Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Prime
The west side of the island had always been quiet.
Too quiet sometimes.
Dense trees, thick brush, and stony cliffs that overlooked the lake. It wasn’t the part tourists ever saw. Hell, most of the club didn’t bother wandering this way unless we were doing a full sweep. It was rugged, steep, and uneven on a good day.
Today, the only sound I heard was the crunch of leaves under my boots.
Lost walked about ten feet ahead of me, near the cliff’s edge, his eyes scanning every inch like he was expecting the bastard to come crawling out of the rocks.
He didn’t talk much. Didn’t complain. Didn’t get distracted.
He just worked.
Exactly the guy you wanted with you when shit kept hitting the fan.
I walked slower, and my thoughts dragged behind me like a second shadow.
Shay.
I hadn’t expected last night to go the way it did.
Not because I didn’t want her. Hell, I’d known I was going to make a move eventually, but I had planned not to push her before she was ready.
Not after what she’d been through.
Not after the ex who’d hurt her.
If she wanted me, it needed to be on her terms. Her pace. Her choice.
And last night… yeah, that had been all her.
And I was damn glad for every second of it.
Just thinking about her waking up with her head on my chest that morning, her hair tangled, warm and soft, while smiling at me like she wasn’t scared of anything anymore, it did something to me I didn’t even have a name for.
This shit wasn’t supposed to happen now. Not in the middle of madness. Not with a killer crawling around the island. Not with Bernice gone and Shay’s entire life upended.
But it did.
She chose me.
And I wasn’t letting go.
“Son of a bitch!”
Lost’s voice cracked the quiet like a gunshot.
My head snapped up. “What is it?”
He was crouched near the cliff edge, staring down at something. He turned to look back at me, and I didn’t need him to say a single word.
I could read it in his eyes.
I jogged toward him and stopped behind him.
Then I saw it.
“What the fuck…” I breathed out and dropped into a crouch beside him.
It was a body.
Or what used to be one.
Now it was just bones, sun-bleached and cracked, with scraps of clothing that were so old they looked like they’d been sewn out of shadows. Nothing fresh. No smell. No flesh. Just a skeleton on its back like it had been dropped there by God himself.
“This isn’t new,” I muttered. “Had to have been dead for years.”
Lost nodded grimly.
I scanned the ground around it. No disturbed earth, no leaves covering it, no roots weaving through the ribs. None of the natural buildup came from time.
This thing hadn’t sat here for years.
It had been put here.
Recently.
Which meant whoever placed it knew exactly where we swept. Knew where the blind spots of the cameras were. Knew how to sneak past all of us.
The thought made my stomach twist.
“When’s the last time this area was searched?” I asked.
Lost ran a hand over his jaw. “Had to have been late last night. I think Piney was sweeping this side.”
“Get him on the fucking phone,” I growled.
Lost pulled out his phone and hit the call button. He put it on speaker.
Piney answered on the second ring. “Yo!”
“You actually search the west side of the island last night,” I spat, “or did you just take a fucking nap?”
“I searched it,” Piney snapped right back. “Walked every damn inch.”
“Then you must’ve seen the dead fucking skeleton about five feet from the cliff edge?”
Silence. A shocked, offended silence.
“There wasn’t a fucking skeleton out there,” Piney said louder. “The only thing out there was a fucking skunk I kicked up.”
I looked at Lost.
He shrugged. “I mean, maybe he missed it.”
“I didn’t miss shit,” Piney growled. “There was not a fucking skeleton when I swept. I swear on my bike, Prime.”
I ended the call.
Lost exhaled hard. “You believe him?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.” Which meant only one thing.
Lost nodded slowly. “Someone put this here.”
A cold wind blew across the cliff and rattled the brush around us. This was part of the game the killer was playing with us.
“Want me to call Doc?” Lost asked.
Doc wasn’t a skeleton expert, but he knew bodies better than anyone. If anyone could give us a timeline or any detail, it would be him.
“I don’t know what he’ll find,” I admitted. “But he’s the only one who might know how long this guy’s been dead.”
Lost nodded and stepped a few feet away to make the call.
I pulled my phone out and dialed Anchor.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Anchor,” I called.
“What’s wrong?” He knew the tone of my voice from one word. That was the thing about being with the club this long, we didn’t need many words to know when shit was sideways.
“We found a body,” I said.
A sharp breath. “Another one?”
“Not like the others.” I turned and eyed the skeleton. “This one’s old. Like… years old. All bone.”
“Jesus Christ,” Anchor muttered. “Where?”
“West cliff. Far side.”
“Who found it?”
“Lost. I’m with him now.”
“Anyone sweep that area last night?”
“Piney says he did.”
“Did he?”
“Yeah. I believe him.”
Anchor swore under his breath. “So someone moved it during the night between sweeps.”
“Looks like it.”
That meant the killer wasn’t just hiding.
He was watching, moving, planning, and taunting us.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Anchor muttered. “Leaving breadcrumbs now?”
“That or he’s losing it,” I said.
“We need info. Anything that ties this body to the others. Call Doc. And don’t move the skeleton until he gets there.”
“Lost is on the phone with him right now,” I said.
“Keep me updated.” He hung up.
I pocketed my phone and looked at what remained of a person who had once breathed, walked, and lived.
“What the hell does this mean?” I muttered.
Lost approached again. “Doc’s on his way.”
I nodded. “Good.”
I crouched again and stared at the skeleton.
What story did these bones tell?
The killer had moved on from leaving fresh bodies to digging up old ones. Why? Was he taunting us? Leaving clues? Warning us? Or was this connected to the past somehow? The part Shay was just starting to remember?
It didn’t look like some animal had dug the grave up. There was no dirt on the bones. No roots tangled in the limbs. No weathering matched the environment.
This wasn’t an accident.
This skeleton had been placed here perfectly. Intentionally waiting for us.
Lost blew out a breath. “Feels like he’s toying with us.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Feels like that to me, too.”
The wind shifted again.
The bones stayed still, silent and patient.
Like they were waiting for the next move in a game none of us had agreed to play.
And every part of me knew the killer had just escalated.