Page 78 of New Nebraska Heat

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 everyoneabout 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, theyteased 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.

“Yes. All safe. Staying with Teddy Bear and his family for now, while social services try and figure out who they are and how best to help them.” My twin brushed a caring palm over the crown of her head and smiled. “They’re never going back to that hellhole, ever. They’ve got a new chance at life, I promise.”

Her eyes glistening, she stood and walked round to his front, rubbing a cut-free part of his shoulder. “That was an amazing thing you did today, really.”

She knelt in front of him and cupped his neck, swaying closer, and he clasped her cheek, closing the distance for a kiss.