Page 23 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

“Are you sure you wish to continue this meeting, Thorn?” Hartly Lambert, the fourth, was one of their oldest clients and should have had all of Thorn’s undivided attention.

He didn’t, when all Thorn could think about was how upset Ledger was.

He’d remained tuned to him, waiting for Ledger’s next outburst. “I apologise Hartly, my mate is…” he didn’t know how to explain it without feeling he was betraying Ledger in some way by calling him irrational.

Despite him being exactly that, from what Ottie had explained when he’d come to get him earlier to ‘rescue Ledger’.

“A pregnant mate is difficult at the best of times, but I suppose with your mate being a divergent and not a vampire, it would be more… tricky .”

Thorn prickled at the word ‘tricky’. Ledger wasn’t tricky at all, and he said so. “Ledger is expecting twins,” he added, feeling he needed to justify what Ledger was going through. “I’d say that gives him the right to feel a little out of sorts while his body adapts.”

The stiffness in his voice didn’t go unnoticed by the hard eyed stare Hartly directed at him. “My mistake,” he replied snottily, shifting in his seat, looking to rise.

“Well, yes. Now shall we continue?” A part of him wanted the old vampire to say no, despite knowing that would not make good business sense and would damage their reputation.

Something they had worked hard to establish over the centuries.

Hartly held a prominent position within the vampire community and, unfortunately, many listened to him.

They didn’t need the business, but it would make things difficult for them and Ledger when they attended any vampire gatherings.

It didn’t happen often, but often enough to make it an issue if he pissed off Hartly.

The vampire settled back into his seat, though not looking at all pleased to have done so. “Are you sure you have time?”

At the rebuke, Thorn kept his thoughts to himself. “Of course.” He sat forward and worked the mouse to open the folder with all Hartly’s information in.

Two hours later, Thorn felt exhausted from maintaining a polite facade as Hartly had waffled on about his family once their business dealing were complete.

The only positive was that Thorn had managed to ask a few questions about vampire birthing’s when Hartly had pulled up pictures of the newest member of his coven, his great, great, great, great, great, great-granddaughter.

He’d been a little more forthcoming than Thorn had expected.

“As I say, the biting ritual is crucial for you to seal your bond to the children and your dhampir. He must bite you as the first child is born.”

That wasn’t so bad…

“I suppose you’ll have to use your brothers for the birthing?” Hartly stated flippantly as he rose when Thorn did his mind on bonding, signalling it was time to leave.

Thorn jerked his gaze to Hartly. “What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.

He gave him an arched look that suggested the question was ridiculous. “Your brothers. They’ll need to be present at the birth, unless you’ve asked your sister to return from her travels?”

“I’m sorry… I don’t understand.” Thorn developed a worrying tickle at the back of his throat.

Hartly gave him a pitying smile. “You will need their thrall to keep your mate calm while the babies eat their way into the world. I’m told it’s a very painful experience, and as you have an omega mate, unheard of in vampire circles , I suspect it will most definitely be something your mate will struggle with, if he copes at all.

” Back was the flippant tone. “Your brothers, I’m sure, will be up to the task, though. ”

His tone implied something completely different, but Thorn was too busy having yet another freakout, a now familiar occurrence, that he barely had the wherewithal to respond and say his goodbyes as Hartly left.

In the blink of an eye, both Calvert and Dacian were there in the doorway. “What the fuck!” Dacian ground out furiously.

“Was he joking?” Calvert gasped. “He has to be joking.”

“No… I don’t think he was. It all makes a sick kind of logic.” Thorn’s legs gave way, and he slumped into his seat.

“You’re gonna have to get Elouise to change her travel arrangements,” Dacian insisted, dread rolling off his tense body.

Thorn stared at his panicked brother, finding some amusement in the situation—it was that or start rocking in a corner. “How do I do that when she's on a boat halfway around the world?”

“She’ll have plenty of time to get here!” insisted Dacian, slapping his hands on Thorn’s desk and leaning over it threateningly. “Make it happen. I’m not gonna be there when…” he shuddered, his skin looking decidedly gray.

Thorn couldn’t help it and chuckled. It was all too much, the hysteria bubbling inside him.

“You will because family sticks together.” They were Dacian’s words said long ago when he had talked both Calvert and Thorn into starting the family business together.

They had been less enthused, but Dacian had been persuasive with his ‘family stick together’ speech.

Thorn was not above using the same tactic when it came to Ledger.

“Those girls are family. The first vampire babies born to this family in centuries. Are you willing to risk their safety? Risk my mate?”

“Fuck!” The following sound of Dacian’s teeth grinding together was the answer Thorn needed.

Thorn looked at Calvert, who remained silent. “Will you help?”

“Do you have to ask?”

No, he didn’t, not usually, but since he’d informed him of Ledger’s pregnancy, Calvert had been more withdrawn than usual. “In this case, yes.” He couldn’t read Calvert as he held his gaze. You’ve been… different since Ledger arrived.

Come on, you know why. Do I need to say it again? I’m jealous, fucksake. And I hate feeling this way.

What—

No, I don’t need placating. I’ll do whatever you need me to. He continued speaking aloud when Dacian nudged his shoulder, frowning. “But you need to talk to Ledger ‘bout all this.” He pointed between them all.

“Seriously, how do I do that?” He used a fake smile. “Ledger, just to let you know, those two baby girls are gonna eat their way out of you. Oh, and I’ll need my brothers present to keep you calm while they do it.”

He threw up his arms, getting up as his body thrummed with so much anxiety that he couldn’t sit still when he needed to have this conversation and had no way out of it. “Like it’s that fucking easy,” he growled, his fangs making an appearance.

“Don’t go fang on me, asshole. Ledger deserves the truth,” grumped Calvert, giving him stink eye.

Stewing in his own juices, Thorn had lost track of time and was more than a little perturbed when Ledger arrived home via a taxicab laden with bags and beaming like a ray of sunshine after a shower.

However upset Ledger had been when he left, Thorn had talked himself into telling Ledger the truth, but one look at the sunny smile and all his good intentions fled.

“Look what I got!” Ledger gushed, shoving the bags at Thorn and going to the trunk with the driver.

“There was this store in town and at first I thought it was a disaster, then after a tiny meltdown, Connie let me use the restroom and I discovered all these beautiful clothes.” He turned to Thorn, hands full of shopping bags, not making a whole lot of sense.

“I just had to have all of them.” He danced—or that’s what it looked like he attempted to do—on the spot, swinging the bags and his big belly.

“I went a little wild, but they fit! Okay, maybe not all of them initially, but Connie is a whizz on the sewing machine, and she altered them for me.”

He continued to gush his enthusiasm while paying the driver, who looked rather bemused at what had to be a fifty-dollar tip.

“We’ll need to go back to town on Thursday to collect the rest.”

Thorn eyed what he held, and the bags Ledger had, his lips twitching. “The rest?”

“Of course, I have to replace my entire closet. Nothing fits, and I can’t keep using your shirts.”

“I like you using my shirts,” he replied, following behind Ledger, admiring the floaty top that swirled around his hips. The slacks he’d worn were now replaced with what looked like a stretchy version in a softer material.

“I do, too, only I need to look the part at work. Be professional,” he insisted, like Thorn was arguing with him.

“Of course, Sweetling,” Thorn replied, a smile growing as Ledger, for the first time in days, was enthusiastic about something.

The sense of happiness was contagious and gave Thorn a charge of electricity to a certain part of his anatomy.

Ledger had reached the top of the stairs, looked over his shoulder, and winked saucily at him. “If you play your cards right and help me make room in the closet for these new things, I could have some energy left for something else.”

Ledger’s energy levels fluctuated a lot and that meant catching him at the right moment for more than snuggles, so Thorn by-passed Ledger so fast that if he'd blinked he would have missed it.

Thorn had the closet space ready before Ledger had entered the bedroom, his own clothes sitting in a heap on the floor.

Ledger eyed the closet, a wicked glint appearing as he dropped the bags by his shoes.

His gaze shifted to Thorn, travelling over his nakedness and the arousal growing with the way his mate was looking at him.

The passion came at him in heady waves, like a caress to his cock while Ledger reached for the hem of the floaty top and pulled it over his head.

A pretty pink flush gave him a glow that made him look sexy despite the roundness of his full belly. Turgid nipples and an ampleness to his growing breasts added to the erotic appeal, and all Thorn wanted to do was taste.

Ledger stroked his hands up over his belly, towards where Thorn’s gaze remained on his full breasts. “Taste me then.”

The second his lips touched skin, Ledger’s fingers threaded through his hair, holding him tight as he arched into Thorn’s mouth when he suckled on a nipple. The long, loud mewling noise he made caused Thorn’s cock to throb so painfully that he thought for a moment he would come untouched.

Papa… Papa, what are you doing to Daddy?

Thorn jerked back and stumbled over his own shoes as he gave Ledger’s belly a startled look, righting himself with his lightning-fast reflexes before he landed on his ass.

Ledger looked from Thorn to the mound that was now moving. “What is it? Is something wrong with the babies?” The bulge Ledger had sported in his pants disappeared as his worried gaze darted between them. “Talk to me,” he demanded, his hands stroking protectively over the mound.

“I… not…” Thorn ran his hands through his hair, trying to find the words. “They… sensed something…”

“Sensed what?”

Thorn scratched his head and was glad he wasn’t able to blush when Ledger suddenly registered what the babies had picked up.

“They knew we were… oh gods, they’ll be traumatized.

Heck, I’m traumatized!” He staggered to the bed, cupping his belly.

“What if… oh gods, they saw your dick coming, and it poked one of them in the eye?” He paled as he spoke, looking as disturbed as Thorn felt with that graphic visual.

“You’re too young to know about the birds and the bees.

Your Papa will explain it all when you’re old enough. ”

“Why me?” Thorn demanded, choking on his fright.

“Because I said so, and because they’re vampires.” The logic of it came across loud and clear.

He eyed Ledger and got just how serious he was and how the moment for sexy time was lost. “Alright, but you get to tell them about puberty.” He was not doing that too. He wasn’t, not when they were girls—fuck no.