Page 27 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
“Crap,” Raptor said, looking back at the sheer number of dicks around them.
“There has to be a thousand peens on your property,” Hassel said.
Raptor couldn’t possibly just... throw them out. What if Walren didn’t stick around after the contract was over? Raptor didn’t want to discard his hoard, only to have nothing left of it by the end of six months.
“You don’t have to throw them out,” Hassel said. “You just have to... disguise them.”
“With what? Sock puppets?”
They stared at each other again, the hard truth sinking in.
“You will acquire however many I need,” Raptor ordered, suddenly thankful that he had dropped Walren off at the safe house. “And we will make this place baby-safe.”
9
SPELLS AND BETS
“That doesn’t looklike enough spells,” Killian said at the breakfast table the next morning.
“It doesn’t?” Uriel replied flatly. “I busted my ass to get all these done last night. And they were extra work, because Walren didn’t want them detectable by any species.”
“It’s enough for now,” Walren said hurriedly before his friends could start arguing. He handed Uriel the envelope that Raptor had given him last night—an advance for his rut companion services. “Thanks, Uriel. I’ll give you the balance when I get paid.”
Uriel opened the envelope and thumbed through the cash, whistling lowly. “This is way too much. Here, take this back.”
He portioned out some of the bills and handed them to Walren, before tucking the envelope into his pocket.
If Walren were richer, he would’ve shoved the money back at the mage. But Walren was broke, with enough cash for one bowl of ramen, and he wouldn’t get paid until the end of next week.
“Thanks. I’ll text you before the spells run out,” Walren said.
Uriel nodded easily. “Fair enough. Besides, when you’ve used them for a while, you’ll know if you need adjustments made. Tell me when you order the next batch.”
“Have you tested them on yourself?” Killian asked, his nose twitching. Killian was tight-lipped about his own past, and he was really jumpy, even for a rabbit shifter. He had taken a while to trust Uriel because Uriel was heavily scarred and presented as an alpha—broad shoulders and a muscular body.
Even now, after Killian had found out that Uriel was secretly an omega, he still didn’t trust the mage completely.
None of his friends knew what had happened, to make him this way.
“I didn’ttestthem on myself,” Uriel said dryly. “Testing suggests that you’re not confident in the results. These are fully functioning spells that follow the laws of magic and the universe.”
Walren picked up one of the thin square sheets. The spell was palm-sized, tightly packed lines of runes stretching from the middle of the square to its very edges. Each tiny rune had been drawn carefully; it explained why Uriel had only managed to create ten spells, and why there were deep shadows under his eyes.
“Thanks again,” Walren said, checking the time. He yelped. “He’s almost here! Show me how to use it?”
“Lift up your shirt and pull down your pants,” Uriel said. Then he winced when Walren did exactly that. “I didn’t meanall the way down!”
“You smell like sex,” Killian said unnecessarily, his nose twitching again. “Especially when you bare your ass.”
Walren yanked his pants back up, his face burning. “Uriel said to pull it down!”
“Just enough to expose your belly,” Uriel said exasperatedly. “Here.”
He picked up one of the spell sheets and pressed it against Walren’s belly. With his other hand, he grabbed a steak knife, and pricked Walren’s fingertip.
A drop of blood welled up. Uriel pushed Walren’s fingertip against the center of the spell, watching as his blood soaked into the runes. Slowly, the runes lit up with a silvery glow, starting from the middle and spreading outward, until every last rune was lit up. With a faint tingle, the spell sank into Walren’s belly and disappeared—along with all the ink on the paper.
“Figured you might not have a chance to destroy the evidence,” Uriel said dryly. “I wrote that into the spell, too.”
