Chapter 17
Delaney
Dressed in a pair of leather pants and a red halter top, I sit next to Thorin on the sofa in the main room at the clubhouse.
It’s been four days since he was stabbed and poisoned. Things so far between us have been good, great even, but I keep expecting the other shoe to drop. For him to have some kind of bad idea in his head and send me packing, or he fucks the club girls in front of me to prove a point.
“Relax, baby.” He kisses my neck, right over the bite that he left on me this morning.
He fucked me good, feeding from me as we came together. My hand moves to my inner thigh where I know he used his new dagger on me, cutting me just enough to draw blood. He licked me clean, then kissed me, letting me taste my own blood on him.
My pussy clenches at the memory of what we did, what he did to me.
“I can smell you, baby.” His lips hover over the shell of my ear.
“I was thinking about what you did to me this morning.”
“You are a dirty girl, Delaney Soloman.” He grins.
I wink. “You like me dirty.”
“Damn straight.”
“Aww, I am loving this.”
He nips my jaw, before turning to Skyla and winking.
“Baby, leave them alone,” says Camo, kissing his woman on the cheek, making her giggle.
“I am just saying. You did not see the heartbreak on her face, babe. I did; me and my crew held her together.”
Her words make my stomach sink, because that last time was painful beyond belief when Thorin took a club girl’s side over me. Even though I was defending Skyla, he still blamed me, humiliating me in front of the whole club.
It was like something snapped inside of me, and I knew then and there that we would never be together. What Thorin does not know is that I went to a local witch who is known to help people in need when it comes to those they love.
I asked Aspen to look into helping me sever the bind between us, as I could not take the pain anymore, but she turned me down. She told me that she does not agree to something like that, as it is messing with what the Fates decided.
Thorin’s posture is still relaxed, but his words pack a punch.
“I was a cunt to my woman for years; I get that, Skylar, so you do not need to keep fucking throwing it in my face. She is here with me, and we want to fucking make it work, but we can’t if people like you keep fucking bringing it back up. I love you like a sister, but please, shut the fuck up.”
“Watch how you speak to my Ol’ Lady, brother.” Camo’s tone leaves no room for argument, but Thorin being the stubborn ass that he is, does not keep quiet.
Thorin shakes his head, and I look to him, seeing his eyes tinted red, showing his anger.
“No, I don’t think I will, brother.” He sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring right at Camo.
I look at Skyla, who looks a little worried, biting her lip. She knows deep down that Camo will not let anything happen to her, but also that Thorin would never hurt her.
“I know what I did wrong, all these fucking years, and I own it, Reece.” My eyes widen at Thorin using Camo’s birth name, and Skyla mirrors my shock.
“We are not saints, far fucking from it, but I am here now. I’m trying to do what is fucking right and making a future for Delaney and me, but with my past being the hot topic of conversation, we will never move past it. She will never move past it.”
He looks at me over his shoulder, his eyes dark, looking into my soul. I understand what he is saying— he knows that I will not forgive or forget any time soon. There is too much damage and memory there between us.
I know that I need to speak up, to help simmer this conversation. The room has gone quiet, people sensing the tension between the two men. Setting my hand on Thorin’s back under his clothing, he leans into my touch, making my heart happy.
“We know we have a lot to deal with, to work through. I love you both for having my back.”
“Always, babe.” Skyla beams at me.
“Thank you.” I smile.
“Hey, where is the ‘Not your babe’ comment? I get grunted at, but my girl gets a smile,” Camo gripes, but humor is in his tone.
“She is prettier than you,” Thorin replies, making people laugh, and just like that, the tension eases.
I look to the two people who helped me when my heart was broken and in pieces.
“You will always be my family, but both Thorin and I need to figure out what is going to happen. Some things will take longer to forgive and that hurts, but I sense a change in him, so I now finally have hope that we will get to where we were supposed to be at the beginning.”
No one says anything for a short time, and my heart rate kicks up a notch in my chest. These people were my family for so long, and they saw what Thorin was doing to me.
They did nothing most of the time, but they did make him hide his activities from me thinking it would hurt less, but in all honesty, it did not.
I also know that it was never their place to force a mating, to make Thorin do what he clearly did not want to do.
Looking around the room over Thorin’s back, I make eye contact with Winger. He nods with a genuine smile on his face, then Oryn and Halen both nod to me.
“After this, he hurts you again, I will slit his throat,” is mind-linked from Cotton.
Giving him a subtle nod, my gaze moves to Shift and Rush, and both men are watching me. Both have made it very clear that they hate what Thorin did to me, often making a show by taking me from the room, which only pissed my man off even more, but at the time, I did not care.
They both offer their acknowledgements in the form of dipped chins, letting me know they still have my back and are happy that this is happening.
“You fuck this up, brother, and I am coming for you,” Rush calls out into the room, but we all know that it is aimed at Thorin.
My man sits back.
A smile slips across my face thinking that I can finally call him ‘my man.’ It has taken a long time and a lot of heartache, but we got here.
Raising his beer to his brothers, no words are said.
“Fuck, that was intense,” Skyla admits, making me giggle. She winks at me and takes a sip of her drink.
“These men know all about intense.” I laugh.
“Hey, we can be funny when we want to,” Camo adds.
I look to Skyla, who looks to me, and we both burst into a fit of laughter.
“You are forgetting I lived with all of you for years, Camo. You are all broody fuckers, unless you are drunk or high,” I tell the man.
He scrunches up his nose. “I am funny, ain’t I, baby?” He kisses Skyla’s cheek, making her giggle louder.
“If you say so, dear.” She pats his thigh, but you can hear the cheeky condescending tone in her voice.
“Fucking minx,” Camo mutters, pulling her lips to his in a heated kiss.
Fuck me, that is hot, seeing his tongue mingle with hers. The way he holds her head, there is something sexy and extremely hot about seeing a man take his woman’s mouth like that.
“You like watching people, baby? That a new kink for you?” Thorin’s voice is low, so only I can hear him.
Tiling my head to look at him, I see his eyes are dark with lust; he can smell how turned on I am.
“Maybe.”
His eyes turn molten as he looks at me. He licks his lips; I see a flash of his fangs and I clench my thighs.
“You do not play fair, Mr. Blackwood.”
“You want to bleed and come, baby?”
I nod, and my breathing accelerates.
We stare at each other, my body becoming hotter with each passing second that he looks at me like he wants to devour me. Literally.
The sound of glass smashing has us both looking across the room, to where a club girl has dropped a glass. She looks around the room, a sour look on her face that no one is running to help her.
From the vibe I have been getting since I arrived here, the brothers are growing tired of the club whores and if I am being honest, I can’t say that I blame them. They are used-up holes who like to cause drama that the men of the Kings do not want to deal with.
The other girls who are sitting around are sending glares my way; they have been since I got here. It used to get under my skin, but over time I grew to ignore them. I know that their words were just that, words, and they could not hurt me. My skin thickened to their bullshit and petty comments.
Seeing them with Thorin would cut deep, but I knew he was using them for something he did not want from me. That realization stung, yet I kept tabs on him to see if over time things would change and they never did, until now.
The need to pee pushes forward, so I lean in, kissing Thorin’s jaw.
“I need to use the restroom.” I jump up before Thorin can say anything.
Walking across the floor, I keep my head held high, ignoring the heated stares that the club girls are sending my way. Being here I have nothing to fear, nothing to be sorry for or hide away from.
I am here because this is where I was always supposed to be.
Pushing through the door into the ladies’ restroom, I scoff at that thought because besides Skyla, no fucking ladies stay here.
Slipping into a stall, I do my business, sighing when my bladder empties. Finishing up, I hear the door opening and the sound of heels clicking across the tiled floor.
Sighing, I know what is about to go down and fuck me, I am too old for school yard games.
Opening the door and stepping out, I find three club girls, all glaring at me.
“Girls,” I greet and step to the sink to wash my hands.
“You know he doesn’t really want you here. He is only doing what Winger told him to do,” Sybil states.
“If you say so, Sybil. I am not here to cause any waves; I just want to move on. It is not my fault that my fated mate is now willing to be bonded with me.”
“You are not his fated mate. He told me one night while I was fucking him. He said that he just likes to say that to cause you more pain. He is an alpha vampire, of course they thrive off pain.” She cackles.
I turn to face her after drying my hands. Folding my arms, I return her attitude.
“Do you know how fated mates work, bitch?” I ask.
“No? Well let me tell you. It is not something that can be faked. The connection between the two is strong. It makes you crave that person, until you have them. Then they are your one and only. You feel what they feel, every fucking emotion. And while Thorin did not give into our bond right away, it was not for whatever fucked-up reason you made up in that screwed-up head of yours. It was because of pain he had experienced before we even met. Add in the shit I went through, and he did not bond with me to protect me, not wanting to hurt me more, even though he did cause me heartache and pain.”
I swallow the lump that is forming in my throat, threatening to cut off my air.
“He will always come back to me. He likes to feed from me. Told me that I have the best tasting blood he has ever had,” she bitches, and I laugh.
“If you say so, but know this, bitch.” I step closer so she knows I mean what I am about to say.
“You were never and never will be special. Bitch, he fed off many women, not just you. But that is over now. I am the only body he feeds from. Now I am going to go out there and be with my man, not yours, not anymore.”
I step around her, but she grips my bicep. I hold in any reaction to the pain of her grip. Her nails dig into my skin, and that angers me.
Fixing my glare at her, I lean into her.
“You touch me again, be prepared to lose those fingers. You may think that you have leverage here because you let the brothers in that lose cunt that you carry between your toxic legs, but believe me, I know who they would back.”
I yank my arm away from her with such force she stumbles. Moving towards the door, the other two bitches move out of my way.
“I will have him again,” she screams.
I turn to face her, laughing at seeing how deranged she looks.
“If you say so.”
Leaving them all bitching about me and Skyla, I shake my head. The way these women think they rule the clubhouse reminds me of my shitty time in high school: bullies thinking they can say and do what they want without consequences.
Fucking bitches.
Reaching the main room, my steps stutter seeing Thorin walking across the floor with determined steps in my direction. My feet stick to the floor, seeing how intense he is looking at me.
Something tugs in my chest as he reaches me.
“I felt whatever happened in there.” His gaze bounces around mine, like he is searching for something in my face. “Fuck it.” His big hands frame my face, and he crashes his mouth onto mine.
My shocked gasp gives him the opportunity to slip his tongue into my mouth.
The music and chatter around the room quiets at his kiss.
My focus is on him and only him.
My body softens and melts into his hold on me. My hands find his trim waist, gripping onto him in fear of this all fading away into another dream that I frequently get.
He nips at my lips, making me moan, followed by a growl from him.
“Mine,” he grunts against my mouth, before resting his head against mine. “Mine.”
“Yours.” The single word comes out breathy.
He keeps me close to him, while he lifts his head, addressing the room.
“Delaney is mine. Anyone got anything to say can come and see me, but be prepared to fucking bleed.”
Not a second later the room erupts in cheers, clapping, and whistles. Brother come up to pat Thorin on the back. They touch my arm in acceptance, not that they would ever deny this.
Feeling like I am being watched, I look over my shoulder and see Sybil with the two club girls from the bathroom. They are all standing united with matching scowls and folded arms like mean girls in high school.
I can’t help but smile at them, running my hand up and over Thorin’s chest, around his neck and pulling his mouth to mine. He breaks the kiss, his gaze flickering across the room before bringing it back to mine, and a smirk slips across his handsome face.
“You are trouble, baby. A fucking minx. I love it.”
I wink, making his grin widen.
“I have always been trouble, baby. You had better remember that.”