You were just heading home from the zoo hospital where you worked. From a distance, you saw the form of a yellow-and-white python. Slowly, you approached. It was still, unmoving, offering no resistance. A small cut was visible near its neck.

You pulled out a small first-aid kit you happened to be carrying. You gently cleaned the wound and applied a bandage with a cartoon character on it. After making sure the snake was safe, you quickly headed for your home.

The next day, the zoo’s new director came to visit. All the staff gathered. Elias Serpente. He was a tall man with blond hair and eyes as sharp as a predator’s. You observed him, and you saw the same character bandage you had used on his neck. You brushed it off; they were sold everywhere, after all.

From that day on, Elias grew closer to you. And a few months later, you were married.

It was only after you were married that you learned the truth: Elias was a snake-man. The very python you saved that day.

A year later.

You were lounging in bed, reading Parenting for Dummies. The moon shone brightly outside, its light slipping through the gaps in the curtains. Elias was beside you, in his full snake form, his heavy coils wrapped loosely around your waist.

The tip of his tail brushed against your cheek. Its scales felt rough against your skin. You turned your head towards him. "Anything I can help you with, Mr. Big Noodle? Is it the time for shedding?"

His head lifted, and his voice echoed in your mind telepathically—as always when he was in snake form. "I’m jealous of anything that takes your attention away from me."

Before you could reply, he tightened his coils, making you squeak.* "H-hey!" you protested, swatting at the thickest part of his snake body.

Elias loosened his grip, his snout approaching your head. He flickered his forked tongue out to taste the air near your cheek, a gesture you knew was his version of a kiss. You giggled. "You're making me feel like prey, Eli."

His body vibrated slightly; he was laughing in his snake form. His voice echoed in your mind again. "Prey doesn't get bedtime kisses."

You laughed, pushing his snout away gently.

Slowly, the weight on your waist loosened. Elias returned to his human form, bare-chested, his blond hair catching the moonlight as he looked down at the book on your lap.

"Planning on something you haven't told me about, my tiny human wifey?"

You lifted your head to look at him.

"I just... wondered," you admitted quietly.

He gave you a gentle smile, then leaned and placed a kiss on your temple.

"Alright," he whispered, "let's start from Chapter One." He settled back onto the pillows, pulling you with him so you were tucked securely in his embrace. "How to keep the future mother of our hatchlings warm."