Under an Endless Moon: Chapter 1

“This one should be easy,” River said, though it sounded almost like a question as he glanced around at our crew.

We were down in the hidden basement at Kane’s, which was the most popular club in our small town of Moonlit Ridge.

The heavy thud of music seeped through the cracks, vibrating the ceiling and walls.

Down here where we were secreted away, the small space was dim and dingy, the single bulb that hung from the ceiling the only light in the room.

Five of us sat around the big circular table beneath it. My attention bounced around at every member of Sovereign Sanctum:

River, our leader.

Kane, our money launderer.

Theo, the protector.

Cash, our hacker.

Then there was me, the deliverer.

Tension was always tight whenever we met like this. You’d think that after doing this for close to ten years and the lives we led, it would have abated by now. But no, I could taste the apprehension that would forever leak from our spirits.

“No. I don’t foresee any problems,” I told him. “Everything is set.”

River shifted his attention to Theo. “You’re sure they’re ready for transport?”

He kept his voice low like someone was going to overhear when we were buried thirty feet below.

Angie and her two sons had been hidden away at The Sanctuary for two months. It was the motel Theo owned and ran, a cover since we used it as a transition house. A temporary place to shelter those who we were helping to give new lives while we figured out their permanent accommodations.

Theo gave a tight nod as he roughed a tatted hand through his shock of black hair.

“Yeah. Angie is still skittish, but I’m not sure that’s going to change any time soon,” he said.

“She’s been through it,” Kane agreed.

River turned his dark gaze to me. “Then it’s a go for you. Are you ready?”

Every one of us had a specific job. A task in our organization. Mine was to get them to their new homes. The one who was there when they went on their own.

I gave my crew a giant grin, playing light the way I did. “Always ready for it.”

Kane laughed with a shake of his head. Dude was covered in tats like the rest of us. But he still somehow came off a little more polished.

“You always take it on like you’re running a game,” he tossed at me.

“Only way to live life, isn’t it?” Especially when we never knew when it was going to come to an end. Had never had the illusion that I was going to make it to be an old man.

Might as well live fast and hard and to the extreme while I had the chance. Use up every second that I was given. I could almost feel the end coming up fast. A roil of hatred burned through me when I thought of what I’d discovered. Finally picking up the scent of the motherfuckers I’d been hunting for the last seven years.

I glanced at my left hand where two stacked Ss were tattooed with an eye in the middle of them. A broken, mangled heart sat atop the dagger that ran it through. I flexed my hand, trying to quell the rage, to tamp it down and save it for when I could use it.

Vengeance was coming and it was coming soon.

I forced myself back into my typical casualness when River grunted at me. My best friend was nothing but a grumpy asshole, though he’d softened a bit since his girl, Charleigh, had come into his life.

“Want you to be careful,” he warned.

I rocked my massive frame back in the wooden chair. “When have I not been careful?”

Kane scoffed a mocking sound. “Says the guy who runs straight into danger like he’s looking for it.”

I shrugged with a smirk. “When duty calls.”

Everyone else was grinning, too.

All except for Cash who basically glared at me from across the table. Dude never said much, anyway, so it wasn’t like it set off any alarm bells for the rest of the crew, but I knew exactly what he was thinking.

I beat down the rash of unease and instead glanced around at the rest. “Are we good, then? This boy is ready to get back upstairs and have a little bit of fun.”

Theo chuckled. “Not sure a little bit is in your vocabulary.”

“He’s going to have to play it cool tonight. He has a big job ahead of him tomorrow night,” River said like he was my mother telling me not to stay up too late because I had a test in the morning.

“I’ll be sure to be in bed by midnight, Mommy,” I razzed.

It was already twelve-thirty, but what the hell ever.

His annoyance couldn’t blot out the amusement, but then he was sobering as he said, “Be safe, brother.”

My head dipped, and I tried to beat back the guilt that wanted to surface. “Always.”

He gave a nod of acceptance before he stuck out his fist that was tattooed with the same stacked Ss as the rest of us, though his dagger was topped with a crown. Each of ours varied a bit, though the oath it represented remained the same.

We all stretched out our fists to meet in the middle of the table.

“Our oath to the afflicted. Our oath to the forsaken. Our oath to Sovereign Sanctum,” River chanted.

We all repeated it, the vow we had made years ago to stand for the abused and neglected. By any means necessary. Our good deeds were usually done dirty. All our hands were blood-stained and tainted, but it wasn’t like we didn’t start our lives out as criminals when we’d first met.

The five of us on the streets of LA.

None of us were related, but we were brothers. Through and through. And this oath? It ran deep.

Chair legs screeched as we all pushed out from the table, and in an instant, the mood changed to light as we started up the narrow staircase that led to the main floor.

I wasn’t the only one here who liked to have a good time.

All except for Cash who would slink right out and head to his cabin that was secluded in the mountains. Last place he’d want to be was in a packed club.

River was at the helm, moving faster than the rest of us since the sappy motherfucker couldn’t wait to get upstairs to Charleigh and his little sister Raven.

Raven.

I did my best to ignore the bolt of greed that slammed me at just the thought of her. That was not the place I needed to let my brain go.

We wound to the top, and River opened the door that led from the basement and into Kane’s office at the back of the building.

We all piled into the room, then he closed the door behind us, making sure it was secure and concealed behind the façade of bookshelves that covered the entire back wall. It made it impossible to locate if you didn’t already know it was there.

Everyone trudged for the main door of his office, and Kane unlocked it and let everyone out. The decibel of the music grew tenfold as we stepped into the dimly lit hall, my crew laughing and joking as we slipped through the swinging door at the end and out into the main area of the club.

In an instant, I was caught in the frenetic energy that seethed in the cavernous space.

The band had already played, and the DJ had taken over. A throng of people were crushed on the dance floor, writhing as they danced their cares away.

Kane’s was housed in an enormous old church, and above, the ceiling seemed to disappear into eternity. Long, vertical stained-glass windows were situated way up high on the walls. Strobe lights struck against them, and it sent glittering flashes of every color through the entire place.

Off to my right was a bar that ran the length of that wall, and there were at least five bartenders slinging drinks behind it as a ton of people vied to get close enough to catch their attention.

But my attention? It immediately swept to the left.

To the private, secluded booth at the very back of the club that was always reserved for our family. River asked Kane to keep it roped off because he was a protective bastard like that, not that I was going to fault him for it when I was one hundred percent on board.

Because there she was.

Raven. Fucking. Tayte.

My best friend’s little sister.

Sweetest girl on the face of the planet.

And to my great misfortune, the sexiest one, too.

She was behind the rope with Charleigh, and the two of them were giggling and laughing. Raven’s arm was slung over Charleigh’s shoulder as they shared what looked to be some sordid secret.

Leave it to Raven to be dressed completely in black, wearing the shortest fuckin’ skirt I’d ever seen and a black leather corset that smushed her tits up at the top. Then she had to go and pair it with these thigh-high boots with a five-inch stiletto heel.

Looking like the only place she belonged was on the back of my bike.

Lush, black hair was done half up and half down, showing off the sharp angles of her stunning face. Makeup thick the way she always wore it, lips stained red.

But it was those inky eyes that nailed me to the spot.

So dark and mesmerizing they held me like a trap.

A thunderbolt of lust gripped me by the guts, but I sucked it down and pinned on a giant grin as I sauntered her way, reminding myself with each step of who she was and who she would always be to me.

When she saw me coming, she squealed and lifted her frilly drink over her head.

“Otto! It’s about time you got your cute butt over here! I thought you guys forgot all about us.”

Highly fucking unlikely.

Especially with the way River went straight for Charleigh and pulled her into his arms so he could kiss the fuck out of her.

“Hey, way to steal my bestie!” Raven shouted at her brother’s back. He only slanted her a grin from over his shoulder as he backed Charleigh deeper into a dark corner.

“Can you believe him?” she asked in feigned offense.

The rest of our crew, sans Cash, of course, slipped into the big horseshoe booth.

I went for where Raven stood, playing it casual the way I always did because what else was I supposed to do, and I slung my arm over her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Now don’t go and get jealous, Raven. You have your older, even better big brother to hang out with.”

Yup. I’d dubbed myself her big brother. Way fuckin’ safer that way, putting her into that box when I could never have her the way I really wanted.

“It’s not the brother part I’m worried about, Otto. He stole my bestie. Stole her right out from under me. Just like he did from the beginning. He keeps saying he saw her first, but I beg to differ. I’m the one who invited her to come hang out with us the first time, and since my brother is nothing but a big oaf, he never would have taken it upon himself to do it. Where would he be without me? And there he goes, whisking her away from me again when he should be kissing the ground I walk on.”

She gave me the most ridiculous faked pout I’d ever seen. Wasn’t sure how one woman could be so adorable and sexy at the same time.

A rough chuckle scraped up my throat, and I hugged her a little closer. “Think you’re just going to have to share that bestie of yours. One look at Charleigh, and your brother goes feral.”

Her nose scrunched. “I don’t need that vision in my head, thank you very much.”

I laughed, and she nestled into my side like it was what she was meant to do.

Her aura invaded my senses.

She smelled like a vineyard of honeysuckle.

A sweet fucking moonflower.

I was almost used to disregarding the urge I had to tuck her all the way into me. Press my nose into the thick black locks of her hair. Breathe her sweetness right down into my lungs. Drown myself on her intoxicating floral scent.

Would never do that, though.

Raven was pure. Good right down to the marrow.

This world might have made me a vile beast, but I at least had the conscience to be sure of that. Had almost made that mistake once, and it’d proven to me exactly why I could never deserve someone like her.

How I only failed the ones I loved most.

Besides, River would straight-up gut me if I even considered pushing past those barriers with his sister. Hell, he’d do it now if he had half the inclination of the fantasies she conjured in me every time I looked at her. If he knew how I’d felt that time when he’d confronted me about it, and I’d lied through my teeth.

So, I shoved it down into the deepest parts of me and pretended like it didn’t exist, ignored that ravenous desire, and guided her over to the booth.

Theo pushed into the middle, and Raven slipped in with me right behind her.

I slung my arm right back over her shoulder.

Our server immediately showed, balancing a bunch of drinks on a tray. “Here we are. Another round for my favorite table.”

“Ahh, Tiff, you are always two steps ahead of the game,” Kane told her. Dude was rocked back in the plush, high-backed booth like he was some kind of king, but I guessed around here, he was. The owner of his namesake, which we used to cover all the funds that we had rolling through.

“Gotta keep the boss happy,” she said, her tone light.

Didn’t miss the way she looked at me when she set my whiskey in front of me.

A candid invitation.

Had gone back to her place a couple times. The woman was crazy hot and more than a good time, but I got the sense that maybe her thoughts had started slanting in a direction they shouldn’t.

Thinking she might rein me, when I’d promised her from the get-go that was not gonna happen.

“Thank you,” I told her, jutting my chin at her before she reluctantly walked away.

I felt the force of Raven’s scowl.

“What?” I asked her, my stomach unsettled but my voice full of a tease.

“I don’t know how you get away with it.”

“And what’s that?”

“Come on, Otto, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re such a player.”

“Well, of course, I am, darlin’. And you know exactly how I do it.” I jostled her a little.

“Ugh,” Raven groaned. “So arrogant.”

“Like you don’t know you’re the fuckin’ hottest thing in this club,” I tossed back.

Shit.

Maybe I was pushing it too far because Theo arched a speculative brow as he took a sip of his scotch, clearly thinking he should deliver me a warning.

Kane let go of a low chuckle.

“Well, I am pretty hard to look away from,” Raven said. “Have you seen this top?”

Top?

I would hardly call it that.

She shimmied her shoulders.

Taunting me the way she liked to do. As if I hadn’t noticed. As if I didn’t see her face every damned time I blinked.

Sometimes I thought she was purposefully trying to drive me to the edge.

“Honestly, I can’t believe River let you out of the house dressed like that,” Kane said with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“Yeah, my baby sister is a fuckin’ stunner. I’m going to have to look after you tonight to make sure the pervs stay away,” I said as casually as I could.

Calling her that was nothing but a bucket of ice water dumped directly onto my head. A wedge driven between us. A reminder of every reason I could never go there.

I mean, fuck, I’d known her since she was just a little kid. Since she was nine years old.

Back when River had shown up with her in LA after he’d gotten her away from the abuse of their piece of shit father.

Would never forget the first time I saw her. This terrified little thing who’d been wrapped in a blanket and shaking in the corner of the abandoned building where we’d lived.

A shiver of old fury rolled through me. The knowledge of what she had gone through. Both then and later.

A flash of annoyance took hold of her expression, making me sure she hated when I called her that, before she pinned on a saucy smirk that was nothing but a challenge. “Maybe that’s exactly what I’m looking for tonight…some hot guy who wants to take me home.”

I had to restrain the growl from getting loose of my chest. I knew she’d been dating some little douchewad a month or so back. Couldn’t handle the vile image of the bastard wrapped up in that lush, gorgeous body.

I’d overheard her telling Charleigh that she’d ended things. They’d gone to whispering when they realized I was eavesdropping, so I hadn’t been able to get the full story. The only thing I’d known for sure was the fuckin’ punch of relief I’d felt at the news.

If she hooked up tonight with some other loser, I was going to go off the rails.

“You know, someone who’s rough and dirty,” she continued, driving the needle in. “Maybe one of your biker friends.”

She looked around the table like she was asking one of us to set her up.

That time, I did growl. “Watch yourself, Raven, or any prick you decide to grace with your presence tonight is going to end up missin’.”

“Second that,” Theo said, lifting his glass like we were making a pact.

She laughed like it was absurd. She should have known better. She pointed around the table. “All of you, including my brother, are going to have to stop that nonsense.” She hooked her thumb toward her chest. “I’m twenty-five. TWENTY-FIVE. I’m not a little girl anymore. Time to accept it because this girl is ready to spread her wings.”

Was pretty sure the spreading of her wings would be the death of me.

The song changed and Raven gasped, and immediately her attention was on me, her black tipped nails digging into my right bicep. “It’s my jam! Out you go. We’re dancing. You know, since my bestie is otherwise occupied.”

She shooed me out to standing and slipped from the booth. There was nothing I could do but trail behind her as she strutted that fine, leather-clad ass out onto the dance floor. Heels so goddamn high I couldn’t breathe.

Then she turned to me and grinned as she started to swivel those hips.

Maybe I should have accepted it as my fate. That it was already over. Maybe I should have known Raven Tayte was really going to be the end of me.