Poker Night by Nalini Singh Page B

Jules did so with a serious expression on his face. And so the game continued, with Nate bowing out in favor of guiding the twins. He’d half-expected them to become bored, but they were fascinated all the way through, and Julian crowed in delight when Roman took the pot.
    Grinning his thanks at the others around the table as Dorian exchanged the chips for cash, he pushed back his chair. “Right, off to bed or your mom will never leave me alone with you two again.”
    This time, they didn’t argue or attempt to stay behind, knowing that tone in his voice. Discipline was as important to young predatory changelings as affection, and his leopard knew instinctively when they needed a stronger hand—as it knew when they needed room to give in to the wildness within. Because they weren’t human, were changeling, their leopards an integral aspect of their nature.
    “’bye everyone!” Julian said, helping Roman carry his loot.
    Getting them up to their room, he watched them deposit that loot in the shared piggy bank that sat on the table between their twin beds. He and Tamsyn had offered to buy two, but after a quick conference, heads together, the boys had decided they’d be better off pooling their funds.
    Now, having made a last visit to the bathroom, they climbed into bed without help, but waited for him to pull the blankets up. Leaning down, he kissed each one of his sons in turn, smoothed the silky softness of their hair, his heart so huge with love that it was an ache in his chest. “No sneaking downstairs this time.”
    “Yes, Daddy.”
    Smiling at the sweet chorus, he turned off the light—no leopard needed it to see in the dark—and walked out, leaving the door open so he’d hear them if they called out. “Goodnight, boys.”
    He knew if he came back in an hour, he’d find them in the same bed, curled up together in leopard cub form, claws carefully retracted to avoid damaging the superhero sheets they’d received from their grandmother.
    However, close as they were as siblings, they’d already developed unique personalities of their own. Julian was a bundle of energy, outspoken and with his leopard an inch from his skin, while Roman was a planner, an intensity to him that said he had a thousand thoughts going on in that small head of his.
    Together, they were hell on wheels. Jules came up with the “brilliant” ideas, while Rome figured out how to put those ideas into practice. Nate grinned, shaking his head at the way they’d not only retrieved the food coloring from the very   back   of the highest shelf in the pantry—their mother hadn’t been born yesterday—but created their own mud using soil dug up from one of the gardens Tamsyn had let lie fallow this year. His cubs weren’t stupid. They knew if they dug in their mother’s neatly kept vegetable patch, they’d be in so much trouble they wouldn’t get out of it until they were teenagers.
    Stifling a laugh, he pulled out his cell phone and skimmed down to the photo he’d taken of them before turning on the hose. Naked as the day they’d been born under the scarlet mud, arms flung around each other’s shoulders, they grinned in open glee at the camera. “That’s my boys.” He knew the twins would grow out of this kind of mischief as they got older, but Nate hoped they’d never lose their trust in, and love for one another.
    About to head down to the living room to rejoin the others, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his hand. The incoming message made his lips curve.
    How many times did our gorgeous babies sneak out of bed? Did you kiss them goodnight for me?
    Just once, and yes.
    Did you save a goodnight kiss for me?
    I saved two.
    Charmer. I love you. Be home in an hour.
    “Forty-five minute warning,” he said, sliding away the phone as he walked through the living room doorway.
    “In a hurry?” Bastien drawled, a very feline glint in his eye.
    “No offense, Bas, but you’re not my idea of a dream date.” As the others