Page 22 of Colin

“Good,” Fox said firmly. “I’d rather be an outcast than a catty little bitch like Joshua.”

Dane’s lips twitched at that, the almost smile lightening some of the tightness in Fox’s chest. “He is a catty little bitch, isn’t he?”

“We’ll find a place. We’ll make a home. We can do what we want,livehow we want.” Fox waggled his brows. “Fuck who we want.”

They’d realized long ago they both preferred men, but it had only been after turning that they’d discovered the joy in taking a partner together, the rush in placating both their devils at the same time. But they hated bringing partners home, with all the judgmental shits about, who always wanted to joke that Dane and Fox were fucking each other, not just whatever human they’d brought home for the night.

A flash of something like hope crossed Dane’s face before it died just as quickly. “But it’ll only ever be fucking, won’t it?”

“What?” Fox scoffed. “We’re hot. We’re charming. You think we can’t get a boyfriend?”

“I think the chances of someone surviving the shock of dating not just one but two vampires is unlikely. And what if it did work out? We watch them grow old and die?”

“We could always turn them.”

Dane glared at him. “Then we watch them go off and find their fated mate? We’ve already bonded. It won’t be either of us.”

Nothing Dane was saying was untrue, but it wasn’t a problem they were going to solve that very moment. Not with Dane in a mood like this. Fox made a big show of rolling his eyes. “You’re a real downer today, you know that?”

Dane threw a pillow at him.

Fox dodged it easily, then sat at the edge of the bed, giving Dane’s shoulder a poke. “I don’t have all the answers. But I know we’re not gonna find them here. We’re leaving. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

Dane didn’t exactly look enthused, but he did turn off the movie. He cast a sideways glance at Fox. “It really doesn’t bother you?”

Fox shrugged. “What’s to bother me?”

He didn’t share Dane’s natural pessimism. He didn’t know how it was going to work, but he’d decided long ago that fate owed them. And if not? Well, they’d been given a shitty first hand and had made the most of it, all on their own. They’d do it again.

It was them against the world, and Fox knew which one he was betting on.

seven

Dane

It was becoming abundantly clear over the next few days that either Dane and Fox had forgotten quite a bit about how humans best cared for themselves, or their new human roommate was particularly bad at it.

Four days in their house and he didn’t seem to have the normal functions down: he rarely ate anything that could be considered a regular meal, he seemed to drink more caffeine than water, and—as far as they could tell—he hardly slept any more than they did.

“He’s worse than we were living on the streets,” Fox commented at one point, after they watched him stalk, bleary-eyed, down the stairs, grab some cold coffee drink from the fridge, and slink back up at three in the morning.

“Well, he’s still alive,” Dane countered. “So that’s not quite true.”

He also seemed to be avoiding them, which was…irritating, for both Dane and his devil. Colin spent most of his time in hisroom, and he and Fox spent their time like a couple of assholes, listening to his movements with their enhanced hearing.

If they went out, they’d occasionally find him in the living room upon their return, hunched over a comic book or one of his drawings (which he never let them look at), but if they tried to engage, he would retreat back up the stairs with a scathing look. His only consistency, other than his avoidance, was leaving every day at lunch to meet his father, an outing they’d now been told four separate times they weren’t allowed to attend. (Dane had to give his brother credit for continuing to ask. The guy was not easily brushed off.)

Dane found it all a bit concerning. What if Colin had been lying? What if the incident with the bitehadbothered him? Never mind that Colin didn’t seem the type to spare someone’s feelings with a white lie.

And if it had Dane feeling concerned, it clearly had Fox feeling fucking murderous. Dane found him glaring up in the direction of Colin’s room regularly, as if the force of his stare would be enough to levitate Colin down to them.

Dane could relate, really. His inner devil was…restless. It didn’t care that they were relative strangers. It liked when Colin was close—close enough to scent, to touch, to crowd with their bodies. It liked his smell and his voice and his surprisingly pretty face. It was itching under Dane’s skin with this forced distance.

And Fox’s pissy mood wasn’t helping any.

“Hey,” Dane said softly, pushing the porch swing with his feet as they watched the late-night crowd walk by. There weren’t any coeds at the moment, not in the middle of summer—just the locals tough enough not to be scared away by the heat. “Why don’t you go patrol around? See if you can catch any strange scents.”

Fox, slouched down on the other side of the swing, shot him an irritated look. “What for?”

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