Page 114

Colin

“ G ood God, Jay, how do you eat this stuff?” Colin pushed away his bowl of the cereal Jay had brought with him, some overly sweet culinary travesty clearly designed to tame wayward children by driving them into a sugar coma.

“Iff fo good tho’,” Jay argued through a mouthful of the stuff. He swallowed and tried again. “You don’t like it? Soren says it’s the best.”

“Soren has a sweet tooth to rival your own, short stack. He’s not exactly a reliable witness.”

Jay hummed noncommittally, shoveling another spoonful into his mouth.

“Girl talk” had gone on for a few more hours, as Jay had caught Colin up on all the vampires in Hyde Park, how they’d come to be and how they’d found their mates, before Jamie had declared Luc was getting antsy—he hadn’t so much as looked at his phone, so Colin had to assume that knowledge had come from his bond—and fled back home.

At that point, Colin had felt like it was pointless to sleep.

He was paying the price for that now, his head horribly fuzzy and his limbs heavier than they should be, but maybe he could talk the twins into a nap later.

Not that they’d need much convincing. All he’d really have to do was walk into the bedroom and they’d be right behind him. Stalkers.

Speaking of…

Colin side-eyed the three hulking forms standing around the kitchen table. The twins he was used to by now, but the other—

“Does Alexei always just watch you eat like this?”

“No.” Jay directed a loving smile at his mate. “He usually eats with me, especially if we made something together. Or— Oh! This might be useful to you now! So what you do is—” Jay leaned in conspiratorially but failed to lower his voice even remotely. “You take a can of whipped cream—”

Colin held up his spoon defensively. “This better not be leading to any sort of mention of Alexei’s dick,” he warned.

Jay sat back, his eyebrows raised. “Why not? It’s an extremely nice one. Soren is always very interested when I bring it up.”

Colin cocked his own brow at Alexei, who was looking completely unfazed by the direction of the conversation. “You don’t mind Soren hearing all about your dick?”

Alexei shrugged a broad shoulder. “Jay can talk to his friends however he wants. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Colin couldn’t help it; his eyes drifted downwards, all the way to…

“Don’t look at his dick,” Fox growled, shoving a granola bar into Colin’s hand. “You look at our dicks.”

Jay stopped smiling adoringly at Alexei to frown at Fox. “I don’t see a ring on his finger!” he yelled, completely nonsensically, before turning to Colin. “Don’t listen to him. You can look at Alexei’s dick.” He cocked his head in thought. “Although, maybe not naked. Naked Alexei is just for me.”

Colin was saved from having to process any of that by the sound of the doorbell.

Dane let out a heavy sigh as Fox swore loudly and left the kitchen to answer it. “Since when are we the goddamn Tucson social club?”

“You don’t have any other friends coming, by any chance?” Colin asked Jay, who’d gone back to shoveling cereal in his mouth like his vampire body actually needed the calories.

“No. Danny and Gabe’s mom was having a bad few weeks, so they wanted to stay close.

And Wolfe told me he’d rather stab a rusty spoon in his eye than go on some”—Jay dropped his spoon to make air quotes with his fingers—“‘half-baked children’s adventure,’ but I think he was being a little melodramatic. ”

Wolfe had been one of the locals whose vampirism was not exactly a surprise. He’d given Colin the creeps from the beginning. But his boyfriend, Eric, was chill enough, now that he wasn’t trying to lure Colin or anyone else with a pulse into bed with him every time he came to the café.

Fox came back to the kitchen, Serena behind him.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Dane asked, belligerently enough that Colin had to double-check to make sure it hadn’t been Fox speaking. Apparently they really didn’t like having strange vamps in their territory, even nonhostile ones.

“The green-haired one told me you’d be here,” Serena said airily, seemingly unconcerned by the lack of welcome. “I’ve been spreading my scent around town for my husband to catch.”

Dane straightened from where he’d been leaning against the counter. “And you’re spreading it here ?”

“Relax.” Serena’s nose wrinkled. “He’s not going to approach a house so clearly reeking of vampires.”

“Hi!” Jay waved from the table. “We haven’t met. I’m Jay! I don’t live here.”

After introductions were made, Serena got down to business. “The neighborhood pool where the little sister saw him before—that’s where I’ll wait for him. You should all arrive well before me if you’re planning an ambush—the chlorine should mask your scents, at least at first.”

Colin frowned. “Won’t there be kids there?”

Serena’s sharp gaze drifted over to him. “That’s the whole point. He’s wary of me after our previous…altercations. I’m hoping finding me staring longingly at the children will lead him to believe I’ve been softened by sentimentality.”

That seemed like sketchy logic at best, but maybe Colin was too sleep-deprived to get it. He waited for someone else to protest, but the twins were nodding along.

Colin would just have to trust his vamps to make sure no one got hurt.

“It should be easy enough to lead him somewhere secluded,” Serena continued.

“And then…” She slid a finger across her throat, looking like some sort of caricature of a mob wife.

“We’ll have the numbers on him, especially with these two newcomers.

” She looked to Fox. “Although, I assume you’re leaving your precious human at home? ”

“No,” Colin started to say, just as both twins let out a resounding, “Yes.”

Fox glared at him fiercely. “We’re not risking anything happening to you.”

Colin straightened, ready to argue, but a small hand settled on his arm. “Colin,” Jay said. “You’re still human. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you. I really couldn’t.”

Colin swallowed hard. He could pretend, with the twins, that they were pulling some macho card to keep him out of the action. But he knew, with Jay, it wasn’t about machismo or any other toxic bullshit. It was purely about caring for someone and not wanting to see them get hurt. “Fine. I’ll stay.”

“Splendid,” Serena said brightly. “I’ll be at the pool at five o’clock. You all should be there at least twenty minutes before, if we want to be cautious.”

“ Today ?” Wasn’t it too soon? Too rushed?

It didn’t feel right, deep down in Colin’s gut.

But then again, Colin had never been in a situation like this before.

He’d never had people to worry over in this way, other than maybe his dad, and until recently, his dad had taken care of himself just fine.

“Today,” Serena confirmed. “I want this finished and over with. It’s gone on for too long.”

“You’re not the only one,” Fox muttered. He raised his voice for the next part, because of course he did. “Then you can get the fuck out of our town.”

Serena’s answering smile was pinched. “With pleasure.”

Colin went to his Dad’s alone for lunch.

He figured the twins could use the extra time for plotting or pumping themselves up or whatever the fuck else a vampire might do to prepare to fight another vampire.

And Jay and Alexei had headed over to Jamie’s mom’s house, where apparently Izzy had been waiting for a reunion.

She and Jay had become fast friends the last time he’d been in town, bonding over a shared love of candy and comic books.

It wasn’t like Colin was worried or anything. No matter how they prepared, they’d be fine. Totally, absolutely fine .

They’d done it before, hadn’t they? Scared off asshole vamps or even killed a few feral rogues (assuming the twins hadn’t been bullshitting him about that).

They were strong, and they had each other’s backs.

And sticking close to fret over them wouldn’t do any of them any good, even if Colin knew how to fret over someone in a way that didn’t just involve scowling.

He wanted a little time alone with his dad, anyway. Assuming he was going to be able to muster up the courage to ask the twins to turn him, he needed a last little slice of humanity just for himself, before he fully entered into that world.

He found his dad in the garage, cane propped against a storage shelf, reaching up to pull a small cardboard box out from between two plastic bins.

“C’mon, Dad,” Colin scolded, rushing over to his side. “You should’ve waited for me. What if you fell or something?”

“You think I’m gonna fall standing still?” his dad asked incredulously, still fiddling with the box. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

Colin smacked his hands away and tugged the box out, raising a pointed brow until his dad grabbed his cane. He followed him back into the house.

“What’s in this thing?” he asked, shaking it lightly to see if it made any telltale noise.

“Photos,” his dad told him, heading into the living room. “I’ve been meaning to put them into an album for years. Need to get things organized around here. Don’t want to leave you with a mess.”

Something in Colin’s stomach twisted. “It’ll be a long time before you’re leaving me with anything,” he insisted.

“Sure, sure.” His dad settled into his recliner with an exaggerated sigh, then opened his arms and motioned for Colin to put the box in his lap.

Colin did as he asked and then perched on the ottoman in front of him. “What are they photos of?”

“Your grandparents,” his dad said, lifting the lid off. “Me.” A long pause. “Your mother.”

The knot in Colin’s stomach twisted tighter. “Oh.”

It hurt. God, how could it still hurt after a decade sitting with her loss? Colin could fool himself sometimes, pretend it had always been just him and his father. But that wasn’t true. There had been three of them, once. They’d even been happy.