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

YOU BLESSED ME WITH YOUR FLUIDS

Walren tried not to panic when the alpha dragged him backward, closer and closer to the sheer heat of his giant body. “What’re you doing?!”

“I should be asking you that question,” Raptor rumbled.

He turned Walren around easily, his gaze sweeping down Walren and back up. Then his attention snagged on the lump Zebbie made in Walren’s hoodie.

Walren panicked and wrapped his arms around his baby. “You can’t have him.”

“Is he yours?”

“Of course he’s mine,” Walren growled.

Raptor’s stare intensified. “Fertile and protective,” he purred, leaning closer. “And do you have an alpha?”

A hot blush rose through Walren’s cheeks. “Wh-why are you asking that?”

“Answer my question.”

“No, I don’t have an alpha!” Walren tried to look fierce, but he probably only managed to appear all puffed up and indignant.

Raptor’s smile grew. “Hmm. And why did you break into my restaurant?”

“Oh crap.” Walren hunched his shoulders. This is it. The conversation no one wants to have. “It’s a long story. But the short version is, someone was after me.”

At that, all the teasing evaporated from Raptor’s face. “Again?”

Walren froze. “You recognize me?”

Raptor gave him a dry look. “You blessed my naked body with your stomach fluids. Of course I recognized you.”

“I puked on your—your naked body? ” Walren screeched, covering Zebbie’s ears because he was getting loud. “Oh, gods, I didn’t realize you were naked —”

“You know as well as I do that clothes don’t shift with our bodies. I needed my wings to fly.”

Walren felt like crying. “Did you shift back into a human with my puke still on you?”

Raptor shrugged. “It washed away easily enough. I meant to apologize, though. I should’ve made the flight smoother.”

Walren gaped. “I threw up on you, and you’re apologizing to me? ”

“Yes. It was my job to get you to the hospital safely. I fucked up.” Raptor scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Walren could only stare, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

The alpha straightened. “Now, tell me. Whoever it was after you, are they still in the area?”

“I don’t know,” Walren mumbled.

The alpha gave him a flat look. “And you were just going to step back out there?”

Walren cringed. “I have my reasons!”

Raptor sighed. “Stay here. I’ll go out and make sure they’re gone. And for the love of the noodle gods, don’t throw another cucumber in my eye when I get back.”

“I won’t,” Walren spluttered.

His stomach rumbled loudly, though. Both of them stared at it.

Raptor cleared his throat. “I’ll deal with that when I get back.”

Walren hugged Zebbie anxiously, listening as Raptor locked the restaurant’s back door from the outside. The alpha’s footsteps padded away.

For a while, things were quiet. Zebbie drooled all over Walren’s T-shirt and babbled to himself. Walren tried to sit still.

His anxiety had him shooting to his feet and pacing.

Walren ended up in front of the giant steel fridges.

Since Raptor knew that Walren had stolen a cucumber, and since Walren had lost the cucumber to Raptor’s face, he felt entirely justified in stealing another.

“It was such a nice, thick cucumber, too,” Walren mumbled. “So big and juicy. I didn’t even get to eat it.”

He had just wrapped his lips around his new cucumber, when the back door opened.

Raptor stepped in. He looked around for Walren, his gaze dropping to Walren’s mouth.

Raptor froze.

For a long moment, neither of them said a word.

Then Walren realized how this must look—him with his lips stretched around a big long thing, in front of an alpha.

He yanked the cucumber out of his mouth. Except his saliva stretched between his lips and the cucumber—which was now glistening.

It looks like I just gave it a blowjob! Oh fuck!

Raptor shook himself and slowly closed the door, his gaze never leaving Walren. “That was a lot of cuke you managed to put inside,” he murmured. “Were you trying to suck on it, or bite it?”

Heat surged through Walren’s face. “I was gonna eat it and you interrupted me!”

Raptor made a low humming sound. He leaned back against the door and folded his arms across his chest—this made his biceps bulge tantalizingly. A slow, silken warmth slid between Walren’s legs.

“Go ahead, then,” Raptor said. “Eat that cuke.”

Walren’s blush went all the way to his hairline. “You don’t have to watch.”

“Oh, I do. This is my restaurant, and that is my cucumber. Wrap your lips around it.”

Why does it sound so wrong? Walren thought desperately. And why does it sound so hot?

Because I’m going into heat in a few days?

Raptor’s dark, hungry gaze didn’t help a single bit.

“That wasn’t a suggestion, Walren.” Raptor pushed away from the door and stalked closer, like a predator closing in on his prey. “Open your mouth.”

Walren’s mouth fell open as though Raptor controlled his body.

“Good,” the alpha purred. “Put my cuke inside.”

Walren’s throat went dry. He was about to obey when Zebbie kicked in his chest carrier, sticking his arm out of Walren’s hoodie.

It shattered the moment. Raptor blinked, the haze disappearing from his eyes.

Damn it! Walren wanted to whine. He wanted to see what Raptor would do if he obeyed. He wanted to know if Raptor would touch him. Disappointment sat heavy in his stomach.

“Um,” Walren said helplessly.

Raptor laughed quietly. “Look, I have a playpen in my office. You can borrow that.”

“Why?” Walren blurted. “We should be going home.”

Then he could’ve kicked himself.

“I can drive you home. But first, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” Raptor gave Walren’s hoodie-lump a thoughtful look. “We’ll make this quick. I know you wanted to eat a big, juicy cucumber.”

Walren’s blush came roaring back. He hid his face in his hands and accidentally smacked his own cheek with the cucumber. “Y-you heard that?!”

Raptor’s smile was all sharp teeth. “I have good hearing.”

Raptor had been outside the building when Walren had mumbled that to himself. Oh, gods. I’m so embarrassed.

“Here.” Raptor crooked a finger at Walren and stepped into a small, cluttered back room. “This is my office.”

He reached into a filing cabinet and pulled out a colorful thing made of mesh. At first, Walren thought it was an oversized laundry net.

Then Raptor shook it out. It unfurled like an umbrella, taking the shape of a square playpen—larger than the bits of floor available in the office.

“How—?” Walren blurted.

Raptor set one edge of the playpen against his desk. Then he pushed, and everything in the office moved to make space.

And suddenly there was the playpen, sitting pretty and uncrushed amongst all the stuff surrounding it.

The alpha shot him a proud smile. “Custom-spelled. Neat, huh?”

“That’s... Why do you have that?” Walren clutched Zebbie closer to himself. “Are you planning to steal my baby?”

Raptor’s mouth curved. “About that. I wanted to speak with you.”

“Why does this sound so ominous?”

“I promise it’s nothing dangerous. Or nefarious.” Raptor gestured at the playpen. “You can leave Zebbie in there while we talk. He’ll be safe.”

Because Raptor had saved them from their kidnappers and flown them to a hospital, Walren gave him the benefit of the doubt. “Let me get him to sleep. Then we can talk.”

“Sure. Would you like some food?”

Walren’s stomach growled. He clutched it and groaned in embarrassment. “Are you really offering?”

“Are you familiar with the Nood’s Good menu? I can whip up something from there, if you’d like.”

This time, a whimper slipped out of Walren’s mouth. “The noodles looked so good. And the fried bread. And the stewed mushrooms. I wanted noodles but it was closed.”

“Noodles, mushrooms, bread. Got it. What protein?”

“Anything but meat. I—I eat plants. But eggs and milk are okay.”

Raptor eyed him for a moment. “Gazelle, right?”

Suddenly it felt as though they were in a tiny, intimate bubble, Raptor watching Walren as though Walren was about to say the most important thing in the world.

No one had made him feel that way before.

“How did you know?” Walren whispered, feeling so self-conscious.

“Pinks provided information on all of you when he asked us to rescue you. After you threw up on me, I went back to look at your file.” Raptor grinned.

Walren lifted Zebbie into the air and hid his face in Zebbie’s stomach. “I’m never going to look cool to anybody.”

Raptor snorted. “Who needs to look cool? That’s overrated. I’m not cool.”

Walren lowered Zebbie and scrunched his eyebrows. “You’re not? But—But you go around rescuing people! You’re a dragon! You breathe fire!”

“And in my daily life, I cook ramen for people.” Raptor gave him a lopsided smile.

Walren had been to Ace’s mansion, when Ivo invited his friends over. So he knew that Raptor owned the mansion next door. “Wh-why would you be a cook when you could do literally anything else?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Raptor grinned. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that. I need to keep some mystery about my fun self.”

Walren pouted. Raptor’s eyes darkened.

“Now, I’d suggest not sticking your lips out like that in front of me,” the alpha murmured. “My imagination is... easily tempted.”

“What could you possibly imagine from this?” Walren asked, aghast.

“Your... other mouth... looking just as puffy as this one.”

Walren stared. And his mouth fell open at the sheer daring of this man.

“Don’t leave your mouth open, either.” Raptor smirked. “You never know what might slide in.”

“Holy gods,” Walren spluttered. He grew hotter between his thighs.

Raptor stepped closer. He brought his warm, calloused fingertips to Walren’s jaw and gently pushed his mouth shut, leaving his touch there for several heart-stopping seconds.

“Now, I’m going to make some food. Come out whenever you’re ready.” Raptor’s fingertips whispered against Walren’s skin as he pulled away. Then he grabbed a stack of papers off his desk, and left the office.

Walren looked down at Zebbie, who was starting to look sleepy. “Holy gods,” he whispered to his baby. “That just happened.”