Page 69 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
Raptor tipped his head back with a groan. “What the hell, Bruiser? Go away!”
There was a pause in the argument. Raptor could almosthearUriel’s smugness.
Then Bruiser asked, at the same volume since Raptor could hear him anyway, “Did he? Smash the window, I mean.”
“No!” Raptor growled. “Walren’s ex was chasing down an omega, who broke the window to escape into my restaurant. I called Uriel here to help fix the glass since it’s not likeyoucan.”
Bruiser shut up. Uriel snorted but said nothing.
Raptor finished up his tray of egg custard cups, then washed his hands and stalked to the front of his restaurant. “What’s up, B? What’s gotten up your ass that you have to annoy everyone around you?”
Bruiser flipped him off. “Nothing! I was just bored.”
He glanced at Uriel though, surreptitiously.
Or rather, he was glancing at the baby strapped to Uriel’s back.
Raptor snorted.
“I still think he stole the kid,” Bruiser muttered.
Uriel’s gaze snapped up. Then he whispered something under his breath and blew.
What came out of his mouth wasn’t air. Globs of yellowish-green slime splattered onto Bruiser’s face, sealing up his eyes and mouth.
“Eurghh!” Bruiser clawed at his face. Uriel smirked.
Raptor sighed. “That’s what you get for slandering people who don’t deserve it.”
“You could’ve opened your mouth,” Uriel said mildly. “The slime would’ve gone down your throat.”
“Fffff,” Bruiser said behind the slime. He shifted his nails into talons and ripped the slime off his face, sucking down lungfuls of air. “What the fuck was that?”
“Eliminating distractions,” Uriel said. “I’m on a job right now and you’re making a lot of noise.”
Bruiser opened his mouth to speak. Raptor clamped his hand down on his friend’s shoulder, and shoved him out of the restaurant.
“He completely trounced you,” Raptor said kindly. “Best get out of here before he annihilates your dignity.”
Bruiser growled. Raptor shrugged, knowing it was the truth.
In the end, Bruiser stalked away, taking his cloud of grumpiness with him.
Raptor ducked back into Nood’s Good with a sigh. “Damn. You did not go easy on him.”
Uriel shrugged. “He was asking for it.”
“He was.” Raptor did not trust himself to say any more than that; he wasn’t going to get himself disqualified from the betting pool. More hopefully, he asked, “Do you have the fertility spells ready?”
An odd look flitted across Uriel’s face, gone so quickly that Raptor couldn’t read it.
“One thing at a time,” the mage sighed. “No, I haven’t had time to start on those yet.”
“No rush.” Raptor raised his hands as a gesture of peace, retreating into the kitchen.
The day he received those fertility spells... he was going to make so damn sure that Walren conceived. Would Walren give him twins?
Walren and Mathlin were chatting easily when they appeared at the kitchen doorway. Mathlin had showered and was now wearing a change of clothes, and so was the baby in his arms. Good.
