Page 35 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn
“Will you marry me?”
His lips parted, but no sound came out as a huge ball of emotion lodged in his throat, blocking his airway. A shudder ran through him as his head bobbed frantically, causing a tear to roll down his cheek.
Thorn wants to marry me.
Us, he wants to marry us,his animal pointed out delightedly. His squirrel squealed giddily when Thorn reached for their hand.
Thorn clasped Ledger’s very clammy hand, something he didn’t seem to care about, and flicked open the box. The sun caught a myriad of stones in all different colors, set in a thick silvery-gray looking band. It was like no metal Ledger had seen before. It was stunning and Ledger’s fingers trembled as Thorn slipped his pinkie into the band and allowed the box to drop to the ground.
Thorn touched the tip of his pinkie to Ledger’s ring finger, meeting his gaze as he let go of Ledger’s other hand. Slowly and deliberately, he slid the ring from his own finger and settled it into place at the base of Ledger’s. The weight of the warm metal caused Ledger’s pulse to kick.
“I love you. Be mine for all infinity.”
“Yes,” Ledger hiccup-sobbed, bending to kiss Thorn hard on the mouth. Before his excitement could get the better of him,he eased out of the kiss to admire the sparkling ring and how perfectly it fit.
“Did you have this made for me?” he blurted out at the reality of its perfection.
“I already had the stones, platinum, and rhodium, so I took them to a friend who made it special for me.” He stroked a finger over the stones. “I wanted something unique for you.”
He glanced from the ring to Ledger, and he felt something akin to embarrassment coming from Thorn. “I asked the jeweller to create sunshine in a ring. That’s what you are to me.”
“Ohhhh,” Ledger warbled, sniffing back the next sob, while blinking furiously at the ache at the back of his eyes. His heart pounded fast enough to make it hard to breathe once more.
“When shall we have the wedding? Next month?”
“Huh?” Ledger gave Thorn a look of confusion at what he said. They couldn’t possibly organize a wedding in four weeks!Is Thorn insane?
“No, Sweetling, just eager to be married to you. And if I could make it happen tomorrow, it wouldn’t be soon enough.”
Ledger gawped at the seriousness. “Tomorrow… heaven’s I feel faint.”
Thorn scooped him off his feet while standing, holding him to his chest, making Ledger’s pulse skitter about at the romantic picture they would make with the view at his back.
“I’ve got you.” The words, said with such possessiveness, would have weakened his knees as something else registered.
The ring on his finger gave him a unique feeling far different from the mate mark he bore. This was a choice. Marriage was a commitment they made for the world to acknowledge their pairing. Not all mates choose to marry. They didn’t feel the need, but to wear Thorn’s ring so everyone would see it where they couldn’t always see the claim mark on his skin was something Ledger didn’t know he wanted until now.
He laid his head on Thorn’s shoulder, a smile forming. “Four weeks, we’ll make it work.”
The soft brush of lips over his forehead and the whispered words, “thank you Sweetling,” affirmed, more than anything, that Ledger would move heaven and earth to give Thorn what he wanted. And hell mind anyone that got in his way.
Chapter Fifteen
Thorn
“You can’t be serious?” Calvert plonked himself down unceremoniously in front of Thorn, who blinked twice at his disgruntled brother.
“Serious? Always,” he stated, arching his brows. “But what about this time?” Thorn asked, though he suspected he knew with the number of complaints he’d had over the last two days about cancelled plans.
“Putting our tight schedule of deliveries on the back burner to use those same delivery trucks to bring all the things that Ledger wants for the wedding.”
Calvert threw up his hands, continuing with his rant, but Thorn heard none of it when he was continuously buoyed by the happiness coming from Ledger.
“Are you listening to me?” Calvert gave him a hard stare and Thorn had to resist squirming at being so obviously caught out.
“You aren’t happy. That’s what I’m getting. I explained that this is all temporary until the wedding is arranged. It’s less than two weeks away. It needs to be perfect.” He added enough force to the latter because he could see and sense that Calvert was gearing up for another rant. His brother had been like this since discovering Ledger was pregnant. After his confession to being jealous, Thorn had worked to downplay his emotions that carried through their vampiric connection. Sometimes it was harder to remember, when Ledger was so exuberant over the wedding plans as they came together.
“I want to say I get it, and a part of me does, but why the damn rush? You’re matedfully. A wedding is a traditional archaic institution—”
