Page 3 of Loki’s Spellbinder (Hunters Creek Archangel’s Warriors MC #14)
All day, more and more bikes and vehicles came through the gates of our compound.
We’d decided to invite those who wanted to come and help us celebrate Halloween by holding a huge Trick-or-Treat celebration at the compound this year.
It was open to the public for the first time.
We thought it was a safe way for kids to get their candy and have fun.
We would have a party with refreshments to enjoy.
They could roam freely without worrying they’d get lost, snatched, or hurt.
Most people would think parents wouldn’t allow their kids to come to a biker’s compound.
And if it were in other clubs and towns, probably not.
However, the Warriors had a good reputation overall with the Hunters Creek community.
We had a variety of businesses here and participated in community events and fundraising regularly.
With so many of us settling down, they now saw us as family men.
I was glad that we were seen as more than outlaws.
We enjoyed our lifestyle, but still had core values we didn’t leave behind.
It took me a while to figure out what I wanted out of life and to go after it.
I had very few regrets. Only one ever truly stood out for me, and it preyed on my mind more and more these last several years as more Warriors found someone to spend their lives with.
If I could do anything, it would be to go back to my younger self and kick my ass for being such an immature asshole.
Would it have turned out differently? I didn’t know, but I should’ve tried harder.
If I had and it worked, I’d be one of the ones watching his kids dress up in costumes and have a blast going trick-or-treating.
Not all of our friends’ clubs could come.
Dublin Falls had a big event in their area that prevented them from joining us.
The Iron Punishers were busy, along with the Dark Patriots.
The Ruthless Marauders were gonna stop by for a bit, though I didn’t know if it would be all of them.
The Pagan Souls in Cherokee, North Carolina, and their sister chapter in Lake Oconee, were coming.
Cherokee only had a few kids, and Lake Oconee had none.
After the kids left for the night or went to bed, the adult, club-centered partying would commence.
Jocelyn and the other old ladies had spent weeks planning this, and we men had done whatever they told us to do.
Our chapter had seventeen kids and counting.
Ajax and Jessica were expecting their second baby, a girl, in December, two weeks before Christmas.
Ace and Devyn were having their second son at the beginning of February.
And a month later, Demon and Zara were due to have their second baby.
They chose not to find out ahead of time what they were having.
The roar of bikes coming from the road grabbed my attention.
I walked around the clubhouse from where I’d been standing in the backyard, overlooking the fun stuff we’d created to entertain kids of all ages.
It wasn’t intended exclusively for little kids.
I wondered if it was Wrath’s group or Jinx’s.
Agony and his club had made it here already.
Bram was manning the gate. He was our newest prospect.
He’d started last November after the final of our prior three prospects had been patched into the club.
Those previous three had been the first bunch to do two years of prospecting versus the standard one year.
The first to transition was Gavin. He’d been brought in as Torque.
Along with him was Walker, who earned the road name Gears.
Six months after them, Diego had earned his patch as Hatchet.
We’d brought in Raff, Hollis, and Bram to replace them.
Not counting the prospects, seven members were left single, and thirteen settled.
As the bikes came riding into the compound, I counted.
It looked like they had brought the entire club.
My breath caught when I saw a car entering after the bikes but ahead of a truck.
The truck was undoubtedly their crash truck, being driven by a prospect.
The car was one I’d seen before. I hadn’t allowed myself to hope she’d come along with them.
However, unless someone else had the exact vehicle or was using hers, it seemed that Braelyn had accompanied the Pagans.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about her being here.
On one hand, I’d tried to forget about her.
It did no good to dwell on her or focus on what she made me feel whenever I was close to her.
Hell, who was I kidding? I thought about her even when we were miles apart.
On the flip side, I wondered if there was even a slim chance I could let the past go and find happiness with a woman like Braelyn.
The truth was, she occupied my mind more than any woman ever had.
If there was a possibility of it happening, she seemed the likeliest one for it to happen with.
By the time I got out of my head, the bikes had been parked, and the car had found a spot to pull into.
I stood there watching. As the doors opened, I saw Betty exit the passenger side, and moments later, her daughter got out of the driver’s seat.
Brae glanced around. This visit would be the first time she’d been to our compound.
Betty had been here more than a few times to visit Rylan.
Rage hastily got off his bike and rushed over to his old lady.
He hugged her close and latched onto her mouth.
Seeing a guy like him getting a second chance at happiness was good.
It gave guys like me hope. The same way Bull and Bear in my club and Diablo in the Horsemen of Wrath did.
In the case of Bull and Diablo, they’d lost their first loves years ago and thought they’d spend forever alone.
They’d found women they loved profoundly and got another opportunity. They even started second families.
In the case of Rage and Bear, they’d had shitty women in their pasts.
Rage lucked out with Betty, and even though they were too old to have kids together, they enjoyed their lives.
Bear had found his true love in Ilara and settled to raise a family, although he discovered around the same time that the bitch from his past had never told him about his adult daughter, so he was a grandpa and a newer father like Bull and Diablo.
Laughter made me focus back on Braelyn. I recognized it as her laugh.
I’d been lost in my head and not concentrating.
I found that she was plastered to the side of Chaos, the Lake Oconee treasurer and cousin to Dare’s old lady, Joli.
Dare was the VP in Cherokee. Chaos was grinning down at her, and she smiled at him.
He lowered his head and was right in her face.
My stomach knotted. I found I didn’t like Chaos being that close to her. It had been months since I’d been to either Pagan compound to help out with their problems. Were Chaos and Brae involved? They sure appeared close. No one could blame him for going after her.
I covertly studied her as they approached the handful of us standing out front.
She was on the taller side for a woman. Based on my calculations, she was five feet eight or nine.
She was less curvy than a lot of the women.
I thought she was more athletically built, though her tits and hips were a decent size.
I’d never seen her with her hair out of the bun or twisted up high on the back of her head until today.
It hung midway down her shoulder blades.
It was light brown with golden strands of lighter hair mixed in.
Her hair and pale ivory skin made her dark eyelashes and brows stand out against her light greenish-amber eyes, which had darker outer rings.
Braelyn was dressed in jeans and a pretty rose-pink top.
Her arm was around Chaos’s waist, and his arm was around her back as they moved up the parking lot.
I found myself clenching my fist. I consciously relaxed it and made sure my expression was calm.
It was a good thing they were together. It would help me forget this infatuation or whatever I had with her.
If he wasn’t, I might’ve found myself doing something stupid, like kissing or trying to get her to give me a chance. Braelyn Hill was too good for me.
I let the others surge forward to greet the Pagans ahead of me.
When it came to my turn to shake hands with Chaos, I made sure I smiled as usual.
When Braelyn said hello, I gave her a brief nod and then turned to the next person in line.
It happened to be Rage and Betty. When I greeted Betty, she gave me a probing look that I didn’t understand.