Page 56 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
“There, there,” he murmured, stroking Zebbie’s face with his other hand.
Raptor was silent for a long moment. “Have you been taking acting classes from Hassel?”
Walren’s face burned. “Yes?”
Then he remembered the butler’s advice. He made retching sounds, falling onto his side and tugging Zebbie down with him so they could both play dead.
“That’s terrible!” Raptor smacked his own forehead. Heavy footsteps thumped closer; grass rustled. Then Raptor towered over both of them, casting a shadow over Walren’s face.
Walren cracked an eye open.
“What was that about?” Raptor asked. His attention drifted to Zebbie—and his face lit up. “Aww! What big ears you have!”
He wasn’t behaving as though he had found a dragonet. Maybe... he hadn’t seen Zebbie breathing flames?
When Zebbie lost interest in freeing his snout, Walren slowly loosened his grip. No flames slipped out of the faun’s mouth; Walren breathed a sigh of relief. He released Zebbie’s snout the rest of the way.
“Why were you keeping his mouth shut?” Raptor asked, holding his fingers out for Zebbie to sniff.
“Uh.” Walren struggled to come up with a truthful answer. Before he could, Zebbie licked Raptor’s fingers.
The alpha laughed in delight. “Are you hungry? What do baby gazelles eat?”
“Grass and soft leaves. Sometimes I feed him fruit. He really loves strawberries.”
Raptor lit up. “Hass, put strawberries on the next grocery order.”
“You don’t have to,” Walren began.
“Psssh! I want to watch this lil guy devour strawberries.” Raptor continued to watch Zebbie.
Walren discreetly checked his stinging hand. His fingers and palm were flushed a light pink—a first-degree burn? But thereweren’t any medical supplies out here, and Walren couldn’t just run off with Zebbie to dunk his hand under some running water.
But he remembered Ivo talking about a creek that flowed through Ace and Raptor’s properties. “Is there a stream around here?”
“Yeah! Over here, let me show you.”
Raptor offered his hand. Walren had to accept it with his burned hand because it was a struggle to stand with his bad leg. His palm smarted at the contact.
His pain must’ve shown, because Raptor frowned. “Sweetheart?”
The alpha scrutinized Walren’s body. Then he turned Walren’s hand around, gasping at his pink skin.
Walren tried to pull his hand away. “It’s okay. I just... It just needs some cool water. That’s all.”
He thought Raptor might lead him to the stream. Instead, Raptor swept him off his feet and carried him across some tall grass, to where a tiny creek burbled.
“Here.” Raptor gently set Walren on his feet. “Do you need help with the water?”
Walren shook his hand and carefully slid his bad leg sideways, so he could lower himself to the ground. Then he dunked his hand into the cool water and breathed a sigh. “That feels good.”
“Yeah? So what happened to your hand?” Raptor asked lightly, but the look on his face wasn’t light at all.
Walren’s cheeks burned. “Um... I kind of hurt myself?”
“How? You weren’t hurt half an hour ago. If there’s something in my territory that’s hurting you,you have to tell me,” Raptor growled.
Damn it!Walren chewed his lip. He didn’t want to lie to Raptor, especially when the alpha would know immediately. And he didn’t want Raptor to think it was his fault, when it wasn’t.
