Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2)

Otto and his crew tore up the road through the seedy area in Hollywood. His hand was cocked back on the throttle, their engines roaring as they blazed beneath the cover of night.

His teeth were gritted in spite and fear.

His guts gnarled with dread.

He’d had a feeling that things had gone bad when he couldn’t get in touch with Haddie this evening and Raven’s room had been empty when he’d gotten himself together enough to go ask her if she’d heard from his sister.

He’d still been reeling from the disgusting lie he’d had to tell her last night.

How he felt like he was splitting in two as he severed the trust Raven had given him. As he cut the bond that had tied them with the snip of his words.

Words that were nothing but blasphemy.

But he’d had to do it. He had no other choice. He couldn’t betray River that way. But more than that? He couldn’t saddle Raven with a life like theirs.

When he’d found Raven’s room empty, he’d called her, but her phone had gone directly to voicemail. Intuition had kicked, an angsty sense that promised things weren’t right, and he’d gone to River who had her location on his phone.

There was no other reason for them to be headed this way other than chasing down trouble, and he was sure Gideon and his friends had something to do with this.

Thankfully, the girls weren’t that far ahead of them.

Otto and his crew had all jumped on their bikes, and now they raced, bullets that rocketed through the city. They barely slowed when they made the right into the grungy neighborhood.

It wasn’t that far off from the depravity Haddie had grown up in, so it wasn’t like showing up here was going to cause her a whole lot of concern.

But Otto?

He was concerned.

Spirit bashing with a turbid awareness that wouldn’t let him go.

Especially after they hadn’t heard a word from Gideon and his crew. He’d expected immediate retaliation. Sure it was gonna come to a head.

But God, he would never survive it if it came to this.

He nearly breathed out in relief when he saw his sister’s car sitting at the curb, all while a fresh shot of adrenaline spiked through his senses.

They all came to grinding halts behind it, parking at odd angles as they jumped off their bikes and ran for the door.

Otto was out front, and his hand darted for the knob. He rattled it. It was locked.

He didn’t bother with knocking.

He grabbed both sides of the doorframe and lifted his leg, and he rammed the sole of his boot against the door near the doorknob.

Wood splintered, though it didn’t give.

He did it again.

Twice more before it finally busted open and slammed against the interior wall.

All five of them piled in, ready for a fight, eyes scanning the area.

Confusion wound through him when they found the living room empty. No motion at all. Until he heard the tiny moan echo from somewhere deeper in the house.

He shared a look with River before they went running, boots thundering across the floor before they dove through a nook and into a kitchen.

A howl of pain ripped out of Otto when he made it inside, and he slipped through the streams of blood weaving across the floor as he fumbled to his sister’s side. He dropped to his knees with a wail.

She was surrounded by a pool of blood, her brown hair saturated, her throat slit and gaping wide.

Gasping, he pulled her into his arms, begging, “Haddie. Oh God, Haddie. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Grief bound. So tight he couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see.

“Haddie. Oh God, Haddie. Please, no. No.”

River was shouting, “Raven, Raven!”

Otto could hardly look that way. His stomach revolted when he saw Raven in her own pool of blood, face down before River turned her over. He brushed back the black locks from her hair as he felt for her pulse.

She moaned again, and River screamed, “Call an ambulance!”

Raven. Oh God, Raven. And Haddie. His spirit moaned. A guttural cry that begged for the both of them.

The rest of their crew gaped in horror from the opening before Kane snapped out of it and pulled his cell from his pocket and called 9-1-1.

“Hurry,” Otto mumbled, brushing back Haddie’s hair, rocking her and rocking her.

Hurry.

Except he knew it was too late. Haddie was too light. Too still. All wrong.

The loud rumble of a truck engine turning over thundered from outside. It revved high, tires squealing as it sped away.

Motherfuckers running.

He didn’t make to chase them. He held his sister knowing it was going to be the last chance that he got to do it.

Let them fuckin’ run.

Let them know what was coming for them.

Because if there was only one thing that remained in his life, it would be hunting them.

And when he found them, they would come to their end.

“We ride tomorrow.” River gripped his shoulder, dipping down to try to get in his line of sight.

Otto sat on his bed propped against the headboard.

Numb.

Dead inside.

All except for the rage that simmered in a place inside him that he hadn’t known existed. The famished need for vengeance that fermented in the hollowed-out hole that had been carved in the deepest, darkest recess of his soul.

It was the only feeling that remained.

He gave River a limp nod, and River squeezed his shoulder again before he left Otto’s room and closed the door behind him.

A week had passed since Haddie had been killed.

A week of this detached torment.

It felt like he was floating outside his body. Outside of reality because he couldn’t process what was true.

The fact Haddie was gone, and he was the one who was wholly responsible for it.

He sat up from the bed, shoved his feet into his boots, and laced them up. His breaths were shallow when he went to his closet and opened the large gun safe hidden at the back. He took his rifle and three loaded magazines, fitted himself with his back holster and shoved the gun into it before pulling on a long jacket to conceal it.

Then he slipped out his window and carefully lowered himself to the grass below.

His attention darted all directions, checking that it was clear, before he slinked across the yard, ducking low as he hurried to his bike.

He wouldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Because this retribution was on him.

For Haddie.

For Raven.

For the two people he loved most and hadn’t been strong enough to protect.

He kicked the stand on his bike and pushed it down the street beneath a sheath of darkness, and when he was sure he was far enough away, he slung his leg over it and turned over the engine.

One destination in mind.

One he was sure was going to be his last.

He left his bike five hundred yards up the alley. He crept slow, keeping his footsteps quieted and his back against the dingy buildings as he made his way to the warehouse hidden in the sleaziest, most depraved part of the city.

Gideon and his crew were there every Thursday night. Unpacking the blocks of cocaine that were hidden in straw in the back of a truck, getting them ready for distribution.

Otto had gotten word that the Owls’ prez had given Gideon and his mob the clear. Found them not responsible, claiming they’d been on a run that night so there was no chance they were involved in Haddie’s death and Raven’s injury.

Otto knew it was bullshit.

A cover.

Same as he knew he’d never be loyal to that motherfucker again.

Cutter might deem them clean, but tonight, Otto was going to be the judge.

He made it to the chain-link fence that surrounded the whole perimeter. Dull lights droned from the sides of the building, and he could hear the distant voices rambling from within the building.

He gripped hold of the fence and hoisted himself over. He landed with a dull thud, and he crouched down, ensuring that no one had heard him before he stole forward. He hid himself behind a metal container.

Kneeling low, he peered out.

There was no movement, only the intermittent discordant bark of laughter.

That rage boiled. Climbing his throat and speeding through his veins.

They were laughing.

Fuckin’ laughing while his sister was dead in a grave. While Raven was lucky to be alive.

She’d been in intensive care for two days, though she was now home safe where she was slowly recovering, though he was sure the wounds these demons had inflicted were going to devastate the progress she’d made. She’d carry them like scars that would drag her back into the darkness.

For a moment, he pinched his eyes closed against the grief of it. His sister stolen from them.

And Raven…

He gulped as he struggled to breathe.

Warring with the love that he was forbidden to feel.

A love that made him no less than a monster. No better than these bastards who hooted and howled, no fuckin’ sweat off their backs.

Otto shucked off his jacket and dropped it to the ground, and he reached over his shoulder and pulled his rifle from its holster.

He checked to make sure it was loaded and ready before he stood and began to wind around the trailer.

Right before a clatter of footsteps rushed up behind him, so fast he barely had time to whirl around right as the butt of a gun was bashed against his temple.

Dropping him straight to the ground.

They dragged him out into the dirt lot and shoved him onto his knees. Blood poured from the wound on the side of his head as fury pulsed through his veins.

Anger that this was it. Anger that he wasn’t going to get justice for Haddie. That he wasn’t going to get justice for Raven.

These motherfuckers were going to get away with what they’d done.

Gideon and his pathetic posse made a semi-circle around Otto where they loomed about ten feet back.

“Been expectin’ you,” Gideon said, amusement in his voice.

Hatred burned through Otto’s conscience.

“You killed my sister, you fuckin’ bastard. Murdered her in cold blood.” His teeth nearly cracked from the pressure he was exerting as he ground out the words.

Gideon tsked. “I wouldn’t call it cold blood. It was coming, after all. You disrespected me in front of everyone at that bar that day. Not that I didn’t hate you to begin with. So fucking high and mighty with your crew. Turning Trent against the rest of us.”

“You thought I was just gonna stand aside and let it happen with my sister? I don’t think so.”

“Yet I had her, didn’t I? Time and again. Slut had a sweet little cunt. It was a shame I had to end her.”

Otto roared, trying to get to his feet, only he sank back down when Gideon lifted the handgun that had been dangling at his side and pointed it in Otto’s direction. “But there was no chance I wasn’t going to make her bleed. After what you and your crew did? Fuckin’ with our bikes?”

It was the ultimate disrespect. Otto knew it. It was why he’d done it.

“You should’ve known that pain would come. It’s been coming all along. Years spent with you getting in the way. I lost the trust of Trent because of you. Lost my chance at every promotion within the club because he had some kinda hard-on for you. You made me lose the respect of the rest of the Owls, knowing you spat in my face that way. That ends today.”

Rage and grief and sorrow pounded through Otto.

And for one fleeting second, he wished he could go back. He wished he could go back and tell Raven how he really felt. Hold her. Protect her.

Go all the way back and keep Haddie from ever stepping foot into his world.

Maybe never enter it himself.

“Don’t be sad, the rest of your crew will be close behind.”

Gideon cocked the gun, and Otto closed his eyes.

And it was a vision of Raven that manifested behind his lids.

Lying in that bed curled in his arms. Tucked to his chest.

And he prayed that she’d run. Get fully free of this life.

Fly.

He prepared himself for the gunshot.

Only there was suddenly a ton of them. Ringing out, pings and flying dirt.

Shouts and cries and chaos erupted.

Confusion bound, and Otto threw himself to the ground as a flurry of gunshots ricocheted. Coming from somewhere outside the fenced-in area.

A slew of shots were fired back.

And he could hear the stampeding of footsteps and the roar of motorcycles and the quiet of death.

Because when Otto finally hauled himself up onto his feet in the aftermath, when the dust had settled and the sound of sirens shouted in the distance, he was standing in the middle of four dead bodies.

Dusty, Zeke, Lane, and Decker.

Gideon, Brek, and Lye had escaped.

Otto searched the darkness beyond the fence for who was responsible.

Unsure of what he felt.

The opposing emotions that clashed and conflicted.

The hate. The thirst that remained unquenched. The resentment that he didn’t get to end the four who lay bleeding around him.

All mixed with a tiny spark of something bigger. A tiny glow beneath the moon that rained a murky, silvered haze from above.

The fact that he was alive.