Page 21 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

“More like ‘plastered the walls with enlarged pictures of porn.’” Ace rolled his eyes. “He said it might encourage me to ‘sow my wild oats’ across the land. Fucker.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a fucker? That was a great idea; don’t deny it.” A giant bat fell out of the sky. He shifted into a man and landed on his feet, before pulling on an expensive suit. The man was in his thirties, chubby with a smug grin, and just a little taller than Ivo. Ivo watched him warily.

“Go back into your hole, Harvey.” Ace shot the man alook.“Don’t interfere.”

“Ah.” Harvey straightened his lapels. “But who else would offer your special guest the embarrassing tales from your childhood?”

Ace stiffened. “No! Fuck off!”

Ivo stared. “Childhood stories?”

“Yes!” Harvey sidled closer to him. “Once upon a time, when Spicy Master was a wee lil one, he ate his parents’ anniversary cakebeforethey even got to cut it.”

“Harvey!” Ace’s face was turning pink. “Shut up!”

“No.” Harvey’s grin turned shit-eating. “Lil Ace was so proud of it, too. He carried out the half-eaten cake and tottered over to show his Papa. ‘Look, look!’” Harvey said in a high-pitched voice. “‘See how big my mouth is!’ And all three of them stared at the cake. The entire top was almost gone; you could barely make out the word Anniversary.”

Ace covered his face. “Oh, dear gods.”

Ivo couldn’t tear his eye away. “What happened next?”

Harvey puffed out his chest. “Lil Ace began stuffing great handfuls of cake down his own shirt, to save it for later.”

“I wasseven,” Ace said indignantly.

Ivo tried not to melt; it was too adorable.

“Cook had to bake an emergency cake; that had been a surprise from his Papa to his Dad,” Harvey said, shaking his head. “His papa simply sighed. In a house with that many... spitfire children, it was only to be expected.”

“I tried to help Cook,” Ace said sourly. “Raptor too.”

“Is that how you both learned to cook?” Ivo asked.

“Yes. We went to the kitchen a lot after that, sneaking food and being Cook’s little helpers.” Ace snorted. “Raptor said he wanted to get real good to impress his future mate.”

Ivo glanced in the direction of Raptor’s mansion, before turning back to Ace. Ace’s ears were pink; he kicked one of the assailants who was starting to stir.

It was eye-opening, to see Ace being strong and fierce one moment, and so strangely vulnerable the next.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Harvey asked slyly.

Ace sighed. “Ivo, this is Harvey. Pain in the butt. Butler.”

“Ah, ah. That should bebutt-ler, with two T’s,” Harvey said.

Unsure how to respond, Ivo glanced at Ace.

Ace shook his head and grabbed Harvey, turning him bodily toward the fallen men. “Stop talking to my guest.”

“You know I won’t,” Harvey said. He helped Ace tie up the men, though. “I’ve contacted Blade. He’ll be here shortly.”

“Good.” Ace exchanged a look with Harvey.

Ivo stayed well within the boundaries of the hedge, keeping an eye out for more attackers in case Ace and Harvey were distracted.

Harvey looked up when the men were contained. “Oh! If you’d like to see Spicy Master’s baby pictures, all you have to do is ask. Hell, I could even print some for your nest.”

Ivo squawked. “What?”

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