“Um,” Mathlin squeaked. “I mean, I don’t think it’s so bad that Hamilton’s living vicariously through us. Your eyes are very intense.”
Titan huffed. “Yeah?”
“It’s like you have robot eyes and they’re going to shoot a laser beam straight through me,” Mathlin blurted. “But instead of lasers, it’s jizz.”
Titan cracked a smile. In the next room, Hamilton snickered.
Mathlin sighed, burying his face in his hands. “I never say anything cool or romantic.”
“Those are overrated,” Titan said, nudging him. “You’re perfect the way you are.”
Mathlin beamed.
Jannie made a loud sound in the next room. Mathlin turned. “Hang on, I have to see what Jannie needs.”
Titan trailed after Mathlin, admiring the sway of his hips, the strength of his arms when he hauled Jannie out of her playpen. Jannie kicked and grabbed at her dad, smiling toothily.
“Looks like she just wanted my attention,” Mathlin said, dropping a kiss on her head. He brought Jannie over and turned her to face Titan. “Hey, hon. Would you like a ride on the Big Wolf Dreamboat? You really liked him the last time.”
“I’m a dreamboat?” Titan grinned.
“Um! It’s just a... a slip of the tongue! You’re big and long like a boat. Not that I dream about you or anything. Especially not anything big and long.”
Here, Mathlin’s heart skipped twice.
Titan’s smile grew. He took a step closer, blowing a raspberry so Jannie giggled. “What dreams do you have about me?”
Mathlin turned bright red. “Bad dreams!” Another skip. “You put me in prison and you’re a very bad prison guard!” No skipped heartbeats this time.
“Huh,” Titan purred. “We’ll have to investigate that further.”
Mathlin hunched his shoulders and groaned, but his scent turned sweeter.
They hadn’t mated again. Between Titan being milked for his ‘cream’, and Mathlin overextending himself trying to heal Titan, they had been falling into Titan’s bed every night, asleep before their heads even hit the pillows. In the mornings, they woke up tired, dragging themselves out of bed so they could start work at the bakery.
“Here,” Mathlin said loudly to Titan. “Lie down. I’ll lay Jannie on you and there will be no more discussions about weird dreams that did not happen.”
Titan laughed and complied, lying down on the floor. Mathlin carefully laid Jannie on his chest.
For a moment, Titan’s gaze locked with Jannie’s. She patted his face and smiled. Titan blew a raspberry; Jannie promptly stuck her fingers into his mouth.
“Hey, watch the sharp teeth,” Titan said carefully. “Don’t smack your hand around.”
“Wa ba ba,” she said.
She was adorable. What wouldn’t Titan give to have a baby like her? He wriggled his fingers and managed to tickle her leg; she giggled and kicked.
So he flashed his eyes gold. To his surprise, Jannie flashed her eyes back at him, but her shifted eyes were red.
“Look at you,” Titan murmured. He growled quietly; she growled back at him. Then something sprouted from her back, flapping under her shirt.
It was a tiny purple wing.
“Jannie!” Mathlin yelped, darting forward to undo her shirt. “She’s never done that with anyone else before.”
Titan grinned. “Yeah?”
He growled more loudly. Jannie growled back. Except this time, more of her changed: purple scales spread over her skin. Her limbs shrank, tiny hands turning into paws. Her face grew more snout-like, and she blinked bright red eyes at him.
