Page 135 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
Raptor scrunched his eyebrows. “No? But you said...”
“I know,” Walren said in a small voice. “I told you I had trouble conceiving, and thatisthe truth. But there was another truth, which is that I wasn’t willing to give up my baby, if you impregnated me. So I was on a contraceptive spell.”
Raptor looked at Walren’s round belly. “You didn’t want my baby?”
“I didn’t want to lose my baby to you.”
“I told you, I would gladly split the rights with you,” Raptor said earnestly.
“I didn’t know it then!”
“So what changed?”
“I forgot to refresh the spell,” Walren said awkwardly. “I was too exhausted to. So it failed, then you knotted me for a while and I got pregnant.” Walren squirmed uncomfortably, peeking up at his alpha. “Are you mad at me?”
“Well, not really.” Raptor rubbed Walren’s back. “You’re protective. I can see how it would translate to you being possessive over your babies.” He nipped Walren’s ear. “But we will be discussing contraceptives openly between us, moving forward.”
Walren bowed his head, his face burning. “Okay. I’m sorry. I just... I wanted you to know.”
Raptor cupped his cheeks, tipping his face up to kiss him on the lips. “I forgive you, sweetheart.”
It felt like a boulder had rolled off Walren’s chest.
Raptor dropped several more kisses on Walren’s face, until Walren finally relaxed.
Zebbie flung his half-eaten strawberry at Raptor. It smacked him in the cheek.
Raptor laughed. “Zebs! What was that for? Don’t throw food at me unless you want it gone.”
He leaned in and mussed Zebbie’s hair; Walren’s heart swelled again.
Walren swallowed several times. “Um, there was something else.”
Raptor gave him a curious look. “Oh! Yeah, you did say that. What is it, Walry?”
“Would you—” Walren wet his lips. “Would you like to be Zebbie’s dad, too?”
Raptor froze. His eyes grew wide. Then he stuck his pinky into his ear and tried to clean it. “Did I hear right?”
“Yes, you did.” Walren’s heart thumped. “I mean, you don’t have to be if you don’t want to.”
“Of course I want!” Raptor quivered. “Does that mean I can carry him and hug him and—”
“Yes. Everything you would do with this one.” Walren gestured at his belly.
Raptor gave a delighted roar. He scooped Zebbie up and lifted him high in the air, like the lion cub in that one children’s movie. “Behold the new crown prince, Zeb—Wait. What’s his actual name? It isn’t Zebbie, is it?”
“Zebbias, after my grandfather.”
“Crown Prince Zebbias—”
“You’re not a crown prince yourself,” Walren said dryly. But he pulled out his phone to take a picture of Raptor and Zebbie.
Something fluttered onto the grass when his phone came out of his pocket. It was a folded rectangle of white paper.
When Walren picked it up, his eyes grew wide.
It was the pickup line that he had lost months ago.
