Page 68 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ivo stared at the box; it looked like it had grown right out of the wooden wall. “You rounded the corners.”

“So you and Mary won’t get hurt if you bump into them.” Ace puffed out his chest. “I put in bookcases, too—the low ones are for Mary, and the ones on the tree trunks are for your books. There’s a snack chest by each electrical outlet, too, so you can munch on something while your phone charges. Those chests can be spelled to cool drinks in the summer.”

“What about the crumbs?” Ivo looked dubiously at the pillows.

“Cleaning spells,” Ace said proudly. “We’ll probably buy those off Uriel in bulk.”

“And if I want to switch out the pillows for something else?”

“We’ll replace them with blankets, or whatever you want. It’s not a difficult fix.”

Ivo kept staring at the pillow pit. Then he laid back, wriggling with Mary until he was floating in a sea of pillows. “This is crazy. It’s like the childhood dream I never knew I had.”

“It’ll have space for all our future dragonets, too.”

Heat surged through Ivo’s face. “F-future dragonets? Plural?”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want more?”

“I hadn’t thought about it!”

“Now you can.”

Ivo blushed and wriggled through the pillows to snuggle against Ace’s chest. Ace kissed his temple.

Warm fingers brushed Ivo’s hip. He waited for Ace to touch his belly again, except Ace’s phone rang—the ringtone was The Flame Bangers’My Annoying Half.

Ace scowled and answered the call. “What?”

Whatever Raptor said on the other end, it wiped away Ace’s irritation. Instead, Ace’s face went blank, and he looked away. “Give me the details. You’re sure about this? Fuck. All right. Keep me updated.”

Ace ended the call with a frown. Even though he’d been pushing himself lately, working on the nest, none of his frowns were anything like this one.

Right now, Ace looked murderous.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Ivo asked in a small voice.

Ace sighed. “Yes.”

He kissed Ivo’s forehead, but he seemed a lot more distracted this time.

17

RESCUE AND A BETTING POOL

“You found them,”Ivo said the next day.

At the stove, Ace stiffened. Words warred on his tongue. Did he want to admit the truth? It figured that his mate was clever, on top of everything else. “What if I said yes?”

“I want to go.”

Ace’s stomach clenched. He shut off the burner and whirled around, his eyes burning, his shift threatening to overcome him. “No.”

Ivo folded his arms. “I can help.”

“You’repregnant.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t do anything!”

---