Page 121 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
No, don’t go down that path.
“I built a nest for him,” Raptor whispered. “He’s been holing up in there whenever we’re home. I’m thinking of building a second nest in my bedroom.”
“That’s really sweet of you,” Uriel said.
Raptor beamed. Then his face fell. “It’s just... I want to be his mate, officially. But I don’t know if that’s something he wants. And I’m afraid to ask in case he turns me down.”
“That sucks,” Uriel said with empathy. “Is it really better not to know? Sounds terrible, living with that much uncertainty.”
Raptor sighed. “Maybe I just have to wait a bit longer, get a bit more confident in our relationship.”
“Maybe,” Uriel said. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Anyway, thanks for coming down on such short notice.”
Uriel reached back to tickle his baby’s little foot. “We’re pretty mobile. Perks of the job.”
“Need a ride home?”
Uriel considered it, then shook his head. “We’re fine, thanks.”
“Alright. See you around.”
Uriel walked out of the neighborhood with all its mansions, to the part of town he was renting in. He kept his senses open. There had been whispers of baby kidnappers around, so even though he looked like an alpha, he could never be too cautious.
The quiet was shattered by a fire engine’s wail. Uriel reached back to cover his baby’s ears, waiting as the huge red truck zoomed by to a strip mall ahead.
From a distance, he watched as firefighters piled out of the truck, pulling out their high-volume hoses.
He couldn’t help himself. He drifted closer in case they needed help.
Oddly enough, the fire wasn’t in a building, or a vehicle.
Instead, it was a giant rooster sculpture in the middle of the parking lot, with its tail end on fire.
Uriel stared. That sculpture hadnotbeen there when he had taken this route earlier.
The orange-clad firefighters split up, some hauling the hoses over to drench the rooster, others keeping away the civilians nearby.
They didn’t need his help, then.
Uriel was about to leave when an alpha stepped out from behind the fire truck and into his path.
“Sorry to bother you, sir, but we need you to stay away—”
Uriel saw the alpha’s trim waist first. Then the girthy biceps stretching their T-shirt sleeves, and the generous pecs filling out the chest area.
Then their eyes met, and Urieldefinitelyrecognized that scowl.
“What areyoudoing here? Are you stalking me?” Bruiser growled.
Ugh.Maybe the gods had given him the prettiest blue eyes and a body to match, because there was nothing else decent about him.
“Just passing through,” Uriel said icily. “Some of us have better things to do than trail after people we don’t care about.”
“Like I would want you to care about me.”
Uriel rolled his eyes and stepped around Bruiser. “Keep on dreaming, sulfur-breathed gecko.”
