by Sky Winters
He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. Soon, they arrived at a small bedroom. Aurelius threw her inside, where she landed hard on the bed in the center of the space.
"What happened?" he demanded. "How the fuck are you pregnant? Are you such a little slut that you'd already been knocked up before this all happened?"
Then a look of realization formed on his face.
"No…," he said softly. "It was Thorne. I know it! I should've seen it all along! You two had been getting very, very cozy recently, and you two just couldn't help yourselves."
Adelaide said nothing, tears forming in her eyes. Then, without a moment of warning, Aurelius pulled back his hand and struck her across the cheek. Adelaide let out a shriek as his palm cracked across her skin.
"You little whore," he said. "Do you have any idea how fucked you and I both are?"
His expression was one of tight, hard anger.
"You stay here," he said. "Stay here while I think of something. Just…don't try anything fucking stupid, got it?"
With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
As soon as he was gone, Adelaide collapsed onto the bed, tears streaming down her face both from the pain of the slap and the fear that gripped her body like a cold vice.
Once the worst of the fear moved through her, she rolled over onto her back, closed her eyes, and thought.
I know this is stupid, she thought, and I know this is just wishful thinking, but Thorne, please find me. Please come and save me from all of this. I don't know what they're going to do with me, but I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life. Please.
The last bits of hope smoldered like a small flame in her heart. But Adelaide knew that it wouldn't be long before her fate was sealed.
CHAPTER 13
"Boss, what is it?"
Hoxsons' voice sounded muddled and far away. Thorne could hardly believe what he was hearing. He shot his hand up in the air, silencing Hoxson and the rest of the crew gathered around him.
There's no way that's…
He closed his eyes and listened again. The voice moved through thoughts like the recollection of a speech in a dream. It was almost ghostly, like something from another world.
But the more he focused on it, focused on the words, the more he realized that it was just what he'd thought.
It was Adelaide.
"I'm hearing something," he said. "Feeling something."
"I hope it's a ‘something' that gets us closer to that traitor fuck," said Mick. "I'm ready to take that little shit apart limb-from-limb."
"Keep the chatter down," said Corvo. "Let the boss concentrate."
Thorne… spoke the voice in his mind. Find me…
He stood up, his eyes wide open.
"Midtown," he said. "She's somewhere in Midtown."
"Doesn't exactly narrow it down," said Jace. "Tens of thousands of people there."
"Maybe it does," said Corvo. "Only a handful of elder dragon families in the city, and each one's got their own dominion."
"And who's in Midtown?" asked Hoxson.
"The Van Hornes," said Thorne.
"And how the hell do you know this, boss?" said Mick.
"I don't know how to explain it," he said. "But I can hear her."
He knew this had something to do with the pregnancy, the baby inside of her. It connected them in some way. It was the only explanation he could think of for why he could hear her voice in his mind, why it seemed to pull him in a particular direction.
"Then what's the plan?" said Mick. "We storm the Van Hornes’? On a hunch?"
"It's the only option we have," said Thorne.
But, at that moment, he realized something. The Abruzzi were dead, and as far as the rest of the crew was concerned, what happened to Adelaide from here on out was none of their business.
"I don't know if this is all bullshit," said Thorne. "But I'm going. It's the only chance I have, and I'm not going to let it slip through my fingers."
He turned to the rest of his crew, making eye contact one-by-one.
"But this isn't any of your fight. This is my business, and I won't hold it against you if any of you don't want to risk your neck for this girl."
The answers were instantaneous.
"Not a fucking chance, boss," said Corvo. "You're storming this place, I'm going in right with you."
"We've been working as a team for this long," said Hoxson, "no sense in stopping now."
Jace and Mick nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled.
"But how're we gonna do this?" said Jace.
"Simple," said Thorne. "We do it medieval-style: storm the front gates."
***
"She's what?" the voice of Harold Van Horne boomed through the throne room.
"She's…pregnant, sir," said Aurelius, his tone heavy with fear.
Adelaide stood still as a stone. She'd known it was only a matter of time before the Van Hornes found out about her secret, but she wasn't expecting Aurelius to crack so soon.
"You…little tramp!" said Cecelia, looking upon Adelaide with a haughty expression.
"What a goddamn mess," said Harold, standing up from his seat and pacing back and forth.
"And it's progressing fast – very fast," said Aurelius. "Something about the ancient blood is accelerating the gestation period. It's only been a week since conception, but she's already the equivalent of almost two months along. At this rate, she'll be giving birth in a little less than a month."
"And the sex?"
"A boy," said Aurelius.
"Perhaps if it were a girl I could marry her off and forget about it. But there's not a chance in hell that I'll let my first-born son be that of another man!"
Harold turned his gaze to Aurelius.
"And you…" he said, raising a finger. "You had a simple job, to make sure that this girl was brought to me ready for my plans. And you couldn't even do that."
"How was I supposed to know she'd be... a whore!"
"Silence!" shouted Harold. "I was a fool to trust a traitor to do the job properly, and now I'm left to clean up your mess."
But before he could say another word, a klaxon sounded through the room.
"What the hell is that?" said Aurelius, looking around.
"It's…the alarm," said Harold, turning his attention to a display nearby. "Someone's breaking in through the lobby!"
Thorne! thought Adelaide, a smile creeping across her face. He's here!
"What?" hissed Cecelia. "Who on earth could be breaking into our tower?"
"I have no idea," said Harold. "The Abruzzi clan is gone, and no one else knows of our plan."
"No one but…" said Aurelius.
"Whoever they are," said Harold, "they're cutting through our guards like a knife through butter."
Just then, a series of booms sounded out from somewhere in the distance. Then there was silence, followed by a banging on the massive doors leading to the hall. Adelaide looked around, seeing looks of shock and fear on the faces of all of those around her.
Before anyone had a chance to react, however, the doors blew open, an explosion ripping through the front doors. Then, a pair of crashes sounded. Adelaide turned on her heels and saw that two silver dragons had smashed through the enormous windows behind the thrones, the two beasts landing at both sides of the Van Hornes. Her heart raced, and her eyes locked onto the billowing clouds of smoke at the front of the throne room.
Footsteps sounded as the dragons in the room snorted and stomped. And through the smoke strode Thorne, Jace and Mick at his side, a look of grim determination on his face.
"Just what the hell is going on here?" called out Harold.
But Thorne's only response was to withdraw his pistol, take aim, and fire a pair of shots to both sides of Harold, the bullets pinging off of the throne. Harold let out a shriek before ducking behind his seat, grabbing Cecelia by the hand, and taking her with him. Then, Jace and Mick shifted, and the room was surrounded b
y dragons. The few guards stationed made moves to defend themselves and the Van Hornes, but once the Talons shot fearsome glares in their directions, they quickly dropped their weapons.
"How…" said Aurelius from his position in the center of the circle of dragons who had him surrounded.
"She called, I came," said Thorne, anger burning in his narrowed eyes.
Adelaide's heart sang as she realized that Thorne had come for her. Springing up from where she'd hidden, she ran to Thorne's side.
"You OK?" he said, quickly looking her over.
"I'm fine," she said. "I can't believe you're here!"
"Neither can I," said Thorne.
"It's the goddamned blood!" shouted Harold, peeking out from behind his hiding place.
"My God," said Aurelius. "The girl's got more power than we'd thought possible. She has a true connection to our kind."
"Enough of the bullshit," said Thorne. "I don't know what kind of deal you made, but it's over. I'm taking her back, and you all can stay out of the way, or die."
"Not a fucking chance," said Aurelius. "I've been planning this for too long for you to ruin everything at the last moment."
Adelaide's heart pounded as she realized that violence was inevitable. Thorne gently pushed her behind him, shielding her from whatever might happen.
"Whaddya say, boss?" said Aurelius. "One-on-one?"
The crew all shot Thorne a look, as if concerned that he might take him up on the challenge.
"Let's do it."
Thorne shifted, his mighty dragon form towering above all the rest. Aurelius shifted moments later, and the two beasts stared each other down for a long moment. Then, Aurelius reached behind him quickly, grabbing the seat that Harold was hidden behind and tossed it at Thorne. The chair bounced harmlessly off Thorne's chest, but distracted him long enough for Aurelius to rush in and attack. He swiped his claws through the air, grazing Thorne's chest and carving three red lines into his silver scales.
Thorne roared, and Adelaide gasped as she watched Thorne react to the onslaught. Aurelius took advantage, running in and grappling with Thorne, attempting to pin him down for a final attack.
But Thorne was just too strong for him. He easily repelled the grapple before shooting out a jet of flame directly at Aurelius' face. The fire burned him badly, turning the silver scales on his face a deep, melted black, forcing him to close one eye.
This was all the opening Thorne needed. Adelaide watched as he rushed in, shoved Aurelius down to the ground, and slashed at his face. Aurelius let out a pained roar just as Thorne raised his foot, bringing it down hard on the dragon's neck.
The roar cut off abruptly, and Adelaide knew, at that moment, Aurelius was dead. She watched as Thorne took one last look at the body before shifting back to his human form and approaching the Van Hornes, who were still huddled together in fear.
"So much for the power of the elder families," said Thorne. "One dead, one hiding like scared rats."
"Are…are you going to kill us?" said Harold.
Adelaide watched as Thorne looked over the pair, a disgusted look on his face.
"I should, for what you've put me through," he said. "But there's no sport in cold-blooded murder. So help me, though, if you come for Adelaide or me, we'll be back. And so help me God, if we storm into this room again, you won't have time to beg for mercy."
He then cast a disgusted glance at Aurelius' body.
"I'll leave you with cleaning up this mess."
Thorne cast his gaze toward the night sky, the wind from the shattered window blowing cool through the room.
"Shifted flights are usually a no go," he said to Adelaide. "But I'm willing to make an exception."
Adelaide nodded.
"Let's go."
He shifted and she climbed onto his back. Moments later, Thorne, the rest of his crew in tow, was tearing through the night sky. Adelaide held on tight to the body of her lover, never wanting to let him go.
CHAPTER 14
"That's one way to get woken up," said Adelaide in between moans.
Adelaide breathed in softly as Thorne's lips moved along the curve of her neck.
"You know I like to get my woman up in style," he said, flashing her a naughty grin.
"That you do," she said. "And let me tell you – it never gets old."
"Better not," he replied. "Now shut that mouth of yours – I'm gonna fuck you."
Adelaide opened her mouth to give a very, very enthusiastic "please do," but decided to just do what the man said. She watched as Thorne kissed her further and further down her body, paying extra special attention to her nipples, as he always did. Adelaide loved how totally consumed by her body Thorne was. Despite having been together for months at this point, and having seen her through every stage of pregnancy, he never once appeared to grow bored or tired of her. And as she looked down at his sculpted, glorious physique, she realized that the feeling was more than mutual.
Thorne made his way down, slowly, to her hips, kissing along her pelvis.
"Such a tease," she said with a sensual smile.
"You love it," he said.
"Mmm, I love you," she replied.
"Right back at you, babe," he said before turning his attention back to Adelaide's body.
She ran her hands through his hair as he kissed her more, moving closer and closer to between her legs. Adelaide wanted to grab his head and force it right down there and make him get to work, but she knew Thorne – he moved at his own pace, especially when it came to lovemaking.
Thorne soon gave her the satisfaction she wanted, however. Starting with licks and kissed on her lips, he began to eat her pussy, going to work with the incredible skill that Adelaide had become more than acquainted with over the last few months. Adelaide moaned and sighed as he licked her, a little squeal sounding from her lips as he slipped two fingers into her cunt and began to pleasure her in this way as well.
It didn't take long before her hips were thrashing back and forth in the throes of a wild orgasm. As the pleasure faded, Adelaide had to check herself to keep in mind that they weren't the only people in the apartment now.
Once he was done, Thorne climbed up on top of Adelaide, positioning himself between her legs. Fucking like this was something a little new for them – most of their screwing in the first few weeks of their relationship had been the wild, up-against-the-wall sort, but gradually, they'd both found themselves slipping into the more restrained comfort of Thorne being on top.
And she loved it. Adelaide loved the look in his eyes he'd get whenever he entered her, the way his handsome face tightened as he filled her over and over, the way his body shuddered as he unloaded himself into her.
"Goddamn," he said as he slipped his thick cock into her, filling her full and deep. "You feel so fucking good."
"Oh, so do you, baby," she said, moving her hands along the narrow lines of his hips, taking sweet pleasure in the hard tightness of his muscles.
Propping himself up on his arms, his huge biceps flexing as he did, Thorne began moving inside of Adelaide. His thick, long cock entered her over and over again, and he looked down deep into her eyes as he pushed himself deeper and deeper.
"I love you so much, baby," said Adelaide, the ecstasy already almost too much for her to bear.
"I love you, too," he said, his voice a harsh grunt as he penetrated her time and time again.
After fucking her like this for a time, Thorne, keeping his prick inside of her, sat back on his legs, pulling Adelaide close. From his position, she could see the full display of his incredible body and watch each of his tattooed muscles flex and tense, his hands gripped hard onto her hips all the while.
The feeling of him entering her over and over was beyond compare. She watched as a few strands of hair fell loose across his sweat-sheened forehead before turning her gaze to the large, perfect squares of his pecs as they tensed and released.
Adelaide felt an orgasm build inside of her, and she could tell already that
this one was going to be even more intense than the first. Her body tensed as she prepared for the onslaught of pleasure, Thorne impaling her over and over again all the while.
He gripped her thighs, pulling them open as he made his thrusts. Adelaide, through her nearly-shut eyes, could tell he was getting very close to an orgasm. And she was right there with him. Right in the throes of his fierce, rhythmic pounding, Adelaide came hard. The orgasm ripped through her, lighting up every nerve in her body with overwhelming pleasure. She screamed, she moaned, she pulled at the covers around her as she came. Thorne came soon after, and Adelaide was pushed to a new level of pleasure by the explosion of cum shooting deep within her.
Soon, Thorne's thrusting slowed. He breathed in heavily, his massive chest expanding and contracting. Then, after another moment, he fell to Adelaide's side. They lay like this for a time.
But then, the sound of a baby's cry carried through the apartment.
"Not it," said Thorne, a playful smirk forming on his lips.
"That's not how it works," said Adelaide, giving him a swat with a nearby pillow.
"Well, papa's gotta be at work, so I'll get the next one," he said, stepping out of bed and heading to the bathroom.
"Deal," said Adelaide. "I'll wish him happy birthday for you."
Throwing on a light robe, Adelaide stepped out of the master bedroom and into the spacious living room of the large, four-bedroom apartment that they'd recently purchased in Hell's Kitchen. The space was filled with morning sunlight, and the city was alive and bustling outside of the window. Adelaide stepped into the bedroom where Max, their three-month-old baby, was wriggling and crying in his crib.
"There's the big birthday man," she said, scooping him out of the crib and holding him close.
Adelaide cooed and kissed Max, the baby calming down within minutes. She couldn't help but smile as she looked down at the adorable infant, thanking whatever power above that he wasn't a fussy baby.
"He's finally older than the amount of time he spent in your belly," said Thorne, now standing at the door, and dressed in stylish professional clothing, a cup of coffee in his hand.
"I still can't believe how fast that happened," she said, rocking the baby gently. "Not like I was looking forward to being pregnant for nine full months anyway."
