Page 33 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn
How could I?
His squirrel’s innocent act didn’t wash with him. The thing was too cute for its own good. He’d wanted babies, little vampire babies. He was ecstatic.
Because you’re attuned to our mating cycle better than me. And I suspect you had a fine and dandy idea what would happen if we had sex with Thorn when he was fully vampire and I wasn’t in heat!
Did he sound pissy?
Don’t be silly. I was the same as you. I didn’t know vampires existed until Thorn so how could I know we’d get pregnant having sex that way? And yes, you do sound very pissy!
Ledger huffed out an exasperated breath, stomping over the muddy ground, not noticing the splashes of mud flicking up to splatter the hem of his slacks and cover his shoes. He’d repeatedly gone over his squirrel's behavior since Thorn had toldhim he was pregnant—or the babies had told Thorn—and Ledger kept coming back to the same conclusion. His squirrel had set him up, insisting Ledger ask for Thorn to shift.
Us. We are both pregnant,it announced proudly. Ledger scowled at the vines, losing his train of thought.
It wasn’t like he was really miffed about being pregnant, now he’d gotten used to the idea. No, it wasn’t that at all. In fact, he was absolutely elated to be pregnant if he didn’t think about the vomit machine he’d become. It certainly explained why he’d been feeling so nauseous the weeks before he found out. It was like his brain and body then clicked together and ‘way hey’, it was vomiting season.
What gave him a big dose of the peeves was how the girls could talk to Thorn. He lay in bed at night, his face pressed close to Ledger’s rounding belly, and he’d talk aloud—for Ledger’s sake—telling the girls how excited they were to meet them. Then telling Ledger what the girls were saying to him.
It was great they could communicate with Thorn, but it was so damn annoying that he had to get it all secondhand. Shouldn’t he be the one to hear them as they were inside him? Was this because he was divergent? He hated the idea that it might be.
“Why is it you can’t talk to Daddy?” He’d decided on that name because he didn’t like Daddy Ledger. It didn’t sound right his name being in there when Thorn decided to claim ‘daddy’ status first. Ledger was carrying the girls, so he should get to choose. So, Thorn could either lump it or like it, but he would be papa from now on.
The birds squawked loudly above his head, but his girls remained silent.
He huffed out a put upon moan. His shoes slipped on the mud as he came to an immediate halt, his hand going to where he felt a small fluttering sensation in his lower abdomen. His pulse skipped a couple of beats. Was it the babies?
A bubble of excitement came with the notion, though he tried to quell it because he was only around ten weeks pregnant. Far too early to be feeling anything, wasn’t it?
Thorn wasn’t very forthcoming about what to expect, but then this seemed to be new to his kind, too. Dhampir’s were female, so Ledger had discovered. What that meant for him in this situation, he didn’t want to guess. The easiest thing to do was shove that thought away because that made him fret as much as Thorn.
Instead, he undid several buttons on his shirt to reach his skin and wriggle his fingers under his belt, stroking his stomach where he’d felt the fluttering. He concentrated while talking. “Are you moving to let Daddy know you can hear him?”
The next flutter was more obvious, and Ledger broke out into a smile. “Such good girls,” he cooed, easily charmed. Walking back through the vines to head up to the house, his excitement grew with each flutter that came as he continued to talk to his tiny bump.
“Wait till I tell your papa I can feel you moving.” It wasn’t smugness—alright it was.
He rushed into the house, having barely gotten up half the stairs before Thorn appeared above him.
“What’s wrong? Why are you breathless? I’m picking something up from the girls.” He hadn’t finished speaking before he was leaping down the stairs, his shirt ripping and his wings appearing. He landed easily, his wings fluttering as they curled protectively around them both.
Oh, be still my beating heart.The sight made Ledger’s breathlessness increase.
“I really can’t imagine how much worse you’re gonna get with all this fussing,” Dacian declared, appearing at the top of the stairs where Thorn had been, laughing as Thorn swept Ledger off his feet before he could voice a protest. The wings appearingalways made Ledger lose the ability to think rationally. His usual embarrassment of such displays disappeared.
Who could blame him? Only the night before, Thorn had wrapped his wings around Ledger’s body, the beautiful feathers soft as satin against his naked skin. A quiver of arousal ran through him at the memory, before he could control it.
Thorn’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed with interest even as he muttered crossly, “sod off,” to his brother.
Something else that he’d been doing was curbing his swearing around Ledger and the babies. Too goddamn cute for words.
“What’s wrong, Sweetling?”
Ledger didn’t answer, instead sliding his hands around Thorn’s neck to tug his head down to kiss him.The girls moved when I was talking to them.
Thorn dragged kiss swollen lips away from Ledger, who moaned in complaint.
“They did?” he asked gleefully.
“Hello, I’m right here!” stated Dacian sarcastically.
