Page 102 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
Raptor laughed. “You really want to be kissed, don’t you, sweetheart?”
To lie or not to lie? Walren couldn’t decide. He ended up making a garbled sound that wastotally not an answer,feeling proud of himself for it.
Raptor huffed. “Here, let’s turn you around.”
He flipped them over so he was now under Walren, helping Walren rotate bodily on his knot so they faced each other.
“Better,” Raptor said approvingly. Then he sat up, stealing a kiss off Walren’s lips.
Walren’s heart almost burst out of his chest. “You kissed me again!”
“Well, yes.” Raptor grinned. “I told you I would.”
“I—I thought maybe you might do it later!”
“Why do it later, when I can do it now?”
With exceedingly gentle hands, Raptor cupped Walren’s face, slanting their mouths together in a soft, sweet kiss. Then he kissed Walren again, little chaste touches that made Walren’s pulse race.
The way Raptor looked into his eyes... It felt as though Walren might mean something to him.
Something that might last beyond this contract.
That was too dangerous to think about.
“You’re so lovely,” Raptor whispered, brushing their lips together.
“M-me?” Walren blushed. “But I...” He looked at his leg.
Raptor tipped Walren’s face up. “Yes, you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself.”
Walren swallowed. “You’re so good to me.”
“We’ve all had hard lives, sweetheart. Who’s going to be kind to us, if not ourselves?”
The thing was, he made sense.
“You haven’t told me about yours,” Walren blurted. “The bad thing in your life that made you different.”
Raptor sighed, his hands falling away from Walren’s face. “Ahh. That.”
“I won’t judge you for it.”
The alpha quirked a smile. “And I appreciate it, Walry-babe. It’s just... No one knows about it.”
Walren frowned. “Not even Ace?”
Raptor looked away, chewing his lip. “Ace had some heavy things to deal with. I didn’t want to drag him into my mess when he was trying to get through his own.”
“But it was bad,” Walren said quietly. “You said it changed you.”
Raptor sighed, rubbing his face. “It was during one of those big wars that went on forever. Ace had just lost his mate and he was grieving; I was grieving along with him. At that point, tensions were high between two of the largest countries. Ace got it into his head that he wanted to join the war no matter what; I had to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. So I joined the war, too.
“My intention was to stay in the same squad as him. But the army wouldn’t let me; they wanted me to lead my own squad because I had too much combat experience. They threatened Ace’s place in the army; they really wanted to force my hand.” Raptor scowled. “I hated every minute of it. Between the fighting and not having Ace at my side, I was going nuts. Then I started caring for my squad.”
There was a haunted look in his eyes. Walren gulped and squeezed Raptor’s hand, but Raptor didn’t respond; he was lost in the memory.
“Mostly, we fought in the day when there was light. At night, we retreated to the safe areas that we had cleared out, either in the trenches or the forests. Those nights, I sat around the tiny fires with my squad. People talked to each other; I got to know them. Some of them were so young. Teenagers, almost adults! Then there was old Barry who was having a mid-life crisis and joined the war. Lucy, the widow who was looking for a new purpose in life. There were a few sets of lovers who didn’t stick around during campfire nights, but that was okay.
