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Cece elbowing me in the ribs helped and didn’t.

“Hey!”

They just laughed. Well, it wasn’t a full laugh—too watery—but it was something.

“Do you mind if I hang out here for a bit, Cece?” Tony asked.

“No, Sir!”

I scowled at them on principle.

Tony was busy grabbing the bag with all the containers full of yummy Indian food and spreading them across our coffee table. There was biryani, paneer, curry… It was less food than when I’d used his card to fuck with him, but it was more than the two of us would order on our own.

“Have at it, pups.”

Cece just wiggled on their ass before grabbing a plate and the entire container of spinach paneer for themselves. I should’ve warned Tony they lost their shit over it, but I didn’t want to assume he was going to get us Indian.

“So, Sir.” Apparently, paneer was not enough to keep Cece quiet. That would be my luck. “I was just asking my Alpha what the two of you meant for my dynamic with him.”

They were laying it on thick, too. Cece mostly called me Alpha when they were teasing or when they were feeling extremely horny. It wasn’t an honorific in the same way Sir or Ma’am was. We didn’t attach it at the end of every sentence.

“I don’t know enough about your dynamic to give you an answer.” Tony regarded us both before he spoke again. “When you call him Alpha, does that mean he’s your Dom?”

Cece giggled. “Alpha pups are not like that. Well, yes and no.”

Kill me now.

I stuffed my mouth with as much biryani as I could. I knew we had to talk about this, butfuck. I hadn’t expected it would be like this. It was mortifying.

“Can you explain it to me?”

“Can I?” Cece asked me. I groaned in response. I knew they’d take it as a yes, but I didn’t care enough. “Yay! So. Alpha pups are still subs, but they’re kind of Dominant with every other pup. They make sure everyone’s playing and getting attention, and they herd us together. They roughhouse more, too, and keep an eye out? Omegas do see them as their Doms. Well, some of them do. It’s not like there’s one fixed definition everyone abides by.”

To his benefit, Tony nodded along. He didn’t question it or look derisive of the idea. “But you’re a beta, right? Not an omega.”

Cece nodded. “I’m his second-in-command. So, I do as he says, but I also help him get everyone in line.”

That was a bit of a stretch, but I’d take it. Given how I now apparently stuttered in front of Tony, my explanation was not going to be much better, so… beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“So that’s why you top people together?” Tony rubbed his chin. “You’re helping him get the other subs in line?”

“Yeah.” Cece bobbed their head with way too much enthusiasm. “I can also top alone because I’m, like, higher in the hierarchy. Than an omega. Or a regular beta.”

That part was definitely specific to us and not General Pup Lore, but I was sticking to stuffing my face full of rice.

“Got it.” Tony nodded. I wondered how much he was actually getting, but I appreciated that he was not questioning Cece. I definitely didn’t feel like running to defend them. I would, obviously, but it would annoy me more than usual. “Can I ask another question?”

As if sensing the importance of it, Cece dropped their plate back on the tray and shifted around so they were facing Tony.

After a pointed glance from them, I did the same. Well, I dropped my food back on the tray, but I didn’t turn around. I was in the middle of them anyway. Had to keep an eye on the two of them, if I said so myself.

Neither of them could be trusted.

“Regardless of the physical stuff you two do together, what does your dynamic with Jaime give you?”

Oh boy.

I braced for the answer before Cece could open their mouth.