. Several times, she had thought to call it quits and simply give in, but being with someone like Galen, someone so determined to do the right thing and to persevere, had shown her that she had to go for what she wanted, too.

  She’d tried to fight it, but the feelings had come of their own volition. She felt deeply for him. She loved when Galen laughed, and she wanted to share in his troubles. She wanted to make him happy, because he made her happy. It was a feeling she’d almost forgotten, something only hinted at sometimes when she felt a whiff of it at work after discovering something particularly exciting.

  He’d been teaching her to be herself again, even if it sounded ludicrous for a relationship that had barely lasted a couple of weeks and was built on a mutual agreement. The realization that it might all end if Georg won didn’t bring with it the emotions she expected. Though the possibility of losing the Knossos horrified her, what was far worse was that she would no longer be with Galen.

  She didn’t care about his wealth or his position. What she wanted was him. But if he didn’t become Alpha, he wouldn’t need a bride. And that meant he wouldn’t need her.

  Pressing her lips together, Alexis knew how silly it sounded. She wouldn’t want to be with someone who was with her only to win at something, but it still broke her heart to know that her time with Galen would have to end. Without thinking about it, her hand clamped around the pendant he had given her, emanating heat as it sat on her chest.

  I… I think I love him, she thought, the pit of her stomach feeling awful hollow all of a sudden.

  Up above her, Alexis watched in shock as Galen seemed to lose his focus for a moment, stopping mid-fight. He stared down at her, intense gold eyes seeming to bore into her. The grip she had on the pendant got that much tighter.

  Alexis… his voice echoed in her mind, nearly flooring her. I love you too.

  Alexis’ mouth gaped open, her eyes wide as she watched Galen swoop at Georg now, needling his body into a fine, tight bullet. Her hold on the pendant faltered, her mind skipping a beat, trying to understand how he could hear her, but that wasn’t the most important thing for the time being.

  In a hurricane of horrific teeth and fire and claws, she watched as the Calder brothers, both bloodied and wounded, smashed into each other. They tumbled down toward the ground, no control over their descent as Galen kept a firm grip on Georg, not allowing the other dragon to right himself.

  Even Cassidy gasped as the dragons came so low to the ground that they blocked out the moon, casting a giant shadow on the people below. Icarus grabbed Alexis by the shoulders and shoved her out of the way just in time as a sickening thud hit the ground, throwing up dirt and flowers ripped from the ground. They all fell backward, losing their footing, but Icarus and Grear were up in a second, pulling the women up as well.

  “Galen!” Alexis screamed, tears wetting her cheeks. “Galen!”

  The dust settled quickly on account of powerful wings beating it away. One dragon remained in the sky, hovering low, as another lay collapsed.

  Her heart leapt as she recognized the battered form of Galen, still in the sky.

  Before she could think about it, she was running toward him.

  Eleven

  Galen

  Galen’s dragon felt as if he had been chopped up, chewed up and spat out. His wings were torn and bleeding, as was most of his body. There were patches of scales simply missing, ripped off in the fighting, with bloody gashes littering his body.

  But he was alive.

  He was still flying.

  And Alexis loved him.

  He hadn’t explained the dragonstone pendant to her, but it was a traditional gift that all dragons gav
e their mates. It would help a dragon find their mate if she touched it and if she were missing, providing a way to track her down if any harm ever came to her. In times of great emotional distress, however, there had also been rumors that a dragon could hear his mate’s thoughts.

  And he had heard her think to herself that she loved him.

  It was all he needed to keep fighting. All he needed to know that he would be victorious, no matter what.

  Though he had never been close with his brothers, they were still his blood. He would never kill Georg, but there could only be one victor in this and he had decided that he would not allow victory to be stolen from him. He had to become the Alpha, both for his own sake as well as for Alexis, and the landmark they both loved and revered.

  Of course, all of it paled in comparison to knowing that she felt as strongly for him as he did for her.

  Gingerly, he touched down on the ground, the massive legs of the dragon almost buckling under him. He couldn’t fold back his wings properly and gave up trying as he felt control slipping and the dragon retreating, too wounded to tolerate holding onto the shift for any longer.

  Galen fell on his knees as the transformation was complete, his clothes tattered on his body, wounds bleeding openly. He grunted out a wince of pain, but as he looked up, the torture seemed to drift away.

  Alexis was running to him.

  She fell to her knees in front of him, her beautiful face lit by the moonlight, tears on her cheeks.

  “Don’t cry, my love,” he said, bracing his hands on his thick thighs. “I am alive.”

  “You’re… Galen… You’re so wounded,” she said, biting her lower lip, her brows knitted.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said, knowing truly that he would be.

  Just one look at her radiant face told him that everything would be all right. There could be no other way.

  “I’m so sorry this happened,” she whispered, her heartbeat seeming to reverb through him, as if they had been joined already and their hearts beat as one.

  “I love you,” he said abruptly, looking up at her. “I love you, Alexis Davies, and I always will.”

  “I love you too,” she whispered back, a blush coming to her cheeks, lighting up her face.

  Without thinking about it or giving much reverence to his injuries, Galen reached out abruptly and pulled her into his arms, cuddling her close. He never wanted to let her go again.

  In the back of his mind, he was aware that Grear and Icarus were checking up on Georg, whose dragon had shifted back as well. He was still alive, this much he knew, and it was all that he could really care about as far as it came to his brother at the moment. It was a duel he didn’t want to have, but forced into it, he knew he would win. There would be no other way. Not with the threat of losing Alexis along with the good name of his family at risk.

  They stayed there for a long time, kneeling together, before Icarus came to find them. Galen had not the strength nor the words to tell Alexis the breadth of his feelings for her at the moment, and she seemed content to simply be in that difficult moment with him.

  “The moon is right now,” Icarus said softly, lowering himself down on his haunches next to Alexis and Galen. “If you still want to do the bonding, it would be time.”

  He spoke calm, low.

  “Is Georg all right?” Galen asked, glancing up at his uncle.

  “He’ll be fine. Perhaps not his ego, but the rest of him. We sent the girl away. She wasn’t much for blood.”

  It gave Galen a slight chuckle, seeing how Alexis’ dress was marred with his own dark blood.

  Taking her hands, he looked into her gorgeous eyes, wondering how he’d gotten so lucky to be there with her.

  “Alexis, would you do me the honor of being my mate, my soul, my other half?” he asked, swallowing dryly.

  Instead of hesitating, she beamed a bright smile and nodded quickly.

  “Yes,” she said. “I want to do this. If we can still have the ceremony then I want to do it.”

  “So it shall be then,” Icarus grinned. “You won’t be the first dragon to be mated when he’s barely hanging onto life.”

  “Nor the last,” Galen commented, before leaning into Alexis and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

  At the beginning, he’d thought all of this would simply be a distraction, a kink in the road in the tedium of life. In the scant timespan of two weeks, however, he’d learned that there was a whole other side of him, one that loved and yearned to be loved back. One that would do anything for his mate.

  And now he’d found her.

  Epilogue

  Alexis

  Life had not slowed down since she had officially become a part of the Calder family, quite the contrary.

  With Galen injured, it had been left to Alexis for the most part to sort out the little ‘issue’ of the Knossos. While wealth and power alone had not been able to sway the councilmen, then a combination of Icarus using his own form of ‘diplomacy’ where it was necessary, Alexis drumming up international outrage in the conservation and archeological circles, and then using the wealth and prestige of the Calder name had resulted in a victory.

  Joshua’s permits were delayed indefinitely and Alexis had confirmed an agreement that for any future archaeological work at the Knossos, the Calders would be consulted so the work would be done with the best of intentions.

  “I can’t believe it actually worked,” she said with a happy sigh, kicking off her heels as she sat down on the edge of the bed in their bedroom, her hand resting on Galen’s strong thigh.

  “I knew you would do me proud,” he grinned, grabbing her wrist and yanking her down on the bed with him.

  Alexis yelped, giggling as he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

  “You’re supposed to be resting!” she giggled, though she didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.

  “This is resting. And I can think of a couple of other things that would certainly aid my recovery by leaps and bounds,” he teased, waggling his brows.

  Pinned on the bed in the dress and blouse she had worn to the last meeting with the council, Alexis couldn’t help but laugh. A month ago, she’d been searching for meaning in the right place but hadn’t found it. Now, she was married to the most wonderful man in the world and her life’s dream of preserving great archaeological treasures was coming true.

  She had so much more to give and she was excited for the future instead of being afraid of it as she’d always been before. There was hope on the horizon and she was hungry to grab it and to build a life together for Galen and her.

  Nuzzling his neck, Alexis rested against her husband, bathed in his warmth.

  “How’s Georg doing?” she asked, knowing that Icarus had been by earlier.

  The Calder brothers shared a house, currently, all three of them staying in the family home. Though there was plenty of bad blood to sort through, it was a necessity on account of their injuries. They would heal better together, their presence aiding their recuperation, even if they didn’t particularly like each other at the moment.

  “Full of spite, so clearly doing better,” Galen replied with a stifled sigh. “It’s fine. I’ll go talk to him soon. We’ll sort it out together.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Alexis said, sure of the fact that she was speaking the truth.

  If there was one thing she could be certain of, it was that her husband was a fair man.

  From a deal she hadn’t expected, a love had blossomed that seemed to both fill and overwhelm her, and it was the best feeling in the world. It just went to show that sometimes, something ‘fake’ could be the beginning of something beautifully real.

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/>   Royal Dragon’s Baby

  If you haven’t read Anya’s Shifter Squad Nine series yet, then be sure to check out the first book here:

  Bear My Heir, Book 1

  Want more from Anya? Check out her Shifter Grove Brides series by picking up One Last Prowl:

  One Last Prowl, Book 6

  Don’t miss the excerpt of the first book in Anya’s new Last Chance Mate series at the end of this book! It is out now!

  Tate, Book 1

  Howls Romance

  Classic Romance… with a furry twist!

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