Page 27 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)
Thorn
The sense of something coming combined with a feeling of foreboding had driven Thorn out of the warm bed where he’d left Ledger sleeping.
He ran from the big house to the winery, his mind running through the list of things he needed to do before Ledger woke.
He’d had a terrible night, unable to get comfortable at all.
The girls had grown so big in the last couple of weeks since Ledger had stopped working, Thorn worried that if they didn’t come soon his gorgeous, tiny sweetling could burst open.
He cursed his brother for putting that idea in his head, which grew daily with his worry and Ledger’s size.
They were more than aware that male omegas were capable of carrying children.
Except, vampires, after months of continued checking, always had the expectation they would find female mates, not male, so in essence, they remained clueless how a male omega would handle birthing vampire babies.
The secretive nature of vampires added to the issue. After Hartley they had reached out to other vampire families and found nothing that helped with what was coming. Simply put, if he was to believe all the other vampires, he appeared to be an anomaly for having a male dhampir.
Was this what kept Calvert at a distance from him?
He shut off that train of thought, fearing he’d only upset Calvert more when he needed to stay open to his brothers, in case he needed them.
Thorn never once wondered if Fate had gotten it wrong for him.
What he doubted late at night when Ledger became upset—or any other time of late—was the pregnancy aspect when his mate was much more breakable, despite their eternal connection.
Still, it was hard not to see the two girls Ledger carried as a gift.
Everyone was ecstatic for him in the vampire community.
It didn’t stop Dacian from winding him up and feeding his damn fears—fucker!
Bursting bellies… who came up with that shit on purpose?
His brother.
He learned to be careful to hold his fears in check around his omega. Which all stemmed from the lack of knowing how to deal with what was happening to Ledger the bigger he had gotten. His tiny body surely wouldn’t just burst open?
“What are you doing here?” Dacian questioned, as he rushed into the main reception. He was bent over Calvert’s shoulder, looking up at him from the computer screen with an arched brow. “You’re officially on Ledger watch.”
Thorn decided to ignore the smirk he so desperately wanted to knock off his brother’s face.
“I’ve several outstanding emails to deal with,” he explained, heading for his office without pausing. He’d had to leave the night before when Ledger got upset at not being able to bend to pick up something he’d dropped.
“Just forward them to me,” Calvert muttered as Thorn opened the door to his office.
They all had their own in the winery, but Calvert spent quite a bit of time sat at the computer in the reception area, where Ledger usually was.
He had unofficially taken on most of Ledger’s job, with Thorn spending most of the last few weeks caring— fussing —over Ledger.
“He’s using it as an excuse to get away from weeping willy,” Dacian said, loud enough for Thorn to catch it.
Through the door, he swung back around, stomped over to Dacian and grabbed hold of his suit jacket, which he wore summer and winter. Thorn tugged so hard on the lapels that they strained as he brought them face to face, needing an outlet for his fear.
“I’m not and don’t you talk about my dhampir in that way.” His fangs dropped, the lack of sleep and all his worry having left him with little restraint. Not his usual state for sure.
Dacian had wound him up since the beginning. Knowing it and stopping his reaction were two different things.
Calvert had most definitely been quicker to recover, despite the jealousy he felt. They’d both ribbed him at times, as brothers do. Ledger had proven to them all—despite being his mate—to be a great asset to their business and absolutely adorable. Okay, he thought Ledger was adorable!
Calvert groaned as he got out of the chair and wrenched them apart as Dacian’s fangs dropped, too. The sound of ripping cloth, as Thorn hadn’t let go of the jacket, got Dacian snarling at his twin, who didn’t so much as flinch.
“You two give over. Dacian, stop winding him up. Poor Ledger is struggling and with the girls being just like you and me, squabbling inside his womb, it’s enough to make anyone teary. Say sorry!” Calvert demanded.
“Sorry,” Dacian muttered around his teeth, his eyes continuing to glow red despite the apology as he lifted the two bits of his torn suit jacket.
Thorn headed back to his office, head shaking at the lost opportunity to pound on his brother.
Calvert had always been the more sensible one of the twins and he tended to want a quieter life than Dacian, who was born a wind-up merchant.
He hoped his girls were nothing like his brothers, but he got the feeling the way they were, he’d be plum out of luck.
He stalked to his desk, sitting to open his emails. His fingers flying over the keys, he paid no attention to his two brothers, who had followed after him. Dacian was now minus his suit jacket.
“What gives?” Calvert asked gently.
Thorn didn’t answer, keeping his focus on the screen as he answered a query about a future order for their specialist wine-blood mix.
“Come on, talk to us,” Calvert persisted, perching on the edge of Thorn’s desk, looking like he’d just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.
Thorn flicked his gaze to them, ignoring the smirking sod standing off to Calvert’s left. “Ask your twin!”
He returned his attention to the computer, adding a reminder to those he was emailing to say he was going on paternity leave, and they’d need to reach out to Dacian with any future enquiries for orders for the foreseeable future.
It was normally Thorn’s job to deal with the merchants whom they shipped their wines to.
The extra work for Dacian was a consolation prize, but then Dacian, who managed the winery production, could do that with his eyes shut, standing on his head.
Calvert, who managed the vineyard properties, had more than enough to deal with when he spent most of his time with the public.
There were other things for Calvert to think about, like how to replace Ledger until he decided what he wanted to do.
They were still in the considering stage of hiring someone else to replace Ledger, after the conversation they had with his dhampir who remained undecided about the future.
They needed someone to help in the wine shop that was for sure.
The rest, for now, they’d made no decisions about, only that Thorn was taking an indefinite amount of time off to be there for Ledger and the girls.
His brothers and the existing staff would cope with for the next two months.
He hoped.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know what he’s talking ‘bout.” Dacian interrupted his thoughts, having gone for innocent and if it had been anyone but them, he’d have succeeded.
Thorn jabbed a finger at his brother. “Weren’t you the one who said Ledger was going to burst? My poor sweetling is so big he can’t even get up without me helping him.” The panic was back, clawing at his innards, making him glad Ledger was up at the house and not close enough to sense it.
Could they hear how close to tears he was? Were pregnancy hormones catching?
Calvert gave him a sympathetic look before glowering at Dacian. “Why would you say that? Let’s hope when you find your dhampir that Thorn doesn’t tug your balls!”
Dacian roared with laughter, head thrown back, light caught in his dark locks making them appear like spun silk threads. “It’s taken centuries for one of us to find a mate, there’s very little chance I’ll find mine for decades, by which point he’ll have forgotten.”
“Fuck you. I hope you are the one who gets pregnant!” Thorn muttered, his attention returning to the task at hand. Time was ticking down and those senses he had attuned to Ledger said he would wake soon, and Thorn wanted to be there.
“Like that can happen! We can’t get pregnant, remember?”
He lifted a hand, giving Dacian the middle finger, still typing out the last email with the other.
“The universe also doesn’t give us male dhampirs either,” he pointed out, because he wanted to pay back Dacian just a little.
Calvert cough-chuckled behind his hand. “If you could see your face, Dac.”
“Whatever!”
Thorn shut down his computer quickly, already rising with the sensation of Ledger waking and immediately getting pissed off. “Shit, I gotta go.” He was out the door and running for the house before either brother could utter a word.
Please let him be in a better mood today.