Page 87 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace sniffled a little. When Ivo looked over, Ace frowned. “I’m allowed to sniffle!”

Ivo gave him a knowing smile, blushed, and looked back down at Mary.

Ace hid his silly grin by stacking up computer manuals around the couch. Harvey answered his summons with piles of thick blankets; Ace laid them over the books to cushion their hard edges.

“Now you have a nest here, too,” he said proudly.

Ivo laughed and climbed onto the blankets with Mary. With them all cozy like this, surrounded by Ace’s hoard... it was the best sight ever.

“You make me never want to leave,” Ivo admitted.

Ace did a small victory dance. Mary saw him and wriggled her little body too.

Haltingly, Ace asked, “Would you like to walk the Circle with me?”

“What’s a Circle?” Ivo’s eye widened.

“Dragons have a magic Circle in their flight. When we walk it together, we bond as mates. For life.”

Ivo’s breathing hitched. “Y-you want to? With me?”

“Yes.What part about all this says I don’t want to?”

Ivo ducked his head, a tiny smile curving his lips. Shyly, he said, “I would love to.”

Ace’s heart soared. He slid his hand over his mate’s belly, listening to the flutter of heartbeats. For a moment, he thought about asking Ivo if he knew. Then he paused, and reconsidered.

Maybe Ivo wanted to be surprised instead.

Ace’s pulse synced with the heartbeats—one of his for every three of the little ones, because his heart didn’t need to pump as quickly as a baby’s.

He quietly drew his hand away and watched Ivo, waiting for him to notice it.

When Ivo didn’t, Ace quietly pulled out his phone, and put in more purchase orders.

“We’re late!Why do we have so many... things... in our bedroom?” Ivo puffed, one arm wrapped around his belly. He gestured wildly at the boxes of diapers along the walls, overflow from the nursery.

“Sweetheart.” Ace helped him back to the bed. “Don’t exert yourself. You’re about to pop!”

“Well, yeah! I should’ve popped a week ago!” Ivo pouted. “We were supposed to be done with thisbeforeour bonding ceremony. I don’t want to be walking the Circle with a baby halfway out!”

Ace pursed his lips. “This is the part where someone might say, ‘Hold my beer.’”

“Oh, gods, no.” Ivo whined. “Don’t jinx it. Besides, babies don’t drink beer.”

“Anyway, we’re already a week delayed. The baby can hold on for a bit longer, right? They wouldn’t just show up in the middle of the ceremony.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Ivo hissed.

“Believe strongly enough, and it won’t happen.”

Ivo grumbled under his breath. “My belly ishuge.There’s no more space for my lungs to expand properly. I’m out of breath just going to the bathroom.”

“You didn’t want the bottle to pee into,” Ace pointed out.

“It’s all your fault for making me swell up like this.”

“You came extra hard when I said I was breeding you.”

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