Page 62 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace narrowed his eyes. “You don’t need them.”

“Yeah. Nat took a huge risk and came with me to search for the poachers; he was the first one to agree to help,” Ivo said. “I met him at a convenience store when the clerk accused me of hidingstuff in my hoodie—I wasn’t! I just didn’t want anyone to see my scars. Nat was there and he stood up for me.”

Ace smiled a little. “I’m glad he was there.”

“Same here. He’s the chubby one; I don’t know if you remember him from last week,” Ivo said. “He’s missing a few fingers.”

Ace’s grip tightened around him.

“Anyway, when I was old enough to leave my foster parents, I moved in with Nat. We became friends with Walren and Killian—Walren’s the one with the missing knee; his leg is short because of that. And Killian has PTSD but he won’t tell us why. Then there’s Pinks—you know him already, he’s the one with the angel kid. We’re all broken in some way except for Pinks.

“Pinks came to Cartfalls first and found himself an alpha... I guess that’s how the rest of us came to be here, because he told your friends that we were kidnapped. And my friends... they were all worried when I left the apartment to build a nest.”

When he looked up, Ace’s expression was soft. Ace said, “You’ve found yourself some good friends.”

Ivo nodded gratefully. He unlocked his phone and opened his messages, blinking when Ace looked away. “You’re not going to read my messages?”

“You deserve some privacy,” Ace murmured.

“Oh. Thanks.” Ivo ducked his head to hide a smile.

The chat was filled with several messages he’d missed.

Nat-urallyBig

Ivo??? Maybe give us an update?!

NotAWalrus

(eyes emoji) He’s been gone a while

KillianKillsDreams

Maybe Ace is kissing his butt

Maybe they’re curled up together in Ivo’s nest

NotAWalrus

Maybe they fell in love and are screwing like minks lol

Nat-urallyBig

I don’t even know what minks screw like

KillianKillsDreams

Is there someone we can ask?

NotAWalrus

It’s been almost 24 hours

PinksThinks

I’m going to ask Galent’s butler

Ivo is safe, apparently. He just hasn’t given us an update (shakes fist) Dammit Ivo!!!

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