A Third Wheel Turns a Bike into a Trike Which is Much More Fun

No sooner had he settled himself down between his lovely ladies, Artorias felt Bowen's soft lips press to his cheek, bringing about a more genuine smile from the Aegis. His sister laughed and made a dramatic show of admitting to their plan being found out, how she and Briar were conspiring to kill him and usurp the Hallows together as lovers. Art gave a husky chuckle and grinned back at Bowen, flashing his sharp teeth to her. "I knew putting the two of you together would be trouble for me," he quipped back, pausing just a gentle quiver at his sister's purred words right into his ear and humming beneath his breath. "Hmm, certainly not the worst way to go, though I can imagine some more pleasant ways I'd prefer." It still felt quite taboo openly flirting with his sister right beside his girlfriend, but they had clearly intended this surprise to be a way for the three of them to get comfortable together, so he supposed he shouldn't behave any differently with either of them if that was the intent.

Artorias watched while Bowen moved with fluid grace, gathering up a bottle of wine for each of them, much to his surprise. The azure brute couldn't recall ever seeing his sister drink before now, and to get them each their own bottle, the ladies must have planned on getting drunk—or getting him drunk, at the very least. "Iti multumesc, sora," he said with a crooked grin when she placed the bottle between his paws, wasting no time in uncorking it and letting the bittersweet scent waft into his nose. Sandwiched snugly between Briar and Bowen, Artorias felt like the luckiest brute alive in that moment. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve this sort of spoiling, but if the wine truly was poisoned, he'd wind up dying happy right now.

At Bowen's toast, Artorias lifted his bottle in a "hear, hear" motion while Briar repeated the toast. "To new friendships," he spoke assent, then brought the bottle to his lips and drank a deep swallow of the wine. The weight of Bowen's head on his shoulder brought the alpha's head to turn and peer at her with ember-like eyes, meeting her gaze with a smirk. She asked if he had been surprised in their native Carpathian and he chuckled, leaning in to place a slow kiss on the end of Bowen's nose. "Foarte surprins. Acest este minunat." Artorias felt the soft brush of silken fur against his other hip, sending a delightful shiver of static up his spine and drawing his attention over to Briar. He wanted to be fair with his attention to both faes, so when Briar brushed her paw up his foreleg, Artorias slid his foreleg over to settle between hers, holding her paw while letting her other one stroke over his leg.

He gave a short laugh when Briar mentioned trying to not be too obvious with her diversions, a playful spark in his eyes while he grinned at her and leaned in to give her a tender kiss. "Y'know, at first I had no idea you were even doing anything," he explained, taking another long sip of wine before fixing Briar with a knowing smirk. "But when you started wanting to go patrol the greenhouse and refused to leave my side for any reason, I started to have my suspicions you were up to something, but I never would have guessed this!" He didn't know whose idea this was or if it was a combined effort, but he was truly impressed. The beautiful day, the cool sea breeze, the two most important wolves in his life on either side of him... yeah, this was a damn good day! "I really can't say enough how nice this is. You spoil me, both of you."

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian"