Behind him, Ty rubbed his eyes. “Oh God, now I’m actually agreeing with him.”
Cameron shifted his weight to peer around Julian at Ty. “Excuse me?”
Ty looked up and waved a hand at the airport around them. “Sharks eat fish, right? Or seals or… whatever. But if a seal is afraid of a shark on sight, then the shark will never get close enough to the seal to do anything.”
Julian was nodding, looking moderately surprised that Ty knew what he’d been talking about. “What he’s saying is if the prey recognized the predator as a danger, they would instantly flee. So the shark regulates its behavior. The majority of the time, a shark swims peacefully through schools of its prey, never causing trouble, never being pegged as a danger, barely noticed by the very things it hunts.”
Cameron looked back and forth between them. “So… if you’re not a shark, then what are you?”
Julian winced, and to Cameron’s surprise, he flushed as he looked down at his shoes. “I’ve always associated myself more with a lion,” he mumbled.
“I’ll buy that,” Ty said as he stepped away from the counter so Cameron could see him more fully.
“I’m not convinced,” Cameron said, crossing his arms. He looked over his shoulder at Zane. “Does Julian look like a lion to you?”
“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it’s stupid,” Zane said, mimicking Julian’s way of speech, before stepping up to order his food.
Cameron turned back to Julian. “Well?”
“Big cats are the only predators on earth who are known to kill for fun,” Ty provided almost merrily.
“Meow Mix,” Zane said over his shoulder in a flat tone.
“You said that before, at the apartment,” Cameron remembered. “When Ty picked up Wesson.”
“Wait, he picked up Wesson?”
Cameron nodded.
“How?”
“Grady has a codependent relationship with big cats.”
“Why?”
“One tried to eat me,” Ty said, the answer flippant.
“Actually, that explains so much,” Zane muttered to himself, looking between Ty and Julian.
Cameron rolled his eyes. “Why a lion, Julian?”
“They’re large and territorial. They’re feared on sight no matter if they’re hunting or sunning on a rock. They take advantage of environmental factors to hunt and kill their prey. And they occasionally go rogue.”
“And start killing for fun,” Ty finished with a flourish of his hand.
Cameron turned up his nose. “And what about you, Mr. Killing for Fun?”
“I don’t kill for fun.”
“I meant what are you? A bulldog?”
Zane let out a sharp bark of laughter. Ty grunted at them both, no longer enjoying the game now that he was the focus.
Julian turned to look at him. He nodded as if coming to a decision. “You see, Cameron, of us all, Agent Grady is the real shark.”
Ty looked at Julian in outrage.
Cameron narrowed his eyes, studying Ty, trying to fit the description Julian gave earlier to what he’d seen of Ty. Julian and Zane both turned heads with their imposing dark looks and brooding auras. They were both somber and controlled. Like sharks patrolling their territory as they weaved through a crowd. Ty, though, sort of struck Cameron as a playful puppy in comparison, flopping along, cracking jokes, handsome face usually open and smiling.
Maybe Julian was right.
“Do you play poker?” Cameron asked Ty.
“Sometimes,” Ty answered distractedly, still looking at Julian. “What the hell do you mean, I’m the shark? I’m not a shark!”
“You’re a shark,” Zane said as he turned away from the counter with a drink in hand, though his words sounded begrudged.
Ty gave him a wounded look, and Cameron almost felt sorry for him.
Julian nodded, satisfied. “Of all of us, he’s the one someone in trouble would approach for help,” he told Cameron. He waved a hand at Ty. “He doesn’t seem outwardly dangerous, in fact, quite the opposite. So the wounded little fishies just swim right up to him.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Ty grunted, shoulders tightening.
“But he has probably killed more people than myself and Agent Garrett combined.”
“Now you’re just being mean,” Ty muttered.
Zane shrugged. “You remember what Clancy said. You go around bitching and people still like you because you’re charming. You can’t help yourself.”
“You’re not helping, Zane!”
“Maybe Ty’s a big cat too,” Cameron said, not comfortable with the talk of kill counts and still feeling sorry for Ty and the wounded look in his eyes. Maybe Ty really was a shark, dangerous and dashing and still managing to make Cameron feel sorry for him.
“No,” Julian murmured, still looking at Ty. “He’s a shark.”
Cameron glanced to Zane. “What about him?”
“I was born in the year of the horse,” Zane said. He was leaning against the counter, waiting for their order.
“You’re not a horse,” Ty told him, sounding truly offended by the entire conversation now.
“I think maybe… a bear. A big grizzly bear,” Cameron said as he studied Zane.
“A bear fits,” Julian agreed.
“A bear?” Zane shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
Ty was silent, looking at Zane with narrowed eyes. “Oh!” he said suddenly, pointing at his partner. “He’s an elephant!”
Julian looked back at Ty and then at Zane, almost laughing, but then he nodded in surprise again. “That’s… disturbingly fitting.”
Cameron had to laugh when he saw the look on Zane’s face. He was staring at his partner in clear disbelief. “An elephant?” Zane said.
“They’re killers, man,” Ty told him, voice trembling with laughter.
“As much as I hate to agree with him,” Julian murmured, waving at Ty with a grimace.
“An elephant?” Zane repeated. “What the hell?”
“They lose their tempers and trample and gore and cause mayhem all the time,” Ty said, his voice flippant but his eyes glittering.
Zane crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, glowering.
Cameron cleared his throat and whistled as he turned to look at Julian. Julian was trying desperately not to smile.
“Elephants are unpredictable creatures,” Ty told Zane, voice lower and mockingly earnest.