Page 65 of New Nebraska Heat

“He’s not well. This isn’t the time for playing bad cop.” Serenity swatted his bare leg.

The detective held up his palms in surrender, “I’m sorry, Cowgirl, but I don’t know if I like this guy being so close to you. Not with this obvious bloodlust he’s got going on. For all I know, he’s been saving his thirst for the premium human juice, straight from the source, from someone he’s clearly got googly eyes for—”

“Don’t be so rude!” she said with surprising spunk. “He’s just worn out.”

Dagger fixed his glare on me. “I don’t care if a vamp’s worked 24/7 for the past four weeks. This isn’t burnout from pushing pencils or tapping keyboards. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at her. Like she’s fucking food, right? Come on, spill it, vamp boy. I don’t buy all this goody-goody shit.”

A crescendo of voices stung the air. Three against the detective, telling him in different ways to cool off.

Except, he was right. Fuck it. I needed the weight off my chest anyway. I broke through the bickering voices with a bellow, “She’smy mate! I’m sick because I need her blood. Bravo, detective, you were almost there.”

The loft swam in silence. Serenity slowly let go of my hand, her jaw—and everyone else’s—hanging slack.

The loss of her touch… the hint of aversion crinkling her nose. It seared through me like a jab from a fire poker. “That’s how we’ve been able to read each other’s thoughts,” I explained, forcing myself to reach out to her with my words rather than my hands or our mental link. “Because we’re mates. It’s the only explanation.”

“You read her what?” Hunter’s sympathy had been called away to an urgent meeting. He poked an index finger toward me, the rhythm loosely matching his harsh words. “I don’t want anyone, and I mean anyone, rooting around in her thoughts. Especially not a vampire, after all the shit that’s gone down. And you’renother mate. You understand me?”

Nodding, hoping his anger would cool before he throttled me, I tried to explain. “I have no control about overhearing the thoughts. I don’t—”

“For once, I’m in full agreement with my learned brother. Invading people’s minds is creepy as fuck,” Dagger said. “And it’s stone-cold fact you can’t be her mate.” Dagger slapped his brother’s shoulder in a show of camaraderie. “You know why that is, don’t you, Hunt?”

Hunter beamed, his face glowing with love and pride. “Because she’s my mate—”

“Our mate!”

The twins blurted the words simultaneously, but Hunter rounded on Dagger with snarling contempt. “Ours? You know she’s with me.” Hunter’s words flew out forcefully, as if the sentiments had been bottled up tight.

Dagger threw his arms up in frustration. “We’re twins, dumbass! Sharing a fated mate is pretty damn common.”

The surprise that flickered across Hunter’s face barely made a dent in his fury. “I don’t give a fat fuck,” he growled.

The brothers inched closer to each other, faces grimacing, massive pectorals puffed.

“It’s bigger than both of us,” Dagger ground out. “If you can’t see that, then I don’t know why you read all that boring shit, because you’re still fucking stupid.” He threw out an arm in Serenity’s general vicinity. “Would you really deny her a fated mate? The bond’s already forming. I feel it, she feels it. You can’t sever that! Right, Serenity?”

Both their heads spun her way. Serenity, still on her knees by the couch, blinked up at them, a sitting duck between two angry jaguars.

Hunter held out his arms. “Little Dancer, I’m your mate. You know I am.”

To my shock, she looked at me first, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. Then, with a sheepish grin, she surveyed everyone else in the room, her face deeply flushed. “Um, I think all three of you are amazing. You know that. You’re all so—”

Bryce cleared his throat loudly. Still staring down into his drink, he said to the room, “This may be complicated even further by… my own feelings…”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Dagger roared, tossing up his hands.

Hunter deflated, reeling back a step as he swiveled a softening expression between Bryce and Serenity. He rubbed his jaw. “God, of course,” he murmured, almost too low to hear. “I mean… she can touch you.”

“Huh?” I tried to jerk up my head, making the image of Bryce’s apologetic grimace toward Hunter swim. I groaned, lying back on the pillow as a taut silence stifled the room for several seconds.

“This can’t be happening,” Hunter rasped at last, looking utterly defeated as he raked a hand over his hair. “We can’t all be feeling a mate bond.” He licked his lips and found Serenity’s face withpleading eyes. “A-are you…” He got down on his knees with her, taking her hand. “You and I are connected, we know. But do you… have feelings for them, too?”

“Well, I… I only mean to keep this… um, well, clearly…” Unable to get out whatever she was thinking, Serenity sniffled, wiping a tear that hit her cheek. “Bryce, could I have one of whatever you’re drinking?”

“Of course.” He hurriedly poured her one on the rocks. “It’s strong though, just warning you.”

She slipped her hand free of Hunter’s and stood, dabbing a finger to the corner of one eye. “Good.” Her bracing exhale turned into a nervous chuckle. “Because I don’t know how I’m going to get any of this out without a little liquid courage.”

Serenity