Wraith’s Betrayal (Pike Creek Riders MC #5)

1. Wraith

WRAITH

The Pike Creek Riders clubhouse hummed with Tuesday afternoon chaos—Phoenix arguing with Tank about last night's game, Viper bent over paperwork at the church table, the familiar soundtrack of brotherhood that had become my world five years ago.

I sat at the bar, laptop open, tracking shipment schedules that kept our legitimate transport business running smooth.

Normal Tuesday. Normal chaos. Normal everything until the door opened and my entire existence shifted.

She stood in the doorway like she'd materialized from some fever dream I'd never admitted having.

Curves that begged for hands—my hands specifically—dark hair tumbling past shoulders in waves that would look perfect spread across my pillow.

But those eyes nailed me to my barstool.

Brown with amber threads that somehow saw straight through me, past the Secretary patch, past the quiet computer guy reputation, right down to the parts of myself I kept locked away.

The room narrowed to just her. My pulse hammered so hard my vision blurred at the edges, Phoenix's voice fading to distant static. Just her and me and this pull that stretched across twenty feet of smoky air like an invisible wire.

Her lips parted, chest rising with a sharp breath. She recognized it too—this instant, insane connection. Like my soul had been waiting thirty-seven years to find its match and suddenly, on a random Tuesday in our shitty clubhouse, there she was.

My hands clenched on the laptop keyboard, already imagining touching her. Tracing those dangerous curves barely contained in jeans and a tank top that clung in ways that made my mouth go dry. Tangling in that hair while I discovered what sounds she'd make when I—

"Raven? What the hell are you doing here?"

Blade's voice shattered the moment like a sledgehammer through glass.

My brother—my best friend, my military brother who'd saved my ass in more bar fights than I could count—crossed the clubhouse in three strides, pulling the goddess into a hug that made my chest burn with something primitive and possessive.

No. No fucking way.

"Surprise," she said against his shoulder, but her gaze found mine over his back. That same pull tightened between us, now tinged with the copper taste of doom.

This was Blade's sister. The sister he'd mentioned exactly twice in five years, both times with protective fury that suggested anyone who looked at her wrong would end up in pieces.

"Thought you were in Denver." Blade pulled back, studying her with that suspicious big brother look.

"Lost my job. And my apartment. Long story." She shifted, unconsciously angling toward me even while talking to Blade. "Figured I'd visit my brother for a few days while I figure things out."

"Shit, Rave. Why didn't you call?"

"Because you would've gone all overprotective psycho and tried to fix everything."

Blade's expression said that was exactly what he would've done. "Come meet the guys. But remember what I told you—"

"Touch any of them and you'll remove body parts. Yeah, I remember your charming brotherly threats."

She had bite. Sass under all those dangerous curves. My laptop keys blurred as I tried focusing on anything except how her voice made my cock stir with interest I had no business feeling.

"Brothers," Blade called out, commanding immediate attention. "This is my sister, Raven."

The room went quiet. Phoenix actually dropped his pool cue. Tank's beer stopped halfway to his mouth. Even Viper looked up from his paperwork with raised eyebrows.

Because Blade Beckett having a sister was news. Having a sister who looked like temptation poured into denim was a fucking catastrophe.

"Raven, this is Viper, our president." Blade went through introductions while I sat frozen at the bar, praying he'd somehow forget I existed. "Phoenix, our enforcer. Tank, muscle with a brain occasionally. And that's Wraith, secretary and resident computer genius."

Her attention landed on me with physical weight. "Wraith?"

"Cooper." My voice came out rougher than intended. "Wraith Cooper."

"Raven Beckett." She moved closer, vanilla and jasmine invading the testosterone-soaked air. "Secretary? Interesting title for an MC."

"Someone has to keep these idiots organized." The words emerged steadier than my racing pulse suggested. "Track shipments, maintain legitimate paperwork, keep us out of federal prison."

"Smart." That single word carried appreciation that went straight to my cock. "Brain over brawn?"

"Wraith's got both," Phoenix interjected, apparently recovered from shock. "Former Army Intelligence. Scary smart and could kill you with his bare hands before you saw him coming."

"Probably true," I corrected automatically, then wanted to punch myself. Showing off like some prospect trying to impress.

Raven smiled—this slow, knowing thing that said she saw through my quiet act. "Dangerous and intelligent. Interesting combination."

"Alright, that's enough." Blade stepped between us. We'd been gravitating toward each other, the space shrinking without conscious thought. "Raven, let's get you settled at my place."

But first, he turned to address the room, expression shifting from protective brother to stone-cold killer.

"Let me make something crystal fucking clear." His voice carried the authority that had kept soldiers alive in Afghanistan. "This is my sister. My blood. She's off limits. Completely, absolutely, non-negotiably off limits."

He scanned the room, making eye contact with each brother. When he reached me, his gaze held longer, like he'd sensed something in those few seconds of conversation.

"I mean it. Any of you even THINK about touching her, looking at her wrong, having a single impure thought about her—I'll end you. Brother or not. I'll put you in the ground without hesitation and sleep like a baby after."

The threat landed with absolute truth. Blade didn't make empty promises. He'd killed for less in the war, would kill for family without blinking.

"Blade, Jesus," Raven protested, face flushing. "I'm twenty-eight, not sixteen."

"Don't care if you're fifty. These are my brothers, but they're also men. And men are fucking idiots around beautiful women."

She was beautiful. Devastating. The kind of beauty that made men do stupid things like betray their brothers, break sacred codes, throw away everything for just one night.

"Understood?" Blade's question snapped like a whip.

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room. I nodded, even as everything in me raged against it. Understood? I understood I was completely, irrevocably fucked. Because I'd looked at Raven Beckett for thirty seconds and already knew I'd never be able to not want her.

"Good." Blade's hand landed on Raven's lower back, guiding her toward the door. "Let's go. Tiffany's making dinner."

Raven glanced back at the doorway, our gazes locking one more time. That same recognition, that same terrible knowing that this thing between us was already beyond our control.

Then she was gone, leaving jasmine and vanilla lingering in air that suddenly felt too thick to breathe.

"Holy shit," Phoenix breathed once the door closed. "Blade has a sister."

"Blade has a hot sister," Tank corrected.

"Blade has a hot sister he'll murder us for noticing," Viper added, but his attention fixed on me. "You good, Wraith?"

No. I wasn't good. My cock strained against my jeans from a two-minute interaction with my best friend's sister. Already imagining her beneath me, already hearing how she'd sound when I made her come, already betraying every code that mattered.

"I'm fine." The lie tasted bitter.

But my brothers knew better. Phoenix studied me with those too-perceptive eyes. "You sure? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I had. The ghost of my future—one where I either walked away from the only woman who'd ever made my world tilt, or betrayed the only brother who'd ever truly had my back.

The thing was, Blade and I went deeper than just MC brotherhood.

We'd met in that shithole VA hospital in Billings, both trying to drink away different wars.

He'd been army too—different unit, different demons, same hollow look.

We'd gotten drunk, gotten in a fight with some assholes hassling a waitress, and ended up in county lockup together.

That's where Viper found us. Two broken soldiers looking for a purpose. The MC gave us that—brotherhood without the government's bullshit, violence with clearer rules. Blade had my back through my sister Emma's cancer, through the funeral, through the months after when I'd wanted to eat my gun.

And now I wanted his sister with an intensity that felt like drowning.

Three days. That's how long I lasted before everything went sideways.

Blade stormed into the clubhouse Thursday afternoon looking ready to commit murder.

I kept my head down, fingers flying over the keyboard, pretending I hadn't jerked off in the shower that morning thinking about Raven's curves, those soft thighs wrapped around my head, hadn't come harder than I had in years with her name on my lips.

"I'm losing my goddamn mind," he announced to the room.

"Tiffany finally realize what she signed up for?" Phoenix asked, not looking up from cleaning his piece.

"Tiffany's perfect." Defensive fury colored his tone.

"It's having Raven there too. Love my sister, but Christ, I just figured out how to live with one woman.

Now there's two of them, talking about feelings and shit, taking over my bathroom with their girl products.

Found some pink razor in my shower this morning.

Pink! And they were up until three AM laughing about something on their phones.

Three fucking AM! I haven't slept right since she showed up. "

He collapsed at the bar beside me, and I kept typing meaningless numbers into spreadsheets while my heart hammered.

"She needs her own place," Blade continued, rubbing his face. "But she's broke until she finds a job, and I'm not letting her stay in some sketchy apartment alone. Not after losing everything in Denver."

Warning bells clanged in my head. I knew where this was heading before he even turned to me.

"Wraith."

"No." The word escaped before I could stop it.

"You don't even know what I'm asking."

I did. Every cell in my body screamed both yes and no simultaneously.

"Your place is perfect," Blade pressed on. "You've got that spare room you never use. You work from home half the time so she wouldn't be alone. And you're the only brother I trust to keep your hands off her."

The irony burned my throat. He trusted me because I was quiet Wraith. Controlled Wraith. The brother who kept his head down and did the technical work while others threw punches.

He didn't know about the dreams that had haunted me for three nights. Didn't know how I'd imagined her spread across my sheets, back arching as I buried my face between her thighs, her fingers tangled in my hair while she rode my mouth.

"It's just temporary," Blade continued, desperation creeping into his voice.

"Week or two, max. Just until she finds a job and gets her feet under her.

Come on, brother. You pulled me out of that spiral after my mom died.

Let me do this for my sister. I'm drowning here, and Tiffany's starting to give me those looks like she's reconsidering this whole old lady thing. "

There it was. The guilt card. My best friend, my brother, the man who'd stood beside me at Emma's funeral when the cancer finally won. Who'd never asked for anything until now.

"Fine." The word scraped out like broken glass. "But just temporarily."

Relief flooded his features. "You're a lifesaver. I'll bring her by tonight with her stuff. Around seven?"

He clapped my shoulder and headed for the door, already pulling out his phone. Leaving me sitting at the bar, staring at my laptop screen, knowing I'd just agreed to the sweetest torture imaginable.

Living with Raven Beckett. The woman I'd wanted with an intensity that scared me from the moment our eyes met. The one woman in Pike Creek I could never, ever touch.

Viper appeared beside me, silent as always when he wanted to be. "That's a big favor Blade's asking."

"Yeah."

"You sure you're good with it? Having her in your space?"

"It's temporary." I kept my voice flat, neutral. "Couple weeks max."

"Right." Viper grabbed Blade's abandoned beer. "Just remember - Blade wasn't joking about what he'd do. Seen him lose his shit over less when it comes to family."

"I know what he said."

"Good." Viper stood, heading back to his presidential duties. "Would hate to lose my best tech guy over something stupid."

Interesting. That was one word for it.

Others might include: disastrous, impossible, forbidden.

Or the most accurate: inevitable.

Because I could lie to Blade, lie to my brothers, even lie to myself. But deep down, in that place where truth lived regardless of consequences, I knew what this was.

The beginning of my betrayal.