Page 21 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

“What the hell are you talking about?” Thorn glared at his sister on the tiny screen, trying to assess whether or not she was being serious. She wasn’t like their brothers except what she was saying had to be a wind up. Didn’t it?

“That’s… that’s nonsense!” he stuttered, struggling to get his head around the words ‘eat their way out’.

“Don’t shoot the messenger. You were the one who asked me to find out exactly what happens during a vampire birthing.

When you couldn’t get much from the family history, I was kind enough to do some digging for you while I’m on vacation and look where it’s got me.

” She made a noise of distaste that matched her expression.

“It’s enough to put a vampire off for life. I mean, the very idea of—”

“Don’t say it again!” he hissed, glancing in panic at the door Ledger had exited from not more than five minutes earlier to run their bath.

Ledger’s hearing was not anywhere as good as Thorn’s, but their mating had given his hearing, along with his other senses, a boost. The last thing he needed was to freak Ledger the fuck out when he wasn’t liking how little Thorn could explain about vampire pregnancies the bigger he got.

Right then, he was doing the freakout thing enough for both of them.

Stupid.

Why had he thought asking his sister would be a good thing?

He pinched the bridge of his nose, convinced if he could get a headache, he’d be brewing one.

He’d been spending some of his working time researching for information on vampire birthing’s since the wedding.

What he’d discovered was that there was no one place he could go and search for the answers he was seeking.

He’d had a moment of weakness and asked his sister for help, thinking that being female, she’d have better ideas than him.

How wrong he’d been. Male vampires couldn’t give birth, but male omegas frequently did.

His assumption had been that female vampires would know the ins and outs, like omegas.

Fuck if that assumption hadn’t landed him in hot water and his sister accusing him of being a chauvinistic pig no less than four times.

He groaned, pinching harder.

Why couldn’t this be easy, like planning the wedding?

Why?

“Then why bother asking me to help if all you’re gonna do is yell at me?”

“I’m not yelling,” he gritted out. Had he been yelling?

He glanced back at the closed door, checking in through his link with Ledger to assess if he’d picked up anything.

He didn’t settle until he heard Ledger humming at the girls.

Thorn’s fears he wouldn’t have all the answers grew right along with Ledger’s belly.

The wedding had been a genuine excuse to avoid what was turning out to be a minefield.

The answers he’d been seeking for the last several weeks had no fucking way included what his sister had told him.

Fuck, the way a baby came out of Ledger wasn’t even on the damn list of things he should have worried about.

It was going right to the fucking top, so it could wave at his anxiety like a red rag to a damn bull.

How was he going to explain this to his dhampir? How? If his sister was indeed correct about what she’d learned. “Are you sure…” he choked on the actual words.

“Yes. You know fine well I’d never give you duff information. I’ve got this from several sources and asked Lillybeth, you know, Mandella’s daughter, to talk to you. She had a baby last year. If you don’t want to believe me, go straight to the source and see if you like her answer any better.”

The surliness was not his sister’s usual demeanor, revealing exactly how upset she was with him at doubting her word.

“Sorry. This is all very… stressful ,” he finished, working to placate her. Although stressful didn’t quite fit how terrified he was after his sister had spouted at him exactly how a vampire comes out of the womb. Nope, not thinking about that.

“Listen, talk to Lillybeth. I’ll message you her number. She might have other vampires you can talk to about this. Maybe one of them had an omega mate? It’s not like this is a normal situation, which you knew before you asked me to help .”

“I know… it’s just—”

“He’s your dhampir and you love him and want him along with those babies to be safe.”

His nod was jerky, shoulders sagging under the weight of the unknown—or not so unknown. “He’s more fragile than a vampire.”

“Stop that. You exchanged blood, didn’t you?” He rolled his eyes at her at such a stupid question. “Then Fate knows what they’re doing. Okay, we might not have encountered this type of situation before, but it doesn’t mean that something bad is going to happen.”

The positive pep talk helped—kind of. When he ended the call a minute later with a promise to send Lillybeth’s number to him, he stared blindly at the room.

The clawing panic barely held in check with how the time was flying by.

He couldn’t believe that they were past the five-month mark, with no knowledge of how long Ledger would be pregnant for, that was just the appetiser of worries after the chat with Elouise.

Fuck it all to hell!

The main course now appeared to be the birth. A shudder ran through him with a violence that rocked him forward. He was running out of time.

His sister’s words ran through his mind once more, taunting him. Vampires eat their way out. The imagery of that was enough to turn his cold blood to icicles in his veins. With Ledger expecting twins, did that mean they both munched their way out at the same time?

Why the fuck am I even considering that?

“Thorn… Thorn, are you coming?” Ledger called out, not sounding happy.

Thorn got up slowly, ensuring his thoughts were on lockdown before he went to Ledger. He was already naked and standing at the side of the huge tub, glowering at his protruding belly. “What is it, Sweetling? Are the girls kicking your bladder again?”

When he’d finally felt them move, they appeared to dance about under his touch, and he’d gotten a little weepy. His mate didn’t when it was his insides they danced about in, hitting things that resulted in Ledger sometimes having to haul ass to the bathroom or pee his pants.

The girls were also rather combative with each other.

This, he’d discovered from their mother’s diaries, was how Calvert and Dacian had been in the womb.

Thorn got why she’d made no reference to the birthing!

His mother had died within the same year of their father, having fed from the same blood source that killed him.

His father had contracted a blood infection from tainted blood back in the eighteen hundreds.

Many vampires died because of the unknown chemical that turned their blood into sludge.

The death was slow and painful and why they had focused time on creating something that would prevent vampires' deaths in this way.

Its popularity with the clans was for this very reason.

“What do you think it is?” he said sulkily, his lower lip poking out.

“Do you know how hard it is not being able to see my feet? Lift my leg up over the edge of the tub? Move like I’m not waddling?

I’m only just over five months pregnant,” he accused.

“What am I gonna be like in the end? Whenever that will be .”

It took effort not to cringe at the accusation aimed at him. It was especially hard when Ledger perched on the edge of the tub, wobbled on one leg, hands anchored to the tub in a white knuckled hold, while trying to lift his other into the water, proving his point.

Two seconds of teetering on the edge, and Thorn couldn’t watch him struggle any longer. Scooping him up and easing him into the mound of soapy spuds, Thorn ignored the water soaking the sleeves of his shirt.

“You are blooming.” Was that the right thing to say?

“Blooming big,” Ledger huffed, sinking into the water and shutting his eyes, looking to block Thorn out.

It hurt even when he understood the emotional upheaval Ledger was going through. He experienced it all, as Ledger was happy to share all of it with him. He stroked a finger over the round belly, hating how unsure he was of his footing when Ledger was in this kind of mood.

“You have never looked more beautiful to me.” He confessed the truth, hoping this was what Ledger needed. Each day his belly grew, Thorn’s love for his mate deepened at the gift they shared.

Ledger cracked open one eyelid, revealing a sheen of tears and causing a lump to form in Thorn’s throat. “Are you sure?”

Coming forward to kiss the quivering lips, an ache developed in his chest at the uncertainty coming from Ledger. “I love you,” he murmured against his soft lips. Deepening the kiss, he opened himself, having tucked the shit he didn’t want Ledger to feel, the panic and fear, away.

More water soaked his clothes when Ledger clung to him. One kiss turning into two, then three until Thorn’s slacks were so tight that it seemed the zipper would bust. A breathless Ledger clung to him, his gasps hitting Thorn’s skin as he tried to pull away.

“Don’t let go,” he insisted, his fingers curling tightly into Thorn’s hair at the nape of his neck.

“Let me get undressed and I’ll join you.”

“No, don’t want to.”

The petulance was new and for a second, all Thorn could do was stare at his defiant mate as he clung tighter.

He decided arguing with the tumultuous feelings surging through Ledger wasn’t wise.

With great difficulty, while half crouching as Ledger hung on like a limpet, Thorn toed off his shoes.

Trying hard not to think on the pole tenting his slacks, he clambered over the rim of the tub, careful to keep hold of Ledger to ensure he didn’t squish him or the girls.

The floor had more water on it than remained in the tub when he finally managed to wriggle around Ledger.

His clothes were uncomfortable and restrictive with how they clung to him.

It wasn’t that which got his teeth gritting, it was the lesson in self-control he was getting at Ledger squirming, his plump bottom ultimately nestling against his erection.

Ledger eventually stretched out fully on top of him, releasing a sigh full of contentment. A happy feeling flooded through Thorn from the babies when Ledger cupped his belly and murmured, “Now isn’t that better.”

He was done for. Because when Ledger found out what was going to happen to him, he would never forgive him.

Don’t think about it.

No.

If I don’t think about it, everything will be fine.

What are you not thinking about? Dacian intruded on his thoughts.

Go away.

The chuckles were grating and Thorn closed himself off completely, listening to Ledger hum contentedly to their girls. Thorn closed his eyes and immersed himself in the love. There was no feeling like it. And that was all that was important.

The rest could wait!