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Colin

“ I told you, we don’t need you here.”

Everything was dark.

“I’m staying until he wakes up.”

Oh, right. That was because Colin’s eyes were closed.

“ We’re his mates. We’ll take care of him.”

He blinked up at the ceiling. White stucco.

Jay’s voice rang out again. “We don’t know yet whether you’re his mates or not. You—you waited until we were distracted, and then you—you—”

Colin felt…fine. More than fine.

“Jay.” It was almost shocking how clear his voice came out, considering he felt like he’d just slept for decades.

Jay’s earnest face was hovering over him immediately, Alexei right at his shoulder. “You’re awake!”

“If he’s awake, that means you can get the fuck out now, right?” Fox snarled from somewhere off to the side.

“Your boyfriends are very rude,” Jay whispered, his brow furrowed as he stared down at Colin.

Colin grinned up at him. “My mates , short stack.”

He could feel it, like some golden thread thrumming between them. He could sense them there at his side—he didn’t even have to turn his head. He could sense their worry, their relief, their love. Love not just for him but for each other.

It was fucking beautiful.

“Your mates ,” Jay breathed, wonder in his voice, as if Fox hadn’t been insisting the very same thing just a few seconds ago. “How wonderful.” He straightened. “We should go, then. You’re going to be wanting to have a lot of sex very soon.”

His face disappeared again, and Colin was left staring at Alexei, who gave him a placid nod. “Congrats.” Then he was gone too.

A man of very few words, Alexei. That was maybe the best thing about him.

Colin sat up, stretching gingerly. The pain in his arm was completely gone. Vampire healing . So fucking cool . He couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

The twins— his twins—crowded in close around the bed. They looked…brighter, somehow, their auburn hair catching the light. Colin breathed in deep. Their scents were richer too. Sharper, with a new hint of copper.

Delicious.

Colin sucked in a breath. Oh shit. That was a new voice in his head. And a new…presence, shifting ever so subtly inside him. Like some animal instinct given form, one that had maybe always been there but that he’d never been awake enough to hear. “Whoa.”

He looked to his mates, these two larger-than-life presences who had decided they wanted him for their own. Dane looked relieved as hell, his eyes shining, locked in on Colin like he was the only person in the world.

Fox was frowning.

“What are you pouting for?” Colin asked, adjusting the pillow behind his back.

Fox’s pout deepened. “Your first word as your new self was ‘Jay.’”

Colin laughed. He couldn’t help it. He felt…light. Like the fatigue and fog that had been hounding him for the last decade had just… melted off.

“Fox,” he said deliberately. “Dane.” He arched a brow. “What do you think, Dane? Does your devil still love my soul?”

Dane stepped closer, pressing in against the edge of the bed. It still wasn’t close enough. Colin reached out a hand and tugged him down next to him, mean-mugging Fox until he slid in on the other side.

Dane leaned in close, the fabric of his tank top brushing against Colin’s bare skin. They must have removed his bloody shirt at some point. “My devil loves everything about you,” Dane said quietly. “What about yours? How does—” He paused, hesitant. “How does your new devil feel about us?”

“I love you,” Colin said simply. “I love you both.” He didn’t know when he’d first felt it.

Maybe he’d known, somewhere deep inside, since the very beginning.

But he didn’t have time to beat around the bush anymore.

There was a hunger humming under his skin, growing deeper the longer he sat there, breathing them both in.

Dane looked fucking incandescent at his words. Fox just looked smug as hell.

Colin frowned at him, the dick. “Don’t expect me to say it all the time or anything,” he warned. “All that mushy stuff will go to your head. I can tell.”

“Of course not.” Fox smirked, like he didn’t believe Colin for a second. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“ And ?” Colin asked, looking at him pointedly.

Fox grinned. “I love you. Of course I fucking do. I’ve loved you since the night you showed up on our porch, reeking of whiskey.”

Yeah, right. Colin wrinkled his nose. “You’ve wanted me since then, maybe. That’s not the same thing.”

The smirk dropped from Fox’s face. He cupped Colin’s chin with one hand.

“I wanted you, yes. But I could also tell how brave you were. How curious. How you were clearly going to live your life however you damn well pleased. And then…when you took us to see your dad. When I saw just how steady and solid your love can be, for those you think deserve it.” His thumb rubbed circles on Colin’s cheek.

“I coveted it. For myself. For Dane.” His eyes darkened. “You were never getting away from us.”

Colin met his gaze head-on. “I never intended to.”

It was becoming strangely difficult to stay still. They were surrounding him, but they somehow weren’t close enough. He needed them on him. Or in him. Needed to kiss them. Or maybe fuck them.

Consume them.

Yes , purred that new voice inside him. It liked that idea. Devouring them whole.

Fox was smirking again. “Look at him,” he said to Dane. “He’s trying to hide how desperate he is.” His fingers dug into Colin’s chin. “You’re freshly turned, slayer. You need our touch. The touch of your mates.”

Colin glared at him. “If you know, then do something about it.”

Fox dropped his hand and nodded to Dane, and then Dane was tugging Colin on top of him as he lay back on the bed. Colin wasted no time—he tugged at the hem of Dane’s tank, urging him to take it off. He needed bare skin, needed access to that solid, muscled chest.

When the shirt was off, he rubbed his chest against Dane’s, burying his face in Dane’s neck, nuzzling his nose into the skin there, like Dane always did with him. Fuck. That was better.

Or it almost was.

A shiver ran through Colin, and he could feel his face…changing. Like a mask coming off. He licked at his incisors. Sharp.

He had fangs. Fuck, yes .

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what to do with them. He bit in, groaning at the flood of hot, coppery blood. His cock filled rapidly, as if the blood he was swallowing was transferring straight there.

“Jesus,” Dane gasped, his arms tightening around Colin.

Fox laughed. “I knew he’d be vicious,” he crooned, sounding delighted by the fact.

He was next to them on the bed now. He better have been fucking naked, but Colin refused to unlatch his mouth to check.

He gulped greedily. It wasn’t a literal hunger; he knew that—Dane’s blood wasn’t filling his belly, not like he instinctively knew human blood would—but it was soothing something inside him, cooling some inner fever.

He felt his shorts getting tugged off, heavy hands on the backs of his thighs. Fox.

Was he going to open Colin up? Fuck him right there, on top of Dane?

But it wasn’t a finger Colin felt probing his hole, hot and slick. Was that Fox’s…tongue?

Colin lifted his head, peering behind him. There was Fox, between their legs, his face buried in Colin’s ass. He lifted his head and met Colin’s gaze, and Colin jerked as he bit the flesh of one cheek with blunt teeth. “You’re not the only one who’s hungry, little lamb.”

“I—I’ve never—”

Fox hushed him. “Why don’t you sink those new, shiny fangs of yours back into Dane. He’s fucking desperate for it.”

Dane’s hand landed on the back of his head, guiding him to the other side of his throat. Colin bit in, gasping as Fox took the opportunity to lick at him again, the slick heat of his tongue lighting up all Colin’s nerve endings.

He moaned around Dane’s flesh, and it wasn’t long before Fox was eating him with abandon, his tongue suddenly everywhere all at once: licking at Colin’s hole, laving the tender skin of cheeks.

When Fox put his mouth right at Colin’s center and sucked , Colin almost saw stars.

Fuck, he’d never known he was so sensitive there.

He started moving—he couldn’t help it—pressing his hard cock against Dane’s, biting into every bit of flesh he could find.

Dane made muffled grunts of approval, and his hands were everywhere, encouraging Colin to move harder, to bite deeper .

Yes. Fuck, yes.

Colin became mindless with lust. Rutting, sliding, biting. He didn’t know what he was doing; he just knew it felt close to heaven, especially when Fox’s thick fingers started scissoring inside him, forcing him open beyond what his tongue alone could manage.

They were a tangle of mouths and skin and limbs, and it was fucking perfect .

When Fox took his fingers out, Colin growled around Dane’s skin, feeling fucking bereft at the loss.

“So ferocious, our little mate. So goddamn needy.”

Colin lifted his head from another bite as Fox’s arms were suddenly caging him, the fat head of his cock nudging at Colin’s rim. Yes. As Fox entered him, filling Colin just like he wanted—like he needed —Colin bit into that broad, muscled arm, growling.

“Fuck, yes,” Fox gasped, driving in deep with one smooth thrust, sliding Colin up Dane’s chest. “Drink me up, baby. Swallow me down.”

Colin drank. Dane had his hand around both of their cocks, tugging in an unforgiving rhythm, the steady glide aided by the goddamn fountain of precum Colin was letting out. Fox was thrusting with abandon now, the force of it moving Colin and Dane up the bed.

Colin eventually had to release his bite, tucking his head back into Dane’s neck and giving in, his mindless “ah, ah, ah”s muffled by Dane’s skin. He was so. Fucking. Full.

He could feel it when Fox was close. Not just in the increased ferocity of his rhythm, but…inside. Colin could feel it—Fox’s desperation to fill him, to mark Colin’s insides with his cum. His lust and his hunger and his need to claim.

Colin was just as close. Dane’s grip on him was relentless, his body hot and solid under him. He came with a cry, the fluttering of his muscles milking Fox relentlessly until he withdrew with a groan, collapsing next to them on the bed.

Dane’s hands gripped Colin’s hips, and it was the easiest thing in the world for him to slip inside.

“ Jesus ,” Dane groaned for the second time, punching his hips up into Colin.

Fox chuckled breathlessly. “It’s good when he’s wet, isn’t it?”

Colin didn’t protest this time. He was wet, and filthy, and he fucking needed this. Needed both of them. To be filled in every way. With their blood, with their cum.

It didn’t take long, Dane guiding Colin’s limp body over him, using him like a fuck sleeve.

Colin’s stomach was at capacity, practically protruding with all the blood he’d taken, so he let his vampire face fall away, biting weakly at Dane’s neck with blunt teeth as his body was manhandled by Dane until he came with a deep grunt.

They collapsed on the bed, Colin rolling between the twins’ broad forms. He was grateful they didn’t leave his side to attempt to clean up just yet. He didn’t care that he was sticky and leaking their cum on the sheets—he needed them close.

Was this what it was going to be like as a bonded trio, needing them by his side every second? He was going to end up as clingy as these two idiots, dogging their steps in the very few moments they weren’t dogging his.

“It won’t always be this intense,” Dane said quietly, as if reading his thoughts. He was stroking Colin’s side with idle fingertips, leaving a trail of goose bumps in his wake. “The bond will stabilize eventually.”

Colin sighed happily, soothed by the touch. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world,” he admitted.

It really wouldn’t. He’d never thought he’d be the kind of person to be in his boyfriends’ pockets, but then again, he’d never thought he’d be the kind of person to have two boyfriends.

Fox chuckled, pressing a kiss to Colin’s shoulder. “Yeah, well, you’re not the one with bite marks all over your body.”

Colin tried to summon up the energy for an eye roll. Fox was being dramatic. Colin had only bitten him once, and Dane’s many bite marks had already healed over. “I’m going to need to eat soon, aren’t I? Human blood?”

“Your little friend had his mate grab some blood bags from somewhere or other. They’re in the fridge.”

“All right.” But Colin didn’t move. His hunger was growing steadily, but it still hadn’t eclipsed his need to be surrounded by his mates just yet. “And those two…Serena and Robert.”

“They’re gone,” Fox said flatly.

Colin couldn’t be sorry for it. From what they’d said, Riley wasn’t the only child’s life they’d stolen. They were murderers, plain and simple. And while he’d never been a proponent of capital punishment before, he was in a different world now.

And a vicious part of him was maybe even glad. They were scum. They didn’t deserve to be leeching off the life force of others. They didn’t deserve eternity.

“You’re giving off very murderous vibes right now,” Dane murmured, his fingers still tracing Colin’s skin.

Fox chuckled. “Our little lamb has always been a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Another kiss to Colin’s shoulder. “Anyway, your friends can leave now, can’t they?”

Colin hummed noncommittally. He didn’t think Jay would be leaving until he’d satisfied himself that Colin was stable and secure. “They’ll head back soon enough,” he told them vaguely. “But I think I want to be a snowbird.”

Dane’s fingers paused in their absent-minded patterns. “A snowbird?”

Colin tugged at his wrist, encouraging him to keep petting. “Yeah. I’m not ready to leave Tucson completely—I want more time with my dad. But I was thinking of spending summers in Hyde Park. Splitting my time, you know?”

Just a few weeks ago, he might have been afraid to suggest it.

Afraid it would be too much, to ask Fox and Dane to disrupt their lives for him.

But it was different now. For once, Colin didn’t feel stuck, or lost, or confused about his own life.

He could see their future together, the three of them, clear as day, and it was a future that didn’t have any room for doubt.

So he wasn’t surprised when Fox only said, his voice mild, “I guess we need to look at properties in Hyde Park, then.”

“What else do you need from us?” Dane asked, brushing his fingers along Colin’s side. Good man.

“I’ll need to eat soon, I guess,” Colin said, pressing into his touch. “And I want you to fuck me again right after.” His body was already tingling, eager for another chance to be connected to its mates. “After that…just be with me. Nothing else.”

He couldn’t ask for anything more. For once, he didn’t want to.

They were enough.