Page 135 of Labor of Love

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 Thorn 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 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!

4

LEDGER

Everything felt totally out of control as Ledger sat in a contraption that couldn’t be called a chair because his bottom half was floating over a big hole. Dacian had brought the thing into their bedroom hours ago when Thorn had issued orders he hadn’t heard because he was too busy moaning and groaning through the damn awful pain.

Since then, Ledger had lost track of everything because the pain never ceased once it had really got going. It eased somewhat between what he considered were contractions, but it never truly let go. The websites he’d visited to look for information mentioned how his body would naturally open, producing goo as the contractions became longer, with fewer gaps between them so he could deliver his babies.

Check. There was gunk dripping over the stack of towels on the floor Calvert had placed there, much to Ledger’s acute embarrassment. This, however, was where things seemed to have gone awry when his bottom didn’t feel… open. The pressure was there, only there was something bizarre happening he couldn’t vocalize.

“Why… isn’t my… bum opening,” he wheezed through the pain.

The two vampires, watching him with way too much interest, looked at the vampire behind him, both with mutual looks that suggested Ledger was missing something vital.

“S-someone answer m-me!” He attempted a scowl, but he was positive it was more a grimace, with the last contraction lingering on like a damn foul smell.

“A vampire baby comes out slightly differently to shifters,” Thorn muttered, barely loud enough for Ledger to hear.

“What-s tha-t mea-n?” His teeth chattered together as he tried to talk through the worst of the pain holding his belly in a constricting band that came on fast and felt as if it wanted to squeeze his poor babies to death.

“Sweetling…”

Gasping, he glanced over his shoulder, his hands gripping the arms of the chairs, panting through the pain as best as he could.

“Why are… you…shielding me?” He felt the barrier in his mind, and he also sensed how Dacian and Calvert were pressing at his psyche. They were up to something, goddamnit!

“I… the girls…”

“Fuckkkkkkkkkinggggggg shittttttttttt… telllll meeee.” Alarm came at him at the squealing he was doing, he was past caring about others’ sensibilities or looking like a crazed person. He was one.

“The babies will use their fangs to get out,” Thorn blurted out, his cheeks looking obscenely pale.

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