Page 31 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
He could be luring me into a false sense of security,he told himself.
Walren pushed away those contradicting thoughts and shook his head. Then he remembered what Raptor was asking and hurriedly nodded. “Y-yeah, I’m okay.”
Raptor looked doubtful. He rubbed Walren’s back twice, then pulled away. “C’mon, let’s get you back to my place. It’s... Gods, I hope it’s ready.”
“Why wouldn’t it be ready?” Walren asked, confused.
Raptor cringed. “It should be! Uh, the important rooms, anyway.”
It didn’t make sense. All Walren and Zebbie needed was a tiny closet-sized space—that was what they had in the apartment they’d shared with their friends, back in Colorado before the kidnapping.
“Um, we don’t need that much space?” Walren blurted. “We just need like, a small bed, a crib, and a bathroom.”
Raptor’s mouth fell open. He looked horrified. “I’m not locking you in a closet!”
“But you can’t possibly have spent... the whole night setting things up for us.”
Raptor opened and shut his mouth. “I’m being a good host. And employer. And alpha. You will be impressed by all the sock puppets.”
Walren stared. “... Sock puppets?”
Raptor froze, his eyes growing wide. “You like sock puppets, right? Like, a lot of them?”
10
A MILLION SOCK PUPPETS
Walren hadn’t beensure what to expect when they pulled up at a tall iron gate flanked by dense, equally tall hedges.
Sure, he had been to Ace’s mansion, which was just next door.
But Raptor had made it sound as though he’d given his own mansion a major overhaul—because of Walren?
It didn’t make sense.
The iron gate swung open.
The first things Walren saw were two towering statues on either side of the driveway. They were cylindrical at the base, with weathered—veiny?—ridges going up their sides, only to be swallowed by oversized burlap sacks.
But those weren’t ordinary burlap sacks. In fact, there were faces on the sacks—a monkey on one, and a pig on the other. They looked like theater props, or like something people would carry down the streets during a festival.
“Sock puppets,” Raptor said airily, gesturing as they drove past.
From there, the strangeness only continued.
Raptor’s mansion was surrounded by a vast grassy field, dotted by wildflowers and trees. Scattered throughout were other colorful ‘sock puppets’—shorter statues that had been swallowed by pillowcases with googly eyes.
Or sports team mascots that looked as though they had just stepped off the field.
“Did you... buy those mascots?” Walren blurted.
“Of course! We most definitely did notstealthem,” Raptor said primly.
Walren hunched his shoulders. “I’m really sorry about, um, the cucumbers last night—”
“Oh!” Raptor turned away from his driveway to look at Walren in surprise. “No, that wasn’t aimed at you. Ace and I are fans of this comic book character who steals some cool things. Once, he stole an entiregovernment airship.”
Walren stared. “Is it me, or do you sound jealous?”
