Chapter 10
Thorin
My fangs ache to tear into whoever hurt my woman.
Those Fury bitches, the remaining sisters will die at my hands, and I will spit on their corpses. They came for the wrong woman. Involving rogue vampires was a stupid mistake; one they will regret.
Delaney is currently in my bed, in my room, sleeping off whatever spell those cunts put on her. It appears that as soon as they fled, the spell wore off, thank fuck.
Her body needs time to recover. As she explained, her body felt weak, like the energy or life was being drained out of her while they were chanting or singing. She is unsure of which.
“I want those Furies found. Oryn, work with Izzy to see if she can find any information from the other side. Camo, can you ask your Ol’ Lady to reach out to that witch she is friends with?” Both Oryn and Camo nod.
“Will do,” VP replies.
“Good. I think it is safe to say that they will not be backing off from hurting anyone who associates with the club, or just Thorin. Is there anyone outside of the club who may have a target on their back?” Pres asks me.
I think over people I know who do not belong to the club but might have a personal link to me and come up short.
“None. I had a few regular girls I fed from, but that was all it was—feeding and fucking,” I explain.
He studies me for a brief moment, trying to see if I am telling the truth or not. Fuck, I would never lie to my president unless it was deemed absolutely necessary.
With a nod, he addresses the table we are sitting around in church.
“They got too fucking close to Delaney tonight. Each prospect did what they needed to do to protect her, even though they did not know where the threat was. They acted accordingly. For that they get credits with me.”
“Me too,” I agree.
“If they could have used their powers, or saw a threat, I know the crazy fucker, Gael, would burn the place down to protect her,” Oryn adds.
“Both Gibson and Gael will earn their patches when they have done their time, if they survive. Having fire control and time freeze will be a great addition to the club,” Camo informs us.
“How is Delaney?” Halen asks me.
“Sleeping. I left the prospect at my door to keep a listen out for her, while I am here tending to business. She needs her rest. Fuck knows what they were chanting, but she said she felt like her life was being drained from her. The guy she works with said that she went white, like all the blood had been drained from her body.”
Pres watches me, seeing how I plan to move things forward. Those witches almost took Delaney from me. I have to fight back; no fucker hurts what is mine.
My hands clench into fists under the table, a surge of anger pulsing through me as I replay the night’s events. Seeing Delaney lie there in the arms of the prospect, looking deathly, will be a nightmare playing on repeat for me. I won’t let anyone threaten what’s mine again.
I need to take them out before they come for her again.
“Do not do anything reckless, brother,” Winger warns.
I grit my teeth, as my fangs ache with rage.
“I need to end them before they take her from me. This is my doing; they are coming after her because of me.”
“That crazy Fury came at you, Thor; it was you or her, brother,” Rush adds.
I understand what he is saying but fuck, this falls on my shoulders. I have to protect my woman after I brought more danger to her.
Delaney has already shown me that she is a strong woman, a worthy mate for me. Especially since even after everything that has happened to her, she has not freaked the hell out. No, she has stood strong and gotten on with life, albeit she knows that has earned my protection even more.
For years I kept her away from me, not wanting to add to her trauma, but from what I have seen and been told, she was strong and dealt with her shit while I was fucking up in front of her.
I knew from the second I stepped into that room that she was my mate, but seeing that it was my kind who had hurt her, I made it my conscious choice to push her away. She needed to heal and recover, knowing that what they did to her would leave her fucked in the head.
Little did I know that my mate was fucking strong and fierce, yet I got stuck in my own head, thinking that it was best to keep her away from me. The idea of causing her more harm made me angry at myself, and she was always in my line of sight and felt my wrath every fucking time.
It was never her fault, always mine.
I am a cunt and she knows it, yet she felt that connection and held onto that, while I did everything I could to break it.
Seeing others find their mates, only to be hurt or completely destroyed when they died, was something I never wanted.
Because of that, I knew for a long time that I would never claim who was meant for me.
Shaking my head, my fists clench harder on my thighs. My body is coiled like a rattlesnake, ready to attack.
“Breathe, brother,” is called out, and I look up to see a smirking Shift.
“Fuck off. You know that I do not breathe. Do you think you are funny?” I snap, the men laughing around the table. Even Winger’s lips twitch in amusement.
Shift winks.
“Yes,” is all he says, confidently.
“You need to lock her down, brother. She is a mighty fine mate for a prickly fucker like you. She may smooth some of the pricks out.” Rush laughs.
“What is this— pick on the vampire day?” I grunt, sinking into my seat.
“Oh, come on. What’s a bit of ribbing between brothers?” Cotton calls.
Feeling a shift in the room, I look up at Camo who is opposite me, and his stare is intense, serious.
“You know that I see Delaney as a sister. Hell, most of us in this room do.” I nod.
“She is a tough chick, brother. You just did not see it. Watching the light in her eyes go out every time you fed or got your dick sucked in front of her fucking killed me. Especially after I claimed Skyla, I could see what she wanted, and you were denying her. She deserves the fucking world, and if you will not give it to her, even after all of this, then break the mating bond. End it so she can move on and find some other guy who will worship her.”
There is no smugness to his tone, just flat, serious, which makes his words hit their mark hard. Anger rolls through me because no fucker is touching what belongs to me.
All of the men in the room look at me, preparing for what I will do or say next. I look each of them in the eyes, telling them that Delaney is mine.
“Why do you think we all agreed to stop fucking her?”
My head snaps in the direction of Oryn.
My vision turns red, my blood boiling in my veins at the memory of them each fucking her before it all came to a stop one day. Pushing to my feet in a flash, my chair almost tips over. I snarl at the fucker who just spoke, the one who brought up that my brothers have fucked my mate.
“Sit down,” Pres snaps.
I ignore him, glaring, ready to kill this fucker across the table. Seeing him on his back, throat ripped out while he bleeds all over the wooden table.
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down,” is commanded.
Shooting my glare at Pres, who doesn’t flinch, I sit my ass back in the chair.
“Fucking kids, I tell you,” Pres snaps. “Thorin, there is something that you need to know about Delaney’s time here. Something that both Camo and I kept from you for when the time was right.”
My spine stiffens, my fingernails digging into my palms in rage that they kept something from me about my woman.
“Tell me.” The unnatural sound leaves my lips, but again, Pres never backs down.
He is a strong man, a man with power but also respect from the men in the room. He is fair, firm, and loyal and fuck me, anyone who gets in his way, be-fucking-ware.
The weight he carries isn’t just in muscle or his title of leader of this club, but in the way he commands his territory with authority and unwavering conviction. Even in the heat of conflict, he keeps a cool head and leads us down the right path.
“None of us has fucked Delaney. It is why the other club girls hate on her so much.”
“Do not fucking lie to me, Pres.”
“It is not a lie, brother,” Camo jumps in. “Winger saw that she was your mate from the get-go, so we decided to keep our dicks tucked away when it came to her.”
“Fuck you, Camo. I saw you all leave with her more than a dozen times,” I growl.
“It was all for show, hoping it would snap you out of that bullheaded stubborn side of yours.” Cotton shrugs.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Thorin, not one of us have touched your girl.” Halen’s voice is calm and full of truth.
I glare at each of the men in turn, seeing only truth looking back at me. It makes the guilt I was already carrying feel like lead in my stomach.
Sinking into my chair, I scrub my hands over my face and head, thinking over all the times I let the club girls into my room knowing that Delaney was watching.
“You would not see sense, brother. You were determined to push her away, to hurt her at every turn. So this guilt that you are feeling? Fucking own it. Learn from it.” Winger’s voice is hard like his words.
She saw so much shit from me, and I fucking hurt her at every turn. Yet it was always in the back of my mind that she was sleeping with my brothers.
Fuck.
My chest gets tight, guilt worming its way through my body.
“Fuck, she is never going to forgive me.” I sigh. “I am a fucking alpha vampire, and I can’t stop hurting my mate—what the fuck does that say about me?”
“One who does care deep down, fucker, but you have to learn that Delaney is one strong lady,” Oryn pipes up.
“If she gives you that second chance, then make sure that you fucking lick her pussy like the queen that she is, brother. Give her everything that she wants and then some. Believe me, my woman is like putty in my hands when I use my tongue on her.” Camo winks.
There is a bang on the church door, and Camo grins, pressing down on his crotch before the person speaks.
“I fucking felt that, Reece. Stop talking about our sex life, or believe me, baby, you won’t have one,” Skyla shouts through the door.
She would never open it; being the VP’s Ol’ Lady, she respects the club’s ways and knows that the door is never to be opened unless it is an emergency.
“Aw, come on, baby, you love my tongue; I am not lying about that,” Camo calls back, grinning like a fool.
The men laugh at the antics between Camo and his woman.
I study him, liking seeing him smile more. For a while we thought that he would never take a mate, or claim Skyla, because he is just as stubborn as I am. But this fucker was meant to have a woman at his side.
“Anyway, back to Thorin and Delaney. Camo is a sure thing for a fucking when he leaves here, so let’s move on because none of us wants to hear him talking about his dick or tongue,” Pres announces.
“You need to show her that you are all in, that you want this bond with her. I know that you are a possessive fuck, and you never know, Delaney might like that shit, be dark like you, but show her not tell her, brother.”
I nod, thinking over his words.
She is mine and yes, I am possessive over her. Even when I was being a cunt, I made sure that she was protected and taken care of. She was mine to look after, even if she did not see it.
Little does she know that I paid for all of the things she needed. Her car, her online classes, all me, not the club. I just could not give her my heart and soul after what she went through.
Now I know that she can handle a lot of shit, so maybe she can handle me and my darkness.
I raise my hand to rub my chest, an ache suddenly there.
A cold whisp sweeps into the room, and Rush jumps out of his fucking seat.
“Damn it, Izzy,” he shouts, making her giggle.
The men laugh; my lips twitch. I love this chick, even if she is a ghost. It will be a sad day when she passes over, but she needs to be with her family.
I get the feeling that when Oryn got to her before she died in the accident, her spirit attached to him, seeing something in him that she could help with.
“What do you need, Iz?” Oryn asks her.
I asked her to keep an eye on my girl while I dealt with church business.
“Thorin, Delaney is awake.”
“Thank you, beautiful,” I say, looking to Pres for permission to leave the room.
“Go,” is all he says, and I am out of my seat with my vampire speed, needing to get to my girl.