MC's Viking Warriors- Viper #3

Caine

Doretha has more secret pain than any of us could have ever believed. Night terrors stalked her sleep and her whimpers kept me up. I was too worried to sleep.

It made me cry at one point, it bought back so many memories of my own pain. Doretha was begging for him to come back and crying in her sleep, all I could hear was 12 year old me begging my dad for my mum to come home. She couldn't of course. She never would again. It took me a while to understand that.

When I open my eyes, I'm alone in the bed. Doretha long gone with only a note scrawled explaining she'd left. Sighing, I leave the uncomfortable bed, it's strange, I didn't notice how uncomfortable it was when I had her in my arms but now it's empty it's knifes over a sheet.

Pulling my cut on, I leave the room quickly and make a mental note to never return to this place again.

"Your girl left in a hurry." The man at reception gloats as I walk through the 'foyer' and I halt. "Obviously you aren't that great in bed." He chuckles at his own joke and goes back to counting money.

Spinning on my heels, I stride over to the little, snivelling man and grab him by the collar of his clothes, lifting him clear of the floor.

"I have two things to say."I spit at the man calmly as his hands claw at his throat trying to free himself. "One, if a man books a room with an unconscious person, or a unable to give consent, run a few checks first yeah? Ask a question, make them feel uneasy if they have malicious intent. You're lucky I didn't but your protection policy is disgracefully lax. I will be sending a friend to check on this fact soon."

I drop his feet to the floor but I don't free him from my grip. "And the second thing, if you're going to piss of a man like me, make sure you have the balls to back it up."

I throw him back against the wall and he gasps and wheezes air back into his lungs. Sniffing with distaste, I walk from the motel and over the road to my bike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The compound is quiet as it always is this time of day, the men will be on small time runs around the nearby towns and houses. The next big run isn't until next month, I am unfortunately the one to go on it seeing as my president has a wife and children and Mouse has three boys and a wife to look after. I'm the untethered one. Doesn't matter if I'm gone for a week, who'd miss me.

Climbing off my bike, I decide to just check Doretha is back safely in her cabin, so I jump up the porch steps and knock on the door. There's no reply. I try once more before walking round to the back to see if I can spot her. She's definitely not home.

A little worried that she's just gone back to the bar in town, I head over to Vidar's cabin. Knocking on the door, I'm surprised when Dot answers the door. Up until she sees my face her mouth is stretched in a slight smile, once she sees it's me it disappears and her eyes fall to the floor.

"Hey Viper." Astrid calls out and waves me into the cabin. "Eira would like to see her favourite uncle."

Doretha steps aside for me to enter and I murmur my thanks without making eye contact. What is wrong with me? With any other woman I'd have them blushing over my charm and drooling for me to fuck them, but not Doretha. I wouldn't want to just fuck her anyway.

"Favourite uncle huh?" I smirk as I walk towards the sofa where Astrid and Elle are situated- surrounded by babies. I honestly don't know what's happened to my brothers. We went from being a dangerous force to be reckoned with to a dangerous force to be reckoned with but with babies in tow.

I settle beside Astrid on the sofa and she hands me the one year old Eira. She grizzles and whines but I hold her close and murmur foreign stories my mother used to tell me to calm her. After only a few minutes, she's dozing against my chest.

Doretha has settled uneasily in the armchair and is watching Liam explore his toys with the greatest pained intrigue. Like every second is agony but she can't bare to look away.

Elle clears her throat after feeding Griffin and smiles over at Dot softly.

"W-would you like to hold him Dot?" She asks the question quietly, as you would anyone. And I can tell Doretha likes that, a fuss and everyone watching is not what she wants.

"May I?" She replies formally, ringing her hands in her lap.

"Of course Dot, he's all tipsy with milk and in the perfect mood for a cuddle."

Griffin is the smallest of the triplets, the other two are identical big, blonde, bruiser babies, Griff is more delicate, with dark hair and brown eyes like his father.

Elle gently passes the groggy baby over to Dot and I watch discreetly under my eyes at the way Dot takes the baby and holds him close to her chest. Pressing him against her body as tightly as she can without disturbing him, as if she's afraid he too will be ripped from her grasp.

She rocks him slowly and murmurs secret words into his hair. I gaze at her, utterly transfixed, she holds the baby freely, like that's all she's been waiting for... all she needs.

In another stroke of intrigue, she presses her face into the side of his neck, inhaling that sweet baby smell deeply. When she pulls away there are tears rolling down her cheeks and her body judders with a silent scream.

Both Astrid and Elle watch without moving or knowing how to relax. Last night was the first time in two years I'd ever seen her cry and she was drunk so it barely counted, this was probably the first time Elle and Astrid have seen her cry. She's a proud and hidden soul, this display of emotion is out of character for her.

Laying Eira down on the special baby mat on the floor, I edge my way over to Doretha and settle by one side of the armchair. I lightly lay a palm on her arm and she looks over to me. Tears are still rolling down her cheeks and pooling at her chin.

With the pad of my thumb, I wipe them away and stroke her cheek softly.

"He smells like my boy did." She whispers to me quietly, my heart is broken then.

I smile sadly at her, acknowledging what she said without letting the other two women hear.

"Do you want to keep holding him, Dot?"

She nods and cradles the boy closer to her face until his cheek is pressed against hers. Griffin yawns slightly and Dot kisses his cheek before standing up, crossing over to the sofa with Elle and Astrid.

"He's beautiful." She tells Elle as she hands him back to his mother. "They all are."

With those few words, Doretha turns and head over to the door.

"Wait, Dot." Astrid calls after her. "Would you like to stay to dinner."

"Another time maybe." She answers before opening the door and walking out. I stand immediately and follow her. Before she can reach the steps to her cabin, I grab her elbow. She turns and looks at me.

"Come on," I gesture my head over to my cabin, "I'll cook."

There's a moment of resistance on her face, a battle in her mind and I'm already prepared for the rejection that's sure to follow. But there isn't one, she smiles at me and starts to walk towards my cabin.

"But only if I can drink." She calls out in front of me, I chuckle at that.