Page 53 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
Walren wrapped his arms around Raptor and leaned into him. “I don’t want to talk about him. Please.”
“Okay.” Raptor drew a deep breath. “Okay. Time to build your amazing nest.”
His knot finally receded enough that he could slide out of Walren. Walren made a soft sound of protest, but Raptor didn’t fill him again.
“I can’t build anything while you’re impaled on me,” Raptor said gently. “But I dearly wish you were.”
Walren grumbled and pulled his hands away from Raptor’s shoulders.
It wasn’t as though he needed a nest. He wasn’t going to get pregnant.
Sometime later,they stood on the front steps of the mansion, staring at the pile of completely random things that Raptor had ordered.
“They’re for... decorating the nest, right?” Walren asked hesitantly.
“What? Pssh! No! They’ll be used tobuildthe nest,” Raptor crowed. “It will be a nest unlike any other.”
Walren stared at the pool noodles and the boxes of tissue paper. “How?”
“Oh, it’ll be a nest alright,” Hassel whispered loudly. “Right before it collapses.”
“Don’t you dare jinx me,” Raptor growled.
Hassel—in his human shape—rolled his eyes. “You’ve already jinxed yourself by trying to build withpool noodles.”
Walren lowered Zebbie onto the grass so the baby could crawl around. Raptor surveyed the land.
“It will be a masterpiece,” Raptor declared, glancing at the hedge maze that separated his mansion from his twin’s. The maze had a fountain in the middle, and it was half as long as the property—the rest of the separating wall was made up of the same tall hedges that surrounded the mansions.
The alpha dismissed his maze, then studied the trees closer to the mansion. He circled them and muttered excitedly to himselfthe whole time; Walren watched Raptor from afar, unsure if he should follow the alpha around.
Then he glimpsed a patch of bluebells. The little flowers bobbed in the breeze, looking so delicious that Walren edged closer to them.
When no one was looking, he plucked one of the flowers and sneaked it into his mouth.
Nectar burst across his tongue. It tasted amazing.
When Hassel went to rearrange the tubs of plastic balls, Walren ate another bluebell. Then another.
He reached for another tiny blue flower, only to realize there were none left.
Who ate my flowers?
Walren frowned accusingly at the clump of leaves and stems. Then he realized that it was him.Hewas the one who had eaten them all.
He panicked.I just demolished the whole patch of bluebells. It’s exactly like Killian said I would.
“Chef Consort!” Hassel said.
Walrenjumpedand spun around, his heart thumping. “Y-yeah? Crap, no. Wait. Why am I responding to that?”
The butler eyed him shrewdly. “Is something the matter?”
“No! Of course not,” Walren babbled before he could think it through.
Hassel raised an eyebrow. Because he had caught Walren in the lie.Dammit!
Walren ran his tongue over his teeth as discreetly as he could, in case a petal had gotten stuck in there.
