Page 1 of Thirst
1
Cain
Talon looked wrecked. Dark stubble shadowed his jaw, his curly hair a wild mess, his olive skin washed out.
He needed to feed, but nothing, not even the blood thirst, was prying him from his mate Eden and their newborn spawn.
Something twisted in my chest, jagged and raw.
My best friend—hell, my brother in everything but DNA—had a son now, and I was standing there like some idiot kid with his nose pressed to the glass.
I knuckled my sternum, trying to rub the ache away.
Pathetic. I should be happy for him.
I’d been wearing a track in the stone floor outside Castle Leclerc’s birthing suite since midnight, wishing I could do something to help. Around three in the morning, Brien, our syndicate primus and the third man in our band of brothers, had joined me. We were seated against the wall, passing a bottle of blood-whiskey back and forth, when a loud cry sounded on the other side of the thick door.
We exchanged a look and scrambled to our feet just as Eden’s parents, who’d been waiting in the castle above, hurried up.
“Talon told them to get us,” Gigi told Brien. “What’s going on?”
Before he could reply, Talon yanked open the door, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s a boy.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I—we have a son.”
With a happy cry, Gigi brushed past us to hug him.
Eden’s father, a weathered lobsterman named Wes, eyed Talon over his wife’s blond head. “They’re okay?”
“Yeah. He’s pissed off at the world and Eden…she was fucking awesome. Olivia says they’re both doing great.”
“Thank the Dark Goddess,” Brien murmured, as Gigi and Wes released Talon to go to their daughter.
I nodded, unable to speak. All I could do was pound Talon on the back.
Then we were all in the suite. Talon returned to Eden’s side, but I hung back while the others crowded around the bed, oohing and aahing over the kid. The midwife tidied up, her rubber-soled shoes soundless on the tile floor.
Eventually, things settled down and I got a closer look at Jude Talon Montgomery Esposito.
Talon grinned up at me, one hand on the tiny dhampir’s head.
I gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed, “You did good.”
He ran a fingertip over the kid’s dark tuft of hair. The tang of disinfectant mingled with the musk of sweat and blood. Underneath was the smell of baby Jude, all soft, sweet innocence.
The jagged thing in me screwed deeper.
Talon’s gaze locked on Eden, cradling their spawn to her breast. Like Talon, she looked like she’d been through a war. Her golden hair clung to her damp skin, and smudges shadowed her blue eyes. But at Talon’s smile, she bit her lip, then smiled back—bright, unguarded.
He pressed a kiss to her cheek, and together, they looked down at the kid. He was red-faced and crumpled but you could tell they thought he was the most beautiful baby in the world.
Envy burned low in my chest, and I hated myself for it.
I could count my friends on one hand and still have fingers left over. And Talon? He was at the top of the list, above everyone, even Brien.
The man had my back. Always. We’d been turned to vampire the same night, had sworn the same oath of loyalty to Brien, shared the title of Maritime Syndicate lieutenants.
Talon and Brien were my brothers, but Talon had been the first, the guy who’d saved me from the hell that had been my homelife even though he’d only been a kid himself.
But now, Talon had Eden, too. A mate.
