The Accidental Dragon Baby (Babies For Broken Dads #1)

1. No One Meets Their Mate At A Glory Hole

1

NO ONE MEETS THEIR MATE AT A GLORY HOLE

Eight-month-old Mary burped, sending a shower of sparks into Ivo’s mouth.

“Ugh!” Ivo made a face and spat, trying to get the spots of heat off his tongue. “Mary!”

Mary giggled.

“You,” he growled, his insides melting at her smile. “I can never stay mad at you.”

In fact, Ivo could only be grateful; they were no longer at the mercy of their kidnappers. Not that they were guaranteed safety—Mary was a rare species, and there would always be bad guys on the lookout for her kind.

It was also why he was reluctant to leave the apartment, even though his body hurt with how long he’d been in heat.

Two more days.

Just two more days, and Ivo’s heat would be over.

He gritted his teeth, forcing a smile when she patted his face with her little hands. “Hey, at least you have some friends to play with.”

He set her on the floor with his friends’ babies, trying to ignore the squirming heat in his belly. It raked through his bones and made his limbs as heavy as lead. All he really wanted was a big, strong alpha to hold him down, and make him feel good.

Except that wasn’t the only problem with his heat. He didn’t trust anyone enough to bring them back to this apartment.

And most alphas recoiled at the sight of his face.

Well, there was one alpha who wouldn’t do that. Ivo twisted his fingers together.

Next to him on the floor, his friends watched him warily. They looked up when someone knocked on the door.

“It’s Uriel,” said chubby Nat. “Should I...?”

Ivo nodded quickly and turned to his other friends, Killian and Walren. “Hey, could you watch Mary for a second?”

“Of course,” they said.

The moment Uriel stepped into the apartment, Ivo picked himself up and stumbled over.

Uriel frowned. “Ivo?”

Ivo carefully took Uriel’s scarred wrist and tugged him over to the far side of the room. “I’m in heat. I need someone to—Is it okay if you give me your knot?”

Uriel froze. He adjusted the straps of his baby carrier and looked apologetic. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Ivo stared at the muscular alpha before him, his hopes fizzling out. “Wh-why not?”

Uriel shook his scarred head. Of all the alphas Ivo had met over the past two weeks, Uriel had seemed... the safest bet.

Like Ivo, Uriel had scars all over his body. Pale, ugly scars that Ivo didn’t ask about, because no one wanted to relive their traumas. But Uriel lactated and nursed his own baby. He had broad shoulders, but he was smaller than the other alphas who had rescued Ivo and his friends.

In that way, Uriel seemed less scary. More approachable. He probably wouldn’t mind helping Ivo with his heat.

Uriel glanced at their friends on the other side of the apartment. “No one knows this, but... I don’t have a knot.”

“You don’t?” Ivo had been so sure he did.

Uriel wet his lips. Almost inaudibly, he said, “I’m not actually an alpha.”

“Oh.” Ivo’s heart sank. What was he supposed to say to that?

“There are several alphas who would volunteer, though,” Uriel said quietly. “The ones who rescued you last week—they’re all good people.”

Yeah, Ivo knew that. One dragon, in particular, had been very keen on offering Ivo his help.

Ace had been so handsome, all eager smiles and strong jaw, his golden eyes landing so brightly on Ivo. In his human shape, Ace had been almost three times Ivo’s size, and he’d flown Ivo all the way to the hospital without running out of breath.

It was just... Ivo had felt so ugly next to him, with the long, silver scars mottling his face, several healed wrong and bumpy on his body.

Hell, Ivo was blind in one eye.

He woke up screaming from his nightmares sometimes, and his scars hurt with phantom pain.

He couldn’t imagine a universe where Ace would look at him, and not see a man who had been too weak to escape his captors.

Despite those thoughts, heat slid through Ivo’s limbs, burning up his insides and making him wet. He needed to be bent over. He needed someone to fill him, claim him, and make him scream.

He dug his nails into his palms. “I—I need someone with a knot. But they can’t—I don’t want anyone to look at me when we—I don’t want anyone to tell me I’m ugly.”

Ivo gestured helplessly at his face.

Uriel grimaced. “Tell you what. I know a place where you don’t have to see your fuckbuddy. I’ll go there with you; you can satisfy your heat, and we’ll come back here after.”

Ivo nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Yeah, that would work.”

“I’ll have to leave my baby with you,” Uriel said to Nat, Killian, and Walren, who were watching them.

“Of course. You too, Ivo,” Walren said. “Uriel warded this place. The babies will be safe here.”

Ivo felt a little better. He couldn’t stand the thought of Mary being in danger again. Especially when he remembered the other time he’d been captured, the one that gave him nightmares.

He went back to Mary, gathering her into his arms for a quick hug and kiss. “I’ll be back,” he whispered. “Be good, okay?”

She grinned sunnily and drooled everywhere.

Ivo did not have enough money to raise a second child.

But if he could have another...

He scrubbed his hand over his remaining eye, breathing through the ache in his bones. When Uriel turned to him, Ivo nodded, and stepped out of the apartment with the mage.

They didn’t talk much on the way. As though his body knew what was coming, Ivo’s heat intensified with every step. His legs trembled, his nipples tingled, and his hole made so much slick, he ached inside.

Ivo stumbled a little because his depth perception still wasn’t great, but Uriel was there to steady him every time.

They slipped into a dimly lit bar with music playing comfortably in the background, people clustered around the tables and lights roving over the crowd.

“Restrooms in the back,” Uriel murmured as they walked up to an empty table. He handed Ivo two things. “Yell or squeeze this if you need me.”

The first item was a small, smooth pebble with a rune carved into it.

The second item was a foil packet.

Ivo blushed hotly. He hadn’t even thought about contraception. Or how he was going to hand it over to the anonymous alpha. “You’ll be okay...?”

Uriel rolled his eyes and nudged Ivo. “Go.”

Ivo stumbled through the bar, trying not to broadcast to everyone that he needed to be bent over. He couldn’t deal with that many alphas.

But he peeked at the broad-shouldered men he passed, spotting a group of especially large alphas.

With a jolt, he realized that those were his rescuers. The alphas who had invaded the kidnappers’ hideout last week.

Ace was among them, bumping shoulders with a man who looked like him. Except Ivo could pick him out between the two—Ace had a small tattoo on one side of his neck. The dragon was in his human shape, teeth gleaming, his strong fingers wrapped around a glass. And his clothes—his clothes hugged him like a sin, showing off his pecs and biceps, and the generous bulge between his legs.

Ivo whimpered.

Ace turned as though he’d caught the sound.

Before Ace could spot him, Ivo ducked his head and hurried away, his slick soaking through his pants.

The music grew muffled when the restroom door shut behind Ivo. A hidden speaker played a different song. Ivo tried to exhale his nerves; he went down the row of cubicles, trying to figure out how anonymous sex could happen in here.

Then he saw it.

At the very end of the row, the wall between the two last cubicles had a round hole cut into it. Its edges had been sanded down and sealed.

The hole was roughly stomach height.

“Oh,” Ivo whispered. He would have to tiptoe a lot to get himself high enough, but—

Wait, there was a short stool tucked into the corner of the further cubicle.

And suddenly everything made sense.

When the restroom door squeaked open, Ivo’s stomach flipped. He dove into the cubicle and locked the door behind him, his heart pounding.

He’d never done this before. How was he going to know if his partner was good? If they wouldn’t hurt him somehow?

He clutched Uriel’s stone in one hand and the condom in the other, holding his breath.

Heavy footsteps thumped toward him. The person sounded large. An alpha?

The alpha paused just outside the next cubicle.

“Hey,” the man rumbled. His voice was terribly familiar. “I’m just checking that you’re okay. You seemed to be in a real hurry to get in here.”

Ivo’s entire body ached. His insides burned; his pants stuck wetly to his legs, and he felt so empty that he could cry. “I-I’m okay.”

“Really? Would you like me to stay, or leave?”

He made a decision then. Ivo tucked Uriel’s stone into his pocket, and pushed the foil packet through the hole with trembling fingers.

The alpha inhaled slowly. Ivo heard him swallow.

“I’m in heat,” Ivo whispered. “Please.”

Footsteps thumped closer. Large fingers closed around the foil square.

“Fuck,” Ace said.