Chapter 35
Hunter
An afternoon of tranquility was worth its weight in gold.
Stretching back on my favorite couch with Carrot in my lap, I sipped at chocolate-dappled decaf froth and turned another page of Seneca’s brilliant essay On the Shortness of Life as I mulled over the past week’s events and interactions.
While Dagger had healed, I’d made myself scarcer than usual, going into the club to school Vance in his new bar manager role.
I’d still been around for some evenings of card games and relaxing.
The past several days had been surprisingly free of craziness, but far from boring. As New Nebraska’s temperature plummeted, the heat inside my apartment was steadily rising from all the increased contact between Serenity, myself, and the others, who still proclaimed she was their mate.
Serenity passed out affection to everyone with increasing ease and frequency.
I was so proud of her. But while I enjoyed watching her confidence blossom, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
I loved being on the receiving end, but when someone else got a kiss or a loving touch, my chest tightened with…
Murderous jealousy? No. Not even toward my brother, who had actually started making real efforts to get along with us other guys—not always with perfect success, of course.
The ugly, thorny thing that wrapped itself around my ribs was more like a desperate gasp disguised as a growl—a sharp sound of outrage that would spike through my head and cry, “But I was first!”
I silenced it because everyone else was trying. And I truly loved having more company around, especially Bryce and Seb.
Bryce was the top-shelf sibling I should have had, and that hadn’t changed—despite him and Serenity sometimes curling up tight together on the couch for hours-long naps, like newborn puppies.
Seb was not only an ideal roommate but a genuinely interesting guy.
He could hold a conversation on almost any topic—whether it be sophisticated dialogues about politics and classic literature or the latest pop culture gossip and little-known tidbits about comic book characters.
He made for great meal-time company, even if my mind sometimes wandered to the less pleasant side of his diet and how Serenity had somehow gotten wrapped up into it.
Of course, Bryce and Seb had gotten downright buddy-buddy with my peacock of a brother.
Not even my twin could be a dick to someone who’d risked his life to save his own, so he and Bryce had rekindled their banter from old times.
Seb was a real fanboy for the brave, streetwise detective, and with his ego well-fed, Dagger had come around to the kid.
They’d developed a habit of late-night gaming sessions on my couch after Serenity had gone to bed.
I actually enjoyed grabbing a nightcap and watching them play their dungeon crawler campaign, entertained by Seb’s near-constant narration of strategy and game lore, sometimes with voice-acting for their characters.
What really kept me positive about the whole arrangement was seeing Serenity really begin to shine, polished to radiance by all the gentle and affirming affection she’d been getting.
No more flinching at a man’s sudden moves, fewer nightmares.
She’d even asked me to kiss her neck last night as we’d lain curled together, whereas before, that area had been strictly off limits.
For that reason alone, I’d tolerate Dagger.
We’d cross more bridges when we came to them.
In any case, I was still the one whose bed she slept in, the one who got to hear her groggy, happy thoughts as she drifted off in my arms. She’d gushed over our day feeding the ducks, and now each night, she’d giddily talk about where the five of us should go tomorrow.
Planning those day trips would roll into telling me all the places she wanted to go, the landmarks and art she wanted to see, and with each passing night, I knew with more surety that when she left, I’d leave everything here and go with her if she’d have me.
But that was the kicker, wasn’t it? Would she want any piece of New Nebraska following her into the new life she dreamed about?
My phone thrummed with a call against my thigh, and I slipped it out to see it was Bryce.
I clinked my coffee cup down on its saucer and answered.
“Hey, Bryce Wayne, what’s up? You in the Batmobile again?
” From the horn toots and engine revs, I could tell he was stuck in traffic.
“When you gonna get yourself a helicopter and escape the rabble?”
“I’ve already got a helicopter, wise ass,” he replied. “And a jet. Got them last year. I can’t find any pilots I trust as much as Gerald though. I didn’t tell you?”
“Ah yeah, I think I remember you mentioning that in passing now. You’re a spoiled, rich fuck, you know that?”
We both laughed. This guy and his casual purchases. No doubt, if New Nebraska had had any lakes big enough, Bryce would have bought a superyacht on a whim and then barely used it.
“Says the guy hanging legendary pirate’s swords on his luxury loft wall. Anyway, I just wanted to double check with everyone about the evening wear before I confirm with the tailors. You liked the white-jacket tux, right?”
Bryce, being far too free with his cash as always, had arranged for the city’s most exclusive tailors—a chirpy elemental married couple—to make a house call last night, with their measuring tapes and material samples, for next weekend’s charity ball.
I’d gone for white because it brought to mind the James Bond movies I’d watched as a teen.
And it would also distinguish me from my twin who’d be in his black tux and probably misbehaving.
“Yeah, white was nice. No red poppy on the lapel though. I’m not a flower guy, fake or not.”
“Okay, no poppy. So, Dagger was all black, including the shirt, right? And Serenity’s going for the rose satin gown?”
“Yeah, both correct. Like you’d ever forget a detail. How about the kid? I can’t remember.”
“I spoke to him earlier. He’s sticking with the navy-blue jacket. I get the feeling he wants to go as far from the vamp look as possible.”
That was another possible issue in this four-way living situation.
Seb being half vamp. Dagger had been extracting Serenity’s blood every other night.
More than twenty-four hours without it, and the kid started looking green in the gills again.
But I kept wondering if at some point he’d ask to stick his fangs in my mate.
My jaguar and I weren’t fans of that idea at all.
I doubted Serenity would ever agree to it, and I had an inkling Seb knew it. So we’d cross that bridge if we ever came to it.
“You coming over today?”
“My schedule’s packed with meetings. But I’ll be sure to make it over for dinner.”
“Serenity texted me earlier. She’s asking for steak, though I think she’s thinking of us.”
“No problem. I’ll get those prawns she likes just in case. And I’ll get some chateaubriand, tomahawk, T-bone. We’ll do a beef buffet.”
“Okay, great. You bring it, I’ll cook it. Deal?” I asked wryly.
“Ha, you’re a good cook, but you’d better step the hell aside for the master chef.”
We chatted a bit more then hung up. I sipped my coffee and checked my watch. Dagger had gone back to work today, and he’d said he’d be back before dinner.
Of course, he was usually late. Like when he’d half-hobbled to that volunteer shelter a few nights ago, driving Seb and Serenity there in his unmarked police SUV, wanting to keep a jaguar’s eye on her while I popped down to my club for a couple of hours’ showing face and shaking members’ hands.
Dagger had made quite a positive impression on Seb’s human mom, according to Serenity. Seb’s mom was apparently pretty comfortable with our sharing experiment, telling my mate that more New Nebraskans had relationships like ours than you’d think.
Serenity had been blushing and rambling a little as she told me. I’d nodded and smiled in genuine reassurance.
Then slapped her ass and told her to get ready for bed.
I poured another cup of decaf, then dipped back into my Seneca essay.
Stoic focus—a habit I’d picked up after losing my parents—was one of the only things that made it possible to be apart from Serenity without going crazy.
That, and the rhythmic purr of Carrot on my chest. Soon, we were snoozing together.
Rubbing my eyes, I woke to a loft full of frantic voices, and Carrot launching herself off my chest to hide beneath the couch.
I was met by the sight of my twin, shirtless, swathed in bruises and wounds.
Serenity, Bryce, and Seb were fussing over him as he perched amidst bundles of towels, hunched forward on my loft’s largest armchair.
Seb rushed back and forth from the kitchen with basins of hot water and bandages.
Disinfectant from my first aid kit flooded the air with its medicinal seaweed odor while Bryce and Serenity dabbed at cuts with soaked cotton swabs.
Together, they teased blade-like shards of wood from Dagger’s back and side.
Bryce’s designer, skintight driver’s gloves were dribbling with crimson.
Dagger had been in a hell of a scrape.
I wasn’t worried though, not like the others.
I knew jaguar capabilities. If only they’d seen what I—and sometimes, Dagger—had once done in an underground ring every Saturday night.
My twin was just like me, a rugged animal who was fucking hard to kill.
Sore today, sure, but he’d heal quickly.
Those burns had been pretty horrific. But this?
Two or three days max, and he’d be back to normal.
“So, they’re all in police protection now then?” Serenity asked as she slowly slid out a particularly nasty looking splinter from his lower back.