A.L. Jackson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

A.L. Jackson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.wownovels.com Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:11:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 http://www.wownovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png A.L. Jackson – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.wownovels.com 32 32 Forged in the Fire (Crimson Crows #1) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/forged-in-the-fire-crimson-crows-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:11:55 +0000 https://www.wownovels.com/forged-in-the-fire-crimson-crows-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Biker, Dark, MC, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Crimson Crows Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)

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It was a terrible idea to agree to protect my enemy’s sister…

The second she stepped out of her brother’s car, I knew she was a wildfire.
Spitting mad and so stunning she stole my breath.
She thinks her brother made a deal with the devil, and by working for me, she’s paying off his debt.

She doesn’t know the real reason she’s here.
Doesn’t know the danger that surrounds her.
Soon, she realizes there is something sinister lurking in the shadows.

She hates me for keeping her in the dark.
I want to hate her back, but with every sassy thing that fires from her mouth, she gets deeper under my skin.
With each heated glance, I feel myself losing control.
And when I crawl into bed with her, I combust.

I know better than thinking I can keep her. My life is nothing but secrets and peril.
But as outside threats begin to infiltrate, I’ll do anything to keep the oath I made to keep her safe.
Even expose her to the monster that I am…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

SILAS

It was a little before five when I stepped out from an open bay at Torque & Talon Autobody Shop, wiping my hands on an oil-stained rag.

My guts in fuckin’ knots as I let my attention travel over the gravel drive that led onto the property.

I squinted against the sunlight pouring from above. A thick, stagnant heat saturated the summer air and slicked my skin in sweat.

Or maybe it was just the irritation boiling inside me that made me feel like I was getting burned alive.

Trevan was already out there, leaning against the white exterior wall and sipping from a bottle of beer.

His own anxiety rolled from his burly frame as he eyed me from the side.

“You think this is a good idea?” he finally asked, hard voice cutting through the tension, verbalizing the same damned thing I’d been asking myself all day.

A heavy sigh pilfered from between my lips as I looked in his direction.

Dude was pure beast.

Dark brown hair and even darker eyes. A mountain of muscle that was covered in ink and oozing the type of ferocity required of my second in command.

He was also my oldest friend. With me from childhood. I trusted him more than anyone else.

I scoffed at my own expense. “Afraid it might be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made.”

Inviting more danger onto our property than we were already facing.

We’d packed our shit and left Moonlit Ridge to get my sister farther away from the bullshit I’d gotten us mixed in there, and we’d come here to Crimson Creek, a small town in Southern Oregon.

But it seemed no matter where I went, peril loved to hunt me down.

He took another swig of his beer, dark eyes narrowed back at me. “Then why are you making it?”

He was the only one with balls big enough to question me. More than that? He was the only one who’d earned the right to do it.

“He was intrinsic in saving my sister. I owe him the favor.”

Trevan chuckled a disbelieving sound. “Thought that favor was leaving him alive? Not that the bastard won’t end up dead, anyway.”

Air heaved from my lungs, and I sank back against the wall next to him as I dove frustrated fingers through my hair. “Have to believe there is some kind of good in him since he came to me and offered the information.”

“Or did he know he was a dead man otherwise?”

Uncertainty bound up my insides.

I considered myself a damned good judge of character. You didn’t live long with a life like mine if you weren’t.

But there was something about Dereck Webber that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Instinct told me he couldn’t fully be trusted.

“Don’t know. But the one thing I do know is that his sister is innocent of the whole thing.”

Trevan’s brows raised like he was questioning that, too. “You sure about that?”

“As far as I know, she doesn’t know a thing.”

Was clueless as to what her brother was really involved in.

“Only thing that matters is that this arrangement gets us what we need,” I insisted. “He’d never dish if he didn’t think he was getting something out of it.”

Incredulity heaved out of Trevan. “There are other ways to get information out of someone.”

“Can’t take the chance that he would remain tight-lipped before Phoenix killed him.”

Phoenix was the club’s sergeant at arms.

Amused agreement huffed from Trevan before he shook his head. “You’re breaking every fuckin’ one of your own rules, man. You know that, right?”

I scrubbed a palm over my face. “Yup.”

It didn’t matter, though. With one thought of my baby sister, Elena, I knew what I had to do.

Dereck Webber might have been a low-life scumbag piece of shit, but when he’d had the barrel of my gun shoved down his throat, his one concern had been his sister.

To me, that counted for something.

“As long as you don’t mind when I tell you ‘I told you so’,” Trevan goaded around another gulp of his beer.

“As long as you don’t mind when I kick your ass when you do it,” I tossed back.

“Would like to see you try.”

Fucker tried to hide his grin before he sobered. “Seriously, though. I get it. Just worried it’s gonna bring us trouble, and God knows we already have plenty of that.”

Nah, trouble wasn’t anything new to us.

Being a part of a brutal MC tended to do that to you, and you could be sure the Crimson Crows were no strangers to strife and turmoil.

Funny that motorcycle club acted as a front for what we really did. The minor crimes we let fly flagrant used as a distraction from the monsters we became under the shadows of the night.

But it was my one big fuckup that brought us here, and I’d do anything I had to in order to rectify it.

“We’ll handle it if it comes to that,” I told him. “We always do.”

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On the Brink of Bliss (Moonlit Ridge #5) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/on-the-brink-of-bliss-moonlit-ridge-5-read-online-a-l-jackson Sat, 28 Feb 2026 17:32:28 +0000 http://www.wownovels.com/on-the-brink-of-bliss-moonlit-ridge-5-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Dark, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Moonlit Ridge Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)

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A sizzling single mom, fake marriage, heroine in danger romance from New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author, A.L. Jackson

The last thing I expected when I found the trespasser bathing in my river was for it to be her…

Daisy Adair has always been my dream girl. From when we were best friends in high school to finding her now.
A gorgeous mother who shows up on my property with three kids in tow.
But I became a recluse for a reason.
The life I chose is full of wickedness and peril. The last thing I need is the object of my every fantasy invading my space and risking her life because of me.
Only when she tells me she’s on the run from her ex, I promise to do anything to keep them safe, even marry her to protect her kids.
That single kiss at the altar rips through every barrier, our passion unleashed.
Now, living under the same roof blurs the lines I’ve drawn.
Each glance of her down the hall and I am splintering.
Each brush of her hand and I am brought to my knees.
Our future—bright, hopeful, and almost within reach—hovers on the edge of becoming real…
Until we discover the threat surrounding her is grimmer than either of us imagined.
Now I’m fighting to save her and her children before our second chance at forever is burned to the ground…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

CASH

“Tell me she’s okay.” I could feel the rage coming off Silas as he spoke from the other end of the line.

“From my surveillance, the only thing I can say for certain is she’s alive, but the bastard won’t let anyone get close enough to her to know the state she’s in,” I gritted into my cell as I kept winding through the dense foliage that surrounded my property.

Rays of sunlight cut through the trees and blinded my eyes as I tromped across the land, the way I did every couple of days to make sure no assholes were treading into places they didn’t belong.

“I’ve got to get to her, man.” There was no missing the plea in his words. The fact that he was a second from flying out the door to get to her himself.

“I know, but you’ve got to hang tight and do this thing right. You’re only going to put her in more danger by going in there without a plan. That asshole has an army surrounding him.”

“Swear to fuck, I’m going to bleed him slow,” Silas hissed between clenched teeth.

“Dude is as good as dead.” I kept my voice hushed as I continued to stalk along the perimeter of my property, my dog Duke trotting along at my side, forever standing guard.

Forty acres of isolated bliss. Not a soul around for miles.

Exactly the way I wanted it.

Bliss.

What a fucking joke.

Because with the type of lives we led? There was no bliss.

There was only chaos and destruction. Blood and bodies and carnage.

The exact type of carnage Silas and I had every intention of inflicting as I gave him an update about what I found on his younger sister, Elena.

He’d come to me about a week ago after he hadn’t heard from her in a few days. Asked me to get into her phone history to find out what was happening since hacking my way into people’s lives was my specialty.

I discovered she’d gotten involved with Kent Ellison, a piece of shit drug dealer Silas and I used to have ties with back when we ran with the Iron Owls MC.

Asshole was a twisted fuck who didn’t mind a little torture to get his way.

He’d tried to wrangle Silas and his new motorcycle club he established, Crimson Crows, into running pills across the country for him. When Silas refused, Kent apparently thought he was going to get his way using his favorite tactic, and he somehow lured Elena in.

The texts I found between them had been lurid, Elena falling prey to his game.

Now, no one had heard from her in a week.

Problem was, Silas hadn’t gotten a word from Kent, either.

No demands or terms had been given.

Uncertainty rolled through my consciousness.

I had no clue what the fuck Kent was up to.

“Can’t believe she’d get involved with him on her own accord,” Silas rambled, clearly distraught but also contemplating the same questions I was asking myself.

“Have a meeting with my crew tonight. Gonna grab a team and get in there ourselves to see what’s going on. We’ll get her back.”

Sovereign Sanctum was the one good part of me remaining. Our secret society that got women and children in extreme danger to safety. Took them under our wing and gave them new lives. Identities I created with a few strokes of my fingers.

It was my job.

Hacking into the digital footprint that everyone left behind.

Keeping tabs on the monsters who roamed this world. Then manipulating their reality into anything I wanted it to be.

Right then, I was itching to use my hands in a whole different way. The hacking I ached to do involving much sharper objects than a keyboard and screen. The violence I forever thirsted to enact winding my nerves into disorder.

“You’d better make sure I’m a part of that plan,” Silas warned.

I wanted to tell him no. Insist he wasn’t thinking straight. The hate and worry would only drive him to make mistakes. I knew firsthand how that shit went down. I also knew well enough there’d be no chance of keeping him away.

“Let me figure out a plan with my brothers, then we’ll ride.”

He hesitated, then asked, “You sure you want to take this on?”

We both knew this was risky.

“Absolutely.”

My life was sacrifice. I did whatever was required to protect the vulnerable.

A complete offering to Sovereign Sanctum.

Silas and his MC were under that umbrella. Our accomplices in arms, though their goals varied a bit from ours.

It went deeper than that for me. The need to crush the demons that roamed. The fucking twisted thrill I got when I did. The violence that burned inside me close to unbearable until the moment it was unleashed.

He blew out a strained sigh. “Can’t thank you enough for doing this. I can’t let anything happen to her…”

Pain bled into the last.

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Walking in Darkness (Darkness #2) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/walking-in-darkness-darkness-2-read-online-a-l-jackson Sun, 07 Dec 2025 21:06:50 +0000 http://www.wownovels.com/walking-in-darkness-darkness-2-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Darkness Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)

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Torn between conflicting worlds—one light, one dark—two lovers plunge into the ultimate battle between good and evil in a thrilling romantasy by a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.

I was born to hunt the evils hiding in this world. To slay and destroy.

My purpose was never supposed to be her. My forbidden soulmate. Protecting her was meant to be temporary—I’d stay close until I was certain she was safe, and then I would walk away.

I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with her, and I sure as hell wasn’t supposed to take her to my bed. I’d heard my entire life that touching her would only bring us to our deaths.

Except that with my mere touch, power flows through Aria in a way it never has before, and it’s becoming clear that our gods lied to keep us separated and weak.

Together, our strength feels unstoppable. But the monsters hunting her are more sinister than we could have imagined—a threat that could end all humanity.

Will our newfound powers be enough to save us?

*Walking in Darkness is book two in the Darkness Duet. Please read the first book, Visions of Darkness, before enjoying this one

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

Aria

Fear blanketed Aria’s spirit as she tried to figure out where she was. Where she had been taken. Her surroundings felt completely foreign.

It was quiet there.

Small and enclosed.

Too still.

Even colder than Faydor, though a bright orb of light hung at the horizon.

A shape was in the distance.

A man standing, facing away with his hands clasped behind his back.

A blond man.

Her stomach plummeted when he slowly turned around.

His smile was both placating and malicious as he stared across at her as if she were nothing more than an artifact to be studied.

It was the man from the diner, who had at first appeared harmless, though something about him had set Aria off-kilter. Her anxiety surrounding him had only increased when she saw him again outside the fast-food restaurant. But she hadn’t understood that he was truly something wicked until she followed the little girl out to the pond. Aria had jumped in to try to save her and had quickly realized it was a trap, her spirit and mind tricked as the little girl’s face began to flicker between the man’s and the child’s in the frigid waters of the pond.

He sneered as he began to speak. “I’ve ended your kind for twenty generations. Did you really think I’d stop with you? No, Aria. You must die like the rest.”

She was frozen where she stood, staring at the man, who grinned malevolently in her direction. Her heart drove in a frantic beat as she tried to process what was happening. Where she was and how she’d been pulled into an unseen plane she hadn’t known existed.

How he was here.

He was . . . human. Aria had seen him in the flesh during the day.

Though she’d also seen him as part of the otherworld when the waters swallowed her in her sleep.

It was as if . . . he was both.

Human and ethereal.

Like her and the rest of her Laven family.

The ones who, when they fell asleep at night, woke in a different realm, chosen to fight the evils planted in human minds by the Kruen who roamed the bowels of Faydor.

She took a slow, faltering step backward, terrified that there might be no way to escape this place.

It felt both confined and eternal. The walls were made of rippling darkness that shivered and wept, though they kept her wholly bound.

She took another step backward, and her back hit the lapping barrier that held her prisoner in this unfound sphere.

She wanted to weep when the man took a menacing step toward her, though at least thirty feet still separated them.

Apparently, she’d been a fool to believe her danger had ended when she had extinguished the Ghorl, the most powerful of Kruen and almost impossible to defeat. It had taken hold of her father’s mind, using her family as bait to lure her back so she would find her demise.

But she’d been wrong. So wrong.

She could almost hear Pax shouting for her from the other plane. Could feel his panic as he searched for her within Faydor, where they’d been hunting.

“What do you want from me?” Tremulous words fell from her tongue.

The man laughed, a vicious sound that slipped through her like ice. “You are all so clueless, aren’t you? Cowards who hide away within the safety of their beloved Tearsith, then fall into Faydor as if you’re actually going to make a difference. As if you stand a chance of stopping me.”

He continued to approach, and Aria’s attention darted in every direction, searching for any possible escape. But the blackened walls billowed and danced on all sides. A fortress of depravity.

There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

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Beyond the Blue Horizon (Moonlit Ridge #4) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/beyond-the-blue-horizon-moonlit-ridge-4-read-online-a-l-jackson Sun, 12 Oct 2025 20:52:24 +0000 http://www.wownovels.com/beyond-the-blue-horizon-moonlit-ridge-4-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Dark, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Moonlit Ridge Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)

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I should have known I’d break the promise I made when I found her stranded in a blizzard…
Feisty as hell and the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.
With the cutest kid and her grandmother in tow, she’s completely off limits.
I don’t get involved with women like that.
I learned long ago I don’t have the ability to love.
My life is sordid and danger is always hiding in the shadows.
Only I can’t turn my back on them when I realize she’s in trouble, and I insist on them staying in a cabin at the motel I own.
As penance for my sins, I promised my life to protecting others.
Except she becomes so much more.
A need I don’t recognize. A desperation that burns beneath my flesh.
One kiss, and I’m falling for her.
One touch, and I’m at her feet.
But when my dark past comes back to haunt me, I’m in a race against time to save the only woman I’ve ever loved. Only it may be the demons that have been chasing her that destroy what we built

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

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.

“Sounds like a plan. Would guess the rest of our crew will be in agreement, but we’ll make it official on Saturday,” I told him.

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At the Edge of Surrender (Moonlit Ridge #3) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/at-the-edge-of-surrender-moonlit-ridge-3-read-online-a-l-jackson Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:08:11 +0000 http://www.wownovels.com/at-the-edge-of-surrender-moonlit-ridge-3-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Moonlit Ridge Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >157

A surprise single dad, small town romantic suspense…

I’m the last guy on the planet who should be a dad. My life is chaos. My sins written dark and deep.
So, imagine my surprise when my doorbell rings and I open it to find the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen standing on the other side.
And she’s holding the hand of a little girl who looks just like me.

Emery tells me her sister, the child’s mother, is dead.
I feel like dirt since she’s a woman I can hardly remember, and it’s no wonder Emery doesn’t trust that I’m worthy of caring for her niece.
But I can’t turn my back, and I insist on raising Maci.
So, we strike a deal—she’ll stay with me for one month to ensure the little girl is safe.

Emery tries to hate me for who I am, but neither of us can resist the attraction that blazes between us.
One brush of her hand, and she has me on my knees.
One kiss, and I’m falling fast.
Soon, we find ourselves tangled in my sheets.

But when it’s discovered her sister’s death wasn’t accidental, the secret life I’ve been living collides with the past Emery has tried to keep hidden.
And when the fiends come back to finish the job they started, I’m in a race against time to save the two people who I’ve come to love most

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

KANE

At close to midnight, Theo and I sat at one of the high-backed wooden booths at Twisted Moon Tavern.

A country song droned from the jukebox, and the dim lights hanging overhead cast lapping shadows over the hazy, dingy space.

Place was always fuckin’ quiet, which was why I preferred it whenever I wanted to have an actual conversation with my crew outside of our normal meeting place.

A conversation that had been coming for a long damned time.

Theo glanced around, making sure no one was in earshot as he leaned forward across the table. “You think we need to step in and intervene? Shake things up?”

Dude always looked like a coiled viper waiting to strike.

Black hair and even darker eyes. Arms and hands covered in tats. Tats that rolled up from the neckline of his black tee and fully wrapped around his throat.

In his case, appearances were not deceiving. The dude was fuckin’ deadly, just like the rest of us.

Taking a sip from my scotch, I warred with what to say, then I edged forward, my hand still wrapped around my tumbler as I rested it on the worn table.

“My gut tells me this extraction is going to be messy. I know River is still all in, but he’s got a family he needs to think about. We can’t sit here and pretend like the entire dynamic of our crew hasn’t shifted.”

River getting with Charleigh, and now Otto and Raven coming together.

The whole reason the rule had been made that we couldn’t get attached in the first place was because this shit was dangerous.

Fucking peril coming at us from every direction.

It wasn’t like I resented my brothers for going against one of our creeds.

It was just time we admitted it changed things. That the pact we’d made all those years ago no longer stood.

Rocking back in the booth, Theo canted his head to the side. “So what? You think it’s time to take a step back?”

My attention darted to the tattoo on the back of my left hand. It was the one that had two Ss sitting on top of each other. A dagger ran through them, top to bottom, and an eye was stamped in the middle.

It was identical to the one every member of Sovereign Sanctum had in the same spot, though mine had a wilting rose on top.

My chest clutched at the sight of it, at the mark I’d made of my greatest failure, and I squeezed that hand into a fist as I lifted my attention back to Theo. “Not a fuckin’ chance. Just think it’s time we switched things up. Stand in where we haven’t before.”

Each of us had our roles within our secret society. River’s was the one that normally put him in the line of fire. Dragged him down into the darkest pits of depravity.

But it wasn’t like every single one of us didn’t have blood on our hands.

Tainted in it from the beginning, even though the rest of my crew didn’t have a clue about my extracurricular activities. The lengths I went. The kind of shit I would never ask them to get involved in.

Something I had full intention of enacting next week considering some info I’d picked up about some scum working out of San Diego.

Awareness of what I was suggesting dawned on the blunt edges of Theo’s face. “You want to go instead.”

He didn’t even phrase it a question.

“Haven’t gotten dirty in a while.”

Okay, that was a blatant lie, but some things were better left in the dark.

“Seems only fair that I go up to bat.” I tacked a smirk onto it.

Theo chuckled a rough sound. “Oh, brother, think you’re plenty dirty.”

He jutted his chin out toward the murky film of Twisted Moon Tavern.

My latest acquisition.

Other than this one, I owned two other bars in this small town of Moonlit Ridge, plus the club dubbed in my namesake.

All of them were nothing but a cover.

Another avenue for running Sanctum’s money through.

It wasn’t like this dive was actually going to have any sort of profitability.

I let my gaze slide out to take in the place.

A handful of old guys were at the bar, drowning their miseries, basically permanent fixtures.

A younger group of four guys were standing around at the end of it. They were barely old enough to be in this bar and were nearing the point that they needed to be cut off.

Getting rowdy and obnoxious. Starting to fumble around as their voices grew in time.

Two booths on the opposite side of Theo and I were taken, one by two women who’d been there chatting for the last hour, and another with two middle-aged couples.

But it was the one woman sitting by herself at a high-topped round table near the front who snagged my attention.

She’d been there since I’d gotten here. Her back had remained turned toward me the entire time. An elbow on the table with her head downturned and concealed as she nursed the same drink she’d been sipping all night.

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Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge #2) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/under-an-endless-moon-moonlit-ridge-2-read-online-a-l-jackson Sun, 02 Mar 2025 13:36:40 +0000 http://www.wownovels.com/under-an-endless-moon-moonlit-ridge-2-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Forbidden, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Moonlit Ridge Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)

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I should have known I’d break the oath I made when I offered to let my best friend’s little sister move in with me…
She’s the sweetest woman on the face of the planet.
And to my great misfortune, the sexiest one, too.
She’s been living under her brother’s roof her entire life, and she’s ready to spread her wings.
And I’m the masochist who offers she stay at my place until she can find an apartment.
When I hear her having a nightmare, the only thing I can do is go to her. Hold her so she knows she’s safe from her demons.
The second she’s in my arms, the attraction I’ve tried to hide sparks to life. I know better than to push past the boundaries I’ve set for us, but when she begs me to touch her in a way she’s never been touched, I can’t resist.
And with my name on her lips as I send her soaring for the first time, I know there’s no going back.
I’m willing to break every rule and oath I’ve ever made to keep her.
Accept every consequence.
Only she and I have a dark, dangerous history that no one knows about.
And I’m afraid the consequences of loving her have just caught up to us…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

OTTO

“This one should be easy,” River said, though it sounded almost like a question as he glanced around at our crew.

We were down in the hidden basement at Kane’s, which was the most popular club in our small town of Moonlit Ridge.

The heavy thud of music seeped through the cracks, vibrating the ceiling and walls.

Down here where we were secreted away, the small space was dim and dingy, the single bulb that hung from the ceiling the only light in the room.

Five of us sat around the big circular table beneath it. My attention bounced around at every member of Sovereign Sanctum:

River, our leader.

Kane, our money launderer.

Theo, the protector.

Cash, our hacker.

Then there was me, the deliverer.

Tension was always tight whenever we met like this. You’d think that after doing this for close to ten years and the lives we led, it would have abated by now. But no, I could taste the apprehension that would forever leak from our spirits.

“No. I don’t foresee any problems,” I told him. “Everything is set.”

River shifted his attention to Theo. “You’re sure they’re ready for transport?”

He kept his voice low like someone was going to overhear when we were buried thirty feet below.

Angie and her two sons had been hidden away at The Sanctuary for two months. It was the motel Theo owned and ran, a cover since we used it as a transition house. A temporary place to shelter those who we were helping to give new lives while we figured out their permanent accommodations.

Theo gave a tight nod as he roughed a tatted hand through his shock of black hair.

“Yeah. Angie is still skittish, but I’m not sure that’s going to change any time soon,” he said.

“She’s been through it,” Kane agreed.

River turned his dark gaze to me. “Then it’s a go for you. Are you ready?”

Every one of us had a specific job. A task in our organization. Mine was to get them to their new homes. The one who was there when they went on their own.

I gave my crew a giant grin, playing light the way I did. “Always ready for it.”

Kane laughed with a shake of his head. Dude was covered in tats like the rest of us. But he still somehow came off a little more polished.

“You always take it on like you’re running a game,” he tossed at me.

“Only way to live life, isn’t it?” Especially when we never knew when it was going to come to an end. Had never had the illusion that I was going to make it to be an old man.

Might as well live fast and hard and to the extreme while I had the chance. Use up every second that I was given. I could almost feel the end coming up fast. A roil of hatred burned through me when I thought of what I’d discovered. Finally picking up the scent of the motherfuckers I’d been hunting for the last seven years.

I glanced at my left hand where two stacked Ss were tattooed with an eye in the middle of them. A broken, mangled heart sat atop the dagger that ran it through. I flexed my hand, trying to quell the rage, to tamp it down and save it for when I could use it.

Vengeance was coming and it was coming soon.

I forced myself back into my typical casualness when River grunted at me. My best friend was nothing but a grumpy asshole, though he’d softened a bit since his girl, Charleigh, had come into his life.

“Want you to be careful,” he warned.

I rocked my massive frame back in the wooden chair. “When have I not been careful?”

Kane scoffed a mocking sound. “Says the guy who runs straight into danger like he’s looking for it.”

I shrugged with a smirk. “When duty calls.”

Everyone else was grinning, too.

All except for Cash who basically glared at me from across the table. Dude never said much, anyway, so it wasn’t like it set off any alarm bells for the rest of the crew, but I knew exactly what he was thinking.

I beat down the rash of unease and instead glanced around at the rest. “Are we good, then? This boy is ready to get back upstairs and have a little bit of fun.”

Theo chuckled. “Not sure a little bit is in your vocabulary.”

“He’s going to have to play it cool tonight. He has a big job ahead of him tomorrow night,” River said like he was my mother telling me not to stay up too late because I had a test in the morning.

“I’ll be sure to be in bed by midnight, Mommy,” I razzed.

It was already twelve-thirty, but what the hell ever.

His annoyance couldn’t blot out the amusement, but then he was sobering as he said, “Be safe, brother.”

My head dipped, and I tried to beat back the guilt that wanted to surface. “Always.”

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Visions of Darkness (Darkness #1) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/visions-of-darkness-darkness-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:14:58 +0000 https://www.wownovels.com/visions-of-darkness-darkness-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Forbidden, Paranormal, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Darkness Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >120

Destined to be together, forbidden to love, two lost souls fight evil in an everyday world that belongs to the night. A dark romantasy by a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.

Aria Rialta is a girl of two realities. One she was born to. The other she was chosen for. Both are a threat.

Every night when Aria falls asleep, she enters the nightmare world of Faydor to fight a war. It’s her calling to help destroy the Kruen, who feed sin and chaos to our everyday world of vulnerable humans. It would be a lonely realm in which to do battle if not for Pax, Aria’s dangerously irresistible soulmate whose mere touch can kill. It’s also a realm that’s getting harder to escape.

Aria’s hallucinations are seeping into her waking world. And the Kruen are coming for her. To help Aria, Pax must do what no one in Faydor has dared to do before—join his soulmate in the light of day. Giving in to their forbidden attraction could be the death of them, but they might not be able to stop themselves as they embark on a cross-country journey to fight the evils hunting them.

As their desire grows, so do Aria’s untapped powers, and a menacing new force far darker than the Kruen.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

“Gather around, children.”

They stilled where they had chased each other on the lush grasses beneath the soaring tree at the edge of the meadow, and the boy with the palest gray eyes took the little girl’s hand. She held on tight as he led her to where Ellis waited near the stream that wove through the sanctuary. It was the sanctuary she came to each night when she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The head of their family, their teacher and guide, stood before them. His face was weathered and aged, though his eyes were tender as he watched over them where they came to sit at his feet.

A breeze whispered through, the perfect temperature caressing their cheeks as Ellis moved forward and tapped his fingertips over each of their foreheads. His voice was low when he spoke. “Open your ears and your hearts, little children. Remember, you are a Laven. A gift given by Valeen. The Eternal One. You have been chosen for this calling. One that you soon will learn is both a blessing and a curse.”

The little girl closed her eyes as she listened to the same words Ellis instructed each night, trying to take them deep into her heart.

“As a Laven, each of you have a Nol . . . ,” he drew out on a soft breath.

She couldn’t help but peek to the side at the boy who was hers.

“They are the one your soul picks to stand by your side. By yourself, you are strong, but together, you are a force that can overcome the wicked ones, the Kruen who rule over Faydor.”

Her stomach twisted as she thought of the Kruen she had yet to see. She was not permitted until she reached sixteen, the age of maturity for a Laven, and she sat still, her attention rapt on his words as she prepared for what was to come.

“Kruen are darkness manifested in spirit form to whisper all sins and calamities into the world, the offspring of Kreed, the malevolent, the one who betrayed our Valeen. You, my children, will one day have to bear the weight of their evils.”

The boy tightened his hold on her hand the way he always did, his promise that when the time came, they would go through it together.

“Remember, you are unlike others,” Ellis continued. “It will be a life of pain. One of burden and sacrifice. But take heart, young ones. You are Laven. Called to this fight for the good of man. Until then, rest here in paradise and know you are special. You are the chosen.”

Chapter One

Aria

Darkness spread over the barren wasteland. A bare glow at the edge of Faydor was the only light to guide her way as she tracked over the hard, frozen ground. Her breaths were salient as she panted around the frigid air that filled her lungs, and blood crashed through her veins as she searched through the eternal night.

Her and Pax’s footsteps pounded in her ears as they ran headlong through the heavy vapor that snaked over the lifeless ground and curled around the wiry, leafless elms.

Lightning cracked across the low-hung canopy, a streak of sin and perversion.

Hisses of iniquity filled their ears, the whispers of the Kruen casting their evils into any willing mind.

She and Pax tracked one, refusing to allow its escape.

“Do not slow,” Pax urged as he tugged at her hand, encouraging her to push harder as they ran over the barren terrain, through the vapors and mist that whispered of evil.

Voices intoned the unthinkable, and the sound of wickedness and atrocities cut through her spirit like blades.

Chasing the dark shadow that fled, she refused the exhaustion and drove herself into the fog that sought to suffocate. It wisped around the jagged rocks and streaked through the desolation.

She and Pax closed in on the vapid shadow that writhed and thrashed.

The Kruen started to take new shape, morphing from smoke and manifesting as whole as it reared up to stare back at them, exposing the horror of its features.

Its face was pitted and gnarled by the atrocities of its mind.

Its skin was charred and black, its body made of a thousand spindly limbs.

Red fury sped beneath its seared flesh, a visible evil that coursed through its veins.

She wanted to weep when she saw its thoughts.

She reached inside herself for the power she’d been given, harnessed it until it was a vibrating orb of intensity she could no longer contain, then projected the light outward.

Desperately trying to bind the Kruen.

To stop it.

To end it.

The energy blew from her in a barrage of white rays.

As it felt the powerful energy cut through the darkness, the Kruen split in two, and in two parts, the thick shadow slipped low to blend with the dense fog that curled and spilled out over the pitted, rocky ground. The fog shifted and roiled, boiling where the shadow wound a billowing path as it fled. It was quick to come back together as it sought sanctuary deeper in the recesses of Faydor.

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From Here to Eternity (Moonlit Ridge #1) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/from-here-to-eternity-moonlit-ridge-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:04:36 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/from-here-to-eternity-moonlit-ridge-1-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Biker, Dark, MC, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Moonlit Ridge Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >135

I should have known everything was going to change when she walked into my tattoo shop...
Timid as hell and gorgeous to the extreme. I knew better than even thinking about touching a woman like that.
My life is dangerous.
My calling wicked.
Willing to cross any line to protect the innocent.
I thought I’d never see her again until my little boy tumbled and busted his lip, and I found her working at the doctor’s office.
The woman who’d taken possession of my thoughts.
When it becomes clear she’s in trouble, I offer up a deal.
Twenty questions to earn her trust.
Too bad trusting me is the last thing she should do.
With one kiss, I’m addicted. With one night, we’re falling into a passion greater than either of us has ever known.
The voices in my head warn I can never keep her. She can’t know the secret life I lead.
Only she’s keeping a secret, too.
And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it means losing everything…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

ONE

RIVER

The sound of the tattoo machine whirred in my shop. The day had long since set, and darkness closed in at the windows. The light in my station shined bright, illuminating the enclosed area as I worked a fucking immaculate piece onto my client’s shoulder.

It was close to ten, but I tended to make my appointments late when it was quiet out and there were fewer people loitering around.

I leaned in close and concentrated on getting the shading just right. It just so happened my client was also one of my oldest friends, Trent Lawson. He was on his fourth session where we were working on covering an old skull with a portrait of his wife.

“Piece is going to be fuckin’ sweet,” I told him as I paused for a second to wipe up the excess ink and blood seeping from the design.

He tossed me an arrogant grin from where he sat in my chair. “That’s because my Eden is fuckin’ sweet. Couldn’t turn out any other way…” He arched a flippant brow. “Unless your ass jacks up her pretty face.”

A rough chuckle skated out of me as I leaned back in and started sweeping the needle across his skin. “Think you wouldn’t be sitting in my chair if you thought there was a chance of that.” I’d been tattooing Trent for years. Since all the way back when we were both running the streets of LA.

Dude was covered now, head to toe, and almost every tattoo on his body was compliments of me.

He was a few years older than me, and me and a couple of my crew had ridden with his MC back in the day.

He’d saved my ass a time or two, same as I’d saved his. It was the way of that life, and I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t owe him mine, and he was one of the few I trusted with it.

He was also one of the few outside my inner circle who knew the true details about who I and my crew had become. What we did.

My shop, River of Ink, was little more than a cover for it, even though I had a two-year waitlist for someone to get the chance to sit in my chair.

I loved my work and took pride in the fact people came from all around the world for a chance to get inked by me. Tattooing was my peace. The only time when my mind would drift and some of the anxiety that knotted my guts would drain away. When the ghosts didn’t scream so loud.

Somehow, the constant flow of the needle bringing art to life gave me a moment of reprieve.

Completely unearned considering I deserved none of that.

Peace.

Not when I was a purveyor of destruction. An agent of ruin.

Sometimes I wondered what kind of person it made me that I didn’t feel an ounce of shame over the blood on my hands. My soul tainted and my heart stained.

When I’d confided in Trent what was going down, he’d encouraged us to make our way up here to Northern California where we could live low. Hide out and fly under the radar.

Moonlit Ridge was a small town about an hour outside of Redemption Hills where Trent and his family lived.

Angling my head, I focused on a deeper pass as I worked to get a lock of her hair just right.

Eden was a fucking knockout and a sweetheart to boot. Didn’t blame him a bit for immortalizing her on his skin.

Trent winced.

“You goin’ soft on me?” I razzed.

Ridiculous since the guy was intimidating as fuck. There wasn’t a goddamn thing soft about him.

He grunted. “You fuckin’ wish, man. Think you’re just getting a little aggressive with that heavy hand.”

Amusement had me shaking my head.

“Don’t know, brother…you are getting old.”

He grunted again. “As long as I’m doing it with Eden, Gage, and Kate at my side, then you won’t find me complaining.”

“Have to admit, family life looks good on you,” I said, meaning it. Dude had been nothing but a beast before he’d met his wife.

Air huffed from his nose. “Blows my mind every day that I got lucky enough to call them that, so you can bet your ass I’ll never squander it.”

He hesitated before his tone shifted. “What about you? How are you guys…handling things?”

Unease rippled through my consciousness. Made me fuckin’ itchy when it was brought up in a setting like this, but Trent would always have my back, dude more like family than anything else.

Betrayal wasn’t in his vocabulary.

“Otto is delivering a package as we speak,” I told him.

There were five in my crew. Years ago, we’d become brothers, even though we didn’t have the same blood running through our veins.

The five of us had made a pact. We lived on that pact, and we’d die on it, too. Each of us with different responsibilities although the mission was the same.

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Hold Me Until Morning (Time River #4) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/hold-me-until-morning-time-river-4-read-online-a-l-jackson Wed, 07 Aug 2024 09:50:18 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/hold-me-until-morning-time-river-4-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Time River Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >146

I should have known I’d be playing with fire when I found the sexy as hell woman moving in next door...

It was pouring rain, so I figured the neighborly thing to do would be to lend a hand.

I nearly dropped to my knees when I realized who she was.

Hailey Wagner.

It’s been six years since I’ve seen her, and she’s always been the one person on earth who is off-limits.

My past sins I’ve kept like an ugly secret made sure of that.

Too bad this single mom with soulful eyes still makes my pulse speed the way it did back then, and I soon find our chemistry is just as strong.

When I find her ex threatening her, I insist on staying with Hailey and her little girl until I’m sure they’re safe.

I thought I could handle being under her roof. Only the tension between us strains, and with one forbidden kiss, all restraint is lost. We collide in a lightning bolt of greed, the two of us locked behind her door night after night.

Falling so hard I know there will be no coming back from it.

But being with Hailey exposes the past I’ve been trying to hide, and I’ll do anything to protect her from it. Because if I don’t? We’re both going to pay the consequences…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

My eyes devoured the outline of his perfect shape.

His big body roiled in sharp restraint and caused a constant wave of strength that battered against me.

He held onto the steering wheel like it might be the one thing that kept him contained.

The only thing grounding him when the world had floated away from us.

Each thirsting for what we knew better than to chase, but right then, after everything that had happened tonight, all rationale ceased to exist.

“You need to stop looking at me like that,” he warned in a rough, low voice.

“I don’t think I can stop.” There I went—a fool who was begging for it.

Heartbreak.

Every muscle in his body flexed, a bristle of repression and a rush of greed. “I’m not sure I can give you what you need.”

“You told me last night you knew exactly what I needed.”

His tongue stroked out over his lips, and that energy swelled.

Need rose up from the depths to consume.

My thighs pressed together, and his gaze dropped to the action. I squirmed beneath the weight. Beneath the potency that lured me in his direction.

“That’s right. You need to come.” His words were harsh. A rough scrape of seduction.

“Just once. Tonight.”

I thought I could handle it, but I should have known my love for him would grow and he’d become my world.

And him loving me?

It was going to cost everything.

ONE

CODY

It was just before six when I took the left into my neighborhood. Rain was pouring down, a deluge from the sky. It was a summer storm that had built for the better part of the afternoon, the clouds gathering high and thick, before it’d finally unleashed its fury just as the sun had begun its descent toward the horizon.

I fucking loved storms.

Loved the energy.

Loved the blinding flash of lightning before the crack of thunder followed.

Loved the way the earth smelled afterward, like it was promising something brand new.

Though I personally preferred watching it with my boots kicked up on the railing of my porch while I tossed back a couple beers rather than to be standing in the middle of it.

So, I was grumbling out a disbelieving, “Shit,” when my headlights cut across the U-Haul that sat in the driveway of the house next to mine.

It was parked facing out, and it wouldn’t have caused such a stir except for the fact I caught sight of a woman running out of the house and down the sidewalk before she disappeared into the back of the U-Haul.

Racing through the driving rain with her head angled toward the ground like it offered her any hope of not getting drenched.

The place had been empty and posted for rent for the last month, and I’d heard it on good word from the neighborhood gossip that it’d been rented. Never once in the last week had Millie failed to come around to speculate about who might be moving in.

Poor old lady was always sure it was bound to be a serial killer.

It appeared I was about to find out, and not under the best of circumstances.

But hell, it seemed a prick move to pull into my garage and act like I hadn’t noticed someone was trying to move their shit in during a storm, which in my humble opinion was a bit on the reckless side.

Like it was offering proof, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky before a crack of thunder followed, and I was huffing again as I pulled into my garage, killed the engine, and climbed out.

I hesitated for only a second before I ducked out into the pelting rain.

A torrent pounding from above.

In an instant, my hair and tee were soaked, the pummeling only getting worse and spreading to my jeans as I jogged across the lawn that separated the two houses.

I rounded to the back of the U-Haul to the trailer and found the ramp was extended out and the rolling door was open. The minimal light that still remained cast a faint glow into the trailer.

Boxes were stacked on furniture, and the woman I’d seen come darting out had her back to me, frantically rifling through the boxes.

She wore shorts and a crop top as she bent over to hunt for whatever she was searching for. The action emphasized thick, lush thighs and the most delicious ass I’d ever seen.

My dick kicked, and my stomach gripped in a fit of lust.

Fuck me.

My new neighbor was perfection.

It was no secret that I loved women. Loved to touch and tease and fuck. But this smack of greed hit me like nothing I’d ever experienced.

I sucked the reaction down because I didn’t know a single thing about this woman.

Hell, she could be married for all I knew, and ogling someone else’s wife was not my thing. Though if the douche was sitting inside as she was out here in the rain? He and I were not going to be friends.

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Claim Me Forever (Time River #3) Read Online A.L. Jackson http://www.wownovels.com/claim-me-forever-time-river-3-read-online-a-l-jackson Sun, 03 Mar 2024 19:19:08 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/claim-me-forever-time-river-3-read-online-a-l-jackson Genre: Alpha Male, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Suspense Authors: A.L. Jackson Series: Time River Series by A.L. Jackson
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Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 146034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 730(@200wpm)___ 584(@250wpm)___ 487(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >150

A single dad sheriff doing his best to protect his town. A gorgeous stranger caught trespassing. A love never expected…

So, it turns out the town sheriff is a total cinnamon roll. A big, burly, grumpy, hot as sin, cinnamon roll. He found me hiding out on private property. Trespassing. I lied and told him I was only there because I was out of cash and had to sleep in my car.

I thought he’d give me a ticket and send me on my way.

Instead, he insisted that I stay at his guest house—right next door to him and his three kids.

I know better than to let them get close. I’ve been betrayed too many times to put my trust in anyone.

Too bad the air crackles every time he comes near, and I feel like I’m going to burn up every time I look at him.

All it takes is one reckless night to completely spiral into the bliss of the man and his big, capable hands. One dinner with his little family to completely fall.

Only I never told him why I really came to Time River. Now I have to choose to trust him with my secret before it’s too late for both of us…

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

He stared at me from where he stood two feet away. I could almost see the intensity he’d watched me with since the first time we’d met break free and become something palpable.

Become something alive and real.

How, when we were little more than strangers? I fought for the walls that I’d kept like a fortress for my entire life.

“Why, Ezra? Why? You don’t know me or owe me or care for me—”

“Bullshit.” He moved so fast that I didn’t even realize what had happened before he had my back pressed to the counter and his hand in my hair.

“Bullshit.” He whispered it that time, so quiet, but it still boomed between us.

“I might not know all the details about you, but there’s something about you that I recognize here.” He gathered up my hand and pressed my palm flat to the ravaging at his chest. “Something I feel. Something I know. And the problem is, I care too fucking much.”

My chin quivered as I gazed up at his rugged, masculine face, the atmosphere shifting, greed infiltrating the space.

He grasped me by the back of the neck.

My lips parted and the air trembled around us.

His attention dipped to my mouth before it flicked back up. The honey of his eyes had turned molten.

“Tell me not to kiss you.” His words were a gnarl of desperation. Issued in a bid of restraint neither of us seemed able to possess.

My fingers curled into his shirt.

I wavered.

A second.

An eternity.

I knew better than giving in. Knew better than trusting anyone when trusting had only caused me a lifetime of pain.

Still, I whispered, “I don’t want to.”

Knowing I was the fool who would only bring danger to his door…

ONE

EZRA

It was the pitch of night as I slowly eased my SUV up the path carved out by tires that cut through the field. High grasses rose on each side, scratching against the metal as I passed over the bumpy terrain. I peered out my windshield through the spray of headlights as I eased deeper into the field, searching for anything that might be amiss.

Mr. Landers had called into the station two nights ago saying he kept seeing lights coming on up this way on his property at all times of the night, but considering the old buzzard was continually paranoid someone was trying to steal from him, sending my deputies on constant goose chases that led to absolutely nothing, I hadn’t given it much thought.

He’d called in again an hour ago, though, and since I was patrolling out this direction, I figured I’d swing by to give it a look. The least I could do was offer the man some peace of mind, though I doubted he’d ever find much of that.

My Tahoe bounced over the uneven ground as I followed the path that led to a small copse of soaring trees that surrounded a small pond on the Landers’ property. The only reason I knew it was there was because we used to sneak out here as teens and use it as party grounds, which I was pretty sure was where the poor guy had gotten his phobia from.

I came up around a bend, and my headlights caught on something up ahead—a flare of light against metal and chrome.

Well shit, there was something out here after all.

A car that sat with the front facing out where it was backed into the cover of the bushes and trees.

My nerves ticked a fraction, and I reached for my radio and pressed the button to speak to my dispatcher. “Hey, Pamela, it looks like we might have an actual trespasser out here on Landers’ land near the pond. Newer model Ford sedan. Red. I’m going to check it out.”

“You mean he wasn’t calling in another false alarm?” Her voice was a tease.

“There is a first for everything,” I told her with a chuckle, though I didn’t let my attention wander from the vehicle in front of me for a second.

Vigilant.

You could never be too sure about what you were coming up against in this line of work, even though in all likelihood, I was about to get myself an eyeful of two people sneaking off so they could go at it, thinking they were hidden away and wouldn’t be discovered.

It would be the most action I’d had in years.

I would have laughed if it wasn’t so goddamned painful.

Before Pamela could respond, Samson’s voice broke through the shared line. “Do you need backup, boss? Things are quiet on Manchester. Bored as all hell over here, man.”

Samson was my only other deputy on tonight, and he was patrolling downtown Time River. I didn’t usually work nights, but I was covering for another deputy who’d had a family event she’d wanted to attend.

“What, you think you’re on the job for your entertainment?” I let the razzing wind into the question.

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