Page 43 of Colin

And then she was leaning over Dane, those sharp canines glinting in the sun. It all looked so real.

Maybe it wasn’t a hallucination. Wouldn’t that be funny?

No, Dane thought as he let out a scream, the pain of her teeth slicing through him cutting through his mental fog.Not a hallucination after all.

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Dane was never quite sure why Amelia had kept her word and turned Fox. She’d hated him from the beginning, acting like he was a nuisance she just couldn’t escape.

Maybe she’d known, somewhere deep down, that it would never work to separate them. That Dane would have found his way back to his brother, one way or another. It didn’t stop Danefrom wondering what Fox’s life could have been like, had he been willing to let Dane go.

Dane set the porch swing rocking again. “You could have stayed human, you know,” he found himself saying. “You would have been fine, eventually. You would’ve gotten back on your feet without my illness weighing you down.”

“I wouldn’t have. With you gone—” Fox shook his head. “She savedbothour lives, turning us. And I don’t fucking regret it, so don’t start.”

Of course he didn’t. Fox did everything for Dane. He’d always protected him. Human, vampire—it didn’t matter. When their parents’ verbal abuse had begun to turn physical, it was Fox who’d stepped in front of Dane, every single time. When they’d left that hellhole to live on the street, struggling to find enough food to eat, it was Fox who’d try to sneak Dane extra, at the cost of his own stomach. And when the den that was supposed to be their new home had turned out to be just as toxic as anywhere else, it was Fox who’d demanded better for them both. For Dane.

People thought Fox was such an asshole, but he was completely selfless when it came to those he cared about.

Although, until Colin, the people he cared about had only included one person.

Dane kicked lightly at Fox’s shin. “You know I don’t regret it either, right? None of it would mean anything, if you weren’t here with me.”

There was a soft pulse of pure contentedness through the bond, and then Fox smirked at him. “Time around the human has made you sentimental.”

“I don’t know if anyone would accuse Colin of sentimentality,” Dane mused.

“Maybe not.” Fox leaned back with a happy sigh. “He’s fucking perfect, isn’t he? But I’ll wait, if you insist. He’s going to ask for it. I know it.”

Dane envied his brother his certainty. He wished he could be so sure.

But no one had ever chosen them before. Not anyone who really knew them. They’d always only chosen each other.

Could they really expect Colin to be any different?

twelve

Colin

Colin stretched slowly and blinked blearily up at the ceiling, noting the quiet surrounding him. He was alone in the bed.

Huh. Were the twins giving him privacy, after how he’d disappeared the last time they’d been…intimate?

He rejected the thought immediately. Those two wouldn’t know the meaning of personal space if it slapped them in the face. They most likely hadn’t wanted to keep him awake with their presence.Theydidn’t need sleep. And how fucking great would that be, to stay awake all night and not suffer all the annoying side effects of insomnia?

Speaking of. Colin grabbed his phone from the bedside table. Two in the morning. Damn. He must have slept almost six hours. Like, in a row.

Was vampire sex an insomnia cure? Was that one of their superpowers? If only they could bottle that up—they’d make millions. Except there was no way to bottle the things Fox and Dane had done to him, the way they’d made Colin feel. Itwas almost too much to remember head-on—Colin could only handle it in little sideways mental glimpses.

Writhing on Fox’s lap while he kissed Colin senseless.

The blindingly gorgeous sight of the two of them undressing for him.

His neck stretched tight while Dane pressed his cock against Colin’s lips.

Giving head had never been Colin’s favorite thing. It wasn’t that he hated the act itself—he’d always found it hot in theory—but it had always brought up too many wayward thoughts. Was he doing it right? Was he enthusiastic enough? Were they bored? Was the guy going to try to fuck his face without his permission?

He’d found it like everything else when it came to sex: disappointing. Impossible to lose himself in.

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