Page 77 of Colin

twenty-two

Dane

The car’s impact had Dane staggering backward, but he managed to stay on his feet. A quick glance to the right confirmed Fox had as well, and he was already at the driver’s door, dragging the guy who had to be Robert out of his seat.

Luckily the car hadn’t worked up to highway speeds or they would have been flattened.

Sharp stabs of pain from multiple directions let Dane know his wrist was fucked and he had, at the very least, a few broken ribs. Whatever. Vampire healing would take care of those by the end of the day. Any number of injuries would have been worth it—anything to keep them from taking Colin.

Colin.

Dane could sense him in that car—he would swear he could. Their human. His fear and his relief.

Serena was exiting the passenger’s seat, disheveled but unfortunately unharmed, her eyes wide and pleading. “Oh, thank God! He—he grabbed me. He’s been following me all along. I should have known.”

“She’s lying,” came Colin’s voice from inside the car, surprisingly level. “She’s a fucking monster.”

Dane could have already guessed, but he was so relieved to hear Colin’s voice that he’d paused in his tracks.

His split second of inattention cost him.

Serena had him flat on his back in an instant, her nails clawing at his face. Fuck, those things were sharp. Dane grabbed at her wrists, halting their trajectory before she could get at his eyes. He jammed a knee up to roll them over, but before he could, she was ripped out of his grasp.

He blinked into the sun to make out Luc holding Serena by the neck, shaking her like a wayward pup. His vampire face was back out, and he had Jamie at his side. Apparently those visions didn’t keep the green-haired punk down for long.

Dane didn’t wait to see how they’d fare with her. He leaped off the pavement and ran to the back door of the car, yanking it open. There was Colin, wide-eyed and panting, with blood and tear tracks on his beautiful face.

Dane’s devil was already roiling with rage, but now itscreamedinside him.Our mate is INJURED.

But Dane couldn’t let anger get the best of him. He needed to get Colin safe. “C’mon, baby,” he urged, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Out of the car.”

Colin blinked at him. “I can’t run.”

Fuck, were his legs broken? Dane swallowed down a cry. “Then I’ll carry you.”

“No.” Colin shook his head dazedly. “I can’tescape. She compelled me. I keep trying, but it’s like my body won’t move.”

Dane got one arm behind Colin’s back and one under his knees. “Like I said, I’ll carry you.”

“No.” Colin pushed at him, still resistant. “The kid first.”

He tilted his head to the side, and Dane looked over to see—for the first time—that there was a small boy on the opposite sideof the back seat. He’d been so focused on Colin it hadn’t even registered. Fuck. Colin would never let him help until the kid was safe, would he?

Dane let out a harsh breath and forced himself to step back from his injured mate. He ran to the other side of the car and hauled the small boy out and into his arms. The kid was completely silent, his eyes shining with unshed tears, but he wasn’t bleeding anywhere that Dane could tell.

Small mercies.

Dane searched around. There. Their neighbor Mrs. Brown was on her porch, in her Bermuda shorts and polo, her mouth hanging open with shock.

Good enough.

Dane let his human face resurface as he ran up, dropping the kid gently at her feet. “Take him inside,” he instructed. “Call the police. Tell them there’s been a kidnapping.”

It wasn’t like the police would hold out all that well against two hostile vamps, but with any luck, by the time they arrived, those two would be secured, and it would only be a matter of some deft compulsion to make the rest of it go away.

Mrs. Brown stared at him, her mouth still agape. “Wha-What’s going on? Dane? Honey?”

Dane looked to the street. The car was stalled in the middle of it, its front bumper crumpled from where he and Fox had stopped it. Fox had Robert in a headlock, and at some point, Jay and Alexei had arrived, Alexei moving to help Fox in his efforts. Luc and Jamie were still grappling with Serena by the car.

---