Page 38 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ivo stared at the empty aisle again, his heart thumping as he hurried to catch up with Ace.

11

DANGER

Ace watchedas 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...

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