Sebastian pulled himself together. “No, I do. It’s just… Can I see that thing with your finger again?”
Viggo frowned, confused, but then he seemed to have realized that to Sebastian, claws popping up out of nowhere was not an everyday occurrence. He held his hand over Sebastian’s lap, turning his palm up and letting his claws emerge on all five fingers.
Sebastian stared in awe at the most visible proof yet that Viggo and Bjorn really were something more than human. Tentative, he reached out and held Viggo’s hand, taking his index finger and curling it up so that he could get a proper look.
It was terrifying. Long and wickedly sharp, the glossy black claw emerged from the tip of Viggo’s finger like a dagger.
That wasn’t the only change. There was hair on the back of his knuckles and the pads of his fingers were more callused, and the shape was different, like the bones themselves had been altered.
As Sebastian turned Viggo’s hand over in his, examining it from every angle, it changed again, growing, Viggo’s palm, fingers and claws all expanding until they were twice their original size.
Holding his breath, Sebastian stared down, transfixed. If Viggo’s hand was usually the size of a dinner plate, this was a serving platter.
“Does the rest of you get this big?” he finally asked, swallowing and looking up. His breath hitched in his throat when he noticed the hint of fang poking over Viggo’s lip. There was something a little rougher about his jaw and brow, too, though Sebastian might just be imagining that.
Viggo pulled his hand away, and between one breath in the next, it was back to normal.
“My hands and feet grow more than the rest of me, but yes, the rest of me gets much bigger, too. I’ll show you, sometime, if you want.”
Sebastian nodded. He wasn’t sure he could handle seeing the rest of Viggo undergoing this kind of transformation without fainting or peeing his pants, but he wanted to try.
“Viggo gets unusually big when he’s shifted,” Bjorn said from Sebastian’s other side, making him startle. He’d completely forgotten about him. Bjorn held out his own hand, popping out his claws and letting his hand grow maybe twenty percent larger. “I stay pretty much the same size.”
“So you’re a shower and he’s a grower?” Sebastian joked, wondering if he was going to freak out about this later. Seeing the physical evidence that Viggo and Bjorn were actual, transforming werewolves was far more jarring than he’d expected.
Bjorn grinned and retracted his claws. “Basically.”
“Not too scary?” Viggo asked, placing his hand on Sebastian’s upper back. Feeling the tips of his fingers resting between his shoulder blades, Sebastian imagined the damage Viggo’s claws could do.
“No,” he said, hoping that he was telling the truth. “It’s pretty fascinating. I didn’t know werewolves could control the shift so precisely.”
“Most can’t.” Bjorn sounded proud. “Viggo and I decided we would master partial shifting when we were teenagers, and then we just practiced until we could. Other werewolves tend to be pretty impressed and intimidated when we show them.”
“Or they think we’re vain,” Viggo countered, shooting Bjorn a look as if to say that was the more common reaction.
“No, that’s just what they say because they know they’re too lazy to reach our level of control.” He reached over Sebastian’s lap and between Viggo’s leg, grabbing a skewer of meat and tearing into it with his teeth. He looked over at Viggo. “Pass the wine?”
Viggo handed him the bottle and he took a long swig, handing it down to Sebastian.
Drinking wine right out of the bottle somehow felt like it was breaking all kinds of rules, but Sebastian lifted it to his lip and took a sip.
As wine poured into his mouth, Sebastian knew instantly that the bottle was not one of the half-decent ones he liked to buy at the grocery store when he was stocking up for wine and cheese. It tastedexpensive.
Taking the bottle, Viggo drank his fill and then put the bottle down, propping it up against his bag so that it wouldn’t tip over.
“I think they’re going to start playing.” Viggo nodded down at the floating stage. The park was getting pretty crowded, and it seemed that there were many people who’d had the same idea as them and brought food to have a picnic.
There were a lot of couples.
A presenter arrived on stage, introducing the orchestra and spending a minute talking about the music program that funded their performance that evening. When they started playing, Sebastian leaned in and listened.
The performers were talented, and Sebastian found himself enjoying the music more than he’d thought he would.
Picking and choosing from the bountiful selection of foods laid out on their laps, Sebastian relaxed against Bjorn’s side and simply let himself enjoy the moment.
Looking down at the stage, Sebastian was suddenly struck by how completely relaxed he was. Burrowed in under Bjorn’s arm and leaning all his weight against him, Viggo’s large hand resting on his thigh, Sebastian was perfectly comfortable and at ease.
If this was what being with Viggo and Bjorn would be like, he wanted it.
