Midlife Dragon Daddy (Midlife Shifters Book 10) Read online

  Maybe there was a way he could spin the narrative so that his plan would work with Haley.

  And he had to admit, it would be nice to work with her. He had missed her over the years. It was a feeling he rarely allowed himself to contemplate because it was all his fault that she was gone in the first place. But now, looking at her for the first time in years, he had to concede that he was glad to be seeing her again.

  “All right,” he said, “I’ll tell you about the plan, and then you and I can decide together whether or not you’re the right person to help me.”

  She nodded and settled back a little bit in the chair.

  And Ryker found himself hoping, in spite of the complications, that she would decide this job was a good fit for her.

  He wanted Haley back in his life.

  Chapter Seven

  RYKER

  “Do you remember Shane?” Ryker asked.

  “Your cousin Shane?” Haley asked. “Too well. He was kind of a dick.”

  Ryker was surprised again. Haley had never spoken out against Shane like that when she’d been a part of the clan. But it was definitely a pleasant surprise. He needed her to be on his side, which was going to be difficult enough given their history. If she hated Shane, that would definitely help matters.

  “He hasn’t changed,” Ryker said. “But since you left, he’s taken over as alpha of the clan.”

  Haley’s body tensed up a little. Ryker wasn’t sure if it was in response to his saying that she had left, as if it had been of her own free will, or if she was reacting to the idea of Shane as alpha. He wouldn’t have had trouble believing either one to be true.

  “So Shane’s the alpha now?” she said, her voice even.

  “He is,” Ryker said.

  “How did that happen?” Haley said. “You were going to be alpha, last I heard.”

  “That...didn’t work out.”

  “No? I thought that was why I had to be exiled,” Haley said. Her voice was frosty now. “I thought you needed to be able to find a new mate. Someone who could give you a child. What’s the matter? You weren’t able to conceive with anyone else either?”

  Ryker’s fists clenched. He wasn’t going to explain this to her. He was under no obligation to do so. “Listen,” he said. “If you don’t want to work with me, you can leave. I know you and I have a complicated past, and I’m not going to throw it in your face at every turn. But I’m also not going to accept you throwing it in my face. If we’re going to do this together, you’re going to have to find a way to put that aside. Otherwise, I’ll look for someone else to help me.”

  She settled back in her seat. She didn’t look any less angry, but he could see that she was controlling her temper. “Go on,” she said.

  “Shane’s alpha,” Ryker said. “But he’s abusive to the members of the pack. He’s cruel. He treats the women terribly—”

  “And I’m supposed to believe that’s something you care about?”

  Ryker raised his eyebrows. “Believe whatever you want,” he said. “I’m not hiring someone to believe things. I’m hiring someone to execute a plan with me so that I can take him out of power without a battle.”

  “Okay,” Haley said. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “I need someone to pose as my mate,” Ryker said.

  Haley burst out laughing. “You must be joking.”

  “It’s the only way to get the council to approve me as the rightful alpha.”

  “But that’s not going to work, Ryker,” Haley said. The tension had left her body now, and Ryker felt as if she was mocking him. It was a deeply unpleasant feeling. “Don’t you remember the day you dragged me in front of the council and told everyone that I was infertile, and that I’d tricked you into being my mate?”

  “Of course I remember that,” Ryker said, his voice tight.

  “Everyone thinks I’m infertile now,” Haley said. “You can’t take me back to the clan and say I’m your mate after all. They won’t care. They’ll just think you’re mated to someone infertile, and that won’t make the council want to position you as alpha.”

  “We’ll come up with a story that makes it work,” Ryker said.

  “I don’t know what story you think you’re going to come up with,” Haley said. “You must not have seen the looks on their faces during that final meeting. They think I’m lower than dirt, Ryker. They want nothing to do with me. And you bringing me back into the clan is going to make them want nothing to do with you.”

  “You leave that part of it to me,” Ryker said. “If I can come up with a way to sell this to the rest of the clan, something that will make them accept us, then will you go along with it?”

  Haley shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t have any desire to go back to those people, Ryker.”

  “I thought you wanted this job.”

  “I wanted the money. There are other jobs. Jobs that don’t involve me pretending to be mated to the man who threw me out of my clan.”

  Ryker sighed. “It’s five hundred thousand,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. He knew he had her now. “Dollars?” she asked.

  Ryker nodded. “You might be able to get another job, but where are you going to get another job that pays you that much for short-term work?”

  “How short term?”

  “Six months. Once I’m installed as clan leader and everyone’s had a chance to see how much better things are under me than they were under Shane, you’ll be free to go.”

  “Six months,” she said quietly.

  “Five hundred thousand,” he repeated. “No one else is going to pay you that kind of money for six months’ work, Haley.”

  She bit her lip. She had always made that face when she was worried, and it was achingly familiar.

  Stop it. Don’t be sentimental about her. If you’re going to do this with her, you’ll be spending a lot of time together. You have to figure out how to keep things professional.

  “I need to think about it,” Haley said.

  Ryker nodded. “That’s fine,” he said. “You can call me tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “I can’t wait forever,” he said. “I need to get this thing moving, whatever you decide. If you’re not going to help me, I need to start looking for someone who will.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  He wrote his phone number down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you,” he said. “Nice to see you again, Haley.”

  Looking deeply troubled, Haley got to her feet and hurried out.

  Chapter Eight

  RYKER

  Ryker waited for another couple of hours, just to see if any more shifter women would answer his ad, but none came.

  I suppose I should have expected that.

  Dragon shifters were so rare. His own clan was the only one for miles. To pick up a woman the others didn’t already know, he was dependent on these little colonies of outsiders. He should have foreseen the possibility that Haley would show up.

  With a sigh, he got up and went to the window, staring out at the setting sun.

  She was right. It would be twice as hard to make this plan work with her.

  He had originally planned to say that he had found his true mate. He would have gone back to the clan and told them that, while he’d believed his partnership with Haley had been a true one, born of fate the way real dragon matings were, he had realized when he met this new woman that he’d misjudged his own feelings. That he knew now what a true mating felt like.

  He had always known it would be a lie, of course. What he and Haley had had was real. He had been lying about this from the moment he’d told the clan she wasn’t right for him and that he wanted her driven out.

  He’d been lying to himself.

  Because if she stayed, he would have had to acknowledge the possibility that the potential for children didn’t exist within their pairing. And if that was true, it would mean that Ryker wasn’t
meant to be alpha at all. It would mean that he would be called upon to step aside and cede the role to his cousin.

  Now that had happened anyway.

  Shane didn’t have any children either. But he still had his mate. He still had the potential to produce an heir. And that made him the more worthy candidate for the alpha role. If Ryker had shown back up with a true mate, he might have had a case to take the role back.

  But it wouldn’t work with Haley. She was right. He’d be laughed out of the room. He’d gone to such trouble to convince everyone that she was infertile. Shane might not have a child yet, but at least everyone still believed he might. No one would believe that Haley could.

  Unless...

  An idea stirred at the back of his mind.

  He could always lie to them. He could say that they had been drawn back together—that they were fated for one another after all. He could say that they’d rediscovered each other outside the confines of the clan, and without the pressure of needing to prove themselves to the council, they had finally become pregnant.

  If I tell them she’s pregnant, they’ll have to at least consider what I’m saying, right?

  It still felt like a long shot. He was sure Shane would challenge it.

  But there were others who wanted to see Shane’s authority overthrown. There were those who would likely back him up if he decided to make his move. If he alleged that Haley was pregnant, they would want to believe him. He might be able to pull enough people to his side to make this plan work.

  It would mean that Haley would have to be willing to pretend to be pregnant with my child, though. Would she do that?

  He wasn’t sure. That felt like a much bigger ask than what he had already pitched to her.

  Maybe it would be better to try to find someone else to work with. A different shifter. Someone who didn’t already have a reputation among the clan.

  He didn’t have any other offers. But he hadn’t traveled that far yet. If he left the Midwest and tried going north, he might find someone. He could stick with his original plan, bring her back, and let his clan mates believe that he’d found his true mate.

  But that would mean leaving Haley behind again.

  Something deep in his gut twisted.

  He didn’t want to do that.

  He wanted to execute this plan with her, not with some stranger.

  When she’d walked in here, it had hit him like a punch. Just the fact of seeing her after so long was powerful. And in spite of everything that had happened, Haley had been his mate. He was sure of that. She was the one he had been fated to be with. It was their inability to create a child together that had driven them apart. He had been lying when he’d claimed that she wasn’t meant for him.

  I want to see what she’s going to decide, he realized. If she’s willing to be a part of this plan, I want to do it with her.

  He sighed. It had been clear from their meeting that she hated him, and if he was honest, he couldn’t blame her for that. He knew he wanted to work with her, but he also knew that it would be difficult with her fighting him at every turn.

  I’ll be able to bring her in line. I was always fully in control of her before. She’s resisting me because she’s been on her own for so long, but somewhere in there, she’s still the same old submissive Haley. Once I can bring out that side of her, this will be a piece of cake.

  And there was the money, of course. He didn’t know her life, but if she was living out in Shifter Town, she couldn’t possibly have enough. He was sure that what he was offering would change everything for her. She wouldn’t be able to fight him on everything. She would need that payout too badly.

  He nodded, feeling a sense of satisfaction. Everything was going to turn out just fine. All he needed was for Haley to call him and agree to join him in this project. Soon enough, the clan would be his.

  Chapter Nine

  RYKER

  “So, were you able to find anyone?” Barty asked.

  “You’re not going to believe it.” Ryker adjusted the phone against his ear and took a bite of his sandwich.

  “You did find someone?” Barty asked. “I was sure you’d be coming back with your tail between your legs.”

  “Dragons don’t tuck their tails between their legs,” Ryker told his right-hand man.

  “I know that,” Barty said. “It’s just an expression, Ryker. Humans don’t tuck their tails between their legs either, but they say that.”

  Ryker rolled his eyes, but he didn’t argue further. Barty had never had the kind of dragon pride that Ryker thought he should, but Ryker knew there was nothing he could do about that. If his right-hand man insisted on using expressions that seemed tailor-made for other, less powerful groups of shifters, that was just how things would have to be.

  “So, what won’t I believe?” Barty asked.

  “I found someone, all right,” Ryker said. “I found Haley.”

  Barty was silent for a long moment.

  “Haley Griffin?” he said at last.

  “Yeah, Haley Griffin,” Ryker said. “How many Haleys do we know?”

  “She’s still alive?”

  “What are you talking about?” Ryker asked. “Of course she’s alive. Why wouldn’t she be?”

  “I don’t know,” Barty said. “I sort of imagined that she wouldn’t have made it out on her own like that. When we exiled her, I thought...”

  “You thought she was going to die?” Ryker felt cold. He had never thought that. He had assumed that Haley would find her way to one of the shifter reject communities scattered around. He’d thought she would go a bit farther before settling down, but he had never imagined that being on her own would kill her. She was a dragon, after all, and dragons were powerful.

  But the fact that Barty had believed Haley would die, and had chosen to vote in favor of her exile anyway...that was a little disturbing. He hadn’t thought his closest friend could be capable of such a thing.

  He shook it off. Barty had voted the way he had because he’d wanted to give Ryker a chance at assuming the alpha position. That much had always been clear. And they’d both been ten years younger back then. Barty wasn’t the only one who had made regrettable choices. Ryker wasn’t going to hold it against him.

  “She’s doing well,” he said. “She looks healthy.”

  “She can’t be doing that well,” Barty argued. “You know what those reject towns are like. What did you do when you saw her?”

  “I offered her the job,” Ryker said.

  “You what?”

  “Think about it, Barty. She might be perfect for it. All I’d have to do would be to convince everyone that we were fated for each other after all. It makes sense, in a way, right? After all these years, fate brought us back into each other’s lives.”

  “Fate didn’t bring you anywhere,” Barty said. “You’ve been papering every small town in the state.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” Ryker said, feeling mildly annoyed. “But the rest of the clan doesn’t know that. We could convince them.”

  “They know she’s infertile, Ryker.”

  “So we’ll tell them we made a mistake. We’ll tell them we didn’t try long enough. We gave up too quickly. We’ll tell them she’s pregnant now.”

  “Okay,” Barty said skeptically. “And what are we going to do in nine months when she doesn’t have a baby?”

  “By that time, Shane will be out of power,” Ryker said. “It’ll be too late for him to do anything about it.”

  “I don’t know about this,” Barty said.

  “Barty, you know everyone would rather see me in power than Shane,” Ryker said. “All we really need to do is to give them an excuse to accept me. This would do it. Haley needs the money. She’d stick around long enough to help ensure the transfer of power, and then she could just take off into the night.”

  “And you don’t think Shane would take advantage of her being gone to try to take power back?” Barty asked.

  “That was always someth
ing we were going to have to deal with eventually,” Ryker said. “This is a short-term job. We can’t ask any woman to stay with our clan forever. No matter who we got, we were always going to pay her for a few months—long enough to make the transition—and then let her go. Using Haley doesn’t change that.”

  “I don’t know,” Barty said again. “It just doesn’t seem very well thought out, Ryker.”

  “You’ve always supported me in this plan,” Ryker said.

  “That was before you mentioned using Haley for it,” Barty said. “Don’t you remember how she manipulated you into being her mate? Can you really forget that?”

  Ryker sighed. “The thing is,” he said, “I might have exaggerated some of that.”

  “You might have exaggerated some of that? What are you talking about?”

  “She was never manipulating me, Barty,” Ryker said. “We were in love. We were mates.”

  “No,” Barty said. He sounded stunned. “No, that isn’t what you said. You told me that she had to be exiled from the clan, because she had tricked you into believing that she’d give you a child. You told me she’d become frigid and withholding, and that she was almost never open to sex anymore. You said she had probably known all along that she was infertile, and she was only after you for your power. She just wanted to be mated to the alpha.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Ryker said. “I said those things because I wanted our union dissolved. I wanted a chance to find someone else and have a child. But the bond between us was real, Barty. It was always real.”

  “I don’t know what to think about this,” Barty said quietly.

  “We don’t have to make any decisions right now,” Ryker said. “She’s going to get back to me tomorrow about whether or not she wants to accept the job. We can decide what to do from there.”

  Chapter Ten

  RYKER FELT AS IF HE could literally feel each minute as it passed. Time was dragging more slowly than it ever had before in his life.

  I have to know what she’s going to say. I have to know if she’s going to be willing to do this with me.