Page 71 of Alpha Dragon's Mating Contract
“Uh huh.”
“Good.” Raptor swept him off his feet again. Instead of depositing Walren in his own bed, Raptor brought Walren to the room at the end of the hallway.
“I can’t jerk you off right now,” Walren mumbled when Raptor deposited him on the edge of his bed. “I don’t think I can move.”
In fact, he had the strangest feeling that he was forgetting something.
Raptor dropped a kiss on top of his head. “That’s not what I have in mind, anyway.”
He began to undress Walren, his fingers warm and sure through Walren’s thin clothes. Then he undressed himself and carried Walren to the bathroom.
Raptor didn’t set Walren down on the cool marble floor. Instead, he kept Walren cradled against his chest, using his other hand to turn on the rain shower in the tub. When he was satisfied with its temperature, Raptor gently placed Walren in the tub, and climbed in after him.
They sat side by side, their legs stretched out in front of them. Warm water pattered all over their bodies and wet their hair gently, like a light shower instead of a downpour.
It was... comforting.
“Are you going to wash me?” Walren asked curiously.
“Mmm.” Raptor slouched against the side of the tub and closed his eyes. “Not right now. Gods, I’m done with today.”
“Same here.” Walren sighed and leaned back, letting the warm water gently wash away his dried sweat.
“I do this sometimes on long days,” Raptor said quietly. “Just sit in the dark with a gentle rain shower and nothing bothering me.”
“I’m really enjoying it,” Walren whispered. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
“Of course.” The alpha hummed and wriggled his toes.
It was all so quiet and calm, a whole other side to Raptor that Walren hadn’t seen before. Kind of like earlier, when Raptor had cooed over Zebbie.
“Oh!” Raptor said suddenly. “I forgot to show you this.”
He tapped a few buttons on a side panel.
The lights dimmed to near darkness. Above, the ceiling turned a deep navy blue, speckled with tiny pinpricks of light, like stars. The nozzles for the rain shower had been cleverly hidden in the ceiling, so all Walren could see was the star-dotted sky.
“This is amazing,” he breathed.
“Yeah?” There was a smile in Raptor’s voice. “It was something I loved to do—having outdoor baths under the stars.”
“Why didn’t you build a bathtub in the backyard?” Walren asked.
“Well. I used to have one there, before the city grew to what it is now. Don’t get me wrong; I love that we have all kinds of shops within easy reach these days, but the light pollution makes it impossible to see the stars in the sky.” Raptor sounded wistful. “I’ve put some constellations on the ceiling, though.”
Walren looked more closely at the speckles of light. “I recognize Orion’s Belt and the Big Dipper.”
Raptor waited for a bit. “That’s it?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “That’s all you recognize?”
“I haven’t spent hundreds of years looking at the night sky!” Walren huffed.
The alpha laughed quietly. “Alright. Let me show you a few.”
He leaned in so their heads almost bumped, pointing at the ceiling. “Do you see that crooked J? It looks like an S.” He traced it with his finger. “That’s the Scorpius constellation. What’s really cool about Scorpius, aside from the scorpion thing, is that whenever Scorpius is around, you can be sure Sagittarius is nearby.”
“What’s so special about Sagittarius?”
Raptor smiled. “Sagittarius contains the center of the Milky Way.”
