His Angel: The Wounded Souls Series

by Leah Sharelle

  I turned my head in the right direction. “Hey, everyone. Deck, is Shiloh all right? She saw something no child should ever see.”

  Shiloh not only saw Darth die but she’d also had a knife held to her by Rogue. I remembered the way Darth had talked the crazy man out of hurting the little girl he loved so much—I would never forget hearing her screams and cries.

  “She is with her mother and my parents far away from here. She hasn’t stopped crying,” Deck answered.

  I could hear the helplessness in his voice. Just from listening to him, I could tell he was torn in two between wanting to be with his family and his duty and loyalty to the club as its sergeant-at-arms.

  “She was incredibly brave, Deck. She helped me when I got hurt, and she stayed so calm. She is an amazing little girl.”

  I felt my hand being lifted and lips pressing to my knuckles. “I am so glad you and the baby are okay, Memphis.” Deck’s voice cracked with emotion, and then he laughed when my husband growled and took my hand away from him.

  “Mine.” Creed grunted, making everyone in the room laugh.

  I felt myself blush at Creed’s public show of affection. Even in the midst of tragedy and loss, love won.

  A discreet cough came from Booth.

  “Brothers, it’s time to get going,” he said in a low, deep voice.

  I heard Stella let out a small sob, which sounded muffled like her face was against Booth’s chest. I couldn’t make out what he was saying to her, but the deep timbre of his voice sounded very soothing.

  “I will be back before you know it, Angel, but until then, the ladies will be staying with you in the room. None of you are to leave, understood?” Creed said, his warm breath tickling my lips. He was close, and I liked it when he got this close to talk to me. His lips always moved against mine when he spoke like a sensual version of reading lips.

  “Promise me you will be back. Promise me, Creed.” I fisted his shirt. After the events of the day, I did not want to let him go. I didn’t think I could be away from Creed again for a long time. If anything happened to him… there was suddenly an ache in my chest at just the thought.

  “Angel, I just got you, and we are having a baby, so nothing, and I mean nothing, will take that away from me. I’m yours, Memph, and I am coming back.” Creed’s lips pressed against mine, so I opened my mouth and let his seeking tongue dance with mine. His deep moan vibrated through me, making my core tingle with that familiar feeling I loved so much.

  “I would never risk losing this, Angel.” Creed panted against my mouth.

  My own laboured breathing mingled with his. My eyes closed as I silently willed my heart to calm. If Creed said he was coming back, then I believed him. Opening my eyes again, I used my fingers to trace the smile on my husband’s mouth.

  “I love you so much. Now get going so you can come back and finish making me melt.”

  Creed laughed softly. “Melt, hey? My sexual powers have no bounds,” he joked as his lips met mine with a chaste kiss, cutting off my giggle.

  “I love you, too, Memphis, more and more every day, every hour,” he whispered.

  “Every minute, every second,” I replied softly.

  Chapter 23

  CREED

  I forced myself to keep moving out of Memphis’s room, but leaving her alone after what she had just gone through was tough.

  All I wanted to do was get into the small bed with her and hold her soft, warm body to mine just to reassure my heart that she and the baby were okay. But nothing was okay—far from it. Somewhere in the hospital, Darth lay cold, his heart not beating any longer—my friend and brother was dead. My wife and child were alive because of his brave act. He stood in front of a bullet that was meant for Shiloh, a bullet that could very well have killed Memphis, also.

  As I followed Booth and Deck out of the room, Mannix and Steel were behind me. Straightaway, I noticed Big Jimmy standing in the corridor across from the door we just came from, and three big brutish men were with him.

  “Brother, thank you for coming. I need you, mate,” Booth said as he shook Jimmy’s hand.

  “You only have to ask once, Booth. I want to help in any way I can.” Jimmy accepted handshakes and pumps on the shoulder from all my brothers.

  I stepped up and clapped Jimmy hard on the back.

  “Good to see you, brother. I just wish it were under better circumstances.” Jimmy had been a good ally during our deployments and remained a supporter of the club when we all got out. I was glad to see him here ready to safeguard our ladies.

  “Good to see you too, mate. Nice to see you happy again. That gleam in your eyes has been gone for too long.” Jimmy lifted his chin in the direction of the closed door behind me. “I hear you found yourself a real beauty.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, mate, I have. Never been happier,” I admitted. Somehow it didn’t feel wrong to be so happy. Darth would never begrudge me or any of us happiness.

  “I’m here to do whatever you need.” Jimmy motioned to the three men with him. “These are my best bouncers. No one is getting through us,” he promised with a low growl.

  “Those women behind that door mean everything, Jimmy. Nothing happens to them, got it?” I warned. Jimmy was a good man, and I trusted him implicitly. Leaving the wellbeing of my wife and child to someone other than me, however, was not something that sat well with me.

  “You have my word, Creed. Nothing will touch them.”

  I nodded once more. “Darth is here,” I said quietly.

  Jimmy bowed his head. Darth was the one who introduced us to Jimmy. They were childhood friends and reconnected when they discovered they were shipped to the same FOB.

  “I will look in on him. Fucking huge loss, brother,” Jimmy replied quietly, his voice choking up.

  With another round of slaps on the back and chin lifts, my brothers and I followed our president down the long hall of the hospital, leaving our reasons for breathing and our dead brother behind.

  ———

  “Make sure all the doors are locked except for the main door and the front gate,” I heard Booth order the prospects.

  Seb and Squid nodded once, and then took off in different directions, their faces passive as they did our president’s bidding.

  Jason, Deck’s brother, was standing beside Booth, and they spoke quietly for a few minutes, their conversation looking heated. When Jason lowered his head with a surrendering nod, I glanced over at Deck with a look that said, ‘What the hell is going on?’, but all I received in response was a look that said, ‘Fuck if I know.’

  “Booth. Mate, what is the plan,” I called out, getting his attention.

  “It’s simple, Creed. This ends tonight, one way or another. Today, we lost one of the best men we have ever had the pleasure of knowing, a fucking great and loyal soldier, brother in arms, and friend. We aren’t losing one more person because of that fucker Rogue,” Booth announced, his voice hard like granite. In my president’s eyes, I saw resolve, his limit had been reached, and from the sounds of it, he was going to end this by any means necessary.

  Not knowing exactly what he had planned did not make me happy. Our club worked as a team—always—but Booth had morphed back into his old role of commanding officer, and as his soldier,

  I would stand by him and accept his leadership, believing he had everyone’s best interests at hand.

  A ruckus from the front entrance caught everyone’s attention. Ford ran into the main room with Lucky right behind him.

  “He is here, Pres. Rogue just pulled up.”

  Booth nodded once.

  “Radio Seb to chain the front gate, then get himself in here,” Booth replied. Without another word, Booth took off his cut and placed it on the pool table, his muscled chest puffing out as he flexed his solid arms. Suddenly, everything made sense, and a smug grin formed on my lips.

  Booth was about to unleash his inner beast. Fuck yeah!

  Chapter 24

  BOOTH

  As I ke
pt my eyes trained on the door, blood roared in my ears, blocking out any other noise in the room. I could feel my brothers watching me with unspoken questions as they tried to figure out what was going on inside my head. There was only one answer, but first, I needed to seek a little selfish revenge for myself. For years, I had put up with Jerry hating me, hating me for being born, and blaming me for Carson’s death, which was his twisted reason for going after people I loved and cared for, killing Dundee, Vegas, and now Darth. I felt my throat choke up thinking of my brother, who was currently lying in the basement of a hospital, cold and dead. Darth gave his own life for that of little Shiloh and Memphis. His ultimate act of bravery and courage would—no, could never be forgotten. In life, and his job as Shiloh’s protector, Darth followed the code.

  Never had I been so fucking scared as when we tried to break down the heavy door at the dance school to get to Memphis, Charlotte, and Squirt. The only thing that stopped me from losing my shit all together was the knowledge that my pregnant wife was safe back at the compound. Thank fucking God she had been too sick to go with Charlotte and Memphis to see the progress of the renovations.

  Briefly, I let my mind drift to Stella and how the pregnancy was really taking its toll on her. She was sick most of the day and so weak from all the throwing up. The doctor had finally agreed that it was not just normal morning sickness she was suffering from and had prescribed something to help her. The last couple of days, my honey seemed to turn a corner and was feeling a whole lot better. Her appetite had returned, and so far, she’d kept down most of what she had eaten. So far, but this new situation had me worried she would start up again. Stella was scared for our baby and me. Fuck. God knew I was. This prick was hell-bent on making me pay for my brother’s death, but to pay with my own kid? What kind of sick and twisted bastard did that?

  I couldn’t wait to be a dad, to hold my child and watch my wife feed him or her at her breast. But I decided this was it—one kid. No way did I want to put Stella through the hell of pregnancy again. Not happening. The horrible feeling of being useless was not something I was accustomed to—other than dealing with this fucker.

  Where the fuck was he? He had better not chicken out. I paced back and forth in front of the pool table. I was just about to say fuck it and go find him myself when the wood and steel door opened, and in walked the man who made my life miserable in more ways than one. I smiled big. Now for some justice.

  When I stepped forward, I turned my head to Steel, my VP, and ordered, “I’ve got this, brother. Keep the boys out of it no matter what happens.”

  Steel’s jaw tightened, but he nodded anyway. All my brothers had a reason to want a piece of Rogue, and I understood that, but everything that had happened to us was because of my connection to Rogue, so it was my responsibility to end it.

  “What is going to happen is that you are going to die you, bastard,” Rogue spat at me. My stepfather looked haggard. Gone was the strong soldier I once tried hard to please by joining the military for him to prove myself worthy of his love. Now, before me, stood a man blackened by a perverse sense of retribution. He looked smaller somehow, not as scary to me as he had been when I was a child and a teen.

  “Ain’t no one dying here but you, arsehole. You ready for a shit-kicking?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, I stalked up to him and threw a punch that landed on his jaw, the jolt, which sent pain radiating through my hand and arm, thrilling me. It had been too long since I had done that, and it felt good, really fucking good.

  His head snapped back as did his whole body. I was bigger than him now, and I had at least twenty kilos of muscle on him, so all the advantage was mine.

  “Come on, Dad. You lost your touch or something?” I taunted before hitting him with a two-punch combination, one to the gut and a follow up straight to the kidneys.

  He doubled over and grunted as he grabbed his middle. He was flabbier now. Replacing his fitness regime with booze wasn’t his best decision.

  In the background, I could hear my brothers yelling out encouragement, offering words of advice. Deck and Mannix were the most vocal, their hand-to-hand combat training giving them the right to tell me what my next moves should be.

  “Carson would be disgusted in the man you have become,” I told Rogue, then I cocked my fist and rolled out two quick jabs to his nose, blood oozing out of one nostril from the force of the hits. The sound of a crunching bone filled me with a keen sense of satisfaction.

  “Don’t you speak his name!” Rogue said with a roar, and then his fist reached out and clocked me in the side of my face. His punch only glanced off my cheek, but it was hard enough to hurt.

  “Come on, Booth. Shake it off, brother,” Creed called out.

  I did just that. The impact didn’t break anything, and I had endured much worse, that was for sure.

  “That all you got? Pathetic,” I said sneering. Then I grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and pulled his head down hard on my knee, and as his jaw connected with my kneecap, the crunch of teeth breaking had me smiling yet again.

  An outraged cry left Rogue as he held his hands to his bleeding mouth.

  “I will kill you.”

  The empty threat made me laugh. Kill me? He could barely stand up, and I had only delivered a handful of punches.

  “Don’t threaten me, old man. You ain’t got shit.” Again, I threw punch after punch, each one landing in a spot that would do the most damage—jaw, solar plexus, kidneys. Over and over, I landed punch after punch. My breathing was coming out in pants, but I kept going. Silently, the names of the people Rogue had targeted played like a reel in my head.

  Stella.

  Dundee.

  Shiloh.

  Mia.

  Rainn.

  Charlotte.

  Vegas.

  Darth.

  Carson.

  On and on, the names coincided with my fists as they hit his body. This was my selfish revenge, my last step to being completely healed from the guilt I had lived with for so long.

  I delivered a powerful hit to Rogue’s stomach as the vision of Stella’s body lying on the ground after she had been stabbed entered my head. That night, I nearly lost my whole world, and even though she was with me now, married to me and carrying my child, that vision would never leave me. Rogue slumped to the ground, the fight gone out of him. With one last kick to his ribs, I turned to my brothers in victory.

  Completely knackered from the fight, I hung my head and took in a deep breath. It was over. Now I could hand Rogue over to Jason and get on with—

  “Fuck! Booth, watch out!” Steel yelled just as the worst kind of pain hit my leg.

  Hot searing pain like a fucking… I roared and looked down to see a huge knife jutting out of the side of my thigh. Blood immediately started to seep through my jeans. You have got to be fucking kidding me!

  Rogue was trying to drag himself to his feet. He wasn’t getting very far, but it seemed the fight wasn’t quite as over as I thought it was.

  “You can’t kill me, Booth. It ain’t your way, loyalty and all that bullshit. Where was your fucking loyalty to my son? Why didn’t you protect him the way you do these fucking strangers? They aren’t even family!” Rogue screamed at me, blood and spit dripping from his face.

  Ignoring the agony in my leg, I staggered two steps to Rogue, who was still attempting to get to his feet. I sucked in a deep breath, then pulled back my uninjured leg and kicked as hard as I could, hitting him in the crotch.

  “I have more loyalty in my little finger than you possess in your whole body. I protected my brother, and it was me who held his broken body in my arms. Where the fuck were you? You were in charge of that mission, and you knew we were virtually out of ammunition and low on manpower. It was you who sent us out on too many raids with no sleep, so don’t give me that fucking shit!” I screamed, letting out all the frustration of that day. As the CO, I never questioned my orders. I did my duty and accepted what my commanding officers told me. I was done with
taking the blame for that day. I got my men out and brought them home. The fault did not lie with me.

  That is true, Booth. You did everything you could. That day was a clusterfuck no one could have seen coming. I heard Carson’s voice in my head.

  It wasn’t the first time Carson had spoken to me or that I had conjured him up, especially in the early days after his death. Hearing him now calmed me more than freaked me out. However, I had not heard from him in a few years, so why was he coming to me now?

  What the fuck do I do, mate? How can I be certain he won’t come back and start his shit again? The very thought that Stella could be in more danger chilled me to my bones. Not to mention our child. Rogue was crazy enough to do something to my baby.

  You know what you have to do, brother. There is no other way. Jerry is lost to the madness, and he is dangerous and unpredictable. Your family will never be safe. Do you want them to be looking over their shoulders forever?

  I shook my head, pissed off at the very idea. Of course, I fucking don’t want that. But I left murder behind me, Carson. I have seen too much of it. Have you forgotten he is your father? How the hell do I kill your dad?

  Rogue lifted his head and stared at me, evil in its purest form looking back at me.

  “Your kid won’t survive, and neither will any of the other unborn spawns. I will see to that,” he promised viciously, and I believed every vile word he spewed. This was never going to stop, so there was only one way.

  I think you know the answer to that, Booth. The man who was my father is no more. He has been replaced with nothing but evil. What you talked about with Jason is the only thing left. Do it for Stella and my nephew she carries, for Rainn’s twins, for Mia and Charlotte’s babies. For Creed so he can finally hold his baby in his arms. Do it for Shiloh and Darth, don’t make his death or Vegas’s for nothing. Do it for yourself, Booth, so you can live your life in peace.