Page 58 of Colin

Fox stayed outside, not in the mood for the small, crowded space. But the café boasted large front windows, and he could spy Dane hovering over Colin’s shoulder, making sure he ordered a pastry to go with his liquid mania.

Why was getting food in that boy’s stomach a battle every time? When he was turned, they wouldn’t have to worry about that—Colin wouldn’t need human food anymore, and his inner devil would lust for blood no matter what. No more half-finished meals or skipped dinners.

I killed people in the beginning, untethered and fresh.

Fox shook Serena’s icy voice out of his head. They wouldn’t let that happen to Colin. They’d teach him control. They wouldn’t give him cause for regret.

They’d pull his fangs out of the humans themselves if they needed to.

Speaking of. Fox held a hand to his stomach—it wasn’t growling, but it might as well have been. He and Dane would need to hunt properly soon. They’d been taking too little off Colin to really sate themselves, fearful of overdoing his blood loss—it would become a problem if they didn’t deal with it.

He tried to focus on that, the delicious anticipation of the hunt, the satisfaction he’d get filling his belly with a full, copper-coated meal. But the conversation in that hotel room had left him unsettled and jittery. Thehatredthat woman had for her husband. Not that it wasn’t well deserved. That guy sounded like a lunatic. But…

Would Colin resent them like that, if they turned him without a bond? Without a mate?

Mate, his devil purred, latching onto the word. The stupid thing had gotten positively chatty since Colin had entered their lives.

You’re already bonded, Fox reminded it in his head.

Mate, it insisted, like a dog with a fucking bone.

It wasn’t the first time Fox had considered it, if he was being honest. He’d tried to resist naming it, tried to keep from getting his hopes up. It was easier to just think of Colin astheirs. But…could Colin possibly belong to them in that way?

Could Fox trust the dumb animal instinct inside him?

But how dumb could it really be? It had bonded him to Dane, the person he loved most in this fucked-up world. The other half of Fox’s soul. Or maybe he should recalculate. Maybe it was the other third…

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see Jamie’s name flashing on the screen. Or, to be more accurate, the name Fox had given him in his contacts:Green-haired dickhead.

He pressed the phone to his ear, already annoyed. “What?”

“Hello to you too, sunshine.”

Fox didn’t dignify that with a response, waiting the kid out.

Jamie gave in quickly enough. “So, uh, my sister told me something.”

“Let me guess,” Fox drawled. “She has a crush on a boy at school.”

Jamie gave an unamused laugh. “She does, actually. But no, I already knew that. She’s part of this summer buddy program. There’s an elementary schooler she does crafts with—supposed to build self-confidence for both parties or some shit.”

Fox almost wished they were face-to-face so he could show Jamie with a look how incredibly unimpressed he was with this interlude. “Does this story have a fuckingpoint?”

“I’m getting there, asshole. Her little buddy told her something today. There was a guy watching the pool where he was swimming with his family this morning. Guess he was giving people the creeps big time. Staff called the cops and everything.”

Fox stilled. “And did the cops find him?”

Jamie snorted into the phone. “’Course not. Luc and I went to check it out though. Smelled like vampire on the outskirts. What we could get through the chlorine, anyway.”

Fox glanced in the window of the café. Dane and Colin were lingering at the counter, talking close together as they waited for their drinks. “And it was a man they saw? Not a woman?”

“Um.” Jamie paused on the other end. “Why would it be a woman?”

Fox told him a condensed version of what they’d found at the resort, and Jamie hummed thoughtfully. “You think we can use her to lure him out? I’m worried we’re running out of time here. The guy could choose another kid at any moment, and who knows if we’ll be fast enough to catch him before he splits town.”

Fox considered Serena, that rage she was barely keeping under the surface. “I think she’ll do anything if it means a chance to kill him.”

“Excellent. Hey, how’s my boy?”

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