Page 11 of Colin

Dane narrowed his eyes at him, unconvinced. “Are you fucking with me right now?”

Fox’s smirk deepened. “He smells good, doesn’t he?”

That was the understatement of the century. The kid smelled like fresh desert and summer rain, like the very best postmonsoon mornings back when Dane and his twin had lived in the desert on the outskirts of town.

Dane shrugged a shoulder, keeping his face as blank as he could. “Good enough.”

Fox laughed at him, the fuck. “Yeah. Sure. Good enough,” he mocked.

“You know we can’t, like, keep him.” Dane couldn’t believe he was having to say it out loud, but Fox was clearly having a momentary lapse of sanity.

Fox crossed his arms, shrugging lightly. “Why not?”

“Whynot?” Dane ran an agitated hand through his hair. “He’s human! He knows about us.”

“So? He knows about others too. He just said so.” Fox licked his lips. “It’d be nice having dinner at home every once in a while.”

“He’s a waif!” Dane pointed out, thinking of those thin limbs, that wiry body. “If we ate every week, we’d kill him within a month.”

Fox looked at him likehewas the one being unreasonable. “So we just stick to, you know…partial meals. A little snack every now and then. We can supplement. And he said he’d clean.”

That was… maybe a little compelling. Dane glanced around at the hallway, at the dust mites swirling around the overhead light. He sighed. “What’s his deal, anyway?”

Fox shrugged again. “Bites feel good, don’t they? Maybe he’s like a little vampire junkie. Plus, he’s curious as hell.”

Dane didn’t have to ask how Fox knew that. It was obvious just looking at the guy. The way he’d drunk in the sight of them on the porch, like he was clocking every little detail for later. The way he’d tried to peer into their house over their shoulders, as if the two vampires in his way were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Dane gave one last attempt at introducing some sanity to the situation. “What if it’s a setup?”

Fox laughed. “Forwhat? By whom?”

Dane shot him an accusing look. “You just want to fuck him.”

“And you don’t?”

Dane shifted in place. He couldn’t exactly say that. Besides the fact that the guy smelled like everything good in the world, he was also…compelling. That faded blue hair that looked almost pastel, parted in the middle and tucked behind his ears. The matching eyebrow piercing, which maybe was supposed to look punk but just looked…pretty.

Hewas pretty. A delicate nose and surprisingly pale lashes framing sharp, curious eyes, slender wrists encased in a mix of leather bracelets. Sure, his face seemed sort of permanently etched into a scowl, but Dane and Fox had been accused of the same.

It wasn’t that they didn’t knowhowto smile. Most people—vampires, humans, whatever—just didn’t deserve it.

“Dude,” Fox said, clearly losing patience with Dane’s silence. “Come on. This could—this could begoodfor us. We need a little excitement, huh?”

Dane tried not to let his surprise show on his face that his brother was actually voicing that out loud, this subtle boredom that had overtaken them both. They didn’t usually talk about this stuff. Not even when they’d finally decided to leave thatfucking den. There hadn’t been any big heart-to-heart, no unpacking of inner wounds. Partly because there was no need—they each knew how the other felt, always. They couldn’t not with the bond.

And right now Fox was excited—Dane could feel it—for the first time in a long time. It flickered through the bond like little snaps of electricity.

How could Dane deny him, his brother who never asked for anything? Who always acted for Dane and Dane alone?

He couldn’t. It was as simple as that.

“All right,” he conceded. “Why the fuck not?”

Fox clapped a hand on his shoulder before opening the door.

Dane had to stop himself from crying out a curse when there was no one in front of it. He hadn’t realized until that moment just how much he’d wanted to say yes because where the fuckwasthe strange human? Dane’s devil was practically howling inside him, enraged that they’d let the sweet-smelling creature get away from them. They needed to run after him, to chase, tohunt—

A familiar creak sounded out, and Fox and Dane both turned in unison to see the kid slumped on their porch swing, rocking it gently with his toes. “Hey,” he greeted calmly, his voice the same soothing monotone it had been for their entire previous conversation. “You guys hash it out? Decided whether I’m friend or foe?”

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