Thorne Ch. 08

"I will talk to him," Ethan replied, "but you must understand that it will change nothing. In his mind as long as Harry exists, Nadine will never be safe. I would feel the same if it was my mate that we were talking about."

William hesitated realizing that Ethan was right. Hadn't he thought about giving up his family for Olivia?

"I understand, but still I will try," William replied. "Tell me of Olivia."

Ethan and Thorne looked at each other understanding. William was in love with the hunter.

"You have our word that no harm will come to her," Ethan replied. "Whether she stays with us or goes is up to her."

"Another favor then, but first are we agreed that you will leave my family in peace?"

"Give us a moment," Thorne said and then put the phone on mute. "What do you think?"

"I think that he's our best chance of getting to Rufus if Olivia doesn't help us," Ethan replied. "I also know that there's no way in hell that Leon will agree to letting Harry go free. I propose that we let the rest of them go with the stipulation that they leave the state and don't return. If they do, the agreement is null and void. They will have twenty-four hours in which to leave."

Thorne unmuted the phone and explained their terms to William. It took William several minutes to respond.

"I agree to your terms and now for the second request. If Olivia decides to leave, alert me. She isn't safe from either side."

"We can do that," Thorne said. "We will call later today in regards to her decision."

"One more thing," William said. "I plan to kill Rufus Saunders no matter what happens."

William hung up without saying anything else. It wasn't open for discussion: Rufus Saunders was going to die.

William did a calculation of the time and vanished to the cabin in the mountains.

****

Barb tossed and turned unable to settle. Snippets of her conversation with Gene wouldn't let her rest. She had been expecting more sympathy and understanding than what he had given her. In effect, he told her that she was every bit as horrible as others thought she was. But the thing that really got her was that she had already had what she wanted and she threw it away. It hadn't occurred to her to be honest with her ex before she married him. All she saw is what he had and what she wanted. She was prepared to say or do anything to get him to marry her. That thought prompted another one- something that Thorne had said to her.

"If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else."

He made her sound so... cheap and desperate. But she saw it as her going after what she wanted. It was the same with Clay and several others. Another question popped into her mind- one that she had been asked several times over the past several weeks. "Are you any happier?"

It was a hard question to answer. She was happy with the money, but not about the vampire and baby part of it. That was far more than what she bargained for. The options that Thorne gave her came to mind and she ruled out one of them. She wasn't going to sign the option that said that she had to be a mate and the mother to the baby. She knew that she wouldn't be able to fulfill the obligation. When she turned over, Celeste was sitting on the chair beside the bed. Barb hadn't heard her come in.

The first feelings that Barb had when she saw her was anger followed by betrayal and then finally fear. She checked herself to be sure that she wasn't thinking anything that could be construed as intent to harm herself or the baby. Only then did she speak.

"What do you want?"

Celeste didn't reply, but looked at her with her head cocked to the right. A moment later, she was on the bed next to Barb and reaching for her. Barb pulled back in surprise, but Celeste kept moving toward her. Finally Barb's only option was to get off the bed.

Celeste sat on the bed watching Barb then without a word, climbed down from the bed and left the room. Barb stood by the side of the bed for several minutes before getting back in. She was more than scared of her niece; she was terrified. She had the feeling that Celeste knew what she was thinking as well as being able to communicate with the baby. Celeste was the one thing that could have her tossed back into the tiny condo with nothing but what she had come with.

She took a deep breath and tried to relax. She laid back and began to sift through the remaining options including a few that she had come up with on her own. As she closed her eyes, she realized that she had always had options other than the ones that she had chosen. It was a first step in accepting responsibility for her choices.

****

After Ethan left, Thorne sat at his desk scribbling on a piece of paper. Working with Ethan felt good and it felt right. The feeling reminded him that he promised Celeste that he would talk to Ethan about the rift between their families. He also wondered why Noel hadn't complained of any headaches.

"It's all related, but how?" he asked out loud. "What does Noel know that I don't?"

He looked up from his drawing to see Celeste standing in the doorway. He was surprised to see her since one; she had never approached him and two—all of the mates and families were spending the day together.

"Is everything alright?" he asked as Celeste as she stepped into the office.

"He wants me to give you something," Celeste replied.

"He does?" Thorne asked, "What is it?"

Celeste walked over to where Thorne sat, stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.

"That's from him," was all she said and walked out.

Thorne stared after her as she left the office. He shut down his laptop and left the office. It was time to go see Olivia, but he had a stop to make first. He went to Barb's room, tapped on the door and walked in.

"What do you want?" she asked not really caring.

Thorne sat in the chair that Celeste had vacated and looked at her. He was honest with himself. He was only there because of the baby.

"I came to comfort our child," Thorne replied. "He is in need of reassurance."

"I suppose in order to do that you have to touch me," Barb said dryly.

When Thorne didn't answer, she shifted into a more comfortable position and waited. Her breath caught when Thorne moved to sit on the bed beside her. She felt her nipples tighten and bit her lip. She had never said that sex with Thorne wasn't good-it was better than good but not good enough that she wanted to stay mated to him. When she looked at him, he was paying her no attention. His entire focus was on her belly. Both of his hands were slowly massaging her stomach and he was speaking just loud enough that she could hear him. When he was finished speaking, he continued to massage her stomach for a few more minutes. Barb held her breath as he bent closer to her stomach and kissed it. Thorne stood up, moved away from her and looked at her.

"As you know, tonight the hunt for Rufus Saunders begins. If anything should happen to me, you will be taken care of. We need to discuss what will happen to the baby in the unlikely event of my demise. It is clear to all that you have no interest in being a mother to our child. If something should happen to me, I want one of your siblings to raise him. I have no preference as to which one as they are all decent, kind and loving people and he will be well loved and cared for."

Barb didn't know what to say. It hadn't occurred to her that Thorne could die. For the most part, she didn't really care; but on the other hand if the others changed their minds about taking the baby, she would be stuck with it.

"I guess that you had better come back safe and sound," she said snidely.

Thorne gave her a grin so icy that she felt goose bumps rise on her arms.

"I guess I know which option you chose," he said with a satisfied smile. "Remember to do as Adrianna says."

"That's it?" Barb shouted. "That's all that you're going to say to me?"

"What is it that you want?" Thorne asked. "Were you thinking that because I might die that I would come in here and give you my unwavering love? Were you expecting the kiss on the temple? I told you that I don't and will not love you. That is a kiss that you will not receive now or ever. I am here because as I said, our child needed comforting and to let you know that as my mate- for lack of a better term, you will be financially cared for."

Barb didn't know how to respond. She didn't know what she expected from him. He was right in that he did tell her that he didn't and wouldn't love her and she was alright with that because she didn't love him either. But what had she been expecting?

Thorne waited for a response. When none was forthcoming, he walked out without looking back. Barb watched him leave knowing that he was hoping that she wouldn't choose the third option-he wanted her gone. It hurt she realized. With the exception of her ex and now Thorne, she had always been the one to do the rejecting.

"You're going to lose everything," a soft androgynous voice whispered in her head. "Ask yourself if what you think you want is worth the price of losing those who love you."

Barb looked around for the source of the voice. It took her several minutes to realize that it was coming from within her.

"I'm going crazy," she whispered.

****

"Come in!" Louise called as she sat up.

Kevyn and Juliette peeked in and then walked into the room.

"We thought we'd stop in and see how you were doing," Kevyn said.

"Scared, but ok... how about you two?"

"Scared," Juliette replied. "I was thinking that maybe we should go check on Barb while the guys are downstairs. I think that there's some kind of meeting going on. I know that she and Thorne aren't-together, but she might still be scared. Katrina suggested that we all get together after the men leave so that we can talk and support each other. Maybe we can get Barb to come."

"It can't hurt to ask," Louise said. "Let me get dressed and I'll go with you."

"Do you think she'll come?" Juliette asked Kevyn while they waited for Louise to get dressed.

"I wouldn't count on it," Kevyn replied, "but we can hope."

Louise came out a few minutes later wearing one of her new maternity outfits. It seemed as if overnight her regular clothes no longer fit around the waist. They were almost out of the room when she had a thought.

"Wait a minute," she said and ran back into the room. She came back with a small bag in which she put two maternity outfits. "This all happened so suddenly and I don't know if she brought any maternity clothes with her."

"Well let's go and get yelled at," Kevyn said.

As they walked to the other end of the house, they passed Adrianna who was going to the kitchen to make a tray for Barb.

"Is she awake?" Kevyn asked.

"She's up," Adrianna replied, "but the meeting is over. I just saw Mr. Blackwell leave."

"Thanks, when you go downstairs will you tell the guys where we are?" Kevyn asked.

Adrianna nodded and continued on her way.

They went to the room, knocked on the door and got a curt "who is it?"

"It's us," Juliette replied. "We wanted to check on you, can we come in?"

****

Barb debated. Gene's words and the words of the voice in her head went through her head. It was up to her what happened next. Was she ready to make some concessions?