Hunter’s chuckle was more a short exhale. “Yeah, well, I wanted to do something special tonight… for our birthday.” He looked up at Dagger, neck stiff and eyes creased.
Dagger studied him, looking a bit wary, and cut the tension by putting his vodka to his lips.
“Dagger, we’re always going to drive each other nuts, just on the principle of being brothers,” Hunter continued, pulling a hesitant smile out of his twin. “But even though I’m never going to stop calling you on your bullshit”—his grin grew to match Dagger’s, sly and full of deep familiarity—“I don’t tell you enough that I admire a lot about you.”
“Hunt…” Dagger’s voice sank low, tattered around the edges. “You don’t have to…”
“You’re New Nebraska’s number one cop in my eyes,” Hunter carried on over his protests. “You never compromise your morals. You fight like a true jaguar for the underdog, and when you’re on a scent you never quit. And not just in cases. You put the same dedication and passion into everything you care about in life.”
“Here, here,” Bryce cheered, playfully rapping a drum roll on the table.
“To Dagger,” Hunter toasted.
“To Dagger,” Bryce, Serenity, and I echoed, lifting off the booth seats to clink his glass.
Dagger lifted his own glass, his lips pursed and face solemn. “And to you, Hunt,” he croaked, then cleared his throat. “Thanks. I appreciate that, sincerely.” The cocky tilt started to pull again at one corner of his mouth as he straightened his sports coat and said, “And I promise I won’t stop calling you on your—”
His eyes flew wide, and his crystal tumbler slipped in his grasp. Hunter’s arm shot out, but Dagger caught the glass with the tips of his fingers, staring in open-mouthed wonder at his twin. Then, to my utter shock, I caught the sheen of tears shimmering in the detective’s eyes.
“Did… did I really just hear…?” he stammered.
Hunter met his eye and swallowed hard as he looped an arm around Dagger’s shoulders. “Happy birthday.”
Dagger’s free hand raised to touch his temple, and he went still, as if listening to something the rest of us couldn’t hear. “You’re serious?” he asked Hunter once he’d raised his head again.
“Well, I mean, my jaguar needs his brother, too. And the mangy thing wasn’t gonna shut up until I grew some balls and kept my promise to say some things I should have said a long time ago.”
“Your jaguars are talking again?” Serenity cried, pressing praying hands up against her giddy grin.
Hunter nodded, then winced, scrunching one eye. “They’re very happy about it. I forgot how damn loud they get when they’re together.”
Dagger laughed. “You’re just not used to it anymore.” He slapped Hunter’s back. “Don’t worry, you two will mesh again soon. But damn, they really are going at it, aren’t they? How long’s it been? Since we were what… twenty-three?” His smile slipped, and he stared through the windows. The faint reflection of his face took on a deep melancholy. “Mom and Dad, they’d…” He looked around the table, choked up, tilting another mouthful of vodka. “They’d be happy, wouldn’t they, Hunt?”
Leaning back into the upholstery, wiping his eyes with a napkin, Hunter replied, “Yeah, but they wouldn’t have let me separate our animals so long in the first place.”
Dagger made a gruff sound of agreement. “Yeah, we never got their smarts.”
“They did always sniff out a disaster. Well… usually.”
“Yeah,” Dagger huffed through a hard frown. “Missed the most important one.”
“They saw the writing on the wall about what was happening in the US,” Hunter said, for my and Serenity’s benefit, “when this place was just plain old Nebraska.”
“And not many did.” Dagger shrugged. “Of course, there was anti-paranormalism building here, just the same as most countries round the world, but a lot of people couldn’t see it being taken tosuch extremes in the grand old United States, the place called—what did they used to call it? The shining house on the prairie or something like that?”
“The shining city upon a hill,” Hunter said softly. “You remember what Dad used to say about that?”
“Yeah.” A melancholy smile cracked Dagger’s his lips as he circled the bottom of his glass over the tablecloth. “He said, ‘When they find out about us paranormals, it’ll be shining all right. They’ll shine it with our pelts, give them enough time.’” He blew a hard puff and necked the last of his drink, clunking its ice-cube slush down. “Our parents were right about that… but they weren’t right about everything, and dumb kid that I was, I encouraged them to follow their retirement dreams early.”
“What were those?” Serenity’s smile melted, and she picked up Bryce’s hand, bringing it into her lap, crinkles branching from her eyes.
The server brought a plate of Rockefeller oysters, but no one moved to touch it. Bryce murmured that we needed more time to order, and the woman exited with a formal nod as Dagger answered Serenity.
“They wanted to live out their last years in a jaguar’s paradise, in the biggest jungle, the Amazon rainforest, in jaguar form. Away from people, away from hatred, restrictions, prejudice, all that nasty shit they saw on the horizon. Probably sounds crazy to a human—going off to live in a jungle for a better future?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t at all. Living free with no rules, bounding through the jungle, swimming in warm rivers, going wherever you want, doing whatever you want. With a companion you love. It’s not so different from human dreams, in a lot of ways.”
His expression brightened a fraction as he tipped her a smile. “How did I know you’d understand, Cowgirl?” He reached for her, and she curled her fingers around his. He went on, staring into her eyes, “Hunt didn’t like the plan, said there wasn’t time for all theright arrangements, that they needed more research on the location. He said he could keep us all safe here, no matter what. And… I should have believed him. Looking back, I had half a gut feeling he was right. But our parents thought arrangements would be impossible if things blew up like they thought they would, so… I helped them get out of the US, got them passports and all the paperwork behind Hunt’s back.” He looked over at his brother, shaking his head. “Hunt, I’m so—”
