Page 28 of Loki’s Spellbinder (Hunters Creek Archangel’s Warriors MC #14)

The soft murmur of voices invaded my pounding head and wouldn’t go away until I finally had no choice but to surface to tell them to shut up.

Or so it seemed in the dream I was having.

However, as I got closer to what I thought was my dream’s wakefulness, I realized it wasn’t all in my head.

And the pain wasn’t either. I fought until I pried my eyelids open.

I had to squint and blink several times until my eyes got used to the light.

When they did, I saw it wasn’t that brightly lit.

There were windows with vertical slatted blinds.

They were shut, but something told me it was nighttime.

As I turned my head to see who was with me, I heard a cry of relief, and then I was engulfed in Mom’s perfume and her tenderly hugging me,

I tried to put an arm around her, only to gasp in pain.

That’s when it registered that I was in a room I’d recognize anywhere.

The white walls, antiseptic scent, and equipment screamed hospital.

As that sank in, the memories began to bombard my mind.

A van had hit us. Wait, we. Loki, where was Loki?

“W-where’s Loki?” I croaked.

It was Rage who stepped forward and drew Mom off me. She was crying, and I wanted to reassure her, but first, I had to know how my man was. Fear was building in me.

“Honey, you need—” Mom started to say, but I cut her off.

“I want to know where Loki is. Is he alright? Someone tell me!” I half-yelled.

I knew Loki would never let me wake up alone if he could help it. That meant he was either in bad shape or God, please, no, don’t let him be dead. Tears filled my eyes at the thought.

“Brae, take a deep breath and calm down before you hurt yourself. Stop trying to get out of the fucking bed,” Wrath snapped as he pushed past his dad and my mom to stand at the bedrail. He looked tired. I hadn’t noticed I was trying to get out of bed until he snapped at me to stop.

“Please, Wrath, tell me he’s…” I couldn’t say it.

“He’s not dead, honey. He’s been knocked out with the drugs they gave him for the pain, which is what you were until now.

You’re both alive and, though banged to hell and back, expected to recover.

If you’ll calm down, I’ll check on him again.

His room is two doors down. He’s got a few of our brothers with him, in case you’re afraid he’s alone. ”

Before I could thank him, I heard a roaring male voice yelling, “Braelyn! Where the fuck is she? Take me to her!” It was Loki’s voice, and he was furious.

“Well, it sounds like the beast is awake. Let me go settle his ass down and then see if I can bring him in here. Christ, the two of you are turning into a pain,” Wrath grumbled. Before he left, he bent over and kissed my cheek.

“It’s good to see you awake, little sister. You scared the shit out of us. Don’t do it again,” he whispered before walking away and out the door.

Next, Rage let go of Mom and came to lean over the bed. His intense eyes bored into mine. His hand came up to caress my face.

“Little girl, do you have any idea how much you frightened your mom, me, and Wrath, not to mention the rest of the club? You’ve got a bunch of agitated men and a distraught Jalisa out there waiting for you to wake up and be able to reassure them you’re alright.

The staff is contemplating quitting, I think,” he grumbled before he, too, kissed me.

“I’m sorry, Daddy Rage. I didn’t intend to scare anyone. It wasn’t as if we did it on purpose,” I explained.

I tried to concentrate on him rather than the loud, muffled voices outside the room. It seemed Loki hadn’t been appeased by Wrath yet.

As Rage raised himself to stand, Mom slipped under his arm. He hugged her close and gave her a gentle kiss on the mouth.

“See, she’s gonna be fine, babe. It’ll take more than that to knock our girl out of things.”

“I can’t stand to see her all bruised and scraped up. It reminds me of when she was little,” Mom admitted.

I knew she was thinking of the times DD had gotten his hands on me.

He was an expert at leaving bruises where people couldn’t see them.

Our clothes hid them. The only time you could see the marks was when he totally lost control.

When that happened, we’d been forced to stay home until they healed, and the school or friends had been fed a bunch of lies about why we missed.

“Do you know how badly Loki is hurt?” I asked.

“Why don’t you let us tell you what’s wrong with you first? Then we’ll get to him,” Rage said.

I shook my head no. I had to know about Loki before I could focus on myself.

However, I didn’t tell Rage that. My attention was drawn to the door, which came swinging open.

In came Wrath. He was pushing a wheelchair with Loki in it.

I ate him up with my gaze, trying to see through his hospital gown to find the damage underneath.

Minor nicks were scattered over his face.

An arm was wrapped in white gauze. He tried to stop the wheelchair, but Wrath growled at him.

“If you get out of this goddamn wheelchair before I get you to her, I swear, I’ll knock your ass out myself and help the staff tie you to the bed. I had to promise that Battleax nurse, my firstborn kid, to be allowed to bring you over here. If she catches you walking, I’m dead.”

“Then go faster, damn it! I need to see her,” Loki snapped.

Mom and Rage moved out of the way. Loki put on the brakes and stood up immediately after Wrath stopped the chair.

He grabbed the rail and bent over it. Loki didn’t say a word.

He kissed me, and it was intensely passionate.

I eagerly returned it. I heard mutters. I didn’t care.

When he pulled away, I tried to follow, but it was too hard to lift my head.

He studied me as he said, “Baby, tell me you’re alright. Where are you hurt? Show me,” he insisted.

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Baby? Kissing? What the hell has been going on over here?” Rage asked.

“I don’t know, but I say we beat his ass,” Wrath muttered.

“I swear, are the two of you blind? What does it look like? They’re in love,” Mom informed them.

The arrival of more people drowned out more grumbling. Jalisa and what appeared to be the entirety of the Lake Oconee chapter came into the room. There were relieved smiles, and they called out, saying how happy they were to see us both awake. As their greetings died down, Wrath addressed them.

“Don’t be too happy that he’s okay. He might not stay that way for long. The bastard came in here and kissed her, and he called her baby.”

There were astonished looks, frowns, and mutterings, except for Jalisa and Chaos. He broke away from them and came over to stand on the opposite side of the bed. He grinned.

“I’m happy as fuck to see your beautiful face. And I just need you to know something,” Chaos said, then paused.

“What?” I asked. I knew I’d regret asking, but I did it anyway.

“I won the challenge. I told you I would, didn’t I?” he burst out, chuckling as he bent over to kiss me. As he did, I lightly smacked him on the cheek, which only made him laugh harder, the nut. Loki watched him closely.

“What the hell does that mean?” Rage asked Mom. It was Chaos who answered, though.

“It means I knew Loki was all into her, and she was into him. I challenged Brae to let me prove it. I told her if Loki thought we were interested in each other, he’d show his true feelings.

Brae and I are nothing more than great friends.

We love each other like siblings. And look at them.

They look just like Wrath and Jalisa do when they see each other. Sickening sweet.”

“I’ll show you sickening sweet,” Jalisa told him as she came around the bed after him. Watching such a big guy run as if he were scared of her was funny. She was called Lunatic for a reason.

I laughed even though I shouldn’t have, causing me to hiss in pain. My hiss had Loki growling. “Settle down. So you did all this to force me to admit I had feelings for Braelyn?”

“I did,” Chaos proudly admitted.

“I want you to know something, Chaos. While I’m damn happy you don’t have feelings for my woman, which she said you didn’t, I do believe in payback. You wait. One day, you’ll be head over heels crazy for a woman. Let’s see how I can help you out.”

Loki gave Chaos a wicked smile that told him he’d make Chaos pay dearly. My friend would be in for one helluva time.

Chaos groaned. “See what you did, Brae? You did this. You should’ve gone up to the big ox the first moment you knew how you felt, ripped off your clothes, and shouted, I’m yours . If you had, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“I’m so sorry for making your life so hard, you big crybaby,” I replied.

“Alright, as entertained as we are, we need to get you two settled. Loki, lie down in this bed over here,” Wrath ordered, pointing to the empty one in my room. It was a two-person room.

“No, I want to stay here and hold Braelyn’s hand,” my man objected.

“Get your ass in the bed, and we’ll push them together and lower the rails in between so you can be next to her and still rest. I’ll go tell the Battleax you’re moving in here,” Wrath grumbled.

“No need. I already told her they had to be together,” Jalisa piped up to say.

“Oh, hell, and I missed it. And what did she say?” Wrath asked.

“She tried to argue and tell me all the reasons it wasn’t allowed.

I told her to let them or I’d show her why I was called Lunatic, and she’d never sleep again.

She asked if I had a mother. I told her not since I was small.

I was raised by wild bikers. She said that settled it.

She had to adopt me, and she’d allow it as long as they didn’t try to get it on.

I gave her my number. Surprise, you have a mother-in-law,” Jalisa told him as she winked.