Mate of a Dragon Shifter (Paranormal Shapeshifter Alpha Male Dragon Romance)

By Jessica Miller

Brida has only ever known war — her people have been fighting a bloodthirsty feud with their neighbors since before her birth. When at last her father finds a solution, it comes at a cost: a man named Cynric will use his extraordinary powers to conquer their enemy, if her father pays a king's ransom in gold. When the time comes to pay and funds fall flat, Ulric offers Brida instead. Brida, of course, hasn't the heart to argue with the salvation of her homeland — but will her heart come to love the source of that salvation, even when she discovers the beast within him? 

**Complete short story, no cliffhangers.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Finest Shapeshifter Romance Club
• Release date: Nov 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386528371

Book preview

Mate of a Dragon Shifter

Chapter 1

Brida's father and his people had been at war with their neighbors for as long as she could remember, at least the past twenty years if not longer, and things were not balanced in their favor. Lord Ulric had not seen fit to educate his daughter in the ways of war, but she knew her brothers well, and she had learned more than perhaps Ulric wanted over the course of her childhood. The last few battles had taken a particularly hard toll on their people, and one of Brida's brothers, Edmund, had been grievously injured. She herself had been moved from place to place in Ulric's constant attempts to keep her from the hands of his enemy. Now they had finally returned to their keep, but only because Ulric's troops had been decimated and he had recalled his men and his generals to the center of his domain where they could try and find some new tactic to push back the invaders.

Brida had been tasked with making sure that her brother was well taken care of, which consisted of her mostly tending to him herself and having the servants fetch her what she needed. He seemed calmest when she was the one at his bedside, and she hardly had anything else to be doing. Ulric had gathered all of his commanders in the great hall, including Edmund and Brida's eldest brother Eldric, and they had been in there for the better part of the day. Brida wasn't even sure they had eaten. She had bread and ale brought to try and get Edmund to eat something, but when he refused she ate it herself.

She saw no solution, but perhaps she simply didn't have the same mind for military matters that the men in her family did. Still, to her it looked like the easiest thing to do would to be surrender and give the invaders what they wanted. Things were grim enough to start, and now there were rumors of tall fair-haired barbarians raiding along the shores in the south. It was hardly the time to be squabbling when simple diplomacy could resolve matters. After all, Ulric had the perfect bargaining chip. Brida was young still, and unmarried. There had to be someone her father could marry her off to in order to stop the hostilities before his people and his family were completely wiped off the face of the earth.

Edmund groaned, his face contorted in pain, and squirmed on his bed. Brida shushed him and smoothed his dark hair back from his face. By the time he had been returned home infection had already set into the wound on his leg. The healer had done the best he could to treat it, and the wound was looking far better than it had, but he was in the throes of a fever, constantly in and out of sleep and in so much pain it made Brida's heart ache. She motioned for one of her ladies to bring the bowl of water and wet the rag that lay draped over the side, squeezing out the excess before dabbing sweat off of Edmund's brow. He calmed eventually, settling back into his restless sleep and feverish dreams.

She sat back in her chair and muffled a yawn with the back of her hand. She had been awake almost all night making sure that Edmund's thrashing didn't re-open his wound and the lack of sleep was catching up with her. She hoped that her father's meeting would be over soon so