Page 11 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Ledger

He’d taken a breath before he’d opened the door into their part of the house, willing himself to hold on to his resolve to prove a point to Thorn.

A week and he was ready to crumble faster than a paper tent in a rainstorm.

His body instantly reacted to the scents inside the room where Thorn spent most of his time.

Why can’t I block his smell the same way I can block his thoughts? he grumbled to himself, walking through the empty room in search of Thorn. Ledger knew he was somewhere close, the blood thrumming through his veins attested to that.

He stripped off his jacket and threw it over the back of a chair as he toed off his shoes and continued on, figuring exactly where Thorn was, the fucker.

A pause in the doorway to the bathroom and Ledger knew his battle with abstaining was futile.

“You don’t play fair!” he gripped half heartedly when he felt a giddy burst of affection at the scene before him.

It was so romantic that Ledger couldn’t find fault, especially at the label on the bottle of sparkling wine and his favourite chocolate waiting for him on a decorative tray beside the tub.

Thorn peeked at him from under his long, dark eyelashes, and Ledger caught the sparkle of delight before they shut once more.

Ledger’s lips twitched in amusement. The reality was he couldn’t hold on to his aggravation. He loosened his tie, leaving it dangling around his neck while his gaze roamed over the gorgeous body on display in the pale lilac water that scented the room with lavender.

He tugged off one sock and then the next, throwing them in the direction of the laundry basket, continuing to stand just inside the doorway, making Thorn wait.

His fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, his gaze feasting at the delight on display for him.

Despite how acutely aware he was of his arousal, it wouldn’t do to fold too fast when Ledger could still easily conjure pictures of the shifters Thorn chose for bed partners.

The lingering insecurity had pushed Ledger to do something he wasn’t proud of.

He had questioned Rowan about Louis and Brigg, wanting to know if, in fact, his mate had a type.

What he’d found was that Thorn had a longish list of conquests from around these parts, and they all resembled the large shifters.

That being said, none of them had gotten to come to the winery or, if Rowan was right and Ledger had no reason to doubt him, gotten more than a quick fuck somewhere that wasn’t near Thorn’s home.

It should have made Ledger feel better, reduce the anxiety, except Rowan basically confirming Ledger’s suspicion that his mate had a type did the opposite.

He’d tried to reason with himself that everyone had a past, himself included.

Thorn’s conquests, though, were right there, shoved in Ledger’s face and exposing the differences between him and them.

Ledger had gone into town on a mission twice in the last week.

He’d seen Brigg but not Louis. He didn’t want to admit that he was looking for him, but he definitely was.

He wanted to see if the reason he perceived the other man as a threat was actually just because of the few beers he’d had.

Brigg’s appearance left Ledger with a sour taste in his mouth, despite how word had gotten around about his mating to Thorn, thanks to Rowan.

He’d gotten stopped several times in town and congratulated by women . Not one man had approached him. What did that tell him?

You’re thinking too hard. Our mate only wants us!

Ledger really wanted to believe that one hundred percent. Shirt hanging open, Ledger’s hands fisted at his sides at how those insecurities tainted what his mate was trying to do for him—for them.

“I can feel your worry, Sweetling. Talk to me, please?” Thorn begged, finally stopping the act of pretending he was alone.

Coming up to sitting, water dripped off the arms resting on the edge of the tub, a worried expression appearing.

“For me, there is no one on this planet that compares to you. No one, Sweetling.”

Ledger heaved a sigh, working on the buttons on the cuffs of his sleeves.

“I know.” He did, deep in his soul. In every fibre of his body, except there was no logic that worked to dispel the insecure thoughts that nipped sharply at his heels.

“They’re so different from me,” he confessed, despite how feeble he sounded, because there it was. The truth. It was easier to focus on removing his clothes that meet Thorn’s stare as he continued to watch him undress, remaining silent.

Naked, Ledger walked to the edge of the large tub and his heart fluttered when Thorn effortlessly plucked him right off the floor to place him into the warm, scented water between Thorn’s spread thighs.

He kneeled, his gaze somewhere around Thorn’s chin, finding it easier than meeting the disappointed stare.

Thorn placed his thumb under Ledger’s chin and lifted it up, so he had nowhere to hide. “I never wanted to do more than fuck them. Scratch an itch. There was nothing romantic about it. Harsh but true, Sweetling.”

Thorn kissed him softly, his eyes revealing the depth of emotion Ledger could hear and feel between them.

“With you, I want it all. I never wanted to bite them. To taste their blood, feel it move inside my veins. In my heart. I can’t live without your essence now.

It gives me this feeling of completion that I never realized I was missing.

My soul is whole because of you. You are more precious to me than my own existence.

” He nuzzled into the mate mark at Ledger’s throat.

The warmth that came left Ledger feeling a little ridiculous at his doubts about not being enough for his winged vampire.

Ledger angled his head in invitation for Thorn to bite.

Teeth sank into flesh and brought the world into clearer focus for Ledger.

His cells lit up and coursed with a renewed energy that seemed wrong when Thorn was taking and not giving.

I’m giving you my soul, Sweetling.

Ledger groaned, the arousal pulsing between his legs now his focus.

It bobbed above the water’s edge with its eagerness for Thorn’s touch.

For the intimacy that came with feeding after Ledger had denied them both the pleasure of sex before, during, or after.

It had left him bereft when he was the one stopping what felt more natural than breathing between them.

The first light brush of fingers over the head of his shaft while Thorn fed from his neck made everything else seem futile.

Suddenly, it hurt to resist. Ledger couldn’t deny that he craved these moments with his mate.

What his body had grown to love and miss like an amputated limb.

Over the last week, the memory of it taunted him in the small hours of the morning when he couldn’t sleep.

The moment the fangs retracted, Ledger lifted a knee to place it over Thorn’s thigh.

Helped by Thorn, he held him steady as he repeated the move, fragrant water sloshing as their lips met in a kiss tainted with blood.

His blood. The thought never failed to drive Ledger to the brink of madness. This huge-winged creature was his.

Inside him, his animal quivered in excitement. Ask him to shift.

Hands slid down the sides of his body, caressing and massaging as they roamed lower, going to his ass and pressing him into Thorn’s body, making it impossible for Ledger to concentrate on what his animal side wanted.

He mewled, feeling Thorn’s hard, pulsing length trapped against his stomach, sliding deliciously over his wet skin.

The silky length glided easily against his flesh as they rocked against each other, lighting a path directly to Ledger’s clenching ass, which felt empty.

A soft breeze touched his skin as he planted himself on the bottom of the bath to lift his ass over the hard length, wiggling and desperate to impale himself, to remove the odd emptiness inside him.

Gasping and panting, he dragged in the fragrant air as he came up higher, his hand reaching behind him to grab blindly.

He groaned into Thorn’s mouth when his fingers wrapped around the throbbing shaft and he moved to position it where he wanted it.

The beat of Thorn’s heart was in sync with his own.

It was his blood that made it pound in Thorn’s chest. This unique bond combated his insecurities as he laid a hand on Thorn’s chest for balance and felt the life he’d given his mate.

Water spilled down his body as Thorn jerked away to take hold of his hips stopping him. “Need you,” he rasped past his fangs.

The tips of them gleamed in the sun, revealing the beast within.

My mate.

Mine.

All mine!

Yes, all yours, my love. Always.

Tousled hair, a slight flush to his skin, and deep pools of desire staring at Ledger, made it hard for him to breathe past the need to consume the vampire in one greedy bite. To respond to the adoration. His teeth ached in his gums while Thorn encouraged him to press closer to him.

“I need to prep you, it’s been forever.”

Ledger groaned and gasped. “It’s been a week!”

“Forever,” insisted Thorn on a moan, stroking down the crease of his butt, teasing the sensitive rim of muscle guarding his ass.

They groaned loudly together.

Effortlessly, his body opened to Thorn’s touch. He sank a finger deep; the knuckle hitting Ledger’s flesh before Thorn rotated it, searching for a moment until the soft pad touched his prostate.

Ledger mewled and shuddered, his cock dripping as his eyelids fluttered at the intensity of the sensations after denying himself for so long. The feeling of fullness, despite it being only one finger, made him push into the touch.

“More,” he gasped. “I want more.”

“Anything, Sweetling.” Thorn held Ledger’s gaze as he slowly withdrew his finger, twisting it so the nerve endings inside him got a gentle massage on the way out.

The empty feeling was back, only more intense.

Bereft, Ledger struggled to comprehend why he felt that way and his lips parted on a cry.

It quickly became a groan of approval as two fingers sank into his slick channel.

The muscle clasped tight, increasing the burn and feeling of fullness that came as the two digits worked to open him.

Thorn’s moan of approval got him rocking his hips into each slow thrust deep inside him.

“So tight. So good,” Thorn crooned, angling his head to suck on one of Ledger’s nipples.

The suction sent a hot pool of fiery need to his cock and Ledger’s channel convulsed as he rode the fingers in his ass, wanting them to go deeper, to fill him up.

Yet when he did, it wasn’t nearly enough. “More,” he panted in desperation. “I need more.”

A heavy feeling settled inside his womb, so foreign that he whined when Thorn’s fingers seemed to brush the head of the opening.

The combination of Thorn sucking on his nipple and the finger’s touching him so deeply made his cock jerk and leak over Thorn.

He groaned in complaint when the hot ball of need unraveled inside him.

“I don’t wanna come like this,” Ledger panted, perilously close to coming. “Fuck me,” he pleaded, then whined when the fingers slipped free of his body. It was all too much and yet not enough. Nothing was happening fast enough to quell his desire.

Teeth dragged over his nipple before releasing it to a loud mewl.

“Shush, I got you Sweetling. I’ll give you everything you want.

” Thorn cupped his hands under Ledger’s ass, squeezing gently, and before he could support himself, water splashed over the rim of the tub as he hovered over the large shaft beneath him, poking skyward. “Everything you need, Sweetling.”

Tell him to shift!

Huh…

Shift. Tell him to shift , his squirrel shouted inside his head, making him blink repeatedly and shake his head. He tried to clear his lusty thoughts so he could understand why he was getting shouted at.

When it registered, Ledger groaned anew, heat coursing through him at what his animal side wanted. He couldn’t say why he wanted it too, now his animal had put the thought in his head, but he did.

“Can… c-can… fuckk…” his throat became dry as the head of Thorn’s shaft pressed against his asshole, sending riotous sensations flooding his blood stream.

He’d experienced many things with Thorn during sex, but not this level of force.

He couldn’t even comprehend the difference, just that he felt he was coming apart at the seams somehow.

That he needed Thorn to sew him back together.

Fangs grazed over the hammering pulse as Ledger’s throat. “What do you need?”

His animal became more present in his mind. “Your winged side,” he gasped, shuddering as the teeth pierced his flesh once more.