Page 2 of Alpha Dragon’s Mating Contract (Babies For Broken Dads #3)

A TOTALLY ACCIDENTAL brEAK-IN

“I’m hungry. Oh, gods, I’m so hungry.” Walren clutched his stomach and rolled around on the floor, coming face to face with eleven-month-old Zebbie. “Hey, Zeb. I’m starving.”

Zebbie smiled innocently and shoved a toy orange into Walren’s face. “Wa!”

Walren couldn’t help his snort. “Oh, hon. No. I can’t eat that.”

He set it aside, but Zebbie picked it up and tried to stuff the toy into Walren’s mouth again.

“Hon,” Walren said patiently. “This is what it feels like.”

He took the toy from his baby and bopped his little nose with it, only to have Zebbie squeal with laughter.

“Lucky you,” Walren said. “When you’re hungry, all you gotta do is suck your food out of me. But I have no one to suck food out of.”

He paused. “Not that I’m a vampire or anything. I don’t eat people.”

Zebbie kicked his legs and shuffled around, sticking his pudgy hand under the couch. A colorful brochure came out with his fist—a menu.

For a restaurant named Nood’s Good.

Walren drooled at the glossy pictures. “You’re trying to kill me.”

He took the menu and stared hungrily at the bowls of noodles and broth. Veggie-filled dumplings. Fried bread and stewed mushrooms. A fluffy mound of mashed potatoes.

Why did an Asian-themed noodle restaurant have mashed potatoes on its menu?

Walren didn’t care. It all sounded so good. So much better than the boxes of uncooked pasta in the safe house’s kitchen. Or the meaty lasagnas in the fridge.

“If only I could eat meat,” he said miserably.

He reached for his wallet and counted the cash he had left. It wasn’t much, but... He could afford a bowl of noodles.

Nood’s Good was near the safe house, too.

It all sounded too good to be true. But Walren wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“C’mon, Zeb. Let’s go get me some food.”

At the back of his mind, Walren knew he wasn’t supposed to leave the safe house by himself.

There had been a rash of kidnappers lurking around Cartfalls lately, looking to steal dual-species babies. Walren and Zebbie had already been kidnapped once.

But he was starving. The restaurant was nearby. His friends had all left the apartment to do something; he couldn’t remember what.

He strapped Zebbie into his chest carrier and wrapped a hoodie around them both, so no one would notice Zebbie at first glance.

Then he locked the apartment behind himself, and headed out.

This late, the streetlamps were mostly lit. They cast the sidewalks in orangey-yellow, except some of the streetlamps were further apart, leaving deeper pools of shadow between them.

Walren hurried down the street, his shorter leg making his steps uneven. He was missing his right knee; his leg didn’t bend at all, so he had to take odd, rolling steps to move forward.

Alphas probably didn’t want an omega like him.

He sighed and cradled Zebbie against his chest, eyeing the street signs so he would know where to make a turn.

Then Zebbie wriggled.

Instead of sticking out a hand or leg like an ordinary baby, something fluttered under Walren’s hoodie.

Something that looked like a wing.

He held his breath and glanced around. No one had seen that, right?

Walren picked up his pace.

He was a street away from Nood’s Good when the back of his neck prickled.

Walren called it his prey instinct. He wished he didn’t need it at all, except as a gazelle shifter, he was at the bottom of the food chain. He needed all the help he could get.

He cradled Zebbie against his chest and began to run. He knew where Nood’s Good was. All he had to do was get there, tuck himself in between witnesses, and hope one of the omegas would let him shelter in the washroom.

If only his bum leg didn’t slow him down!

He gritted his teeth when the ominous presence pulled away from the shadows, following him in earnest.

Closing in on him.

I need to keep Zebbie safe!

Walren took a calculated risk and darted across the street, in front of a wave of cars.

The cars honked. Their headlights lit him up. Walren’s heart pounded as he yanked his bum leg forward, lunging for the other side of the road.

His feet landed on the sidewalk.

Two seconds later, the cars passed him, horns still blaring.

At least he was in front of Nood’s Good, a river of cars holding back his pursuer.

Just that the restaurant’s windows were completely dark.

Walren blinked several times, but the fact remained: There was no one in there.

Horror flooded his stomach. Why was it closed? Was it already that late?

Where was he going to hide?

He spotted a dark alley and crossed his fingers, darting into the shadows. There was a dumpster here, too exposed to shelter them.

Walren began trying all the doors he came across. One of the handles jiggled slightly.

So he tugged on it. To his surprise, the door opened.

He held his breath and swung the door wider, using it as a shield in case someone was in the building.

But nothing moved in the shadows beyond.

I can’t believe my luck! Walren slipped into the building and closed the door, groping around in the darkness to find the deadbolt.

He locked the door and slowly backed away, half-expecting his pursuer to come crashing through the door.

Then he remembered that shops sometimes had security cameras.

Oh, gods! I broke into a building! I’m an intruder!

Maybe the shop owner was going to find him, and kidnap him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! What do I do?

Now that his eyes were adjusting to the darkness, he looked around for a place to hide. Only to realize that he had stepped into... a closed restaurant.

Light streamed in from the windows, illuminating the upside-down chairs on the tables, the paintings on the walls.

Then it hit him: He was in a restaurant. Surely there was food somewhere.

Walren froze, his stomach gurgling.

Was this Nood’s Good? Were there delicious things in the kitchen?

He held his breath and crept around, his eyes growing used to the darkness.

There were no windows in the kitchen. No one could see him from the street. He kept his movements slow anyway, gawking at the shiny steel counters.

With increasing dismay, Walren realized that he did not see any food.

It felt a bit like a nightmare, to be honest.

It’s not as though the chefs took all the food home, he told himself. The fridges are running. Maybe there’s stuff in there.

Carefully, he went up to one of the huge fridges. He heaved open a giant stainless steel door, only to find several tubs of... stuff.

Stuff that was almost freezing.

Walren whined. He couldn’t eat anything so cold; it would freeze him.

Maybe he could heat up something on the stove?

He went over to the huge industrial stoves and realized that he didn’t know how the knobs worked. He couldn’t risk exploding the kitchen.

“It’s either cold food or nothing at all,” he whispered to Zebbie, completely disappointed.

Zebbie babbled and wriggled against him.

Maybe Walren could find something to nibble on. He needed to eat so he could replenish his milk supply.

He opened another fridge and—to his delight—found trays of fresh produce. There was so much of everything: leafy greens, eggplants, bell peppers, cucumbers...

Walren moaned. He stuffed a thick cucumber into his pocket. He stole a luscious red bell pepper, reverently squeezing it. Already, he could smell its sweet juices, and imagine its thick flesh between his teeth.

He grabbed a handful of spinach and crammed it into his mouth, chewing quickly. When he had stuffed another two handfuls past his lips, Walren closed the fridge and shuffled awkwardly to the far corner of the restaurant, away from the doors and windows.

He painstakingly tucked himself and Zebbie under a table.

Only then did he feel safer, hidden from the security cameras that he couldn’t see.

“Hey,” he whispered to Zebbie, tugging open his hoodie so he could look at his baby. “Are you doing okay in there?”

Zebbie babbled, reaching up to grab Walren’s nose. Walren laughed quietly and gave Zebbie his thumb to hold.

With his other hand, he nibbled on his bell pepper. He strained his ears in case his pursuer was still around, or in case the restaurant owner decided to investigate the break-in.

Oh gods, I’m an intruder, Walren thought again. All his life, he had tried to be a goody-two-shoes. When he and Zebbie had been kidnapped, Walren had done everything the kidnappers demanded, in the hopes of keeping them safe.

Somehow, Nood’s Good felt safe.

Was it the lingering scent of food? Or was it the faint smokiness edged with ironwood, that seemed to be everywhere in the restaurant?

He ate around the seed-filled core of the bell pepper, licking off the sweet juices that ran down his hand. Then he ate the crunchy seeds, and even the leathery stalk.

Ever so faintly, warmth sparked in his belly.

Walren frowned and looked down. What was that? Am I feeling strange because I’m not starving anymore?

He hummed a quick lullaby for Zebbie and kept his ears open for danger, only to have the flicker of heat travel down his veins.

It wasn’t until warmth swelled in his belly, that Walren realized he was going into pre-heat.

Why is my pre-heat starting today, of all days?! He could’ve groaned.

He couldn’t stay in the restaurant. Not with his body leaving a faint trail of pheromones everywhere he went.

Oh gods. I have to get back to the safe house. Which means stepping out of here.

What if his pursuer was still lurking around out there, waiting to pounce the moment Walren and Zebbie were within reach?

Walren pulled out his phone, his stomach fluttering with anxiety.

NotAWalrus

Help

IvoFivo

What did you do this time, Walren? What did you do!!!!

NotAWalrus

Why are you assuming it’s my fault? (sad emoji)

KillianKillsDreams

Because it always is

Remember the time you ate all of Mrs. Fitzgerald’s flowers? In her balcony?

You had to LEAP over the railings to get to her plants! And you ate every single flower!

Walren groaned, and groaned louder when Killian went on to recount the incident in painful detail. He couldn’t help it! The flowers had smelled amazing and tasted even better.

NotAWalrus

HELP PLEASE

HocusPocus

What did you do, Walren?

NotAWalrus

I, um. I accidentally broke into a restaurant?

He could almost hear crickets in the silence that followed.

IvoFivo

Oh dear gods

PinksThinks

WTF

KillianKillsDreams

HOW do you “accidentally” break into a restaurant?!?!?

HocusPocus

Weren’t you supposed to stay in the safe house?

Walren cringed and tried to answer their never-ending questions.

Thump!

Walren froze immediately. Did I just hear something?

He strained his ears for the slightest noise.

The sound came again, low quiet thumps against the floor.

Walren’s heart flew into his throat. With hands that were suddenly shaking, he lowered the brightness on his phone, hurriedly typing a message.

NotAWalrus

Crap I think there’s someone in here with me

Crap crap crap

fehfjelsl

On the far side of the restaurant, a big, hulking shadow moved.

Walren clapped his hands over his mouth to stifle his scream. Oh gods, oh gods!

He zipped up his hoodie and shoved his phone into his pocket. Then he grabbed the cucumber that he had set on his thigh.

When he looked up again, the shadow was gone.

Walren waited for a tense minute. He crawled out warily from under the table, holding his breath as he crept toward the back door.

Was it him, or had the smoky ironwood scent intensified?

To his surprise, it smelled better than before.

It was addictive.

But there was also something about the scent that whispered, Danger. Like it belonged to a predator. Or an alpha.

Walren sniffed carefully. Then he sniffed again, unable to help it.

Zebbie squirmed, snapping Walren’s attention back to the danger in the room. They had to get out of here.

Walren realized too late that they were moving in the wrong direction.

He turned in a hurry and crashed into a warm, solid wall.

Crap! He flung out his hand to steady himself. Why did the wall feel... squishy?

He gave it a careful squeeze. It felt like some very firm muscle. Like the wall had suddenly grown pecs.

Was that a nipple?

Could it squirt milk?

Then the wall rose up and down, like it was breathing, and Walren realized it was a man.

“Ahhh!” Walren shrieked and stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet in his desperation to get away.

Strong hands grabbed him.

“Oh gods, oh gods!” Walren hurled himself away as hard as he could. “Don’t hurt us!”

“Us?” came a deep, rumbling voice.

Crap, he didn’t know about Zeb!

The hands released Walren. Then the lights came on, white and blinding.

Walren threw his cucumber the second he saw a face.

It hit the man with a loud smack.

Walren didn’t stick around to watch; he bolted for the door.

“Ow,” the man said. “Never thought someone would try to poke my eye out with a projectile cock. Is this a meet cute?”

He... sounded familiar.

Walren paused in his mad dash, peeking over his shoulder.

An alpha stood some paces away, two heads taller than Walren and twice his size.

The man had golden eyes and spiky black hair, and stubble on his strong jaw.

But that wasn’t all. His shoulders were impressively broad; his pecs filled out his shirt, and his biceps stretched his sleeves.

Hell, his thighs looked like they might split his pants.

Then there was his bulge.

Walren was not going to stare at it.

Even if it looked thick.

He hauled his eyes back up to the man’s face.

Actually, Walren had met this alpha before. Two of him.

Ace and Raptor were identical dragon shifter twins who had busted Walren, Zebbie, and their friends out of a human trafficking ring some time back. In the chaos of that rescue, Walren had twisted his ankle. Raptor had flown him and Zebbie to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Just that Walren wasn’t used to flying.

The moment they landed, Walren had promptly heaved his stomach’s contents all over Raptor.

He had been so mortified, he’d never shown his face to Raptor again.

Until now.

They had arrived at the million-dollar question: Was this man Ace, or was he the dragon twin that Walren had puked all over?

Please don’t let him be Raptor. Oh gods, please.

But how do I find out which twin he is?

“You’re the guy who builds the nests, right?” Walren asked hopefully, trying to be vague. Ace had built Ivo several nests.

“Nests?” The alpha looked confused.

Oh hell! This is Raptor!

How is my luck this bad? Walren groaned and swayed on his feet.

“What’s wrong?” Raptor stepped forward, concern etched into his face.

Did he not realize that Walren had puked on him not too long ago?

“Nothing!” Walren squeaked. “I should just, uh, get going. Bye.”

He took a large step toward the door.

Only to have a strong hand grip his shoulder.

“Not so fast,” Raptor murmured.