Page 10 of Under an Endless Moon

“I haven’t heard from you,” he said.

Okay, so he was just going to toss it out there. Make an awkward situation even more uncomfortable.

Tanner was another failed attempt at me trying to spread my wings. To break out and fly. He was definitely good looking. Not quite a biker, but he was a mechanic and was covered in tats which I was pretty sure was my thing.

I’d truly given dating him a shot, but it couldn’t be helped that I’d wanted to vomit when he’d set his hand on my thigh when he’d kissed me.

He’d tried to talk me into giving it another try, but I didn’t see the sense in dragging it out when we’d clearly hit our end.

He and I were just not it.

I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but also, I’d been totally clear, and he’d still texted me a bunch of times trying to pressure me into changing my mind.

I was not about that.

“Um…that’s because we broke up.”

He took a step forward, and there was something about it that made me take one back. “I thought we were going to talk about that?”

“And I told you that would only prolong the inevitable.”

I gasped when he snatched me by the wrist. “Come on, Raven…I don’t understand what happened.”

A tiny shock of fear thrummed through my spirit, and I wrangled my arm free of his hold. “I told you that it didn’t feel right to me. Let’s leave it at that.”

I tried to keep the tremble from my voice, but my breaths bottomed out when he pushed in closer and backed me into the wall.

Panic started to well. Old fears rising up at someone touching me when I didn’t want them to. Ringing blared in my ears, and his voice was garbled when he said, “But wecould be so good?—”

Except he didn’t make it to the end of the sentence before the shockwave of aggression rocketed through the air. A fiery ferocity that froze him to the spot.

“I’d think twice about touching her when she made it plenty clear that she doesn’t want you to.” The words coming out of Otto’s mouth were daggers.

Sharp and impaling.

Tanner glanced over his shoulder at Otto who raged behind him. A beast that vibrated malice. So tall he nearly touched the ceiling. Shoulders so wide I thought they might be brushing each side.

The colors and innuendos written on his flesh writhed over his muscles that flexed and bowed with barely held restraint.

You’d think Tanner would be smart enough to back away, but instead, he sneered, “This is none of your concern. Think you’ve been in the way enough.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Okay, the worst thing to say.

Because Otto had grabbed him and had him pinned to the opposite wall before any of us could make sense of the movement.

The man might have been a giant, but damn, he was fast.

Otto’s arm pressed up under Tanner’s chin, tight against his throat. “Ah, see, now that is where you’re wrong. Raven is very much a concern of mine, and if some little twat comes around, pushing her in a direction she doesn’t want to go, then things aren’t gonna end well for him. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Otto.” I tried to get his attention, but he was too busy scaring the crap out of Tanner for me to break through to him.

He cracked a menacing grin as he pulled Tanner from the wall then slammed him back against it. “Now get the fuck out of here before I break your fuckin’ legs.”

He shoved him off.

Tanner stumbled to the side, and he raked the back of his hand over his mouth as if he was trying to wipe off a bad taste. He turned his attention to me. Disgust pulled all over his face. “Yeah, he’s like a brother to you, my ass.”

---