At All Costs (Whiskey Bend MC Series)

by KJ Dahlen

  With Joel down and out for the count, Markus’s wife had called the police and gotten Luna medical attention. Charlie had arrested Joel and thrown his dumb drunk ass in jail and then he’d come to the hospital to ask how long the abuse had been going on.

  Luna had barely survived this latest attack and she still carried the scars to prove what a bastard Joel Grant had been. That had been almost a year ago now and with his trial over, all they were waiting on was a judge to pronounce his sentence.

  But Charlie Boone had been right there beside her through the trial both before and after and his standing beside her had made the difference, at least for her. Luna had always had a hard life. Losing her mother at the age of seven, she’d never known her dad. He was just some loser her mom slept with twenty-four years ago. They had a one-night stand and next morning he was gone.

  Her mother never got over being dumped and there were days she wouldn’t even get out of bed. Luna had been forgotten about a lot until the day her mom never woke up again. The coroner had listed her death an overdose but Luna knew better. Her mother just never cared about anyone but herself. There were so many nights when the sounds from her mother’s room kept the little girl awake as her mom entertained a lot of men. Married or single, her visitors didn’t seem to mind. They just wanted her free and easy kind of loving.

  After her mom died, Luna was put into foster care and she hated every minute of it. She was never in one home long enough to make friends or even try to fit in. The men all remembered her mother and thought she was just like her. The foster moms all watched her with a jealous eye until they couldn’t stand their husband’s temptation anymore and they called social services to find her a new home.

  Finally, when she was sixteen she went to court to emancipate herself. She had worked hard, saved her money and finally, got enough to live on her own and by god, that’s what she did. She finished school and took some college classes to get her degree in journalism and after that, she got work where she could. She was finally her own boss and now at the age of twenty-six she was happy.

  She worked for a few hours and called it good enough. She had called Nathan and talked to him about the murders this morning. Then caught up with what Charlie knew about the killings. What she wasn’t prepared for was the fact that three more people died during the night. Sheila Donner had been killed in her own home, while Roger Lester, a homeless man had been shot and so had Liza Becker. Charlie thought Liza’s death had been because she’d seen or heard something she shouldn’t have. but that was just his opinion, not fact yet.

  As evening approached, Luna made sure all her doors and windows were locked. She took her shower then changed into something more comfortable and got into her bed to read a book. She needed something other than her own life to occupy her mind tonight.

  Finally, about three a.m. she snapped her light off and settled down to sleep for a few hours. She had just closed her eyes when she heard a footstep outside her bedroom window. She didn’t lift her head from her pillow but she did listen carefully. With her heart beating hard and fast in her chest she thought she heard someone on the other side of her walls. Someone moving around to the back of her house.

  She slipped out of bed and crawled over to the window to peek outside. From the corner of her house, she saw a shadow move around the corner to the left side. Knowing her neighbors were sleeping and her phone was out in the living room Luna slid the window open.

  Her backyard was a short sprint to the woods that led up the bluff behind the town. She silently made her way through her backyard and into the tree line. When she was far enough inside, she turned to look at the house again.

  Then she gasped. Someone was in her house going from room to room with a flashlight on. She knew immediately when whoever was in her house reached her bedroom. The light breeze carried his swear words to her ears.

  She gasped when she saw the figure of a man in her window. The flashlight he held scanned the backyard and then the woods behind her house. He called out her name, “Luna, where the fucking hell are you?”

  Luna turned and headed deeper into the woods. A few minutes later, she thought she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She picked up the pace and began running away from the footsteps.

  She tripped and fell over a wire fence but she didn’t dare stop running. Instead, she picked herself up from the dusty ground and continued moving further up the bluff. She thought she heard the man swear when he got to the fence but she didn’t wait for him to find her.

  Then she came to a clearing in the woods and in that clearing, was a small cabin. The cabin had smoke coming from the chimney and she lunged toward the cabin door. She only hoped the door was unlocked because she didn’t know which she was more afraid of whoever was in the cabin or the man behind her making the distance between them shorter with each step.

  Luna reached for the doorknob and twisted it silently. Stepping inside, she crouched beside the door and closed it softly. Crouching down, she moved over to the window and peeked outside. Finally, able to catch her breath she kept her eyes on the woods around the cabin.

  So intent on what was outside she never saw the man creeping up behind her until it was too late. Her body slammed into the wall and a hand covered her mouth so she couldn’t even scream. He had her pinned so tight to the wall she couldn’t move either.

  The one thing Luna was very sure of was the fact that she didn’t want to die tonight. Not by the man waiting for her outside nor by the man pinning her against the wall. He felt like a wall of pure muscle and he wasn’t giving her an inch.

  “Who the fuck are you and why are you in my house?” he growled in her ear. He eased his hand from her mouth.

  “I’m so sorry but there’s someone out there that I think wants to kill me and I have no clue why.” She was barely able to tell him when he allowed her to speak.

  The man behind her froze and he moved the both of them closer to the window.

  ~*~

  Taking a moment to look outside himself Aries didn’t see anything at first, then after a few minutes he saw the shadows in the trees move.

  He narrowed his eyes and glared at the movement. Someone was out there. He looked down at the back of her head. She was small for a woman and he couldn’t see her face but he liked what he could feel of her. Her body was soft in all the right places and he felt his cock agree with his assessment.

  “Could you move back a little bit?” she begged him. “I can’t breathe.”

  Aries groaned and gave her a little more room but not much. He liked how she filled his arms. He planted his beefy arms on either side of her head and she couldn’t move. She could breathe, but she couldn’t move.

  “So what’s going on?” he asked her. “Who is that bastard and what does he want with you?”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea and I don’t think I want to know.”

  “That might be a dangerous attitude to take lady,” he whispered in her ear. “You need to be aware of what’s going on around you at all times.”

  She began to sob. “The man out there? He might be a killer. He might be after me because I answered a wrong number last night. He might have come looking for me to kill me. I might be able to tie him to maybe three murders.”

  “Well shit on a shingle. Fucking hell lady, you’re just full of good news, aren’t you?” He snarled as he moved away from her.

  The frightened woman dared to turn around and look at the man. When she saw him, her eyes widened and she gasped. She blushed from her toes all the way to the top of her head and she spun around again to face the wall. “C-could you put some clothes on?” she asked him breathlessly.

  “Hell lady, you broke in my house, don’t complain when you don’t like what I sleep in.” Aries grumbled.

  “Who said I was complaining?” she whispered under her breath.

  Aries growled and disappeared down the hall to his bedroom. Snagging a pair of jeans from off the floor, he pulled them on along with a l
ong sleeved t shirt and his vest. Then he grabbed his phone and called Lucifer at the clubhouse.

  When Lucifer growled his usual, “What the fuck you want to this fuckin hour?” in his ear, Aries simply told him, “We got intruders on the ground and one of them might be carrying a weapon. In the woods, south of the cabin.”

  Lucifer was silent for a moment then hissed in his ear, “We’ll be right there.”

  Aries pocketed the phone and went back out to join his intruder.

  She was still standing there with her face against the wall, only now she was peeking out the window.

  “He can’t see you, you realize that don’t you?” Aries called quietly as his silent footsteps came closer.

  Chapter Five

  Luna gasped and turned around to meet him head on. She stared again when she realized he now had clothes on. Her hand covered her racing heart and she took her first full look at the man she broke in on. So tall and very well built. He stood at least a full foot taller than her own five foot two inches. In fact, he was probably more than that much taller than she was. His hair was dark with grey streaks in it and he had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. He wore a full beard and at the moment, it was messy but it seemed to fit him.

  She thought he was man enough to handle himself well in any situation. At least she hoped he was. Living here most of her life, she’d heard the rumors about the men that lived on the top of the bluff. So far, she hadn’t met any of them but she was praying this man could handle whatever came through that door.

  A few minutes later, the sound of motorcycles tearing down the road toward the cabin startled her and she moved a little closer to the man. Then she heard the sound of gunfire and she immediately crouched with her arms over her head whimpering.

  The man frowned as he looked down at her position. He bent to wrap his arms around her. “It’s ok sweetheart. They aren’t here to hurt you. They’re my friends and they’re chasing off whoever was waiting in the woods to hurt you. It’s ok.”

  Luna turned teary eyes to him and he helped her to her feet. Wrapping his huge arms around her he held her close to him again, only this time he wasn’t holding her against the wall and she wasn’t panicking. She was however sobbing into his chest. And whimpering, “Oh my god, oh my god.”

  He held her until the noise from outside dropped to nothing and they heard heavy footsteps stomping across his porch. The cabin door flew open and five huge men came into the room. One of the men flipped on the light switch by the door and Luna closed her eyes against the brightness of the lights.

  The man with her nodded at the men and slowly released her.

  Luna looked at him and slowly took a step back. Then she turned to face the men behind her. Each of them were bigger than the last one. The man in charge was huge and he looked like he meant business. She began to tremble as she searched their faces and found no compassion there at all.

  She’d seen that look in men’s eyes before. It was the same wherever she went. They thought she wasn’t worth the time it took to bother about knowing her. They looked her over and dismissed her without giving her a chance.

  She brushed her long dark hair out of her face and wiped her tears away. She’d made up her mind a long time ago to give as good as she got from life and this time was no different.

  “What the hell is going on here Aries?” the biggest man called out. “Who the hell is she and who was it we chased down the bluff?”

  The man next to her shrugged. “I don’t have a clue. I haven’t had the chance to ask her anything yet.”

  The big man turned to her and demanded an answer to his earlier question. “Well? What the fuck is going on here?”

  Luna snagged a strand of hair and pulled it back behind her ear. She had to tell them something but she didn’t have to tell them everything. “My name is Luna Mathias and I live in Whiskey Bend. I woke up a little while ago and someone was breaking into my house. I got out a window and ran for the woods, he followed me and I ended up here. I swear I don’t know who he is or what he wants but I thank you for running him off.”

  The big man cocked his head and glared at her for a moment before he asked, “You the same Luna Mathias who writes for the paper in town?”

  Luna nodded slowly. “Yes that’s me.”

  He looked over at Aries who’d taken her in and growled. “Get her out of here before she sees something she shouldn’t see.” Then he turned and left the cabin.

  The other four men that came with him turned and followed him out the door.

  There was a strained silence following their departure and Luna began to tremble. She was more afraid of what would happen next than she had been when she’d run in here. The man disappeared down the hall again and when he returned her was wearing boots. “Come on Luna, I’ll walk you home.”

  Luna began to shake. “I don’t want to go home,” she whispered. “He could be there waiting for me.”

  “I don’t have a choice and neither do you.” He motioned toward the door.

  Reluctantly, she took a step toward the door.

  He opened it and waited for her to step through it. Just as she was about to a single shot rang out and Luna dropped to the floor. She crawled away from the doorway and covered her head with her arms.

  He swore and flipped the light off. Then he moved back into the room and slid over to the fireplace. Grabbing the rifle off the hooks above the mantle, he made sure it was loaded and then moved to stand over Luna. He peeked out the open door and began searching the woods for any shadows moving. He didn’t see anyone, but he heard a bird call out there somewhere and he knew his friends weren’t that far away. They had come back to protect him just like he would have done for them in this situation.

  Hooking the door with his foot, he slammed it shut and as he did, there was another shot from the trees.

  The bullet splinted the frame of the door and Luna whimpered as she hugged the wall.

  ~*~

  Aries was thankful that she didn’t scream out in her terror but he knew she was scared to death from the whimpering sounds coming from her throat. “Are you ok?” he whispered. “I mean the first bullet didn’t hit you did it?”

  “Umm, yeah it kinda did but just a little bit,” she whispered back.

  Fuck,” he swore as he knelt beside her. “Where are you hit?”

  “It caught my shoulder, but I’m okay, really.” After a moment or so, she begged him, “Please don’t let him kill me.”

  “He won’t even get close to you.” Aries growled. “He’ll have to go through me and those five guys that were here earlier, and that just ain’t gonna happen.”

  Outside there were sounds of a battle and Luna thought the world as she knew it was coming to an end, then there was nothing but silence. Finally, after twenty minutes, someone banged on the door and Luna screamed before she could stop it. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth but she looked at Aries wildly and shook her head.

  Aries leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Easy sweetness, that’s just Lucifer knocking.”

  She paled and backed away from him while Aries got to his feet and opened the door. The five men from earlier came back in as Aries turned on the light again.

  Lucifer looked around the room and found her sitting behind where Aries was standing. He frowned when he saw the blood on her shirt. “What the fuck is going on here?” He reached out to grab her arm to haul her to her feet.

  Aries stopped him by pushing him away. He glared at the other men then reached his own hand down to help her up.

  Luna got up with a rush and almost lost her balance, crashing into him. “Oh, my,” she whispered as she steadied herself.

  Lucifer then turned to Luna. “I think you’d better come with us for now. This place doesn’t seem to be safe for you. We thought we had him halfway to town but he doubled back. He may still be out there hiding in the fucking dark like the coward he is. It’s too dammed dark to find him at the moment and if you guys stay here,
he’ll pick you off one at a time. He seems a little determined to kill her for some reason. I want to know why.”

  Aries nodded then looked at her more carefully. “She needs medical attention anyway. We’ll follow you back to the clubhouse.”

  “Let’s go Aries,” Lucifer snapped.

  All seven of them left the cabin and they rode back to the clubhouse.

  ~*~

  Luna was on the back of Aries’ bike. The man in charge had called him Aries. What an odd name. After the god, Aries. It fit him though. When they got there, she didn’t want to let him go. For some reason, he felt good to her.

  When he shut off the bike, he patted her leg and she groaned as she got off. Looking around she noted the lights were all on inside and outside and there were people standing around the dooryard, staring at her. Luna hated being the center of attention. Ever since she was a child, people always stared at her with pity or anger in their eyes.

  She tipped her head to the ground and allowed her hair to hang in front of her covering most of her face in order to hide herself from these men. Someone took her arm and escorted her inside the clubhouse. They ushered her to a big table and pulled out a chair for her.

  Sitting down, she still wouldn’t raise her head too high and she continued to look at the floor. Then someone knelt in front of her and tipped her face up to his. It was Aries. His blue eyes searched her face. Then they went to her shoulder. They winced when they noted all the blood on her shirt. “Lucifer, where’s doc?”

  Lucifer, the man in charge replied, “He’s coming.”

  Luna dared to reach out to Aries as he kept staring at her wound and looking upset. She cupped his jaw and whispered, “It’s ok.”

  He turned his gaze back to her.

  She recoiled as she saw the rage brewing inside his eyes.

  “The fuck it is. It’s not all right. Someone shot you tonight. That’s not alright at all.”

  Another man squatted down beside her and laid a first aid kit on the floor. He looked at her and smiled. “Hi I’m Doc. I’m here to look at your shoulder. How did you get shot?” He pulled the material away from her shoulder. It was stuck to her skin as the blood had began to dry. He had to reach for a pair of scissors to cut the opening around her neck to reveal the wound.