Dragon's Fake Bride MatchMate (Dragon's MatchMate Agency Book 6)

by Maia Starr

  And maybe he wouldn’t do anything, and perhaps that was the scariest thing of all. Living our lives in fear that he would strike indefinitely into the future and never have the ability to let down our guard.

  I was also scared because when the year was up, I wouldn’t have Glenn’s protection anymore. What if Xavier came after me then? What if he was still determined to hurt me then?

  I’d probably just need to take a car and drive as far away from the city as I could. I hear San Diego’s nice, and so is Portland, but maybe either of them are too close. Maybe I could go into Canada somewhere, though the winters get awfully cold.

  I had almost a full year to figure that out, though. Right now, Glenn and I were in this together. In a way, it was like both Glenn and I were now living in that relationship that I thought I’d escaped. Constantly stressed out and unable to do anything about it. As a result, we didn’t feel as close as we had the first couple of weeks.

  Another thing happened during that time that forced me to leave the apartment. I didn’t want to go, but I had to take my chances.

  After Glenn fell asleep one night, I snuck out, looking down the hall in both directions, paranoid that Xavier might be there. I didn’t see him, but I still took the stairs down to the lobby because the last thing I needed was to end up trapped in the elevator with him.

  I walked down the street, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. It was only a couple of blocks, and it was important.

  My destination was a small corner store pharmacy, and I walked in, making my way to the back.

  I was two weeks late on my period. Among the things I left at the apartment was my birth control, and I knew I was being irresponsible, but it had become so part of my routine that I forgot what it was for. Wake up every morning at eight AM and take a pill, and then, whenever I had sex, I didn’t need to worry about condoms or anything like that.

  I figured, the first time, that the pills would still be in my system and we wouldn’t need to worry about it. And by the second time, well, I guess I was just being stupid.

  I grabbed an instant pregnancy kit, paid for it, and retreated to the pharmacy’s restroom.

  The three minutes of waiting took forever, constantly glancing at the clock every ten seconds or so. When the time was up, it revealed what I had suspected: two pink lines.

  I was pregnant.

  With Glenn’s baby.

  I walked back to the apartment and the world felt silent. There were other people around me, but they seemed like ghosts. Like I could pass right through them.

  Someone grabbed me right before I walked into the street and nearly got hit by a car. I thanked her and promised to pay more attention. But I couldn’t. My mind was too preoccupied.

  I had no idea how I was going to tell Glenn. I hadn’t even brought up the idea that I might be pregnant. Did he really want to spend a year married to a woman who was pregnant? The body he loved would expand, and my hormones would be raging, and that’s on top of the crazy ex-boyfriend I had out there. I went to Glenn to save me from my drama and, instead, I dragged him right into the middle of it.

  I didn’t want to keep any more secrets from him. I wanted him to know everything. If he cared about me, he’d understand that this pregnancy was just as much his responsibility as mine. And it was his baby, too. Even if he threw me out on the street, I’d want to raise it as my own because that’d be a way to keep at least a little part of Glenn in my life forever.

  That had to be the hormones talking, right?

  I snuck in the apartment, but he was sitting there on the couch. To his credit, he didn’t ask me where I was or say anything, but I knew he must be wondering.

  “I had to get out of the house,” I said, which wasn’t quite a lie, but was at least hiding the whole truth. I didn’t like how it felt. The full truth was sitting at the top of my throat, climbing its way out as I struggled in vain to keep it at bay. Of course, he would know sooner or later. He would have to.

  He shook his head.

  “You don’t need to keep it from me,” he said. “I can smell it all over you.”

  “Sorry?”

  He stood up and walked closer to me. “It’s a sweet smell, quite pleasant, actually.” He smiled, but I still was afraid. Maybe he meant something else. “Like strawberries, I’d say. With a hint of orange.”

  He took a deep breath through his nose.

  “It’s definitely mine,” he said, taking another breath. “Too early to say if it’s a boy or a girl, though.”

  He most certainly did not mean anything else. “How long have you known?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “A couple of days. I could smell something was different, but I wasn’t sure that that’s what it was. It was the look on your face when you came back in that made me positive.”

  “You’re not mad?” I asked.

  “Mad?” he said. “I’m overjoyed! This is very exciting. I want you to know that I’m here to take care of you and the baby. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to either of you.”

  “You promise?” I asked, still feeling the residual anxiety of my last relationship, where I couldn’t tell Xavier anything without fear that he might explode at me.

  He held me close and put his nose up to mine. “I promise,” he said, and then he kissed me softly on the mouth.

  He paused for a second, considering his words, then let them out as almost a whisper. “I love you, Amelia.”

  It took me by surprise, and I felt a little bit dizzy. There wasn’t anything I could do but respond with, “I love you, too, Glenn.”

  Maybe it wasn’t just hormones.

  Chapter Eleven

  Glenn

  I didn’t want to worry Amelia, so I didn’t let her know about the messages, but they were constant. I thought maybe Xavier would eventually run out of energy or move on if I wasn’t responding. He didn’t. My non-responsiveness just escalated his threats. It started out at least somewhat reasonable, where he just said to send Amelia back his way and he would forgive and move on.

  Things got scary quickly.

  I know people have ideas about dragons, and some of us do have fiery tempers, but I’d never let mine get out of control. I’d never hurt anyone and never been in a fight, at least outside of grade school, but the way things were going, I realized this wasn’t a problem that would solve itself, and it was going to be a case of him or us.

  The breaking point was when he sent me my address and told me that he was coming for us.

  I could have moved or relocated with Amelia, but I needed to stay with the clan and I didn’t like the idea of us having to constantly look over our shoulders all the time.

  I needed to do something more proactive.

  I called Beta Ryan and told him I needed help with something and couldn’t talk about it over the phone. He asked me to come meet him in his office.

  “I’m going out for a little while,” I told Amelia. “I need you to deadbolt the door and only open it for me; do you understand?”

  “Is this about Xavier?” she asked.

  I didn’t want to lie to her. I nodded. “I’m going to keep both of us safe, but it means I’m going to need to be away from here for a little while. An hour. Maybe two. Three at most. Can you handle that?”

  She nodded.

  “Let me show you something.”

  I took her to the closet and showed her a safe down towards the bottom in the back corner. I punched in the combination and opened it. Inside was a small gun.

  “No, Glenn.”

  “Amelia, I need you to listen to me.”

  I pulled it out and loaded it, ensuring to keep it pointed away from the both of us in the process. “This is a Beretta Tomcat. It’s a small gun, but it packs a punch. All guns do. Use both hands like this.”

  I put it in her hands and showed her how to hold it.

  “If someone other than me comes in here, you point it at them and you keep pulling that trigger until the bangs stop and you hear
clicks instead; do you understand me?”

  She was almost in tears. “Glenn, I can’t.”

  I took the gun away from her and put it back in the safe.

  “You can, Amelia. It’s really simple. I’m going to leave it in here with the door open. If you need it, it’s there. But I don’t think you’ll need it.”

  She looked at me, an expression almost begging me, but I wasn’t sure for what.

  “It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it,” I said.

  I kissed her on the forehead.

  “I’ll be quick,” I said. “And I’ve got my phone on me, okay?”

  She looked at me and I could see a tear filling in her eye. She wiped it away. “Okay,” she said.

  “I love you,” I said.

  “I love you, too.”

  As I walked down the hallway to the stairs, down to the garage in the basement, every single person I passed struck me as suspicious. If I didn’t recognize them, they could very well have been Xavier. I should have asked Amelia for a picture so I would at least have an idea. Any man anywhere could be him, ready to start a fight. And he’d have the upper hand because I wouldn’t see it coming.

  How crazy is he? I wondered as I got in my car, putting the key in the ignition. I hesitated before turning it. Was this going to be like that scene in every mafia movie where someone thinks they’re safe and then BOOM, their car explodes as soon as they turn it on?

  No, I told myself. Xavier is a hands-on guy. He wouldn’t do something like that. If he was going to harm me, he’d do it face to face.

  Still, I held my breath as I started the ignition and let out a sigh of relief when the car started like normal. I was being silly, I told myself. I’m sure modern cars couldn’t be armed as easily as they could back in the olden days. I was just being paranoid. I was letting Xavier get to me. Fear was his tactic, so I needed to not be afraid. And I was going to put things in place so we didn’t have to be.

  I drove out of the garage, keeping the car under the speed limit as I drove the four miles or so to Ryan’s office. A police officer turned on its siren, and I knew it had to be Xavier. But I pulled over to the side of the road and they drove right past me.

  My heart continued to race for a few minutes, right up until I pulled into the garage at Ryan’s office.

  When I arrived, he closed the door behind me and told me to take a seat.

  “What we say stays in here, is that right?” I asked him.

  “Lawyer-client confidentiality.”

  “Good,” I said, “because what I’m about to ask you for may not be legal.”

  “Say what you’re going to say and I’ll deny it if I have to.”

  “Good man,” I said. “Amelia’s ex-boyfriend isn’t too happy about us getting married. He has some violent tendencies, has made some vague threats, and I’m worried we’re not safe.”

  “Has he done anything illegal?”

  “Like I said, just vague threats,” I said.

  “We can send a cease and desist,” Ryan said.

  “What will that do?”

  “Probably just piss him off.”

  “That’s what I figured,” I said. “Do you know anybody we can send to threaten him back?” I asked it as carefully as I could.

  He shook his head. “You’re playing with fire there. You’re talking about mafia-style tactics. You try something like that and it gets out, you’ll lose any chance you had of becoming Alpha.”

  “So a hitman…”

  “Is completely out of the question,” Ryan said. “If you somehow got away with it, you’d be fine, but these things tend to fall apart really quickly.”

  “What are my legal options, then?”

  “We can put a couple of bodyguards on you,” he said.

  “Bodyguards are good,” I said, “but I don’t know if they’re enough. This guy, there’s two things you need to know about him.”

  “Okay.”

  “He’s a wolf-shifter.”

  “Not a problem. We’re dragons.”

  “And he’s a cop.”

  That gave Ryan pause. “I see.” He took a pencil from his desk and put it in his mouth, chewing on the eraser as he thought for a moment. “So you want protection from the police.”

  “From a police officer, yes. Is that a problem?”

  “Legally speaking, no. You’re able to be protected from anyone and everyone, but you’re dealing with someone who has the law on their side even when the law isn’t on their side if you get my meaning,” Ryan said. “Practically speaking, it makes things tricky. Incidentally, let me double down on saying no to the legally dubious options. An injured or dead police officer will be investigated. You wouldn’t get away with it.”

  He paused. “What we could do, and I think this is your best bet, is get bodyguards who were formerly police officers.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “That should mitigate some of this guy’s advantage somewhat, but it’s still a touchy situation.”

  “It’s a start, though,” I said. “Do you think they’ll be able to keep us safe?”

  Ryan sighed. He put the pencil down on the table and looked me square in the eyes to indicate how serious he was. “Truthfully, if this man wants to hurt you or Amelia, he’s going to do it. If he truly doesn’t care what happens to him, there’s nothing you can do.”

  “That’s not very reassuring at all,” I said.

  “No, I can’t imagine it is. Still, the bodyguards are better than nothing and should at least act as a deterrent. He may only be playing crazy as an intimidation tactic. When push comes to shove, he won’t follow through if he thinks he’s going to get hurt.”

  I shook my head and stood up. Based on everything Amelia told me, he actually was that crazy. “Let’s get the bodyguards,” I said.

  “Sounds good, I’ll make a few calls. What’s security like at your building?”

  “We’ve got a front desk; you need to sign in if you’re going to visit somebody.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Right, but he’ll get right past that if he’s in uniform.”

  “They say he won’t.”

  “It’s security theater down there; of course, he will.”

  “In that case, I’ve got a deadbolt lock and a chain.”

  He shrugged. “They’re deterrents, I guess.”

  “And I have a gun.”

  “Are you willing to use it?”

  I wasn’t sure. How can anyone really know until they’re in the situation? But I thought for a second, and if I thought Amelia was in any danger whatsoever, I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Good,” Ryan said. “Keep me updated. If this guy slips up and does something illegal, we can press charges and maybe actually be able to do something to stop him.”

  “Will do,” I said.

  “Until then, I’ll get some former cop bodyguards to you right away.”

  “Former cop dragon bodyguards?”

  “Naturally,” Ryan said. “I know a few guys.”

  “Sounds good.”

  And I headed back to the apartment, again paranoid of every single person I saw along the way. Xavier was winning.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amelia

  Glenn closed the door, and I instantly wanted to run out to him and beg him to come back. Instead, I went to the door and put the chain up. I didn’t know that it would stop Xavier, in fact I was pretty sure he’d be able to just bite through it in wolf form, but it was something. I walked back to the living room and turned on the TV, looking for anything that would distract me at least until he got back.

  As it turns out, the TV was set to some old movie station, and it was one of my favorites. The one where Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn are raising a leopard together. It’s a silly thing, but it made me laugh, in no small part because Grant and Hepburn were just so darn cute together. She kept on getting on his nerves, but deep down, he need
ed some excitement in his life, and that’s what made them work.

  I always wondered what happened after the happily ever after in a movie like that. Could the two of them really last? He was a nebbish scientist and she was a dopey free spirit. They’d get sick of each other after a while. Even though the movie was very funny, it was making me sad because I couldn’t help but think that they were going to break up sooner or later. The movie just didn’t show us that part.

  And the thinking of break-ups made me think about Xavier, and I wondered if I was like Katherine Hepburn to Glenn’s Cary Grant. He had his life together and everything was nice and calm until I came in and brought my baggage and shook it all up. Right now, it was exciting and he said that he loved me, but already I felt myself wondering if he thought I was more trouble than I was worth.

  And even if he didn’t, the marriage was going to run its course, and before too long, we would part ways and never see each other again.

  I guess I would have the little guy sitting in my belly to remember him by. Not to mention the money from the job. But after a couple of months living with Glenn, the money I was getting didn’t seem like that much. I’d never be able to afford a penthouse like this one. I’d be lucky to even be able to afford a two-bedroom in San Francisco.

  I heard a door close in the hallway and got up off of the couch to look through the peephole. I didn’t see anything. I was sure it was just a neighbor, but what if it wasn’t?

  I looked at the safe. The gun frightened me. I didn’t want to use it. Come on, Amelia, I told myself, he’s a bad guy and if you shoot him, it’s just self-defense. But could I do it? As much as he destroyed me and controlled me, part of me still had feelings for him. He could be a very gentle and tender person, with a warm laugh, so long as things were going well for him. Sure, he lost his temper from time to time, but that was only because he loved me so much. Would he still be trying to get me back if he didn’t love me?