Page 1 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

ONE

THEO

“You have intel?”I asked into the Bluetooth as I wound my truck through the dense forest on my way back to Moonlit Ridge.

The sun had set about half an hour ago, and my headlights speared through the snow that came down in a blinding flurry from above. The gusts swirled in agitation as they blew through the trees that towered on all sides of the winding, two-lane road.

The storm wasn’t supposed to hit until later tonight, and I was thanking fuck that I was in my truck and not on my bike since I’d taken the three-hour trip into the city on a supply run.

Cash released a sigh that echoed through the cab’s speakers. It was the type of sound that warned I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “Piece of shit is definitely hunting. His search history shows he’s digging deep into ways someone might choose to make themselves disappear.”

And after years of abuse, that’s exactly what his wife, Alicia, had done. She’d packed up her daughter and disappeared.

Only she’d done it with the help of my crew, Sovereign Sanctum. Alicia and her daughter were currently staying at The Sanctuary, the motel I owned that we used as a cover for the women and children we helped start new lives.

Up to this point, our obscurity had been ironclad. Not one of those twisted fucks had ever found anyone that we kept protected, but I wasn’t about to get complacent.

“Think he knows she split, and their disappearance wasn’t due to nefarious circumstances,” Cash surmised.

“Only thing nefarious is that motherfucker.” It ground off my tongue as I focused out the windshield and took a sharp curve up the mountain, squinting as I tried to see through the blanket of white that clouded my vision.

Cash scoffed. “Such a good fucking guy out there in the media, pleading for the safe return of his wife and daughter.”

Fury clutched my chest, and I couldn’t stop what amounted to a growl that crawled up my throat.

Scumbag acting the victim after every atrocious act he’d inflicted.

Took everything I had not to go rogue and show up at the motherfucker’s house and put an end to his threat. Save Alicia and Lucy the fear that one day he might catch up to them.

But it wasn’t Sovereign Sanctum’s way.

Yeah, we protected—by any means necessary—and we’d put plenty of sick monsters six feet underground.

But violence only came as a last resort.

Too bad I was always itching to get violent.

“Don’t worry, brother,” Cash said. “Their tracks are buried. You know there’s no chance he’s going to find them. Just think as an extra precaution, we need to keep them sheltered at The Sanctuary for a bit longer before we get them to their new home. Gonna bring it to a vote at the meeting on Saturday, but I wanted to give you a heads-up on what I was thinking.”

Cash knew the way I got whenever I was sheltering someone at the motel.

Too fucking invested.

But I didn’t know how to be anything else.

Not after the sins I’d committed. Not after the way I’d ruined and destroyed.

This life was the only penance I had, and I planned on paying it completely.

“You know I have zero issue with that,” I grunted.

The longer they were at The Sanctuary, the longer I could guarantee they were safe.

“Figured as much.”

The powerful engine of my diesel truck roared as I maneuvered around a hard bend that cut through the deep, dense woods, the snowbank quickly gathering higher at the edge of the road.

With each second that passed, the terrain was becoming more and more treacherous.