Anna Wineheart Books

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Gecko Pranks & Pack Joining

Bonus scene 1: Uriel, Bruiser, Hijinks, and the Gecko Affair

“Do not,” Doc growled. “I repeat, do not antagonize Uriel.”

Bruiser folded his arms across his chest. “I won’t!”

Doc eyed him doubtfully.

Across the lawn, Uriel was lifting away the bedsheet and stepping through the hole in the hedge. He looked around at the destruction, eyebrows raised. “Wow.”

Doc waited on the other end of the lawn, next to the mansion, with Ottis, Bruiser, Yaeger, and Hijinks. From the corner of his eye, he watched as Bruiser stiffened.

Uriel skirted the puddles of synthetic cum and scorch marks. On the way over, he glanced at everyone present, blatantly ignoring Bruiser when he stopped in front of them.

“Hey,” Uriel said. “Want me to get started on the repairs?”

“Yes, please,” Doc replied.

Bruiser made a loud huffing sound. Uriel flicked his eyes in the alpha’s direction, but was distracted by Ottis raising his hands to his mouth.

Gecko, Ottis mouthed.

Uriel snorted.

Oh gods, Doc thought. Here we go.

“Let’s go look at the damage,” Ottis said cheerfully, linking his arm with Uriel’s and tugging him away.

If Doc hadn’t known what he did about the mage, he might have felt a twinge of jealousy. But right now, all he felt was contentment. Ottis and the pups were safe. Ottis was going to stir up some trouble with his friend, and Doc wanted to give his omega a sense of normalcy.

“Seriously?” Bruiser muttered, scowling after Ottis and Uriel’s retreating backs. “You’re just letting your omega… prance off with him?”

Over his shoulder, Uriel flipped Bruiser off.

“I can prance off with whoever I want!” Ottis yelled back.

Uriel turned slightly, but not enough to look at them. Under his breath, he said, “Geckos don’t get to tell anyone what to do.”

It wasn’t loud, but everyone else there had sharp hearing. Bruiser bristled.

Ottis snorted.

Hijinks snickered. “Oh. I have just the thing.”

“What thing?” Doc asked warily.

“Nothing! Zero! Nada! Don’t mind me here.” Hijinks disappeared into the mansion with a cackle.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Bruiser muttered with a scowl.

“You could retreat,” Yaeger said innocently.

It was as though all of them knew how to push Bruiser’s buttons. Bruiser tensed. “Like hell I’m leaving. Doc promised food.”

“It might take a while, sorry,” Doc said apologetically. “Cook wasn’t prepared. She’ll need some time to put it all together.”

“Let me help in some other way then,” Bruiser said. “I’m not standing around doing nothing.”

“Tell you what,” Doc said. “Why don’t you help clean my cock cannon?”

Hijinks snickered and yelled from upstairs, “It needs a good, long massage!”

“Actually, you haven’t told us how it works,” Yaeger said. “Explain how you built yours.”

“Sure,” Doc said.

Upstairs, Hijinks typed on a keyboard, then clicked manically on a computer mouse.

The printer began to whir.

***

“Pssst,” someone said.

Ottis and Uriel turned around.

Hijinks was standing nearby, facing the mansion, with a sheath of papers tucked behind his back.

He shuffled sideways, closer to them, and wriggled the stack of paper.

“Take it!” the butler whispered from the corner of his mouth.

After a moment of hesitation, Uriel took them. Ottis sidled closer.

It was several pages of gecko pictures. Geckos of all shapes and sizes, and in different forms—drawings, cartoons, photographs. There were even some 3D renderings.

“Oh gods,” Ottis wheezed.

“This is…” Uriel flipped through the pages again.

Hijinks shuffled away with a sly look. “Think you might find these useful?”

Uriel’s mouth curved into a grin. “I don’t want to completely annihilate…”

“Just halfway?” Hijinks asked hopefully.

“I almost feel sorry,” Ottis said, and mouthed the rest, For him.

Then Ottis cocked his head and snickered. “Doc says he can still hear us.”

“What about—” Uriel cut himself off just in time.

Hijinks cleared his throat. In a low voice, he mimicked Bruiser. “‘I don’t get why you have to hire that guy. It’s not like he’s the best mage or anything.’”

Uriel stiffened.

“What’re you gonna do?” Ottis asked curiously.

Uriel opened his mouth. Then he remembered that Bruiser could still hear him out here, and promptly changed his words. “I’m going to fix Doc’s territory,” he said, swallowing everything else he wanted to say. “Annoying little geckos don’t deserve to know more than that.”

Back at the mansion, Bruiser growled so loudly that even Uriel could hear it.

Good.

He pulled out his notebook and scribbled, before showing it to Ottis and Hijinks.

For the spells to be effective, I’ll need something of his. Blood, hair, or spit. Keep him around if you want to see his reactions.

Twin grins broke out on Ottis and Hijinks’ faces. Both of them scurried off, leaving Uriel to work on the job that he was actually being paid for.

***

It began with Marcie’s stuffed unicorn.

Two weeks ago, Doc had presented Marcie with a rainbow-colored unicorn plush toy that squeaked “I’m a unicorn!” whenever it was squeezed. Sometimes, Doc found it in Ottis’ nest, when he sat down without looking and it squeaked under him. Ottis always cackled when it caught Doc by surprise.

Marcie came in with Hotcart now, cuddling her unicorn… Just that whenever she squeezed the toy, it squeaked “I’m not a gecko! No one wants to be a gecko!”

Doc, Yaeger, and Bruiser turned, staring.

“I’m not a gecko!” the unicorn trilled. Marcie giggled and pressed its belly again. “No one wants to be a gecko!”

Bruiser eyed the toy suspiciously. “Has it always said that?”

“… No,” Doc said, suddenly getting a very clear idea what was going on. “I told you not to antagonize him.”

Somewhere in the mansion, someone snickered.

Bruiser bared his teeth. “He gets on my nerves!”

“Apologize to him, and maybe this will stop,” Doc said.

Bruiser narrowed his eyes and turned away. “No. He’s a weird asshole who’s way too familiar with the omegas. If I never saw him again, it would still be too soon.”

Doc was content to leave it at that.

Then the foyer mirror began acting up.

They had been about to leave. At least, Bruiser and Yaeger were. Then they passed the wall mirror in the foyer, and Doc did a double-take.

In the mirror, Bruiser’s reflection had… changed.

Instead of a man’s head, his reflection had a giant lizard’s head, not too different from his dragon shape.

When Doc paused, the other two alphas turned to check on him. They followed his gaze and froze.

Bruiser stiffened, staring at the mirror. “What the hell is that?”

It was obvious that he was the only one affected; Doc and Yaeger appeared to be normal in the mirror. But when Bruiser opened his mouth, so did the gecko.

Hijinks appeared behind them, phone up. “Say ‘cheese’!”

“Fuck off,” Bruiser growled, his fists clenched like maybe he wanted to smash the mirror. Fortunately, he didn’t.

It was so strange to see the gecko in the mirror moving its mouth at the same time Bruiser did. Doc had to admit to himself that it was kind of funny.

That was why Hijinks had been brushing off Bruiser’s shoulders. For hair?

“Let’s keep moving,” Doc suggested.

Then they stepped out of the mansion, and something scurried underfoot in front of Bruiser.

Bruiser froze.

It was a sand-colored gecko that looked up at him, as big as his foot. The lizard stuck out its forked tongue and said, “You are not worthy of being a gecko.”

Then it scurried off into the grass and disappeared.

“I hate him,” Bruiser muttered. “Stuck up little alpha who thinks he’s so great. He’s really not.”

Doc exchanged a look with Yaeger and sighed. “Well, thanks for stopping by. Hopefully these won’t follow you home.”

“Jinxed,” whispered Hijinks somewhere.

Bruiser turned, growling at the sound.

“Go,” Doc said, firmly turning Bruiser back to the car. “The less time you spend insulting each other, the less likely you’ll step into something unpleasant.”

“That makes sense,” Ottis said innocently, sidling up to Doc’s side. He tucked himself under Doc’s arm, amusement flickering through his face.

What did you do, sweetheart? Doc thought but didn’t say.

Bruiser also gave Ottis a suspicious look. Yaeger laughed.

The two alphas headed into the car. When Bruiser sat down, something squawked under him like a fart cushion, except it sounded suspiciously like “Gecko!”

Bruiser spluttered. “There was nothing there!”

He got off his seat and sat back down, only for the cushion to squawk “Gecko!” again.

Behind them somewhere, Uriel snickered.

“This is why you never fuck with a mage,” Yaeger said wisely.

As they headed down the driveway, Doc caught sight of a gecko sticking to the back of Yaeger’s car—a foot-long, four-legged reptile that moved and changed colors, but it was also as flat as a sheet of paper.

“There’s going to be a haunting,” Ottis whispered to Doc. “For the next few days.”

Doc coughed and hugged Ottis close. “I’m not involved.”

“You don’t have to be,” Hijinks sang, twirling across the driveway. “I participated on your behalf.”

Doc sighed and palmed his face. “I’m very grateful for the omega I have. Not so much for the butler.”

“Hey!” Hijinks said, but he was throwing handfuls of biodegradable dick-shaped confetti everywhere. “I think we succeeded.”

Ottis beamed.

Bonus scene 2: Doc Joins Ottis’ Wolf Pack

Doc stood with Ottis in the clearing, surrounded by Ottis’ pack. He was familiar with them now; this wasn’t his first time visiting, or even his second or third. He knew almost the entire pack by name, and he had even tumbled on the ground with a few of the pups.

Ottis’ parents, Ashton and Joe, stood before him, their warm smiles illuminated by the full moon. Everyone was quiet, holding their breaths. Next to Doc, Ottis breathed calmly, his thin fingers laced with Doc’s larger ones. He held Frankie in one arm; Marcie was with Mathlin, Titan’s mate, with the rest of the pack.

Doc hadn’t been this nervous in a while, and he had been nervous when he’d told them he was a dragon. (The pack had kept his secret so far; he was grateful for that.)

“Doc,” Ashton said, clapping Doc’s bare shoulder. He didn’t let go, though. Instead, he gave Doc a firm squeeze, looking him in the eye.

“Alpha,” Doc said, dipping his head in deference.

“We welcomed you as Ottis’ mate months ago. That said, we would like to welcome you officially to the pack as yourself, equal to everyone else. For that, I’ll have to give you a bite.”

“Will he turn into a werewolf-dragon mutant monster?” Ottis blurted, then caught himself. “I mean, you know how in books, when wolves bite a human, they turn into a werewolf?”

Ashton laughed. “If that were the case, wouldn’t humans search out dragons to be bitten by them?”

“It doesn’t work, I didn’t become a dragon,” Ottis said. And promptly blushed, smacking his face. “Oh, gods.”

Joe, his omega dad, coughed. “Well, Doc did have to bite you for your bonding mark to take.”

“I’m not saying we did it during sex or anything,” Ottis said, paling immediately after. “Fuck. Someone shut me up.”

His brothers snickered.

Doc squeezed Ottis’ hand, his heart filling with warmth. “It was very romantic.”

Ottis groaned. “Please just continue with the ceremony so we can shift and run and not talk about my sex life.”

Ashton grinned. “Right. Doc, the bite.”

“Totally non-sexual,” Ottis said helpfully.

Doc laughed. His scars pulled on his bare face, bringing his attention back to them. These days, it was a minor thing. The pack had continued to accept him when they saw the scars.

Now, Doc tilted his head to expose his neck—the side without Ottis’ bonding mark. “I’m ready.”

With a nod, Ashton stepped forward and shifted his face, so the larger, pointier teeth of an alpha wolf sank into Doc’s skin.

Pain burst through the muscles in his shoulder, but also warmth; Ashton had aimed for the meat of his shoulder rather than his neck. Then the alpha released Doc and stepped back. “Welcome to the pack, Doc.”

“Welcome to the pack,” the wolves chorused. They stepped up and touched him—pats on his shoulders, arms, and back, and even a tiny hand or two in his hair.

“Thank you for accepting me,” he said, bubbly joy fizzing in his chest as Ottis tucked himself against his side, a familiar, comforting warmth.

The wolves tipped their heads back and howled at the night sky. Doc followed, his howl a little less practiced, but his voice melding into their song all the same.

“You’re totally a were-dragon-wolf now,” Ottis said. “Hey, what would that be like in bed? Would half of your cock be dragon-shaped, and the other half wolf-shaped?”

Then he buried his face in his hand, and Doc grinned as he dropped a kiss on Ottis’ head.

This was everything he wanted.

***

Here’s a list of books that the side characters in Alpha Dragon Steals A Mate came from:

Yaeger – How to Hide Your Dragon Baby

Crush – Guarded by His Alpha Wolf

Titan – Alpha Boss’ Baby Service

Zenith (coming soon) – The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door