Page 32 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
Raptor grinned. “Who doesn’t want to accomplish something so movie-worthy at least once in their life?”
“Me! I just want a normal life,” Walren said.
“Awww, you’re adorable,” Raptor said fondly.
“I’m not!” Walren’s cheeks heated up anyway. He looked back out the window.
As they drove, Walren realized that the mascots and googly-eyed pillowcases all faced the driveway. None of them wereclose to each other, but together, they were the most unnerving welcoming committee.
“They’re kind of creepy,” he mumbled.
“Hmm. I didn’t mean to freak you out. What would make it better?”
“If they all stopped looking at us at the same time!”
“Huh,” Raptor said. “I’ll have Hassel fix that.”
The SUV pulled to a stop. Walren dragged his eyes away from the rows of smaller sock puppets—they lined both sides of the driveway and surrounded the courtyard—only to realize that they were in front of Raptor’s mansion.
The mansion was two stories of quaint brickwork and pretty French windows. Instead of the elegant iron wall sconces, Walren’s attention was snared by the sock puppets dangling from the eaves. More sock puppets lined the window sills, and higher up on the windows, odd shapes had been suctioned to the inside of the glass panes.
“Are those sock puppets too?” Walren asked, aghast.
“They’re all sock puppets!” Raptor replied cheerfully.
“I meant the weird shapes stuck to the windows. They look like they’re hanging off the glass.”
Raptor bobbed his head. “Yup.”
“That’s... a lot of sock puppets.”
The alpha coughed. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“There’s... more?” Walren turned to stare wide-eyed at him.
Raptor’s laugh was almost hysterical. “Yes. There’s more.”
Not all of the sock puppets were the same, though. There were several elaborate ones that looked like animals, monsters, or people.
Then there were others that looked like plain white socks with huge googly eyes stuck on them.
The more Walren saw, the more confused he felt.
Was this... an obsession? With sock puppets?
“Why are they all looking at me?” he whined, extremely reluctant to get out of the car. “I don’t want them to watch me, it’s creepy.”
“I’ll fix that immediately,” Raptor said. “Hassel!”
The double front doors burst open.
Instead of a person, a giant yellow bird leaped out of the mansion, complete with long neck, long orange legs, and a cartoonish face that Walren vaguely remembered from his childhood TV shows.
“That... That can’t be...”
“Giant Bird,” Raptor said sagely. “Hassel prefers to take that form when he’s not actively assisting me.”
Walren stared at the bird strutting down the mansion’s front steps. “I feel like my life has just gotten really weird.”
