“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

They were seated on the living room floor, Dre’s head resting against the couch. He looked – peaceful.

“Now that Maya is back, do you bite her? During sex, I mean?”

Dre looked over at him. “No. I want to get married first. It’s important to me that we do everything right this time.”

“Oh.”

Dre grinned at his twin. “Why, Riley pressuring you to let him munch on your neck?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “No. He does that already. He wants me to do it to him.”

Dre sat up, serious now. “Oh, wow. That’s great Tony! Wait, you don’t want to?”

“I – I don’t know. I don’t think I can. My teeth don’t change.”

“But you’ve tried?”

“A couple of times, yes.”

“Maybe they can’t. Do they itch? Do you even have fangs?”

“What?”

Dre sighed. “Have you checked to see if you have them?”

“I didn’t realize they were different…”

“Goddess, Tony! You’re supposed to be the genius. Come here, let me check.”

And that’s how Riley found them, Tony leaning back against Dre’s lap with his teeth bared and Dre’s fingers in his mouth.

Riley burst out laughing at the sight and Tony tried to get up but his twin wouldn’t let him move.

“Stay still Tony and don’t you dare bite me!”

He considered it for a second but the smile on Riley’s face made up for any embarrassment he might have felt.

Riley sat down beside them and ran a hand up Tony’s thigh, stopping midway and just resting it there.

“What are you two doing?”

“Checking for overdeveloped canines.”

“Oh. Tony doesn’t Change though. He doesn’t have any.”

Tony narrowed his eyes and started to say something but Dre tapped him against his lower lip, hard.

“I have my fingers in your mouth, next to your still impressively sharp teeth. Not a word.”

Tony sent him a look that clearly said, Let me go.

And Dre gave him one that said, No.

Resigned, he lay there and let the two most important men in his life talk over him, about him, without any input on his end.

Chuckling, Riley squeezed his leg. “I thought you didn’t like things in your mouth babe? Well, most things.”

Dre released Tony in a rush and sat back. “Oh come on! I didn’t need that visual!”

Tony wiped at his mouth but continued to lie on his brother’s legs. Enjoying his discomfort. “That’s what you get for smacking me.”

Wiping his hands on his shirt, Dre growled. “Goddess. I don’t even know where your mouth has been.”

Both Tony and Riley said, “Yes, you do,” then burst into laughter.

“You two make me sick. You kiss your kids with those mouths?”

He shoved at Tony in an effort to roll him off his legs but Tony wasn’t budging. It was nice having Riley and Dre with him, laughing. It had been a while.

“Not that I will ever understand the dynamics of being a twin but why were you looking for canines?”

Riley was softly stroking Tony’s leg and Tony leaned up to shift into his arms.

“Tony was telling me about your sexy times and asking for pointers.”

Riley pulled him closer and gave him a squeeze. “He doesn’t need any pointers.”

Tony had the absurd urge to stick his tongue out at his brother. “We were talking about my biting problem.”

Riley began petting him again, a habit he seemed to have developed fairly recently. Tony had noticed that as the girls got older and they spent more time around family, Riley became more territorial. Anyone vying for his affections made Riley nervous. They’d discussed it but it wasn’t something that would change anytime soon. It hadn’t become unbearable, yet, so Tony and everyone else just went with it.

“Oh.”

Yeah, oh. They stared at each other silently. Tony knew how much this meant to Riley and he hated disappointing him.

“He has them.”

They both looked over at Dre.

“What?”

“You have them. They just haven’t descended yet. This happened to one of the pups in my pack. He was a halfling. His mother was human.”

“Really?” Tony sat up.

“Yeah, we just had to force them down. It was fairly simple.”

“Could you do that for me?”

“Probably. I’m surprised Caleb never suggested it.”

Riley cleared his throat. “He’s the one who suggested that Tony turn now rather than wait for the Witch’s Moon.”

Dre nodded. “So he’s concerned too, then?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s something you both aren’t telling me.”

“We can talk about it later, babe. One thing at a time, okay?”

He looked from his husband to his brother. The two most important men in his life and they were asking him to trust them. Even if he doubted Riley, he would follow his twin anywhere.

“I would never let anything bad happen to you.”

“Okay.” He leaned back, into the safety of his husband’s arms. “Okay.”