Page 68 of Loki’s Spellbinder (Hunters Creek Archangel’s Warriors MC #14)

It was unbelievable that it had been a year since I severed all ties my son had to his birth mother.

Xander had been ecstatic when Brae and I told him the news.

Most of the things we brought back from his old home were thrown away.

They were hardly more than rags. We took him shopping to replace it all.

He was a solemn boy who had to be prompted to relax and have fun. But he was slowly getting there.

The day after we’d seen Roxie and Troy, the news was given to Braelyn via a call from her boss that Cedric Alves had been found dead in his cell.

The prison authorities had no idea how it happened, but his cell, when searched, revealed hidden hidey-holes filled with drugs.

The coroner tentatively ruled it an overdose.

After the autopsy, that became the official cause of death, so the case was closed. Only a select few knew the real story.

As part of their investigation into the amount of drugs they found, the prison warden and the prison oversight board discovered a drug supply chain coming into the prison, which they shut down, and those involved were slapped with more prison time.

Those on the outside were facing some time themselves.

And wouldn’t you know it, the Brutal Rebels were the masterminds behind it.

That was how most of the remaining Alpharetta club members were taken off the table as threats.

We kept watch, but they didn’t appear to suspect that we had anything to do with the disappearance of their brothers.

Hadn’t Zombie and those with them told their other brothers they were meeting us?

As for how Stepan Belov found Brae at our compound, we had no clue.

However, with Attila and Belov dead, the contract was canceled.

His club had more things to worry about.

As soon as the news of Attila’s demise hit Eli, he was asking Brae how soon she’d be back in the office. She told him the following Monday.

We made the trip to Georgia so she could present her resignation to him in person.

Eli tried every way he could to get her to stay.

There were bribes of a pay raise, bigger bonuses, and more, but she told him she had to live where I was.

We left a very unhappy DA. She agreed to work out the few cases she had, but they would be done remotely unless she had to appear in court.

It took her a few months to complete them all, but eventually she was free.

About a month after the Attila and Rebels legal battles came to light, Outlaw reported that the chatter on the dark web was that someone had put out hits on the Rebels.

We wondered at the time whether it was the people running the organ-harvesting business.

It took six months of diligent work by us and many others, including the Dark Patriots, to unravel and pursue those involved.

When we did, it was confirmed that they put the hit out on the Rebels for ruining a good thing.

The last one involved in the ring was on trial right now.

We had been assured that the Dark Patriots and their associates got everyone.

There was so much we spent our time doing in addition to that over the past year.

For one, I asked Braelyn to marry me. I did it with my club and the Pagans of Lake Oconee.

I asked Wrath and Rage for permission first. Brae had cried but said yes.

Not wasting time, since we both wanted to be married before the baby came, we got a wedding put together.

Even a hasty one can be done in style, I found.

After we said our vows, during the reception and toasting, we gave Xander a gift, though truly it was one for all three of us. It was the official paperwork for Braelyn to adopt him. He’d been as choked up as his mom. They both cried while everyone else cheered.

Speaking of moms, Roxie did try to see Xander once after we got her to sign the paperwork.

She was promptly chased off by the women of the club with threats of what they’d do if she ever came near Xander or us again.

It worked. The last I heard, she was still living with Troy, but they had to move into a smaller, lower-end place. Life wasn’t treating them well.

As if that wasn’t enough on top of everyday living, finding a job for Brae and more, Mom and Dad had finally broken and came to meet their grandson and daughter-in-law.

They were so happy about my finding a family and the new baby that we told them was on the way.

They’d been to see us several times, citing that it was far easier for them to travel than for us to uproot our lives to do it.

When Braelyn went into labor, Betty and my mom were right there.

Both clubs had filled the waiting room to overflowing.

It was hours before we were able to present our son, Branton, to his extensive, very crazy, yet loving and protective family.

It had been four months since his birth, and I still couldn’t believe I had another son.

My life was complete, and I would have it no other way.

Sometimes, Braelyn liked to bemoan the fact that when we got around to replacing her totaled car, it wasn’t with another Challenger.

Instead, we did the sensible thing and got a large SUV.

She loved to say I killed her car. When she wanted to experience speed, she climbed on the back of my bike and off we went.

I had no doubts that for as long as we lived, my Spellbinder’s magic would never weaken. It kept getting stronger, and I’d do anything to ensure it stayed that way. And to make sure that no one harmed my family, every single one of them.

The End Until