Page 29 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

“I’m perfectly capable of shaking my cock and standing up!”

Ledger’s scowl got Thorn staying exactly where he was. He watched helplessly as Ledger struggled to get to his feet, feeling his husband’s conflict.

Over the last month, it was like Thorn had gotten stuck on a broken roller coaster, sitting on shifting sands with his husband's emotions all over the place.

Before this he could be snappy, yes. Now, one minute Thorn felt he was on solid ground, only for the next to tumble in the wrong direction, barely hanging on to his seat.

Big, honey eyes glazed with tears gave Thorn a solid thump to his heart.

A proper knock that made it difficult for the rational side of him to figure out what he should do to help.

Maybe he should have stayed in the office and out of Ledger’s way until he’d calmed down?

But then, he was never calm of late, which Thorn would never point out.

He liked his balls exactly where they were.

He’d spent his entire life with the ability to rationalize every decision he made—until Ledger.

The challenge the small blond omega had given him all those months ago resulted in no talking—explaining what could happen when in his true form.

That hadn’t come even after he’d claimed him. This was all his dick’s fault.

Seriously you’re blaming an appendage?

He ignored the sarcastic comment.

During the last year, everything had changed, except for the hold Ledger had on his soul.

If anything, it became enriched with the pregnancy.

The hard-headed business executive that many thought cold and incapable of yielding to any pressure was a melting pot of goo at one teary eyed look from his husband.

His brothers didn’t know the half of it and Dacian would have a field day if he ever found out how he fussed over Ledger in private.

When he allowed it. Today was clearly not one of those days.

Ledger waddled naked to the shower stall. Thorn clasped his hands behind his back to resist reaching out to help Ledger when his belly impeded him stepping directly into the shower to turn on the tap, resulting in him cursing, sniffing, and waddling sideways into the shower cubicle.

“Stop looking at me,” Ledger grumbled before switching on the tap.

The loud scream at the cold water hitting his belly, which stuck out too far to avoid it, made Thorn’s ears ring. In his haste to get back out, Ledger became wedged in the opening. Tears pouring down his cheeks, a gaze of death fired at Thorn, and he had to resist cowering.

He grabbed a towel from the heated towel rail and wrapped it around Ledger.

Loud sniffing competed with the water hitting tiles as Thorn carefully maneuvered him out of the cold spray, before turning off the tap.

Giving in to the need to take care of Ledger, Thorn lifted him effortlessly to carry him back into the bedroom.

Thorn sat on the edge of the bed with Ledger easily in his lap, despite how big his belly got with their girls. He was still tiny compared to Thorn.

Ledger buried his face in Thorn’s chest and cried in earnest, his tears soaking Thorn’s shirt within seconds.

“I’m sorry,” Thorn murmured repeatedly. His conflict was very real when he hated seeing Ledger like this but also loved him pregnant with their children.

“No, you’re not,” Ledger hiccupped, sorrowful eyes pinning him when he looked at him through red-rimmed eyes. “You love our girls as much as you love me. How could anyone love me when I’m so horrible?”

It came out as more of an accusation somehow, and Thorn locked down his thoughts, seeing he should have done that earlier. The depth of their mating meant it was as easy to share his thoughts and feelings with Ledger as his brothers.

“I love you.” He opened himself, allowing Ledger to feel his love. “You are the most beautiful creature to me. A living dream created to fit only me,” he murmured possessively, getting a full body shudder and a dose of pheromones his husband wouldn’t let him act on.

Ledger whimpered and clung a little tighter, a hand creeping up into Thorn’s hair in a move that always played to his possessive side.

“A creature from the black lagoon, more like,” Ledger replied, sounding less upset and more like his sassy self.

“Then it’s a lagoon I want to live in,” Thorn answered truthfully, kissing Ledger lovingly.

He brushed their mouths together repeatedly, murmuring softly about how beautiful he was until the tears dried up, and a sense of calm was emanating from him and the girls.

“Do you want some breakfast? I’ve got a selection of fresh fruits you like. ”

“Can I have chocolate mousse over my fruit?” Ledger fluttered his damp eyelashes, a pleading look appeared that was impossible to resist.

“Of course, Sweetling.”

Thorn rose effortlessly, not once thinking about putting Ledger down, and carried him through the suite.

He had spoken with his brothers about the house they shared.

They had never considered building other homes for themselves on the vineyard, and Ledger joining the family hadn’t altered that.

Thorn had asked Ledger, but with how the house was divided, Ledger was happy enough when they could live separately and maintain their privacy.

It worked. Whether it would when his daughters arrived, he wasn’t sure.

Babies were noisy. Would the sound proofing materials they’d used to prevent having to listen to Calvert’s sexual antics decades ago be enough?

It was just one more question he couldn’t answer, which added to the enormous pile he worked to ignore most of the time.

Thorn returned his attention to Ledger. “Couch or the stool in the kitchen?” Something else he’d learned over the last month; always ask, never assume.

“The couch. My lower back is really achy today.”

The casual comment set off Thorn’s inner tuned senses as he carefully placed Ledger down on the heap of pillows he had invested in from the many searches to find anything to help make Ledger happy.

Had he gone overboard looking at the mountain of gaily colored pillows in all different sizes and shapes… possibly?

Stepping back, his hands trembling somewhat, he eyed Ledger’s belly, barely concealed in the huge bath towel. Was this it? Was he about to… burst?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Back was the teary voice.

“Like what?” he asked, working to keep his alarm out of his voice, unsure what he might have projected.

“As if I’m about to explode.”

He was going to kill Dacian.

He crouched in front of Ledger, rubbing once more at his drum tight, protruding belly, unleashing his thrall to assess what was happening inside Ledger.

“The ache could be your body preparing for…” he swallowed hard, “giving birth,” he finished in a scratchy voice.

No matter what he knew was going to happen, the reality of it totally had him freaking out.

“Am I?” Ledger screeched, hurting Thorn’s ears.

He resisted rubbing at them as he nodded slowly.

This is it!

Fuck, this is really it.

He needed to get his brothers, they would all be required to help keep Ledger relaxed as his body adapted to give birth to a vampire.

Thorn’s thrall—Hartly had called it—wouldn’t work the way he needed it to on his mate, so his brothers’ help was necessary.

It was the only small consolation at seeing his brothers lose their shit after Hartly explained they’d have to help at the birthing.

Birthing a vampire—as he’d done his best to block from his thoughts—was nothing like birthing a shifter or human baby.

Vampire skin was tough and their bones not as pliable, meaning their skulls didn’t compress.

Also—like he chose to pretend wasn’t going to happen—vampire babies used their fangs to assist in getting free.

Painful and not a pleasant experience from what he’d learned.

Would it be the same for Ledger, as a guy?

It was a question with no answer that scared Thorn the most. He hadn’t shared his fear with Ledger, no sane vampire would.

The girls needed Ledger’s blood, and biting their way out was the way to complete the blood bond with him.

Barbaric, but no way around it, not that Thorn was able to find.

Right now, the babies gained enough sustenance from Ledger and what he ate.

They would need blood, besides the milk filling Ledger’s breasts, once born.

They had discussed that at least. Although not a straightforward conversation, it was when it distracted from the here and now.

And drinking Ledger’s milk, and using their tiny fangs to pierce skin to take blood at the same time, gave them something else to concentrate on.

Ever since he’d noticed Ledger’s chest filling with milk, he’d become a little fixated on how it would taste with his mate’s blood. A detail he most certainly had not shared because of feeling a smidge embarrassed by it.

Ledger rocked forward as much as his belly would allow and gripped his cheeks and demanded tearily, “Answer me!”

Crap, this not having sex was messing with his head! Shaking off how disconcerted he felt, he nodded slowly, the fingers never letting go as he held Ledger’s gaze with difficulty. “I’m gonna get my brot—”

“You’re not leaving me,” Ledger cried in alarm. “Why do you need your brothers? I don’t want them seeing me like this. I’ll be naked!”

Oh fuckity-fuck. He instantly regretted not having the courage to broach the subject. Calvert warned him about stepping into a minefield by not talking to Ledger about what was required.

He cupped the hands holding his cheeks. “Sweetling, we need them… to help keep you relaxed.”

“How can I be relaxed… ohhh, shit… ouchhhh,” Ledger panted, his face paling so dramatically that his skin appeared see-through. His hands moved to his taut belly, which had changed shape.

It gave Thorn a moment of absolute terror and held him rooted to the spot.

The sound of hammering on the door leading into his part of the house broke him out of his stupor seconds later. Never more grateful for their super speed and connection to each other, he shouted at his brothers, “Get in here!”

“Arrrrrghhhh… noooooo,” Ledger groaned, one hand tugging on an edge of the towel as sweat gleamed on his gray skin. Despite his protests, Dacian and Calvert rushed in.

“Honest Sweetling, we need them,” Thorn rushed to say, helping whip the towel free and managing to hit Dacian in the face with the edge of it.

“Why’d you hit me!”

“Let it go, it was an accident. What do you need, Thorn?” Calvert shot Dacian a warning look and backed it up with a threat he didn’t verbalize.

Thorn felt a quick surge of satisfaction from the red slash over Dacian’s cheek. That will teach him to say his mate would burst open!