“They will.” He chuckled. “You’re kind of new to this, so it will take some time to learn. The claws on our feet are naturally inhibited in most cases unless we really push it. Probably a genetic adaptation to modern footwear, I guess. Wouldn’t want to shred your shoes every time your claws came out.”
Lana nodded, not taking her eyes off her feet. “That makes sense.”
She pursed her lips as if she was trying to push her toenails to extend regardless of what he’d said. Sighing, she climbed back on the bed and straddled him again, leaning forward so that the tips of her beautiful breasts were pressed against his pecs, her face close to his.
She opened her mouth and tried to look down her nose so she could see her canines as they extended. Then she reached up and pushed down on his chin, opening his mouth.
“Show me yours,” she said, never taking her eyes off his teeth.
He chuckled, making her frown at him with the sexiest look of fanged disapproval he’d ever seen. But he behaved, letting his fangs slip out.
“Whoa.” She tipped his chin this way and that so she could see. “Yours are so much bigger than mine. And before you even go there, I’m not talking about some kind of fang envy here or anything. It’s just that my fangs aren’t even half as long as yours, and you seem to have a lot more of them than I do. Where the heck do they all go when they slide back in? They seem too long to fit.”
He would have laughed at the pure, simple curiosity of her question if it wasn’t for the fact that having her breasts teasing him like this was seriously distracting.
“They slide into curved pockets along the upper and lower jaws. The longer the fangs, the more horizontal those pockets are. That’s why your upper canines are longer than the lower ones—more room to hide them. I’m a slightly different kind of werewolf than you are, so I have more fangs, and they’re bigger. If I need to get even more of them out, my entire jawline can widen to make room. Yours won’t do that. You’re not that kind of werewolf.”
Lana seemed to consider that for a second, and he wondered if he was going to have to explain the whole alpha versus beta thing. He hoped not. Science and medical stuff weren’t his strong suit.
“Okay,” she said, apparently happy with his explanation. “That makes sense. In that whole this-shouldn’t-be-possible kind of way. But why didn’t my dentist see these pockets when he was taking X-rays?”
“When was the last time you went to the dentist?” he asked with amusement, already having a good idea what the answer might be.
She frowned, seeming to put a lot of thought into that question. “Oh wow! I just realized that I haven’t been to the dentist since the accident. After I started going to college, I never thought about it.”
He nodded. “Now that you’re a werewolf, you won’t ever go back to a dentist. Werewolves don’t get cavities.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”
He laughed. “Seriously. And you won’t get colds or the flu or any of the other common illnesses that affect most people. You’ll heal faster from cuts and fractures than a regular person, too. And by the way, you won’t gain weight or get drunk, either, not without a tremendous amount of effort.”
Her eyes widened more with every werewolf advantage he listed. But then her face became intensely serious. “I can still have kids, right? Being a werewolf didn’t change that, did it?”
Max felt something inside his chest expand, making him want to grab Lana and squeeze her until she squeaked like a werewolf chew toy. He settled for reaching up to curl her hair gently around his index finger. He loved her so much it made him dizzy thinking about it. He was wondering if he should say the words, just to make it official, but she repeated her earlier question, reminding him he hadn’t answered it yet.
“You planning on having kids sometime soon?” he asked, a smile creeping across his face.
Lana blushed, which only made her cuter in Max’s opinion. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ve never really given it any thought, until I saw you with Terence and the girls. That’s when I started thinking that you’d make a great dad—when the time is right.”
He tugged her down for a long, soulful kiss where he attempted to convey exactly how much he cared about her—and her idea of future parenthood. Like Lana, he hadn’t really thought about kids very much. In fact, given his screwed-up background, he’d always assumed it would be best if he never did. Too much chance of passing on some abusive gene that no one understood yet. But with Lana, the idea of kids didn’t seem so scary. With her, he thought having children might be the most amazing thing in the world.
Max was still kissing her, his cock taking that as a sure sign they were getting ready for round two—or was it round five?—when Lana quickly pulled back. He was just recovering from the bout of sensual whiplash when he realized Lana was looking at him with those wide eyes of hers again.
“Will our kids be werewolves, too?” she asked, clearly thrilled at the thought.
“Whoa, slow down a little,” he said trying hard not to laugh. “Figuring out who’s going to become a werewolf is kind of complicated. I’ve been one since I was eighteen and part of the Pack now for nearly two years, and I still don’t understand everything about how it all works. All I know is that there’s a gene all werewolves have that switches on and turns them when something traumatic happens. Like the accident you had when you were in high school.”
She frowned a little. “That’s what turned me into a werewolf? I thought I must have gotten bitten or something.”
“Nah. That’s all folklore,” he said. “You should probably talk to Gage or Brooks or any of the older werewolves. They could help answer your questions. Of course, if you’re looking for the scientific details, I’d suggest Triana, Lacey, or Dr. Saunders. Triana is Remy’s mate and works in the medical examiner’s office, Lacey is Alex’s mate and is a veterinarian, and Saunders is the Pack’s doctor. He probably knows more about werewolves than anyone. Except maybe for Gemma. She’s Triana’s mother and has been around werewolves for over twenty years. Her knowledge is a little skewed toward the mystical side of things, though, since she practices voodoo.”
Max was about to say more, but then he realized Lana was lying on top of him with a completely dumbfounded expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to remember what he’d said that could have confused her. It had seemed straightforward to him.
“All of those people you mentioned are werewolves?”
The question came out slow and careful, like she thought it was something she shouldn’t ask. He replayed the conversation in his head again to see if he’d said something strange. If he had, he couldn’t figure out what it had been.
