His Angel: The Wounded Souls Series

by Leah Sharelle

  “Shh, my love, we’ve got this. There ain’t anything we can’t fix together,” I promised, bringing Mia against my chest, my arms banding around her tightly.

  Mia wasn’t wrong about this being a happy place because she was definitely my happy everything. There was no sunshine without her, no warmth in my blood, and no beat of my heart. All those feelings had intensified when Meagan was born, and my daughter was my world, but her mother, my wife, gave me purpose, a reason to be a better man and was the only reason I got up every day and faced life without a leg and lived a life that now didn’t include my brother Darth. If it weren’t for Mia’s love and genuine support, I would still have nightmares of Darth’s lifeless body on the floor at the dance school, little Shiloh crying at her beloved Darf to come back to her. It hurt that my little Meagan would never know the gentle giant, feel the safety and protection he always showed Squirt. Rogue had taken so much from so many people that day.

  “Maybe I should go see the maternal health nurse, and see what is going on with me. Rainn mentioned something about postnatal depression, but I don’t think it is as severe as that. I just feel a little out of sorts. I love Meagan with a fierceness I could never explain as well as you. Perhaps we can cuddle together, all three of us, after one of the night feeds instead of you going off to settle her in her room.”

  “Absolutely. I agree this isn’t a massive problem, just a lack of communication on both of our parts and maybe a little over-the-top behaviour from me,” I said dryly, earning a snort laugh from Mia.

  “Okay, Stud, we got this—together,” Mia said softly, and I saw a light in her eyes break through the sadness.

  Right then, I vowed to make sure Mia was always aware of what was going on in my mind. Keeping things from one another, no matter how well-intentioned, only led to needless worry.

  “Always together, Beauty, always.”

  I bent my knees and lifted Mia up into my arms, and she let out a surprised shriek, her legs automatically wrapping around my waist.

  “Steel, are you nuts? Put me down. I haven’t lost all my baby weight yet, and you will hurt your leg.” Stupid words spilled from her mouth again.

  I growled into her soft neck, causing goose bumps to surface all over her skin.

  “I hope Uncle Broody can put in some overtime because you’re about to get your punishment, starting with your naughty, distracting tactics when you took our daughter from me earlier,” I said as I walked us to the bed and took us both down to the mattress.

  “I thought you loved my breasts now,” Mia taunted me as she arched her body and pressed them against my bare chest. The tight lycra tank top did nothing to stop the feeling of her hard nipples against my skin.

  “I have always loved your tits, Beauty, but not as much as I love you,” I promised, my dick already rock hard. Eight weeks without being buried in Mia’s heat had taken its toll on him, and he was famished.

  “Well, then, come and get it, Stud.” Mia let out a sultry moan as my lower body pressed hard against her barely covered pussy.

  “Abso-fucking-lutely,” I growled, so ready to get lost in my happily ever after.

  Mannix & His Lady

  I filled out the forms the nurse handed to me when we arrived at the hospital. My jaw ticked every time I had to write two different last names where it asked for the parents’ names. I fucking hated that Rainn still refused to marry me. I’d firmly believed it would have been a done deal well before our daughters were born. I’d even joked about it with my brothers when they harassed me when Rainn turned me down for the umpteenth time, but here we were, full term and still no rings were exchanged.

  I wanted to be married to the mother of my children, simple as that. It was the last step to bind Rainn to me forever, and it was driving me nuts.

  I didn’t doubt her love for me or her commitment to us as a couple. Logically, I knew she was not going to up and leave me, but Darth’s death impacted me in more ways than one. I felt the loss of him just like the others, but it was the fact that he didn’t do right by Vegas and marry her that ate away at him the weeks leading up to his death. His regret was palpable, I saw it in his eyes and heard it whenever he spoke of her, saw the pain and guilt he carried on his big shoulders, and I did not want that.

  Rainn made me work hard, but eventually, her acceptance of my new attitude towards having a committed relationship proved to be the best thing that ever happened. I’d always loved her—she was, after all, my Rainn Storm, my very own tropical cyclone. The only woman whose body hypnotised me and turned me into a puddle of desire. She owned me and my dick but not my last name.

  “Excuse me, Mr Steel? Ms Marcus is… um… asking for you,” said a nurse, coming up to me.

  I snorted out a humourless laugh and tried hard not to grind my jaw hearing the two different names again.

  “Yeah, I’m sure she is asking for me.” I harrumphed. If there was something Rainn did not do well, it was asking, especially when it came to me.

  “I never knew those words even existed,” the nurse admitted, blushing a deep red, obviously shocked by the colourful terms of endearment my woman used for me.

  “Sugar, there ain’t anything that red-headed vixen can say to shock me now,” I replied with my cockiest smirk. I handed the clipboard back to the wide-eyed lady behind the desk. The woman had not stopped staring at my eye patch the whole time I was filling out the forms, and I swear I saw her rub her thighs together at least once. Fuck me, a father of four, and I still had it. I wasn’t interested or tempted one bit, but it might give me some ammunition to convince Rainn I needed to be off the market.

  I made my way down the hall that led to the private birthing suite I insisted Rainn have. Money was no problem, and I wanted Rainn comfortable and at ease. I could only imagine what kind of ruckus she would have created in a shared room.

  “If you leave me alone in this room again, I’m going to squeeze your balls so tight your fucking eyeballs will explode,” Rainn screamed at me as soon as I opened the door.

  I stopped mid-stride and turned to look behind me at the nurse who had come to the nurses’ station to get me. She gasped at the brutal and inappropriate comment from my lady.

  I shrugged once and then shook my head at her. “Guess I was wrong. She ain’t ever said that one to me before.”

  “Mannix! Get over here so I can break some of your fingers,” the devil yelled at me.

  “Coming, my feminine petal. Nothing would please me more,” I replied drolly and winked at the lady doctor who was positioned between Rainn’s opened legs.

  “See any horns down there, Doc?” I asked casually, and then smirked when Rainn let out a particularly creative stream of expletives. Thank fuck Shiloh had gone back to the compound with Charlotte. If she heard any of that, the swear jar would be overflowing.

  “Beast, I love you so much. I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean any of those things I said.” Rainn sobbed and held out the hand without the IV drip to me.

  Warily, I took hold of it, and my eyes narrowed at the crazy person impersonating my lady.

  “Bullshit, Lady, you can’t fool me. You want nothing more than to decimate my balls,” I taunted her. Jesus Christ, Mannix. Why don’t you just shut the fuck up!

  The loving and tender hold turned into a death grip, and my knuckles turned white right before my eyes.

  “Fuck me, Rainn. Calm the fuck down,” I shouted.

  Fuck, was that sound my little finger breaking? I shook my hand away from her death grip, hoping the feeling would come back soon.

  “Then stop leaving the room! You put these monsters inside me after fucking assuring me you would pull out. But did you? Oh no, not the mighty and sexy Mannix Steel, enforcer of the Wounded Souls. Now stand here and see what your Satan spawn is doing to my poor vagina,” Rainn, or someone who looked like Rainn, spat at me.

  Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone, thinking some blackmail pictures would be useful in my arsenal. Sometimes, the man jus
t needed the upper hand in certain situations, you know?

  I walked down to where the doctor was and looked where I really had no business looking. I stumbled back and caught the edge of a table, nearly knocking it over.

  “Jesus Christ, Lady! You should see this,” I exclaimed. Remembering my phone, I swiped the screen open and selected the camera app.

  “This is going to be gold,” I joked as I snapped three pictures of Rainn’s nether region. “Holy shit, woman, there is a baby’s head right there!” I shouted out, making the doctor laugh.

  “Mannix, get up here and stop taking photos of my vag. You won’t want to go there again if you see too much more.” Rainn panted through another contraction.

  “Sweet cheeks, nothing could ever stop me from going there. Your pussy owns me, and you know that,” I assured her. I grabbed the cloth from the bedside table and wiped the sweat from her beautiful face. Rainn’s pregnancy had been fairly uneventful, all things considered. Definitely better than what Stella had gone through, and then the delivery of her son had nearly gone very bad. Poor Booth went through hell there for a time, but everything turned out well in the end.

  “You two are such an unusual couple. How long have you been married?” I heard one of the nurses ask us.

  My jaw started to tick again. For fuck’s sake, really!

  “Oh, we aren’t married. He has asked, but I said no,” Rainn informed the stickybeak. Why the fuck it was anyone else’s business was beyond me.

  “You said no! Why on earth would you do that? The man is a god, and that patch makes him so sexy. If you don’t want him—” The nurse was cut off by a metal water jug that flew through across the room and narrowly missed hitting her head.

  “Of course, I am going to marry him! He is mine and no one else’s. I don’t want you in here. Get out!” Rainn yelled. She was all fired up, and her eyes were fierce as she told off the poor but stupid nurse. It was a beautiful sight, and I would have sat back and enjoyed it more if I weren’t stuck on one particular and interesting titbit.

  “You are going to marry me?”

  Rainn turned to me, her beautiful green eyes shone like emeralds.

  “Beast, there is nothing I want more than to marry you, baby.”

  I looked around for a hidden camera. There had to be one here somewhere. What the fuck was she doing to me?

  “Rainn, you have turned down every single proposal. You said no way, no how, not happening,” I reminded her, totally and utterly confused.

  “Mannix, I had to say nooooooooo.” Another contraction hit her just then, and her grip tightened on my hand.

  No matter how bad the pain is, Mannix, remember this is all about Rainn and what she is going through to birth your daughters, I reminded myself silently.

  “Oh, Beast, this is worse than I thought. Epidural, give me an epidural,” Rainn cried out when another pain gripped her.

  “Yeah, yeah, I will ask in a minute. Why did you say no if you were going to marry me the whole time?” I prompted. She was not going to get away without explaining herself—no fucking way.

  “Really, Mannix, now? Fine, I said no because you needed to see that these babies are yours. I know you believe me, but I was worried there was still a small part of you that was still hanging onto that shit Alannah pulled. So, obviously, I said no.” She looked at me like she was making all the sense in the world. She might be in her head, but for me, it made no fucking sense at all.

  “What in the actual fuck, Rainn! You know I believe the girls are mine. We have been through this already.” Calming down a bit, I leaned in close, brushing my lips against hers, and instantly, my cock sprang to life. It was never any different. If Rainn touched me, kissed me, hell, if she breathed on me, I was hard. I whispered against her lips, “Lady, this makes no sense at all. You know that, right?”

  “I’m pregnant, Beast. I am not supposed to make sense. I guess I didn’t want the babies to be the only reason,” Rainn admitted, making me want to both smack her and kiss her at the same time. All those times I got down on one knee in front of all my brothers and begged her to say yes, all this time she was just waiting until the girls were born to say yes? Times like these, I longed for the desert and bullets.

  With a resigned sigh, I shook my head.

  “Holy shit, you are nuts, Lady. You confuse the shit out of me, and to be honest, sometimes you scare me, but, Lady, there is no one I want to love more than you. You are stuck with me, Rainn, and once you are good to go, we are getting married, and you will have my last name,” I told her firmly. I saw on the monitor that another contraction was on its way. She had to agree in less than fifteen seconds.

  “Okay, Beast, let’s get married, but I’m not taking your last naaaaamee,” she shrieked right in my face.

  For fuck’s sake, kill me now.

  ———

  I adjusted the purple and pink blanket that covered my twin girls, making sure it wasn’t too close to their little mouths.

  “Beast, that is the fifth time you have checked that blanket. You need to calm down, honey. Nothing is going to happen when they are right beside us,” Rainn joked.

  My woman did an amazing job pushing out our babies naturally. It turned out the epidural Rainn requested was out of the question, so after she tore me a new one for wasting time arguing with her and not getting the pain relief, she got to birthing our girls the old-fashioned way. It was now my job as the man and protector of my ladies to make sure they wanted for nothing, starting with a properly fitted blanket.

  “So are we going with the names we talked about?” I asked, ignoring everything else she said. If she thinks I’m going to calm down any time soon, then the woman was definitely and certifiably nuts. Those two pink bundles were mine, just like their mother. Nothing was going to stop me from protecting them.

  “Yeah, I think they suit perfectly,” Rainn whispered tiredly. Her eyes were closed, but she had the most satisfied smile on her face.

  I took a moment to get our daughters from their see-through box on wheels—whatever the fuck it’s called—and positioned them in each of Rainn’s arms. I pressed a gentle kiss to each tiny forehead and a more passionate one to my future wife. The woman who captivated me from the minute I met her, pissed me off more times than I could count and made me happier than one man had the right to be. With a smile I hoped conveyed everything I felt, I looked back at the girls.

  “Welcome to our family, Evie Vegas and Lacie Julie,” I whispered.

  Creed & His Angel

  “Hey, hey, there, little man, what’s got you in such a pissed-off mood,” I murmured gently to my week-old son. Son. Fuck, I loved that. I had a son, a boy, an heir to the Stephens throne. I gently lifted Zander from his cot and held him close to my chest. His little heart beat against my chest as I carried him to the bed where his mummy was waiting to feed him.

  “He doesn’t sound too happy, does he?” Memphis laughed. She was looking in our direction, and the thousand-watt smile she was sporting hadn’t left her face since the day Zander was born.

  “He sounds hungry. Arms out, Angel,” I said softly, then leaned over and positioned our boy in her arms. With skilled fingers, I unlaced her nightgown, popped the snap on her nursing bra, and freed her milk-swollen breast. Damn, I was a lucky man. Doing this was not only a necessity but a pure pleasure. Deliberately, I brushed my thumb over her large nipple, earning a sexy groan from my wife.

  “Creed, this is not the time. After Zander has had his fill, you can have your turn,” Memphis promised with that sultry tone I loved so much.

  “Okay, Angel, here we go.” I gently palmed my boy’s soft, tiny head in one hand while my other lifted my wife’s breast to my son’s greedy, open mouth. I made sure he was latched on properly before I moved slightly on the bed, my hands still on my prizes. “I love this, Memphis. Some fathers don’t get to see this or can’t be bothered or don’t take the time. I love that we do this together, that I get to be a part of every single aspect of h
is life,” I admitted with a smile even though she couldn’t see it.

  “Hmm, me too, baby. So many men miss out on this part. Thank you, Creed, for being so involved. You make this so easy on me,” Memphis said softly, her voice low and soothing for the baby.

  “Memphis, you don’t have to thank me. This is what I want to do. Nothing is more important than you and Zander,” I said, stressing my point.

  All through Memphis’s pregnancy, she continually amazed me with her abilities to adapt and overcome her blindness. She very rarely complained, although not seeing her belly upset her more than once, especially when she heard the other ladies of the club talking about their stretch marks as their bellies grew each month. I wanted to help her, so in her eighth month, I decided to surprise her. I found a lady online who did plaster moulds of all sorts of unusual things, including pregnant bellies. She came to the compound and covered Memphis in layer upon layer of plaster strips until every part was covered. Sure, she could feel her own stomach, but I thought that having a permanent reminder of what she did, what she accomplished, could help her feel a little better about missing out. I asked the ladies of the flock if they minded if Memphis had this one thing just for herself. They readily agreed and had, in fact, stayed to watch the event, making sure they told Memphis every step of the procedure in complete detail.

  “Tell me,” Memphis demanded softly with a contented sigh.

  I leaned back against the pillow, pulled my world closer against me, and proceeded with another favourite part of my day.

  “He has a tiny little bubble at the top of his bow-shaped lip, and those lips are all you, Angel. Puffy and pouty, they are the colour of the softest pink. His nose is all me, though, and sometimes, when he really gets wound up, his nose scrunches with the cutest wrinkles.” I laughed quietly when Zander blew some milk out of his mouth and wiped it away with my thumb before continuing.