Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2)

I drove the entire fucking night. Guts in a tangle as I traveled beneath the stars that blinked like beacons from above, guiding me to my disgraceful destination, giving way to the cover of darkened clouds that sagged over the earth like a shroud the closer I got to my target.

Eight hours to the slum buried deep in the city.

I’d ditched my truck a mile away, taking the rest of the distance on foot. Adrenaline rushed as I crept along the run-down street, keeping my footsteps light as I slinked through the shadows, dodging motion lights as I ducked between the forlorn, weathered houses, half of them barely standing.

My heart thudded at high speed as I eased up to the side of the derelict house at the end, breaths scraping like barbs from my lungs as I hopped over the short chain-link fence without making a sound and slipped unseen along the wall to the door in the back.

Daylight would be coming in less than thirty minutes, and I pressed my back to the peeling white wood, my spirit screaming and coating my tongue with vengeance as I searched the threadbare night for any movement.

When I was sure I was in the clear, I inhaled a tremulous breath before I spun toward the door and quickly picked the lock.

Bastard without a clue that I was coming for him as I felled the single deadbolt in less than thirty seconds.

The hinges creaked as I slowly pushed open the door, boots squeaking on the sticky linoleum floor as I crept through the kitchen that was rank as fuck, dirty dishes caked with rotted food piled in the sink.

Sickness coiled, hitting me on all levels as I craned my ear to make sure I remained undetected.

Silence echoed back.

Thick and tacky.

I made sure the fucker lived alone. My wrath only meant for him.

I leaned my back up against the wall and peeked around the entryway and into the living room on the other side.

I froze when I heard the rattling breaths coming from somewhere close.

It was just this side of pitch, a single wedge of light from the moon coming in through a crack in the drapes and illuminating the space.

Holding my breath, I scanned, taking it in.

Bottles littered a coffee table and the lid to a pizza box was left open to the half-eaten pizza inside.

The monster hadn’t even hauled his ass to his bed. He was passed out on the couch, shirtless but wearing jeans. One arm was lifted over his head and one leg had fallen off the side where he was sprawled out.

Lost to the world.

Rage spiraled through my consciousness, my sister’s face so clear in my mind.

Laughing.

Always laughing.

Wanting to take on the world. Live it big and beautiful and free.

I crept forward until I was standing right over him, staring down at the pathetic fuck who had no idea justice was coming for him.

I had my knife out with the tip pressed to his throat before he even knew I was there, then his eyes were popping open to the darkness where I stood over him like a wraith.

A reaper who’d come to collect.

The dark storm of my words a fulfilled prophecy.

“Did you think I’d let you get away? Did you think I wouldn’t make you suffer for what you did? Did you think I would forget?”

Hate spun me into disorder as bile prowled up and down my throat. Seven years had passed. Seven years since the three of them had disappeared. Seven years that I’d been hunting. Seven years of this motherfucker thinking he’d gotten away.

“There is no place you could have run that I wouldn’t have found you.”

Because I’d sworn over Haddie’s grave none of them would get away with what they’d done. They would atone for their sins. And that atonement had come due.

It was past midnight the next night when I pulled my truck up to my cabin that glowed like a lantern hung in the woods. The gold haze spilling from the windows whispered of peace and sanctuary.

Funny since I’d never felt a chaos so severe than right then.

Jonah leaned against the exterior wall, pulling in a deep drag of a cigarette as he gazed at the endless sky, though he lifted a hand in hello as I approached.

I pressed the button to lift the garage door, and I eased my truck inside. I killed the engine and stepped out to Jonah coming around my truck to greet me.

“Hey, man, how’d it go?”

I’d given him the same faulty excuse that I was running a legit trip.

“Good. Wiped, but good.” Guilt nearly swallowed me, my head spinning as I attempted to keep myself together.

“All quiet around here?” I forced out, angling my head to indicate the house.

“Yup. Bedroom light went out about two hours ago. Think she’s out for the night. Of course, she insisted on feeding me every meal for the last twenty-four hours since I was the poor bastard who got assigned to keep the grizzly bears away.” He chuckled when he said it.

“Shocker,” I said, almost hearing her voice verbatim.

“She’s a sweet one,” Jonah mused.

“The best,” I said low, glancing at the interior door like I might be able to see her form through it. Like I might be able to feel her warmth radiating out. Fall into its comfort.

I looked back at him. “Thanks for hanging out.”

“Any time.” Then he hesitated, his eyes narrowed. “You sure you’re good?”

My spirit rumbled, and I managed a half-cocked grin. “Yeah. Just a long trip.”

“All right, man. Get some rest.”

I gave him a jut of my chin then closed the garage door behind him as he walked to his bike off to the side of the drive. He turned it over, the low grumble echoing through as he took off.

Only I couldn’t bring myself to go upstairs. I grabbed a bottle of Jack that I had left half drunk on one of the worktables, spun off its cap, and tipped it up so I could take a giant gulp.

I rambled back to my truck and slunk down in the driver’s seat, every few minutes guzzling at that bottle like I was going to find the answer at the bottom of it.

It burned as I gulped it down, hitting my stomach in a liquid fire that toiled and tumbled like the pits of hell.

I rocked my head back on the headrest, eyes going closed as I struggled through the emotions that gripped me.

Guilt.

Shame.

Determination.

A war of confusion that raged.

Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing the blood spilled across the floor and across my hands.

Halfway back to Moonlit Ridge, I’d stopped at a dingy motel and rented a room so I could take a shower and get a few hours’ sleep. Thinking it would be enough to wash the evidence away, only the dishonor had hunted me right back to this place.

I lifted the bottle again and swallowed a mouthful.

It left a path of fire, flames in my guts and ashes in my spirit.

I forced the jagged puffs of air through my nose as I sat there searching for everything I was missing.

Like I was going to find redemption.

Forgiveness.

Like I could ever make amends when my crew found out what I’d done behind their backs.

The lies I’d been telling.

I squeezed my eyes closed as visions flashed, but I was unable to block the horror of them out.

Running into that room that night so long ago. Blood splattered everywhere. The two people I loved most in this world mangled. Discarded like trash where they’d been left on the floor.

Raven barely breathing.

And Haddie…

Haddie…

I gasped through the blade of agony that speared through my chest, and I pulled the bottle back to my lips, sucked it down before I muttered, “One left, Haddie. One monster left.”

I’d wanted to be the one who’d taken out all seven of them. Wanted to be the one who’d enacted this revenge.

The first four had gotten lucky and had been taken out by a rival MC back in LA. I still wanted to rage when I thought about the way it’d gone down. The night I’d hunted all seven of them. The night they all should’ve died but it’d been me who’d ended up with a gun pointed to my head.

The raid that had happened at exactly the right moment, the spray of bullets that had come from out of nowhere.

But this…this would have to suffice. Would have to be enough to fill the void that had been carved out in the middle of me.

“One more, Haddie. One more and you rest.” The words were garbled as I repeated them into the cab of my truck.

But it was the face of Raven gliding behind my closed lids that had me finally getting out of my truck, no clue how much time had passed while I’d been sitting there. She’d be long asleep, but I wanted to be close to her. Let the beauty that she exuded seep through the bedroom wall to wrap me in a disordered embrace.

I staggered for the interior stairs.

My brain was fuzzy. The torment dulled but distinct.

I was as quiet as possible as I let myself into the weeping shadows of the living area. The moon was just bright enough to toss glittering silver dust through the room, and I shuffled across the floor to the couch, barely able to remain upright with the amount of alcohol that slugged through my veins.

I prayed to God that I’d just pass out.

Be taken away from this day.

Given a reprieve from the horrors and the atrocities.

The ones committed then and the ones I was committing now.

No choice left but to see this through.

I was just getting ready to faceplant onto the cushions when a cold slick of ice slithered down my spine when I heard it.

A moan.

It whipped through my head and tugged at my spirit.

I turned and fumbled that way just as I heard a low whimper as I climbed the steps. One followed by my name.

“Otto.”

I hurried forward and tore the door open so I could get to her. So I could erase her pain. Hold a small piece of what had been perpetuated against her.

Only I skidded to a stop, throwing my back against the wall as I tried to process what I was seeing.

I blinked through the intoxication.

Thinking I had to be imagining things.

This fantasy too fuckin’ real.

Raven laid out in the middle of my bed with her legs spread as she drove a toy into her pussy.

She moaned again, lifting her hips from the bed as she fucked herself with the vibrator.

I was slammed by a rogue wave of lust.

An avalanche that knocked me upside down.

“Fuck,” I hissed as I pressed myself harder against the wall like I might be able to hook myself to it.

A gasp raked out of Raven and her head popped up. Inky eyes went wide when she saw me standing there gaping at her like a deranged, sick fuck.

But I couldn’t move.

Couldn’t move when her tongue swept over her lips. She paused for only a moment before she started thrusting that toy deep into that sweet cunt again.

She was completely bare from the waist down, though she had on one of my tees that basically swallowed her except for where she was spread wide.

Moonlight poured in through the window and lit her like a dream.

She’d shifted enough that I could see the toy had a nub that hit her clit with each plunge, and she was making all these breathy sounds as she kept stroking it between her thighs as she watched me.

“Otto,” she whimpered, but she still didn’t stop, and she was tweaking at her fabric-covered nipple as she kept working herself into a writhing, messy pile. Clearly, she was racing toward an orgasm that I could see glimmering all around her.

“Fuck, Raven…” I scrubbed a palm over my face to break up the disorder. To give myself some clarity. To fucking come back down to this godforsaken plane where I didn’t get to do this. Where I didn’t get to watch this goddess come undone in the middle of my bed.

It snapped me back enough that I wheezed, “Fuck, didn’t mean to barge in like this. I thought…I thought you were having a dream.”

“Maybe that’s what I’m doing…dreaming.” She whispered it in a seductive tone as she kept driving that toy into all her slick heat.

I’d never wanted to cross a room more than I did right then.

Had never wanted to give in so badly.

Had never wanted to steal the goodness. Feed on it until it filled my empty soul.

Somehow, I found the willpower to force myself back out the door, and I slammed it shut behind me at the same second as she cried out, an orgasm tearing so violently through her that I swore I could feel it reverberate through the door and ripple through me.

I chugged for the nonexistent air as I forced my ass back to the couch, still fucking staggering and lumbering my way across the floor, wondering if I was truly hallucinating.

Wouldn’t be surprising since I had just downed half a bottle of Jack.

But I could still feel it. The energy she emitted. The pleasure that seeped beneath the door and crawled across the floor like a vapor tracking me.

“Fuck.” I flopped onto the couch, trying to catch my damned breath. To make sense of what the fuck had just gone down. My cock so fucking hard there was nothing I could do but free myself from my jeans and jack myself right on the couch.

I came hard and fast and with a groan, and I cleaned myself up with my tee that I ripped over my head.

“You fuckin’ sick bastard,” I muttered as I tossed it to the floor, still disoriented, head spinning with dizziness, heart hammering with need.

I fumbled into my pocket and pulled out my phone, eyes squinting as I tapped out an apology there was no way I could issue to her face.

I faceplanted onto the couch. I squeezed my eyes closed, and I was right there, on the cusp of passing out, when my phone buzzed in my hand.

I barely shifted so I could peek at it through the night, the words blurred in the haze of my mind.