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  Single Dad Shifter

  A Paranormal Romance

  By: T.S. Ryder

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One – Arabella

  Chapter Two – Grayson

  Chapter Three – Arabella

  Chapter Four – Grayson

  Chapter Five – Arabella

  Chapter Six – Grayson

  Chapter Seven – Arabella

  Chapter Eight – Grayson

  Chapter Nine – Arabella

  Chapter Ten – Grayson

  Chapter Eleven – Arabella

  Chapter Twelve – Grayson

  Chapter Thirteen – Arabella

  Chapter Fourteen – Grayson

  Chapter Fifteen – Arabella

  Chapter Sixteen – Grayson

  Chapter Seventeen – Arabella

  Chapter Eighteen – Grayson

  Specially Selected Bonus Content

  Taken by Two Football Dragons

  The Vampire Prince's Baby

  The Werewolf Boss's Baby

  The Shifter's Secret Baby Boy

  The Shifting Boss's Mate

  Claimed by the Gorilla Shifter

  Taken by Two Hockey Dragons

  Sold to the Shifter

  Heat, Hockey and Two Werewolves

  Claimed by the Vampire King

  About T.S. Ryder

  Selected Other Books by T.S. Ryder

  Join the Heartbeat Reads Readers Club now if you want to receive the EXCLUSIVE hot short story paranormal romance trilogy “The Beast’s Heart” for FREE and get notifications of new releases and promotions.

  Chapter One – Arabella

  It would be easier just to kill him.

  Arabella smoothed the front of her t-shirt as she stepped out of the elevator on her way to see Grayson Alexander. She forced a smile though a well of frustration was rising inside of her. To be so close to the mark but unable to do anything about it rankled her. Normally, she didn't take on these sorts of missions, but the payout was too tempting.

  Grayson was causing trouble for a lot of rich mining companies. Arabella didn't know which of those companies had hired her organization, but here she was. Everybody knew that the billionaire dragon shifter was completely devoted to his twin children and the best way to stop his lobbying and lawsuits was to target them. Getting close enough to kidnap them and force Grayson to do as they wanted was another question.

  And so, Arabella, who had been trained to be a spy and assassin since she was sixteen years old, was going to be a glorified babysitter. Not her most dignified work, but it still would take cunning and some good acting skills.

  Grayson greeted her warmly with a firm handshake. "Ms. Grant. It's good to see you again."

  Her last name was fake. It changed with every mission. As far as she was concerned, she had no family to give her a last name. "Mr. Alexander. It's good to see you again. I'm grateful for this opportunity. And it's Arabella."

  She was close enough that she could inject him with an untraceable poison. Killing him would be easy. But that wasn't the plan. Kidnapping the kids and forcing him to back off from his political pressures was what she had been told to do. She always followed orders. Deviating meant her pay would be cut, and she couldn’t afford that.

  The dragon who stood before her was tall and muscular, even more so than the average shifter. Dragons, in general, were larger than, say, wolves. They were also more reclusive than their shifter cousins. They mostly lived in old-growth forests, here and on every continent other than Antarctica. They were venerated in most societies.

  Grayson was probably one of the most handsome marks she had ever had. Black hair, sun-kissed skin, steady eyes, and a sharp jawline and cheekbone combo that made every magazine he was featured on fly off the shelves like they were jet planes. In his black suit, he looked like a movie star on the red carpet.

  "Has Henry given you a tour of the place yet?" he glanced at the dragon who had brought her up.

  Henry Landon. Not a serious threat to the mission. Arabella quickly reminded herself who he was. Best friend to Grayson. They had grown up together. Henry had been Grayson's best man at his wedding and was currently suffering from the poisoning that had caused half of the dragon shifter clan to fall ill before Grayson moved them here.

  She eyed him. His skin had undertones that indicated he was naturally as dark as Grayson, but sickness had stolen the color from his cheeks, leaving him looking ashen. There was a faint yellowish tinge to his skin that indicated kidney failure. For a shifter to be so heavily affected by this, he must have had massive doses of the toxins over a long period of time.

  "No, not yet. I just got her up here," Henry said.

  Arabella smiled tightly. If she stuck with the plan, this would be her last mission. The organization would give her a tidy sum that she could live a normal life off of. It was everything she wanted: to be free of the chains that bound her to this existence of lies and murder.

  "I'll give you the grand tour, then." Grayson gestured for her to follow, which she did, Henry taking up the rear.

  The house wasn't big, considering what Arabella's experience with billionaires had been. It consisted of a den, three small bedrooms (one of which was hers now), one bathroom for everybody to share, a kitchen, a playroom, and a wide closed-in porch that wrapped all around the house. Cute and comfortable. The reason that the house wasn’t overly large might have something to do with the fact that it was built into the trees. The only way to reach the house was to either fly in or take an elevator up the equivalent of four floors.

  The twins, Olivia and Hudson, were just waking up from their naps when Grayson showed Arabella into their bedroom. The toddler-sized beds were pressed against each other. Olivia's headboard featured Tinkerbell and Hudson's Lightning McQueen. The two kids looked exactly like their father with their black hair, black eyes, and natural sun-kissed glow. Their father's angular jaw and sharp cheekbones were softened in them, though, with their rolls of baby fat still clinging to them. Getting information on the twins had been difficult. All that Arabella knew was that they were two years old.

  "Look at that," Grayson said, smiling as the twins cried out in happiness and bounced from their beds. "Just in time. Livvy, Hud, this is Arabella, your new governess."

  Governess? Arabella's brows rose. She thought she was a live-in nanny. Governess sounded so old-fashioned. Grayson caught her look and shrugged as he picked his twins up.

  "They're really into The Sound of Music right now," he explained. "Can you two say hi?"

  "Hello!" Olivia said, kicking her feet. "You gonna play with me?"

  Hudson buried his face in his father's shoulder.

  Arabella smiled at the two of them. She had been chosen by the organization for this assignment for a few reasons, the first being her 'compassionate' attitude. In the organization, compassion meant weakness and she had been reprimanded more than once for it – just because she thought that killing people outright was better than making them suffer. It didn't matter how many times she said it was also more efficient. She had gained the reputation of being soft, and now she had to work with kids.

  She had no practical experience with children. They were so small and soft. The organization had given her ‘training’ for the mission, but practical experience was very different from reading What to Expect When You're Expecting.

  "Let's go
to the playroom," Grayson said.

  "Carry me!" Olivia leaned toward Arabella. She kicked Grayson in the stomach and Arabella was just able to catch the little girl as she slipped from his grasp.

  "Friendly, aren't you?" the assassin noted dryly.

  They headed for the playroom. Henry followed after them. In the playroom, Olivia got to playing at once with Henry, while Hudson still clung to his father. Grayson rubbed his back soothingly as he gave Arabella the twins' schedule and all of the information Arabella hadn't been able to get before coming here.

  After a while, Arabella noticed that the kids were starting to breathe smoke, but there was no fire and no shifting yet. Olivia seemed to be an outgoing and demanding girl, whereas Hudson clearly preferred his alone time. He liked to color and draw while Olivia had a penchant for building things.

  "I heard that you're lobbying to make mining companies adopt safer practices and make sure they have the consent of local populations before they start building, right?" she asked.

  "Yes. Ever since my wife died from lead poisoning . . . " A hard look flashed over Grayson's face. "Our lives are meaningless to those mining companies. The only thing they understand is profit margins."

  Arabella tugged her long sleeves over her hands. "I think what you are doing is very admirable," she said, and deep down she meant it. "I know what it's like . . . not to be seen as human."

  Not that she was going to let her feelings get in the way of the mission.

  Grayson smiled at her, then gently moved Hudson. "Daddy's got to go to the hospital with Uncle Henry, bud. Arabella is going to be watching you, okay?"

  Arabella felt the first clump of nerves flutter in her stomach. She had been placed with children once before. It had made her feel things that were dangerous in her line of work: real compassion and a motherly instinct that she tried very hard to deny. And those children hadn't been as young as these ones.

  Thankfully, Hudson didn't cry when he was transferred to Arabella’s arm. Grayson and Henry left shortly afterward. Olivia was still engaged in her toys. Arabella got Hudson some crayons and paper and sat between the twins, listening to Olivia chatter away while she built things with her Duplo blocks. It wasn't long after when Arabella’s cell phone buzzed.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey, sis," said a familiar, overly happy voice.

  Arabella repressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Kennedy. I said I was going to call you, remember?"

  Kennedy was one of the other women who worked for the organization. The organization had made them partners, because they had a reputation for working well together. In reality, Arabella couldn't stand Kennedy. The other woman's impatience drove her crazy. Kennedy was always pushing Arabella's timetables to make her move faster. Kennedy had botched a job more than once. But a case like Grayson Alexander’s, with his two kids, would take extreme patience.

  "Oh, are you at your new job?"

  "Yes. And I don't have time to talk right now."

  Contacting her on this phone was dangerous enough. Arabella didn't think Kennedy was ever going to complete enough successful missions to ever be free from the organization. She wasn't going to take Arabella down with her, though.

  "So, when do you think we can meet up?" Kennedy asked, her voice syrupy sweet. "You know, with the kids?"

  "I need a month," Arabella said shortly. "We can talk more about it later."

  She hung up, grinding her teeth in annoyance. Why would they trust such an important mission to somebody who never even waited for her coffee to cool down before drinking it?

  Olivia eyed her with interest and plopped down in her lap, leaning her small head against Arabella's shoulder. "Who's that?"

  "It was my sister." Arabella sighed.

  It was sort of true, after all. The organization liked to make the 'recruits' call each other brother and sister like some sick cult. Which, in a way, it was. Many of those who actually did win their freedom (which was difficult, given that their training, housing, food, and basically everything necessary for daily life was taken as a 'debt' that needed to be repaid) stayed on even after they were free.

  But that wasn't what Arabella was going to do. She was going to take her money and retire somewhere in the Caribbean where she could write self-published erotica for kicks and spend her days sipping Margaritas and listening to loud music. And, best yet, she would be able to meet a guy for reasons other than trying to get information from him. She could have some semblance of a normal life.

  "Hud my brudder, I his sissy," Olivia said. "Who's your sissy?"

  "Her name is Kennedy."

  Olivia laughed. "Funny name. Why's she call you?"

  "She's getting married," Arabella answered, the lie rolling smoothly off her tongue. She had learned long ago that she had to stay consistent in front of children as much as adults. They were much cleverer than people assumed. "The wedding is in a month."

  Olivia nodded. "I come too."

  Arabella fluffed the little girl's hair and ignored the cramp in her stomach. A wedding would be the perfect excuse to take the children away from their father so that they could be ransomed back to him. The trust in the toddler's eyes hurt to look at, though.

  "Maybe," Arabella murmured. "Now, who wants a snack?"

  Chapter Two – Grayson

  Senator Jeremy White was useless. Not that Grayson really expected anything different from the man. He was in so many pockets that it was a wonder for him to have a single thought that was his own these days. The companies that donated to his campaign had gotten him here, although the legality of his actions during the election was up to debate. Still, Grayson had to explore every angle he could to force the mining companies and their subsidiaries to take responsibility for their actions.

  "I understand your concern," the thin man said, his large, soulful eyes that had won hearts throughout the state staring wide-eyed at Grayson. He was wearing his signature green tie, always the same design. "I really do. But think about it this way. This legislation that you are proposing will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. They don't want to have to pay for these things."

  "Those are mostly shifter homes and shifter lives that are affected," Grayson said. "Are you saying that shifter lives are not worth it?"

  White's face reddened. He puffed up, straining the buttons of his too-small dress shirt. "That is uncalled for. I am not a racist man. We can't bow down to every group that comes crying to us, thinking that they're being treated unfairly. If you don't like having a mine bringing prosperity to your home, you should just leave."

  The senator sat down, nodding as though he had just said something that actually made sense. The fire inside Grayson rose with a growling sound. Both his hands clenched his chair. There was a time when he would have thought the best way to resolve things like this was to just punch his enemy until they didn't get back up. Sometimes, he thought that would still be the best way to do things.

  "Right. Just leave," Grayson repeated the senator’s words dryly. "Leave the homes that we have occupied for hundreds of years. Maybe I'll just open a mine near your home and see what you say then. When it's your wife dead from the toxic runoff and your best friend slowly dying from it."

  The senator sat back, snorting. Grayson could have kicked himself. This was exactly what he had been trying to avoid. He'd crossed the line and this 'threat' he had just made would be talked about. It was a bitter defeat, especially since he had been schooling himself lately to keep calm.

  "There have been tests done with shifters. Your kind can heal from anything."

  "Shifters can only heal from certain things. Continually being poisoned by everything in our environment isn't one of them. You humans are so ignorant as to the basic necessities of shifter life—" Grayson tasted smoke on his tongue and cut himself off. He took a deep breath. "The fact is that none of these things are happening in non-shifter communities—"

  "If you're so concerned about your shifter communities, maybe you should be spending your tim
e with them rather than wasting mine." The senator stood and straightened his suit jacket. "This meeting is over. I suggest you leave before I have you escorted out."

  Grayson growled deep in his throat. He wanted to strangle the man with his own green tie. But there was nothing left to be done. He marched from the senator's office, slamming the door behind him. Being involved in politics was new to him. Before Christine died, he was more than happy to let others do the fighting for him. As long as he was leading a comfortable life, that was all that mattered. The twins coming along had started to change things, and then Christine . . .

  He wanted to fly and feel the wind on his face, but shifting was prohibited in the city. He drove his Audi back to the communal garage at the shifter settlement, then walked through the huge trees. He had fought to stop logging companies from taking down the massive Redwoods. Afterward, he had decided to pay for his whole community to move there. They built their homes in the treetops. It made things like electricity and plumbing difficult, but claiming the skies had felt natural.

  He undressed and shifted, feeling the release of endorphins that always accompanied shedding his human form and claiming that of the beast. Christine always loved to see him in his dragon form. He flapped his wings, rising quickly from the ground. The rush of the wind and his fine-tuned sense of smell relaxed his tense muscles further.

  So he had one setback. Senator White was never going to be on the shifters' side and Grayson had known it. At least now he had personally measured up the man.

  He circled over the community, then flew down to his house. The twins were waiting for him on the porch, jumping up and down and pointing as he landed. Arabella knelt between them, an arm wrapped around their stomachs. She looked so at ease and natural with them that a little more of the weight eased from his shoulders. Over the past two days, since she had come into their lives, the twins had blossomed. He knew hiring a female nanny was the right choice. He didn't have any female friends or relatives, and he was a firm believer that all children needed some sort of influence from both men and women.