Page 19 of Alpha Dragon’s Mating Contract (Babies For Broken Dads #3)

THE SECRET

Walren leaped. He landed between Zebbie and Raptor, gently nudging Zebbie’s mouth shut even though the flames burned his hand.

He hissed in pain. But at least there were no more visible flames.

“... Sweetheart?” Raptor asked.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Walren squeaked.

Zebbie tried to shake off his hand. Walren held on, making sure no flames escaped the faun’s snout.

“There, there,” he murmured, stroking Zebbie’s face with his other hand.

Raptor was silent for a long moment. “Have you been taking acting classes from Hassel?”

Walren’s face burned. “Yes?”

Then he remembered the butler’s advice. He made retching sounds, falling onto his side and tugging Zebbie down with him so they could both play dead.

“That’s terrible!” Raptor smacked his own forehead. Heavy footsteps thumped closer; grass rustled. Then Raptor towered over both of them, casting a shadow over Walren’s face.

Walren cracked an eye open.

“What was that about?” Raptor asked. His attention drifted to Zebbie—and his face lit up. “Aww! What big ears you have!”

He wasn’t behaving as though he had found a dragonet. Maybe... he hadn’t seen Zebbie breathing flames?

When Zebbie lost interest in freeing his snout, Walren slowly loosened his grip. No flames slipped out of the faun’s mouth; Walren breathed a sigh of relief. He released Zebbie’s snout the rest of the way.

“Why were you keeping his mouth shut?” Raptor asked, holding his fingers out for Zebbie to sniff.

“Uh.” Walren struggled to come up with a truthful answer. Before he could, Zebbie licked Raptor’s fingers.

The alpha laughed in delight. “Are you hungry? What do baby gazelles eat?”

“Grass and soft leaves. Sometimes I feed him fruit. He really loves strawberries.”

Raptor lit up. “Hass, put strawberries on the next grocery order.”

“You don’t have to,” Walren began.

“Psssh! I want to watch this lil guy devour strawberries.” Raptor continued to watch Zebbie.

Walren discreetly checked his stinging hand. His fingers and palm were flushed a light pink—a first-degree burn? But there weren’t any medical supplies out here, and Walren couldn’t just run off with Zebbie to dunk his hand under some running water.

But he remembered Ivo talking about a creek that flowed through Ace and Raptor’s properties. “Is there a stream around here?”

“Yeah! Over here, let me show you.”

Raptor offered his hand. Walren had to accept it with his burned hand because it was a struggle to stand with his bad leg. His palm smarted at the contact.

His pain must’ve shown, because Raptor frowned. “Sweetheart?”

The alpha scrutinized Walren’s body. Then he turned Walren’s hand around, gasping at his pink skin.

Walren tried to pull his hand away. “It’s okay. I just... It just needs some cool water. That’s all.”

He thought Raptor might lead him to the stream. Instead, Raptor swept him off his feet and carried him across some tall grass, to where a tiny creek burbled.

“Here.” Raptor gently set Walren on his feet. “Do you need help with the water?”

Walren shook his hand and carefully slid his bad leg sideways, so he could lower himself to the ground. Then he dunked his hand into the cool water and breathed a sigh. “That feels good.”

“Yeah? So what happened to your hand?” Raptor asked lightly, but the look on his face wasn’t light at all.

Walren’s cheeks burned. “Um... I kind of hurt myself?”

“How? You weren’t hurt half an hour ago. If there’s something in my territory that’s hurting you, you have to tell me, ” Raptor growled.

Damn it! Walren chewed his lip. He didn’t want to lie to Raptor, especially when the alpha would know immediately. And he didn’t want Raptor to think it was his fault, when it wasn’t.

“Zebbie hurt me accidentally,” Walren mumbled.

Raptor looked incredulously at the gazelle calf. “Zebs, kiddo, we don’t hurt our dads like that.”

“Like I said, it was accidental.” Walren shrugged and wriggled his fingers in the water. “I’m feeling better.”

“Well, good.” Raptor was still frowning, though. He stepped over the creek and crouched to face Walren, dipping his hands into the water to carefully turn Walren’s hand around. “It’s looking better.”

“Thanks.”

Raptor didn’t release his hand. He kept holding it, stroking his thumbs across the pink patches until a different sort of tingle raced up Walren’s arm.

Walren blushed. Raptor glanced up right at that second, his dark gaze catching on Walren’s cheeks.

“Oh?” Raptor murmured. He pressed his thumb along Walren’s fate line, following it all the way to his wrist.

He paused at Walren’s pulse point. Walren knew Raptor could feel every thump of his heart.

“It’s beating faster,” Raptor whispered, his face just inches away.

“Y-yeah?”

“Is that because of me?”

“You’re very close,” Walren blurted. “So maybe there’s less air for me to breathe.”

Raptor grinned and bumped their foreheads together. “What about now?”

Walren’s eyes were probably crossed; Raptor’s had gone blurry, and his breath was warm on Walren’s lips.

Is he going to kiss me? Walren’s heart thundered.

Except Raptor pulled away, his gaze dropping to Walren’s chest—because he had heard Walren’s heart.

“Um, I don’t know what’s going on,” Walren squeaked.

A smile curved Raptor’s full lips. “Oh, you are precious.”

“I’m not!”

“Are too.” Raptor dropped a kiss on the tip of Walren’s nose, before pulling away.

Walren felt oddly disappointed, even though it was too soon for anything to happen between them.

The alpha hadn’t looked away from him, though. “You’ll come with me to Nood’s Good,” he murmured. “I can’t ditch it completely to build your nest, but if you’re at the restaurant with me, I can make you any food you want. We have some special teas there, too. You seemed to like the green tea.”

“It tastes like grass,” Walren admitted. “I like grassy things.”

Raptor was about to reply when he paused, cocking his head. His gaze darted to the mansion and back to Walren. “Hassel says you like flowery things, too.”

Walren blushed a deep red. “Oh gods.”

“Why does he know that and I don’t?” Raptor growled.

“Is—Is he telling you?”

“No!” Raptor said in outrage.

“It’s embarrassing!” Walren whined.

“Tell me anyway.” Raptor leaned in, looking so eager that Walren’s defenses crumbled.

“Um, I ate your bluebells. A few minutes ago.”

“My—” Raptor turned, glancing around. “I... didn’t notice. I don’t even know where the bluebells are.”

“You were busy with the—the nest.” Even now, it felt strange to talk about it. Raptor was building a nest so Walren could grow a baby in it. “And, um, I ate some of your hibiscus flowers too.”

Walren gestured vaguely, but this time, Raptor found the hibiscus bush with his eyes. His gaze zeroed in on the bottom of the bush, where there were no more flowers. A wide, delighted grin spread across his face. “You ate my flowers!”

Walren cringed. “Um, yes?

“You’re a flower eater!”

“You’re not mad?” Walren asked carefully.

“No, why would I be? I should grow more flowers around here. Do you have a favorite?”

Walren gaped. “No one’s ever offered to grow me flowers.”

Raptor rubbed his chin. “Well, then they don’t deserve to be your alpha.” He pinned Walren with a look. “Favorite flower, sweetheart.”

“Um. Peonies and dahlias. They have so many petals to munch on.”

“But not roses?”

Walren made a face. “Thorns. Especially if Zebbie also develops a taste for them.”

“Gotcha. I’ll have the gardener plant them as soon as possible. How much of the grass should I keep around?”

Walren stared. “Y-you’re giving me power over your garden? Lawn? Whatever you call this huge amount of land?”

A faint pink colored Raptor’s cheeks. He looked away. “Well. Yes. Since you’ll be carrying my baby.”

Walren had to try very hard to remember why he didn’t want to conceive Raptor’s child.

Because he’ll take away my baby!

But... Raptor was also building him a nest, and talking about planting flowers so he could eat them whenever he wanted.

Walren had never felt this torn in his life. “Um. I... I would like space to run, if that’s okay.”

“Hmm. So, long grassy paths to run on, and in between them, there will be flowers.”

“That sounds really pretty,” Walren whispered.

Raptor grinned. “Yeah?”

Walren nodded.

“That’s decided, then.” Raptor clapped his hands. “Are you feeling better?”

Walren flexed his fingers. The pain from the burn was no longer there. “I think I’m okay now. Thank you.”

Raptor grinned. Then he scooped Walren and Zebbie into his arms, carrying them back to the nest-building site.

Halfway there, Zebbie squirmed. Then he shuddered, and two leathery emerald wings sprouted from his back.

Raptor paused. “Uh, sweetheart?”

Walren began to panic. How am I going to explain this?

There was no time to hide Zebbie’s wings.

“I, uh. He’s—”

Zebbie looked up, his snout twitching as though it was itching badly.

Raptor leaned in.

And Zebbie sneezed a fireball straight into Raptor’s face.