Lawyer Dragon's Surrogate (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 3) Read online

  Lawyer Dragon’s Surrogate

  Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Series

  Brittany White

  Copyright © 2020 by Brittany White

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  1. Liam

  2. Brynne

  3. Liam

  4. Brynne

  5. Liam

  6. Brynne

  7. Liam

  8. Brynne

  9. Liam

  10. Brynne

  11. Liam

  12. Brynne

  13. Liam

  14. Brynne

  15. Liam

  16. Brynne

  17. Liam

  18. Brynne

  19. Liam

  20. Brynne

  21. Liam

  22. Brynne

  23. Liam

  Epilogue

  Doctor Dragon’s Fake Bride (SNEAK PEEK)

  Chapter 1

  Also by Brittany White

  About the Author

  Exclusive Offer

  Blurb

  When his ancient enemy returns, a dragon shifter’s quest to have a child is threatened.

  * * *

  The Surrogate Mother

  As a young child, my shifter clan was torn apart.

  Alone, I wandered the streets of a nearby village off the coast of Ireland

  Until an ancient vampire found me.

  He took me in, and raised me, but I was never a part of their dark world.

  I struck out on my own, desperate to find a place where I belonged.

  The vampires told me there were no other shifters left.

  So I took refuge in the mountains of Colorado, where I lived a solitary life.

  Now a gorgeous shifter male has shown up to my sanctuary.

  And he wants me to bear his child.

  But soon, our connection becomes more than just a contract.

  He’s not just the lawyer who hired me to carry his baby --

  He’s my mate.

  * * *

  The Irish Lawyer

  Fifteen years ago, my world was destroyed by witches.

  Desperate to start over, I forced myself to love my new Texas home.

  In the small town of Cedar Lake, I’ve created a successful law practice.

  But something is missing from my life.

  Two of my brothers are fathers. They adore their hatchlings.

  I want the life they have.

  I want a child of my own.

  But I won’t expose a human woman to the dangers we face.

  The mother of my child must be a female dragon shifter.

  I visit the vampires for advice.

  They send me to a female shifter. She’s been here in the States all along, longing for a clan.

  Instantly, I feel a connection to this beautiful shifter.

  She agrees to carry my child for a large sum.

  But our plans are threatened.

  Because once again, our ancient enemy returns to our lives.

  * * *

  Can an Irish dragon shifter protect his baby’s mother from their shared past?

  * * *

  ***

  1

  Liam

  “Uncle Liam! Catch me!”

  As the sun set in Cedar Lake, Texas, Liam Murphy caught his nephew, Declan, as he sailed through the air. There were no guests around that day, so they were letting Declan jump from the top of the swingset onto the trampoline and then over the netting into Liam’s arms. Declan was seven years old now, and he was getting stronger by the day, just as a young dragon shifter should.

  Usually, Liam loved watching his nieces toddle around while his nephew ran and jumped, but today, on Liam’s thirty-second birthday, watching the kids play was a knife through the chest. He was happy for his brothers Kellan and Quinn. He really was happy for them, but he wanted what they had—he wanted to be a father.

  He loved hanging out with his two sisters-in-law, Clara and Juliana, but when it came to dating, he’d never met a human woman that he’d been compatible with. Yes, human women were attractive, smart, and fun to be around, but he’d never been able to forge a deep connection with any human woman he dated. He suspected it was because they were so terribly fragile. He didn’t know how his brothers handled knowing how physically vulnerable their wives were.

  The truth was, dragon shifter females weren’t totally invulnerable, either. Liam had learned that the hard way fifteen years ago in his home country of Ireland when he was only seventeen years old. His clan had an ancient pact with a group of witches, but the witches turned on his clan. In the process, Liam’s parents had been killed, along with most of the elder shifters.

  Liam had fled, along with his closest friends, Kellan, Quinn, and Brennan. The four of them weren’t biologically related, but they might as well have been. They’d vowed to stick together and become true brothers, even as the rest of their clan scattered across the globe.

  Now, fifteen years later, Texas was home for all three of them. He missed the Cliffs of Moher and the Irish coast every day, but he had a thriving law practice in town and a nice house. The memory of the attack had faded, and he’d thought maybe the four of them had escaped the curse of the witches forever.

  He’d been wrong. Very wrong.

  Two years ago, Kellan’s wife, Clara, had been kidnapped by the witches, the same ones that attacked Liam’s clan over a decade ago. The brothers defeated the witches, but the witches were a threat and probably always would be.

  There were other threats, too, and not just the brothers’ enemies. Last year, Quinn’s wife, Juliana, was chased down by her own family, who were members of a powerful and deadly Romanian mob. Her stalkers were human and easily defeated, but as a human, she had been in grave danger.

  Liam wasn’t sure he could deal with the constant worry his brothers went through. Of course, his brothers said the worry was worth it because their wives were their true mates, the only ones they’d ever love. Still, Liam longed for a deep connection with a dragon shifter female, not a human woman. Before his clan was destroyed, he’d been young and hadn’t had the opportunity to court any females, but he was resolute. He knew what he wanted. Though, as far as he was aware, there were no female shifters in Texas, and there wasn’t exactly a dating app for dragon shifters in the States who were pretending to be human.

  Liam adored Declan and his little sister Shannon, and he adored the newest member of the family, baby Isleen, but he didn’t want to be just an uncle. He wanted to be a father, too. Becoming a father had always been one of his main goals.

  In late September, the weather was still warm in Texas, and after catching his nephew for thirty minutes straight, Liam was ready to cool off in his brother’s pool. He hopped in and dunked himself, relishing the feel of the cool water. When he resurfaced, he was brought out of his gloomy thoughts by his sister-in-law, Clara, who handed him her little daughter, Shannon. Shannon wasn’t even two yet, but she could already swim. She liked to be tossed around, too, just like her older brother.

  While Liam was playing with Shannon, his brother Quinn swam over and elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s your deal, man? It’s your birthday, and you’ve hardly said a word all night.”

  Liam spun Shannon in a circle while she splashed and squealed. “Nothing,” he said.

  “Come on. You listen to
us bellyache all the time. Now it’s your turn.”

  Liam thought back to the homemade chocolate cake, the sparklers as candles, and the pile of gifts his brothers had for him to celebrate his birthday. It didn’t seem right to complain. “I’ll sound like an asshole.”

  “That’s nothing new.”

  “I want what you guys have.”

  Quinn’s expression changed from lighthearted to serious. “What’s that?”

  “A family,” Liam said.

  The brothers had always celebrated their birthdays, but the addition of the wives and children made it a more festive occasion, and his sisters-in-law had wrapped his gifts in paper with little dragons all over it. Liam didn’t care about wrapping paper, but the kids had enjoyed helping him rip it off.

  “Are you being serious?” Quinn asked.

  “Why the hell would I joke about something like that?” Shit. Liam glanced down at the toddler in his arms. “Sorry, Shannon. I didn’t mean to curse in front of you.”

  “I guarantee you that she’s heard worse with Kellan as a dad.” Quinn shook his head. “I know Isleen’s too young to talk, but I guarantee she’s heard me say plenty already.”

  Liam chuckled, trying to lighten his mood. He was here with his family, and everyone was healthy and happy. He needed to get his act together. “Yeah, man, you’re right about that.”

  “So, tell me more. You want a wife?”

  “Yeah, I do. But it hasn’t worked out.”

  “Dude, you haven’t dated,” Quinn said.

  “That’s easy for you to say. Your mate literally fell into your lap.”

  Quinn’s wife Juliana had moved in next door to Quinn, who was the town doctor in Cedar Lake, and then she’d proceeded to fall off a ladder right in front of him. Thank God she’d only broken her arm. Of course, Quinn had come to her rescue, and the two had been smitten with each other ever since.

  A goofy grin passed over Quinn’s face. “She sure did.”

  “You guys got the fairytale. I’m thirty-two years old. I don’t know if that’s going to happen for me.”

  “You’re thirty-two, not ninety-two.” Quinn clapped Liam on the back. “We’ll get this figured out.”

  That’s what Liam was afraid of. He had no doubt his brothers would have dozens of dates lined up for him by the time they got together for dinner the following week. As Liam lifted Shannon into the air, he caught a mischievous look on Quinn’s face. Oh God, what had he gotten himself into?

  2

  Brynne

  “No, don’t hit him with your ski. Put it back down on the snow.”

  This was why Brynne Ryan didn’t teach kids to ski. They were cute, and they were funny, but she spent more time telling them not to whack their classmates than she did teaching them to ski. Thank God this crew was too young to use poles. That would be a real disaster.

  Brynne was only supposed to teach adults, but her coworker was getting married, and Brynne agreed to squeeze a class of six-year-olds into her schedule for the week.

  “I have to pee,” one of the kids shouted.

  To Brynne’s horror, the kid was tugging his ski bib off and looked like he was about to go right there on the ground. She managed to snag his bib before it hit the ground. Nope. She was not cut out for teaching kids, she thought as she dragged him and the rest of the class toward the bathrooms.

  She didn’t have any kids, and she didn’t want any.

  Brynne barely remembered her own parents. They’d been murdered right in front of her when she was only ten years old, along with the rest of her dragon shifter tribe, including her five-year-old brother. She’d been playing a diving game with her brother on the edge of the cliffs when the cursed magic erupted around them. Her brother had been killed instantly. Her uncle had grabbed her and stuck her in an unused cave.

  The attack had been fifteen years ago, and her memories of that day were still hazy. She supposed she blocked it out.

  After the dust settled, she had wandered around in a daze for several days until she finally arrived in a local village. A vampire had spotted her and told her that they needed to get out of Ireland. He took her on a long airplane ride to New York City, and then she lived in a vampire coven until she turned eighteen.

  The vampires were perfectly polite, but they had zero parenting skills. And there were no other children. It had been so long since the vampires were children, they barely had any recollection of it. Nicolae, the vampire that she considered her father, was four hundred years old. So, yeah, Brynne didn’t know anything about kids, and she had no plans to learn, at least not beyond what was required to make ski lessons fun and effective for kids.

  She glanced at her watch as she supervised handwashing and herded the kids back out into the snow, stopping to fix hats, goggles, and mittens. It was two-thirty in the afternoon, which was a little early to be getting morose and dwelling on her past.

  Her last lesson of the day was a private one. Those were the most expensive, and she usually liked them the most because the person was often serious about learning to ski.

  The only time she felt like her true self, like the dragon shifter that she was, was when she was skiing. She’d learned to ski as a teen since her vampire family had forbidden her to shift. They claimed it was far too dangerous.

  She refastened her own coat, which had come unzipped while helping the kids. She didn’t need to wear a thick shirt or coat to ski, but she learned long ago that she needed to blend in. The vampires were really adamant about blending in, which was really fucking ironic since they were the weirdest-looking bunch of guys around. They looked human, but there was just something off about them.

  They were her guardians, though, and she followed their rules while they lived in New York. Once she moved to Colorado, she had tried to break free. She learned the hard way that they were right about blending in.

  Nothing terrible happened. Brynne just skied in a tank top on a blustery winter day, and then her boss called her in. Obviously, they didn’t assume she was a dragon shifter, but they did assume that she was high on drugs. Never mind that drugs wouldn’t affect her system. She couldn’t tell her boss that. Her boss had given her a stern lecture and threatened to make her take a drug test.

  That had gotten her attention. She wasn’t sure if a drug test would reveal that she wasn’t human. Again, no one would automatically assume that she was a dragon shifter, but if the drug test results were odd, they might think she tampered with them, and she really needed this job.

  The ski slopes were the only thing that kept Brynne going because she never felt like she belonged anywhere, not since she was ten years old. She wasn’t going to jeopardize that, so if that meant wearing a pointless coat to appease a human, she’d do it.

  3

  Liam

  On the first day of October, the four brothers met on the lake. It was always a much-needed break from the real world. The lake provided a place where they could shift and swim underwater in their dragon forms. With a loud whoop, Brennan dove into the water. Liam saw him transform and take off under the shimmering surface.

  At the front of the boat, Kellan was tinkering with a fishing net. Every trip, he tried to catch a fish in a different way. In the past, he’d managed to spear a few with a sharp stick, and he could easily catch them with his teeth when he was a shifter. His luck with a fishing pole was notoriously bad.

  While Kellan messed with the net, Quinn sat down next to Liam with a six-pack of beer in hand. He popped the top on one and handed it to Liam. “I found a way to solve your problem.”

  “What problem?” Liam asked as Quinn jumped off the boat with his net.

  “The problem where you can’t find a mate and don’t have any kids.”

  Liam’s head jerked up. Thank God Kellan had already jumped into the lake and none of his brothers heard what Quinn said. Liam was not ready to hear their opinions about whether or not he needed to start dating.

  “Wow. Thanks for making me sound like a m
assive loser.” He punched Quinn in the arm. Hard. “Would you shut up? I didn’t exactly want to make an announcement.”

  Quinn rolled his eyes. “No one’s listening.”

  “That’s what you think. You know how devious Brennan is, and he’d never pass up the opportunity to give me a hard time.”

  Quinn laughed. “That’s what family’s for. Do you want to hear my idea or not?”

  Liam sighed. “Does it involve a blind date?”

  Quinn’s grin split his face. “Nope. No blind dates required.”

  “Go ahead.” Liam took a swallow of the cold beer. “You might as well tell me.”

  “Hire a surrogate.”

  What the hell? Liam choked and spewed beer over the side of the boat. “A surrogate? Isn’t that where a woman gets pregnant and carries my child?”

  “That’s exactly what it is.”

  Still sputtering, Liam wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “I think that’s for couples. I doubt a surrogate woman would agree to carry a baby for a single guy.”

  “You’re paying for it. I don’t know why it should matter who you are.”

  God, what a humiliating conversation. “I’ll think about it,” Liam said.

  “Good.” Quinn stood up and tossed his beer can into the trash bag. “Just don’t rule it out until you’ve actually considered it.” Quinn slapped him on the back again and then dove into the cool lake water.