Page 5 of The Alpha's Mail Order Bride

“Well, I’d say you’ve got a good chance. It runs in the family,” Darion said, forcing himself to smile and hoping the expression didn’t look as clumsy as it felt. Reeve looked a little faint at the prospect of adding two newborns to their family, but the smile on his face when he put an arm around Lyrie’s shoulders made it clear that it was a challenge he’d embrace with enthusiasm. “We’re going to be outnumbered at this rate,” he continued, shading his eyes as he looked across the beach to the little creche. “More babies than I can keep up with.”

“And more on the way,” Reeve agreed with a grin. “I’ve never seen Belmont this excited in my life. He smiled twice at the Council meeting the other day.Twice. Can you imagine?”

Belmont, the stoic Alpha of the island’s other resident pack, had reunited with his soulmate recently after a long separation, and the two of them would be expanding their own little family in the coming weeks.

“I’m surprised he was there at all,” Lyrie said with a chuckle. “According to Venna, he seems convinced that if he leaves her side for thirty seconds, he’s going to miss the birth.”

“He’s changed so much since we got here,” Darion said softly, thinking back to the remote, calculating man he’d first met back on Halforst, before the mission to settle Kurivon had even begun.

“We all have,” Lyrie smiled, casting a quick glance up at Reeve, who pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head.

“Some of us more than others.” Darion had meant it as a joke, but it fell flat, and he saw that much-hated look of disguised pity pass across his family’s faces. “Not a bad thing. You need a bit of constancy in a world that’s changing as fast as this one.”

“True enough,” Lyrie allowed. “But I hope you don’t feel like you need to stay stuck in a rut on our account, Darion.”

“I’m happy where I am,” he said, the much-rehearsed phrase slipping out easily. Unfortunately, Lyrie and Reeve had never been quite as easily fooled as the other wolves on the island. “Really, I’m good.”

“I know you are,” Reeve said, quickly and unconvincingly. “Of course you are. But, you know, a wolf who wasn’t you might—hypothetically, of course, all of this is just a fun little thought experiment—he might feel a little lonely, with so many people around him settling down and starting families. Especially if he was someone who’d always pictured that kind of future for himself. This completely imaginary guy, I mean.”

Lyrie shot Reeve an exasperated glance that was so familiar from their years working together that Darion almost laughed.

“Things change as you grow older,” he said now, turning away from the children to look out over the ocean. “There’s a place in every pack for the wolves who don’t have soulmates or children, and I’ve made my peace with that.”

“Darion, we’re the same age,” Reeve pointed out. “If you start talking like an old man, I’m going to take offense.”

“He’s right,” Lyrie said. “You’re far too young to count yourself out of the running just yet. Just because you haven’t met your soulmate yet doesn’t mean she’s not still out there waiting for you.”

“You might have met her already, even,” Reeve put in quickly, his eyes alight. “I mean, Belmont and Venna knew each other their whole lives, and he still didn’t put the pieces together properly until last year, right? Maybe she’s on the island already.”

“It’s possible,” Lyrie shrugged. “Or it’s possible she’s a part of one of the packs that haven’t joined us yet. Surely there are a few wolves in Torren or Blaine’s packs that haven’t met their matches yet.”

Darion kept his expression neutral, glancing with growing suspicion between the two of them. Lyrie and Reeve were probably the people he knew best in the world, and his intuition was telling him that they’d discussed this particular subject at length. He felt a distant shiver of revulsion and shame at the image of them sitting together at their kitchen table, deep in discussion about the lonely old monster who lived alone on the island, about what they could possibly do to keep up his spirits…he kept his rising anger from his face, trying to suppress the temptation to snap at them both and storm back off into the forest.

“We’re just saying—don’t give up,” Reeve said, clearly sensing Darion’s rising irritation despite his efforts to conceal it. “Love has a way of finding you when you least expect it. We’re living proof of that, as you well know.”

Darion raised an eyebrow. His own role in Reeve and Lyrie’s union had been in the arrangement of a ritualized marriage between them, a last-ditch effort to unite their warring packs. It had been one of the most reckless and ill-advised decisions of his tenure as Alpha, and would have ended in tragedy if not for the fact Lyrie was far smarter than either of them.

“Well, I’m as pleased as anyone that things ended well for you,” he said, hoping his tone didn’t betray his jealousy. “But I should point out yours was a fairly unique situation.”

“Nonsense,” Reeve replied sunnily. “What this island needs is more arranged marriages, actually.”

“We’ll get right on that.” Lyrie rolled her silver eyes. “But the point is—don’t give up, Darion. You’re a good leader and a good man. Illy adores you,” she added, a soft smile touching her lips as she glanced across the beach to where her daughter was playing. “There’s a woman out there somewhere who’s dreaming about you and the family you’ll build together. Promise me you won’t close yourself off before you meet her?”

Darion grimaced. He’d known Lyrie since she was a child, and she’d always been able to get under his skin and extract promises from him that any other wolf would be hard pressed to make him even consider. He could see his brother hiding a smug smile as he turned to look across the crowded beach, and he suppressed that flare of irritation, too.

“Fine,” he said reluctantly. “I’m not taking any vows of solitude, Lyrie, you know that. But I’ve made my peace with the idea. Maybe you should, too.”

“Never,” Reeve said, surprising him with the seriousness of his tone. “Not until you’ve met every wolf in this world and the other.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Darion said. “In the meantime, I’m going for a swim.”

It was abrupt, he knew—he caught a glimpse of a worried frown on Lyrie’s face as he turned away and headed for the water, but it couldn’t be helped. If he stayed in that conversation another minute, he was going to end up snapping at both of them, and his temper had gotten him in more than enough trouble with his brother for one lifetime. He threw himself into the embrace of the water and dove deep beneath the waves, welcoming the silence as he swam out, deeper and deeper.

There was nothing wrong with being alone. But as he swam further and further from the shore, he couldn’t help but wonder—if he truly was at peace with his solitude, why did he hate talking about it so much with the people he cared about?

Chapter 3 - Claire

Claire had disappeared down research rabbit holes before, but this was a whole new ballgame. In the days following that fascinating conversation with Suzanne, Claire had found half a dozen more sites with a similar purpose, and after a quick lesson in online safety from her ever-cautious best friend, she’d set up discreet accounts on all of them. It really was amazing how many lonely rich men there were out there. She scrolled through profile after profile, her notebook by her side, jotting down notes. Research, she kept telling herself, this was all research for her next book. She’d done a quick search of the mail-order bride genre and downloaded a few of the most popular works, too, but to her surprise she was finding that the real thing was much more interesting than the fiction.

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