by Kayla Wolf
Dragon’s Mail Order Bride
A Paranormal Romance
West Coast Water Dragons Book 2
Kayla Wolf
Copyright © 2019 by The Wolf Sisters Books.
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of the book only. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form, including recording, without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1 – Bryce
Chapter 2 – Jasmine
Chapter 3 - Bryce
Chapter 4 – Jasmine
Chapter 5 – Bryce
Chapter 6 – Jasmine
Chapter 7 – Bryce
Chapter 8 - Jasmine
Chapter 9 – Bryce
Chapter 10 – Jasmine
Chapter 11 - Bryce
Chapter 12 – Jasmine
Chapter 13 – Bryce
Chapter 14 – Jasmine
Chapter 15 – Bryce
About the Author
Books by The Wolf Sisters
Chapter 1 – Bryce
Bryce straightened up from the garden bed he’d been building, stretching his upper back with a wince. It always surprised him how quickly the time went when he was working with his hands—it felt like it had only been a few minutes ago that he’d stopped for lunch, but the sun was already halfway towards the horizon, and he knew he’d better start finishing off what he’d started before night fell. It was a beautiful afternoon—late autumn in California meant clear blue skies and a pleasant, but not oppressive, warmth to work by.
And it had been a very productive season for Bryce’s little community of dragons. They’d settled here only a few decades ago, barely any time in the context of a dragon’s long, long lifespan. Before that, Bryce and his closest friends had lived life on the road. It had been exciting, in its way, but he’d been surprised by how rewarding he’d found it to have a place to call home for longer than a few days at a stretch. These days, the thought of that nomad lifestyle felt like a dream he’d had once. The days here had such a pleasant rhythm—being in one place long enough to get a feeling for the land, for the climate, for the change of the seasons, the natural cycles of the landscape.
And it was a beautiful piece of land to get to know so closely. The peninsula they’d settled on had been completely uninhabited when they’d found it—the humans hadn’t been interested in contending with the nature of the soil and the thick, lush vegetation that had been such a pain to get through. Bryce had been among the group who’d first cut a road down to the very end of the peninsula, searching for a place to call home permanently after a serious battle with some wolves that had left the group decimated, battered, and exhausted. Founding their little community from scratch had been hard work, but it had healed them, too.
And now, the place was barely recognizable. They’d taken great care to be sustainable in their developments, making the lightest impact on the terrain that they could and living in harmony with nature wherever possible. Their power needs were met mostly by solar panels—though they were connected to the mainland’s power supply, they rarely needed much excess. They also did their best to be efficient with water usage and irrigation. That was what Bryce was working on, now—his own backyard was home to a small, but thriving vegetable garden. He was especially proud of his irrigation system—a carefully inlaid network of tubing meant that water was delivered to the roots of the plants, cutting down on the amount that was lost to evaporation. It made adding new beds a bit of a hassle, but he was pleased with the result.
It felt good to work a little on his own cottage. There’d been a lot of work over the last few months that was dedicated to the community’s newest project—the brainchild of Lachlan, one of his closest friends and something of an unofficial leader of the community. Though they’d lived for decades in complete solitude, it was Lachlan’s position that the vibrant natural beauty of the peninsula could make it an attractive tourist spot for human beings—and a valuable way of getting some extra income for the settlement to make their own lives more comfortable. This had meant a lot of work building a whole new set of cottages for the tourists to stay in, not to mention dining facilities, recreational spaces for children as well as adults… and there were only so many hours in a day.
“I can’t believe you spend your days off doing more work,” came an amused voice. Bryce turned to greet its owner, a smile moving across his face. Lachlan was coming through the garden gate, a broad smile on his face.
“Gardening isn’t work,” Bryce said, shrugging his broad shoulders. His friend pulled him into a hug. Lachlan was a tall man, but Bryce still had a few inches on him—in height as well as in pure muscle.
“Not exactly rest, though, is it?” Lachlan chided him. He was very strict about ensuring that everyone got ample time off to rest and recharge. He was anxious that the tourist project be a success, but not so anxious that he was willing to risk any injuries or burnout among his people. It was a big part of what made Bryce like him so much—and why it was so easy to put his trust in him as a leader.
”Is Serena with you?”
Lachlan nodded. “Just getting Delilah out of the car.”
Bryce smiled. Delilah was the community’s youngest member—a precocious little four-year-old. She was Lachlan’s pride and joy. Her mother had been a human woman Lachlan had met during his life on the road—but that particular romantic entanglement hadn’t worked out, with Sarah giving up her daughter and her relationship with Lachlan. The man adored his daughter, but that loss had grieved him deeply… Bryce had been as surprised as anyone when Lachlan had fallen in love with Serena, a wolf who’d initially come to the peninsula as a nanny to Delilah. Now she was her stepmother—and she and Lachlan were deeply in love.
Serena was coming around the side of Bryce’s cottage now with the four-year-old in her arms, laughing at something the little girl had said. She was a tall woman, long and slender, with the bright silver eyes common to all wolves.
”Uncle Bryce!” Delilah squealed, wriggling out of her stepmother’s arms and bolting across the yard towards him. He scooped her up easily—it was remarkable how light the little girl was—and sat her up on his shoulders, where she took two great fistfuls of his dark, wavy hair and gazed out across the yard like a queen surveying her kingdom. He’d known the little girl since she was a tiny baby—it was astonishing how quickly she’d grown. For dragons, whose long lives generally meant that the passage of time went unremarked, it was strange to have a child around, such a concrete reminder of the passing of the years.
”How are you, Serena?”
”Oh, you know, keeping busy,” the woman laughed. “Running around after this one keeps me fit, at least.”
”Garden’s looking good,” Lachlan said, scanning Bryce’s collection of garden beds. “You’ll be feeding the whole community at this rate.”
”Why buy what you can grow?” Bryce said with a shrug. “Speaking of—I hope you’re hungry. The others will be here soon.”
It had become something of a tradition, having the guys over for dinner. Originally, it had just been about showing off his first successful harvest from his garden, but their group dinners had quickly become a regular occurrence. Lachlan and his little family were quickly followed
by the rest of Bryce’s closest friends among the water dragons of the peninsula, and before long, his dining room was full of people talking and laughing. His huge, hand-carved dining table had come in handy, he thought as he looked around the table. When he’d built it, he’d intended it for the dining hall that the settlement had been relying on—it had seemed far too big for a single man like him. But these weekly dinners made it worthwhile.
James was in the middle of telling some daring and almost entirely falsified story about his most recent romantic conquests when Bryce brought in the main course—a huge pasta dish, complete with vegetables from his garden and a sauce made from the tomatoes that had been the first thing he’d started to grow. James managed to keep talking while wolfing down an enormous serving—the guy could probably talk underwater, and Bryce could tell from the amused looks on his friends’ faces that nobody was buying the story.
“I’m always surprised there are any women left at all for you to chase after,” Daniel pointed out, a grin dancing across his cheeky face. He and James had a long track record of teasing each other—it would get out of hand sooner or later, which was why it was good to have Harvey around to keep them both in line. Harvey was a tense guy, sharp and defensive, but Bryce knew him well enough to know it came from a place of love. And Emerson, who was deep in conversation with Serena about a new species of bird he’d spotted earlier that day, was always there with an off-the-wall comment to break the tension if he needed to.
They made a good team, Bryce thought to himself, happy just to bask in the pleasant social energy of the group. Anyone who’d known Bryce for more than a few days knew he didn’t say much. The strong, silent type, that was what James called him—usually in a teasing tone of voice, but Bryce didn’t mind it. The truth was, he much preferred listening to speaking. Why intrude unnecessarily on a conversation when there was a chance you could learn something? Unfortunately, his fondness for silence did make him something of a threatening presence—he knew that from the worried looks he got from humans on the odd occasion that he made the trip up the peninsula into town. He was incredibly tall and built like a line backer… and when he wasn’t paying attention, his face did tend to settle into something of an ominous expression. He never tried to look like he was about to haul off and hit someone… his body did that all by itself. Perhaps that was why he liked his own company so much.
“We have a bit of an announcement,” Serena said into the comfortable lull that had fallen after everyone had finished their meal. Bryce glanced over, curious—he’d been about to start gathering plates, but there was a note in Serena’s voice that stayed his hand. “We’ve known for a little while, but—well, we’re expecting.”
Bryce’s eyes widened—his eyes flicked to Lachlan’s face, where an unbelievably radiant grin had broken out. The table exploded in sound—questions, congratulations, demands to know how long they’d known and why they hadn’t said anything earlier (that last from Daniel, who was maybe the nosiest person Bryce had ever met.) Bryce just smiled. He’d had a suspicion earlier when Serena had turned down a glass of wine that was usually her favorite—but he was glad that the secret was out.
They celebrated with apple pie and ice cream—the apples were from a tree in Bryce’s yard, but the rest of the ingredients were store-bought, at least for the time being.
”No dairy farm yet?” James teased him, grinning.
“Next project,” Bryce replied.
”You and your projects,” his friend sighed. “One of these days, you’ll run out of projects and come out with me.”
”One of these days,” Bryce agreed diplomatically. James had been trying to get him to come on one of his nights of carousing in town ever since they’d moved to the peninsula—decades ago, now—and he’d been politely turning him down for just as long. James might find it enjoyable to bed a new woman every weekend, but for Bryce, the idea was just… not in the realm of possibility. Even talking to strangers made him uncomfortable… let alone taking one to bed. But as he glanced down the table to see Serena and Lachlan sharing a glance, he felt a strange tug at his heart.
He’d always been happy on his own. He was stoic like that—he always tried to be as happy alone as he was with others, and as happy with others as he was alone. But tonight, for some reason, as his guests headed back to their homes for the night, there was an odd emptiness in his cottage. He wandered back into the dining room and took a seat at the long table, spreading his hands out across the smooth wood and sighing. What would it be like, living with somebody else?
He knew, of course—he and the guys had often shared rooms or tents when they’d lived on the road. But that wasn’t the kind of cohabitation he was thinking of. Over the last few months—since Serena and Lachlan had fallen in love—he’d found himself thinking more and more about the idea of living with a mate. Not that he’d ever bring that kind of thing up with his friends. James would never let him hear the end of it… and besides, he wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who was super forthcoming about talking about his feelings. But the more he thought about it, the more he was sure. He was getting lonely in this cottage by himself. The things that had used to keep him happy were feeling less and less rewarding. These little dinners with his friends once a week were a bright spot in a long, solitary life.
But there weren’t exactly a lot of options down here for a dragon who was thinking about finding his soulmate. Even if you didn’t buy into the idea that each and every shifter had a destined soulmate out there waiting for them, there were precious few women who lived down here on the peninsula. There was James’s sister, Alice, the town doctor—but that was about it. And Bryce had known Alice long enough to know that there was no connection there, as much as he admired and respected her.
So how was a guy meant to find a soulmate? He supposed he could go out with James… but honestly, what were the odds of finding someone you clicked with in some dingy bar in a holiday town on the west coast? The kind of woman who’d like a guy like him wouldn’t be into bars, he knew that in his bones. But where else was he supposed to find her? Would she just fall into his life? He’d been down here on the peninsula for decades… if his mate was going to fall into his life, she would have fallen by now, surely.
Well, Serena had fallen into Lachlan’s life. Could the same thing happen to him? But it hadn’t been completely by chance—Lachlan had found Serena through an online service that matched childcare workers to families who needed them. The internet was a wonderful thing. James was always carrying on about the dating apps he used—was there something like that out there for people like Bryce, who wanted something more serious than the short-term flings his friend was always indulging in?
Before long, he was on his laptop and deep in the rabbit hole of online dating. It was a little embarrassing, honestly—he kept his back to a wall, paranoid of someone peering through his window and discovering that the toughest dragon in town was looking for a mate on a website. There were a few websites that promised to match lonely hearts to one another, and he hovered over the sign-up button a few times—but the prospect of making a profile was a little overwhelming. What was he supposed to say about himself? He was a dragon, and these websites were mostly for humans.
A few idle clicks later, he found himself on a new website—and there was something odd about it. At first glance, it was a dating site like any other… He scrolled idly, then clicked on the website’s ‘About’ section… and his eyes widened.
Tired of the casual dating scene? Frustrated by date after date with commitment-phobes who don’t truly want a life together? Then this might be the site for you. Forever-Now is NOT a mail order bride service. It’s an experience.
Bryce kept reading, his eyes narrowing. He’d read about mail order bride services before… they usually preyed on desperate women from dangerous places who’d give anything for a new life… including their hand in marriage. But this wasn’t that kind of website, the ‘About’ page insisted. It framed the proces
s as more of a radically new kind of dating. When a match was made by the website’s algorithm, both parties would be given the chance to examine each other’s profiles closely… and if they both agreed to the match, they would immediately move in together as husband and wife.
To be clear, we aren’t asking you to get married at first sight! But our members take their engagements seriously. The marriage will become legal one month after you begin cohabiting… and we’re proud of our cutting-edge matchmaking algorithms that have ensured a ninety-eight percent success rate for the weddings we’ve arranged.
Bryce felt a prickle of nervousness deep in his gut—impulsively, he closed the window, then reopened his browser to clear his history, suddenly paranoid that one of his friends would discover what he’d been looking at and make fun of him. And they’d be right to, he thought, getting to his feet and heading for bed. It was ridiculous. Whoever heard of ordering a bride from a website?
Chapter 2 – Jasmine
Jasmine heaved a sigh. It was already two in the morning… that meant she was playing a dangerous game when it came to sleep deprivation. The old bear could always tell when she was relying too heavily on caffeine to get her work done, and he’d always have some snide comment to make. But sometimes, staying up all night reading romance novels was the only way she had of getting through the day.
Besides, she was more than halfway through her most recent read. If she tried to go to sleep now, she’d just lie awake until her alarm went off, wondering what would become of the star-crossed lovers who were enmeshed in such a perilous situation… it would be much better to just spend an hour finishing the book so she could sleep. So, humming happily to herself, she tapped on the screen of her Kindle to turn the page.
Jasmine Norris didn’t seem like the kind of woman who’d be into romance novels. At work, she maintained a steely and professional facade. With a boss like hers, she had to—it was the only way to keep herself safe from his inappropriate conduct. He’d gone through a dozen personal assistants before he’d hired her, and she was pretty sure it was the constant sexual harassment that had gotten rid of them. Unfortunately, for all that Grant was a complete tool, he was also incredibly good at his job—he had an unerring instinct for the next big trend, and in the fashion industry, that kind of thing went a long way. As his PA, Jasmine knew what he spent on his legal team, too—and she didn’t doubt that a good amount of that budget went towards keeping former employees quiet. Whether that was through bribes or fear, she wasn’t sure, but she had a suspicion it was the latter.
