Page 15 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

Stretched out on the messy sheets, Thorn barely had the strength to lift his head to glance sideways at Ledger, who released a sigh that sounded a lot like utter contentment.

The scent of their lovemaking filled the room with its sweetness.

Ledger’s heat had started three days earlier, or maybe it was four, Thorn had lost track.

“Three days,” Ledger mumbled, rolling into his side and flopping his leg over Thorn’s. The stickiness coating his skin became more obvious from the last round of hot, sweaty sex.

“Mmmm,” he replied, finding the strength to nuzzle Ledger’s hair as he moved to tuck his head under Thorn’s chin, his warm, come-covered body plastering to Thorn’s.

Thorn shifted to wrap an arm around Ledger’s waist and settle him more comfortably against him, working to stop the spread of cum and slick. Thoughts of feeding Ledger became prevalent when his mate’s belly released a loud grumbling sound. “Hungry?”

“Think so,” Ledger mumbled into Thorn’s neck. His breath tickled the skin there. “When did we last eat?”

Thorn glanced towards the billowing curtains, looking out the window at the setting sun.

“This morning… maybe.” He couldn’t be sure.

In the months they’d been together, time passed at a speed that Thorn had never experienced before.

He was grateful for his longevity as he wanted an eternity with Ledger.

He might not have noticed time passing, but what he did know was how this heat differed from the last two.

To Thorn, this one seemed more intense, more…

frantic? Was it the increase of time spent together?

He wasn’t sure and couldn’t quite think of the right word to explain the difference with how tired he was, but they’d had less down time between the waves of Ledger’s heat this time.

Given how his cock ached from all the action it had seen in the last three days, he was quite sure of that.

“Yeah, I think I could eat something.” Ledger’s comment interrupted his thoughts, which shifted to food.

He’d stocked up, so there was plenty of food in the refrigerator. He just needed another few minutes to gain back the strength in his legs. Lowering, but the truth. Thorn couldn’t recall a time he’d fucked anyone and run out of steam, until now.

A smugness came through their link. Clearly Ledger had picked up on his thoughts. “You don’t need to be so smug.”

Ledger tilted his head back and blinked lazily, his lips curling at the edges in a sweet smile.

“You keep telling yourself that.” He kissed the edge of his jaw, yawned, then rolled to the edge of the bed, out of Thorn’s hold, and sat up.

The loud gurgling coming from Ledger got Thorn moving too, despite how his legs protested. He rose and walked unsteadily to the closet to grab his robe; thoughts of a bath secondary to feeding Ledger when cum flaked off his skin.

“What do you fancy to eat?” he questioned, tying his robe as he walked back to where Ledger remained sitting on the edge of the bed, looking adorably sleepy on the rumpled sheets. “I’ll bring it to you.”

A lazy grin appeared. “Cool. Can I have cheese, fruit, bread, and some of that chutney that Rowan made?”

With the list, Thorn walked towards the locked bedroom door. He’d warned his brothers to keep away. Vampires didn’t go into the same rut as shifters, but there were alpha shifters in the vicinity and Thorn would never take any chances with his dhampir.

He’d barely reached it when Ledger added, “Chocolate… yeah, I’d like that too.”

Thorn glanced back at Ledger to ask what kind when a soft voice filled his head. “Not the dark one, we like the milk one.”

He stilled, staring at Ledger. “What did you say?” he asked through a throat that felt like it had closed up.

Ledger wiggled up the bed, not answering immediately as Thorn held on to the odd, panicky feeling inside him at the strangeness of the very female voice in his head.

“Chocolate, I’d like some of that too.”

“Milk, we want the milk kind.”

As he was staring at Ledger, he knew damn well it wasn’t him speaking and the voice was female. His gaze skimmed down to Ledger’s round belly, one that he was currently rubbing at. It was a habit he’d developed of late, almost like he was reassuring himself— or what was inside there .

“Something wrong?” Ledger sat forward, hands still cupping his belly.

Thorn couldn’t get any words out past his frozen lips. Was Ledger pregnant?

“Chocolate, we want some.”

Oh fuck!

Oh fuck!

Oh fuck! His legs went from under him and Thorn collapsed in a heap, only to see Ledger jump out of the bed and rush to him.

“What is it? Has something happened to one of your brothers?” he demanded, his hands roaming over Thorn as if checking for injuries. “Thorn, answer me!” he snapped worriedly, his eyes growing wide with the scent of fear rolling off him.

“It’s fine,” Thorn managed to rasp out.

He had no clue if it was. Did vampire babies—and the voice definitely made reference to plural—normally communicate from the womb?

How was this even possible? They’d been so careful during his heats.

Seriously, how was he going to explain this to Ledger?

There was also the knowledge this had to have happened during their claim, when he was fully vampire.

The other times Ledger was in heat, he’d damn well made sure to keep his dick out of his womb!

Shit a brick!

Why are you freaking out? Dacian’s question, asked with an element of alarm, brought his gaze to meet Ledger’s, who was still running his hands over Thorn’s robe.

“You’re lying. I can hear it.” Ledger’s voice was thick with the tears that were forming in his eyes, making them glisten. “Start talking buster!”

Ledger’s demand came off with absolutely no force behind it when his lips quivered, and a tear rolled down his now pale cheeks.

“Pregnant,” Thorn croaked. “I think you’re pregnant.”

Ledger, who had been crouching, toppled back, landing on his ass with a thud, stared at Thorn like he had lost his goddamn mind. Maybe he had.

“Pregnant,” Ledger shrieked, so loudly Thorn’s ears rang. That wasn’t what worried Thorn, though. It was the sudden pounding of shoes in the hallway outside his apartment. The hammering on the door came a moment later as Calvert called out, “Thorn, what the fuck?”

That, exactly. What. The. Fuck.

An hour later, Thorn carried Ledger to the largest sofa and cradled him in his lap as he sat down. They’d agreed to talk after they’d had a bath and eaten something. Before that, he’d told his brothers to fuck off when they’d kept hammering on his door.

He’d kept it together—kind of—while he’d helped Ledger bathe, then made him some food, which he poked at more than ate. The whole time, he’d eyed Thorn with suspicion, blocking him fully from his thoughts. No mean feat with how tense he was.

Thorn, as he settled fully in the seat, still wasn’t sure how to discuss this turn of events.

It wasn’t every day a vampire discovered he could talk to his children in the womb of his mate, was it?

Not that he’d actually tried to talk to them.

No, he wasn’t quite prepared for that, though he had noticed Ledger had eaten only milk chocolate after the meal when he’d mentioned what he’d heard.

“Explain to me again why you think I’m pregnant?” The flat tone did not bode well when Ledger took hold of his chin, making sure Thorn was looking directly at him.

“The baby—ies, spoke to me.”

A shudder ran through Ledger. “Babies… as in more than one?”

Thorn tried once more to access Ledger’s mind, to figure out how he felt about this, coming up against the same solid block. “I believe so. The girl referred to ‘them’ wanting milk chocolate as I said.”

Another shudder, only this time Ledger placed a hand on his belly. “Girls? We’re having girls?”

“Yes.” He nodded, but who he was nodding at could well have been himself because Ledger wasn’t the only one having a hard time processing.

Thorn had questions, lots of them and no way of answering any of them right then.

He made sure to not think about them, despite Ledger blocking him.

“Maybe… shit, the voice speaking is that of a girl, but the others could be boys?”

“Others!” Ledger asked in alarm. “How many others are we talking about here?”

Damn.

“I didn’t ask,” he explained sheepishly.

Ledger seemed to let that go in favor of asking his next question. “How can you hear them, and I can’t?” This question was full of hurt. “I’m the one carrying them,” he accused, his gaze dropping to his covered belly.

“I don’t know, Sweetling.” He paused before coming to a decision. “I could ask them. Find out… more.” Like exactly how many babies there were in Ledger’s tiny body.

The jerky nod Ledger gave didn’t help to alleviate the tension growing inside them both. Girls… can you tell Daddy if there are any boys in there? How many there are of you?

He worried they weren’t able to answer when several silent seconds passed.

There’s two of us, Daddy, and we’re the same.

“Two girls. You’re having twins.” There was a history of twin vampire births dating back way beyond Dacian and Calvert’s birth, the last twins to be born into the family. He wasn’t sure if them sticking to tradition was reassuring him or not. Ledger grew paler by the second.

“Ask them why they aren’t talking to me.”

How come daddy Ledger can’t hear you?

There were giggles. Don’t know.

“They don’t know.”

Ledger frowned, then scowled at Thorn. “Well, that’s just dandy!”