Chapter 20 – Thorne
Amonth and a half.
That’s how long it took to strengthen and satisfy the bond.
It was more than just sex. We also cuddled while talking about our long lives, the places we lived, and the things we still want to do.
Like Layla, who wants to go to Disney World because she’s never been.
Vara who wants to open her first human/supernatural club once we reveal ourselves to their world.
And me.
I want to write a mystery book.
They’re small aspirations, but new experiences for all of us, which is rare for our kind.
Spending the past month and a half with Layla and Vara, with no responsibilities for once in my life, was nice.
The timing was perfect since we still have no leads on the human who shot at us with wooden bullets.
There haven’t been any additional attacks, which isn’t surprising since Layla hasn’t been out in public, except for the meeting with Rorik.
I canceled Vara and Layla’s in-person appearances, so all their meetings were done virtually, including the bi-weekly meeting for SUC. No one questioned Layla and Vara appearing together on video. Except for Locheran, who they ignored.
Not that it mattered. Supernaturals are horrible gossips so word got out fast that Layla, Vara, and I are mates. We had to report our relationship to WOVE who gave Layla reprieve for the bondymoon. That’s what Layla called the honeymoon for completing the bond.
It’s now two weeks until the International Supernatural Conference.
Tonight’s in-person SUC meeting will involve going over the itinerary for the event.
There will be guest speakers, humans and supernaturals alike.
Video presentations showing unity amongst our kind and even a few videos of humans and supes working together.
Locheran also formed an inter-species special ops team to focus on stopping self-proclaimed monster hunters.
That team will have their own presentation at the conference.
One day will solely be for hearing concerns from the supernatural community.
For the most part, we’re prepared. Yet the pit in my stomach grows deeper every day.
Vara pouts as we pile into the SUV, Layla between us.
My first in command, Erebos, is in the front seat with the driver.
I left the griffin in charge while I was on my ‘bondymoon’ but since we’ve emerged from the sex cave—Layla’s words, not mine—I’m back in the lead role.
With tonight being our first public appearance in nearly two months, I beefed up security.
One vehicle leads us to the WOVE building in Lower Manhattan while two others follow.
“I don’t want to go to work,” Vara whines.
Layla laughs, taking the sphinx’s paw in her hand. She kisses her knuckles. “We’ll have plenty of time to play after this conference is over.”
I hope.
Those unspoken words silence us. The truth is, we have no idea if this plan will work. If it doesn’t, we go to war and one of us could die.
All of us could die.
“Everything’s going to work out,” Layla says, hearing my thoughts. I’ve been working on putting up walls to keep them in, but sometimes I forget.
Layla takes my hand and brings it up to kiss my knuckles just as she had done with Vara. My tense body relaxes slightly at her touch. Desire takes over, and I grab my mate by the throat so I can claim her lips.
It doesn’t matter how much the three of us have fucked, we will always want more. I’ve released enough cum to fill a lake at this point. Yet just the brush of Layla’s mouth, a graze of her fingertips over my skin, has me hard and leaking.
We spend the rest of the drive giving in to our lust, making sure to be careful about simultaneous orgasms. Rorik said it could take years for the passing out part to lessen.
Everyone is already seated when we walk into the conference room. Layla takes her place at the front and Vara sits next to Locheran. He raises a brow at her, and she flips him off. I snort and pull out my phone when it vibrates in my pocket.
Sex looks good on you, brother.
Loch
My chest puffs out, my heart fluttering.
Brother.
I’ve been helping Locheran with the security aspects of the unveiling plan as well as the protocols for the upcoming conference.
There were plenty of nights during our bondymoon where he’d come over with Xander and Evangeline and the six of us would eat and/or drink and talk about the adventures we’ve had in our long lives.
.. well except for Evangeline since she’s only lived forty human years.
They’ve all become my family.
Now we just need Locheran to find his mate.
I can tell he’s lonely. He might joke and be an asshole, but I've known him long enough now to understand that’s his way of coping.
He’s even told me that he believes he’ll be alone for the rest of his life.
He claims he’s fine with random hookups, but his eyes contradict his words.
I text him back a middle finger emoji, which makes him chuckle. Then I follow it up with a ‘thank you.’
The meeting lasts nearly two hours as we go over the itinerary and security details. When we leave the building, we’re exhausted and ready for cuddles and a movie. But the moment we step outside, I sense something’s wrong.
We’re being watched.
I hold out my arms to stop Vara and Layla from walking forward. Erebos walks to our SUV and finds a letter on the windshield. I turn to the guards tasked with monitoring activity around the building.
“How did this get here?” Erebos asks, angrily. I can always count on him to take his job seriously and do it well.
Their mouths flap open and closed like a fish out of water.
“It wasn’t there a minute ago,” a vampire guard says. “I just did a sweep.”
Erebos brings the letter to me. “It could have been any supe with magical abilities. Anyone with speed or a cloaking power.”
I snarl at the thought of a supe with malicious intents getting close enough without being seen.
The paper isn’t much of a letter at all. It contains only one sentence:
Cancel the conference or many will die.
Goddamn it.
As I pass the paper to Layla and Vara to read, the SUV that we were seconds from entering explodes. The blast sends the three of us backwards. Erebos lands next to me, but he’s quick to get back on his feet. He extends his wings, taking to the air to scope out a possible suspect.
But whoever placed the letter is long gone.
I scramble to find Layla and Vara. They were thrown a few feet away from me. Aside from a few scrapes—that are already healing—and their skin covered in ash from the fire and smoke, they’re uninjured. The panic building inside me fades knowing they’re alive.
Erebos lands back next to me. “Two guards are injured, a vampire and a shifter. I hear sirens off in the distance, so someone already called human first responders.”
I nod and instruct him to call a supernatural clean up team to compel and alter memories.
We’re going to need them.
“We should cancel the conference,” I growl.
I stand in Layla’s penthouse living room, arms crossed.
It’s been a week since another attempt to kill Layla was made. At least, we assume it’s Layla being targeted. For all we know, it could be Vara.
I considered myself, then concluded that I barely have friends, let alone enemies. Everyone from my past is dead, including the hunters who took my family away from me.
The news of the explosion spread fast amongst our kind and supes are getting nervous. The hunters are getting bolder in their attacks, using bombs in a crowded city where other humans could be injured or killed.
Xander has all hands on deck, trying to find the humans before there’s another incident.
“No. Absolutely not,” Layla says, pacing in front of me.
Vara sits on the couch, legs crossed and appearing bored as she preens her feathers and sharpens her claws.
“It’s what they want. I will not let them have their way.
We’ve worked too hard for this. If someone wants to kill me, they’ll find a way.
I won’t sit here waiting for them to attack.
The conference will be secure and if they try to kill me there, they won’t succeed. You or Locheran will catch them.”
Supernatural Crime Investigators scoured the burnt-out SUV and watched surveillance footage from surrounding buildings but found nothing useful.
SCI said it’s likely the bomb was installed hours earlier.
Possibly even days. It could have happened when the SUV was parked while the driver got gas, or took a break, or parked it for the night in the garage at Layla’s building.
We checked the cameras in the basement parking garage too but didn’t find any movement to suggest a bomb was being attached to the SUV. The only thing the investigators noticed was a slight glitch when the letter was being put on the windshield.
It could have been a witch or any other supernatural with cloaking abilities.
Whoever it is knows about the supernatural conference since they threatened more deaths if the event proceeds.
We’re wondering if a supe who knows about the unveiling plan, and is against it, is behind the attacks.
If that’s the case, someone on the committee, or any supe that was invited to the unity event with humans, has been talking.
We’ve questioned the SUC members already, but they all denied leaking the sensitive information.
Not that they’d admit it if they were, but Vara and I are both good at detecting lies and they all seemed genuinely concerned.
We’ve tasked them with keeping an ear out amongst their species for any word of discourse over the plan.
It was inevitable that word got out before our announcement at the conference. There are rarely secrets with supernaturals.
The only thing that doesn’t make sense is the human shooting at us. We assumed he’s a hunter, but maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s working with supes to make sure this unification plan doesn’t happen.
“Then reschedule it for another date.” I continue my plea with Layla. “Let me find this asshole first and once the danger is over, the conference can go on.”
Layla pinches the bridge of her nose as if my insistence on protecting her is giving her a headache.
She's definitely being a pain in my ass.
Vara snorts.
Fucking mate thoughts.
“Thorne, look. The only reason you’re freaking out about this is because I’m your mate. Trust me, I’m scared something will happen to you and Vara as well. But isn’t this why we were brought together?”
“We don’t know that,” I growl.
Layla crosses the room in seconds, her hand striking out like a snake to take me by the neck. “First of all,” she says, using the couch as a stepping stool to hover her mouth over mine, “don’t fucking talk to me like that.”
She licks my lips, and I whimper.
Fucking bond always making me horny.
Vara snorts… again.
Glad she finds this entertaining.
“Oh, I am definitely entertained. I would love to see Layla hand you your ass,” Vara says, not even looking at us as she flips through a celebrity gossip magazine now that she’s done grooming herself.
Layla’s fangs drop, and she grazes them over my cheek and chin while still squeezing my neck.
“Second of all, my mate,” Layla says, licking up the blood from the cut she just made.
“I am the vampire queen of New York City. I will not submit to those who want me to fail. I will get on that stage during the conference in a week and make it clear that anyone who revolts because of this unveiling plan, anyone who causes harm to humans and/or supes, will be punished by death.”
She releases me, and I adjust my painfully hard cock. There’s no way I’ll be getting any relief tonight after the way I raised my voice at my mate.
Layla collapses onto the couch next to Vara with an exaggerated sigh.
“It’s clear this person doesn’t understand the hard work we’ve put into this plan.
We’re not going to implement it unless the majority of our community is on board.
It’s why we’re holding public hearings for supes to weigh in.
They resorted to violence when all they had to do was come to us to raise their concern. ”
“Maybe the attacks have nothing to do with SUP,” I offer.
“God, I hate that acronym too,” Vara laughs. “Who came up with it?”
Layla ignores Vara and holds out her hand for me. I join her on the couch, and she cuddles up to my side.
“I trust you and Locheran will find who’s responsible. I will be fine, I promise. I know it’s your job to protect me, but you do realize I was a warrior before I was a queen, right?”
I nod.
“I fought in armies against vampire hunters and ripped their throats out with my fangs. I can take care of myself. This security team I’ve been assigned is merely a formality as queen.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and rub her arm.
“I know you can take care of yourself, but don’t get cocky on me. You know very well there are other supes stronger and more powerful than you.”