Page 1 of One Forbidden Moment

Part One

Chapter 1

Moe

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Moe leaned low overthe motorcycle and opened the throttle.Speed was the onlycomforthecouldfeel.After the timeless days and nights in Everstill, this place vibrated under his skin and left him anxious.

He hadn't stopped running since the moment he burst through the veil behind Finn and Kallie.The real world hit him hard, overwhelming his senses.Everything was too bright, too loud, too fast.

Sirens chased him through unfamiliar streets, their shrill wail ricocheting off glass buildings and metal signs until he couldn't tell where the danger was coming from anymore.

He didn't know how long he'd been riding.It could've been minutes or hours.He could no longer judge time after living in Everstill.But he knew one thing with absolute certainty: Finn had left Everstill with a woman, who had opened the veil, and he slipped through the shadow seam before it could close.

So he clung to the only conclusion that mattered.

All he had to do was find a woman, so he could travel back and forth too.

Ahead of him, a woman stepped out of a brick building and headed toward the sidewalk.She was small, her attention on the strap of her bag instead of the motorcycle barreling down the street.Moe braked hard, the bike skidding toward her.Her gaze jerked up.Her eyes went wide, but she didn't scream.

He didn't give her the chance.

He reached out, grabbed her, and lifted her onto the motorcycle in front of him.She was light, easy to steady with one arm as he twisted the throttle with the other.The cops rounded the corner behind him.Two cars, lights flashing, sirens splitting the air.

Moe didn't look back.

He pressed forward, chest to her back, trapping her on the motorcycle as the bike surged beneath them.Wind tore past, the world blurring as he pushed harder, rode faster, needing distance, needing time, needing the veil.

Maybe he'd made a mistake leaving so soon.He knew less about this world than he did Everstill.

He had to get back.It was the only way he could find the time to figure out what the fuck was going on.And to get back there, he needed the girl.

He didn't know anything about her except that she was small enough that he could force her to go with him.

Moe didn't ease off the throttle until the last echo of sirens dissolved into the night behind them.The woman stayed rigid against his chest, fingers curled tightly around his forearms like she was afraid letting go would drop her straight into hell.Maybe it would.Fuck, he didn't know what was going to happen to him.

He'd taken a gamble on kidnapping her.Didn't know if she was the key to getting back into Everstill or if she'd end up another mistake he'd have to live with.

The city lights thinned, replaced by long stretches of dark road and houses spaced far enough apart that no one would hear a bike roll up unless they were listening for trouble.

He'd lived as an outlaw before arriving in Everstill.Used to taking what he needed, moving around before anyone could find him, he only had himself to rely on to stay alive.

Quick with a knife, he kept everyone away.The one time he failed, he'd lost his baby sister and her best friend.The murdering rapist who killed both of them got away.His mother died from a broken heart soon afterward.It took him two years to track the man down.He eliminated three people before he caught up to him.

He cut off the fucker's dick and tormented him until he bled out while he watched.

But it wasn't revenge that sent him to prison.He'd killed another man in a bar fight.Not intentionally.But back then, once he started fighting, he never stopped until the other person wasn't moving.

That stranger at the bar who had decided to get in his face stopped moving and then stopped breathing.

On his way to prison, the bus he was on stopped in the middle of the road.The guard and the driver left the vehicle and walked off into the trees.After a few minutes, Moe left the bus and started walking with his hands cuffed to the chain around his waist.

He couldn't remember how long he traveled, but he ended up in Everstill.It seemed so long ago and yet like yesterday.Time meant shit to him anymore.

The gas gauge hovered near empty.The engine's subtle tone changed, the way it always did when running on fumes.He scanned the roadside.Big yards.No lights.No cars in the driveways.People out here trusted locks, neighbors, and the idea that bad things only happened to other people.

He spotted a house with a detached garage and a wide gravel drive.There were no vehicles parked in the driveway.Perfect.