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

11. Danger

11

DANGER

Ace watched as Ivo wandered down an aisle of pillows, checking the price tags on everything he touched.

Ivo squeezed several pillows, then patted Mary’s hand on each one to let her feel them too.

“What do you think?” he whispered to her. “Is this bouncy enough for you? Think we’ll have space in the nest?”

She babbled and smacked the pillows excitedly, making Ivo smile.

Ace couldn’t tear his eyes away.

The kind of bond Ivo shared with Mary... He wanted that, too.

“It’s between these two,” Ivo said eventually—a plusher pillow, and one that was cheaper. He hugged each pillow to himself and lingered on the nicer one, but in the end, he set it down and put the cheaper pillow into the cart.

“We can go with the other one. You know that, right?” Ace asked. “And you can pick more than one.”

Ivo shrugged uneasily. “It’s okay. There isn’t much space in my nest, anyway.”

“You could use my nest. It’s bigger.”

Ivo’s eye widened. “But where would you go?”

“I could build a bigger nest.” Ace considered his territory. “Actually, I could build a nest big enough to fit all the pillows you’d ever want.”

Disbelief flickered across Ivo’s face. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Yeah? Challenge accepted.” Ace grinned. The more he thought about it, the grander his idea grew. “In fact, I think you could pile it with twenty blankets and fifty pillows, and still have plenty of space left for other things.”

“That...” Ivo blinked several times. “I just can’t imagine it.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll build it.” Ace pulled out his phone, typing a memo to Harvey. Then he grabbed the plush pillow that Ivo had been holding, squeezing it into their cart.

Ivo made a choked sound. Ace grinned and nudged their cart forward.

They stopped at the blanket aisle next. Ivo drifted over to the cheaper blankets, while Ace went to the ones that looked more durable. He stuck his fingers through some thick clear packaging, testing a few covers before bringing one to Ivo. “Here, feel this.”

Ivo glanced up from two average-looking blankets and slipped his fingers into the open zipper. His eyebrows shot up. “Wow,” he whispered. “That’s... That’s really nice.”

“Yeah? Come see which color you like best.” Ace tugged him over.

Ivo glanced at the price tag and paled. “But—”

Ace covered the tag with his hand and pointed at the row of covers. “Pick your favorite.”

Ivo watched Ace for a long moment, his pulse stuttering. He touched his belly. Then he turned his attention to the nicer covers.

While he decided, Ace stretched out his hearing as far as he could. His range wasn’t as remarkable as a true shape shifter’s, but that was what Harvey was for. So far, his butler hadn’t reported anything suspicious.

Mary babbled in Ivo’s arms, smiling when Ace grinned at her over Ivo’s shoulder.

What animal could she possibly be, that made Ivo so hell-bent on hiding her?

Something small, a black mammal...

It sounded familiar. In fact, he’d seen that just recently—

Mary hiccupped. A tiny flame sputtered out of her mouth, there and gone in a second.

“Damn it!” Ivo tugged the baby blanket over Mary to hide her from the public.

Except there was a sudden sharpness in the air, something that felt like danger.

“Ivo,” Ace growled, his dragon pressing just under his skin.

Ivo snapped to alertness, glancing around.

“We should get out of here.” Ace took Ivo’s arm and turned him toward the exit.

Two steps in, a hooded figure entered the aisle, cutting them off.

It was no ordinary human. Shadows swirled under the person’s hood, so dark that Ace could not see their face at all.

A second person stepped into the aisle behind them.

Ivo turned and swore. “It’s a metal guy.”

Those were a pain, too. The silver-skinned men could turn their bodies into liquid metal at will, and they were impossible to pin down.

“Fuck. Ivo,” Ace began.

“I need a distraction,” Ivo muttered under his breath, so quietly that maybe the kidnappers hadn’t heard him at all. Did he plan on running?

“Harvey,” Ace ordered. “Get in here.”

But Harvey was at the car, and too damn far away.

“Ivo, I need you to stay safe.”

Ivo nodded tersely. “Just—buy me time.”

The kidnappers charged at the same time.

There was only one way Ace could keep Ivo safe right now.

He drew a deep breath. Then he spat fire at the shadow-man. The moment the fireball was airborne, Ace turned and did the same with the silver-skinned man at his back. He kept alternating fireballs, keeping a wall of flame on either side of himself and Ivo.

When he glanced down, Ivo had disappeared along with Mary, leaving a pile of their clothes behind.

He heard the patter of feet scampering away. Small and quick.

Good enough.

Ace charged at the shadow-man and grabbed him by the neck. Some of the blankets were burning around them; Ace slammed the man into the blankets so his jacket caught fire from the back, too.

The man screamed. Shadowy tendrils shot up Ace’s arm, going straight for his heart.

He breathed his hottest blue flames into the man’s hood until the shadows shriveled and pulled back.

Footsteps thumped behind him—the other kidnapper closing in.

Wheels screeched. There was a metallic crash, followed by the sound of splashing.

When Ace turned, he found the silver-skinned man scattered into puddles of liquid metal, Ivo’s shopping cart wheeling around to charge at him again.

“I’ve got this,” Ace told the cart. He dragged the shadow-man along and put himself between the cart and the silver puddles. The puddles gathered into a sea of metal; the silver-skinned man rose out of it completely intact.

Ace threw the shadow-man at his accomplice and breathed fire on them both, following when the silver-skinned man tried to escape. The man began to bubble and boil.

A giant bat swooped overhead and landed loudly on top of the metal shelves.

Ace paused his flames to ask, “Status?”

“No one’s running for the door,” the bat said. “And no one’s coming closer.”

Ace trailed behind the silver-skinned man, who was trying to crawl away.

If he let the man go, the man would bring more kidnappers down on Ivo and Mary. So he kept breathing fire, until the man screamed, boiled, and liquefied. The shadow-man had burned to a crisp on the floor.

This all made Ace uneasy. “They were already in here, looking for someone they could kidnap.”

“Sure seems that way,” the bat—Harvey—said. “We don’t know if they’ve told anyone else about Mary. You’ve roasted their phones.”

Which meant they couldn’t track down any messages the men might’ve sent.

“Damn it,” Ace muttered. With one eye on the bodies, he went to the burning blankets and sucked the flames into his mouth, containing the damage. “That aside, how are Ivo and Mary?”

Worry burned at the back of his mind. Had Ivo and Mary found somewhere safe to hide? Had anyone run them over in a rush to escape the fighting?

Harvey shifted into an eagle and scanned the store critically. “I can’t see them from up here. The heartbeats and voices will take a while to sort through.”

“Keep at it.” Ace gathered Ivo’s clothes and dropped them into the shopping cart’s belly, petting it distractedly. “You did good.”

The cart squeaked its wheels excitedly and followed him out of the aisle.

Ace searched in growing circles around the blanket aisle, half-hoping that Ivo would come out to meet him.

Thing was, he didn’t know what he was looking for.

Mammal. Small and black.

He’d seen a small, black creature recently, long and thin like a weasel.

Maybe there was a reason why Ivo hadn’t wanted to tell Ace what his shifted shape was.

He dropped his gaze to the base of the clothing racks, his heart pounding. “Ivo? I’ve dealt with the threat. It’s safe for you to come out now.”

Was Ivo’s hearing good enough to catch his voice? Or was he trying to hide from Ace?

“Ivo?” Ace murmured, crouching. “C’mon, sweetheart. I need to know you’re safe.”

Something moved at the edge of his vision. And there, shoved against the back of a shelf, behind some vitamin bottles, was a black shadow with pale splotches all over it.

It’s you.

Ace approached them slowly, letting his shoes thump on the floor. The shadow tensed and huddled into a smaller shape.

He’s afraid of me. Ace’s chest ached. He crouched in front of the shelf and swept the bottles aside. “Hey.”

Ivo flinched when Ace reached in. He was warm and furry, and he squeezed his good eye shut when Ace brought him and Mary to the edge of the shelf.

Under the store’s bright lights, Ace saw his scars more clearly: one of Ivo’s eyes was scarred shut, with a pale line stretching from his eyelid all the way down the side of his face. Just like the scar in his human shape.

It wasn’t just that, though.

Large swathes of Ivo’s fur were gone, leaving his skin bare. These scars weren’t ragged from an animal attack. Instead, they were made of clean, sharp lines, as though someone had sliced off his fur on purpose.

Rage and sadness flooded Ace in equal measure.

“Who hurt you?” The words were a low snarl.

The mink turned his head away, the scruff of Mary’s neck clamped tight between his teeth. Unlike Ivo, Mary’s black coat was shiny and unmarred. She squirmed against Ivo, turning to sniff at Ace when he cradled them against his chest.

“We’re going home,” Ace said. “Unless you want to shift back into a human and keep shopping with me.”

Ivo hid his face with his paws.

Ace looked at Harvey. “Get dressed, call Blade about the bodies, and deal with the cleanup.”

Harvey saluted with one huge wing. He had to leave the store first, though; he’d abandoned his clothes in the parking lot when Ace called for backup.

Ace stuck around to assure the harried store manager that he would pay for the damages. While the employees checked the inventory, Ace walked around with Ivo, Mary, and their shopping cart. He added some baby clothes and toys to the cart, several snacks, and a few more pillows.

“Stay with Harvey, okay?” Ace said to the cart when Harvey swept back into the store, smartly dressed in his butler uniform.

The cart flipped its wheels, following easily when Ace brought it over to Harvey.

“We’ll be in the car,” Ace said.

Harvey waved them off with a frilly handkerchief. Before he stepped out of the store, Ace glanced around to make sure no one was following them. Then he hurried through the parking lot and slipped into the backseat of the SUV, Ivo and Mary still in his arms.

For a long while, Ace just breathed. He let go of the adrenaline pumping in his veins. He stroked his fingertips down Ivo’s patchy back, tracing his hairless scars.

“It was you,” he said eventually. “Back at the bar.”

Ivo stiffened. Then he peeked out from behind his paws, watching Ace warily.

“I was trying to track you down to tell you that I’d fucked up,” Ace said. “The condom broke. I don’t know if you knew.”

Ivo shook his head. He and Ace watched each other for a long while, Mary wriggling between them.

With a sigh, Ivo shifted back into a man, hunching over on himself as though he was expecting to be hurt. “It wasn’t supposed to break.”

Softly, Ace said, “Hey.”

Ivo flinched again. Ace’s instincts roared to make him feel safe.

“Sweetheart. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

Ivo glanced over, confused and wary. “Y-you’re not mad?”

Ace’s heart almost broke. “No.” He cupped Ivo’s face in his hands, tipping his head back to look him in the eye. “I’m not mad at you. Did you think I was?”

Ivo drew a shuddering breath and nodded. “I’ve been keeping this a secret from you.”

“I’m not mad,” Ace said firmly. “But I want to know why you hid the truth from me.”

“I thought you would kick me out,” Ivo admitted quietly. “I thought you’d think... that I had tricked you so I could have your baby.”

“Well... That would make me mad,” Ace agreed. “But that’s not what you did, is it?”

Ivo began to shake his head, then he shrugged. “I didn’t tamper with the condom or anything. But... I knew it was you, before we...”

“How?”

Ivo’s cheeks turned pink. “I saw you with your friends. When I ducked into the cubicle, I heard your voice right outside. I recognized it.”

So he’d known exactly whose cock he’d taken, and he’d moaned and begged for more. Ace’s insides grew hot. “You didn’t ask Uriel to help you with your heat?”

Ivo squirmed and looked uncomfortable. “I did.”

Jealousy stabbed through Ace. “Why did you go to the glory hole, then?”

“Just because I asked Uriel to help with my heat, doesn’t mean he did. He turned me down.”

“Who in their right mind would turn you down?” Ace asked, aghast.

He tried not to focus on how he’d been Ivo’s second choice.

Ivo dropped his gaze. “It’s not my secret to tell.”

“I didn’t know he had secrets.”

“Crap.” Ivo winced. “Pretend I didn’t say anything. Please?”

Ace filed that away to examine later, concentrating on the positives. “Okay. Was I your first, then? For this heat.”

Ivo squirmed. “Yes.”

Possessiveness filled Ace’s chest. Carefully, he reached over, touching his fingertips to Ivo’s shoulder.

When Ivo didn’t recoil, Ace pressed his entire hand to Ivo’s back. Ivo shivered and sighed.

He trusts me.

There were several other things they needed to talk about. Things like Ivo was pregnant with Ace’s baby.

But what came out of Ace’s mouth was, “Who gave you those scars?”

Ivo’s entire body twitched. He grimaced and scooped Mary into his arms, holding onto her for comfort. “It was the first time I was kidnapped.”

“‘First time’?” Ace asked, his stomach sinking.

Ivo nodded. “You saved me from the second kidnapping.”

“Fuck.” Ace wanted to rip several throats out.

“I was seventeen, and I was... naive. Sick and tired of everything going wrong in my life. There was this guy at a corner shop that I’d pass by every day on my way home from school. One day, he said he knew of a job opening that would let me put my skills to use.” Ivo’s shoulders hunched. “Turned out, all they wanted was my fur.”

Anger flashed through Ace, hotter than before. “They sliced the fur off your body?”

“They wanted to use it to make enchanted cloaks. Mink fur is water-repellent, but you can spell it to turn it into armor. At the same time, they were doing experiments to see if I could grow it back.” Ivo shuddered. “I guess they thought it would be easier to harvest fur if we could just regrow it.”

Ace’s stomach turned harder. He stared at Ivo’s scars, clenching his fists so hard, his nails were starting to draw blood. “Did they get caught?”

Ivo shook his head. “I got out when one of them slipped up and didn’t lock my cage properly. But I felt terrible about leaving, because they had so many other minks there. And other shifters, too. But I couldn’t find the keys.”

“Your parents?” Ace asked.

Ivo shook his head, sagging with relief. “My parents were already dead. They’d both fallen sick the year before. I never thought there could be a worse fate for them, until I’d gotten kidnapped and saw the other minks.”

“Fuck,” Ace whispered.

“When I got home, I tried to get my foster parents to help, but they wouldn’t. I tried to go to the police, but they wouldn’t listen to me, either. By the time I found someone brave enough to come along, the poachers had moved their base, and I couldn’t find them anymore.”

Ace’s fury pounded in his veins. With all the trouble from the baby kidnappers recently, he hadn’t had time to think about other evils in the world. But the thought of Ivo as a mink, bleeding out on an exam table... it made his core burn molten hot inside him. “Do you have a name I can track down?”

“I... I think the boss’ name was Watsonator.” Ivo grimaced. A second later, his eye grew wide. “You’re not going to hunt them down, right? They’re dangerous. There’s a lot of them.”

“We’ll see,” Ace muttered. He scooped Ivo up and sat him on his lap, Mary cradled in his arms. This close to Ace, Ivo felt right. Warm and solid.

“Ace,” Ivo said, his gaze pleading. “I need you to be safe.”

Then his mouth grew pinched.

Without warning, Ivo belched a thick cloud of smoke straight into Ace’s face.