Page 2 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

His thrall, if used to its full effect, could incapacitate and cause pain, and it could also remove memories.

Something he should have considered earlier with how persistent Brigg was.

Holding the other man’s gaze, he unfurled his thrall more carefully than the bear deserved.

“You will have no memory of me, of what we did together. Go about your business.” He let go quickly, noting several interested stares as Brigg spun on his heel and walked off without a backward glance.

Thorn searched the sidewalk and groaned in disappointment at not seeing any sign of the unnamed omega. He did note that the car remained on the other side of the street, though.

He growled, his teeth dropping, wanting to rip out Brigg’s throat for getting in his way.

His phone buzzed, and he groaned again when he pulled it from his slacks to see Dacian’s name on the screen. He swiped at the screen. “I’m fine,” he said without preamble, knowing Dacian would have picked up his mood.

“Then why am I feeling edgy?” Dacian questioned, unconvinced.

Dacian was the more sensitive to their moods, despite any distance between them. “I’ve met my dhampir.”

The silence was telling. Thorn waited.

“Dhampir… are you sure she belongs to you?”

They were all bi-sexual but leaned towards male partners. “ He most definitely does, but he disappeared before I could explain his reaction to me.”

“ He !”

“Yes. Listen, I need to meet with Ledger Rain, then I’m going to search for the omega. Can you get someone to come to town and watch a car for me?”

Two minutes later, anxious, but satisfied he’d done what he could to prevent the blond driving off, Thorn strolled quickly down the sidewalk to the café bookshop that in the evenings turned into a wine bar, where he had arranged to meet Ledger.

His nose twitched before he’d taken one step into the café. His gaze swept the tables, and his lips curved into a huge smile when they landed on the blond.

He was looking at a menu, so he didn’t see Thorn approach. “What on earth is wrong with me? What? You listen up, didn’t you see the type of guy he prefers? We aren’t it.”

Thorn’s lips quivered at how the guy was talking to himself—or talking with his animal spirit, he suspected, when there was more than a moment of silence before the blond continued.

“Yes, I heard what he said. I’m not deaf,” he muttered, “but it must be the heat melting my brain because he’s clearly not our mate no matter what you say!”

Careful not to spook the man, Thorn moved so his lips were next to the omega’s ear

“I most certainly am your mate,” he whispered seductively.

Blond hair that smelled of sunshine brushed his skin as the omega’s honey eyes met his gaze. They were filled with a challenge Thorn never expected. “Prove it.”

Thorn didn’t need a second invitation, and in a blur, they were out the door and in the back alley.

All his senses worked together, he was more a passenger to them as he had the tiny omega pinned to the wall.

The man showed no fear as Thorn’s fangs dropped.

Instead, he arched his head back, exposing more of his throat. He was perfect.

“You are mine,” Thorn hissed, right as his teeth sank into flesh.

The first taste left him blind to the external world as he swallowed the sweetest, headiest blood he’d ever had the pleasure of taking.

Nothing compared to those first few drops he ingested.

Skin buzzing, his still heart moving with the life of his dhampir, a more perfect moment had never existed.

His universe expanded exponentially with each swallow as small fingers clung to his shoulders.

Tiny whimpering sounds were the music of his soul as he fed.

He had not fed from a shifter in many centuries, yet nothing would have stopped him, not even the threat of death.

The omega was his life force, his reason for being. It was as simple as that.

Cum scented the air and brought with it the violent need to mate.

“Don’t stop,” cried the omega when Thorn’s fangs released, and he licked over the puncture wounds to help them heal.

His gaze didn’t stray as the marks remained and added to the truth he hadn’t denied. The omega that bore his mark was his eternal. The weight of it settled around his now beating heart. He had found his one.

“Why aren’t you touching me?” The desperate demand brought Thorn out of his trance.

Easily holding the omega one handed, he ripped open his slacks, dragging them and his torn underwear down slim thighs to reveal a pretty package of sexiness.

The lingering taste, the scent, the sight, the yearning he felt humming through him left Thorn wanting everything at once, except they were in an alleyway, part concealed by a dumpster with the threat of being found any second.

Could he stop?

Fuck no. He had one goal, to finish the claim.

His need to protect was as strong as the need to claim, so he resisted his baser needs for a moment and lowered the omega to the ground.

The omega barely had his lips parted to complain before Thorn’s shirt lay at his feet.

Huge black wings unfurled, ruffling the feathers as they caught the air.

With no more than a thought, they closed around them, surrounding them in a protective cocoon. One that was impervious to attack.

“Holy fuck,” the omega gasped, honey eyes wide, his hand reaching to stroke the black feathers. “Wh—"

Thorn pushed down his own slacks to reveal his arousal.

The scent of the omega was driving him wild, and he had him pinned one handed up against the wall.

He barely had the wherewithal to check he was slick, which cut off whatever else the omega was going to say when Thorn pushed his cock against the slick rim barely a second later.

Heat shocked his system. Then the heavenly squeeze came as the omega’s body adjusted to the invasion.

“Goddddddd… yess, mine,” the omega cried, his neck straining into the hand holding him as he strained forward, teeth bared, fingers furrowed into the feathers of Thorn’s wings, clinging on.

It was all Thorn needed. Thrusting deep, he exposed the weakest part of his body, his throat, to the teeth. They sank in, and the world exploded, leaving him forever changed.

“Sweetling, forever mine, forever yours, forever eternal,” he whispered the magic enchantment, sealing their bond, giving the omega an eternity to match his own.

Yes. Yes. Yes.