Page 126 of Under an Endless Moon

If he could, I was pretty sure Otto would be suffering a whole lot more than a superficial gunshot wound.

Pain coated River’s expression when he looked in my direction. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?”

“Of course,” I told him.

He guided me around to the far side of an old Ford truck, his voice quieted as he turned around to face me. “Did something happen that you don’t want to tell everyone else about? Don’t want to push you, Raven, but I need somethin’ to go on if I’m going to be able to hunt this asshole down.”

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “I truly don’t.”

Coming to Moonlit Ridge had been a new lease on life. A new beginning. Starting over from the traumas and the horrors of that lifestyle.

River and the rest of the guys had done their best to keep me out of it.

Hiding me away like they could shield me from the realities of who they were.

They should have known that was impossible.

That lifestyle would always trickle down and infiltrate.

Haddie’s face flashed through my mind. Grief slashing and slaying.

I looked at Otto, my guts fisting in the sorrow. I thought I might be able to hear the ghosts from that time howl in the vacant space.

If only I could have done something sooner.

But I’d done the one thing I could. The one thing I would never regret even though I’d kept it secreted behind a veil of shock and shame.

He was here—alive and whole.

It was all that mattered now.

River must have taken the sorrow in my expression for fear because he reached out and tapped my chin with his thumb. He’d alwaysdone it whenever I was in distress. Whenever he wanted to reach me. Whenever he wanted to let me know I wasn’t alone and he would never leave me.

I adored him for it.

“We’re going to take care of this, Raven. I promise you, all of us are right here, and we won’t let anything happen to you.”

He looked over to the rest of the guys who had their heads together, clearly trying to come up with a plan from across the garage. His attention dipped back to me. “Is this where you want to stay? I support you, whatever you want.”

“I think staying here is for the best.” I probably said it a little too fast.

His nod was tight. “Okay. Just…be careful, and don’t do anything reckless. Know you want to do your own thing, but it’s not safe for you to be off by yourself right now. Just until we get this sorted, then you can find a place of your own. But for my sanity, let’s put that on hold right now, yeah?”

“I can do that.”

I could try to tell myself that it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that this was where Otto was, but it would be a lie.

“Good. I’m going to head out, see if I can pick up anything along the drive. We’re going to find this bastard.” He reached out and squeezed my arm. “Promise you.”

“I know.”

“Text Charleigh. She’s beside herself. She wanted to come to make sure you were okay, but we thought it best not to bring Nolan over here until we knew the area was safe.”

“I will.”

“Can’t stand for you to be goin’ through this.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “Love you so damn much. Need you to be safe.”

“I won’t let anything happen to me because I know you need me here with you,” I whispered back, a semblance of the promise he had always made to me.

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