Page 13 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
“For reading my proposal. The whole thing.”
Walren frowned. “All this food in exchange for some reading?”
“It’s a lot of suggestive words crammed into a few pages. Read it before you make a judgment.”
Walren eyed the papers warily. He decided to focus on his food first—how often did he get the chance to sample so many things on a restaurant’s menu? And all of them freshly made?
When he couldn’t stuff any more food into himself, he sat back, accepting the cup of hot green tea that Raptor slid over. “Why do you have mashed potatoes on the menu? It’s not remotely Asian.”
Raptor shrugged. “I like mashed potatoes. Especially with the crispy outer shell. Plus, it’s an option for the picky kids whose parents want the regular menu. We have fries and chicken nuggets, too.”
Walren couldn’t help being impressed; Raptor had thought of the children. “Have you ever put those on ramen?”
“Not yet.” Raptor grinned. “But I would be happy to oblige.”
“No! Fries don’t belong in broth.” Walren cringed.
Raptor got a thoughtful,evillook on his face. “Remind me to give that to Ace. ‘Here, brother dearest. Have some friestaking a bathin this soup.’”
Walren cringed. “He might hate you.”
“Yeah, well. He put slime in my shoes the other day. My new shoes! But you know what’s worse? The slime had these terrible crackly beads in it. They crackled and popped when I stepped into my shoes.” Raptor bared his teeth. “He will regret it.”
“Can I tell Ivo?”
“Nope!” Raptor eyed Walren. “I may have to kidnapyouto make sure you don’t leak that information.”
Oddly enough, that didn’t sound the least bit scary.
Especially for Walren, who had already been kidnapped once.
“Will I get food if you kidnap me?” Walren asked.
“Of course!” Raptor looked offended.
“What about bathroom access?”
Raptor stared as though Walren had grown two more heads. “What do you take me for? A monster?Of courseyou’ll get access to water, electricity, and a nice bathroom. You’ll get a soft comfy bed and all the food you could ever want. It will be like a vacation, except you don’t tell anyone you’ve been kidnapped.”
“You won’t hurt Zebbie.”
Raptor rolled his eyes. “Obviously not. So there we have it: Kidnapping in the works.” He stared at Walren for a second, then smacked his forehead. “Gods, I’m insensitive.”
“Shouldn’t it be up to me, the kidnapping victim, to decide if I’m offended?”
Raptor didn’t look convinced. “Well, you could read the proposal.”
He removed the empty dishes and slid the stack of papers in front of Walren. Walren shook the kidnapping-vacation out of his thoughts.
Three black words stretched across the front page of Raptor’s proposal:
The Mating Contract.
He had to rub his eyes to make sure he was reading it correctly.
Nope, the words did not change.
Raptor sat back down on the other side of the table. “You’ll have to flip the page. It won’t download into your brain through your eyeballs.”
