Page 44 of Alpha Dragon’s Mating Contract (Babies For Broken Dads #3)
“Damn it. We’re trying not to have Walren pop a baby in the middle of bonding!”
“It won’t be the worst thing in the world. Unless you want to reschedule the ceremony for next year.”
Raptor groaned.
In the foyer of his parents’ mansion, Raptor’s family welcomed Walren and Zebbie with the warmest smiles.
“What’s with the multiple reschedules?” Blade asked. “You know it’s hard enough for me to take time off work, much less change that multiple times with HR.”
At this point, Raptor had every right to point his finger at Walren. But he only sighed. “Miscalculated. I really am sorry.”
Walren couldn’t let Raptor shoulder that blame. “It was my fault,” he said. “Rap says I jinxed it.”
Raptor sighed and nodded. “That you did.”
“At least my contractions haven’t started yet,” Walren said.
Raptor groaned.
The next moment, a contraction rippled through Walren.
“What did I tell you?” Raptor said into his hands. He reached over and rubbed Walren’s back, though.
“Contractions take a while, right?” Walren said. “We could get the bonding over real quick.”
Raptor looked as though he wanted to say something, but he held back and gave a tight nod. “Okay.”
The flight of dragons assembled at the back of the mansion, where a cavern had been carved into the mountainside.
Warm firelight flickered in the wall sconces, casting dancing shadows on the large, worn circles etched into smooth rock.
The Circle was made up of several concentric rings, with simple drawings of plants and animals carved into the spaces between them.
Raptor knelt in front of Walren. “Shoes off. We’ll walk the Circle together three times, and at the end of it, our lifespans will even out. You’ll be bonded to me for as long as we both live.”
Walren nodded. Raptor had told him all of this in advance. “Okay.”
“We want to have at least one foot on our circle at all times,” Raptor added. “And we have to be connected by holding hands.” He waved and smiled at Hassel, Zebbie, and Go Cart, before turning back to Walren.
Walren’s belly was so swollen that he couldn’t see what Raptor was doing with his feet—all he knew was his shoes slipping off.
Over the past few months, Raptor had been rubbing Walren’s back whenever it ached, and rubbing his feet too. He had been anxiously following Walren wherever he went, afraid that Walren was going to fall somehow and hurt himself.
As much as Walren loved his unborn child, he was also getting very tired of his pee breaks every few minutes; he was tired of feeling like a beached whale all the time.
“Here, follow me.” Raptor took Walren’s hand, guiding him to the Circle in the middle of the chamber. Raptor’s family surrounded them, watching with bated breath.
Raptor took his place on the outermost, largest circle. Walren took the next-largest circle, holding his alpha’s hand tightly.
“We learned this as young dragonets,” Raptor whispered to Walren. “I never thought I would see the day.”
He looked so excited that Walren’s heart swelled. “I’m ready.”
“Good.” Raptor raised his voice. “Once for luck.”
They walked together around the Circle, Walren finding the groove of his circle with his toes. Raptor had to take smaller steps to match Walren’s speed.
Then a second contraction struck him. Walren winced, clutching Raptor’s hand as his belly squeezed.
Raptor eyed him in concern. “Walry?”
“I’m fine,” Walren said tightly. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Raptor glanced at Walren’s belly. “Can you make it through all three laps, or should we postpone this ‘til after the birth?”
The contractions didn’t feel too bad, so Walren shook his head. “We’ll just walk fast. That’s possible, right?”
“Yeah.” Raptor eyed him again. “C’mon, sweetheart.”
They resumed walking, taking bigger steps. Walren’s belly twinged though. If his body could hold on for just a while longer...
The moment they completed the first lap, a light breeze picked up in the chamber, and the circles glowed a faint blue.
Walren’s belly contracted again.
“Twice as a promise,” Raptor announced. And more quietly, “We can’t stop now, pumpkin.”
“We’ll get through this before the birth,” Walren said through gritted teeth.
Raptor nodded uncertainly. He tugged Walren along, helping him keep pace and subtly guiding him so he had a better idea where to set his feet down.
But his body picked up on their urgency. Thrice more, contractions gripped Walren, before they made it to the end of the second lap.
“You can do this,” Raptor said as they crossed the invisible line into the third lap. Louder, he said, “Three times for a future well-told.”
A stronger gust picked up, ruffling their hair.
Before Walren could take another step, his body gave two consecutive contractions. Raptor watched him warily.
“C’mon, c’mon,” the alpha said, tugging Walren along. “Please don’t pop right now.”
As soon as he said those words, Walren felt something pop inside him. “Raptor,” he said with mounting unease. “I think my water broke.”
“We are not copying Ace and Ivo,” Raptor said indignantly.
Walren was panicking a bit too much to care about that.
His belly began to clench. In fact, it felt as though it was trying to push something out of him.
Walren clutched Raptor’s hand, tucking his other hand against his ass. For some reason, he had decided to wear a dress. But he also had a pair of panties on, and... they had to come off, didn’t they?
“Rap,” he squeaked. “I think I need to remove my... my undies.”
“This is possibly the worst time to announce that,” Raptor said, reaching over to help Walren tug his panties off. They pooled around Walren’s ankles; Raptor had to help Walren balance as he shook them off his feet, making sure to keep one foot on his circle at all times.
Walren’s belly contracted again. He clutched his ass, tugging on Raptor’s hand. “C’mon, we need to finish this! I can feel movement—Rap, Rap!”
His body gave a huge squeeze. He felt something—someone—shoot out of him, toward the floor.
Raptor caught the baby single-handedly, just in time.
The entire room breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fuck,” Raptor said raggedly. “That was—Fuck.”
But Walren’s body wasn’t done. He tugged on Raptor’s hand urgently; Raptor was hunched over, holding their daughter close because the umbilical cord was still connecting Walren to their child.
“The other’s on the way,” Walren cried.
“Fuck,” Raptor said again. “I don’t have a third hand.”
Walren kept his hand plastered against his ass; Raptor tugged him forward, barely giving him time to make sure he was stepping on his circle.
They finished the third lap. All the circles glowed a bright blue, and energy surged into Walren’s body through their joined hands. When he turned, he saw a few hairs going gray at Raptor’s temple.
“My lifespan has been halved, given to you so we can grow old together,” Raptor said, content.
After all these months of being together, learning to live together, waking up in Raptor’s arms and going to sleep in them—it was exhilarating to know that this was his for the rest of his life.
Walren felt like crying. Especially when his body squeezed again, and the other baby shot out of him. “Nooo!”
Raptor caught their second little girl with his other arm, looking completely shocked. “I caught them both! Holy fuck!”
At this rate, both their daughters’ first words were going to be ‘fuck’.
Raptor’s dads surged forward to help with the newborn cleanup. Walren had a moment of panic.
“Do you remember which came first? Because I really don’t. We haven’t even named them.”
Raptor stared at him in horror.
“I got it,” Sen—Raptor’s omega dad—said. He held out a wailing baby to Walren. “This one’s older.”
Walren scooped her into his arms, his chest already leaking milk. “Hey, Matilda,” he whispered, bursting with everything he felt. “That was some introduction to the world.”
“I bet they’ll both either love or hate this story,” Raptor said, leaning in to nuzzle Matilda.
“And this is her sister,” Thomas—Raptor’s alpha dad—said, handing the second twin to Raptor.
“Delilah,” Raptor whispered, kissing her too. “This is amazing, sweetheart. You did so great, carrying them both for so long.”
“Five months isn’t all that long,” Walren admitted.
“It is!” Raptor kissed the top of Walren’s head.
“Totally copying us,” Ace whispered loudly to Ivo.
Raptor flipped him off. “You know you love it, womb-mate. Maybe Matilda and Delilah will be just like us.”
“I’m counting on it,” Ace said.
Walren leaned into Raptor’s side, both of them admiring their newborn children.
Two new babies had seemed overwhelming when he’d first heard their heartbeats, but between Raptor, Hassel, Go Cart, and Raptor’s huge family, Walren wasn’t feeling quite as lost as he thought he might be.
“Thank you for being by my side,” Walren said to Raptor, bowing his head.
Raptor purred and kissed him again. “It’s where I want to be forever. I want to laugh and love with you, Walry. You made all my dreams come true.”
Walren’s heart stuttered. When he looked up, Raptor kissed him on the lips, slow and sweet like he had a hundred times before.
“Mine,” Raptor whispered.
“Yours,” Walren said, and it felt like the rightest thing in the world.