Page 7 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

“N-no.”

“I would like to give you a hug. What’s your name?”

Ivo’s body ached. He wished he could accept that hug. But not like this, not with his face visible.

After a while, Ace said, “You don’t have to answer. I’m sorry for asking, if you didn’t want me to know.”

“It’s okay,” Ivo said, his throat tight.

“You’re still a babe.”

Ivo swallowed hard. He waited until his body seemed satisfied with the knotting. Then he tried to wriggle off.

“Hey—” Ace made a sound. “You’ll hurt yourself if you do that.”

“So take away the knot,” Ivo mumbled.

“You could’ve told me to,” Ace said, but he made his knot recede.

It wasn’t until the knot wasn’t there anymore, that Ivo realized he missed it terribly. He could’ve cried.

But he couldn’t stay. He had to go back to his baby and make sure she was safe.

Ivo slipped himself off Ace’s wet length and, with his single eye, misjudged the distance to the floor.

He all but fell off the stool, crashing into the opposite wall.

“Hey,” Ace growled, sounding concerned. “Are you okay?” His belt clinked; Ivo realized that Ace was yanking up his pants so he could come check on Ivo in his cubicle.

Ivo panicked. Ace was fast; he was already unlocking his own door.

There was no way Ivo could hide from him as a human.

He shifted into a mink with patchy dark fur, his clothes falling into a loose puddle around him. Ivo squirmed out of his shirt and swiveled his head extra to compensate for his blind eye.

This close to the ground, the restroom floor was wide open. Ace’s large shoes were outside Ivo’s cubicle, to his left, and another set of boots was planted at the urinals on the far wall.

The boots turned and made for the restroom exit.

Ivo scrambled under the cubicle walls, catching Ace’s low curse. By the time Ace turned around, Ivo was halfway across the restroom, the door closing behind the bar patron.

He made it through with a second to spare, the door nearly slamming shut on his bushy tail.

Just that Ivo hadn’t thought ahead to this part. The bar was dim; there were several people gathered around the tall tables. People were walking across the floor, too.

And Ivo couldn’t see anything on his left side.

He turned his head to check that no one was approaching from his left. Then he leaped forward, his claws clicking against the floor as he scampered all the way to Uriel’s table.

Uriel glanced up sharply, speaking when Ivo got close enough. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”

Ivo shook his head, clawing his way up Uriel’s pants.

“I’m getting us out of here,” Uriel said firmly. He scooped Ivo up and deposited him around his neck like a scarf.

On the other side of the bar, the restroom door opened.

Ace strode out like a man on a mission. He swept his gaze around; Ivo hunkered down against Uriel’s shoulder and clutched his shirt.

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