MAKE ME BURN

RICH DEMONS OF DARKWOOD 4

C.R. JANE

MAY DAWSON

CONTENTS

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Rich Demons of Darkwood Series

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Make Me Queen

The Delilah Recipe

Author’s Note

Chapter 1

Forbidden Honor

Chapter 1

Books by C.R. Jane

Books By May Dawson

About C.R. Jane

About May Dawson

Make Me Burn Copyright © 2022 by C. R. Jane and May Dawson

Photograph: Michelle Lancaster www.michellelancaster.com

Cover by Eve Graphic Design

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Proof: Jasmine Jordan

For everyone who fights to find their peace.

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So Am I

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RICH DEMONS OF DARKWOOD SERIES

FROM C.R. JANE AND MAY DAWSON

Make Me Lie

Make Me Beg

Make Me Wild

Make Me Burn

Make Me Queen

This is a college bully reverse harem series which means the main character will end up with multiple love interests. It may have triggers for some as this is a dark romance with scenes of intense bullying, murder and mayhem, and sexual scenes.

MAKE ME BURN

One night changes everything

One fight gone viral can win Paxton a million dollars, endorsements, UFC recruiting.

And another video gone viral could cost him it all.

Because now a stalker is sending him videos from the night his mother was killed.

Pax thought he’d killed her murderer. He thought he could move on.

But now dark secrets are revealing that not all is as it seems…secrets that could challenge everything my men know about each other.

One that could destroy their bonds.

Right when I need all four of my men to defeat the nightmares of my past.

Because my father—the world's most famous and terrifying serial killer—is hunting me.

PROLOGUE

DELILAH

I  always savored the first fifteen minutes after school, when all the kids who walked home lingered on the playground. It was my last year in elementary school and I was glad I had one more year at a school with a playground—especially swings.

I was swinging with my friend Tara when she asked, “Is that your father?”

I pumped my legs, and at the top of the swing’s arc, I saw my father coming up the sidewalk. His black hair was combed back from his high forehead, and his face was handsome, especially when he was wearing a blue suit like he was today.

“Yes,” I said with a smile, unable to contain my pride.

“You’re so old, you don’t need a parent to walk you home,” she pointed out.

“I don’t. He just likes to come with me.” I couldn’t tell her, but Dad was always paranoid that something terrible would happen to me, that someone might take me. He said he’d searched so long to find me, he couldn’t stand taking any risks.

“I wonder what kind of presents he has for you today,” she said sulkily. “I was talking to my dad, and he said you’re spoiled.”

I shrugged. “So what if I am?”

So what had become my favorite way to deter bullies, but she frowned and jumped off the swing, landing lightly on her feet as the swing jerked wildly back and forth behind her.

“Tara, wait,” I said, and followed her.

But she ran past my father as he said a cheerful hello to her—he always remembered my friends—and then me. He frowned and lifted a curious eyebrow, and I stopped and hugged him. I wasn’t going to ignore him to chase after her. Tara got mad so easily and we’d make up tomorrow.

As we were walking the few blocks back from school together, I told him what Tara had said.

“Well, you deserve to be spoiled. Your mother abandoned you and the people who took you in were cruel… none of them deserved my wonderful little girl.”

The memory of my mother abandoning me always hurt. She’d bought me a Coke and a candy bar and left me sitting outside the convenience store. She’d left me wearing her sweatshirt, which had kept me warm as darkness fell around the bright yellow circle of the gas station lights. I’d slept with her sweatshirt, which smelled like her, until my foster mother pried it away from me and washed it.

“I wonder where she is now,” I mused, daring a sideways glance at his face; I wasn’t sure if he’d be mad if I brought her up.

But he didn’t answer and he didn’t seem mad. He was busy unlocking the door to our cozy house, and when we stepped inside, he led the way to the kitchen. “I made chocolate chip cookies for you,” he told me.

The cookies were waiting on a blue plate on the kitchen island, along with a stack of new books. I fell on them eagerly.

“I’ve got work to do today before we make dinner tonight,” he said. “Stay out of trouble, all right?”

“Of course,” I answered dutifully.

“You always do.” He dropped a kiss on my hair. The scent of his cologne was heavy, mingled with some kind of chemical cleaning odor, but I didn’t mind that. Just like my mother once had, he smelled like home.

He went out, and I pulled my backpack onto my lap, laying out my spelling and math homework, regretfully eying the paperbacks he’d bought me. But I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I carefully set my colored pencils in rainbow order on the countertop and went to work. He always complimented me on how I was organized and methodical.

The lights flickered, then went off, leaving the kitchen still bright with afternoon light. The microwave clock had gone blank. The house was suddenly eerily silent.

I was halfway through filling in my times tables when I heard a groaning sound from the basement.

I got up and walked over, my heart pounding. The door, which was always locked, stood just barely open; the LCD screen above the keypad was dark.

I wanted my dad so badly. I stopped at the door to the basement stairs, staring down there, and the groaning broke off. A woman’s voice rasped, “Help me.”

I turned and ran for the garage, hoping my father would be inside. But it was dark with the lights off, and his car was gone. I stood there on the cement floor, breathing in the familiar strong cleaning scent—Dad was such a neat freak—and wishing the door would rumble to life and his headlights would split the dark in the garage.

But nothing happened. I couldn’t stop feeling like the mysterious person would creep up behind me and hurt me. I wished I had a cell phone to call for help. But Dad was trying to raise me to be fearless and brave and logical. It was probably just a trapped cat; I’d probably imagined hearing words because I was scared. I stayed in the cold garage until I convinced myself.

I was brave. I’d survived being left behind by my mom, then being tormented by my foster family until my father and I found our way back together again. I could be brave enough to go into the basement and see what was happening.

I got the big, heavy flashlight—big enough to be a weapon—from its place on the garage shelf and then walked back into the house. My steps were faltering going down the stairs, but I still went, even if my legs shook.

There was…a woman strapped to a table.

She turned her head to me. Her hair was matted to her face with sweat and blood, her face twisted with pain. She was so ugly and yet… she looked familiar.

“Mom?”

My voice sounded weak and tremulous, even to me.

“Help me,” she said, without a trace of recognition in her eyes.

“I will,” I said, then hesitated. “Do you remember me?”

She blinked hard. As I studied her face, her nose looked different, and her eyes… her eyes were brown. My mother’s violet eyes were just like mine.

I exhaled in relief. She wasn’t my mother.

“Help me,” she begged.

“I will,” I promised. I tried to unbuckle the restraints around her wrists. She begged me to hurry, her eyes rolling toward the staircase over and over, but I was moving as fast as I could. As soon as I had one wrist free, she attempted to work on the other one while I moved to her ankles.

I’d just gotten one ankle untied when we both heard the sound of my father’s car rolling into the garage. She made a desperate sound in the back of her throat, a sound that wasn’t quite human and made me want to run away.

“You have to stay here and stay quiet. I’ll help you, okay? I promise,” I said, heading for the stairs. My father would have to find the door closed.

“No.” She frantically undid the last strap as I ran up the stairs. Then she raced up behind me, right on my heels, then shoved me aside. I slipped, banging my knee on the wooden step, and it split open and began to bleed. She’d almost pushed me down the stairs entirely, and now she slipped out the door ahead of me.

“You have to hide,” I begged her, then saw she’d picked up my flashlight from where I’d laid it on the table. “He’s coming in from the garage, you can go out the front door but for now, you have to hide!”

The door to the garage swung open.

She didn’t even answer me. She seemed wild with fear. She hid behind a door, her gaze frantically darting around.

“Hi, Daddy,” I said, heading toward him.

And then she was a blur flying between us. She sprang out and tried to hit him with the heavy flashlight. It cracked against his skull and he stumbled, sudden fear written across his face. He fell down to his knees, and she hit him again. There was a terrifying smile on her face, all triumphant and murderous. He stumbled to his feet and lurched down the hall, and she took a step after him.

I planted my foot and tripped her. I couldn’t let her hurt him.

He was on her in a second, wresting away the flashlight and clubbing her with it, over and over. She collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, blood freckling the white hallway that led to our garage. I backed up, sick to my stomach.

Dad glanced up at me.

“You didn’t stay out of trouble, did you, Delilah?” He sounded so disappointed in me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said. “You did the right thing in the end. She was a bad person, Delilah. And you stopped her from hurting any other kids.”

“She looked like Mom. I thought she was Mom…”

“She’s not your mother,” he said. “Your mother was an awful person too, the way she abandoned you. But I would never hurt her. She’s still your mom. All right?”

I nodded.

He stared down at the body, tilting his head to one side. “She’s not quite dead yet, Delilah. I’ll carry her downstairs, and then I’m going to tell you what she did. And you can decide if you want to help me finish her or not, to get revenge on her for all the little kids she killed.”

His forgiveness sent a rush of relief through my chest. I was so glad he wasn’t a monster like I’d thought he was for a moment, before I found out she was evil.

He carried her downstairs, and when he came back, he held his hand out to me. There was blood caked around his fingernails.

But I took his hand anyway, and together, the two of us went down the stairs.

1

AURORA

“H ello, Delilah,” the Demon murmured.

Time froze, a million memories coursed through my brain…none of them good. The temperature dropped, goosebumps spreading across my skin like an infection. My breath faltered, my knees went weak...

And then everything went blank, and I was launching myself at him. Briefly, the shock written on his face flashed through my awareness, but then my hands were around his neck and I was squeezing it as we fell to the floor. He choked as I squeezed, his hands clawing at my skin to get me off him. But he might as well have been caressing me with feathers.

Until his fist hit the side of my head and I saw stars. My grip loosened, enough for him to yank himself away.

It took a second for my head to clear, enough for him to go on the attack. Now I was the one with my back on the ground. his hands around my neck. I punched at his arms, trying to get him to loosen his grip. My knee surged up and he barely avoided me pounding his balls.

I was wild, out of control, mindless in my efforts. All I could think was, never again, never again, never again. He was never going to take me with him. I would never be that girl again.

"Calm down," he seethed, and something about his voice made me pause. Soon I could see details that I hadn't before. Like the receding hairline that definitely hadn't been there on our last visit, and the eyes that upon closer inspection, contained colored contacts. The eye color was all wrong. The shade of his hair was wrong too, like it had been recently dyed.

Shock raced through me, followed by disgust. This was a copycat, one of my father's sheep trying to replicate the Demon.

The realization that the man on top of me, still lightly choking me, wasn't the actual specter from my daily nightmares helped clear my mind for the first time since I'd seen him. I placed my hands on his shoulders and flipped him backwards, using my weight to bend him until he let go of me because of the pain of the angle. I punched him right in the nose, enjoying the explosion of blood that sliced through the air. An inhuman shriek filled the air, and I just giggled like his pain was a joke. I crawled over to my desk and grabbed the knife I had in the drawer as he held his nose and whined, his eyes bulging out with fear at the sight of my weapon.

“You wanted to play,” I teased lightly. “You wanted to see the Demon’s daughter. Well, here I am.”

With a ravaged cry, he sprung towards me, and my knife sliced through the air, slicing into his cheek so deeply I might’ve scratched the actual bone. All I knew was that his shrieking grew louder, to the point that it was earsplitting, making the headache I’d gotten from his earlier hit deepen even more.

He suddenly pulled a gun from the back of his pants and held it in front of him with trembling hands. His head was sweaty, and black streaks were trickling from his hair, down his face….a face that was fraying at the edges as the mask he was wearing began to come up from his skin with all of his effort from our fight.

“I didn’t want to do this,” he said in a trembling voice, his hands shaking around his gun. “You’re making me do this. I just wanted you to come with me.”

I should have felt fear.

A normal girl would have felt fear.

But all I felt was hot, thick rage, like warm syrup on my tongue, as I took a step towards him…and then another.

“Don’t make me do it,” he warned again, his finger tightening against the trigger warningly.

I was so sick and tired of these men. These sick men—and women, I suppose—being obsessed with the Demon…and with me. There were only four people on this planet that I wanted to be obsessed with me—the three assholes I was currently sleeping with—and I had that well and covered.

“See, I think that you do want to do this. You wanted to come into my room. You wanted to play games. You wanted to take me.” I paused for dramatic effect because I was finding I had a taste for the dramatics lately. “And honestly, I’m a bit offended. Because if you’re going to be obsessed with me, you could have tried a bit harder. You couldn’t have dyed your hair? All you could muster up was some cheap spray paint? You’re a disappointment to crazy people everywhere.”

I’m sure under that mask his face was burning red with embarrassment.

Good.

A garbled moan leached from his throat and I decided I’d had enough. I didn’t feel like playing with my food anymore. Right as his finger tightened further on the trigger, I threw the knife at him, embedding it into his skull before he could shoot me.

His face was frozen in shock as he dropped to the ground with a loud thump that shook the floorboards.

He didn’t move and blood began to spread from his head like a crimson headpiece.

I should have aimed it at his heart; head wounds always bled way too much. Clean-up would be a bitch.

I leaned over and checked his pulse, just to make sure he wouldn’t leap from the ground when I turned my back.

Definitely dead.

Curious, I slid the knife from his skull and grabbed the frayed edge of the mask, beginning to peel it off.

This was…gross. I’d made fun of him for the spray-painted hair, but the mask was definitely top-notch, like someone had my dad sit for a mask fitting so they could get his features perfect. It was Hollywood level and I shivered as I peeled it all the way off, revealing the pasty, bloated skin underneath that was clammy with sweat. Where had he gotten a mask like that? Were there more out there?

I shivered just thinking of the Demon’s face popping up everywhere. What if there were so many that I didn’t know when the real one was in front of me?

I put up a mental wall in my head to cut off the rising hysteria. I didn’t have time for that nonsense.

I studied the man’s face, not seeing anything familiar in his features. The skin was streaked with blood, but it was still clear I’d never seen this guy before. These psychos were like lemmings. You got rid of one, and another was there to take its place.

Sighing, I sat back on my haunches, thinking through all the cleaning that needed to take place…and how exactly I would get a body out of the building.

Just then, the door opened and Remington walked in carrying a tray loaded down with breakfast foods. There was even a fucking flower in a small vase on the tray…because evidently, threesomes were the way to his heart. The scent of my favorite breakfast items was welcome over the iron-tinged smell of blood…and disgusting sweat…permeating the room.

He came to a sudden, screeching halt. Stellan had been following closely behind him, and he smacked into Remington, almost causing the tray he was carrying to topple to the ground.

I breathed a sigh of relief the tray hadn’t tipped over as I gave them a sarcastic salute, enjoying their shocked faces. I was hungry…and the idea of my eggs benedict falling off the tray filled me with more fear than was probably good to admit.

Since I had in fact just killed a man.

“Well, little devil…I have to say that this was literally the last thing I expected to see this morning,” Remington commented lightly, his lips upturned in a broad grin. “But I’m here for it. This is the energy we needed. Fuck organic chemistry. This is all the chemistry I need right here.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re an idiot.” But also…why was I wanting to throw Remington to the ground now and have my way with him?

I couldn’t tell which of us had bigger issues.

My gaze shot to Stellan next, because, well, it was Stellan. He might have been professing his undying love to me last night, but just a bit ago he’d thought I was a mass murderer who’d killed his sister.

And now my knees were currently soaked in a stranger’s blood.

Stellan’s face was blank…perfectly blank. No sign of disgust, or anything else.

But I mean, hey. Progress.

“Well, babycakes. Do you want to eat your eggs benedict that I slaved over…or should we dispose of this creature first? But also…what the hell happened?” Remington asked as Stellan closed the door behind him and began to text someone on his phone. Cain, most likely, since he’d be most helpful with body disposal, I’d bet.

“Babycakes?” I drawled.

Remington shrugged. “Do you prefer ‘pookey bear’?” His gorgeous face scrunched up in thought. “I’m just seeing what rolls off my tongue.”

I shook my head, pushing from the floor and grimacing as blood trailed down my legs. I needed to get cleaned up. Stat.

But before I did that, I grabbed the face mask of the Demon and threw it at Remington…after he’d set down my tray of food, of course. I didn’t want to risk the eggs benedict.

Remington caught it and then quickly dropped it in disgust. “What the fuck is that?”

“Another of my father’s worshippers. This one with a replica of his face. I woke up and thought it was him, sitting on the edge of my bed.” I shivered again at the memory. Staring around the room, I wasn’t sure I would be able to sleep in here by myself ever again.

Stellan suddenly lunged towards my lamp and threw it against the wall, a loud howl of rage echoing around the room as he smashed it into a million pieces.

Remington and I both stared at him in shock.

Stellan shook his head in disgust before striding over to me, pulling me against him, and smashing his lips against mine.

I fucking swooned.

Because how could I not?

Stellan was a really good kisser, and that extra edge of ferociousness…well, it just did something to me.

“I’m getting more confused by the second,” Remington commented, and I snorted sexily against Stellan’s lips.

He pulled away, and I had to stop myself from chasing him. “I’m not leaving you alone for a second. I can’t even get you breakfast without something happening. I’m just going to handcuff you to me so you can never be without me.”

“You know, it says a lot about our relationship that I find the idea of being handcuffed to you hot,” I murmured. He grinned sexily, and I was pretty sure my panties got soaked.

“I’m confused. And horny now,” Remington sighed, throwing himself down on the bed in resignation and rattling my plate. I decided that I’d better eat before fate was tempted any further with my breakfast.

I grabbed a towel and wiped myself off before grabbing a bleach wipe and rubbing it across my skin until I felt like I could eat without getting a disease from that creep’s blood sitting on me.

“The bleach will burn your skin,” chided Stellan, grabbing a washcloth and jogging to my bathroom. I heard the water turn on and off before he was back, gently cleaning off the bleach…which was admittedly burning a tad.

“Is this how it’s going to be?” groaned Remington. “Stellan’s going to be like bowing at your feet and getting all the brownie points and blow jobs. I’ll have you know, if we’re keeping score now, it was my idea to bring you breakfast in bed.” He frowned and glanced at the body. “Although, admittedly, that might have been a poor decision in light of this situation.”

“It was my idea to do the eggs benedict,” Stellan shot back.

“You mean to have the cook do the eggs benedict,” Remington corrected.

I giggled. Because honestly, how could you not? I mean, I thought I’d been all about the assholeness of them all, but a girl could get used to this. I stuffed a bite of the food into my mouth, my cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk’s as I chewed unsexily. The grin on my face while I ate had to have looked goofy.

The lock disengaged on the door, and a second later, Cain was standing in the doorway…wearing those motherfucking grey sweatpants that showed off every inch of the anaconda I was now extremely familiar with.

A little moan leached from my throat and he grinned, or should I say smirked. Cain didn’t really smile like a normal person. Every edge of his smile was laced with arrogance.

It was half of his charm.

He slammed the door behind him and walked over to the dead body all casual like, not seeming surprised at all to see it.

Pity. I did like shocking Cain when I could.

He toed the head over so he could see the corpse’s face and frowned. “Nope, doesn’t look familiar.”

Remington took the opportunity to pick the sweaty mask off the floor and throw it at Cain, who caught it and then growled as he dropped it in disgust. “What the fuck is that?”

“The Demon’s face,” quipped Remington. “Someone decided to go all Silence of the Lambs on us and wear the start of a skin suit.”

Cain rolled his eyes and impatiently turned his glare toward me.

I scrunched up my face and fake sobbed. “They left me alone, and when I woke up, this…psycho was sitting on my bed.”

Cain turned and promptly punched Remington in the jaw before rearing back to do the same to Stellan.

Whoops.

“Fuck, she’s joking,” spit Stellan, ducking just in time to avoid a hit.

I couldn’t help but laugh, and Cain looked like he was this close to losing his head when he turned back towards me.

“Aurora,” he seethed.

“Well, everything I just said was technically true,” I answered with a blasé shrug. “But obviously I handled it.”

I didn’t mention the strike of fear and then rage that lanced through my insides when I’d first seen him and thought he really was my father. But I had a feeling Cain could see it, as he stared at me with his piercing gaze, the one that made you want to spit out all your secrets simply to see if he still loved you at the end.

Look at me, getting all deep after I murder someone.

“I’m going to finish eating now,” I announced, pointing my fork at the three of them. Remington was griping and rubbing at his jaw, but I couldn’t find it in me to feel bad for him. “You three figure out what to do about that, and also how to get the blood off my floor because I kind of like this room and he’s honestly ruining the vibe I’ve built up in here.”

Cain stared at the ceiling like he was praying for patience. Except I wasn’t sure why he’d look up there to pray. We both knew his master was below him.

I ate my somehow still warm dish as the guys talked quietly among themselves, as if they were afraid their voices could raise the dead. He’s dead, guys, no need to whisper. I can promise you he doesn’t mind.

By the time I’d finished eating, they still seemed to not be in agreement about what to do.

I sighed. It was always the woman who had to clean up.

“Let’s wrap him in some tarp and take him to one of my dad’s burial sites. I’m sure he won’t mind,” I quipped. “Or, if you happen to have a spare pig farm lying around, I can work with that too.”

Stellan looked a bit green at my comment, but he didn’t say anything; he just nodded like that was his idea all along.

“A pig farm? Really?” Remington snorted, but Cain was nodding because he knew I was a fucking genius.

“My dad actually owns a pig farm. Or at least one of his alter egos/shell companies owns a pig farm. It’s about two hours north of here. That should do the trick. I’d like to not go to the Demon’s stomping grounds if possible. I could just see him having cameras there.”

I could see that too. I guess I should have thought of that.

Stellan and Remington left to grab some plastic tarp from somewhere, and Cain took the opportunity to push me back on the bed and straddle my body.

My insides were goo as I stared up at his gorgeous, golden god face, a lock of hair falling in his eyes. He was the epitome of an angel as we locked eyes; a fallen angel, obviously. But my chest fucking squeezed just looking at his beauty.

“It makes me hot, little devil, when you go all stabby on us,” he murmured, the tip of his finger flicking across my pebbled nipple. I wasn’t wearing a bra, so there was no way to hide how turned on I was at that moment.

“I do aim to please.” My voice was husky and dark, like I’d just turned into a pack-a-day smoker.

Sometimes I felt like a pack-a-day smoker around these guys, like they were so hot they were burning up my insides.

“I’ll have to get a recording from the camera I have in here and jack off to it a few times.”

“Excuse me,” I hissed, even as his hand reached between us and started to softly press on my clit, sending sparks slithering through my veins. “You did not just say you’ve still been watching me.”

He chuckled darkly, as if I was amusing him with my naivety. Which I probably was…because why exactly did I think he would have stopped stalking me as our relationship progressed? Cain was not a big believer in boundaries, that much was obvious.

“Does that make you mad?” he purred as his pressure on my clit increased, eliciting a small gasp from my lips as the sparks running through my body increased in tempo. “Would it make you more mad if I told you that I almost always have cameras on you now? That I’m always watching you?”

His fingers had slid under my t-shirt—because yes, I’d killed a man wearing one of Stellan’s t-shirts and a pair of panties. And then he pushed under my panty line until his thumb was caressing my clit directly, rubbing in gentle circles.

“Fuck, you’re soaked,” he growled. “I fucking love your greedy pussy.”

This time my moan was loud, even though I was furious about what he’d just admitted to.

He plunged his fingers into me roughly right as the door opened and Remington and Stellan walked in…carrying the tarp.

“Really, Cain?” Remington drawled as Stellan quickly shut the door and locked it. “Am I the only fucking one who’s not going to be tasting Aurora this morning because I’m the only fucking one who seems to realize there’s a dead body in the fucking room?”

I huffed right as Cain forced a third finger into me and brutally stretched me. The bite of pain sent an orgasm crushing through my veins, and my cry filled the room.

I did a weird laugh thing combined with a sigh, and reveled in their hungry gazes. Until Cain removed his fingers…and then I promptly punched him in the jaw because of his stalker tendencies.

“Fuck,” Cain growled as the others snickered. His lip curled up and he was trying to look mad…but the boy was turned on…wildly so.

I pushed him away and slid off the bed, trying to straighten my shirt and look somewhat less of a mess.

“Alright…anyone have a chainsaw or a hack saw?” I asked as I strolled towards my closet to change.

“What the fuck does she need a chainsaw for?” I heard Stellan mutter…followed by Cain’s mocking laughter.

A minute later I walked back in from the closet, a fresh pair of panties on, and clothes that weren’t splattered in blood. I had the shirt I’d just been wearing balled up in my fist to burn. You never could be too careful with blood.

The Demon had pounded that into my head so many times that it was ingrained into my being.

To my surprise, a bone saw had appeared in the room and Cain was whistling as he cut off the limbs of the Demon wannabe.

For some reason, the Spice Girls song came into my head and I began to hum it as I knelt down next to him, making sure to stay out of the blood, and watched Cain work.

He’d obviously done this before.

Remington and Stellan were watching from the bed, looking non-plussed. Because I was feeling particularly horny at the moment, for who knows what reason, my mind decided to play a reel of the action from the other night.

Fuck. I was dying for a repeat.

Stellan smirked at me knowingly, his thumb coming up to rub against his bottom lip in that sexy way that hot guys seemed to have down pat.

Remington looked from Stellan to me…in confusion at first…before his gaze seemed to spark as well.

“Don’t you dare start fucking right now,” Cain growled as sweat dripped from his brow while he worked on severing the guy’s leg.

Messy, hard work; I knew from experience.

“You’re making a mess,” the Demon said calmly, as I hit the femoral artery and blood sprayed across my chest…and my face, mingling with the tears silently streaming down my skin. There were bright red drops falling to the floor below me as if I was crying blood.

I didn’t know this man in front of me. The Demon had told me about the man’s niece, and what he’d done to her. But I didn’t know him. I’d only known what he looked like as he died, as he begged for his life, frozen in place by whatever drug my father had given him. I knew what his cries sounded like, and what it looked like as his soul faded out of his body.

I didn’t know this man, but here I was, cutting him into pieces so he could be dissolved more easily in the acid bath the Demon had ready and waiting.

This was supposed to be a teaching experience for me. I’d seen the Demon cut up what seemed like a million bodies, but I’d never participated before. I’d always hoped it wouldn’t be a part of my education.

But of course…I should have known better.

“Short strokes, Aurora,” he barked when another spray of blood launched all over me. I was never going to be clean again, it felt like. “This shouldn’t take you all day. And stop crying. We don’t cry over the sheep.”

My hands shook as I tried to do as he asked…as I tried to please him. The man was dead…but this felt far more deadly than anything the Demon had done to him.

“Aurora?” came Stellan’s voice, and I blinked. Suddenly, I was out of the Demon’s basement of horrors, back in the room with the three of them…and the dead man.

All three of them were studying me, shades of concern over their pretty features.

“Everything okay?” Stellan asked again, standing up to walk over and gently grab my chin so he could examine my face.

My first instinct was to lie, say it was nothing. But then I remembered we were supposed to be different now. He was supposed to be my safe place.

“Just a memory,” I replied softly with a sad grin. Sometimes…I still had trouble with the fact I was more the Demon’s daughter than I was Delilah…or anyone else. I knew it was…necessary…but sometimes it still didn’t make sense in my head that I could be this fierce girl that slayed her enemies without remorse…who could throw a knife and embed it in the center of someone’s forehead…

Fuck, I hated when I got all morose like this.

Stellan decided to give me the sweetest, gentlest kiss I think I’d ever experienced in that moment, so at odds with the blood-stained room. But it did the trick. It seemed to fill up the empty spaces that tended to reveal themselves during the darker flashbacks.

Cain stood up then, having finished the job during my walk down memory lane. Remington hopped off the bed and helped him throw the rest of the tarp around the…body parts…and then Remington hoisted the bag over his shoulder with a grunt.

“Ready to go?” he asked brightly…as if it was just another day.

“It’s the middle of the day,” Stellan pointed out.

“That’s what the underground garage full of your annoying, fancy ass cars is for. We can get in there undetected. If we wait until night, there won’t be enough bleach to make this room smell normal again.”

Stellan sighed as if my logic exhausted him.

“Let’s use Paxton’s Escalade since he’s missing out on all the fun training for his fight,” Remington offered with a dazzling, evil…hot smile.

“Genius,” I announced, striding towards the door and leaving them to haul the body parts. What were boyfriends good for if not for manual labor?

One of the pledges appeared at the end of the hall, and I gave him my best bitch face. Cain stepped out behind me and huffed.

“I’m about to have an orgy and I don’t want anyone coming down this hall. If any of you sheep do…I will stab you,” I said calmly. Remington snorted behind us, and I could feel Cain’s amused disapproval.

The pledge appeared to get the message judging by the mottled grey color his skin turned and the way he ran off like his life depended on it.

I wasn’t quite sure…but had that been a wet spot on his pants? Had he peed?

“Stop torturing everyone,” Cain sighed as we set off down the hall towards the elevator that led to the underground garage. The tarp had been wrapped in my comforter, and I huffed in annoyance about how much of an inconvenience all of this was. Made me wish I’d made it hurt more while I was ending the guy.

We made it to the underground garage that looked as good as new—a testament to money, really, since I’d set it on fire not too long ago.

Remington’s laugh sounded demonic as we loaded the body into Paxton’s Escalade and set off down the tunnel that led to the outside.

2

AURORA

S omehow, the day had slipped away. Which actually wasn’t surprising now that I was thinking about it. I’d slept in that morning, so it had probably been noon when I’d woken up to the wannabe Demon. And it took time to kill someone and then cut them up.

I was squished between Remington and Stellan, which I shouldn’t have been considering how huge the backseat was. But they were pressed tightly against me, like they thought any second someone would reach into the car and try to take me away. Which I guess could actually happen based on my luck lately.

This left Cain as our driver…something I could tell he was annoyed about based on the cutting looks he kept throwing the guys through the rearview mirror.

I stared out the window into the fading light, grateful for their closeness. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. It felt too tight across my bones. And there was a flutter in my stomach, a nervous flutter, like something inside me sensed we were on the precipice of…I didn’t know what. I only knew that it felt like something was coming. That there wasn’t going to be an end to the trouble I seemed to attract every day.

Stellan’s hand was firmly on my leg, his fingers gripping my thigh. He was staring at it, as if he was entranced by the sight of it.

Who knew…maybe he was. The freedom to touch me whenever he wanted was a new thing, after all.

“How much longer?” Remington complained, swinging his arm behind me and hooking it around my neck. “I’m bored.”

I huffed in amusement and he shot me one of his signature sexy winks. Only Remington could make an expedition to a pig farm to dispose of a body seem like a school field trip to the petting zoo. The boy had talent, that was for sure.

I wasn’t sure what the talent exactly was…

But he had it.

“We’ve got about an hour left,” Cain replied exasperatedly, and Remington threw his head back, pouting…before he suddenly sat up…like he’d just gotten an idea.

“An hour. What do you think we could do in an hour, Stellan?” Remington murmured as he slid his arm from around me and placed it on my thigh so he and Stellan were mirror images of each other.

“Why don’t you play I Spy,” said Cain casually, not paying attention to what Remington was doing.

But I was paying plenty of attention.

“Hmm. Not quite the game I was thinking of,” Remington purred as he slid his hand up until it was pressed against my clit through my leggings.

I was already keyed up. They’d done that to me while in my bedroom. Cain’s touch. Stellan’s kiss. Remington’s looks.

My panties…and leggings were soaked. Not the most comfortable thing for a car ride…I could tell you that much.

Although it beat having my limbs chopped off with a bone saw like our friend in the back.

Perfect, now I was comparing being wet to body disposal.

My inane thoughts were cut off when Stellan yanked my tank top and bra down enough to free my breasts. I automatically arched my chest towards his lowering head…because I wasn’t a fool. His breaths were hot against my skin, and his tongue darted out to lick my hard peaks. I gasped as Remington increased his pressure against my clit.

Of course, the gasp caught Cain’s attention and he glanced at me through the rearview mirror… immediately seeing what Remington and Stellan were up to.

It’s like he didn’t know them at all based on the shock on his features and how he almost swerved the fucking car off the road.

“Fuck,” Remington muttered as his seatbelt locked and he was thrown towards the door.

Stellan somehow didn’t move at all–a real talent, I could assure you. And his whole mouth was engulfing my nipple, sucking it in with the perfect amount of pressure and the slight scrape of his teeth.

My head fell back even as the thought crossed my mind that I was really glad he hadn’t just bit my nipple off when Cain almost crashed the car.

“Stop fucking around,” Cain growled as he righted the car. His gaze kept flicking between the road in front of him and the rear view mirror, and I was glad that the roads were relatively clear because I’d already missed death once today, and I wasn’t looking to finish the job in a fiery car crash.

Stellan’s tongue slid expertly around my nipple.

And I was suddenly thinking it might not be a bad way to go.

Remington had resumed his ministrations, my core tightening with every press of his hand against my aching clit.

“Did you fucking hear me?” Cain tried again as Stellan angled me towards him, going back and forth between my breasts like he was starving…the pleasure growing until I thought I might cum just from that.

I tightened a fist in his hair, holding him to me as my hips moved against Remington’s touch. Stellan groaned as if I had my hand around his dick.

“Fuck this,” Remington growled as he savagely ripped down my leggings so that he had better access.

“That was a cop that just passed, fuckers,” Cain seethed.

But he might as well have told us he’d seen a puppy-shaped cloud…because this was happening.

As Stellan continued to suck and bite at my breast, Remington’s finger teased along my seam, causing pleasure to pour through my veins.

“I think you get hotter every fucking time,” he moaned as his finger slipped easily through my slick folds, pressing into my opening before moving up to circle my clit.

“Please,” I begged as Cain swore again.

“I’m going to feed both of you to the pigs,” he threatened.

“Worth it,” Stellan muttered as his hands took over for his lips, pressing against mine. Our tongues lazily intertwined as Remington forced two fingers inside of me, sliding them in and out…practically in time with Stellan’s tongue.

Whimpers were flooding the cabin of the car. I was a needy, mindless mess who could care less that I was getting fingered with a dead body in the row behind me.

And I loved it.

“I want to feel this pussy come on my fingers, sweetheart,” he purred.

More cursing from the front.

Stellan groaned hungrily, his hands sliding along my hair, moving my head where he wanted it as he devoured me. “Love you so fucking much,” he murmured, so low I wasn’t sure anyone else in the car could have even heard it.

But I heard it. And just like last night, it slid its way along my insides, filling me with a desire to keep him with me…forever.

Before I could say anything back, Remington yanked my leggings off all the way and then unhooked his seatbelt so he could nudge his way in between my legs.

A dangerous move considering how fast Cain had begun pushing the car.

“We’re going to crash,” I moaned halfheartedly as Remington moved his tongue through my folds and then speared me with it. His hands slid under me and squeezed my ass before his thumb pressed on my asshole.

And that was it…my orgasm tore through me…violently, until tears were streaming down my face.

“That’s our girl,” soothed Stellan as he licked at one of the falling tears.

“Another one,” Remington ordered, his gaze rapt on my face as I watched his cheeks hollow out as he sucked on my clit.

My hands were in his hair now as his thumb popped all the way in, fucking my ass in time with his tongue.

Movement ahead of me caught my eye, and I focused enough to see Cain had his huge dick out, the tip angry and red and shiny with precum as he spread it up and down his rigid shaft.

I was thirsty all of a sudden.

Cain grinned devilishly but then Stellan turned my head back and I was once again caught up in his scorching kiss as I rode Remington’s mouth, his stubble scratching against my inner thighs.

“Ahhh,” I practically screamed as another tremor tore through me.

What was that…two, three already?

“I need more,” Stellan announced, and suddenly my seatbelt was off and Stellan was sliding under me. Remington barely had time to move his mouth and thumb in order to avoid Stellan’s dick as Stellan slid it into my dripping core.

Once, twice, and then he was out….laughing softly at my frustrated cry.

“Interested in another hole, baby,” he murmured as I felt the tip of his dick pressing against my asshole that Remington had at least prepped a little.

My gaze flicked to the rearview mirror, locking with Cain’s hungry and fevered one as Stellan slid slowly in until I was literally seated on his dick.

I lost my breath with how fucking full I felt.

But I didn’t have a chance to get used to the sensation because Stellan immediately grabbed my hips and bounced me on his dick as his hips moved up and down.

“Fuck, this is hot,” growled Remington…crazily. “I’m still feeling hungry though. Could eat this pussy forever,” he muttered, and then his mouth was back on my clit, licking and sucking messily.

There was no way Stellan’s dick wasn’t getting some tongue action…but neither of them seemed to mind at the moment. They were both very interested in their tasks. Stellan was fucking me like his life depended on it, and Remington was trying to eat me alive.

And Cain…fuck. Cain was still leisurely stroking his perfect, huge cock, the tip copiously leaking as the ride continued.

“You’re so tight. So perfect,” Stellan groaned in my ear as he slammed me down on his dick so hard it felt like I was being speared in half.

But I was learning I got off on the pain.

I needed it.

I…loved it.

To be honest…none of the guys had a dick the right size for my ass. Not that I was quite sure what that looked like. But smaller…a lot smaller, for sure.

“You okay?” Stellan asked, as if he could read my mind. His voice was pained though, like he wasn’t quite sure he could do anything about it if I was wanting to put an end to—-

“I can’t take it anymore. Lay her the fuck down on top of you,” Remington ordered as he gave me one last long lick of his tongue…a move that had me seeing stars.

Stellan pumped in a few more times before he abruptly moved so he was laying on the seat and I was on top of him reverse cowgirl style…except with his dick still in my ass. Somehow he remained inside of me the whole time. Stellan used my boobs to maneuver me so I was laying on my back on top of him as he continued to push in and out of me.

Thank fuck Paxton’s car was so roomy…although I’m sure he hadn’t imagined this exact scenario when he’d gotten the vehicle.

Remington scrambled up on the seat without any of his usual finesse, until he was spread on either side of Stellan’s thrusting hips. He held Stellan’s legs while he slowly slid into me.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” Cain spit…sounding pained.

I glanced over at him, heavy-lidded and hardly able to concentrate as they moved in and out of me.

“Look at you. You’re a fucking goddess handling both of their cocks. And you still want more. Like you were fucking made for us.”

His hand was going faster now, and his grip was tighter too…like he was trying to strangle his cock.

I tried to form words in my head to speak…but as Remington rammed into me deeply…all the words were gone.

“You feel fucking perfect,” moaned Stellan from behind me.

The tears were flowing down my face even faster now, I was just so stimulated.

Remington slowly withdrew…to his tip, and paused. I whined even though Stellan still had a steady rhythm going, and Remington smiled wickedly, as if he’d simply been checking to make sure I was concentrating on him too, and not just Stellan.

He slid into me roughly then, forcing a surprised yelp out of me as he hit the perfect spot inside me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” moaned Stellan. “I can feel both of you.”

Remington’s face was determined as he pistoned in and out of me harder and harder. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Cain was fisting his dick so hard I was afraid it would rip off.

“Choke my fucking cock,” Remington ordered through gritted teeth…and that was all I could take. The orgasm hit me so hard I was fucking convulsing. I was faintly aware that I was screaming, and I could feel the pulsing of their dicks inside me as they filled me with their hot cum…but I was cumming so hard, everything else was a blur around me.

It took a few minutes for me to come back to life, and I was basically limp as Remington and then Stellan pulled out of me.

“Fuck, that was the hottest fucking thing. Ever,” breathed Stellan.

Remington tucked his dick back into his jeans and then pulled my feet into his lap, while Stellan situated himself and eased my head onto his.

“Let’s just clean you up,” Remington crooned as he pulled some tissues from the seat pocket in front of him. Normally I probably would have been protesting and trying to do it myself…but I’d been rendered immobile.

“Toss those over here,” Cain growled, and I leaned forward enough that I could see Cain had lifted his shirt and his stomach was covered with ropes of cum. I settled back into Stellan’s lap, feeling all sorts of satisfied and pleased that Cain had been tortured for once.

Stellan slapped Cain on the shoulder. “Better luck next time, champ.”

Cain flipped him off in the rearview mirror.

I loved watching their antics, but the intensity of the threesome proved too much and I soon drifted into a deep, deep sleep.

I WOKE to the sound of voices. I blinked a few times, trying to clear the grogginess from my eyes. The SUV was empty and Remington’s door was open. I sat up and looked around, noting that nighttime had fallen.

I could hear the soft chirps of crickets singing, and there was long grass and what appeared to be farmland illuminated in front of me by the full moon.

I peeked into the backseat and saw that it was now empty of any dead bodies.

Which just made me think a) I’d been really tired to sleep through all of that, and b) it was really weird that I’d just had an orgy with him in the back.

Rolling my shoulders back, I slid on the leather seats out the door, wincing at how fucking sore everything was…especially my ass.

No one ever talks about what having a huge pole shoved in your ass feels like afterwards.

#worthit

We were indeed on farmland. In the distance, I could see the dark outline of what I presumed to be a barn. There were fields and woodlands as far as the eye could see. A horse neighed from somewhere to my left, and to the right of me, there was a large wooden enclosure, and when the breeze blew in from that direction, I could smell them…pigs.

I grinned savagely and set off in that direction.

As I got closer I could see the guys standing on the far side of the pen, hoisting the tarp-wrapped body over the fence and letting it fall with a thunk loud enough that I could hear it from here. Cain gathered the plastic tarp as the grunts of the pigs filled the air as they realized that food had been dumped into their pen.

A minute later, flames erupted where Cain had made a fire and tossed the tarp into it, the acrid scent of the plastic burning assaulting my nostrils.

To a lesser woman, the sound of the pigs crunching on the dead body, and the smell of the tarp burning might have resembled a horror scene. To me, it felt perfect.

Stellan slung an arm over my shoulder and buried his face in my neck, breathing in deeply, as if he was trying to drown out the smells around us with my scent.

“What’s the matter, Stellan, never heard a pig eating human flesh?” Cain asked mockingly, obviously still upset over the whole threesome in the back seat he’d been forced to endure. His stare burned into me with a thousand promises, and I licked my lips just thinking of ways that Cain could punish me later.

“The piggies sound hungry,” Remington casually remarked as he played a game on his phone like this was just another day in the office. One of the pigs chose that moment to let out a crazed-sounding squeal, and then a ripping, crunching sound sliced through the air as I was pretty sure it bit through some bone.

As I remembered the fear I’d experienced that morning when I’d seen him there and thought he was the Demon free at last…I wished that the pigs were eating the psycho alive.

We waited there until there wasn’t a scrap left of the body, and the fire had burned away all traces of the bloodied tarp. Then Stellan led me towards the Escalade, followed by the other two.

Before I could get into the back, Cain ripped me from Stellan’s grip and threw the car keys at him.

“I’m alone with Aurora in the back for the drive home, assholes,” he growled.

“I’m too tired,” I announced as I ripped my arm from his grip and jumped into the front passenger seat, slammed the door closed, and locked it…like that could actually keep him out.

Cain came up to the window…and honestly, he was a bit scary. He was so sexually frustrated that he looked murderous.

I blew him a kiss because I was a brat like that.

Stellan was already in the driver’s seat and had started the car, a wide smirk on his lips as he winked at me.

Cain was grumbling as he slid into the back seat with a whistling Remington that was bound to drive him insane in one point five seconds.

We’d just started driving when Cain reached around and grasped my neck, lightly choking me.

Which weirdly just turned me on again even though my body was screaming it couldn’t handle any more penetration.

Stellan looked torn, like he wanted to say something, or rip Cain’s hands off me…but he wisely stayed silent. We all knew we’d pushed Cain as far as it was wise to push today.

“You owe me, little devil. You’re going to get on your knees and suck my dick until I cum all over your face. And then you’ll let me do whatever I want to you…wherever I want to do it.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked lightly, my voice breathy and low as he squeezed a little harder.

“It’s a promise,” he murmured.

And then he abruptly released my neck and settled back onto his seat.

Needless to say, not much else was said on the way back to the Sphinx.

3

AURORA

“W hat do you want for dinner?” Stellan murmured into my ear as he rested his hand lightly on the small of my back. “We’ll get you anything you want.”

“Lobster?” I quipped, not expecting even my men to summon whatever food I wanted. “Ooh, and something chocolatey for dessert.”

He dropped a kiss in my hair and peeled off, heading to talk to one of the staff. Remington stepped into the void he’d just left without missing a beat, steering me toward the private dining area down the hall from the big main dining room used by the rest of the society. I cast a glance inside the big dining hall, where students milled.

“Are you going to torture Stellan with ridiculous requests?” Remington asked. “Because I highly recommend you do. It’s entertaining.”

“You’re a terrible person,” I told him lightly.

“And you love it,” he murmured with his lips brushing my ear, which sent a shiver of tension and desire down my spine. He was tangled up with me like that as we entered the dining room.

Pax was already sitting at the table, where a fire blazed in the fireplace; he was kicked back in his seat, drinking something thick and green and gross. His gaze flickered toward the two of us, then his pupils dilated, something intense crossing his face that I usually only saw when he was in the ring.

Remington seemed oblivious, taking a seat next to Paxton and pulling me onto his lap. His hand slid up the small of my back, gliding across the skin under my shirt, and my back arched slightly in response. From the corner of my vision, I caught Pax’s jaw tensing—and realized his cock had stiffened too.

Cain and Stellan walked into the room together, deep in conversation, then separated. Cain took in Remington, Pax, and me with one of those looks that seemed to take in too much in one sweeping dark glance.

“Let’s have a nice dinner as a family,” Cain said. “It’ll be good practice.”

“I know what I want to eat,” Remington said.

There was some wicked part of me that loved teasing Paxton. He’d chosen to keep his distance, after all—he couldn’t get mad at me that there was a distance between us that didn’t exist with any of the others.

Remington was still absent-mindedly caressing the small of my back, and I leaned in to kiss him. His lips were soft and tender, his eyes smoldering at me; he wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and kissed me as if he couldn’t stop.

“Stellan, do you want a drink?” Cain asked from the corner of the room, where he towered above the brass bar cart. “I know Pax is just going to drink his smoothie that he thinks gives him superpowers, as if he isn’t sufficiently fueled by hate.”

Pax rolled his eyes. “You’re fucking chatty today.”

“I’ll take a bourbon on the rocks, thanks,” Stellan said.

I pouted. “You aren't going to offer me anything?”

“You’ve got plenty of dickwads wrapped around your little finger already,” Cain said with a faint smile. He carried a drink over to Stellan and then sipped his own Scotch. I was pretty sure the bottles they were drinking from were worth more than most people’s car payments.

I slipped off Remington’s lap—ignoring his face of disappointment—and took Cain’s drink out of his hand. He stared down at me with an amused look on his face.

The drink burned down my throat, but I drained it anyway. I smiled at him as I handed him the extra glass. “But I want you, Cain.”

Pax leaned back in his chair impatiently.

“You ready for that fight?” Stellan asked him as Remington reclaimed me on his lap. Remington’s big arms settled around my waist, holding me against his rock-hard chest.

“Yeah,” Pax said. I felt like I’d barely heard him speak lately, but his deep, honeyed voice was pure sex. “Always.”

“You always do better with a little built-up frustration,” Cain agreed, and Pax gave him a cutting look but said nothing.

“You should know what’s going on,” Remington told him. “Another one of the Demon’s henchmen got into Aurora’s room. Wearing a fucking mask of the Demon, so we have to watch out for that.”

Pax was on his feet in an instant, his face livid, but there was nowhere to go. “Where is he now?”

“Dead, of course,” Cain said breezily. “You think our blood-soaked queen here would let anyone fuck with her but us?”

I decided to ignore Cain. “How do you think someone got that mask?”

“It’s being sold by a Halloween costume store,” Remington said. “Apparently some documentary came out recently and there are people dressing up as the Demon.”

The sudden image of Demons everywhere made me want to vomit, and Remington’s voice was suddenly low and soothing in my ear. “Their online storefront is currently undergoing a major attack and won’t be selling anything for a long, long time. Virus in their mainframe.”

“I just love you,” I murmured to him, more teasing than not.

But the entire room ground to a halt. Every gaze was riveted on me. Pax’s knuckles were white, his hands tightly fisted, and I wasn’t sure if that fury was solely for my attacker.

“I have my uses,” Remington agreed, his voice light and breezy as ever, but I couldn’t quite read his shining gaze.

“Our girl kicked ass,” Stellan told Pax, like he wanted to distract him from what I’d just said. “You’d have been proud of her. You guys were training together, right?”

“And apparently we need to start up again,” Pax said evenly. “After my fight. I can’t afford any distractions right now.”

“Right, because this is the big payout,” Stellan said. “Then I’m the only poor motherfucker left in the house.”

I snorted. “Poor by whose standard?”

I knew what he meant, though. Cain and Remington were both already rich as minor gods.

Whatever Stellan would’ve answered was lost as the door opened from the kitchen. Staff came in carrying plates of filet mignon and lobster, the scent of butter and freshly baked rolls teasing us all. They settled the food onto the table family-style, along with sides of melty macaroni and cheese, green beans, brussels sprouts cooked with prosciutto, and mashed potatoes. My mouth watered as the table was filled with the dishes, and another member of the staff stocked the sideboard with an array of chocolate treats. I leaned over to breathe in the scent of chocolate as I checked out the array of delicious desserts.

“I thought we’d want some privacy rather than being waited on,” Stellan explained.

Cain nodded. The five of us tucked in eagerly to the meal, although Remington insisted on keeping me balanced on his lap. “I don’t want to let you go off on your own,” he told me. With a glance at Cain, he added an amused, “I already almost got my ass beat for leaving you alone.”

Cain said, “I’m going to handcuff her to me for bed tonight.” Given that he’d already left me cuffed in his bed once, my core tightened at the thought.

Once we’d eaten dinner, Stellan carried over two plates of dessert, then he and Remington took turns feeding me. Pax made a small, disgusted sound that all of us ignored—but I was pretty sure all of us noticed. Stellan dropped a bite of cake on my decolletage, and he leaned forward and licked it off my tits. I bit my lower lip, unable to hide how sexually charged the air felt in the room or how it affected me. As he raised his head, his pupils dilated, I grabbed his hand and guided it to the spot he’d just licked—then pushed his hand lower, inside my shirt, so his big warm palm cupped my nipple. He let out a groan and leaned forward again, caressing me; my nipple sharpened against his palm.

“You should have seen her, Pax,” Remington said huskily, his hand delving lower, sliding between my thighs. “She kicked ass.”

“We’re all very proud of you, Delilah,” Cain agreed.

My gaze snapped to his, the dreamy mood I’d been floating in broken completely. That name. My old name. I hated it.

His icy eyes were intent, watching me, gauging my reaction.

That absolute asshole.

“You’re the real psychopath,” I told him. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that.”

“Is that so?” His voice was even, not affronted. Cain wasn’t exactly disturbed by the idea he didn’t adhere to society’s morality. He thought he was above it anyway.

Abruptly, Cain stood and yanked the tablecloth. The guys leapt aside as the dishes clattered to the ground; Remington clutched me to his chest and rose to his feet.

But Cain practically leapt across the now-bare table and swept me out of Remington’s arms.

“You’ve been teasing us all night,” Cain said. “You know there are always consequences when you tease me, Aurora.”

Cain’s voice skated over my skin like a heavy hand, raising goosebumps, a mix of nerves and lust. There was something about Cain.

“Lay back,” Cain ordered me. “Stellan, undress her. You’ve been her fucking servant all night, so you can be her maid now.”

“Fuck you,” Stellan told him, but without much heat, because he didn’t seem to mind the mission. His hands glided over my skin, stripping my clothes off until I was bared in front of them all, spread out across the table.

“Remington, suck her tits,” Cain ordered. “She likes that.”

Remington’s lips swept over my tits, suckling my nipples. I writhed under his touch as Stellan teased between my thighs, Cain watching it all with a pleased, controlling glint in his eye.

My head swept to one side, my body reacting to them wildly, and my gaze met Paxton’s. His jaw was stiff, his cock so hard it jutted against his jeans. His hand drifted toward his pants, and my breath quickened.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Cain ordered Paxton. “You’ve always said no release before a fight. You can’t lose this one.”

Pax’s jaw was so tight, it looked like he might snap. He leaned back, his arms crossing his powerful chest.

“You can have all of Aurora later if you want,” Cain said reasonably. “After your fight, and after you fix shit with our girl.”

Remington raised his face from my needy nipples to tell Pax, “She deserves better.”

“Fuck you all,” Pax said, getting to his feet as if he were going to storm off.

“Sit your ass down. We’ve got business to talk about,” Cain said, as Stellan dove between my thighs, his tongue setting a rhythm thrusting inside me that had my hips rising against my will. Cain barely seemed to care, but he pressed his palm against my lower abs, pushing me down against the hard table, holding me still for Stellan’s busy tongue.

Every muscle tensed with the desire for release as they kept going, pushing me over the edge. Cain and Pax might not be participating, but they watched—Pax with hunger, Cain with his bemused control.

“Stellan,” I murmured as I writhed, and for the first time, a hint of jealousy entered Cain’s gaze. Then I was falling over the edge, cumming hard around his tongue.

“That’s our good girl,” Remington murmured in my ear as I cried out, my orgasm ripping through me powerfully.

As soon as I was done, Remington gathered me into his lap. My still-throbbing clit pressed against his hard thigh as he held me, his hands caressing my breasts in a way that raised greedy new waves of need.

Stellan licked his lips, carrying a new plate of rich chocolate-toffee mousse as he leaned on the table in front of me. “That was my favorite dessert,” he said, before spooning some mousse into my mouth. I smiled up at him as he fed me.

God, my life was a dream.

When it wasn’t a nightmare…

“What business?” Pax managed, his voice sounding strained.

“We’re going to dinner with my father,” Cain said. “I want to see how he reacts when we confront him about what he did to Aurora.”

A chill ran through my body. Cain’s father had been behind my kidnapping, and the way I’d almost been murdered at the sex club Cain now owned.

“I don’t want to see him,” I objected.

“I’ll be able to read him better with you there,” Cain announced. He cocked his head to one side, studying me. I expected him to issue another order or threat. Cain was good at both.

But he surprised me by saying, “We’ll protect you, Aurora. You know that.”

4

AURORA

I  hadn’t gotten a good look at Cain’s parents' house when I was hurt, although I’d certainly been curious about where Cain came from. Now I studied the stone mansion. I’d have expected a place where hints of darkness and death were reflected in the house itself. But it was fall, and the leaves of the trees lining the long driveway were red and gold, and little candles blinked in every window of the house, making it look inviting and homey.

Remington nudged me and pointed around the house to a corner of the shimmering blue pool. “Cain lived in the pool house since he was in middle school. Even his parents didn’t know what to do with him.”

“Make up whatever story you need to justify how much cooler I was than you,” Cain said.

I glanced at Pax curiously. This wasn’t just Cain’s childhood home. It was Pax’s, too. He told me that Cain’s father Alexander had taken him in after his mother had died.

“So you lived in the pool house too?”

Pax nodded. He seemed tense. It was hard to tell how much of that was this situation and how much of it was the upcoming high-stakes fight. I needed to get him alone and talk to him about the fight, because he was vibrating with tension. He seemed like he needed the money.

There were carved pumpkins on the expansive entryway along with all the other decorations of lit garlands of fall leaves around the doors and windows. “Did a servant carve the pumpkins?” I asked, curious about Cain’s life.

“That one is almost certainly my dad’s.” Cain gestured toward the Mandalorian pumpkin, then at the cat pumpkin. “And that’s mom’s. She loves cats. Volunteers at the animal shelter every Tuesday.”

I stared at him in confusion.

“I know,” he said. “He carves pumpkins to humor her. Come on.”

He took my elbow and steered me toward the door, which was thrown open a second later.

A slender, older woman, her soft blond hair swept back into a bandana, pulled him into a hug. “Well, hello, stranger.”

She turned her bright smile on me. “Aurora! I wish I could say I’ve heard so much about you, but this weirdo barely responds to my texts.”

She smacked Cain’s shoulder, and he sighed.

As she prattled on, Cain responded with his usual stoicism, but it seemed good-humored.

“Leave him alone, we want him to come back sometime,” Cain’s father Alexander ordered, stepping into the room.

He was smiling, but tension still flooded my body at the sight of him.

Alexander’s gaze flickered from me to Cain and back again. A resigned expression came over his handsome features that were so much like Cain’s.

As Cain’s mom tried to gather our coats, Cain’s father said, “I think we have some things to discuss.”

“I guess we do,” Cain said. “Do you want to explain why you tried to have my girl killed?”

I tried to keep my face as purposefully blank as the mens’. But it was a bit of a surprise to hear Cain call me “his girl.” There was something about it that seemed a little more soft and tender than Cain’s usual MO.

“Let's talk about it after dinner.” Cain’s father said, and Cain’s mother gave him a worried look.

“Do you think it’s going to sound any better then?” Cain asked.

“If I were Aurora, I’d be very curious about our family,” Alexander said with amusement. “And, given that you might stage a rebellion and commit patricide if you don’t find my answers sufficient, it seems worth giving her the chance to see what our family is like first.”

He wasn’t wrong. I was incredibly curious about Cain's family and what kind of conditions bred my favorite psychopath. His father seemed to have his intense insightfulness as well. I wondered if that was a gift of their particular brand of psychopathy, the ability to see through everyone with dispassionate trust because their own nonexistent emotions never got in the way.

“We already ate,” Cain said. “But Aurora would never turn down dessert.”

“Oh,” Cain’s mother said, “We’ve got a beautiful Pavlova. Aurora, would you like to help me in the kitchen?”

I glanced at Cain, a little worried that Cain’s mother might be dangerous in the kitchen with all the sharp pointed things. Given the way she’d just fussed over Cain, she seemed like an overprotective mother. And she might have the family bent toward homicide.

Stellan noticed my discomfort and said, “Let me help too.”

We stepped into the palatial, gleaming white kitchen together.

Despite my concerns, Cain’s mother didn’t seem stabby at all. She asked me a ton of questions about how I liked college, where I’d come from, and other things that suggested she had no idea who I was. I asked her questions and she gushed about her volunteer work, her occasional travels with Alexander—who she seemed to adore—and the books she’d read recently.

Unlike most of us, Cain’s mother didn’t seem to carry a cell phone. There was an old-fashioned phone with a long cord hanging on one wall in the kitchen. I realized that when we walked through the house, there hadn’t been any televisions, and I asked about it.

“I like for our house to be a complete refuge from the outside world,” she said. “The news is so dark and terrible.”

She shuddered at the thought.

Cain’s father came in behind her and slid his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him comfortably. “You do an amazing job of making this house my refuge,” Alexander murmured to her, “But you are my true safe place, not any house.”

He kissed her cheek, and she tilted her head, a genuine smile blossoming across her lips.

The situation was hard to make sense of. I’d thought Cain’s father must be abusive. But as dinner progressed, it seemed as if they were all close-knit and warm and caring. Cain seemed slightly bemused by his parents’ affection—both toward him and toward each other—but seemed to return it a little, in his own way.

Most of all, seeing them together, it became apparent that Cain’s circumstances hadn’t been what made him into a psychopath.

Stellan carried the coffee pot in for her, and she rested her hand lightly on his shoulder. “Thank you, you’re all such good boys.”

Stellan smiled at her, shaking his head.

We took seats around the big dining room table. Cain’s mother said, “Let’s say grace. Cain, would you?”

Cain sighed. “Mom.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “But I know eventually you’ll return to the light! Aurora, you’ll be a good influence for him.”

My lips parted in surprise, but she was already bowing her head.

I wondered if she knew anything about the sex club. I was pretty sure she hadn’t visited the Twisted Rose.

“Pax tried,” she added. “Pax used to go to church with me.”

Cain rolled his eyes. “Yeah, if you have to go to church with four armed bodyguards sitting in the pews with you, I think you might have problems God can’t fix.”

“Cain!” she said, looking genuinely horrified. She glanced at Pax. “The church is comforting. Pax and I both needed it back then.”

“Then Pax grew into a man who can fight for what he wants instead of praying about it.” Alexander was already rising from the dining room table, and he rested his hands on Pax’s shoulders. Pax stared ahead stonily, and I realized there were cracks between them. I tilted my head at them, trying to understand the subtext in the family, but then Cain’s mom was scolding Alexander, calling him a heretic, and he was laughing and kissing her, and they were so damned cute it hurt.

Over dessert, Cain’s mother laughingly alluded to protecting Cain from the family business for as long as she could. But she admitted that Cain had had a natural knack for it, and it was impossible to keep him away from it for long.

Alexander could not contain his pride when he looked at his son. I had the feeling that even though Cain’s mom knew about the business, she might not know all the details about it.

And so, I waited until she’d left the room to bluntly ask Alexander, “Why did you try to have me killed?”

He almost spat out his Scotch. Swallowing, he said, “Well, I suppose I can see why you and Cain are a match to some degree.”

“I’m waiting,” Cain said. “You were the one who brought up patricide.”

“Because I know how loyal you are when you care about someone, despite how difficult it is for anyone to get past all of this.” Alexander gestured vaguely at Cain’s entire persona. “Let me explain what happened. I was aware that Cain had gotten involved with a young woman, and not just any young woman, but the daughter of an old friend.”

My stomach dropped. Alexander knew the Demon?

“I met the Demon when he was purposefully seeking out pedophiles to torture and kill, which I did not exactly disapprove of. I’d taken over a sex club as part of my territory, and some of the men were involved in…unforgivable things. I was happy to partner with the Demon to remove them from being in play, given that they were truly terrible human beings.”

“And also your enemies?” Cain asked dryly.

Alexander held his gaze. “You know I have standards for who I’ll work with. Just like you do, Son.”

Alexander’s gaze swept to me, and I had to try not to recoil. It was eerie how much he looked like an older version of Cain, rough-hewn and handsome and muscular, his yellow hair ashy at the temples. “I met you when you were a little girl. Your father was as proud of you as I am of Cain. He had already deeply involved you in his business at the time when I was still trying to protect Cain’s innocence… such as it was.”

I wracked my brain, trying to remember him. My father had brought me along to a lot of places a little girl should never go. Once I knew his secrets, he’d reveled in soaking me in that darkness, trying to shape me into someone exactly like him. The world seemed to spin a little, and nausea cut into my stomach.

Stellan shifted protectively toward me, resting his hand on my thigh. Which made sense. No one had caused me more pain or understood what my pain looked like better than he did.

“The Demon and I ultimately had a falling out,” Cain’s father explained. “I realized he was taking many more victims from my city—ones who hadn’t done anything to merit their murder and whose deaths didn’t serve me—and worse, he was bringing police attention to our state. I told him he’d overstayed his welcome and it was time to move on.”

“And did he?” I asked, thinking of our move to England.

“He disappeared,” Alexander confirmed. “And so did my sister.”

“Aunt Lily?” Cain asked. “You told me she died of cancer.”

“She did. The Demon was—is—a cancer.” Alexander’s gaze swept to mine. “If you are not working with him, then I genuinely apologize for what I did to you, and I’m glad that it failed. I was simply trying to protect my son. I think he would try to protect anyone he loved just as fiercely.”

“No,” Cain objected. “That’s not enough. Why the hell didn’t you talk to me?”

Cain’s father said, “Because I saw how irrational you were when it came to this girl. The same way I’ve always felt about your mother.”

“You’re full of shit,” Cain said.

But there was something a little raw in his eyes, like he wanted to believe him. There was an air of tension, as if Cain might just kill his father right there and then.

And I didn’t want that for him.

I laid my hand over Cain’s arm to keep him from going for his gun, although I knew Cain would be unstoppable if I didn’t calm him. “It’s alright. Your parents just…love you. It would be nice if they loved you in a non-murdery, psychopathic way, but knowing you, I’m not terribly surprised.”

I smiled at him affectionately. Cain met my gaze, his face still that blank mask of fury.

“I think we should forgive and forget,” I added, even as I was thinking that I would do neither.

5

AURORA

I  walked into the gym to run on the treadmill, coming to a stop when I saw Paxton beating a bag to death in the corner, headphones in his ears….shirtless. He’d seemed to triple in size preparing for the fight. Every muscle in his body was accentuated. His well-defined traps, pectorals, and biceps were rolling and shifting as he moved…and I felt the inane urge to lick off the sweat coating his eight-pack. He’d also shaved his head in preparation for the fight and it just made him seem more dangerous…and sexy to me. His gym shorts were hanging so low I could see the dimples above his ass.

Perfection. I really wished I had my phone on me to take a picture.

Paxton seemed unaware that I’d entered the room. He continued to throw out various punches even as I walked closer. His music was cranked so loud that I could hear it–crazy, angry-sounding rock music that fit the scene perfectly.

I allowed myself to drool for a second before I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and swung…like a psychopath, stopping an inch from my cheek, his face curled in fear.

“Fuck,” he spat, ripping his headphones off. “Are you alright?” His voice was frantic, his gaze searching my features for any sign of pain.

“Relax, muscle man, you didn’t touch me,” I murmured, a bit confused since he had obviously stopped before he’d hit me.

His gaze looked cloudy for a moment…like he wasn’t seeing me there in front of him…but someone else.

Paxton shook his head, as if trying to get rid of the memories.

“Hey,” I said softly, like I was soothing a wounded animal. “It’s okay.”

I watched as a myriad of emotions flashed across his face. Embarrassment. Anger. Fear. Then…nothing.

I put my fists up and lightly punched him, wanting to break the mood. For someone who looked so fierce, so grade A Alpha, there was an air of vulnerability in him that called to me. His vulnerability was somehow one of the most pronounced things about him. The spark behind his eyes, the one so hard to read and understand…it made me want to coax out a confession from him, wrap him up in my arms. It made the nights we never spoke of important…almost necessary to me.

Paxton had me wrapped up in knots. And it had been that way from almost the first moment I saw him.

“Want to spar?” I asked, and the spark of vulnerability I’d glimpsed disappeared, his shield back in place.

“I don’t have time to play,” he answered, sounding exasperated. And then I wasn’t feeling so wrapped up in fixing him anymore.

I kind of wanted to fuck him up.

“Play? Hmmm…give me ten minutes and we can see how you feel after that. Surely it won’t interfere with your training too much.”

I kept my voice innocent, and he wrinkled his nose as he studied me. I couldn’t help but think how fucking beautiful he was, with those cheekbones that looked like they’d been carved by the gods and that face whose only purpose was to torture everyone else with his beauty.

Finally, he threw his head back and sighed…like I was annoying him. “Fine,” he growled. “Ten minutes.”

It was all I could do not to drop him right then…or at least stick my tongue out at him.

I went over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a pair of extra gloves. I would usually have warmed up with a light jog, or a good stretch…but I was so fired up by his continued desire to be an asshole that I was more than ready to go.

When would he learn…when would they all learn? Fuck, how many people did I have to kill in front of them to make sure they never took me for granted?

Deep breath, Aurora.

He was waiting for me on the center mat, his gaze inscrutable as he watched me approach. I slowly slid off my tank top, enjoying the way his eyes burned at the sight of me standing there in nothing but a sports bra and a tiny pair of tight shorts that might as well have not existed with how much of my ass was showing.

A growl sounded from his exquisitely carved chest, more animal than man, and his massive cock lengthened in his shorts until it was standing at attention obscenely, stretching towards me like it was desperate to reach me.

“Looks like you have a problem,” I grinned, and he chuckled darkly, but the sound came out more pained than anything else.

“I always seem to have a problem around you. It’s quite annoying actually.”

I took a step towards him, then another, adding a bit more sway to my hips than usual. “I could help you with that…”

His eyes squeezed shut at the same time that his fists did, his breath coming out in shallow gulps, and beads of perspiration sliding down his perfect chest. Paxton shook his head and then opened his eyes, iron-willed determination in their depths.

“You wanted to fight, little devil. Let’s fight. I can get ass after the fight,” he spat.

My insides burned. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

His lips curled in disgust as his gaze traveled up and down my body like it should be obvious.

“What did I do now?”

He threw up his hands. “Since the moment you’ve stepped into my fucking life…you’ve been nothing but a distraction. It’s great for those three assholes to be wrapped in you…but I don’t have that luxury. I don’t have the money, or the family. All I have is myself. And what I can make of myself…not anyone else. This is my chance. And I won’t let a pretty distraction take everything away from me that I’ve worked so hard for. And that’s all you are, Aurora. Just a pretty distraction that could ruin my life.”

His chest was heaving, and his face was ugly and mean…but his gaze...it was pained. Like something inside of him regretted what he’d just said. He made a point of looking me up and down once again.

“But you’re welcome to distract me after the fight,” he offered cockily.

And of course, I snapped. Because every time I took one step forward with Paxton, it was five steps back. At least he wasn’t drugging me and stuffing me in a trunk.

But still…a pretty distraction. The pretty distraction who slept with him almost every night because we both had too much…everything…inside of us to sleep without an anchor to hold on to.

Nothing but a pretty distraction!

My fist snapped out and jabbed him in the jaw as I launched myself forward, throwing shots blindly in my rage. His head snapped back in surprise with the first hit, but he quickly recovered as I tried to dart backwards.

He came at me, putting me in a stranglehold, his corded, wet body sliding against my skin, setting my insides on fire. Up close like this, his amber eyes looked gold, the flecks of dark brown adding a depth I could drown in. I coached myself into not letting him become a “pretty distraction” and then I flipped around in his arms. I threw him over my shoulder so he landed on the mat with an oomph.

He stared up at me in shock…and a little bit of awe…but I didn't take the time to savor it. I jumped on top of him and straddled him, throwing punches at his perfect fucking face which he raised his arms to block.

“A pretty distraction, Paxton. That’s all I am to you?” I seethed. “I guess I’m at least a distraction that can kick your ass. Hope you don’t fight like this when it counts. You did lose last time…”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, he’d rolled us over, and somehow, he had my wrists in one of his huge, rough hands and he was holding them over my head while he stared down at me…rage and lust thick in his gaze.

It took a second, but I soon became very much aware of the thick rod resting against my aching clit. He moved slightly up and down, the slow glide of the head of his cock pushing between my folds through the thin lining of both of our shorts.

“Fuck,” he growled, rubbing harder as wild pleasure continued to build in my body.

He pushed my knees wider and groaned as he slid even deeper between my folds. It was too much. I shook my head, trying to stave off the impending explosion, because I didn’t want to give him the pleasure of my orgasm, even if my shorts were fucking soaked.

Despite my best efforts, I arched up and moved with him. He was pressing against my clit with every pass and then…

I was spasming. My inner muscles clenched as I shattered into a million pieces, the excruciating wave of pleasure so strong that I was screaming his name as I came.

“Fuck,” he practically screamed as he leapt off of me like I’d burned him. His hand went to his dick and he grabbed the tip of it and squeezed, trying to hold off his own orgasm. He took a step and banged on the wall with a fist, shaking his head as if he was in agony.

For a second, I was tempted to leap up, drag his pants down, and force his orgasm out with my mouth. But then the tormented look in his gaze as he talked about how much this fight meant filled my mind…

And I withstood the devil on my shoulder demanding it.

The room was filled with the sounds of our gasping breaths. And I suddenly felt dirty. Like somehow I’d been used, even though I was the only one who came in that scenario.

I staggered to my feet, feeling unwell, like I’d lost something.

My power perhaps.

Remington took that moment to walk in, in nothing but a pair of workout shorts that also were so thin they left nothing to the imagination.

He licked his lips when he saw me, but then his attention got caught on Paxton. Remington’s head bounced back and forth between the two of us, a small smirk on his lips.

“What did I miss?” he asked casually.

“Paxton was just working out some tension before his big fight.” I glared in Paxton’s direction, and like I had tractor beams in my gaze, he turned to stare at us…still sporting a monster erection.

Remington pointedly stared at Paxton’s dick and then back to me, shaking his head. “Paxton must be made of steel because there’s no way my dick could resist you in this getup…getting sweaty. In fact…want to go do a little role-play with me? I’ll let you beat me up and then suck my dick.”

I glared at him, and then glanced back at Paxton. “You’re both assholes,” I said, before stalking out of the room…feeling furious.

I automatically went to the entrance of my room before remembering I wasn’t exactly keen about being in there by myself. Of course, Paxton chose that moment to also return to his room, and he almost tripped when he turned the corner and saw me standing in front of my door.

For a second, I wanted to ask to sleep with him…or ask for him to sleep with me. But that feeling quickly went away when he made a scoffing noise, shook his head, stalked into his room, and slammed the door behind him.

That feeling of betrayal raised its ugly head once again, and I forced myself to go into my room. I could have called Stellan or Remington…maybe even Cain, but my hurt was making me slightly irrational.

There was also the fact that being scared of my bedroom felt like a win for the Demon…even though he hadn’t had anything to do with the psycho in there the other day.

But I knew the Demon would relish the fact that I hadn’t been able to sleep soundly through the night…or be in my room by myself.

That fact was making me angry at Paxton as well, like he should have somehow sensed my inner turmoil and wanted to be there for me. Which was stupid. And I wasn’t quite sure why it was so important for it to be Paxton that wanted to comfort me at night. Maybe it was because I felt like sharing our nighttime demons was our thing. The one time that Paxton was stripped bare and let me see him.

My thoughts drifted to how Paxton had been when he’d found me after the funeral…the way he’d held me.

“Breathe with me, princess,” he’d murmured as he’d brought me back from the brink of despair.

And yet somehow, we’d come back to this point.

I wondered if Paxton would ever stop disappointing me.

And I hated myself for caring.

6

AURORA

“N oooo!”

The scream from somewhere nearby ripped through my restless dreams. I was pretty sure that I’d just nodded off and now I’d been rudely awakened.

Another scream sounded through my still-lit-up room, and I shot up from my bed.

It took me a second to realize it was Paxton I was hearing…that or he was torturing someone in his room.

I did debate for half a second whether I wanted to check it out…just because of what an asshole I’d been. But when he screamed again, there was no way to stop myself.

I bolted through the adjoining bathroom and into his room, faintly noting that he hadn’t locked the door.

The room was dark, but with the light from the bathroom, I could see him thrashing around on his bed, shaking despite the fact that sweat dripped from his brow.

“Please. No. Not her. Not her!” he sobbed, and I ran towards his bed.

“Paxton,” I murmured urgently, not wanting to touch him just in case he woke up swinging. “Paxton!”

His dream had him too far into its grasp, because no matter how loud and often I called his name, he never woke up. And the dream seemed to be getting worse, because now tears were streaming down his face.

Seeing this alpha male sobbing like a little boy was devastating. The anger I’d been feeling melted away.

Without thinking too hard on it, I crawled beside him on the bed and softly touched his cheek.

Immediately, his body stilled.

Paxton

She was screaming at him again. But she wasn’t just angry this time, she was sobbing. There was fear in her voice, and it sounded like she was begging him for something. I hovered at the top of the stairs, trying to fight the urge to go downstairs. She’d told me a thousand times that she was the adult. That I was to listen to her and let her handle it.

But there was something different about tonight. She wasn’t usually scared. I jumped and almost fell down the stairs when glass shattered against a wall. Their voices grew louder.

She screamed.

And then I couldn't handle it. I raced down the stairs and saw him…

“Paxton!”

A familiar voice sounded out from near me. I looked away from the scene of my mother’s death, trying to find the angel who was calling me. The voice had to belong to an angel.

“Paxton,” she called again.

Why did that voice sound so familiar? If I could just find her.

My mother was still screaming from somewhere behind me, but I kept walking away from her. Something told me if I could only find the owner of that voice, everything would be okay.

She would make it all better.

But as I went through every room of our small house, I couldn’t find any trace of her. I could hear her voice, mixing in with the sound of my mother dying. But I couldn’t find her.

I began to run, screaming hysterically for her to appear, for her to come to me, but…

A soft touch on my cheek.

My eyes flew open.

Aurora was leaning over me, her hand on my face, concern written all over her features.

My own personal angel had found me after all.

She opened her mouth to say something, but I desperately pulled her against me, needing to feel her heart beating against mine. Needing to feel the softness of her skin, her breaths on my neck. Needing to feel her hair tickle my face.

I just needed her.

And I hated that.

Because needing someone was a weakness I’d never been lucky with in my life.

And Aurora, little by little, was becoming necessary to my existence…my sanity.

She was the only person who could drag me from the depths of hell my subconscious decided to take me on most nights. Without her, I was at risk of going mad…for letting all the anger and rage inside of me take over until there was nothing left.

My mother’s death…and all the events that happened afterwards, had no chance to fade when I dreamed about them almost every night.

I pulled her hand against my cheek and held it there, trying to soak up everything I could from her perfection.

I’d pushed her away today. Even though everything inside of me constantly craved her.

I didn’t know why it was so hard to show how I felt during the light of day.

But it was.

“Out of the darkness and into the light, to all that is good, and all that is bright…” she breathed against me, and a fucking tear slipped down my face to join the wetness already coating my skin from the tears I’d shed during my nightmare.

She repeated it again and again, until my heart didn’t feel like it would beat out of my chest. Until the horrors of that house got tucked back into the past where they belonged. In my head, I was desperate to keep her with me. To lock her to me so she could keep the memories away permanently. There were only two things that had ever worked to do that, her and training to fight, and lately, training hadn’t been working so well even though I’d been working harder than I ever had in my life.

I’m sure Michael would have a lot to say about that.

“That was a bad one,” she finally whispered softly, my hand still over hers on my cheek.

I just nestled into her hand further and pulled her even tighter against my body, so tight, it was probably uncomfortable.

“I’m afraid that I’ll never have peace,” I confessed to her in a low whisper.

During the daylight, my confessions were kept under lock and key, but in the nighttime, I let them out.

And I gave them to her.

Because she was the only person who could understand that the scars we wear hidden under our skin are the worst ones. They’re the ones that do the most lasting damage, that dig into our souls and rip away at any good in us.

“Sometimes I think you’re right,” she whispered back. And I was grateful she wasn’t coddling me, or filling the room with useless platitudes. Because that would cheapen the moment. Cheapen this thing between us.

People always wanted to do that, tell you that everything would be alright. But what if we were actually fucking honest with one another? What if we fucking told the guy whose wife was cheating on him that, in fact, everything would not be alright? That he would miss her and hate her for the rest of his life. What if we told the girl that her mother would never actually love her because she was too selfish to see past herself? What if the world would just tell me that I would always be messed up from what had happened that night? Wouldn’t that save the world a whole lot of useless hopes and dreams if we simply started telling it like it was?

“I don’t think I’ll ever have peace either. I think even when he’s dead and buried in the ground, I’ll still see him everywhere…still feel like he’s out there waiting for me.”

I pressed a kiss into her palm, feeling another tear drop.

I’d been so absorbed in pushing her away today, not wanting her to be the constant thought in my head while I was trying to get ready for the most important fight of my life. The dread I’d glimpsed in her gaze when I’d come around the corner, more sexually frustrated than I’d ever been in my life, and seeing her standing in front of her door…just staring at it.

I knew why she didn’t want to go in. I should have scooped her up in my arms and taken her into my room right then. Instead, I’d left her there to conquer her demons herself.

And here she was, because she was such a fucking sweetheart, comforting me in the middle of the night when she should have left me to my nightmares.

“I’m—sorry,” I tell her, knowing my words aren’t enough. Knowing that when the moment is broken, and we wake up again in the morning, I’ll only make more mistakes…because I don’t know how to not make them.

I should be on my knees, begging her for forgiveness, telling her I’ll never leave her at that door again. That she’s all that matters.

I should do a million different things. But “I’m sorry,” is all I can offer tonight.

“I know, Paxton,” she whispers. “I know.”

She keeps her hand on my face, and I keep her body tight against mine.

And we don’t say anything else.

I only hope that after I win this fight, and I actually have something to offer her…that she won’t think I’ve already fucked it all up.

That it won’t be too late.

Because, despite the fact that I don’t deserve her, that I never will...

I need Aurora to be mine.

7

AURORA

T hat night, Paxton’s eyes widened when he saw me walk out of my room. I’d dressed for the fight, the same way the other girls did, in a skimpy tank top, a miniskirt, and a pair of dangerous stilettos. I knew I looked good, but it was satisfying to see him react.

“Come with me to the arena,” he said, holding out his hand. “I want a few minutes with you alone.”

“Is that a good idea?” I asked, given how worried he was about losing his focus.

“I promise it will help,” he assured me.

I made sure to text the others my location because I didn’t want crazy-possessive Cain to break his jaw. The ride to the venue passed in companionable silence. There were staff at the venue getting it ready, but it was eerie when it was empty like this as Pax and I rode the elevator to the box.

“Good luck with your fight,” I told Paxton. “I promise I won’t distract you this time.”

He gestured me closer. “Give me a kiss for good luck.”

I leaned in to kiss him, rising onto my toes since he was so tall. One of his muscular, tattooed arms wrapped around my waist, drawing me against him. His hands swept up my back as his lips brushed mine.

Something cold and metal touched my wrist, and I jumped. Confused, I frowned at Pax before I tried to pull away. But it was too late. As I moved, he spun with me, leaning his weight against me to press my breasts and face against the cool wall.

And the cuffs snapped around my second wrist.

“You asshole,” I fumed, whirling around and doing my best to kick him. He stepped over my legs, pinning me against the wall. “What are you doing?”

His hand skimmed against my lower stomach, and despite myself, my core tensed, my whole body responding to his touch.

“I’m not taking any chances this time,” he told me. “This fight means too much.”

“I know that!” I growled. “I’m not planning to distract you.”

“Mm.” He tilted his head to one side. “Let’s just be sure, though.”

“Pax,” I said reasonably. “I just want to watch with the guys…”

“I don’t want you watching,” he said roughly.

“Why?” I stared up at him, perplexed.

“Because you’re the only person in the world who makes me nervous,” he ground out, as if the admission hurt him, as if he regretted it as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“Why?” I asked, but he was apparently done talking after he’d admitted that, because he dragged me toward the door. I bucked and twisted, trying to get away from him. I didn’t want to ruin his fight, so I refrained from elbowing him in the face even when I had an opening. I was a fucking angel he didn’t deserve.

He grew frustrated with me struggling and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me into the office behind the box.

“Put me down, you big barbarian!”

He set me down on an office chair, and it pushed across the floor with the momentum. “Happy? I put you down, Queen.” His voice was mocking.

“You absolute asshole. When I get out of here, I’m going to–”

He cocked an eyebrow, putting a hand over my lips to silence me. I glared at him, incredibly tempted to bite him. He deserved it.

“This is why you’re tied up,” he said. “Wicked little threats.”

“You don’t deserve me,” I fumed as he grabbed my ankle and began to tie it to the base of the chair.

After all, I wouldn’t sabotage his fight. I wouldn’t even risk punching him right now like he so very much deserved. But later, it was a different story. He had to know he would pay for this sooner or later.

“You’re cute when you’re mad. I look forward to you trying to murder me later… when I have a million dollars.”

“What will you do with all that money?”

“I’ll be free,” he said. “I won’t owe Cain’s daddy for taking me in anymore. And…Once you get over this, I’ll be able to give you what you deserve. Instead of Cain and the others footing the bill for everything.”

“You know you don’t need money to be their equal.”

“That’s a very sweet thought, Aurora, but we both know it’s bullshit.” He brushed a kiss over my forehead. “I want to say I’ll go out there and win this fight for you, but the truth is you’re the most distracting thing I’ve ever encountered in my life. I need to forget you exist and just… be angry again. The way I haven’t quite felt since I met you.”

I stared up at him, not quite understanding what he was trying to say. Had he just admitted that I made him happy? After he tied me to a chair like a total psychopath?

His hand slid up my ankle, his touch firm but gentle, as he secured my other leg to the chair. I had dressed sexily for the fight, just like all the other girls, and his hands slid appreciatively up my calves and briefly skirted my thighs which were exposed by the short skirt.

“You’re so fucking delicious,” he muttered. “You’re going to destroy me, Aurora.”

“I’m not. That’s the last thing I want. You don’t need to tie me up to keep me from—”

“That’s not what I mean. Just... sometimes when I’m with you, I think things can be different. I could be…” He stopped, looking exasperated. “You make me fucking babble like a girl. I need to stay focused on my fight.”

He rose, his movements quick and angry, as he headed to the door.

“Why the hell are you mad at me?” I called after his broad departing shoulders. “When you’re the one who just tied me up and is running away like a bitch?”

He didn’t answer that one. He probably couldn’t give me a good response, but it didn’t really matter because I was still tied to a chair.

It was alright; once the guys came in for the party, I would yell for them and someone would hear me. I wouldn’t miss any of the fight. I remembered how delicious everything had been last time, and the excitement of the crowd as Pax played them like an expert, and the way Cain, Remington, and Stellan had seemed so fucking proud of him. I loved those moments when I saw the more tender bonds between them, even though they were assholes to everyone, even each other.

And then, as if right on cue, I heard loud music pumping. That bastard had gotten the DJ started early to drown out my shouts.

I was really regretting not fucking up his fight now. He totally deserved it. And yet… I liked the idea of Pax having his own money and feeling he was free.

I entertained myself for the next hour or so imagining Pax groveling, although I wasn’t sure he had enough sense to grovel. The loud beat of the party pulsed through the room.

His fight probably hadn’t started yet. But I could imagine Cain, Stellan and Remington making their way through their throngs of admirers and coming upstairs. It was easy to imagine the girls smiling at them, touching them; I’d seen it before, and I felt a surge of rage. I had faith the guys had a unique bond–or obsession–with me, but I still hated the idea of girls coming onto them.

I’d gone from wanting the best for Paxton to being a little tempted to fuck him up. I mean, where was the trust? I couldn’t believe he’d handcuffed me to a chair. I was amazed by my ability to still feel betrayed by these guys when, after all, I had known very well that they were and always would be assholes.

Then the door opened, and one of those aforementioned assholes walked in. It was Remington.

“Did Pax send you to check on me?” I demanded.

He gave me a startled look and then rushed toward me. “Pax did this to you?”

“Yes,” I fumed.

“Why?” he asked.

“Does it matter? There’s no good reason to tie your…” I faltered over what I was exactly to Pax, then I demanded, “Get me out of here.”

“It does matter a little,” he said. “Maybe he had a good reason.”

“There is no good reason for tying the woman you’re dating to an office chair so she misses an important event,” I hissed at him through gritted teeth.

“I disagree,” he answered. “Have you met yourself?”

“Remington, Get. Me. Out of here.”

“I think maybe he had a good reason for tying you up, and I don’t intend to mess that up for him,” he said, leaning over me, one hand braced on either side of the chair, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t entertain you until he’s ready to untie you.”

“Are you serious? There’s something very wrong with all of you.”

“Well, yes,” he admitted. “But that’s part of why you like us. You need someone as crazy as you are.”

“I’m going to kill you right after I kill him,” I said.

His amused face hung a few inches from mine.

“You’re not making me feel like I should let you go,” he told me. “I’m starting to think maybe he had the right idea.”

“I don’t want to miss his fight.”

“Don’t worry,” he promised. “There’s a million cameras. You won’t miss anything. We can watch it later, but I’m betting that there's a good reason for tying you up, besides the obvious one that I can see.”

“And what is that?” I fumed.

“This,” he said simply before he leaned in and kissed me hard. His lips were irresistible as his hands skimmed my thighs, every part of my body responding to his touch. I kissed him back despite my exasperation with them.

“The fights are all the same,” he murmured against my lips. “I think we can do something a little more interesting.”

“I just want to know that Pax is alright,” I said.

“He always is,” he promised me. “Come on, little devil.”

I stared at him in surprise.

“What? You don’t like that nickname?”

“I don’t,” I said. “As you all well know. But also it’s Cain’s demented nickname for me.”

I’d hated it, but now I realized that Cain didn’t dislike my dark side, not one bit, and so I didn’t mind it quite as much as I used to. Although, it was still an annoying reminder of my father’s evil legacy.

“You’re right,” he said consideringly. “I need my own name for you.”

“I guess you can just see what rolls off your tongue,” I said, thinking of his earlier ridiculous nicknames.

“Are you mocking me?” he asked. “Because that seems like a terrible idea in your current vulnerable position.”

“Remy, just let me out,” I said, beyond exasperated that he seemed inclined to stick with Paxton’s bizarre handcuffing.

“I’ve been thinking,” he murmured, “About how lately our sex has been one-sided. I know Stellan is currently doing his apology tour, and I’m really amused watching him groveI–I mean, he deserves to–but I don’t think I deserve to be punished.”

“Earlier, I would have agreed with you,” I spit, “but right now, I’m as tempted to murder you in your sleep as I am Paxton.”

He chuckled. “Temper, temper. There are all those girls out there that would happily be a total slut for any of us.”

“Just let me up and I’ll show you how much of a slut I can be,” I purred.

“Tempting,” he said, “but you seemed pretty intent on murdering me a few seconds ago, so I think I’ll keep you tied up until you show me you do indeed want to be a good girl.”

I glared up at him. “And what exactly does a good girl do?”

He answered by unzipping his trousers and pulling his long, thick cock out of his pants.

I could’ve rolled my eyes at these idiots. They’d given me orgasm after orgasm because they wanted to. I really wanted to reciprocate for all of them, but knowing how controlling they all were, I figured he might enjoy forcing the issue and degrading me more than he would any other way. And I lived to please…when I fucking wanted to.

“So if I let you fuck my throat like any of those sluts out there would, I can join the party?”

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “But it would certainly put me in a good mood.”

I didn’t think he would actually risk any chance of harming Paxton’s fight, and seeing me loose would definitely fuck with Paxton’s head. I was currently debating just what revenge I would want to take on him anyway, but I said, “Fine, give me your cock.”

“Such sweet words,” he muttered.

He took himself in his hand and gently tapped my cheek with his dick. I parted my lips, welcoming him in. He brushed the tip over my lower lip, then said, “Beg me for it.”

These guys really were perverted.

They were also my favorites anyway.

“Please, Remington,” I begged him. “Please let me suck your dick. I’m so hungry for your cum.”

He started to press his cock into my mouth, then paused. “If you bite me, there will be serious fucking consequences. Do you understand me?”

Oh, there would be consequences for this any way you sliced it. But I said sassily, “Yes, Sir.”

His eyes glinted. He didn’t like that quite as much as Cain did, but he still liked it quite a bit.

He pushed his cock into my mouth, and I licked around the tip, looking up at him, watching his face change and relax. I liked having this hold over him. I was as eager to make him happy as all these men were to make me happy.

I licked around his cock, loving watching the way his face softened, his lips parted. His body tensed, trembling with the power of his building orgasm as I sucked. Then he said roughly, “Such a good girl. I’m going to cum in your mouth.”

He cupped my forehead, stroking his fingers through my hair, then held it there, keeping my head still as he vigorously fucked my mouth. I could barely keep up with his cock working in and out over and over again, his hips driving furiously. I gagged, but it didn’t matter, he kept going. And it just turned me on more, because I loved seeing the pleasure blossom to joy across his face.

His cock jerked in my mouth, salty cum spilling into it.

“Let me see it,” he commanded, his voice rough with pleasure.

I opened my mouth, showing him the cum glistening all over my pink tongue.

He let out a long sigh, full of satisfaction. “Good girl.”

“So, are you going to let me up?”

“More or less. I don’t trust you to behave yourself any more than Pax did.”

“I thought that we were ushering in a new era of trust and respect.”

“Oh, I trust you and respect you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think you have a wicked side, Aurora. One I appreciate…” He went searching through one of the desk drawers.

“No, no keys in here. I thought we might still have some. I’ll go through Pax’s stuff and find the keys.”

He left, and I worried he wouldn’t come back. But then he stepped through the door, a grin on his face, tossing a set of keys in the air.

He knelt between my knees, and his hand slid over my thighs until his thumb brushed over my soaking wet panties. “You enjoyed that.”

“Yes.” I wasn’t going to try to deny it. Why the hell shouldn’t I enjoy using them?

“That’s so fucking hot. Everything about you is so fucking hot.” He snapped the cuff he’d just taken off my wrist onto his own and grinned at me wickedly. “Especially keeping you close to me.”

8

AURORA

T he handcuffs connecting us jerked awkwardly against my wrist as Remington swung open the door from the office. “Now, at least Cain can chill out. He was looking a teensy bit homicidal the last time I saw him.”

“I told him I was going with Pax.”

“Yes, but you’re not with him, and you aren’t on a video screen. So, I imagine he’s feeling slightly grouchy at the moment, even by Cain’s standards.”

I fumed at the reminder that Cain was always watching me. “He’s an overbearing, possessive—”

Cain's dry voice interrupted me, rolling through my body like his voice set me on fire. “You might want to choose your next words carefully, Aurora.”

“Oh, whether she does or not, I guarantee she’s going to do something to earn some punishment before the end of the night,” Remington said cheerfully. Then, with faux bewilderment, he added, “Sometimes I think she might actually like it.”

Cain wasn’t even listening to Remington’s usual bullshit and banter. His gaze was totally fixed on me, sweeping up my body as if he wanted to eat me. Roughly, he said, “You look good.”

Those were just three little words. But what mattered most was the way he was looking at me, as if I was the only woman in a room full of scantily clad obsessed women who would do anything to please him.

But I wouldn’t do anything to please Cain. I didn’t mind pissing him off, in fact.

“What’s going on?” Cain asked.

“Paxton was afraid he couldn’t concentrate with me anywhere around,” I said.

“As well he should be afraid,” Remington said. “Look at you. So fucking hot.”

I threw up my free hand in exasperation. “I’m dressed like every other girl here.”

“It doesn’t fucking matter. They’re not you.”

“They’d be all over you if you so much as smiled at them,” I reminded Cain.

“You’re jealous,” he pointed out, not even trying to hide his satisfaction.

I stepped forward and ran my free hand over the waist of his jeans, feeling his body stiffen against my touch. Then I pulled his shirt up, revealing the tattoo across his lower abs. My handwriting looked deranged…but that fit. “I guess you’re right, I don’t have any reason to be jealous. Everyone knows you fucking belong to me, Cain.”

His gaze burned down at me, that mix of anger and lust I found so alluring. My breath caught in my chest. I never knew what he was going to do next. Shove me down on a table and fuck me in front of his guests? Tattoo me himself? But what he did might have surprised me even more. “If you’re feeling jealous, little devil, let me show you how little I care about all these sluts.”

He raised his hand, and everyone’s attention immediately rippled to him; Cain silently commanded the room, all the time. He called, “Clear the room.”

There were rumbles of protest, but everyone was terrified of Cain. The room was empty except for me and my three men in a matter of seconds.

Tension crackled between Cain and me. He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over my forehead. I stared up at him, wondering what the hell had just happened. Cain’s ability to surprise me seemed infinite.

“You might as well be the only woman in the room whether they’re here or not,” Cain said. It was so sweet I would’ve melted, and then Cain added, “Because I can never take my eyes off you…in case you drug my drink or stab me in the back.”

“Sweet talker.”

Remington tugged gently on the handcuffs, guiding me to a couch at one end of the room. “I don’t want you anywhere near the viewing area in case Pax sees your face and loses focus.”

I agreed with him even though I made a show of protesting and requiring a lot of promises—promises of snacks—to get me to accept a place on the couch. A big screen TV showed the fight. In a way, it was nice because I could see a close-up of Pax’s beautiful, brutal, intense face. My stomach knit itself into knots, nervous about how the fight would go. I might be furious at him, but I wanted to see him win. We would deal with punishment later.

“Is it wise to record?” I asked.

“It’s fine,” Remington said. “I’ve got everything under control. No one comes in with their cell phones; there are scanners at the door to make sure no one breaks the rules—as if everyone's terror of Cain isn’t sufficient—and I control the feeds. No one’s going to hack into them.”

I nodded. “But why record?”

“Pax is hoping to be recruited by the UFC. And by a lot of sponsors. It’s important to him that the fight is recorded and goes up on YouTube; we want to make sure that we control the narrative.”

“You guys always do.”

Pax moved across the ring with violent grace, surefooted and sexy as hell. His opponent tried to close on him, but Pax slipped out of his reach, then swung a blow into the other man’s kidney that made him grunt in pain.

His colorful tattoos were on display across his muscular arms. I could see why every girl here wanted him in that moment. They were screaming for him down on the floor, yelling for him to win, promising him all kinds of sex and tits.

The thought of him going home with one of them, working off his post-fight adrenaline by pumping into one of those girls, his hips rolling, sweat sliding down his chiseled body…it made me instantly furious. It made me want to press myself into his arms and claim him as my own.

“Pax doesn’t seem as savage as usual,” Cain muttered, looking displeased.

“Maybe Aurora did take his edge off,” Stellan said.

“No wonder my father wanted to kill her. He’s always had a lot of money riding on Pax.”

I gave him an affronted look, and Remington said, “Too soon, man.”

“I’m not sure there’ll ever be a good time to joke about how your father tried to have me murdered.”

“He just ‘tried’. No one’s ever going to hurt you with me around,” Cain said.

Stellan and Remington plied me with snacks as Cain paced around, watching the fight. Pax stalked around his opponent, stepping in and jabbing then dancing back. He was so much faster than the other man, but the other guy was a lot bigger. It was hard to take my eyes off Pax to even look at the other guy; Pax was so magnetic. And judging on the screaming from the crowd, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Because we were watching on the big screen, I could see the close-up of Pax’s face and his opponent's as they fought. His opponent cinched his arm around Pax’s neck, and his lips moved, whispering something into his ear.

Stellan rose to his feet. “What the hell is he saying to him?”

I couldn’t read his lips to know what he was saying, but as they released each other, Pax’s fury seemed to wash over him, energizing the fight. Cain let out a grunt of approval as Pax unleashed a furious volley of blows on the other man.

The other guy landed punch after punch on Pax, but it didn’t matter; Pax didn’t seem to feel them.

“Yes!” I shouted, jumping to my feet. I barely felt how the handcuff pulled at my wrist as Remy jumped up with me.

Remington’s hand slid across the broken skin above the cuff, soothing a wound I hadn’t even felt. He kissed the top of my head. “You are just so fucking cute. I love the way you love him.”

Then Pax punched the other guy across the jaw, and blood spewed from it as he went down like a heap of bricks.

The announcer’s sequined jacket shone as he stepped over the fallen body and raised Pax’s arm in the air. “Another victory for our hometown boy!”

I exhaled in relief.

“Thank fuck, he had me worried,” Cain muttered, still pacing as if he was full of his own restless tension.

I jumped up and went to the edge of the box, wanting to see Pax. But he was already leaving the stage, his hair damp with sweat, his body marked with blood—most of it not his. He seemed like he was on a mission, and my heart twisted at the thought he might be going to find one of those girls who were so eager to fuck him.

Pax stormed into the empty box a few minutes later though. His gaze swept across the room, finding mine.

He grabbed me, his hand gliding through my hair, and pressed a hard kiss to my lips.

“I’m still going to make you pay for this,” I said breathlessly.

He grinned back at me. “I look forward to it. But you know I’m going to punish you for whatever you do.”

Then he was kissing me again, and for a second, all my worries about these men and what they faced slipped away, and I lost myself in the heat of his body and the salty taste of his lips.

9

AURORA

P ax’s hot, wet tongue slid into my mouth, tasting me as if it was our first time. He was starving for me…and I was starving for him. His kiss was aggressive. He fucked my mouth the same way he would be fucking my pussy later. His kiss was dominating. I could feel the pent-up energy running through him. My panties were soaked just thinking of it all being channeled towards me. I rubbed against him…feeling voracious, like I was getting a rush simply from touching him.

“My big cock is going to slide into your perfect fucking cunt, and I’m going to make you cum so hard you pass out,” he rasped.

My heartbeat felt unsteady, like all the blood had rushed to my head. “Promises, promises,” I murmured breathlessly through every perfect kiss. He pressed his dick against me more, and I felt like I would fucking die if it wasn’t inside me soon.

All of this delicious buildup.

I was ready for the release.

A throat cleared, and I realized that something was tugging on my wrist.

I tore away from Pax’s lips reluctantly, and Paxton growled, trying to chase after them.

And then I remembered I was still handcuffed to Remington.

“As hot as this is…something tells me I won’t be allowed to join in,” Remington said…his voice pained and a very large erection practically bursting from his pants. “So how about we get these handcuffs off before I embarrass myself and cum just from being in the proximity of all those pheromones you both have flying off you.”

“Poor baby,” I murmured, trying to stop myself from rubbing my legs together. I was literally aching for Paxton’s cock. I had learned that hate sex…or makeup sex…was the best kind. And what I had coming with Paxton was a little bit of both.

Remington went to work on my wrist, and Paxton moved in for another scorching kiss…when Cain’s dark laugh filled the room.

“I’m afraid that you’ll have to wait to slide into Aurora’s perfect cunt for at least another hour. We have an afterparty to get to…and all the sponsors you’ve been after will be there. You have to make an appearance…a timely one…and then you can start the celebrations.”

Paxton threw his head back, staring up at the ceiling like he was going mad. “Fuck,” he groaned, before pulling me to him so suddenly that I squeaked.

“First chance I get, you’re mine. Your sexy fucking lips are mine. Your perfect fucking pussy is mine. And your ass is mine.”

“You don’t think my ass is ‘fucking perfect?’ I gasped in mock outrage.

“Most fucking perfect ass I’ve ever seen. And I’m sure it feels perfect too.”

“I can attest to that,” offered Stellan, raising his hand, his eyes gleaming like he was back in Paxton’s SUV, fucking me.

Despite the fact that these men really had claimed every part of me, my cheeks flushed at so much discussion over my ass.

Cain’s dark presence hovered behind me then, his hands holding my shoulders. I arched back towards him, feeling his dick between my cheeks. “It’s Paxton’s night,” he murmured, biting my neck almost savagely. “But I want to watch.”

There were a lot of different reactions happening in the room. Stellan was panting. Remington was moaning like he was imagining it. Paxton growled…and I wasn’t sure if it was with displeasure or if he was turned on…

“Party. Now,” I practically whimpered, my insides throbbing. I felt seconds away from getting on my knees and begging for an orgy.

Sigh. I guess I could be a bit patient. I knew it would be worth the wait.

Paxton took a step towards me and tossed me over his shoulder suddenly, like I was a bag of flour.

“Um, what are you doing?” I growled.

He smacked one of my cheeks, the sting giving me sparks of pleasure. “Be a good girl, so I can give you your prize tonight.”

Paxton set off down the stairs, and I wasn’t sure how he was managing to do this, but every step had my clit bumping against his shoulder, making the lust even worse.

“I thought you were the one who’s supposed to get the prize,” I murmured once we got to the bottom of the stairs. He slowly slid me off his shoulder, so every part of my front rubbed against his.

“You’re going to let me fuck you. I can’t imagine a better prize.” Fuck. He was gazing at me almost like he was mesmerized by what he saw…like he couldn’t believe his luck. Like I really was the best prize he could think of.

And now I wasn’t only feeling horny…I was also feeling emotional.

He didn’t wait for me to say anything else, he just shuttled me through the crowd, ignoring all the masses of people still gathered in the warehouse, calling his name desperately.

I was so fucking proud of him. I was feeling jealous before, but now, listening to the roars of adulation, the begging and pleading of people who just wanted a piece of him…even if it was just touching his shirt…I was simply happy for him.

Paxton thought he’d been in Cain’s shadow all this time, so if this was what it took to make him feel like he had stepped out of it…I was all for it.

We made it out into the cool night air. Someone had pulled Paxton’s Escalade up to the front and there was security surrounding it, literally holding back screaming…and crying fans.

Paxton was looking around, kind of bemused. The energy of the other fights was intense, but this was another level. You could feel it in the air. Something was different now. Things wouldn’t be the same after this. Paxton had always been thought of as a god in the crowds he ran with at school…but this was far beyond that.

He squeezed my waist and winked at me, like he wanted to make sure I knew that his attention was still on me. Then he helped me into the SUV and slid in, shutting the door in front of Remington’s amused face.

The car still smelled of sex, and Paxton groaned once we were inside, the outside air cut off, and our lust seeming to thicken the scent in the air even more.

Cain slid into the driver’s seat, and Stellan got in the passenger side…leaving Remington outside still.

He held up a set of keys in front of Stellan’s window and Stellan rolled it down.

“You can ride bitch if you want?” he offered Remington, gesturing to the third row behind Paxton and me. Paxton had me on his lap, and he was nuzzling my neck while he ran his hands from my breasts to my thighs, making sure to hit my clit with every pass.

Remington licked his lips. “Tempting. But I’m afraid Paxton’s not in a sharing mood so I’ll just take Cain’s car.” He gave Cain a mock salute, and Cain cursed, clearly just then realizing that Remington stole his keys. Cain hit the gas, almost running over several of the screaming fans, and Paxton and Stellan both threw their heads back and let out some kind of war cry.

Boys were really fucking weird.

Paxton’s hands got even busier the closer we got. The party was at some rich tech billionaire’s house. Some guy who evidently was a huge fan of Paxton and had been following him since the beginning.

I was a little awestruck at the modern monstrosity of a mansion when we pulled up to the front. The mansion appeared to be made completely of glass. Every single room had floor-to-ceiling glass and—oh, that’s a girl getting fucked against said glass in a bedroom up there. And wow—pretty sure in that room the group is snorting something off of someone’s ass. And in that room—this was going to be quite the party.

I had no interest in attending if Paxton didn’t need to be here. I could come up with my own kind of fun with my four men. But I guessed I could stand it for a few hours.

As if he could read my mind, Paxton murmured in my ear, “Fifteen minutes. That’s all these fuckers get. And then I’m dragging you into one of the rooms and we’re not leaving for the rest of the night…”

“An hour,” Cain drawled. “You have to make an appearance for an hour. And then I’ll make sure you get your play time.”

Paxton made a low, rasping groan like an animal, and my muscles clenched… He peppered my neck with playful nips as Cain parked the car right at the front.

“An hour,” I gasped as Paxton gave my clit a gentle tap before scooting us out of the car.

“Stay by me,” Paxton ordered. “I—I don’t want to share you tonight.”

I cocked my head, studying his beautiful face. There was some bruising from the fight and his lip was busted, but it only added to the rugged, perfect picture that had gotten me off many a time. I glanced at Cain, realizing he would have seen those sessions if he’d been recording everything.

I squeezed Paxton’s hand reassuringly before turning my attention to Cain. “Cain, how many times a day do you whack off to your stalker videos?”

Cain turned and raised an eyebrow and then pursed his lips, like he was trying to count.

“Does it matter that most of those times I’m not thinking of you when I cum?” I taunt.

Remington came up behind us then, Cain’s car parked right behind the SUV. It was still weird to me that these men could be at a billionaire's house and still somehow get the front-row parking spots. Even if Paxton wasn’t the guest of honor, I was sure that would still be the case.

“Tell me, buttercup. How many times have you stroked your pretty pussy thinking of me?”

“Buttercup?” I groaned.

He shook his head. “I guess I’ll strike that one off the list.”

“You can call me Aurora, you know.”

All four of them laughed like I’d said something funny.

Weirdos.

We’d almost made it to the door when Cain finally answered me. “It doesn’t matter to me, little devil. Because I know that I get you off better than any of these fuckers. You trying to make yourself cum is a cheap imitation of what I give you. And we both know that.”

He winked and opened the door then, releasing the sounds of what must have been a rock concert inside. I heard all three of the guys grumbling over Cain’s comment, but I was too caught up in what we were walking into, to pay that much attention.

The place was packed, and enormous. It seemed to stretch on forever, and almost every inch of the open space was taken over by the crowd. There were enormous glass staircases off to our left and right, and people were lined up on both, trying to get up to the packed upstairs. I was worried they were going to crack and send all of them to their deaths.

There were at least five white sectionals spaced all over the open living room, and there was a huge movie screen on one of the glass walls, showcasing Paxton’s fight. Someone must have been watching the door because as soon as Paxton appeared in the doorway behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, and a voice emanated from the walls, announcing his presence.

“This is weird,” I called to Paxton, and he just winked, clearly enjoying the raucous calls of the crowd.

And then we were swarmed. By what felt like a million girls.

“Hey, Paxton.”

“Remington, you’re looking hot.”

“Stellan, want to play?”

“Cain, fuck me!”

That last one had me lunging forward to try and kill the girl, but Paxton just tightened his hold around my waist and nuzzled my neck, successfully calming me down in only a few seconds.

“Don’t worry, Princess. You’re all we see,” he purred, and I reached behind me and squeezed his very hard dick as a reward for his good behavior.

“Paxton. There’s Ted over there,” Cain pointed, to where a nerdy-looking guy dressed like a rockstar was sitting on one of the sectionals…surrounded by scantily clad women. He looked like he was playing dress up for Halloween in his getup and had hired all the women as props…and I wasn’t entirely sure that the chest hair peeking out from where his black silk shirt was unbuttoned…was real.

“Who’s Ted?” I asked as we began to walk over, fending off all the people dying to tell Paxton how wonderful he was. Through it all, Paxton kept himself wrapped around me, giving head nods to people but that was about it.

“The guy who’s throwing this party. His company recently became a title sponsor of the UFC, so we’re hoping he can work a little magic for our boy,” explained Remington. He bopped me on the nose. “So be nice.”

I scoffed at him. “I’m always nice.”

“Yes, you are,” agreed Stellan, and the rest of the guys shot him incredulous looks.

“That’s why you’re my favorite tonight,” I told him.

Paxton growled in my ear and squeezed me tighter, making sure to grind his dick farther into my ass. “We’ll see who your favorite is in an hour, babe.”

Somehow, I fucking giggled. Which was embarrassing and really messed with my street cred…but whatever.

“Hey, guys!” Ted said exuberantly as we got over to the couch. He jumped up, pushing a few girls off of him, and extended a trembling hand to Cain…like he was meeting royalty and completely terrified.

Cain smiled at him…and actually appeared…nice for once.

Cain was a dark dream tonight. Black jeans, a white v-neck shirt, and a black leather jacket that accentuated his tan skin and his gold hair.

Fuck, the boy was hot.

They all were fucking hot.

Down girl.

“Great win!” Ted said to Paxton next, stammering as he spit out his congratulations. Paxton moved me to his side, wrapping his left arm around me so that he could reach out his other hand to give the guy a fist bump. “You gotta tell me. What did he say to you that made you finish him like that.”

I glanced up at Paxton interestedly. I’d forgotten that I wanted to ask him about that too.

“Nothing,” Paxton muttered, much to Ted’s disappointment. Ted held up his hands. “I get it. Don’t want to share fight secrets.”

One of the girls that had just been wrapped around him suddenly appeared next to Cain and tried to wrap herself around him…

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” offered Remington. “She’ll probably kill you.”

Ted glanced over at me and did a double-take. “I know you!” He must have seen the confusion on my face. “I mean, I don’t know you, know you. But you’re the Demon’s daughter! That famous serial killer guy.”

My stomach sank at the flippant way he’d said that, and Paxton’s grip around my waist tightened reflexively. The girl was staring at me raptly, her face paling as she squinted at my features. She was still holding onto Cain’s shirt though, and seemed not to notice the way he was staring at her like a bug he wanted to squish.

“You’re not what the pictures look like.”

“She had surgery,” Ted announced cheerfully. And honestly, the promise of out-of-this-world sex with Paxton or not…I was suddenly not happy to be there. Ted realized then that Paxton’s arm was wrapped around me, and that there was a dark aura around the five of us as my men hovered around me protectively.

Now his face was the one paling. “Not that it matters,” he stammered. “You’re gorgeous. And I mean… a celebrity in your own right…and Paxton’s luck…fuck.” His voice trailed off as his fumbled words just got worse.

Cain slapped him on the shoulder, having successfully sent the leachy girl packing while I’d been listening to Ted dig a grave for himself. “This is quite the party,” Cain said cheerfully, and Ted’s whole frame relaxed at his demeanor.

You had to know Cain to see the clench in his jaw, or the tension threaded down his neck. He was furious at Ted, and probably plotting something. But at least for now, he was going to play nice for Paxton.

I loved that.

There were very few times when the guys’ camaraderie was in evidence. But it was obvious that they all cared about Paxton having his dreams come true.

And I was fucking swooning over that.

Cain and Ted began to talk about UFC stuff, and I kind of spaced out as Paxton began to massage my waist. Some other “suits” had come up to talk to Remington and Stellan, so I allowed myself to just space out and people-watch.

And there was a lot to watch.

It was strange then. I’d spent much of my life feeling like I was playing a part, wearing a mask, so to speak, so that I fit in enough in social settings not to draw too much attention to myself. Of course, that had become infinitely harder once these assholes had blown my cover. But it hadn’t changed the fact that I never had fit in.

Not once my mother had left me on that bench.

As I looked at all the people around us who were just having the fucking time of their lives…flickers of sadness burned at my insides. I’d never know what that felt like…to just let go. To not have to worry about what was going to happen. To not have all the sins and mistakes of my past wrapped around me.

They were so lucky. They were so lucky not to be touched by the darkness. They were lucky to be able to just drink their fucking beers, and move their fucking bodies against a stranger without wondering if that stranger was going to turn out to be a psychopath—

“Aurora?” Stellan murmured, staring at me too perceptively, like he could read all the fractured thoughts floating through my brain.

I shook my head slightly and gave him a wan smile. That grew when Paxton rubbed his still outrageously hard cock against me.

“I’m dying,” he chose that moment to whisper. His free hand slid around the nape of my neck and squeezed it gently. “Has it been an hour yet?”

“Have you let Ted suck your cock long enough?” I asked lightly, and he moved my head so that he could bite down on my bottom lip warningly.

“I think there are a few more people Cain wants to introduce me to, and then you’re mine.”

I nodded, wishing like hell we were done, but willing to play nicely for a bit longer for Paxton’s sake.

He was quite the complicated creature—ice cold one day and then wanting to fuck my brains out on another. But I guess they all were like that. Remington was the only relatively stable one of the bunch, and I didn’t know if that said much.

Another wannabe rockstar-looking dude with too tight leather pants for a man his size sidled up to the group. Ted introduced us to him, making sure to be more deferential in his introduction of me than he had been before. We talked to him…and then another man wearing a cowboy hat who apparently owned a bunch of oil in Louisiana.

They seemed to be everywhere…these so-called potential sponsors. And I was extremely confident based on the way they were eyeing Paxton with dollar signs in their gazes that he was going to have a lot of options for sponsors after tonight.

Through it all, Paxton attempted to torture me. He would brush across my breasts, slide his fingers down my inner thigh, smooth down my hair…rub his dick against me. Every touch was purposeful, designed to look innocent to everyone else, but set me on fire.

And finally, I couldn’t take anymore.

A Wall Street-looking guy was talking to Paxton as Paxton nonchalantly had his hand up the back of my skirt and was softly pressing on my asshole—and I snapped.

“Excuse me,” I murmured, spinning around so that I was facing Paxton. I slammed my mouth against his, only faintly aware of the cheers and whistles that had filled the room at my move.

The kiss was hot and dirty, and I could taste both things as his tongue slid against me decadently. Dark heat flooded my body, and I loved how Paxton feasted on my mouth like he was already inside of me…like there were a million dirty thoughts in his head right then of everything he was going to do to me.

I didn’t care that I was making a scene. All I cared about was the way my skin felt too tight, like I was going to explode if he didn’t fuck me right now.

And I could tell he felt the same. Because he swept me into his body so my arms and legs were wrapped around him and we could keep kissing as we walked. It was the perfect position to be able to rub myself against the hard ridge of his arousal.

I almost didn’t recognize myself. I was more animal instinct than human being right then.

“The basement,” I was faintly aware of Cain murmuring, and Paxton changed directions and headed to the opposite side of the room where I’d seen a descending staircase there earlier when I’d been looking around the room.

We kept making out the entire time we walked, Paxton’s hand grabbing and pulling at one of my ass cheeks, his fingers sliding down between them to rub against my soaking wet core. That might be the best thing about skirts…easy access to what I wanted. Because what I wanted..was for Paxton to keep touching me…and to never stop.

I cried out when he did in fact move his fingers, and Paxton laughed softly. We locked gazes, and his amber eyes were staring, so vividly gold in the dim lighting that I was entranced. We’d stopped in front of a door, and Cain moved in front of us to unlock it with a key.

“Courtesy of Ted,” Cain murmured as the door opened into a dimly lit, sparsely decorated room…that happened to have an enormous king-sized bed in the middle of it.

“I thought I was just going to be playing with Pax,” I said as I began to lick and suck down Paxton’s neck.

“I did tell you that I was going to watch,” Cain tossed out as he took off his leather jacket and settled into an elegant leather armchair that was out of place among the rest of the modern furniture in the room. He lounged in the chair like a king, slouched back with his arms on the armrest, a beautiful looking devil in the muted light.

Paxton shut the door behind us with a soft click, and immediately, all the outside noise disappeared, and the room was perfectly silent…intimate really.

This room was luckily not one of the ones with see-through walls—a good thing because I don’t know that I could have said no even if it was—I was just too turned on.

“Pay attention to me,” Paxton growled, taking my attention away from Cain.

“I see you,” I murmured as our lips clashed together again. There was a fire in his gaze and there was power pouring from his body in waves. He threw me on the bed and then lowered himself on top of me, pressing his full weight against mine, probably to make sure I truly was there with him, that I could feel every inch of him.

He was so gloriously hard, grinding against my beyond-sensitive clit.

And I almost came right then.

Paxton took my mouth in a mind-erasing kiss, hungry and perfect as he reached down between us and ripped off my top and then my bra, before he took my breasts in his rough, callused hands, and began to rub his thumbs over my nipples until I was gasping and shaking. I was so fucking sensitive from all the hours of foreplay, and his fingertips were sending darts of soaring pleasure with every pass they made.

He moved down my body and started to suckle on the tight point of my nipple, his teeth scraping and pulling. I was writhing and shaking and I’m still aware of him.

Cain.

His dark, hot gaze rubbed against my skin, like it was his mouth on me too. His presence was just too much. There wasn’t a way to forget he was there. My dark lover who had always been so confident in his ownership of me. From the first time I’d stepped into that room at that very first party.

Paxton’s mouth was greedy and perfect as he moved to my other nipple, kissing and suckling my sensitive peak, until I was there.

I was falling over the edge then, just from his mouth, my soft cries filling the room.

“Fucking perfect. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen,” he murmured as he stared down at me triumphantly.

I gasped as his tongue licked my nipple once again while his hands worked to slide down my skirt and thong, until I was lying there, perfectly naked underneath him.

Cain’s energy drew me then, and I glanced over to see he was still sitting there, appearing perfectly at ease…but now his long, thick…perfect cock was out. He was leisurely stroking it, his eyes glittering in the darkness. Hunger and need in their depths.

I focused back on Paxton again, who was still hovering over me, his gaze trailing up and down my body. For all the adrenaline and power he had bottled up from the fight, he seemed in no hurry to get inside of me.

I felt vulnerable then…at his mercy.

I’d just cum, but I was ready for more. I was slick and wet..and hot for him. Hot for anything he wanted to give me. Pax slid his fingers through my slit, tracing them through my folds, exploring me more than any of them ever had. Our couplings tended to be feverish, spur of the moment, driven by whatever crazy or traumatic thing had happened that day. This was the opposite of that.

This was slow and unhurried…it felt more profound than I could have ever anticipated. His fingers slipped over my clit. He was watching me so closely that I had to stop myself from looking away.

“Taste her,” Cain murmured, cutting through the silent breaths…the intimacy that was slicing through me.

Paxton didn’t seem perturbed at all about Cain’s order; instead, he brought up his glistening fingers and sucked each one, his gaze almost…reverent as he continued to hold my gaze.

“How does she taste?” Cain asked casually, as if he wasn’t watching his friend suck on my juices.

I was fucking gasping by this point, more turned on than I could ever remember being since this sordid fairy tale with these crazy men began.

“Like nirvana. I could live off her.” And then his head lowered between my thighs. His hands pushed my legs wider and he began to aggressively lick at my core, eating into me until my breaths were more like screams. His licks were messy. His tongue and fingers were exploring everywhere, sliding down my crease, licking and pushing against my asshole, and then up around my clit. I was scratching and pulling at his shoulders, the sensations too fucking much. He went to work on my clit, pinching and pulling, flicking at it while he fucked me with his fingers, and the next second I’d fallen again, cumming so hard I almost passed out.

Pax kept licking and sucking, and I thrashed under him, begging him to stop.

“Another,” Cain pressed, and Paxton’s tongue continued, desperately, voraciously, finding that sensitive spot inside of me with his fingers that had me cumming again.

“Please,” I begged. And then Cain was there, his dick tucked back in his pants. Paxton gave me one last long lick before he sat back on his haunches and watched us curiously.

“I’ve decided I want a closer look,” Cain said softly, and I could hear it in his voice, the fact that he was barely controlling himself…that he wanted to rip Paxton off of me and take me for himself tonight.

But he didn’t. Instead, he lifted up my boneless body and slid behind me, so I was propped up in his lap, like Cain was the benevolent king offering his queen to Paxton.

It was fitting, honestly.

Cain licked up my neck, and I felt lust-drugged and desperate.

“Paxton,” I gasped, ready for more. I reached out clumsily and removed the tank top that Paxton had haphazardly thrown on after the fight.

Fuck. He was perfection. Literal perfection. His skin was a perfect golden color, every muscle perfectly defined and sculpted, and I couldn’t help but explore him, even with Cain’s soft breaths on my skin.

Paxton moaned as I touched him, like it hurt, and then he pulled down his loose sweatpants, releasing his thick length. The smooth, rounded head was red and angry looking and engorged. Milky white cum was leaking copiously, and my mouth watered just thinking of how he tasted. I leaned forward and licked at the tip, and he shivered and groaned, thrusting the hot tip further into my mouth.

“Fuck. No. I’m not coming in your mouth,” he spit as he pulled out and then hovered over me. This was somehow natural, the three of us like that. I’d had multiple threesomes with different pairs in the group, but not like this. Not with Cain like this. Paxton gripped the top of the headboard above Cain’s shoulders with one hand and used his other to rub the crown of his cock against my soaking wet core.

My inner muscles spasmed, already preparing for another orgasm even though I’d just recovered from the last one.

He began to glide his thick head inside of me and I gasped, because I was tight after cumming so many times.

“Relax, little devil,” Cain purred. “Let him fuck you with that big cock.” He smoothed the hair off my damp forehead and softly nipped on my neck once again as Pax pushed deeper.

It hurt, but the pain only spiked the pleasure higher.

This felt like a religious experience, and I could tell in Paxton’s gaze he felt the same way as well.

I was choking his cock, the fit much too tight, but I was also so wet that there was the perfect slippery friction as he began to move in and out. I gasped and he paused for a second, his face gritted in…pain.

“You feel too good. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He slid out, excruciatingly slow…before something snapped in him. He began to slam into me. In and out, the rhythm torturous in the pleasure he was wringing from my body. I was being fucked against Cain, his bulge pressing against my ass with every thrust.

Cain was murmuring wicked things in my ear, about how tight and perfect my pussy was…how he wanted to coat me in his cum…choke my throat with his cock…sweet things like that.

And just then he decided to up the ante by sliding his hand underneath my ass. He coated his fingers in the wetness that had dripped down my crack and then he began to rub right there.

I gasped and threw my head back. Paxton groaned, and it may have been the most erotic sound I’d ever heard. “She just got tighter with whatever you’re doing,” he gasped. “Don’t fucking stop.”

Cain chuckled, the sound sinful and feral, making me gush around Paxton’s cock even more.

There was a bead of sweat dripping down Pax’s chest, and I lunged forward and licked it up, like I was desperate to have more of his essence inside of me.

Paxton was frantic as he plunged in and out of me, and then…I arched backwards, a scream coating my throat as bliss radiated through me, singing my insides as I clenched his length and came.

Cain bit down hard on my shoulder as Paxton fucked me through my orgasm, and then he was cumming too, and I could feel him filling my insides with hot liquid. He came and came, until his release dripped out of me because there was too much to contain.

Paxton collapsed onto me, sandwiching me between him and Cain. And I wondered, had I ever felt this sated before…this safe…as I did between these asshole alpha men?

I wiggled when I felt a wet spot against my ass. I glanced up and saw Cain staring down at me, a faint grin on his lips like he was faintly amused.

“If you’re wondering if I just came in my pants…you’d be correct, little devil. A first for me, I must say.”

Paxton barked out a laugh, his face buried against my skin. I shivered at the sensation of his rough jawline scraping against my skin. I still felt like a livewire, a bundle of nerves. I was high on sated lust. Alive in a way I hadn’t been before this.

Apparently, I was a big fan of delayed gratification when it came to Paxton.

A knock on the door sounded. “Yo, stop fucking my girlfriend and get your asses to the party. More people have stopped by wanting to talk to Paxton about…opportunities,” called Remington through the door. Remington’s voice held a thread of jealousy. Which was funny because I definitely had sex with Remington the most of everyone since he tended to insert himself into every remotely sexual situation he could.

Paxton held up a heavy arm and flipped off the door…even though Remington obviously couldn’t see him. He sighed as he pulled out of me…and fuck, a tear dropped down my face. And he saw it. He saw that it physically hurt for me to lose that connection.

He gently kissed the tear and then my lips. “You’re perfect, princess,” he whispered before he slid off the bed.

Cain had his arms around me then, and I could feel the aggression in his grip.

“Your torture tactics are working, little devil. But just know that next time I finally have you…alone, I’m going to fuck you so hard you pass out.”

With that charming notice, he slid me off of him and then ambled off the bed. Both of them stared down at me with heat, them completely dressed and me obviously completely naked.

I flipped them both off…because it felt right, and then I threw my clothes back on while they chuckled, knowing there was no way for me not to look a hot mess.

But as I strolled between them out the door, to the party that had only gotten wilder, I decidedly did not care.

10

AURORA

W e gathered in the dining room in front of the fireplace for breakfast. It was strange to think this room had felt like a torture chamber not all that long ago, where I lived eating cornflakes with buttermilk. Their attempt to torture me with such minor things seemed hilarious now. Although I did really hate it when people fucked with my food. Food was one of the wonderful, reliable things in life. And the scent of pancakes and bacon and freshly cooked eggs made the room feel even more cozy and warm.

But the fact that my men were in here might have done that for me anyway. They were arrayed around the room, Cain kicked back and looking as if he owned the place as always, Remington hard at work on his laptop, and Stellan and Pax crowded around Stellan’s open laptop.

“What is it?” I asked them.

“Pax’s fight’s gone viral,” Stellan said with a grin.

Pax, always too cool for school, shrugged.

Stellan seemed proud enough for two, even if Pax wasn’t really going to react. “He’s already getting attention from these scouts, and a few agents contacted him wanting to represent him, and there are these endorsement deals…”

I couldn’t help but smile at Stellan. The obvious pride he felt and joy in his friend’s success was heartwarming.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Pax said.

“OK, Eeyore.”

“I’m just saying, nothing’s happened yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and throw a party.”

“Every day is a party with Aurora in our lives,” Cain deadpanned. “A stabbing party.”

Just as breakfast started to arrive, Pax pushed his chair back. “I'll be back later.”

The guys looked after him, their faces as blank and stoic as usual, but I could read them well enough by now to know they could tell something was wrong with Pax. I got up to go after him, and Cain said, “Give him some space.”

“No,” I answered. I got one look at Cain’s face–which said he would take me over his knee right at the breakfast table–and slipped out the door before he had the chance. That was a fun game, but my priorities this morning were Pax’s emotional well-being first, bacon second, and Cain a distant third.

I followed Pax out into the hallway, where he looked back at me as if he didn't understand why I was there.

“Sorry,” I said. “Cain said you'd want space. I can leave if you want me to...”

“No, it's OK,” he said. “I always want my space from those guys because...well.”

“Because they're emotionally constipated?”

Pax’s lips ticked up at the corners. “I wouldn't exactly say the two of us are emotionally healthy either, Aurora.”

“No,” I agreed. “Healthy sounds boring.”

“I don't know, I might like to give it a spin sometime.”

I wondered if that was really true given how much people thought Pax’s rage fueled his success.

“Where were you going?” I asked.

“The gym, maybe. I don't know. I just needed a moment. This is what I wanted...but it's coming so fast.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I can't believe I really got the money. This changes everything.”

“What does it really change?” I asked gently. After all, I was pretty sure Cain saw him like a brother. Pax drove a nice car too. He didn't seem like he was missing anything. At least, not financially.

He shook his head. I knew where Pax was most comfortable talking.

“I'll go to the gym with you if you want.”

“Are you really sure you're up for that? I thought you were looking forward to some blueberry muffins. Not everyone wants to beat the shit out of each other before 8 o'clock in the morning.”

“I need to stay ready to face the Demon.” Although I wasn't sure I would ever feel ready for that.

Every trace of humor on Pax’s face was gone in an instant. “You're never going to have to see him again.”

I didn't argue with him, but I knew that wasn't true. I wished it was. There was something that felt inevitable about seeing my father again.

“I should have killed him when I had the chance,” I admitted. But he’d been my only family.

Now, I was slowly turning these insane men into my family. If the Demon knew I’d found people to love me, he’d come and kill them. The image blossomed in my mind like a blood stain: the Demon stringing them all up, gutting them, their organs spilling out onto the floor in front of me. The way he’d try to make me choose which one to hurt first, or try to make me hurt them.

But I’d kill the Demon before he could ever get near my men. I’d do anything to protect them.

“Come on, killer,” Paxton said, slinging his tattooed arm over my shoulders. “If you ever meet the Demon again, you won’t be alone. He won’t know what fucking hit him. But you won’t need us.”

Together, the two of us headed into Pax’s gym. He smelled good first thing in the morning, a fresh, clean scent that clung to his skin. When he tossed me a pair of gloves, he flashed me a grin that was pure sex, and my heart flip-flopped. No wonder every woman last night had been screaming his name. He had the face of an angel even if he was as dangerous as the devil himself.

The two of us started to spar, circling each other. He tapped out at me gently, like a cat pawing at a kitten to help it practice, and I snorted. I stepped in close to him and grabbed his wrist, sweeping his leg out from underneath him.

Pax’s shoulders slammed into the mat, and he stared up at me with surprise written across his handsome face.

“I went easy on you the other day when I was afraid to hurt you before your match,” I said. “But let’s stop playing.”

Pax curled to sit up, his abs flexing with the motion, and rested one tatted arm on his knee. A slow grin spread across his handsome face. “Hot.”

“You like a girl who can kick your ass,” I said.

He swept my leg, so fast his leg was a blur, and I slammed onto the mat beside him. He was on top of me in a second. “I like a girl who can try.”

Tension sizzled between us. I stared up at the lines of his face, chiseled as a god’s. His lips were soft in contrast, his lower lip rounded, and I had a fierce desire to nuzzle his lip, to suck on it, and to feel his hard cock brush against me through his gym shorts.

Oh, wait, that part of my desire was being fully met.

He licked his lips like he wanted me too, then scrambled up. The two of us started to spar again.

“I just have this feeling,” he said suddenly. “Whenever something good happens, I get this bad feeling. Like… something worse has to ruin it.”

Dread settled in my gut. “Yeah, I know that feeling.”

Everyone expected Pax to be happy right now, but he felt a cloud of doom hanging over him. And for a second, I could see it too.

He ripped off his gloves and dropped them to the ground. Then he tilted my chin up, gazing into my eyes. His gorgeous eyes held mine.

“You know it better than anyone else could,” he said quietly. “Both our lives have been marked by blood. You and I look so different on the outside, but I think… you’re the one person who understands me, Aurora.”

I stared up at him, searching for the right words to comfort him.

He looked down at me as if he were about to kiss me, and my lips parted.

His phone started to ring from the bench in the corner. It was a cheesy country song as his ringtone, not what I'd expect from Pax, who froze as if he'd just heard a ghost instead of a country singer.

“What is that?” I teased him. “You don't seem like a ringtone kind of guy.”

“I’m not.” he said in a strangled voice. “That was my mom's ringtone. I've never put it on my phone.”

He went to it and picked it up. But the phone stopped ringing as soon as it was in his hand.

“What the fuck,” he said. “That number just texted me too.”

The feeling that something terrible was coming washed over me. “Maybe we should see it with the guys.”

“I don't need them,” he said harshly. “It’s just a video.”

Maybe it was a violation of his privacy, but these men had already invaded my boundaries over and over. I leaned in to see. I had to know what was happening, had to do something with the racing sense of something horrible happening.

The video that played showed an apartment, small and tidy, the kitchen alcove visible beyond the living room. A crucifix hung over the couch alongside family photos.

A woman walked into the room, her long dark hair falling around her beautiful face. Even on a cell phone, I could see the way she smiled like she knew the person videotaping, then her face changed into one of horror.

She turned to run away. Standing right behind her was a small boy.

Paxton.

Pax made a strangled, wounded sound in the back of his throat, something I’d never heard from him before.

“It’s my mom,” he said. “It’s the night my mom was murdered.”

11

PAXTON

I  stared down at the video on my cell phone, knowing I needed to watch the video and see if it really was what I thought. I’d been just a little boy when my mother was brutally raped and murdered. I didn’t remember him videotaping… but I didn’t remember anything of that night, really. I’d been young and it had been traumatic. The police had said my few memories weren’t meaningful enough to use for a prosecution.

But they’d been meaningful enough for me. I’d killed the man who did this to my mom.

Knowing he was dead and gone made me strong enough to press play again. I was transfixed by the video. I heard Aurora trying to talk to me in the distance, and I heard the moment when she gave up and ran out of the gym.

By the time she came back, leading Cain, Stellan, and Remington, I’d watched the whole video. It was just a part of what happened.

Just up to the first time she begged.

“My son is in the next room, please, can’t we go, leave him here, he’s asleep… I’ll go anywhere you want. I’ll do anything you want.”

She had just wanted to protect me, no matter how terrified she was.

Cain leaned down and took the phone out of my hand.

I was on my feet in an instant, my grief turning into a surge of rage. “Where the fuck did this come from?”

“We’ll find out,” Cain promised, tossing the phone to Remy.

“Don’t just rip the fucking phone out of my hand,” I warned Cain. “It’s not your mother on there, begging for her life.”

Cain’s jaw flexed, as if he were struggling to contain himself. But he just said, “We’ll find out who did this, Pax.”

“I don’t fucking need you.” I grabbed the phone from Remington, who looked shocked, and headed for the door.

“Where the hell are you going?” Cain demanded.

I spun around. A suspicion that had prickled under my skin exploded out of me now.

“Did you know? Did you know there was a fucking video?”

Cain frowned. “No. Of course not.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Your father controls everything. He would have found this fucking video, wouldn’t he, when he helped us find her killer. Unless he fucking kept it from me.”

Cain was just like his father—controlling, dominating. Alexander put a nicer veneer on it than Cain did, but he was even worse.

Unless…

“Did you know this was out there?” I demanded. “Did you know he taped what he did to her?”

“I’m going to say this to you one more time, and I hope like fuck for your sake that you listen.” Cain’s voice was ice. “I didn’t fucking know. I would have—and I will—kill whoever hurt her. And whoever is fucking with you now.”

“I don’t need you.”

“Yeah, you said that already. Unlike you, I can fucking listen. Now give the phone back to Remy so we can get to work.”

“You don’t give me orders.” I headed for the door.

“You’re not going to confront my father,” Cain said. “Not until we know what we’re dealing with.”

I didn’t turn back, but I could feel them coming for me, the tension in the room shifting as they prepared to rush me.

“Don’t,” Aurora cried, but it was too late.

Cain tackled me from behind. I spun, driving my fist into his gut, already expecting him. The three of them piled on top of me, and we all slammed into the wall.

“You’re his fucking bitches,” I raged at Stellan and Remington.

Stellan punched me across the jaw. I shook it off, the four of us staggering together. They fought to pin me, but I had an advantage.

I was happy to fucking hurt them at the moment.

Remington threw himself into my back, pinning me against the wall. Then, from behind me, Cain slammed his fist into my kidneys, over and over. He was apparently happy to hurt me too.

“Stop!” Aurora shouted.

The next thing I knew, Cain was off me. He stumbled back, and I whirled to cold cock him.

But he wasn’t the one right behind me. Aurora was there. Wild violet eyes, platinum ponytail flying. Fierce. Protective.

I took her face in in a second, one that I would never forget.

Because the next second, my fist slammed into her jaw. It was too late for me to stop.

She flew halfway across the room and landed hard on her shoulders. She was up instantly—she was petite, but she knew how to take a hit and keep moving—but her nose was bleeding, red blood trickling down onto the most beautiful lips.

I stopped in shock, feeling like I’d just been punched in the gut myself. Harder than any blow I’d taken from Cain or Remington or Stellan. Harder than any punch in the fight.

I’d hurt her.

“Pax,” she said gently, and the blood was on her teeth, and I couldn’t fucking stand to look at her, especially when she sounded so gentle.

“Let him go,” Stellan ordered, stepping protectively between me and her.

My anger was so intense I could’ve burned down the whole fucking house.

But what broke me was the way she tried to head around Stellan, trying to get to me to comfort me.

“Leave me the fuck alone,” I ground out.

I turned and headed out of the gym. Out of the secret society house. Off-campus.

I had to fucking get away from anyone I cared about before I hurt them worse.

12

REMINGTON

W ith everything going on, it felt bizarre to leave the society house and go to class. But my physics class had an asshole professor with a strict attendance policy, and there was nothing for me to do at the moment besides track down whoever had accessed Pax’s phone to fuck with him. I could do that anywhere.

At the door to the society house, the trees were changing color, red and gold and orange shaking in the wind. It was beautiful, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Aurora. I lingered by her. Anxiety was written across those gorgeous features, a slight furrow between her brows. Those violet eyes broke my heart when she looked worried. I wanted to fix everything.

But there was no fixing Pax. There was no fixing any of us. She spoke to our damage in a way I couldn’t believe, and she made us better. She made everything better, and I just wanted to fix things for her the same way. I’d do anything to make her happy even though it seemed like we would always be one fucked up group. Maybe we could become a fucked up family, though.

Maybe.

“I’ll walk you to class,” I said.

She managed a smile, although it was a sad one. “So we're pretending to be normal college students today?”

I couldn’t resist drawing her into my arms when she looked so sad. “I don’t think any of us can do a very good job at being normal.” I kissed the top of her head.

She slipped her hand into mine as we walked along the stone paths that led from the society house toward the regular campus. It was a small, casual gesture, but it still made my heart flipflop. I usually held girls’ hands without feeling a damn thing.

“I’m just worried about Pax,” she said. “Where do you think he went?”

I knew where Pax had gone in the past. He’d buried his trauma with booze and fights and pussy, trying to work off enough adrenaline to finally relax out of fight-or-flight mode… although for Pax, that mode always meant fight. I didn’t think pussy was an option for him anymore though, not when he’d left the house. At least, I fucking hoped not; I’d kill him if he hurt her by fucking around with someone else. The thought filled me with feral rage.

How could anyone have Aurora’s perfect pussy and go after another girl afterward?

“He probably found a bar.”

She looked at me skeptically. “At 10 o’clock in the morning?”

“Oh, you sweet summer child.” I was always fascinated by the mix of innocence and ferocity she carried. She’d spent her life sheltered in some ways and exposed to the darkest parts of the human psyche in so many others. I added, “After last night, people probably opened a bar just for Pax.”

“Last night already seems so far away,” she murmured. “How did everything get ruined so quickly?”

“I’ll figure out who did this,” I promised her. I patted the strap of my backpack, slung over my shoulder. “That's what I plan to do in class.”

“Shouldn’t you be paying attention?”

“Nah. It’s just Quantum Mechanics 2. Required class, but I figured this all out when I was still in middle school.”

She smiled, and it was a little more genuine this time. “I think we should find Pax, and make sure he’s OK.”

That was a terrible idea. The best-case scenario was Pax fucked her on the bartop to get his adrenaline to cool down; there were a whole lot of worst-case scenarios, some of which involved Pax dismantling me for bringing Aurora anywhere near him when he was in wounded-animal mode. “Let me figure out what’s going on in class, and we’ll talk about it later. Hopefully we’ll have some news to bring him.”

Hopefully he would come back to the house, calmer, ready to kill someone with a cool head. But I’d never seen Pax get physical with a girl at all. He’d always been disturbed by the rough way Cain liked to play. And Aurora wasn’t just any girl. Hitting Aurora, on top of everything he’d just been reminded of involving his mom’s suffering, had really fucked him up.

There was no way in hell I was chasing down Pax. He’d come back when he was ready. But I didn’t want to disappoint Aurora.

She nodded, her violet eyes still wide with worry, accepting my procrastination. Something shifted in my chest. Was that… fucking guilt? I never felt guilt.

“Oh, there’s Jenna,” she said. “We've got that lit class together.”

“And here I was going to try and make you sit through the lecture with me,” I said.

“I’d just distract you. You’re already multitasking,” she teased me.

She started to head off to see Jenna, and I caught her wrist and reeled her back to me, planting a kiss on her forehead. “You’ve got your phone on you, right?”

I wanted to make sure she was safe, all the time.

“Did you want to put a new tracker in me?” she asked saucily.

Very much so. “Don’t even tempt me.”

She rolled her eyes, but gave me a quick peck on the lips that turned into a deeper, sweeter kiss where I couldn’t resist twining my fingers through her hair. Her lips were bee-stung and her eyes brighter when we disentangled.

“Meet me out here after class,” I added before she ran off to meet Jenna. She might not need my protection, but she’d get it anyway.

Jenna’s face split into a big grin, and she hugged Aurora like they hadn’t seen each other in ages. It made me smile too. I was totally prepared to dismantle Jenna if she ever hurt Aurora, but I knew Aurora needed real girlfriends. That would give her something that these other assholes and I couldn’t.

Although there was a hell of a lot that we could give her, and I intended to make sure we did.

I headed to the physics building, stepping into the familiar hall that had the faint sterile scent of the lab permeating it. Some of the best minds in America were doing research here, and sometimes I was tempted to join them. I hated to be bored, though, and the constant threat of death hanging around Cain and Aurora was more exciting than any science project.

Quantum Mechanics 2 was a small class, since not many would-be Physics majors had survived this far. I took a seat in the back, where no one would be able to see my laptop screen, and opened my computer. I hated professors who made attendance part of a grade. Did it really matter, as long as I knew the material?

I got to work, running diagnostics on Pax’s phone. I was trying to figure out who had fucked with my security… and how. There had been no virtual access besides mine. Someone must have accessed his phone physically in order to have changed his ringtone and connect it to that particular number. I looked for when his ringtones had been changed, and eventually tracked it down to two weeks ago. I frowned at the phone, spinning it on my desk absently as I thought back. I’d ask Pax exactly where he’d been that day, but I couldn’t help wracking my brain, trying to figure it out myself.

Was that when Stellan had stolen Aurora from us? The memory still brought a surge of anger—well, maybe not anger, dread and fear at the thought of losing her—because I’d been so angry at losing Aurora when the GPS chip disappeared. I really did want to chip her again. I couldn’t stand the thought of never being able to find her, rescue her. It was a dangerous world. How did I convince her to take a chip again? Willingly, this time?

What if it hadn’t been Stellan who had taken her, but the Demon? She’d been so ferocious when that guy in the mask attacked her, and I loved her for that, but there’d been vulnerability there too. The Demon was the one thing that really scared her.

We had to have him killed. I was going to talk to Cain. The Demon could just die in a prison fight. Aurora never had to know what we did to protect her, because it was her father and she might have some complicated feelings. But we could make sure he never got loose.

In fact, it occurred to me now that Cain’s father's story about his sister was bullshit. Cain’s father had connections in the prison. If someone had really wronged him like that, they’d be shivved before breakfast on day two. Alexander was lying. Or the story was more complicated than he admitted. Either way, I didn’t like it.

I started to run a check on all of our phones, as much as I could remotely. Alexander had his own hacker, a guy named Kempler. He was good, but he wasn’t as good as I was. If he’d been fucking with the phones, I’d track proof down…eventually.

“Excuse me.” A hand touched my arm.

I turned to find the dark-haired girl next to me, who’d been trying to get my attention for a while, from the look on her face. “I was wondering if you had any notes from the last class?”

“No,” I said. “I wasn’t here last class, and I don’t take notes.”

She smiled. She was pretty, and a few months ago, I would have seen a pretty girl in my physics class and been happy to flirt with her. I didn’t find many girls who could keep up with me besides Aurora. I didn’t need Aurora to know quantum physics to know how smart she was.

“I wish I didn’t need to take notes,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear, her fingers lingering near her mouth, as if she were trying to draw my attention to her pink lips. “Do you want to study together sometime?”

“My girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate that, but thanks,” I said. I tried to turn my attention back to my computer.

“What does she study?”

“English lit.”

“Opposites attract, I guess.”

I didn’t bother to answer. I wasn’t a big fan of the way different majors tended to treat each other. Just because someone was more interested in literature than science didn’t mean they weren’t just as smart.

This girl’s flirting was awfully clumsy. She could stand to read a little Jane Austen if you asked me.

“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning close. The honeysuckle scent of her perfume washed over me as she invaded my personal space.

I turned to face her, slinging my arm over the back of the chair. “One other thing about my girlfriend. She is more than a little crazy. So I would just stop what you’re doing right now if you’re intent on staying on this plane of existence.”

“Well, if she’s crazy, why are you with her?”

“Because I love her kind of crazy,” I said. “Now shush.” I held my finger up to my lips, shushing her.

She flipped her long shiny hair over her shoulder and turned with an affronted look on her face.

She was just in time, because the professor was starting to talk, saving me from any more dull flirting.

As class went on, I couldn’t find any virtual access to our phones besides my own. I needed to collect them all physically to see if someone had messed with anything else when they changed his ringtone.

I traced back the number that Pax had received the videos from, but it had been a spoof. There were multiple layers of spoofing that I had to work through.

Finally, the last layer of spoofing led me to a number for Juliet Jones.

Paxton’s last name.

With a sick sense of dread, I verified that was Pax’s mom.

I stared at the screen, having the feeling that we were being hunted, baited. Who the fuck could be behind that?

Whoever it was, they were going to regret it.

“Remington,” the professor’s voice broke through my focus. He sounded irritated. “ Why don’t you explain to us how we find an angular momentum operator? Since it seems like you don’t need to pay attention to anything I have to say.”

Great fucking timing. I wanted to walk out of class right now, track down whoever was fucking with Paxton, and rip their fingers off their hands so they couldn’t type again.

I closed my laptop lid and gave him a smile, although I was pretty sure my current homicidal impulses were leaking out of my skin with the way the professor looked suddenly nervous.

“Of course. Operators can be constructed by taking the corresponding dynamic variable of classic mechanics, which is expressed in terms of coordinates of linear momentum and angular momentum. But we replace the position vector with the vector operator, the momentum vector with momentum vector, and the angular momentum vector with an angular momentum vector operator. So, do you want me to come up and write the formula for the angular momentum operator and solve it? Or do you have that under control yourself?”

He glared at me but said nothing, returning to drawing spherical coordinates on the board. The girl next to me was still giving me a horrified look, although it was one mixed with respect.

People acted like Physics was hard. It was the weirdest thing.

I’d told Aurora to wait for me outside her building. I hadn’t realized how nervous I was she wouldn’t be there until I saw her pale golden hair shining under the sunlight.

I was glad that Jenna was being a good friend to her, waiting with her, the two of them laughing together. Aurora deserved laughter in her life.

I slung my arm over her shoulders. “I know that you have other classes to go to, but I really need to head back to the society house.”

“You don’t need to babysit me, Remington,” she said. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” I said fervently. “and I love that about you. It doesn’t change the fact that I want to protect you. And selfishly, I also just want you near me.”

She smiled. “Alright. Sorry, Jenna. These men can’t survive a minute without me.”

She might just have been joking, but she was more right than she knew. The girls said goodbye and we started walking back across campus toward the society house. People threw us those envying looks and skirted around us like they always had. It used to bother Aurora but I realized now she didn’t even notice them. She was too lost in thought, and I’d bet she was still worried about Pax.

“How are you so kind-hearted and sweet?” I asked.

She gave me a startled, wide-eyed look. “I’m not.”

“You are. You’re the most innocent girl I’ve ever met.”

“I’m a pro with a bone saw myself,” she said bluntly, then looked horrified at the admission.

“So?” I asked. I slung my arm around her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. “Just makes you more perfect.”

“Perfect for you guys, maybe,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s the only kind of perfect that matters, because you’re always going to have us. And we’re never going to let you go.”

“I don’t want anyone else.”

And that was why I said she was crazy, but I loved it.

“Are you not mad at Pax for hitting you? Because it was an accident?”

She nodded. “I’ve been through a lot worse.”

“Well, now you have us and no one will ever hurt you. Except for Cain’s weird shit in the bedroom, which you seem to embrace.” I held out my hand. “Can you give me your phone? I want to run some physical diagnostics on it.”

“You think someone could have been fucking around with all our phones? To have changed more than Pax’s ringtone?”

I nodded. “And I don’t want to run the risk of anyone fucking with you. Besides me.”

Aurora gave me a devilish grin, and I realized it was a reflection of my own.

She followed me into my room, which was usually off-limits to girls—I didn’t want anyone fucking up my servers–but I was glad to have her there. I started to look at her phone.

“So, did you find anything? Good news to give to Pax?” she asked me.

Pax would not deal well with having his space invaded right now, while he was still wild with his guilt and grief. Let him kick the shit out of some losers at bars until he got it out of his system and came home, safe for Aurora.

“Someone is using your phone to track you.” A rare sense of fury and urgency washed over me as I tried to track down who it was. Probably Kempler. Cain’s father seemed like he would want to keep close tabs on Aurora.

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. And they’re going to like it a lot less when I find them.”

She chewed her lower lip worriedly. “Maybe it’s a friend of mine. I have this hacker friend…”

That peaked my interest.

“Where did you meet them?”

“An internet forum a long time ago. They helped me get away from the news media, start a new life.”

“You can’t trust people you meet on the internet.”

She gave me a skeptical look. “As far as I can tell, you can’t trust anyone you meet in real life either.”

“True,” I admitted. “What’s their name?”

“I just know their handle.”

“Aurora, I don’t like this. Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

“We were just talking about how you can’t trust anyone. You think I should’ve trusted you right from the beginning?” she asked, her tone light but skeptical.

A jolt ran through me like electricity. She hadn’t had any reason to trust me when we first met; after all, we’d bullied her mercilessly for the sake of Stellan’s revenge and Cain’s obsession. But I was going to be worthy of her trust. “Ask your friend what her real name is.”

And I would find out if it was the truth or not.

“I will,” she said. “Now, are we really going to go check on Pax, or are you just putting me off and hoping I’ll let go of the idea?”

I didn’t want to be someone who lied to her. I wanted to be someone she could trust. And all the shit I’d just been planning, like killing her dad behind her back, seemed like it would endanger the relationship between us.

But I cared more about making sure she was safe…than making her happy. I could deal with any fallout as long as she was alive.

Two very different protective impulses battled inside me. Because I wanted to protect her heart, too, that beautiful heart that shouldn’t have to take any more abuse. From any of us.

“OK,” I said. “We’ll go find Pax. But we keep our distance. Let him think he’s got some privacy for now.”

“How do we find him?”

“Oh, I can always find any of you. Eventually.” My fingers flew over the keys, bringing up Pax’s credit card usage.

Aurora leaned against the desk beside me, tapping on her cell phone, no doubt asking her hacker friend about who she really was.

I didn’t like the idea of anyone in Aurora’s life keeping secrets from her.

Not even us.

13

PAXTON

I ’d hit Aurora. The thought kept vibrating in my head like a guitar chord. A discordant one. Playing over and over. I couldn’t stop seeing her face, the split second of horror and fear when she realized I was going to hit her. The way her delicate body had been flung halfway across the room. The way I’d stood frozen like an asshole and then left her.

Those moments would haunt me.

She was always so tough and fierce, but she had her vulnerable, fragile side.

She couldn’t trust me with that side.

I kept seeing my mom’s face too. She never looked at me like that, but I’d seen that look on her face plenty of times, from other people. From her boyfriend.

I’d walked off campus and through the city in a blur. I barely processed where I was going, and I’d been half surprised to find myself sitting on a bar stool.

This was a bar that I’d come to before, the Twisted Pig. The same bartender who always seemed to be here was clattering around behind the bar. She had to be in her forties, with dark curly hair. She had a face that said don’t fuck with me and a voice that said don’t fuck with my whiskey.

The bar was quiet. Two other guys sat at the bar, several seats between each of us. They were nursing their drinks and their wounds, I’d bet, since otherwise, most people aren’t that deeply drunk by lunchtime.

Two tables held a group that was together. They were talking quietly, mostly focused on the television in the corner.

Then ESPN news came on. I heard my name and froze.

My fight had gone viral.

It was playing on ESPN. This should have been a dream.

How come I was getting everything I’d wanted, and it felt like a nightmare?

What was the point of being some badass if I couldn’t even protect the woman that I loved?

If I couldn’t even get revenge on whoever had hurt my mom and whoever was willing to use her death? I was still nothing, just like when my mother had been murdered while I was frozen, unable to do anything as she crawled in her blood, her eyes fixed on my face….

The guy at the bar next to me turned toward me, twisting to see the TV, then did a double take as he really registered me. “Are you…?”

I snorted. “No.”

“Paxton Jones?”

“Nope,” I said, growing keenly aware of how everyone in the bar was looking at me now. “And if I were, I wouldn’t fucking hassle me.”

But no one was taking the hint. Chairs scraped across the floor, and the folks from the table came over, grinning like they were meeting some cheesy celebrity chef or low-level soap star who was happy to smile with them.

The guy at the end of the bar, who was drinking alone, looked at me with bleary, bloodshot eyes, and looked back at his Scotch. That was right. That was more interesting. I just wanted to be left alone, like every other would-be drunk. But I had too much muscle and too high of a metabolism. I was still inconveniently sober.

I couldn’t get my body out of fight or flight mode. Just like half the time when I was a kid, it felt like I was going to fucking die if I didn’t kill someone. The energy rattled under my skin, a constant burning pit in my stomach.

“It is him,” the woman next to me said. She reached out to me like she was going to touch me, and I gave her a cutting look, and she froze, her fingers halfway to my shoulder. She swallowed, dropped her hand, and said, “Good fight.”

She melted back, but her friends didn’t seem to notice the danger in the air. One of them crowded against me, brushing her breasts against my arm.

“I just want to drink my beer.”

“Come on, man, we’re just trying to be friendly. Everyone saw how proud you made our town. Isn’t that guy a big UFC fighter?”

I love when people ask me questions they already knew the answer to, just to make conversation. “Yep.”

“You were incredible!”

“You’ve got to take a picture with us,” one of the men said.

I was about to totally snap.

Then the bartender raised her husky voice. “OK. Leave the kid alone. It’s a rule at my bar that everyone gets to drink their damn drinks and not talk if they don’t want to. I wish more of you would take a clue from him and shut up, for that matter.”

Her words might have been harsh but she sounded affectionate, like they were regulars. She shooed them off. They looked reluctant, but grumbled congratulations and apologies and slunk back to their own seats. I stared at her. Pressure expanded inside my chest that I wouldn’t get to release now…because she had defused the situation. But it was still a good thing not to have to hurt anyone today.

“You all right?” she asked.

The question was so unexpected that it rattled me. “Perfect.”

She nodded. “Good.”

She looked at me a second too long, like she recognized me, but that didn’t make sense. She already knew who I was. Everyone had seen that news clip, and I glanced at the screen to catch another glimpse of a scene from the fight before I looked away. It showed my intense gaze, full of murderous fury, sweat rolling down my bronzed skin. I knew anyone could recognize me now from that clip. And I gave her a look back in response, and she smiled back at me as if she wasn’t intimidated and then gave me a nod and moved down the bar, like she was giving me my space.

I went on drinking, and after a while, the guy next to me got up and went out. Three women came in and greeted the guys at the table. They came and stood right next to me at the bar, getting their drinks. But then once they’d been served, they lingered there, cutting glances my way.

“Do you want to join us?” one of them asked. “Do some partying and celebrating?”

I met her gaze flatly. “It’s one in the afternoon.”

She smiled at me. “You’re already day drinking. I don’t think you can judge us for partying.”

I glanced at their table, involuntarily, because it wasn’t like I was going to sign on for their partying. Nobody could party like Cain and Remington and Stellan anyway. Their party looked very sad.

“Thanks, but I’m happy here.” I still sounded polite, just a bit cold. But I didn’t feel cold at all. Tension prickled under my skin, that sense of pressure.

I felt like I was going to blow if they didn’t back the fuck off.

I turned to the bar, every muscle coiled tight with tension, and forced myself to take a sip from my drink even though it felt like gasoline going down my throat. They were still standing too fucking close. The girls kept going on, trying to get my attention, trying to talk to me, but their voices blended into a distant blur.

I should fuck one of them to blow off the aggression that I felt. To get rid of the adrenaline. It didn’t matter which one. None of them were Aurora.

But I’d never touch her again. She deserved better than me.

I turned toward them again, caught a glimpse of their eager faces, then paused and drained the rest of my drink.

One of them smiled, pushing her tits toward me, and seemed to shove her way ahead of the others. The woman behind her pouted, but it didn’t matter to me. “Can I buy you a drink? To celebrate?”

“I can buy you one.” The words seemed to come from outside me.

Then she leaned into the bar and rested her hand on my inner thigh, her fingers brushing against my dick.

I leapt from the bar stool before I even knew what I was doing. I moved so fast that I bumped the stool behind me, which fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Every eye in the bar turned toward me.

Well, except for the bleary-eyed guy who was sitting six seats down. He was still totally focused on the Scotch. Priorities.

“What’s wrong with you?” she pouted. “I thought you were a big scary dude, but you seem scared of me.”

Her friends laughed.

“I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of your diseases,” I snapped back.

One of the guys got up from the table. Once he had, another guy downed his drink and stood up, shaking his head like he knew it was a bad idea.

The rest of the table stood up—reluctantly—as the first guy headed toward me. “What the fuck did you say to her?”

I couldn’t hit a girl. But I could hit this guy. Thank fuck.

He walked toward me, thrusting out his chest, about to step to me.

I waited till he got close, then cold-cocked him across the jaw. He stumbled back and landed on his back on the table, scattering beer glasses and spilling drinks.

The other guys hesitated. Then they rushed toward me.

“Stop it! You’ll all be drinking at TGI Fridays for the rest of your life if you take one more fucking step,” the bartender barked at them.

She charged into the fray, pushing her way between all of us. “Calm the fuck down.”

They backed up. Apparently, they were more afraid of shitty chain bars than the epic beatdown I was about to gleefully unleash.

One of them looked at her suspiciously. “Do you know him? Why are you protecting this fuckhead?”

“Oh, Paxton and I go way back,” she said. “Also, he’s a lot cuter than any of you. You included, Cara.”

I stared at her in surprise as she turned to me. Then she beckoned me toward the door in the back, although she wisely didn’t touch me. My chest was heaving, not that hitting that guy could have made me break a sweat. That wasn’t what had me so keyed up.

“I used to know someone with your last name,” she said quietly when we reached the sticky hallway that led to the kitchen and the office. “Juliet Jones.”

My mom. I stared at her, feeling like the world had just tilted on its axis.

She nodded, like my silence had confirmed everything for her. “Funny, she thought tequila was a good breakfast drink too, until she had you. Then she got kind of boring.” Her eyes sparkled. “Let’s get you some coffee and get that blood off your knuckles.”

SHE LED me through the hall, past a cluttered office—apparently she’d never met a filing system she liked or a piece of trash she disliked enough to throw away—and up the stairs at the back of the hallway. At the top was a door she unlocked with a key from around her neck.

We stepped into the small apartment, which didn’t look much more kept than her office.

“Sit down,” she ordered, pointing to the couch. “I’ll be right back with the first aid kit.”

“I don’t need one,” I said. I ran my thumb over my knuckles. “His face was pretty soft.”

She snorted. As she came back with her first aid kit and sat on the coffee table in front of me, she said, “Juliet would’ve gotten a kick out of how you turned out.”

“Did you really know my mom?” My heart pounded, and I couldn’t shake my sense of skepticism. I hadn’t talked to anyone about my mom in years, and I didn’t know anyone who had known her. It felt like I was the last keeper of her memory, the last link she had to this earth.

But now, all of a sudden, here was this video, and at the same time, here was this woman who knew me and claimed she knew her.

“Yeah, I really knew her. We danced together when we were young. Well, your age,” she corrected. “So what’s wrong? I would’ve thought you'd be on top of the world right now, not sitting in my bar looking for a fight.”

“I’m not.”

“You are,” she corrected. “You’re smart enough not to get into one easily, but you’re dumb enough to want one, huh?”

She clucked to herself like a grandma, not a former stripper, as she sprayed the two cut knuckles and then put bandaids over them. I’d broken open the same two knuckles that had been bleeding after last night’s fight.

“I’m sorry about your mom, by the way,” she said. “I guess that’s a reason to still be looking for a fight after all these years.”

“I’m not. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Rosa.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

She grinned. “I don’t think you mean that, but thank you. It’s nice to meet you too, Paxton.”

I wanted to ask her a hundred questions about my mom, just to try to raise another memory of her or know something about her I didn’t already know. But I knew it would be needy. So I swallowed all of the questions, even though they sat like razor blades in my throat.

“Whatever happened to that asshole she married?”

My heart froze in my throat. “He’s dead.”

“Good,” she said. She gave me a knowing look. “You sure are Juliet’s son. She had so much spirit. I don’t know why she stayed with that loser.”

I shrugged. “Abuse is complicated. Hard to escape, especially if you’re saddled with a kid.”

She was sitting uncomfortably close to me when she looked me in the eyes. “Sure. But she was an even better fighter than you, Pax.”

I frowned as she stood up. I couldn’t shake the feeling she was trying to tell me something. “What’s going on?”

“Hmm?” She turned over her shoulder to look at me before stashing the first aid kit under the sink in her tiny, sagging kitchen. “Come back any time, Pax. If you’ve got to run away anyway.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said dryly.

Out the window, I caught a glimpse of Remington’s car parking across the street. What the fuck was he doing here?

The next second, Aurora slid out of the passenger seat. Her light hair shone under the sun, glowing like a fucking halo, which seemed appropriate.

My stomach bottomed out.

Rosa must have noticed me staring, because she joined me at the window.

So when Aurora looked up, she saw me and her face brightened—and then she registered the woman next to me. Her face fell in an instant. Like I’d hurt her. Maybe even worse than when I punched her.

Fuck.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I said roughly.

She was focused on Remington. “Is that guy after you?”

“Nah. And I could take him anyway.”

“So…is it the girl?”

“I care about her,” I said tersely.

“You’ve got a weird way of showing it.” She stared at me as if I were a puzzle she was trying to put together, then said, “Come on. I’ll show you out the back.”

14

REMINGTON

A s Aurora and I drove home, I told her, “We can find him.”

The fucking bastard had gone out the back of the apartment he’d been in.

“He ran away. He doesn’t want me to find him. I guess you guys were right, he wants space.” She attempted a smile as if it didn’t matter and turned up the music on the car radio, playing Taylor Swift’s new “Karma” song.

I loved Crazy Aurora.

Sad Aurora…Sad Aurora made me want to track Pax down and murder him.

“You’ll keep working on who sent that video, right?” she asked, as if she picked up on my homicidal vibes.

If that was what she wanted.

But I was still going to fantasize about all the ways I could murder Pax.

“Yeah, of course,” I said, as if I weren’t thinking I still had the general address of that pig farm. “What do you want to do now?”

“Honestly, I have a ton of homework to do,” she said. “I’m…behind.”

“Life got crazy.”

“I have a feeling life with you will always be crazy.”

The garage door rumbled up, and I steered the car into the quiet. “Don’t give up on us, firecracker.”

She flashed a surprised look my way.

“What, that nickname sucks too?”

“No,” she said, but she was still looking at me strangely.

It took me a second to remember that her hacker ‘friend’ I couldn’t stand had called her Firecracker. I guessed it had slipped into my mind when I was reading through all the logged talks between them that I’d been able to dig up from Aurora’s phone and laptop.

She was too smart not to make the connection, so I didn’t even try to hide it.

“Who needs privacy when they have true love?” I quipped.

I also didn’t try to apologize. I wasn’t sorry.

She exhaled an exasperated sigh.

“What did your hacker buddy say his real name was, anyway?”

“My hacker buddy said she was a she.”

“Yeah, and no one has ever gone on the internet and lied.”

“She hasn’t answered me yet.” She chewed her lower lip. “I hope she’s okay.”

I hoped they were going to be okay, because if they had nefarious plans for Aurora or had been catfishing her… they were going to eat a keyboard.

And then they too were going to snuggle with the pigs.

I opened her car door for her, enjoying the way her body brushed mine. The slightest accidental touch from her set me on fire in a way that women trying to be deliberately sexy never did. I liked the little, domestic moments: resting my hand on the small of her back, breathing in the scent of her hair, having her lean against me as if she was completely comfortable with me.

“Remy?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“You won’t keep secrets from me, will you?”

I shouldn’t lie to her. “Probably not.”

She turned wide, exasperated eyes toward me, and I shrugged.

“I’m going to lock myself in my room and do all my homework,” she said. “But I guess I’ll be fine, since Cain will be watching.”

“It’s very comforting,” I agreed, and she threw up a finger over her shoulder.

Inside the house, I watched her until she was in her room and then knocked on Cain’s door.

“Come in,” he called. When I swung open the door, he was kicked back with his feet on his desk, typing on his laptop. He was actually studying for once, his t-shirt marked with sweat from football practice.

“We’ve got a problem.”

He scoffed. “You’ve got a problem. You ran off with Aurora all day.”

“Don’t pout that you couldn’t watch creepy videos of her for two hours. Speaking of which, I don’t think she likes that very much.”

“I don’t care very much.” He checked his cell phone, then set it on his desk.

Aurora was on screen, small and grainy, laying on her bed with a textbook.

I debated trying to reason with Cain and then decided I was too lazy to attempt the impossible.

“Bad news. You’re not her only stalker.”

Cain was on his feet, hulking and murderous, so fast I didn’t think he’d even made a conscious decision. “Who?”

“Her hacker friend. I’m going to find them. But right now, I’m really curious if Kempler could’ve gotten his hands on Pax’s phone.” I hesitated. “Aurora’s hacker friend…I wonder if that could be Kempler too, somehow.”

“Aurora said she’d been friends with this hacker since she was a teen.”

“After your father claims the Demon murdered your aunt. He’d have reasons to try to get close to Aurora then, if he wanted revenge.”

Cain frowned, either at his aunt’s death or my implication that Alexander could be lying.

I added, “Your dad is obsessed with the idea Aurora is going to ruin you. It makes sense he’d have his favorite hacker keep tabs on her.”

Cain scoffed. “If anything, we’re going to ruin her.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll go with you,” Cain offered, which was just what I’d wanted. Cain scared the shit out of Kempler. Though to be fair, Cain scared everyone. “If Kempler knows anything, I bet he’ll be eager to tell me all about it.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Kempler just loves you.”

I didn’t like the idea of going into Alexander’s territory. Cain and Pax might see him as a father figure, no matter how criminal he was, but Stellan and I agreed he was dangerous to anyone in his orbit.

But I’d do anything for Aurora.

Cain

I ROLLED up to the valet at the casino. There was no chance that my dad wouldn't know I was there within five minutes of my arrival, no matter where I parked. But that was alright. I didn't think I needed five full minutes with Kempler.

“Good to see you again, Sir,” the valet said, taking my keys from me.

Remington and I walked across the floor. Normally, we hung out in the restricted High Roller side if we came to my dad's casino. But today, we headed through the depressing, incessant noise on the main floor toward the offices. I liked playing poker, a game where I could count cards, and blackjack and roulette had their charms. but there were too many people, and they couldn't afford to be there in the first place, and the lights and noise of the main floor always seemed a little miserable to me.

But hey, everyone deserves a chance to ruin their own life their own way. That was part of why my father's work didn't really bother me. Why I was perfectly content to take on the family business, as long as it meant wealth and power and freedom for me and mine.

“Well, if it isn't Cain!” a feminine voice called across the floor, sounding far too excited to see me.

There was another reason that I found the main floor a little miserable and worth avoiding.

Although, when I was fourteen, I hadn't felt the same way. I had practically grown up in this casino.

I hadn't broken my stride or turned to face her, but somehow, despite the stilettos she was wearing, Lexi caught me. She reached out to catch my wrist, and her touch seemed to burn my skin. Her breasts were pushed up and eye-catching in her black uniform. She was a highly distracting poker dealer for weak men.

“I've missed you,” she said, turning the full wattage of her smile up at me. Her long platinum hair was pinned up, a few strands dangling around her tanned face. She reminded me a little of Aurora, but not enough for me to want to fuck her.

It used to be that I would have sex with her just for nostalgia's sake, bending her over a table in one of the nooks in the high rollers lounge, yanking her skirt up to fuck her senseless while her long nails raked into the polished wooden table top. After all, she was the one I'd lost my virginity to, when I was twelve and she was twenty-eight.

“Okay.” I hadn't missed her. She wasn't worth a lie.

Although I knew what people had to say about an age gap like that, it had never bothered me before. But for the first time, as her smile flickered and died, I could see Aurora's wide-eyed violet gaze. She was so innocent still. And I wondered what it would have been like if my first time had been with someone like Aurora instead.

It was probably stupid that I was thinking about what it would have been like to have kissed Aurora when we were both kids. The things that I liked were depraved and dark and ruinous, and I'd been that way for as long as I could remember.

Maybe things would have been different if I'd known her. Maybe.

And then, obviously, we would have gone into the depraved and dark and ruinous together. I didn't think anyone would have made me a different person.

“What's wrong?” she asked me, a little bite to her words that I remembered. “Are you in one of those bad moods you get in when you've had to make yourself cum instead of someone doing all the work for you?”

Her words might have been barbed, but her hand swept down to my cock, gripping me through my pants.

I did not share Paxton's unwillingness to strike a woman. I grabbed her wrist and yanked it away, placing it at the center of her tits and giving her a firm shove backward.

“I didn't give you permission to touch me.”

“I didn't need your permission before.”

I was already walking away toward the offices, but I was sure she could hear me when I said, “Yeah, well, you were hotter when I was younger. Or I had lower standards.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Remy glanced over his shoulder at her as the two of us headed off. He whistled. “She's looking at you like she wants to slap you.”

I shrugged. “I'm sure she does, but she's not stupid. Just fucking perverse.”

It struck me now that she had taken advantage of me when I was a kid. I might not hold it against her too much, but that didn't mean I wanted to ever see her again.

Kempler worked in an office tucked behind the casino’s official IT department, which was also pretty sketchy. Remington opened the door for me, looking violent when he was usually so disinterested—he didn’t like the idea of anyone taking over his territory, apparently. Whether that was hacking or Aurora.

Kempler glanced up at me, annoyance written over his face, then scrambled to his feet. Horror flashed across his face, and a sense of satisfaction washed over me.

“Cain,” he said. “Remington. What brings you guys here? You need some help?”

“Yes, we do.” Remington’s voice was a low, dangerous purr, but Kempler relaxed slightly.

“Always happy to serve,” he said cheerfully, although there was no hiding the tension that gripped him, from his stiff posture to his rictus smile.

“I'd like you to take a look at a video for me.” I passed Pax’s phone to him, and he shuddered slightly when our fingers grazed each other’s.

“Of course,” he said. Then he froze, looking uncertainly at the two of us. “Now?”

“Now.”

He started to watch the video, and the two of us watched him. Remington was good at reading people. Kempler's eyes widened with surprise when he saw the video, as if he recognized it, even though nothing had happened yet. Not at the beginning. The violence itself didn't seem to have any impact on him, but that wasn't entirely surprising, coming from Kempler. Still, it seemed like his dark hair was damp with sweat when he looked back up at the two of us.

“What do you need to know about it? I can put it on the top of my priority list.”

“I want to know what you know about it,” I said.

“I don't know anything,” he said. “I don't have any context for this. If you want to provide some–”

I moved closer to him, and he almost tripped over his desk chair, taking a step back as if we were dancing. “The context is that someone is fucking with one of my brothers, and someone is likely to regret it deeply.”

“Cain, I have no idea–” he was babbling. Rattled. Terrified.

I loved it.

“What are you doing, son?”

I turned to find my father standing there, looking both crisp in his three-piece suit and exasperated.

“Just trying to clean up some business before it can go bad.”

My father said politely to Kempler, “Would you give us the room for just one moment, please? Sorry for the interruption.”

My father gave Kempler a smile he shouldn't have found any less terrifying than my intimation of violence. My father always sounded so fucking polite. But I'd heard him say please while he was skinning a man alive.

Kempler practically fell over himself to get out of the room.

As soon as the door was closed, my father asked, “Why didn’t you call me before you started causing trouble in my organization?”

“I was under the impression it was my organization as well.”

“Not quite yet.” Alexander's eyes flashed with dangerous amusement.

“Do you know why someone might have interfered with our phones?”

“How, specifically?” Dad frowned. “You've always been a target. And you haven't exactly been discreet about who your friends are and how much you care about them.”

“I don't know about that,” I muttered. “Do you know why someone would be tracking Aurora?”

He shrugged. “Maybe she’s got other boyfriends.”

“That’s fine, make sure you let me know so I can bring them to her and blow their brains out.”

“I’m not having her tracked.”

I could read my father pretty well, and I could tell he was sincere. It wouldn't be unusual for him to stick to the technical truth while steering someone away from reality, though.

“Whatever is going on with Aurora, son, you can't trust her, period. There's something going on there. The Demon’s daughter didn't just come into your life for no reason.”

No, she came into my life because she was cursed to spend her life with psychopaths, and I was never going to let her go.

I wanted to beat him bloody and make him kneel at her feet, recognizing her as the queen she was. But today was not the day for that. “I'm careful with everyone.”

He didn't look like he believed me. Remington leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets. He was always quiet around Alexander. It was the only time Remy ever shut up.

Kempler would fill him in on the video anyway. There was no point in hiding that from him.

I held out the phone with the video to him. “Someone’s fucking with Pax.”

He hit play, then studied the phone with his usual lack of expression, watching it play through as Pax's mother was assaulted.

“How did he get this?” He handed the phone back to me.

“Someone texted it to him. Wanted to make real sure he saw it. The night after the fight.”

“Maybe a competitor, trying to fuck with him?”

“Whatever it is, we're going to figure it out.”

Alexander nodded. “I’m sure you will. Pax doesn’t deserve that. Not someone going after his mom.”

Alexander seemed to think briefly, then said, “You know, it might have come from the cops originally. I would have thought I would have discovered if there was video footage of what happened to Juliet when I helped you guys find Pax’s stepdad. But, it makes sense it might have ended up in their hands.”

“You didn’t know, with all your cop friends?”

“I didn’t worry much about what happened to Juliet until Pax grew up and needed his closure.”

Remington spoke up for the first time. “Wasn’t Pax fourteen…”

My father and I both swiveled to look at him. He trailed off, obviously realizing that we thought he was crazy and soft.

My father opened the door and gestured Kempler back in. “Kempler can give you any help you need.”

“Why is Kempler so scared?” I asked as Kempler walked in, looking slope-shouldered and alarmed.

“Look at fucking Kempler, he’s always scared.”

Kempler took his seat at his desk and said nothing. He did not look as if he was enjoying this conversation.

“Look, I’m not planning to hurt your girl, if you think I’m the one tracking her. I think you’ve lost your damn mind, but I lost my mind twenty-six years ago, and she’s the best damn thing in my life. All right, son?”

“All right.”

“I can tell you need to handle this yourself; you don’t trust me to deal with it. And I get it, it’s your other family now at stake; you’ve got to take care of them. That’s who we raised you to be.” Alexander nodded to Kempler. “Give them any help he wants. And I’ll get you the contact info for my best cop ally. He’ll hook you up if there’s anything to find.”

Alexander hugged me goodbye.

And I hugged him back, hoping I wouldn't have to kill him one day.

15

AURORA

R emington had told me about he and Cain’s conversation with Alexander…and my distrust in him had only grown. I’d decided to take matters into my own hands to check Alexander’s story…and that meant going directly to the source. I had asked Remington and Stellan to go with me, not wanting to involve Cain and Paxton in this…and both of them had steadfastly refused, and told me under no certain circumstances was I allowed to go.

That wasn’t going to fly…

So I’d escape from the guys by claiming I was taking a shower, and here I was, headed to the Demon’s prison once again.

Time was a funny thing. The drive felt like the blink of an eye even though it was hours away.

And for every second of the drive, dread ripped at my insides. Not any better than it was the last time, or the time before that.

People said that time healed all wounds, but somehow the Demon defied that universal truth. I don’t think there was any passage of time that could lessen how he made me feel. It wouldn't even matter when he became a shriveled old man, because it wasn’t what he looked like that created my deep dread. It was the menacing energy that surrounded him, the memories that permeated the air in and out of his presence. I hadn’t lied when I’d said that to Paxton the other night that I didn't think I'd ever recover when it came to the Demon, even after he was dead.

It said a lot about my feelings for the guys that I was once again in the car headed to meet him.

I pulled into the parking lot, my gaze taking everything in. Security measures became a different thing now that I’d already believed he'd escaped once, however temporary that belief was. The Demon was most likely the smartest and most insidious person I would ever meet. And as I stared at the barbed wire, the tall metal fences, and the guard towers complete with uniformed men with rifles, I wondered if it was enough. If there was anything that would be enough.

Since that time when the masked idiot had been in my room, I’d thought about that a lot, why I hadn’t even thought twice that it was him when I’d first seen him in my room. And I realized now it was because it felt like this was just another one of the Demon’s games. Like he was in prison because he wanted to be, and it suited his purposes, whatever those were. Not that it was actually holding him in against his will. I guess I would've thought there would be an air of finality about my interactions with the Demon in this place if that were the case.

I'd have been able to look into his gaze and see resignation. And I'd never seen that.

I pulled my coat closer around me as I walked towards the entrance. They gave me an extra look when they saw who I was visiting. As far as I knew, no one else was allowed to see him. There were enough copycats and fans around, they didn't want to let any of them have any specialized time with him and get even more ideas. There was always the fear of how important his legacy was to him, and I could see that reflected in their gazes as they stared at me, wondering if the same darkness that lay in the Demon, was also present in me.

If they only knew.

My pat down was more than normal as well, like they could feel the same strange tension in the air that something was coming.

And then I was seated behind the glass, my heart pounding as I waited for him to appear. My nails cut into my skin as I tried to school my features into one of nonchalance. I knew if I let up at all, he’d be able to see the terror that still lived inside of me.

But it was hard to look outwardly calm when your pulse was racing.

At least it was freezing in here and I wouldn’t have to worry about stress sweating.

The door opened and he walked out, looking the same as last time. I'd heard that prison aged people, but his changes were small. He didn't look shocked to see me, but he didn’t look happy about it either. His face held the same blankness that I hoped was reflected in my own features.

The guard led him to the seat and then handcuffed his wrist to a metal pole protruding from the small table in front of him. That was new. I wondered what he’d done to garner the extra safety measure.

“Hello, Delilah," he said mildly. He perused my face disinterestedly, like he was confident that he'd uncovered all the secrets I had to offer. "I was sorry to hear about your friend."

I scoffed. "I thought you didn’t lie to me."

A small smirk ghosted his lips and then disappeared. “I am sorry that you experienced pain.” That small smirk again. “Apparently you were sobbing at the funeral. I thought I taught you better than that."

My nails dug into my skin deeper, and I knew when I pierced it hard enough to bleed because instantly, some of the tension threaded out of me. I thought back to the funeral, scanning the faces I'd seen in my mind, wondering which one of them would've gotten news back to him.

"Did your informants tell you I was kidnapped by Bentley?"

He cocked his head, interest in his irises for the first time. "No," he said slowly, "they somehow missed that." He gestured towards me with his handcuffed hand. "You're not looking worse for the wear though. So I assume that Bentley was once more a disappointment."

My eyebrows raised. "You wanted him to kill me?" I asked, a misplaced sense of hurt coating my insides.

"Delilah, as I’ve told you a million times, you’re my daughter. Although your missteps are many, my punishments don’t include death. I just simply hoped that he would at least serve as a bit of a challenge for you."

I was confident that the Demon was incapable of love. So whatever he felt for me was far darker than that. I didn't know what to call it. When he said things like that, I couldn't quite comprehend what he thought love actually was. Certainly not anything he'd ever experienced.

“Bentley was always a disappointment," I drawled. "For some reason, you just never saw that."

He looked mildly annoyed now that I dared to challenge his ability to train a good psychopath. "So what brings you here? I assumed that the death of your friend would make you a bit distant."

"Do you remember a woman named Lily Hamilton?" His fingers tapped, once, twice as he studied my features.

"What's the significance of this woman to you?"

"She was a relative of a…friend," I said, watching how his eyes flashed as he read the deeper meaning. He knew all about the guys obviously, but when I wanted information from him, I wasn't looking to rub it in his face that orgies had become part of my life now. I didn't want to stoke the flames of his disappointment even more.

“Mmmh, I can’t say it rings a bell.”

I bit my lip, trying to see past the blank mask he wore. Everything was a game with him. He claimed to never have lied to me. But he also had a way of twisting words. And it had always been a tall task to try and see the hidden meaning in what he was saying.

“Okay,” I said slowly, before reaching into my bag to grab the picture of Lily I’d printed from the obituary I’d found online. “You said you don’t recognize the name…do you recognize her picture?”

I pushed it up against the plexiglass so he could study it.

“No, I’m afraid her image isn’t familiar either. And you know I never forget a face,” he said blandly.

It was amazing how almost every word that came out of his mouth was twined with a threat. Maybe it was my imagination, but it felt like he was referencing my guys. Which had me wishing I hadn’t left my knife in my car, so that I could lunge through the plexiglass and stab him in the throat.

For about the millionth time, I wished I’d had the bravery to end him when I’d had the chance.

Besides the rage churning in my gut, I was also feeling disappointment. Because I believed he didn’t recognize her. And while there was the chance that Cain’s aunt hadn’t been a particularly memorable kill, I knew the Demon didn’t forget. He could list off every kill he’d ever made.

Which meant that Cain’s father had lied.

“I’ll admit, I’m a bit confused at your disappointment lately when I say I haven’t killed someone.”

I stared up at him, realizing that I’d let my mask down. I’d let him see my emotions.

Fuck.

I used to be much better at this. But then my men had made me feel new things…and now all I seemed to do was feel.

Irrational anger flooded through me. I wasn’t even sure specifically what I was angry about. It was like everything was assaulting me all at once. I was furious at the Demon, about who he’d shaped me to be. I was furious he could still affect me. I was furious I had people I had to care about now, when Sophia’s death was an example of how good I was at protecting people.

And most of all…I was furious at Cain’s dad. Because I knew firsthand how important a father was…how much their existence shaped you. And Cain’s father…however messed up his job was…it was apparent he had been a fairly good one to Cain.

And now…

I didn’t think that Cain would hesitate to kill him. No matter how it might destroy his mom. This thing between Cain and I was too entangled. Too obsessive. We were bound together. I was confident in those ties. He’d do anything for me. Destroy the world if I asked him.

“Aurora.”

Fuck. What was wrong with me?

“You’ve let them make you weak,” he announced in that same cold, calm voice that lived in my nightmares. “That may be the most disappointing thing you’ve done so far. At least assisting in locking me up here required some courage.”

I steeled my face again. Out of the darkness and into the light, to all that is good…and all that is bright.

“Delilah, cut the vein.”

“Delilah, you’ll stay here in this cage until you grow stronger.”

“Delilah, stab right here so you hit the heart.”

“Delilah. It sounds so pretty when they scream.”

“Help me! Help me! Please, God. Don’t leave me here!”

The memories of their screams, and the things I’d done. And his punishments…his orders…they assaulted my brain like caged animals finally freed.

It was devastating.

It took everything in me to sit in that chair and keep my face blank.

But I’m sure he could see it in my eyes. The fact I was torturing myself as I sat there.

He sighed and eased back in his chair. “Do you remember that day at the park, when you were upset because there was a girl at school that made fun of you?”

It shouldn’t have been so easy to remember that particular day. But after the Demon had found me crying after school because a girl had made fun of my eyes in front of everyone, he had indeed taken me to a park.

“And what did I say to you that day?”

I remained silent. But not because I didn’t remember.

“By the time I’m done with you, you won’t feel anything.”

He’d killed three people in front of me that night. Tortured them until they were nothing but bloody stumps. Until the tears had dried on my cheeks, and a small girl’s worthless words about me meant nothing.

He nodded, a glint in his gaze, because he knew I remembered.

“It appears, daughter, that I still have a promise to fulfill.”

With that sudden pronouncement, he jerked his head at the guard, who immediately came over to unhook him and take him out of the room.

I sat there, stunned. There were no other people visiting prisoners. It was just me in the room. That feeling of dread that had been there since I’d woken up this morning…it had thickened, like spoiled syrup. I could drown in that feeling if I allowed it.

He was right though. I was feeling too much. Especially today.

I sat there for a few minutes more, trying to get rid of everything spinning around in my insides.

Out of the darkness and into the light…fuck, I was finding myself having to say that far too much.

When the hopelessness had leached out of me, I finally got out of my chair and headed towards the door, only to frown when I saw the guard who was supposed to let me out…wasn’t there.

I banged on the door, staring out through the glass to see if anyone was out there.

The room beyond was empty, when before there were at least a few officers.

Frustrated, I pulled on the handle, shocked when it opened.

It had always been locked on prior visits.

There was a faint siren sound coming from somewhere, and the emptiness of the room, and then the subsequent hallways, was eerie.

What the fuck was going on?

I got to the last door, the one that led out to the parking lot, and stared at the room behind me. There were no guards manning the metal detectors. No guards at the computers that were still on. I could see someone’s Facebook just left open on one of the screens.

It was all completely…terrifying.

This needed to be the last time I came here, I thought, obviously not for the first time, as I opened the door to march out into the parking lot, stopping in my tracks as the wail of sirens assaulted my ears.

I stepped out into the parking lot, staring around in confusion. Not only was the siren of the prison sounding, but I could also hear sirens approaching from the road that led to the prison.

And then I felt it…the weight of his stare. Even though I knew it should have been impossible.

With my pulse pounding, I turned to stare at the line of woods that surrounded the parking lot.

And he was there.

Standing calmly at the edge of the woods. Just staring at me. I was the fly, caught in the spider’s web.

I would have liked to think this was just another crazy, obsessed fan…with one of those masks. But I knew with everything in me that wasn’t the case. Fear bled into my throat. More fear than I’d experienced in a very long time. I didn’t have the urge to lunge towards him; my instincts recognized I wasn’t ready. Or maybe my instincts recognized that my fear was making me useless.

It was hard to put into words what it felt like when your worst nightmare came true. When the thing that kept you up at night, that haunted your every thought, every action, every thing that formed you…became real.

“Stop right there!” a harried voice called after me from inside. I glanced over to see guards rushing towards me, their guns drawn.

Fuck.

When my gaze tracked back to the Demon…

He was gone.

“Get on the ground!” they screamed at me as they swarmed.

Helplessness, a feeling I fucking hated, flashed over me.

I slowly lowered myself to the ground…and I wished for the first time that I hadn’t been so intent on protecting the guys by not telling them I was coming here.

Because I wasn’t sure this was something I could handle myself.

I THINK I’d been right about it all being a game. I wasn’t sure why the Demon had waited so long to escape…what his plan had been. But even though no one was telling me anything, it was obvious that today had been planned for some time.

“It appears, daughter, that I still have a promise to fulfill.”

His words echoed in my head. I was numb, my limbs heavy and ice cold…still trying to wrap my mind around how everything had fallen apart so fucking fast.

After I’d been handcuffed and hauled roughly off the ground…the police cars I’d heard had arrived. They’d swarmed me like bees, and one of them had shaken me so hard that my brain felt rattled. They’d yelled at me to tell them where the Demon was…but no one wanted to believe me when I told them I’d seen him by the woods. Evidently, that didn’t seem a grand enough exit for the Demon, so they’d assumed I’d been lying. I was then dragged into one of the sterile, white-walled interrogation rooms in the prison.

And here I sat.

I was alone in the room. Apparently letting the anticipation build was their interrogation tactic of choice today. I was hoping his escape had made the news by now and the guys would see it. I mean, it would probably be in the public’s best interest for them to know that this century’s most prolific killer was now on the loose.

I would think it would be embarrassing though, for the country’s most high-security prison to have a breakout like this.

There was a clock on the wall, and the tick, tick, tick was threatening to drive me mad. Like every second that passed was a second closer to when the Demon would inevitably get me back.

The door finally opened and two non-descript-looking men came in. They were detectives. I could tell by the fact that they were wearing nice dress clothes. And the fact that everything else about them was designed to blend in, from the cut and color of their hair to the way they held themselves…like they were unassuming. Threat free.

“I didn’t have anything to do with the Demon’s escape,” I said calmly, wanting to lay that out on the table right away since no one had been interested in listening to me while they were dragging me in here.

“We want to believe you,” the dark-haired one said in a calm, soothing voice that made me want to scream.

“What’s holding you back?” I quipped. “I’m sure if you made a little call to your friends at the FBI, they could confirm that I was the reason he was here in the first place.”

“We had heard that,” said the other one, also attempting to sound kind.

At least they were both doing the “good cop” routine. The “good cop/bad cop” strategy got old. Nothing said bad acting like a worn-out detective who actually didn’t care about anything, hated his life, and wasn’t going to believe you no matter what you said, pretending to actually give a fuck.

“But we also heard that you were your daddy’s best friend, so it’s a bit of a conundrum, ya know?”

Ah, so they were playing good cop/bad cop. Awesome.

“I don’t know where you ever heard that. But I assure you, that was not the case. I don’t think being kidnapped by your father from your foster family’s house, and then forced to do his bidding while you were just a kid constitutes being “daddy’s best friend,” sir. With all due respect, of course,” I spit, my tone dripping with sarcasm, enough to bring an angry red flush to his cheeks.

He slammed his fist onto the table in front of me. I didn’t jump, something he was obviously after.

“Listen, you psychopathic brat. There are too many lives at stake for you not to tell us where he went. We know you helped him!” His words were furious and loud. Hmm. Maybe he did actually care. Maybe he had his own Demon tale that spurred him along.

Join the fucking club.

“My life is the one at stake,” I said coldly. “Today represents the fulfillment of my worst nightmare. If I had anything to offer you about how he escaped or where he’s going…I would.”

“I’m sure you would,” his partner said soothingly, like I was a wild animal he was trying to quell. “But he left you a letter in his cell.”

I reared back, placing my hands in my lap because I didn’t want them to see how much I was trembling.

I mean, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d just been musing on how everything was a game to the Demon. It would make sense that he would have planned something to fuck with me.

“What does it say?” I asked, not proud of the slight tremble in my voice.

“Why don’t you read it for yourself.” He pulled a plastic bag from his lap and used his sleeve to remove the letter and place it on the table in front of me.

Aurora, darling, I’ve been thinking of where I went wrong with you. And I think I’ve figured it out. I left one weak loose end in the world, something I’ll be remedying right away.

But I’ll give you a chance to beat me to the chase.

Your mother is alive.

But not for long...

Happy hunting.

My head felt…woozy. And the room was suddenly spinning around me.

She was alive.

“Do you have contact with your mother?” the dark-haired one pressed. “Would you be able to track the Demon to her?”

“No,” I said quietly, my mind a million miles away…back on that bench, waiting for her to come back and get me.

“When was the last time you saw her?” the annoying one demanded.

I finally looked up, and although I prided myself on my control, and I’d just been chiding myself on my lack of control lately, I let my mask slip. I let them see the pain of the little girl left behind. And the years of pain that had followed that moment.

They both winced as if I’d stabbed them in the heart.

Just then, the door opened and a nervous-looking officer stepped in. “So—sorry to interrupt, but I need to release the girl. Immediately,” she stammered.

“What the hell is going on?” Mr. Bad Cop demanded.

“Please, she just needs to come with me. We’ve been ordered by the higher-ups.”

“Fucking hell,” he answered as I stood up, relief flooding through my body.

I knew why I was being let go. They were here. My personal harem of maniacs had come for me.

I headed to the door without asking them to uncuff me. I just needed to see my guys. Even if I knew they were going to be furious for my impromptu field trip that had obviously ended in complete disaster.

“I would say it’s been fun, but that would be a lie,” I threw over my shoulder, smiling at the growl of displeasure that followed me out of the room.

The woman didn’t say anything to me as we walked down the hallway. She was keeping herself as far away as she could, to the extent that she kept hitting the wall as she walked.

It was amusing.

The door opened at the end of the long hallway, and I swear that my soul breathed. There they all were, lined up and looking so fucking beautiful and angry as their gazes tracked me as I walked. Dark, twisted fallen angels that everyone was desperate to touch, even knowing they’d get burned as soon as they did.

Mine.

“Give me the fucking keys to her cuffs,” Cain demanded the second I was in the room. An officer meekly offered them to him and he grabbed them and hauled me towards him, unlocking my cuffs angrily. He was remarkably gentle as he softly rubbed my skin, which was admittedly rubbed raw from how tight they’d snapped them on.

“I’ll kill them,” he promised lowly, before I collapsed face forward into his chest, my whole body shaking.

“Just be strong for a few more minutes,” he whispered roughly, before wrapping an arm around me and leading me towards the door, the others silent specters in our wake.

I was shaking as we walked out to the car, and I was pretty sure that the only reason I was still standing was because Cain was holding me up, practically supporting all of my body weight so I could walk out with my pride and not like the scared little girl I felt like at that moment.

I felt like a prisoner walking to my death. The ticking clock from inside that room seemed to have followed me out to the parking lot and was now beating in my head, counting down to when the Demon would find me.

“He’s going to come after me. After he gets my mother,” I said softly, tiredly, because I couldn’t remember the last time I’d just fucking breathed without something trying to tear away at my heart.

“Yes, he will,” agreed Cain, not sounding worried at all.

Stellan tried to protest and Cain just flicked him off. “You can’t sugarcoat the Demon, Stellan. You can comfort our girl later. I’m not going to let her live in fantasyland. She can handle reality better than every single one of us.”

That should have made me stand up straighter. I mean, I was a badass. I’d already gone through almost every nightmare this world could offer me. But for now…I cuddled closer to Cain and allowed myself to lick my festering wounds.

Tomorrow I would get ready for the Demon’s games.

Tomorrow I would start getting ready to win.

16

AURORA

I  woke up the next day with Stellan literally on top of me, like he was determined in his sleep to put his body between me and anything and anyone that could hurt me. It was touching…but also really heavy.

I squirmed underneath him, freezing in place when I saw that Paxton was in a chair in the corner…somewhere he definitely had not been when the night first started.

My heart felt heavy…and not just because Stellan was on top of me. Things with Paxton were terrible. But it was obvious that he still cared. He probably hadn’t intended to fall asleep in here, or at least he would have wanted to sneak out of here before I woke up…but it was something to know that he still wanted to be near me. Even when he was being an idiot.

He shifted in his chair suddenly, and I quickly shut my eyes…before deciding that pretending to fall asleep was a ridiculous plan.

As soon as my eyes opened…they locked with Paxton’s. He just stared at me, his face blank but with a well of emotion in his stare that did terrible things to my insides.

I didn’t say anything. And when he stood up and walked out of the room without a look back, I didn’t call after him and beg him to stay.

I wasn’t sure what was going to get Paxton to come back to me. But the fact that he still needed to be near me at night was going to count as a small win.

Stellan groaned softly and then shifted, sending tingles down my asleep leg from where he was pressing on a nerve.

His eyes opened and he grinned lazily, his hair falling into his face, satisfaction in his gaze…probably from how many times he’d fucked me last night.

“Good morning, baby,” he murmured, his voice raspy from sleep.

“I love you, but you’re smushing my insides,” I mused, thinking the look of panic on his face was adorable as he hastily slid off of me and began to massage random body parts…none of which were the ones actually affected by his attempt to smother me.

I caught his hand and brought it to my chest, holding it against my heart as we just stared at each other sappily.

I was definitely still getting used to the fact that Stellan was all in, acting like some kind of fairy tale prince—okay, maybe he and the others were more like fairy tale villains—but you got the point.

Part of me, the part I tried desperately to ignore, was afraid that our love story was still going to blow up in my face.

Paxton’s distance was proof of how one moment could change everything, erase all of the good that had come before.

“What’s wrong?” Stellan asked, softly caressing my cheek and staring at me with an unbridled look of possession and longing that just did it for me.

I sighed, wondering if I was up for a soul-baring conversation this morning. Finally, I just decided to be honest…because we were all working on that, right?

“I’m still getting used to this…new reality. Something inside of me still believes that I’m going to blink, and you’re going to be gone. Or you’re going to hate me again. That this story of ours is too good to be true. It’s hard to believe in the happily ever after when everything else is just shit.”

Stellan watched me intently while I spoke, like he was memorizing every word I said and carving it into his heart. The morning light looked good on him. I took a mental picture, wanting to save the image of him like this…looking desperately in love…just in case it ever went away.

Stellan grabbed our hands, which were still pressed against my chest, and he brought my hand to his lips, pressing a feather-soft kiss on my skin.

“I don’t think our story is a fairy tale by any stretch of the imagination. But that’s okay. Because the heroes in those books don’t destroy the whole world to make the heroine happy. And that’s what I’ll do to make you happy. There isn’t a line I won’t cross, a law I won’t break, a human being I won’t destroy…in order to keep a smile on your face and prove what we have is the realest version of love that could exist. I’m going to make sure there isn’t a day that goes by, for the rest of our lives, that you don’t know you’re everything I’ve ever wanted out of life. That you’re all that exists for me. Without you...I’m nothing.”

I was fucking swooning right then. Stellan’s love seemed necessary to my existence now. I needed his words to keep me from falling into the darkness that followed me everywhere. I needed his devotion and his sureness that we were meant to be together.

“Just keep letting me prove it to you,” he murmured, and I nodded, hating and loving the well of emotion bursting inside of me.

The Demon was right….parts of me had become weak. Parts of me felt…way too much. But I’d rather die than give him up. Give them up.

And maybe that’s what it would take.

Stellan opened his mouth to ask me something, and then there was banging on the door.

Followed by someone fiddling with the lock.

Stellan cursed and sat up, right as a cocky-looking Remington, dressed in a soccer uniform, burst through the door.

“Get up. Get up. We have to be on the field in an hour,” he ordered, his gaze sparking as they slid along my unclothed skin.

“Fuck being superstitious…let’s bang,” he purred as he lifted up the front of his jersey…revealing his gorgeous abs that I wanted to lick.

Stellan held up a hand. “Nope, no time for sex. And you’ll hate yourself if you suddenly lose the ability to score a goal and you don’t win player of the year because Clark McDaniel beat you.”

Remington spit at the mention of “Clark McDaniel.”

Despite all the darkness of the day before, I couldn’t help but smile.

This was the normal I was craving today. This was the normal I was desperate for.

These guys may be psychopaths…or at least well on their way, with the exception of Cain—who was one already, but they were also still college students.

Things like soccer games and sports superstitions…this was the remedy I needed.

“No sex before games? Whatever will you do?” I teased, intentionally pulling down the sheet so my breasts were exposed.

Stellan, being the asshole he was, leaned over and started to suck on my nipple while Remington put his fist to his mouth and looked like he was about to die.

“Fuck,” he snarled, pulling on his hair in frustration. “I’m fucking leaving. So just put your fucking uniform on and get to breakfast so you can eat your one scrambled egg and one piece of plain toast, you fucking loser.” With that expletive-laced directive, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Stellan released my nipple with a popping sound and then gave me a blinding grin.

“I do believe he was in danger of killing you,” I remarked, unable to stop my own grin even though I was now very turned on and not happy about that at all.

As far as I was concerned, there were no limits to the orgasms I needed on a daily basis.

He smacked a kiss on my lips with a groan. “Don’t look at me like that. I do need to get ready.”

I bit down on my lip and he huffed. “Okay, just a quickie,” he muttered, moving towards me.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” yelled Remington through the door.

I couldn’t help it then; I burst into laughter so hard, tears were streaming down my cheeks, just imagining Remington having a temper tantrum right outside the door, probably a huge erection tenting his shorts.

Stellan was shaking his head as he slid off the bed.

“Ohh, Stellan. You’re so hootttt,” I fake moaned as Stellan rolled his eyes and walked over to his closet.

Remington burst through the door again, finger shaking at us and his mouth open in preparation to yell.

He came to a screeching halt when he saw me alone in the bed, obviously not being…serviced.

“Fuck both of you,” he seethed and proceeded to walk back out before halting in the doorway. “But I love you.”

“I know,” I answered with a wink, still smiling as he slammed the door behind him once again.

Stretching my arms above my head, I yawned and then finally got off the bed, beginning to search for the clothes Stellan had stripped off of me before bed last night. My sleep shorts had somehow ended up on the other side of the room. Shaking my head, I slipped my clothes back on.

“You know, sometimes I forget you guys do normal things…like play soccer and football,” I mused. “It clashes with my picture of you guys as…” I stopped to think, realizing I wasn’t sure what I thought of when it came to them…just that I never thought of them as normal college students.

“Sexy badasses?” Stellan offered as he emerged from his closet in the same uniform that Remington had just been wearing.

Ugh, they both looked hot as hell in their uniforms. “Do you guys do that thing when you score a goal and you strip off your shirt?” I asked innocently, my tongue wetting my bottom lip just imagining the sight…

“Mmh. I bet you would like that; you just can’t get enough of our abs.” He lifted his jersey up for a moment, teasing me…before he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door.

We made our way to the dining room, where Cain and Remington were already seated, talking animatedly about something—well, Remington was talking animatedly about something. I wasn’t sure that Cain was capable of that.

Paxton, of course, was nowhere to be found.

Stellan sat down and pulled me into the chair next to me, after scooting it as close to him as was possible.

A moment later, one of the staff brought out our plates. Eggs Benedict for me…and one scrambled egg and one piece of plain toast for Stellan…definitely not his normal order.

I shook my head, another surprising smile gracing my lips. “I’d thought Remington was joking.”

Remington snorted. I glanced over at his plate and saw that he had a bowl of oatmeal and banana slices that he appeared to be organizing into a pattern in the bowl. Also not an order I’d ever seen him eat before.

“Any other superstitions I should know about?” I asked, digging into my breakfast because I did not have to eat crap in order to win a soccer game. I could eat my feast like the motherfucking queen I was.

“Well, the reason Remington really didn’t come over to the bed was because he hasn’t washed his socks all season,” offered Stellan. Cain’s quiet chuckle graced the room at that fact.

I made a face and shivered…just thinking about that stench.

“Hey, you know that’s an important part of our game plan,” retorted Remington in mock outrage. “And Stellan, why don’t you tell Aurora about your lucky pair of underwear.”

I gagged on my bite of ham, which was a fucking crime, at that little tidbit. “I’m not sure I can ever put your dick and balls near my mouth again.”

Stellan huffed. “I clean up afterwards really good. Ball sweat is much easier to recover from than foot sweat.”

“Okay…I don’t think I want to hear about any more superstitions,” I announced as my phone buzzed next to my plate.

The guys continued to bicker as I picked up my phone and read a text from Jenna asking where she should meet me this morning. We’d made plans last week to sit together for the game.

It was amazing how far away a week ago felt right now. The lightness I’d been feeling seeped away just thinking of all that had transpired.

I told Jenna to meet me at the main gates of the soccer stadium, and then I picked up my fork to grab another bite of breakfast.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door.

“Come in,” barked Cain, and I sat up straighter at the authority in his voice and the way Stellan and Remington had both turned serious and stopped fucking around.

The door opened a second later and two hulking beasts of men came strolling into the room. And when I said hulking beasts…I meant it. I’d never seen such huge specimens before. All four of my guys were in prime form, their bodies works of art and perfectly sculpted.

But these guys were cartoonish looking with how huge their muscles were. They were easily both 6’5 with shaved heads and menacing features.

Cain nodded at them. “Aurora, meet Hank and Bob. Your new bodyguards.”

I was quiet for a long second. “I’m sorry—I must have heard you wrong. Did you say Hank and Bob…and did you say they were my…bodyguards?”

Cain nodded calmly. “They will be there, whenever we can’t. Like at the game today. I have a meeting to attend, Paxton is…well, Paxton, and Remington and Stellan will obviously be on the field. So Hank and Bob will be your shadows.”

I internally groaned, studying the guys closely, trying to imagine myself walking around with two hulking bodyguards like I was some kind of Queen of Sheba.

Finally, I shrugged. I didn't really think there was any security that could stop the Demon from getting me when he decided to. Everything that happened after that point was going to be up to me. But it was nice to pretend like Hank and Bob could do something to protect me. My phone buzzed again with another question from Jenna about what I was going to wear.

A hysterical giggle slipped out of my mouth and everyone stared at me. I put my hand over my mouth, but it was no use. Another giggle slipped out, and then another. I was obviously going crazy. It was just so funny to me to be sitting in this stupid fancy dining room with two bodyguards who were supposed to protect me from my serial killer father who had just escaped from prison, and meanwhile, Jenna was asking me what I was going to wear to the game.

My life was so weird.

"Don't mind her, she's only crazy on Saturdays," Remington tossed out as he stood up and slid a kiss across my cheek. "We gotta get going," he announced, even though Stellan was already standing up from his seat as well. Stellan was staring at me like he was wondering whether he should go to the game or not, so I forced the rest of my hysterical laughter down and gave him a bland, hopefully convincing smile.

"I can't wait to see you play," I said excitedly, since I hadn't seen them do anything soccer related since I met them, and it was kind of a big part of their lives.

Stellan's face brightened at my pronouncement, and he blew me a kiss before leaving the room.

And then it was just Cain and Hank and Bob with me.

"All right, gentlemen, I believe I made this clear during the hiring process, but if anything happens to her… If one hair on her head is touched, I'm going to kill you both," Cain said calmly.

Both of them chuckled uneasily, obviously thinking to themselves that this must be some kind of joke. Their laughter faded when Cain's face didn't show any sign of amusement.

Realizing they might have gotten themselves into a situation, they straightened up, and both gave determined nods.

I was thinking they weren’t the brightest bodyguards I could be given, since anyone else would read the room about the danger Cain presented…and promptly run for their lives.

Either that or Cain was offering them a crap ton of money.

My phone buzzed again since I hadn't answered Jenna’s previous text. She’d just sent my name in screamy capital letters, and I couldn't help but smile as I typed out that I was going to be wearing a jersey with both of their names on it. I’d gotten it a few weeks ago. I stood up from the table to get ready, almost snorting when Hank and Bob looked poised to run and scoop me up.

"I’m going to go change," I said slowly, feeling like I needed to clearly enunciate my words just in case they misunderstood them and I was suddenly locked in the room because they thought I was going against Cain's orders. I walked over to Cain and threw my arms around him. Leaning close to his ear, I whispered, “I hate you."

He pulled me forward and then he was devouring my lips.

"You can take your anger out on me later." He winked at me and slapped my ass as I walked away. I glared at him, feeling Hank and Bob's interested gazes on me. This was going to take some getting used to, especially if the guys decided to keep going with all the PDA.

I walked down the hall, taking deep breaths before I opened the door to my room. I'd laid out my jersey the day before, and a cute pair of leggings. When I picked up the jersey though, I couldn't help but snort. Cain's name was on the back of the jersey, and I knew, even without looking, that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't going to be able to find the one with Remington and Stellan's names on it.

Shaking my head in amusement, I slipped it on and then stared at myself in the mirror. This was good. This was normal. Here I was, wearing my boyfriend's jersey, albeit not the sport that he played…while I watched my other two boyfriends play. Okay, so it wasn’t normal, but there were at least elements that were normal.

I used the curling wand to put some waves in my hair, added a little mascara, blush, and lipstick, and then I was ready to go.

I jumped when I opened my door and saw Hank and Bob standing across from the doorway. Somehow, I'd forgotten about them in the ten minutes I'd been in my room.

"Ready to go?" I asked casually, kind of hoping they would announce that they'd had a prior engagement.

"Let one of us go in front of you and one of us go behind you, if that's all right," Hank said…Or maybe that was Bob. They looked so much alike it was going to be hard to remember which was which.

"I was hoping that we could look a bit more…natural while we walk. Although I am totally fine with you jumping in front of me if any danger presents itself," I offered.

HANK AND BOB stared at each other, having some sort of silent conversation. Finally, the other one–not sure which, still–nodded his head in agreement with my plan…and off we went.

Stepping outside, I was reminded why I’d chosen this university in the first place. I felt like I’d stepped into an episode of Gilmore Girls, looking around at all of the gold, crimson, and burnt orange leaves dotting the trees. The sky was a perfect sunny blue, and there was a crisp feeling in the air that I couldn't help but savor.

Someone yelled from nearby, and I literally jumped. I rubbed an annoyed hand across my face. Get it together, Aurora.

At least it was becoming easier to call myself that in my head. I wondered, if there ever was a light at the end of this tunnel…if I might change my name again, something that could represent who I was after.

A really stupid thought.

Hank and Bob didn't say anything as we walked, and I was grateful that they were the strong, silent types. Their heads bounced around like ping-pong balls, looking for threats, but as far as I could see, there were coeds playing football on the lawn, milling around for brunch, or walking excitedly towards the stadium.

Jenna had already given me the rundown. Soccer was just as big of a sport as football at the school, or maybe just a little bit under that, because of course Cain was quarterback and Cain naturally made himself the head of everything. The soccer stadium was as big as the football one was though. I wasn't sure why they couldn't just share a stadium, but apparently that was frowned upon. I could hear the roar of the crowd as we approached, and I couldn't help but get a little bit excited as we got closer, despite everything. I spotted Jenna standing outside where they were taking tickets. As soon as she saw me, she started waving like a mad woman, and my answering smile felt like it could split my face in two.

I waved back happily, still weirded out by how strange it was to be doing something like waving at a friend now that my world had twisted on its axis.

"What's wrong?" were the first words out of her mouth once I finally got to her. Just then she noticed Hank and Bob towering behind me, and her eyes bugged out, staring back and forth between them.

"Apparently… You have a lot to catch me up on."

I felt it then, all the eyes on me. Obviously, news had spread like wildfire that the Demon had escaped, but this was my first time out in public since it had happened. I was used to stares. But this was on a whole other level. People looked even more terrified of me than they had before, like I was hiding the Demon in my back pocket, or I was scouting their faces for his next victim. This was going to get old fast.

Jenna linked arms with me like the crazy, amazing, loyal friend that she was, and we got in line to have our tickets scanned, Hank and Bob following close behind us. A few minutes later, we made it through and walked up the long ramp that led into the stadium.

A rush of adrenaline flashed through me when I saw how many freaking people there were in the stands. I had gotten tickets to the front row thanks to Stellan and Remington, and Jenna did a little jig when she saw our prime spot.

"Freshman seats are all the way up there," she said, pointing up to the top of the stadium where the players probably resembled ants. "Finally, a perk for being your friend," she teased.

I elbowed her, but before I could really say anything back, my gaze got tripped at the sight of Remington and Stellan warming up. There was no denying it. I was watching two alpha males in their prime. Their size and their viral masculinity was evident even from here.

And watching them play sports… Well, I’d become a major sports fan.

"You're drooling."

I couldn't even rip my eyes away from them to roll them at her. "I am," I agreed. I shifted in my seat, and my elbow hit Bob…Or Hank. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad; I’d forgotten they were there again.

"So what team are we playing?" I asked, feeling like a bad girlfriend for not knowing. I was pretty sure they had mentioned it a few times in the past twenty-four hours, but I'd been a little distracted.

“Haywood. They’re one of our biggest rivals, but Remington and Stellan are looking better than ever. I know we’re going to win.”

“Why am I getting the feeling that you know all of their stats by heart?” I drawled.

Her face flushed and she stuck out her tongue at me. “My whole family are huge sports fans. My dad would drive us to the soccer games and football games every season, and we always watched them on TV if we couldn’t make the game.”

A feeling of loneliness dragged itself through me as I thought about Jenna’s chaotic family. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d walked into the dorm room that first day. I wondered what that felt like, to have that kind of support system. To have normal memories.

SHE MUST’VE SENSED my shift of mood, because she reached over and squeezed my hand, giving me a warm, comforting smile. Reminding me to think on the bright side. Things had been really hard… But there had been a lot of bright spots as well. And I couldn’t forget that, even with the Demon's return.

Some girl whispered about me somewhere behind us, but I didn't bother trying to find who it was, because just then, Stellan and Remington jogged over.

"Here they come!" Jenna squealed, and I glanced at her, amused. "You see one of them almost every day and you don't squeal like that."

"It's just different when they’re wearing their uniforms," she protested.

They reached the front of the railing.

"What the fuck is that?" growled Remington, pointing at my jersey.

It took me a second to remember what Cain had done.

“You have to take it up with your favorite, resident psychopath," I teased, turning around slowly so they could get the full effect.

"He’s such a fucking bastard," groaned Stellan, shaking his head.

"Yes, he is," I agreed, a small smile slipping onto my lips at the thought of how far his possessiveness extended.

"I've decided on a new tradition. You need to be seated right here, and you need to make out with me before every game," announced Remington.

Jenna giggled next to me, and I could feel Bob and Hank's silent amusement.

"That doesn't sound as odorous as your other superstitions," I pointed out. Before I could say anything else, Stellan hopped onto the bottom railing, leaned over, grabbed my face, and smashed his lips against mine.

The kiss was over in a flash, but no less devastating in its effect. "Love you, baby," he crooned, as he shot me a wink and then jumped off the fence and jogged over to join the rest of the team.

Remington was looking decidedly grumpy that Stellan had stolen his thunder.

"Aw, I'll kiss you too, Remy," I purred, and his face brightened in a sexy grin. I stood up and leaned over the railing, ignoring the gasps from behind me all over the stands as I gently kissed him. Of course, the whole campus must've heard the rumors that I was with all of them, but I guess it was different when you saw it firsthand.

"I do like your flare for the dramatics," Putting his thumb on my lips, he smudged my lipstick purposely.

“I like you a bit messy,” he growled.

A whistle sounded and someone barked out something, probably his coach.

"Go score some goals," I ordered. He put his hand on his heart, his face outraged. "Don't you know anything about me? I’m the goalkeeper."

Jenna literally swooned next to me, obviously far more overcome with Remington's joke than I was since I definitely knew Remington was the reigning highest scorer, ever since he'd started college.

And that wasn’t as goalkeeper.

I shook my head as he jogged backwards, throwing me another kiss that seemed so at odds with their reputations and personalities with everyone else.

"You need to give me some of your badass magic," announced Jenna.

"Badass magic?"

"Only a magician could manage to tame all four of them, girl. And you've done it."

I wasn't sure I’d tamed them, but I had at least pointed their fierce energy in a direction other than myself.

A few minutes later, the whistle sounded, and the teams took off. Stellan immediately got the ball and sliced a kick across the field to where Remington was waiting. Remington did some kind of fancy footwork that involved kicking a ball through the defender's legs and then basically jumping over him to get to the other side and kick the ball towards the goal. The goalkeeper slid and stopped it, and the whole crowd groaned. This was going to be a lot more fun than I had thought. Jenna gave an earsplitting whistle that had Bob and Hank jumping towards me like someone had just called out a threat.

"So, these are your bodyguards,?" she asked.

I patted “Bodyguard One” on the shoulder, deciding to give up on their names for now, watching as Stellan lined up for a penalty kick. The crazy guy turned and looked at me, pointed at me like he was some kind of action star, and then kicked the ball high up in the top left corner of the net. It soared just beyond the goalkeeper’s fingertips.

The whole stadium went crazy.

I jumped up and down, yelling Stellan's name, until I heard someone whisper nervously behind me, "They spotted the Demon in Chattington."

Another girl answered, "That's only six hours away."

"He's probably coming for… her."

I didn't have to turn around obviously to see that one of them was probably pointing at me right at that very minute.

"Don't listen to them," cajoled Jenna. "Everything's going to be fine. You've got these… bodyguards—"

"I was at the prison when he escaped," I interrupted her.

Her gaze widened and her mouth dropped.

"Oh my gosh. You were there?"

"He's always liked to play games with me. And he said something about needing to still teach me some lessons, right before he left the visitor’s room. And then…like twenty minutes later, he’d gotten out."

She shivered, crossing her arms in front of her and rubbing at her skin.

"Maybe we should get some more bodyguards for you. I can definitely learn karate and help out."

I snorted at her seriousness. I could just imagine her trying to jump in front of me and throw a punch. But as soon as the smile hit my lips, it faded. Because it just reminded me of all the people in my life that the Demon could hurt. And I had no doubt that it was all in his strategy to take away everyone I’d ever loved.

"You can't go anywhere by yourself," I told her urgently, grabbing onto her arm. I could hear the din of the crowd around us–someone had obviously scored–but I couldn't look away from Jenna's face. I needed her to understand that I was serious.

"No one who knows me is going to be safe. You have to be careful."

She nodded, her eyes soft and understanding. "I'm not going to do anything that he'd be able to use to hurt you," she promised. My hand was shaking as I pulled it off her arm, hating the extreme urge to cry I felt.

Out of the darkness and into the light…

I fought my whole life for sanity. When you’d seen what I had, it was easy to step off the edge, but I thought I’d conquered the feeling of losing control. Now it felt like nothing was in my control, like I was spiraling off the cliff again, and this time I wasn't succeeding in grabbing the edge before I fell.

"He wants this, Aurora," murmured Jenna, grabbing my hand again. My eyes tracked Remington as he ran down the field. "He wants to get in your head and ruin the life that you've built without him." She paused. "You can't let him win."

I squeezed her hand and watched as Remington faked out a defender and then kicked the ball into the net. As the crowd went wild around me, I decided to promise myself….I'd try.

…

Our team won easily and everyone around us was talking about how the team was definitely going to win another national championship. I listened as the girls went on and on about Stellan and Remington, and I wondered if they could see past the perfect faces, the cocky attitudes, and the great soccer skills…to the killers underneath… If their reactions would be the same.

Personally, it only made them hotter in my eyes.

We were waiting outside the locker rooms, along with a huge group of people. The glass doors opened and the team began to come out. The screams were ear-piercing as Stellan and Remington walked out, and for some reason, they triggered a memory.

I was in the basement and a pretty woman was splayed out on her back, her hands tied in front of her and a belt around her waist holding her to the table.

He hadn't bothered to gag her and her head was rocking back and forth as she screamed, over and over again. Never letting up. He'd made me stay there, for hours, just listening to her beg and scream, and not be able to do anything about it. She'd screamed until she'd completely lost her voice. I remembered her mouth was open in horror as she continued to scream silently even when it was obvious that no one would hear her.

"Aurora," Jenna's voice bit through the haze in my mind. I came back to the present, horrified when I found myself leaning over, my hands on my knees, my breath coming out in gasps. Stellan and Remington were fighting their way through the crowd to get to me and I hated that I couldn’t be fucking normal for one minute. This was supposed to be their moment, their time to shine in the spotlight, and here I was, fucking it all up.

By the time they got to me, my breathing had normalized and I’d wiped my features free of the fear I'm sure had been written on my face.

They were both looking at me, twin expressions of worry on their features.

"You guys were awesome," I said cheerily, cringing internally at how fake it sounded. Cheery was Jenna's thing, definitely not mine. I hurried and threw my arms around Remington's neck before he could study my face anymore.

"We have to go talk to some reporters, but then we can go home," said Stellan, but I was already shaking my head. I'm sure the team would want to celebrate, and if not them, then someone would want to celebrate their victory. We certainly weren’t going to go back to the Sphinx and watch me sit in my bedroom and stare at the wall as the monsters of my past tried their hardest to get to me.

I glanced up at Hank and Bob. "I hope you guys are good, because I'm about to get really drunk," I warned. Jenna gave a loud "whoop" of excitement, but I knew the guys were seeing right through me.

"I think everyone's going to that bar on Eighth," said Jenna helpfully, and I threw her a look of approval.

"You guys go let everyone tell you how great you are and we’ll meet you over there," I ordered.

Stellan and Remington both looked torn, but they must have finally seen how much I needed this, a moment of normalcy, and they got with the program.

And here I was, two hours later, the room spinning around me, going way past the rules I’d set for myself as far as drinking and losing control.

And yes, I thought it was ironic too that now that the Demon had been unleashed, I was being even less careful than normal. But maybe that's what happened when you finally lost your fucking mind.

"Shots, shots, shots!" I chanted with the crowd as the bartender handed Stellan a tequila shot.

I'd already lost count of how many I had, but Stellan didn't look nearly as excited about taking it as I had.

"You snooze, you lose," I crowed, grabbing the tequila shot before he could say anything and tossing it down my throat. It was amazing how it tasted almost like water at this point.

Jenna was snuggled up to one of the soccer players, not quite as gone as I was.

"You guys are cute," I slurred.

The guy looked terrified that I was even speaking to him, but Jenna was once again swooning as I realized she did anytime someone said something remotely cute.

"Don't be scared of me," I told her guy. "I'll only kill you if you break her heart."

The guy had a funny look on his face, but before I could say anything else, Remington's arm went across my shoulders. "All right, sweetheart. I think that's enough fun for tonight. We don't want the poor guy to die of a heart attack."

"Heart attack?" I slurred, everything seeming to sparkle around me...and spin. "I was just being nice."

"Yes, you were very nice. I'm sure Jenna is very appreciative of you." I realized then that he had led me outside, and we were suddenly walking along the sidewalk.

"I don't want to leave." I pouted, almost falling over.

"Easy does it," said Remington, sounding amused.

He stopped me outside of a car. "Little devil, did you have fun tonight?" came Cain's voice.

"My other boyfriend’s here," I announced to the world. "This one likes to spank me."

"Okay, Killer,” Cain said, chuckling, even though I didn't know what was so funny. Remington scooped me up in his arms and we slid into the car.

And then I didn't remember anything after that.

…

Cain

"I'm not going to let him kill you." That had been the last thing Aurora had slurred before she fell asleep wrapped in Remington's embrace. Stellan was in the front passenger seat. He’d just gotten in after making sure that Aurora’s friend was in good hands with his teammate. We exchanged dark looks as I pulled the car onto the road and headed back towards the Sphinx.

"She seemed like she had a great time tonight," murmured Remington, his voice lost as he stared obsessively at Aurora’s sleeping face.

"Well, we already know she's good at hiding how she's feeling," snapped Stellan, sounding like he wanted to punch something.

I didn't blame him; I was feeling those same things myself. It was obvious that the Demon’s escape had severely fucked with her head, as you would expect.

"He's not going to get near her," I promised darkly as we continued down the road. The two of them obviously agreed, but what I didn't say as I drove…is that I sometimes worried it would indeed kill us to keep that promise.

17

CAIN

T he next morning, Aurora looked glassy-eyed and tired as she sat perched on Remington’s lap.

“Hungover?” Remingon teased her. “Last night it seemed like—”

She put her hand over his mouth, glaring at him. “No need to be so shouty.”

She shifted off Remington’s lap. Stellan held his arms out, and she headed toward him.

I grabbed her waist and scooped her off the ground, throwing her over my shoulder. She let out a shocked sound of protest as I carried her out of the breakfast room and up the stairs.

“We're going shopping today,” I told Aurora as I set her down in her own bedroom. “There's nothing in your closet that will work for the Halloween party.”

The secret society Halloween party was a tradition. It was held outside the society, where we had enough space for alumni. There wasn't anything that I wanted to deal with–a masquerade ball didn't seem like a genius idea when the Demon was loose–but we had to keep up appearances. If I looked weak, it made the secret society and my father's organization look weak; too many people would know there was blood in the water.

But I wasn't going to leave Aurora’s side.

“I guess you would be the expert on my closet if you've got cameras in there too, like you have everywhere else,” she said, sounding dissatisfied as she gazed into the closet.

I came up behind her, pressing myself against her perfect ass, my hands settling on her hips. “Do you want to know where my cameras are?”

“Yes,” she purred, rubbing her ass back against my giant erection. “That way, I can get a video of them going up your ass where they belong.”

My lips dipped to her ear, and despite how mouthy she was, her back arched, and she swayed into me as if she wanted me. “I'll tell you where the cameras are, and you'll leave them there. Because I want you to. Because you like turning me on. Because you like having me watch you.”

My hands stroked over her taut stomach and caressed her breasts, gripping them hard, the way I knew she liked it. She bit her lower lip as if she were trying to resist her desire. “I don't, you psycho.”

There was no way in hell the cameras were coming out when the Demon was loose, or that I wouldn't always be watching her if, for some reason, she wasn't right by my side.

But I was pretty sure I could make her like it. I caught her chin and two fingers and directed her gaze to the camera hidden in the wall. I knew Aurora could find them if she tried. Now, I pushed her shirt down, drawing her breasts up out of her bra and toying with her nipple. I stroked my thumb around her nipple, then pressed her breast against the camera. And to her ear, I murmured, “Do you know the power you have over me when I see you on camera? When I know that I can watch your every, most intimate moment?”

Aurora might not realize it, but she ground down on my hand as it slid up her thigh, as if she were turned on by the word “power”. And while I expected to always be the one who held the most power, I was glad to see her accepting hers. She was my perfect woman because she could stand by my side. Probably with a blowtorch or a bone saw and a beautiful grin across her face.

I worked my hand against her clit until she made a desperate, needy groan in the back of her throat that delighted me, then pulled away abruptly. She turned to face me, frowning.

“Time to go.”

She aimed a skeptical look at the way my cock strained the front of my pants. “You can't think of anything better to do?”

“I can think of plenty of things I want to do, but this is part of my job. And that means walking in beside me, looking good, is part of your job. And that means spending my money now is also part of your job.”

She brightened slightly, although she was still pouting as she readjusted her bra, returning her breasts to inside her clothes. “It's awfully late to get a Halloween costume. What are you going to be? Maybe I could be a cat?”

I laughed as I rested my hand on her shoulder and steered her out of her room. “It's not that kind of Halloween party.”

Stellan was just coming out of his room, and he looked up with surprise flashing across his features. “Now?”

I knew what he was thinking about. After all Aurora had been through, the fact that the party was at the sex club we had recently acquired where she'd had some bad experiences was less than ideal. And the masks–and the kinds of things that happened at the party–might also both be hard for her.

But she was tough.

And also, I really wanted to dress Aurora and then chain her up to something. I could keep her safe. I was pretty sure I could even keep her happy. Well, as happy as anyone could be when they're forced to take a good spanking and a dozen forced orgasms, both of which I felt Aurora deeply deserved.

“I think Aurora might prefer a quieter night,” Stellan said. “One with more candy and cuddles and a movie, and less group sex and BDSM.”

“I do really like candy,” Aurora said.

“Nah, she’s one of us; she’s in for all of it.” I wasn't going to argue with anyone about it. Aurora was my queen. She belonged at my side.

“I am indeed in,” Aurora said, but she gave Stellan a warm smile that kind of made me want to punch him in the dick. “But I like your idea for another time. Just the two of us. Something quiet and cozy.”

Yeah, they could do that boring shit another time. “Speaking of which, Pax needs to get his ass back here and put on a show.”

“Are you going to get him?”

“If I have to. I hope Pax fucking knows better.”

I took Aurora shopping, getting more entertainment than maybe I should from choosing all the clothes I wanted to see her in, then allowing her to buy anything she wanted. If she looked too long at something in the stores, I ordered it in her size. She had to play the part, after all.

But maybe I also just liked buying her shit.

I followed her around, patiently for a while, then took her back to the house. When I got back, Stellan warned me Pax still hadn't shown up.

The warm fuzzy feelings I developed while spending the day with Aurora dissipated in seconds. “Then I guess I'll go get him,” I said, frustrated. He probably wouldn't enjoy that very much.

Aurora must have picked up on that, because she said quickly, “I'll come with you.”

“Pax doesn't need you to keep him out of trouble,” I told her.

“I'll go with Cain,” Stellan offered.

He must want to keep Aurora from seeing Pax get hurt. But I was surprised he would do that for Aurora's sake, when it meant the chance to make me look bad to Aurora. Either he was serious about protecting Aurora from everything, even emotional distress–although he certainly caused enough of that in his life–or he was looking after me.

Aurora would not take it well if I hurt Pax.

But after seeing Aurora sad about how he treated her, it felt really tempting.

“All right, I'll take Stellan and we'll go get Pax. Aurora, you stay here with Remy. Jenna can come over here.”

“Can she come to the party?” Aurora asked.

“Jenna is not qualified for this party.”

In the car, once Remy had texted us Pax’s location, I cast a curious glance at Stellan. “You didn't want her to see this. In case Pax doesn't feel like sticking with the plan and making a good impression with the alumni.”

“She's had a good day so far. Maybe we just keep it a good day for once.”

“You want her to think we’re better than we are.”

“Maybe I want us to be better than we are. Good enough for her.”

“You’re the one who fucked up epically. You kidnapped her.”

“At least it woke me up.” He gave me a knowing look, which made me very tempted to punch him.

But I was still kind of glad to have his company while I went to track down our errant fighter.

PAX WAS HIDING in a shitty motel to lick his wounds—since he was suffering so deeply after hitting someone else. We’d been close as brothers since we were kids, so I understood him well enough to predict much of his actions… but I’d never understood them.

I parked in the lot, looking at the row of scuffed burgundy doors that opened onto the concrete walkways. “He’s got a million dollars coming to him; why the hell is he staying here?”

Stellan glanced at me. “Probably feels like home.”

I scoffed. “He’s been living with me since he was ten years old.”

Stellan hesitated but didn’t say anything. Life had been good growing up, though. Dad had paid for all the training we wanted, and for anything we asked for. We’d had the pool house to ourselves starting when we were teens. And we’d been invited into the good life, with booze, luxury, and older women eager to teach us from a young age. Why was Stellan acting like Pax had fucking suffered? It sucked he’d lost his mom, but we’d killed the fucker who took her away. And now we’d kill whoever was using her death to taunt him. Why be so fucking dramatic?

A creeping sense of unease ran through my gut. I’d misread something about Pax, and I hated to misread people. It was rare for me.

“Let’s go. If he’s unreasonable, I’ll distract him, you help him into the car.”

Stellan nodded, and the two of us slammed our car doors in near unison. A scraggly, intoxicated-looking couple was standing on the walkway smoking weed; they looked at us and decided to go back into their room.

Pax swung open the door when we knocked, looking unsurprised to find us standing there. “What?”

“The society Halloween party is tonight,” I said bluntly. “You’re making an appearance.”

“I’m not in the mood to party, Cain.”

I probably wouldn’t be in the mood to party under his circumstances either, but life didn’t cater to our moods. He could always find someone to beat after the party if he really needed to. “Shucks. That’s too bad. Get in the car.”

Pax ran his hand over his newly shaven head. His dark eyes glared at me. “Your dad really wants me at that party?”

Of course my dad would be at the party, like all the other alumni, but I knew what he was implying. “Whatever, Pax. If you want to imply that I’m my dad’s bitch, I’m happy to imply that you’re my bitch. Get your ass in the car.”

“Why do you need me there?”

God, I deserved a fucking medal for my patience in the face of this defiance. “For one thing, we’re not showing any weakness. This is not the time. And for another, Aurora wants you there.”

Pax scoffed. “There’s something wrong with that girl.”

“Yep.” We were all lucky that was the case. “I’m not going to ask again. There are going to be sponsors there, a lot of alum with powerful connections that you need to take the next step. So get in the car.”

“What if I don’t care anymore?”

“Then maybe I’ll care for you.”

Stellan leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, looking distant, the way Stellan often did. Like he was better than us.

“Come on, don’t be a pussy,” I taunted Pax. “You hurt the girl and now you’re too chicken shit to face her? What’s the point of being such a badass in the ring when you’re so fucking weak outside of it?”

He swung at me. I knew he would. And that was when Stellan darted around him and jabbed the Taser up under his ribs.

Pax’s face went from murderous intent to wide-eyed alarm as his body stiffened at all the electricity coursing through his body. Stellan, who was not stupid, kept it up until Pax was completely down on the ground, his muscles painfully tense.

I threw Pax over my shoulder, knowing he’d recover fast.

Then we threw my best friend in the trunk for the ride home.

18

AURORA

I  knew there would be a hundred gorgeous women dressed in very little clothing at the party, but I felt special when I walked out and Remington whistled. The look on his face, of pure lust and admiration, was a memory I wanted to keep. I’d ignored Cain’s bossy wardrobe choices for the evening; instead, I smoothed the short white dress I wore over my hips. I knew most of the women tonight would wear black and chains, so I’d opted for white lace. The dress plunged in the front and was short, but it still had an innocent summer vibe. And I’d paired it with a delicate white and gold mask to fit the masquerade theme.

Cain would want to eat me alive both for my disobedience and for looking all innocent and virginal. I knew what drove him mad.

But right now, my heart’s first longing was for Pax.

“You look good,” he said with a grin. “Good enough to eat.”

He started toward me, and he looked pretty good himself at the moment, dressed in a flawless black tux that clung to his broad shoulders and fitted exquisitely over his perfect body.

“So do you.”

He gave me a devilish grin. “I guess we’ll see about that later.”

“You are dressed to make Cain crazy,” he said. “I love it.”

“What about Pax?” I asked quietly. “Do you think he’ll come?”

“I don’t think he has a choice.” Remington stroked his hands over my hips, giving me a longing look as if he didn’t want to leave the society house. “But yeah, I think he’d find you as stunning as I do. Even if he’s been an idiot.”

“I don’t like the idea of Pax and Cain in a fight.”

“It does seem kind of like being trapped between Godzilla and King Kong,” Remington said with a wry smile. “Those two grew up training together. I’m pretty sure Cain could have made his own run at fighting competitively if that had been where his heart was.”

Remington held out his arm to me, and I placed my hand over his forearm.

“They are running late, most likely for reasons of violence, so I thought we could head over. Are you sure you’re okay heading back over to the Twisted Rose?”

“I have to be, don’t I?” I understood that part of the job of being with these men meant looking fearless and dangerous and cool at their side. Otherwise, people would think we were weak and they would try to hurt us. Then we’d have to hurt them. And I didn’t want that.

He hesitated. “No, not with me. We can hang out in a private room. You need to put in an appearance, sure. But you don’t need to participate if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to feel…Trapped.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “I think it could be fun.”

Remington’s grin was sharp. “It’s always been fun before. But tonight, with you? I think it’s going to be the best Halloween of my life.”

He escorted me to his car, and we drove off campus and deep into the heart of the city.

I watched the bright lights flicker by. “The view’s a lot better without being stuck in a trunk.”

Remington raised his hand in a sudden wave, and I realized that we were passing Cain’s car, going in the other direction, back to the house.

“They need to get cleaned up into their tuxes too,” Remy said.

The four of them would look good tonight. Although I wondered if Pax would be hot or cold tonight. I never knew what I was going to get with him.

Parking in the garage felt odd. It was the same enormous, sterile, brightly lit space where I’d met Alexander. And almost been murdered.

But now, Remington came around and offered me his hand to help me out of the car. I didn’t need help, but I still enjoyed taking his hand. He kept my hand in his and squeezed it gently as the two of us headed toward the doors to the Twisted Rose.

The club was decorated with black and red roses everywhere, and everything looked lush and elegant. Or at least, as elegant as any place can look when there are also all kinds of sex benches and toys scattered everywhere. Waitresses, dressed in extremely scanty and provocative clothing, circulated with trays of drinks, apps, and vibrators. This was definitely a different vibe than any party I’d ever been to.

“Cain would not take it well if we started without him,” Remington said, looking as if he wanted to bend me over the bar, but instead helping me take a seat. Drinks materialized at his hand in an instant as soon as the bartender saw us.

Remington handed me a deep red drink.

I gave him a skeptical look. “Are we just reliving all of our traumas tonight?”

“Until they don’t have any power over us.” He raised his own glass of Delilah’s Cocktail, my namesake drink, and toasted mine. “To making trauma our bitch.”

I laughed. “I’m not sure that’s how to do it. I think you all need a lot of therapy, and so do I.”

But I toasted him anyway, then took a long sip. The sight of the drink brought up terrible memories, but at the same time, Remington was leaning in front of me, with affection shining from his eyes. I was a different girl, and they were different men than we’d all been two months ago.

And the drink was, in fact, delicious.

“It is a lot more fun than therapy though,” he said. He leaned over and kissed my lips, and his lips felt cool from the drink, and he looked so irresistibly handsome.

I ran my hands up the smooth fabric of his shirt to his powerful shoulders and wrapped my fingers around the base of his neck. His hands rested lightly on my thighs.

I could have kept kissing him, but I felt the ripple of energy through the party. The two of us reluctantly separated and turned toward the doors.

The night would be full of powerful men, secret society graduates who ran the country. But I only knew a few men who had that kind of effect on a room. Cain, Pax, and Stellan were making their way through the doorway.

My heart leapt at the sight of Pax. He looked perfect as ever, even when he looked totally different than he did fighting. He was dressed in a black suit with a black shirt and tie. But his eyes looked darker than his clothing, and he radiated power and danger.

He couldn’t be in sharper contrast to golden-haired Cain in a classic crisp tux, who radiated power and danger in his own way, who seemed to command the room as he made his way through it, standing taller than everyone else. Stellan looked irresistibly sexy and movie star handsome, one hand in his pocket, his hair ruffled in a way that was appealing as hell. Every time I looked at him, I felt the same thrill of longing I had as a teenage girl with my first impossible crush. But now I could kiss him all I wished.

“You’re smiling,” Remington noted, his own smile across his gorgeous face. He put a fresh drink in my hand.

The words made me realize that it was true; these men made me happy even if they also made me crazy, and they’d put a smile across my face that was so intense my cheeks hurt.

But the realization that I did feel happy—no matter what else was going on—also carried with it the reminder that happiness could be easily destroyed. The Demon’s face rose in my mind. He haunted me. He’d do anything he could to take these men away from me.

“Hey.” Remington touched my face gently, concern written in his eyes. “I like seeing you happy.”

“I know.” I kissed him again. “And you do make me happy. But we have a long way to go until we’re all safe. And for now, I should probably talk to Pax.”

He’d obviously taken it hard that he’d hit me. I just needed to make sure he knew that it wasn’t his fault, and that I wasn’t mad.

Cain’s gaze fixed on me across the room, and I felt heat suffuse my skin, my breasts suddenly tight and my thighs aching. Everyone else seemed to fade away in the possessive way he looked at me. I dragged my gaze away with effort and tried to catch Pax’s attention. But Pax was avoiding me, studiously. When he looked right through me, hurt spiked through my chest. It was quickly chased by fury. So we were back to cold in yet another endless cycle of hot and cold.

As Cain made his way toward me, my attention was pulled to a woman suddenly sitting on the bar beside me. She let out a moan as her fingers scraped across the polished surface, and she leaned back to let the man who leaned down run his mouth across her thigh. He began to eat her out with wild energy, and she moaned loudly, running her fingers through his dark hair.

Remington looked at me and shrugged. “The night is young. The party will get less boring, I promise.”

Cain reached us and took a long, burning look at me. “You seem to have missed the dress code.”

Our waitress came over, giving him a suggestive look. She wore very little, a gold choker that connected to gold nipple clamps with a delicate chain, and a black leather miniskirt. She seemed very eager to serve.

Cain ordered a drink from her, then turned to me. “That would be a better look for you than this,” he said as he ran his hand up my skirt. He grinned as his hand massaged my naked ass. “Although I see you dressed for me in one respect.”

“Cain, I dressed for myself. I’ve been looking forward to this party just as much as you have,” I said breezily.

His lips twitched. He massaged my ass, his hand big enough to palm an entire cheek. His fingers were firm and possessive, and I turned into him, unable to hide how much I wanted to grind against his powerful thigh. He pulled me tight against his suit, nudging my thighs open with his own leg so he could pull me even closer. I didn’t care if anyone watched us right now as his other hand delved up my skirt, his fingers sliding possessively over my ass. I just wanted more of him.

Nearby, two men sandwiched one woman between them, with their hands stroking over her half-naked body. She tossed her head back, her long red hair flowing across them both.

“You are so fucking wet,” he said as his fingers brushed between my thighs, and I bit my lip to stifle a moan. “Dirty girl.”

I disentangled myself from Cain with difficulty, both because I really didn’t want to and because he seemed inclined to drag me against his body and force me onto his lap. As much as I wanted that, I needed to get to Pax. But first, I said, “Explain the rules of the party to me.”

“The rules are, it’s Halloween, and everyone has to trick or treat. If you won’t give someone a treat, you get a trick.”

He pointed towards the woman between the men, who was now being bent over the lap of one of the men, as the other one nudged her legs wide to expose her. The man worked a vibrating butt plug into her, and she groaned, her legs trembling in her high heels as it began to vibrate and pulse.

“But is that a trick or a treat?” I asked.

Cain didn’t answer, because he was suddenly focused on a man across the room and how Pax was making his way toward him.

“He’s going to ruin this party for me, isn’t he?” Cain asked, although it sounded more like a rhetorical question.

“He doesn’t seem like he’s in a celebrating mood.”

“He doesn’t seem like he’s in a surviving mood,” Cain growled. He slipped his arm around me, and we walked toward the two of them on an intercept path. I pulled my skirt down to cover my ass after Cain’s exploration, although I was sure my men could tell how I felt, how my arousal was sliding down my inner thigh.

The man that Pax was introducing himself to had wild curly hair and a big grin. He was built.

“Rob Gains,” Cain murmured in my ear. “Creator and CEO of the Gains Sports Drink company.”

I’d seen those red and blue bottles all over convenience stores and in commercials. This would be a great move for Pax.

“I’m so glad the two of you met,” Cain said. He clapped Pax on the shoulder in a way that probably looked affectionate to someone who didn’t know Cain.

Gains turned his grin between the two of them. “Oh yes, I’ve been very interested in talking to you, Pax. I think a lot of our consumers would find you inspiring.”

Pax said, “I’m not sure why. Electrolytes and corn syrup never made anyone a badass.”

The man laughed, but an affronted look had passed over his face for a split second before he decided to react with humor.

Cain looked like he was ready to kill Pax for wasting what he’d worked for all this time, but Cain started to smooth things over.

Paxton didn’t even bother to excuse himself, He just walked off. I followed him, reaching for his arm.

“I don’t want to talk, Aurora.”

“Then you’re in luck; this doesn’t seem like a place where people talk very much.”

“I don’t want to fuck either. Just go play with Cain.”

“You’re the one who seems to be playing with Cain, doing things that you know are going to piss him off.”

“Please. He should be in heaven right now; this is his kind of party, not mine.”

A warm masculine presence was suddenly right behind me, and I breathed in Cain’s heady cologne a second before his muscles pressed against my back. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked, and I knew he was speaking over my head to Pax.

Pax looked at him blankly. “You wanted me to come here and talk to the sponsors. That’s what I’m doing.”

“If you keep acting like a fucking moron, you’re not just going to lose the money, you’re going to make it look like we’re not a united front and endanger us all. And if you do that, I’m going to endanger you.”

Pax rolled his eyes and turned to walk away.

I turned to look at Cain, who seemed ready to explode. “Why don’t you show me what all this equipment is for?” I asked lightly, trying to calm him down.

“I’m sure Stellan and Remington would be happy to explain to you all about these parties,” he said. He moved past me, following Pax through the crowd. It felt like there was a countdown to bloodshed that was about to ensue.

I was trying to figure out a way to stop them before one of them killed the other.

“First time?”

I turned, surprised at the unexpected, inane question. I was surprised anyone wouldn’t know who I was, not just because I was the Demon’s daughter, but because I assumed most people knew Cain was possessive and murderous.

“First time,” I said. I cast a glance at Cain's broad back, still pursuing Pax through the crowd.

“Do you need someone to show you the ropes?” His smile had a slightly predatorial gleam. “Literally, around here.”

“Sure, that would be awesome.”

The guy reached out and touched low on my back, just above my ass. “Come on. I’ll show you around. Maybe we can try out some equipment.”

As if there was a rope tethered between Cain and me, Cain turned and saw the two of us then. If he looked like he was about to kill someone when he was dealing with Pax, his general air of violence heightened tenfold when he saw someone touching me. I smiled and waved at Cain.

The guy pulled his hand away. “Is that your boyfriend?”

Cain strode toward the two of us. He seemed to overhear the question, so I grinned at him. “What would you say, Cain? Am I your girlfriend?”

“You’re suicidal,” Cain ground out, looking furious. Then he glanced at the other guy. “But not as much as you are.”

The guy looked horrified. But like so many men, he went with bravado. “You shouldn’t show off what isn’t available.”

Cain looked like the model of controlled violence. “I’ll always show her off, and always expect everyone to be smart enough to realize she isn’t available.”

He managed the words through gritted teeth, then grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder. I let out a surprised gasp as I went over his shoulder, feeling how my tiny skirt rode up and exposed too much to the world.

Cain strode with me through the crowd, bringing me with him as he pursued Pax. He ground out, “You know I’m going to punish you.”

I said to the small of his back, “You wouldn’t be Cain if you didn’t.”

He slapped my ass for emphasis, a stinging smack that didn’t bring the slightest regret. He snapped his fingers, and one of those scantily clad wait staff was at his elbow in a second. He ducked his head to murmur into her ear, and even though I knew he was just whispering, it still sent a jolt of jealousy through me. After all, he was ready to punish me for flirting with someone else, even though he knew damn well I’d just been trying to get his attention. Jealousy was just one of the many kinds of crazy we had on tap here.

Cain caught up to Pax, who turned to face him, looking like he was ready for a fight.

“I’m going to punish Aurora for letting some fucking plebian touch her,” Cain said. “Always fucking pushing me, Aurora. And Pax, you’re going to watch.”

Cain set me down on his feet, and I was breathless from being upside down as I adjusted my clothing. And maybe a little bit from how turned-on I was by Cain’s threats.

“The hell I am.” Pax’s gaze flew to me, a livid look coming over his face. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Aurora.”

“Well, that would be true if she was with you,” Cain said. “But you’ve apparently decided to act like a little bitch with her instead of just taking what you want. So I’ll be taking care of Aurora for both of us. And right now, that means she’s getting the spanking she so richly deserves.”

Pax took a step toward Cain, and Cain crooked an eyebrow at him dangerously.

Pax said, “I’m not going to watch your stupid games.”

“That’s fine,” Cain said mildly. “But you won’t like what I do if you aren’t here to watch.”

The waitress returned with her tray, but on top of it was a whip, a vibrator, and golden chains attaching a pair of nipple clamps.

“You get to choose, Pax. Either you’re going to sit your ass down on that couch or I’m going to take her to the Saint Andrew’s cross.” Cain’s fingertips caressed the whip with genuine longing written across his face.

“Fucking dick,” Pax muttered. To me, he said quietly, “if you want me to stop him…”

I had a feeling I knew what Cain was up to, besides his own demented pleasure. He wanted Pax to realize that I wasn’t nearly as fragile as he thought. “I don’t. I want this.”

“Of course you do,” Cain said. “Talking to another man. You’re practically begging me for punishment.”

He tore the delicate lace top I wore to my waist, and cool air caressed my suddenly sharp nipples. His hands cupped my breasts for a second, squeezing hard, finding the edge just between pleasure and pain. My body responded, my core tightening, and I leaned toward him, but he took his hands away. Then he lifted the chains on the tray and attached the clamps to my nipples. I hissed in a breath at the sudden pressure that bordered on pain, and he reached up and fastened the collar around my neck. My breasts suddenly felt very vulnerable, aroused by the pressure, but also, I was keenly aware that anyone grabbing those chains would turn that pressure into sheer pain.

“Better,” Cain said, regarding me critically. “But you’d look perfect with a red ass.” Cain put his hand on my ass and guided me over to the couch, where he growled at Pax, “Sit.”

Pax rolled his eyes but took a seat on the couch, along with a scotch from a waiter. Pax sat there, sipping his drink, as Cain abruptly pulled me over his lap. My head was in Pax’s lap, as Pax tried to stare off into the party, sipping his drink and looking as if he were a million miles away mentally, but I could feel how Pax had gone hard under my cheek.

Cain started to launch a series of slaps across my ass, then he stopped and hiked my skirt up, his hands skating over the newly reddened skin. Each spank seemed loud in the room, no matter how many voices were talking or how much the music seemed to play. I wiggled around as my ass began to heat up, feeling the arousal thick between my thighs, wanting more at the same time as I wanted it to stop. But Cain’s hand on my lower back pinned me into place, keeping me from moving. Cain went on spanking me mercilessly, until my entire ass felt red and sore and my clit was throbbing. Then he slipped his hands between my thighs and brought his hand up in front of my face. My juices glistened on his fingertips.

“Look how wet you are, slut,” he said. “Suck it off my fingers.”

His other hand slid across my ass, then began to toy with my rosebud. I was so turned on that every part of me felt as if it were turning to liquid heat. I sucked my juices off his fingers greedily, wishing it was his cock, as his fingers circled and pressed my asshole.

“Look how good she is at sucking,” Cain said to Pax.

Pax turned to glower at Cain. He looked as if he hated this, and yet I could feel how hard and throbbing he was beneath me.

“Trick or treat time,” Cain said. His hand suddenly withdrew, and he pushed me off his lap, off the couch, and onto my knees in front of them both. “Here’s your treat, Aurora. I can tell how much you want to suck one of our cocks. You can suck Pax’s dick in front of everyone.”

I shook my head. Not after Pax had been ignoring me. “He does not deserve a blow job right now.”

Cain leaned forward and delivered a stinging smack across my already throbbing, bare ass. “I didn’t ask you what he deserves. I told you. Suck his dick.”

“And I told you. No.” I said.

Cain’s smile was both vicious and delighted.

“Then it’s trick time,” Cain said. He seized the chain between my breasts, and I scrambled to my feet to avoid having the clamps tugged on, but it still sent a hot jolt of pain through my nipples that seemed to reach all the way down to my throbbing clit. “Let’s go to the Saint Andrew’s cross.”

Pax was on his feet in a second. “That’s enough.”

“No, we’re just getting started,” Cain said, but offered Pax a pleasant smile. “Still, you’re the one she refused to suck off. So if you want to punish her, you can. If you don’t, I will.”

I knew Cain was enjoying playing this scene of power, but I also understood what he was trying to do. Pax needed to know that I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t fragile.

“Pax doesn’t have the balls to punish me,” I said. “Just like he doesn’t have the balls to talk to me. The balls to satisfy me.”

Pax’s jaw worked, his gaze blazing down to mine.

I met his gaze evenly. “You hit me by accident. It’s all right, Pax. I’m not breakable. But now it’s time to do it on purpose. I want your hands on my body.”

His eyes blazed down at me.

More quietly, I said, “Please, Pax?”

It was a vulnerable thing for me to say after everything he’d done, the way he treated me. And as I waited for him to answer, I almost couldn’t breathe.

19

PAX

A urora looked up at me with those luminous, violet eyes that seemed to see straight through to my soul. To some part of me, that had been buried deep all these years, almost lost because I was trapped in Cain’s dark kingdom. Somehow, she looked sweet and innocent and, at the same time, so unbelievably hot. Her perfect white breasts were even sexier with her dress stripped to her waist, and they were pink against the gleaming nipple clamps. I wanted to tease my tongue around those clamps. I wanted to touch every bit of her milky skin.

But not to hurt her. Never to hurt her. Her skirt was still hiked up, exposing her waxed sex. I pulled her skirt down, covering her again, and as my thumb brushed between her thighs, she shuddered. My thumb came away dripping with more of those juices that Cain had made her suck off in front of me, which had left me so hard that my cock hurt.

She was so turned on. Her eyes were wide, pleading. I couldn’t stand the thought of hurting her, but… she was obviously aroused by it. The Saint Andrew’s cross would be for Cain’s pleasure; she deserved whatever pleasure she desired

And yet….I just didn’t know if I could stand to be the one who answered that part of her sexuality. I dreaded the thought of turning into the kind of man who would hurt a woman.

And yet I’d hurt her. Worse, I’d hurt her emotionally far more than that punch had probably hurt my tough girl, even though the memory of her body flying across the room wouldn’t stop replaying. I could have killed her by accident.

Cain lifted the whip from the tray, starting to whistle. I’d always been disturbed by his taste for BDSM, although he’d always had plenty of happy playmates. The thought of him doing that to Aurora made the world blur.

But I could give her what she wanted and protect her from Cain’s darkest impulses. I’d always protect her. Even from myself. And my own selfishness.

“I’ll punish her,” I told Cain.

His eyes shone with triumph. I focused on her beautiful face instead, the way she bit her lower lip as she looked at me, her hair tumbling over her bare shoulders.

I gripped the chain and she drew a sharp breath at the touch, her back arching slightly as if delicious pressure was stimulating her nipples. Gently, gauging how much she liked it, I led her away from Cain and into a darker corner.

“I still intend to watch,” Cain said, with a devilish grin. “Make sure you do it right.”

I guided Aurora over my lap. My heart was racing, afraid I’d accidentally harm her.

When I smacked one perfect round cheek, I couldn’t deny the way my cock responded to her skin reddening, the way she writhed under my hand.

Most of all, though, my body responded to the way she looked over her shoulder at me, a cheeky smile crossing her lips, her eyes shining. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life. I went on spanking her but nudged her thighs aside so I could see her pink, glistening sex, which flushed as if she were growing more and more aroused.

I dipped my fingers against her opening, and she gasped at the contact. I raised them to taste myself. “You are so delicious, Aurora. All I want to do is eat that pussy all night.”

But that wouldn’t exactly satisfy Cain’s edicts, and from how hungry she looked when she looked over her shoulder at me, her lips parted with desire, I didn’t think she was ready for that part of our play either. I raised my hands to gesture over one of the waitresses and was surprised to see one already threading their way through the crowd toward me, carrying a case in her arms. She knelt in front of me, holding out a suitcase with a variety of butt plugs arrayed across the purple velvet. In the distance, Cain raised his hand as if to acknowledge my thanks.

What an asshole.

But he did tend to know us all awfully well. I lifted out a small vibrating plug, a vibrator, and a glass bottle of lube. “Thank you. That’ll be all.”

She nodded and rose, walking away to circulate with the sex toys like normal people would be offered glasses of wine.

Rich people are insane.

“I think your sweet ass needs some training to be ready to take all of us,” I told her. I went back to rubbing between her thighs, feeling the way her body moved against mine, wiggling eagerly as I played with her clit and then moved up to her asshole. Her leg stiffened as if she were on the verge of an orgasm when I began to circle her perfect, tight asshole. I played with her and then when she murmured a breathy, “Pax,” her pleading went straight to my cock.

I poured lube over the butt plug and worked it between her round, perfect cheeks, enjoying the way she took it, and the way she writhed once I turned on the vibrations.

I set to spanking her ass again, feeling her clench as she reached her first orgasm, helpless over my lap. She struggled, trying to get away, and I laid some more blistering smacks across her ass, holding her still with one hand braced across her lower back so she couldn’t escape. I kept holding her tight as I worked her clit mercilessly, forcing her toward a second orgasm. As she neared her second orgasm, I backed off, returning to rubbing those red cheeks, giving her time to relax slightly before I returned to her clit. This time, I pumped two fingers into her furiously, enjoying the way she clenched around my fingers, her legs shaking as she came hard.

“I can’t take anymore,” she whispered.

“Don’t lie to me,” I said, summoning my inner Cain–what I had of him, anyway. “You can take as much as I tell you you’re going to take.”

Her perfect greedy pussy clenched around my fingers at the thought.

I picked her up and laid her on her back so that her legs were spread, her beautiful vulnerable places laid bare for my eyes and my pleasure. I used my back to block her from the rest of the room. Cain enjoyed exhibitionism and so did Remington, but I liked for her to be mine, just mine.

“How much of me can you take?” I asked her, before sliding three fingers into her, and she squirmed as my fingers found her g-spot and pressed it.

“It feels so good and it hurts all at the same time,” she whimpered.

“I want you to take all of me,” I said, but I could feel how tight she felt inside through the thin wall between her two channels.

I drew out the butt plug and she relaxed, her thighs trembling. I wasn’t done with her yet, not by a long shot. I slid four fingers inside now, and she was so tight that I could barely get them in. She made a small sound, clenching around me, and I stopped. “Relax and take me,” I said. “How are you going to please all four of us if you don’t try?”

Her eyes flashed up at me. “Am I going to take all four of you? Are you mine, Pax?”

My heart thundered yes, yes, yes, but I just rubbed my thumb over her clit, pressing my fingers into her tender g-spot, savoring the feeling of her ribbed vagina gripping my fingers so firmly. Her breasts rose as her back arched, her head falling back. She had nothing more to say to me as I worked my thumb over her clit over and over again until she came again, her thighs shaking against my arm, her core clenching around me. I withdrew my hand and leaned down to kiss her perfect lips. “That’s my good girl. You can almost take all of my hand.”

Her eyes shone up at me. “Can I suck your cock now?”

My cock jumped eagerly. Those were the sweetest words that a woman could say, and she sounded so sincerely, intensely desiring. But I just shook my head. “Not yet. Not till you’ve taken all of me.”

Genuine trepidation crossed her beautiful face. “I’m not sure I can.”

“You’re going to have to take at least two of our cocks at the same time. This isn’t any different.”

She nodded, giving me her consent, and I slowly worked my whole hand inside of her. She let out a hiss and bit her lower lip, but then her eyes went heavy-lidded, as if she were enjoying it as my fingers found her spots and pressed them. “So full.”

“Just like you’re gonna be when you take all of us,” I reminded her. I wanted to make this orgasm the most incredible, especially when I could tell she was struggling on the verge between pleasure and pain. So I took a vibrator and used my free hand to press it against her clit. She almost jerked up off the couch, her eyes going wide. “It’s too much…”

I stroked her folds with my thumb, opening her up to me, moving the vibrator to different spots near her clit to slowly draw out her next orgasm. She fell back on the couch, her whole body tensing with pleasure as waves of orgasm broke over her.

I was so fucking hungry for her, no matter that I didn’t deserve her.

I tossed the vibrator away as she finally came, shaking around my hand. She clenched so hard that it hurt, but I was just glad to be buried deep inside her. She called my name as she came, calling Pax, and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard, my name coming from those perfect lips, her whole body shuddering around me as she came hard.

“Good girl,” I said. “Are you ready for your treat?”

Her lips curled up mischievously, but she nodded. She still seemed boneless and woozy, and she stumbled slightly as she sank to her knees in front of me.

She drew my cock into her mouth and began to suck eagerly. Her mouth felt incredible, but I was just as turned on by her perfect mouth as I was by the way she looked up at me, with those incredible eyes. Watching her suck me like she loved doing it was the biggest turn-on I could imagine. I came faster than I’d meant to, feeling myself explode in her mouth.

She was the best girl. I was so lucky to have her.

I wanted to tell her how I felt, how sorry I was. But I didn’t know how to say any of that, and words didn’t seem like enough. I knew I should try, but for now, I just pulled her into my lap and kissed her hard.

Our lips moved together like we were the last two people on earth, no matter how crowded the room was around us.

Maybe it was impossible to believe that I would manage to never hurt her, given who I was, given how broken I was.

But I would do my best to make the moments of hurt worth it, to give her more pleasure than I ever gave her pain.

20

PAXTON

I t felt like I hadn’t slept well in weeks, and I hadn’t realized it until I had Aurora close, like she was meant to be. Aurora snuggled against my side, her head on my shoulder. Once I had turned my face into her hair so I could breathe in the sweet citrusy scent of her shampoo, I slept the dreamless, satisfying sleep that I only had with her in my bed.

Then, half asleep, I reached for her, and there was nothing there. My hands reached out across the empty bed, finding only cool crisp sheets. I sat up with a jolt, horrified to find myself alone in her room in the society house. Aurora was nowhere to be seen. Light flooded in from the windows. It was morning.

She was probably fine. But my heart still raced and I headed for the door, pausing only to yank on my boxers and suit pants from where they’d been abandoned on the floor.

Wide awake thanks to that jolt of adrenaline, I stumbled into the hallway and heard voices down the hall. When I heard Aurora’s soft, sweet voice, relief slowed my heart rate instantly.

They were in Remington’s room. I went to them just in time to hear Aurora say, “You have to tell him.”

“I’m just trying to protect him from himself,” Remy began.

“The fuck you are?” I demanded as I walked in.

The four of them turned to me with their faces in various states of worry or resignation or both.

They were standing in front of Remington's computer. I wasn’t sure where my cell phone was, but I could see my own lock screen mirrored on one of Remington's many displays hanging on the wall.

“Care to explain?” I asked acerbically.

“We haven't watched it,” Remy said. “We intercepted another video, and I was trying to find out everything I could about it. But we didn’t watch it.”

“And no one thought that was worth waking me up for?” I ran my hand over my head, feeling frustrated with all of them.

But that was the easier emotion to feel. Beneath that, dread washed through me, stealing the strength from my muscles. A pit had opened up in my stomach.

I couldn’t stand to watch that video, and I couldn’t stand not to.

“It is bullshit that I don’t have any privacy,” I said, not sure if I was bitching at Cain or at Remington. Remington, probably. I knew Cain wouldn’t be able to even pretend to care.

“But to be fair,” Remy said, far too cheerfully, “none of us do. I used my time in Kempler's office the other day to start collecting data from his computer, although it’s taking a while for my virus to work its way inside and start bringing me any data. You all are much easier, since I’m the one who put the security protocols on your cell phones. No secrets amongst family.”

“I don’t recall being asked if I wanted to be in this family,” Stellan muttered.

I agreed with that 100%, but I wasn’t in a remotely lighthearted mood.

Remy gave me a big, boyish grin. “You can trust me.”

“Yeah, I definitely trust your judgment. What happens when Alexander finds out what you’re doing?”

Remy looks bewildered. “I’m very good at what I do, Paxton.”

But I couldn’t help imagining the four of them, lined up in front of Alexander’s goons. My friends being shot, one by one, in the head. Aurora being raped before she was killed.

I’d seen what Alexander was capable of.

I didn’t doubt that he really loved Cain.

And I didn’t doubt that that love had its limits.

The adrenaline building under my skin tingled with the promise of violence. The need for violence. I wanted desperately to get away from them all, especially when Aurora was looking at me with those big, worried eyes. She didn’t need to worry about me. She needed to worry about being anywhere fucking near me.

When my feelings were so intense, I wanted to run away.

But I had to watch the damn video. I had to know what we were facing. “Play it.”

Remy hesitated. “I’m still trying to figure out where it comes from. There are multiple phone numbers being used to mask the originating—”

“Did I stutter, Remy? Play it.”

Aurora shifted close to me, her shoulder pressing against mine. She was obviously trying to make sure I knew that she was on my side, but it just made me feel jittery. Hurting her again was the worst thing that I could do, besides failing to protect her like I’d failed to protect my mother.

I had to get out of here. I was going to lose it—

Her knuckles brushed mine, her skin soft and warm as her hand then sought mine. She looked up at me, her eyes wide and luminous. Her trust, as little as I deserved it, soothed something inside me. I was still on the verge of berserker-level rage, but Aurora grounded me.

“Do it,” Cain ordered calmly. I didn’t exactly appreciate the reminder that he was in charge, always, especially when I didn’t trust his father. It all grated on my last nerve.

But at least Remy finally played the damn video.

At first, I couldn’t see what we were looking at. The camera was moving, like we were watching it through someone else’s eyes. They crossed a parking lot toward a warehouse, and a bouncer blocked them on their way into a club.

“Juliet Jones,” a familiar voice said, and my heart dropped.

We were seeing things through my mother’s eyes.

The camera went through the club, and I could hear her greeting and flirting with various made men.

And then, abruptly, everything went from smiling to terrifying. Someone seized her, and a man in front of her accused her of spying on them. She insisted that she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Aurora squeezed my hand, and I realized every one of my muscles had gone taut.

I never knew about any of this. What the hell had happened?

“There’s nothing innocent about you, Juliet,” one of the men said.

I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing to her, seeing from her point of view. But she started to scream.

I shut my eyes.

Then, abruptly, the sound cut out. Mid-scream.

I opened my eyes, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to see any of this miserable world. All right, focus. What mattered was figuring out what was happening.

And then killing someone, obviously.

“What was that?” I demanded.

“Think, Pax,” Cain said. “None of the rest of you have seen this; it was before we met. But we’ve been there before, Pax and me. Remember?”

All I could remember was the faces that I had just seen, that had seemed so cool and smiling as my mother screamed, so unaffected.

I wanted to hear them scream.

But I tried to focus on what Cain was saying. We had to find them before we could hurt them.

“The Rivaldos. That rival gang. That was their club?” I asked, finally putting some of the faces together with people I’d met in the past, twenty years ago. Finally, I remembered that warehouse, so unassuming on the outside and lavish on the inside.

“That's right,” Cain said.

I turned and headed for the door, ready to break my way into the club and kill someone. My hand pulled away from Aurora’s, and I regretted it at the same time as there was no way I could stop myself. I needed bloodshed. I needed revenge. I didn’t see how I could go on breathing another minute without it.

“Stop,” Cain commanded.

I almost didn’t. Wearily, I turned to face him. I couldn’t handle it if he told me to stand down. I was loyal to Cain; my loyalty had no limits, but my obedience certainly did.

“Be reasonable,” Cain said, as if he’d ever been reasonable in his life. I was ready to tell him to go to hell, but then he added, “You don’t need to storm into the club and start throwing punches or spraying bullets.”

I was pretty sure I did, in fact, need to do those things.

“Because you have us,” Aurora said, finishing his thought.

And above the crazy chaotic pounding of my heart and the sense of bloodlust, something warm glowed.

Aurora and my three best friends stood facing me.

Stellan shrugged. “Let’s do some murder. But can we come up with a plan that makes sure we won’t get caught?”

“Something nice and dramatic,” Remington agreed.

“You’re all unhinged,” I said.

Because you have us.

And I was so fucking glad I did.

Aurora

The Rivaldos’ club was in an unassuming warehouse. There was a garage beneath it, to hide how many cars were there, but we weren't exactly interested in parking in the garage of a building that wasn't going to stand much longer.

Cain helped me out of the car, which wasn't like him, but then he gave me a long once-over.

For once, he wasn't looking at me with open lust, which was a little disappointing. I could understand why he wanted to make sure that no one could tell what I was carrying, though.

“You look good,” he said finally. We walked toward the warehouse, but before we even reached the door, armed men skulked out of the shadows.

Cain raised his hands in peace, which was a jarring gesture coming from him. “We're just here to party tonight.”

“Get Roderick out here,” one of the security guys muttered quietly to another, then turned to face us. He gestured us into the doors, although it didn't feel entirely welcoming. We stepped into an antechamber, where the doors to the party stood beyond us, the rooms beyond absolutely silent. We were on the wrong side of bulletproof glass. If we couldn't get into the party, it would be hard to exact our revenge.

Of course, if we got caught, it was going to be hard to get out.

Remington toyed with his phone, his long deft fingers spinning it in circles. He was always a bit fidgety, to go with his nonstop joking, but tonight it also helped obscure the fact that he would need to send a few commands, to take their security offline.

Cain removed his jacket as security came over, and he held his arms outstretched. “I wouldn't bother coming armed,” he said with a smile.

But when a security guard moved toward me, Cain said, “I don't fucking think so.”

“It’s required security,” one of the guards said. “No one comes in armed. If you don't want to comply, you can find someplace else to party.”

“I just don't want common plebs like you to touch her,” Cain said. He turned his half-charming, half-sadistic smile on the man that had just walked in. “Hello, Roderick.”

“What exactly are you doing here, Cain?” The man who had just arrived was stout, thin-armed but pot-bellied, but he looked just a little bit older than Cain. Someone did not keep themselves as ready to dole out violence personally like Cain did. But given how important people were treating him–the deferential way security waited for his response–he was mafia nobility himself.

“The alumni party we had last night was a little dull,” Cain said smoothly. “We were looking for some place to get a little wild, without being supervised by my father and his friends.”

Roderick grinned. “From what I heard, you like being watched.”

“I don't mind it,” Cain said. “But it depends on who's doing the watching.”

“I'm not sure I want to let you in and make my establishment any more seedy than it already is,” Roderick said. He glanced at one of his security guys.

“They've all been searched, and they're clean,” the lead security guy confirmed, his nod bobbing his black baseball cap. “Except for the girl. They didn't want us to touch the girl.”

Roderick turned to Cain, His arms opened in a shrug. “Rules are rules. Even for you, Cain.”

“Well, that seems too bad, when we're such old friends,” Cain said smoothly. “But I don't have any problem with her being searched. I just didn't want it to be by someone like him.”

The security guy maintained a blank face, but I was curious about what he was thinking. Cain was being an asshole today, for good reason. He was condescending to everyone equally, but now he was being a classist ass for show.

Roderick glanced at my men curiously, and Cain said, “You can search her, Roderick.”

I was used to taking an active role at all times, and it was weird that I should be so passive and let my men speak for me. But there was a point. Cain had made it clear that the sons of this rival family were lazy and incompetent.

The explosives hidden in my dress would be much easier to smuggle through if Roderick was the one searching me.

Roderick grinned. “It's an honor, Cain. I heard how special she was to you.”

Cain said nothing; he just shrugged. It would have hurt my feelings, but I knew that he didn't want anyone to know how special I was to him, because he worried that it would make me a target. I was pretty sure it was too late though; everyone knew how entangled these men and I were.

Roderick came close to me and began to run his hands down my sides. His fingers met the boning in my corset, which hid explosives. Fuses were sewn into the skirt itself. I’d thought I looked nice earlier this evening as I’d twirled in my black dress with its plunging top and full, floor-length tulle skirts, but all of it served to make me into a goddess of death.

And that was what I would be whenever anyone tried to fuck with my men.

“You all look a little overdressed,” Roderick said, his hands going beneath the skirt to slide up my bare legs. I gritted my teeth as his fingers skated over my calves, then my knees, then went up my thighs until his hands brushed my underwear, and he rested his fingers far too long on the swell of my buttocks.

He wasn't actually searching me, though; he was groping me, enjoying touching, but he knew I belonged to Cain. And that was the whole point.

He would pay for his sins later. For now, I let myself stiffen, letting it be obvious to him how uncomfortable his touch made me. He straightened, leering at me.

“Enjoy the night,” he said, ostensibly speaking to all of us, but his gaze was fixed on me. “Maybe we'll meet again.”

“I doubt that very much,” Cain told Roderick, gripping the nape of my neck and guiding me ahead of him into the club.

Two of the security team pulled the doors open for us, and music and pulsing lights suddenly blasted us from beyond.

We walked together into Rivaldo territory.

The doors closed behind us with a bang, sealing us in.

21

AURORA

T he club spread out in front of us. The darkness was full of pulsating figures, and around the outer edges of the club were tables, where many people were indulging in drinks and drugs. We were indeed overdressed, given that my men were wearing suits– and looking damn sexy in them–and I was wearing my dangerous dress. Everyone else seemed very scantily clad, especially as I watched a naked woman spread out on a table so that the others in her party could snort cocaine off her breasts. Everyone had their hobbies, I guessed.

I glanced at Cain, wondering if he'd come across as overprotective and overbearing enough to pull in Roderick's attention, like we'd intended.

As we walked toward a table, everyone at it rose and left, grabbing their drinks. Even on rival territory, everyone got out of Cain’s way.

We took seats, and Cain sprawled back in his chair, looking like a king, as always. I made my way over to Cain, and his hands slid over me, gliding across my body. His lips plundered mine, his free hand hooking behind my neck to hold me close to him. I could feel the fabric of my gown shifting as he pulled each charge free. These were highly dangerous explosives, a lot of punch packed into every centimeter. Now that I had smuggled them through security, I moved to each man in turn, making out with them to disperse the explosive charges.

My next job would be to provide a distraction.

By the time I reached Pax, he seemed to vibrate with energy, whereas Stellan and Remington seemed relaxed. I worried Paxton would lose his cool before we had the chance to finish what we were doing. That wasn't like Paxton, but he was becoming increasingly unhinged, understandably, given what we had just seen in that video.

So, once I had Paxton armored up, I stayed in his lap, wrapping my arm around his shoulders.

He didn't wrap his arms around my waist; instead, he tapped his scarred tattooed fingers on the tabletop. “This isn't the time, Aurora.”

Always hot and cold. He pissed me off so much. Even if we were all playing a role.

“Go dance,” Cain suggested.

“By myself?” I demanded.

“Yes,” Cain said. “Put on a show for us.”

Remington leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, grinning at me. We might all be playing a game at the moment, but that didn't make me want to slap them all any less.

“Go on,” Stellan said. “We all love to watch the way you move.”

I rose from Pax’s lap, resting my hand on Stellan's shoulder and leaning over to kiss his lips. His mouth was tender, as always, and his hand stroked down the bare skin of my arm, igniting sparks everywhere he touched. He smiled up at me, and I knew that he would have danced with me to please me if that had been what we were here for tonight.

But we were here for blood.

Then I raised my hands above my head and watched the way their eyes fixed on me, the way they watched every move and undulation of my hips as I danced. I wasn't really dancing for them. I was dancing to attract an asshole who wanted me, in order to hurt them. I was dancing to create a distraction.

But still, I could feel the intensity of all four of their gazes on my body, the way they stared at me as if they could consume me. I let myself get lost in the music, letting the girl who was haunted by demons fall away. I raised my arms and I just danced.

And then, someone bumped into me. But instead of moving away, their hands settled on my hips. Someone's hard-on stabbed into me from behind, poking at the bottom of my butt cheek.

My eyes flew open to see that my men's looks had turned slightly murderous–just for a flash–and then they all settled back, still looking amused.

So this was one of the Rivaldo brothers. They wanted what Cain and the others had, and that meant me.

I twisted to view the person who had just danced up on me. It wasn't the one that I'd already met. This one looked slightly older, but no less paunchy, and he was wearing a wedding ring. I could feel it pressing against my skin because of how hard he gripped my hips. He pulled my body against his, so his hard-on could violate my thigh instead.

“What's your name, sweetheart?” he asked.

I was pretty sure he knew my name. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many people who didn't. “Aurora.”

He gave me a smile that was dark and suggestive. “I like Delilah better.”

The name Delilah sounded dirty and shameful to me, but I could handle it from Cain, who loved my most dirty, shameful, wicked side. But coming from this little man, I couldn't stand it.

“That's nice,” I said, grabbing his wrists to pull his hands away from my hips, “but my name is Aurora.”

He gripped my hips harder, his fingers sinking bruisingly deep into my ass. “That's nice, but I'll call you whatever I want, bitch.”

He gave me a nasty smile. I wasn't sure if my men could hear what we were saying or not, but either way, they would have beaten him to death right there on the dance floor if we hadn't had a bigger target.

They glanced toward them, but this other Rivaldo brother had drawn me deeper into the dance crowd. Through the dancers, I barely caught a glimpse of the table, only to realize it was almost unoccupied. Only Cain still sat there, his gaze heavy-lidded and inscrutable, watching me through the crowd. The others were already moving towards their places, I assumed. Remington had made us all study a map, making sure we understood where best to place the charges. I couldn't even parallel park a car. I was pretty sure I was not going to successfully navigate my way through an unfamiliar building to plant those charges where they needed to go. I was happy to be the bait. Or at least I'd been happy to be the bait while we were still discussing this in the Sphinx; now, I felt a little less enthused about the whole plan.

“You'd better get your hands off me. Cain isn't known for sharing. I'm pretty sure he failed kindergarten,” I warned Rivaldo.

“Look at him.” Rivaldo pushed me around so that I could see Cain. “He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone.”

His hand dropped lower, caressing my ass. “You should come where you'd be more appreciated.”

“I'm loyal to Cain,” I purred, pushing Rivaldo away.

“But is he loyal to you?” His eyebrows rose. “Is Cain loyal to anyone but Cain himself?”

“Yes,” I said. “At least to his friends.”

Rivaldo's smile was sickening. “Or does Cain just love the power he gets from having fools who will follow him anywhere? Even here?” He studied me. “And you'll never be his friend, will you? He's a predator, and you're his prey.”

“I might look like prey,” I said quietly, “but appearances can be deceiving. I can take care of myself.”

“You sound like a stupid little girl,” he said. “And you're playing in a world of men.”

He grabbed my throat, his oily fingers sinking into my skin, and pressed his lips to mine. His mouth was unpleasantly wet, and I yanked away. I grabbed his shoulders and yanked him down to my rising knee. My knee crunched into his nose. It was a sickening sound, and just as sickening was the blood that started to rush from his face. He made a pretty weak sound for a man who had just been going on and on about a world of men.

Security came rushing over, but Cain was there, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. “So, Rivaldo. It seems you've noticed that my little cat has claws.”

Rivaldo glared at me, but I didn't want to look at his face when he was so gross looking. “She attacked me.”

“Well, I haven't got her very well trained yet,” Cain said reasonably. To me, he asked, “Do you know who this is?”

“Yet another giant douchebag? He didn't bother to introduce himself to me,” I said.

Cain slapped me, though not hard; the movement was almost desultory. As I stared at him, my cheeks flaming, there was some crazy part of me that pulsed, turned-on even by Cain playing at his worst.

I hadn’t known that degradation could turn me on, but maybe I was always aroused by Cain, no matter how he pushed my boundaries.

“This is Benedict Rivaldo,” Cain said. “The heir to the Rivaldo family. And while I generally support you bloodying anyone who dares to touch my property, I do expect you to do your homework and be respectful to the other heads of the families and their sons.”

“So you were just going to let him touch me?” I asked furiously.

“I was, and now I'm going to touch you. Rivaldo, do you want to watch?”

Rivaldo's eyes gleamed. “I do. Perhaps you'll let me...”

“The night is young,” Cain said agreeably. Someone who wasn't as attuned to him as I was wouldn't have noticed the dangerous gleam in his eye, or the faintest tension in his powerful muscled body.

Cain might hurt me as part of our game, might hurt me to get our revenge, but he longed to deal real violence to this man who had dared to touch me. And he would. We would.

Cain gripped the nape of my neck and dragged me toward the back of the room. We went through a doorway and left the noise and chaos on the main club floor behind. I realized quickly we had entered a VIP area, but apparently, every mafia family had a kinky side.

Because in front of me, among a sea of leather couches and various benches, was a Saint Andrew’s cross. It seemed to be Cain’s favorite piece of furniture. Personally, I preferred a good recliner.

Cain guided me to it and took the ropes that dangled from the arms of the X into his hand, looking at it disagreeably. “Rope? It does so much damage.”

The one at his sex club had leather restraints.

“So?” Rivaldo asked, sounding far too cheerful. I fixed an expression of fear across my face—fear that I did not feel at all—and turned to look at him. He was sporting a hard-on, maybe a big one for him, although it didn’t look very impressive.

Cain shrugged and began to tie my wrists above my head.

I wasn’t sure how this was going to distract security, then I caught Rivaldo muttering a word to his security. Cain pretended not to notice, which made me wonder how stupid Rivaldo and his people were.

Anyone who knew Cain should know he noticed everything.

“Spread your legs.” Cain kicked his foot between my legs, forcing them apart. His thigh parted mine for a second, pressing against my suddenly aching clit. I’d learned to love his punishment.

In the distance, I heard a faint echo of Cain’s words on a two-second delay. Rivaldo moved to close the door between the VIP area and the club as a whole, but apparently, the Demon’s daughter’s punishment was being broadcast for them, without Cain’s knowledge.

Good thing we were the only ones walking out of here tonight. No one else would ever see this.

He knelt and reached for the ropes for my ankles. “Be a good girl and show your submission by taking your punishment,” he warned me as he began to knot the rope.

I glanced up at the secure-looking bindings on my wrist and realized he’d looped the knots so loosely I could pull them apart in a second. Although he would stay close this entire time, protecting me while we distracted the club so the others could plant the explosives…if I needed to, I could escape.

God, I loved all of these fucked-up men.

Then there was the faint whisper of a whip. Despite myself, a knot knit itself together in my stomach, but my core still squeezed deliciously.

The first sizzle of the whip sliced across my ass, burning even through the fabric. I moaned, swaying against the cross with the force of the blow—and with my own wanton desire. Cain took his time. The second time the whip burned across my ass, I bit my lip, forcing myself to hold still despite the pain—and the way my pussy clenched in response.

Pax had feared the whip for me.

But it turned out I loved its bright, hot pain.

Cain aimed the next several cuts of the whip across my back, where they fell almost harmlessly against the boning of my corset; they burned but nowhere like the other strokes. When he paused, cool air caressed my hot, marked skin; the fabric had disintegrated against the whip.

Cain pulled my bonds loose and ran his fingers through my hair, gripping me closely. His touch pulling on my hair sent pulses of pleasure through my scalp.

“Tell him you’re sorry,” Cain said, turning me to face Rivaldo.

I knelt in front of the ridiculous man. “I’m sorry I struck you without Cain’s permission.”

Cain’s smile spreading across his lips was genuine. “Good girl.”

His hand, still in my hair, urged me up. “But we still have your sins to discuss further at home.”

Promises, promises.

Rivaldo looked disappointed, and he hurried to say something to one of his guards. But when Cain pulled the door open, the scene was still up on the televisions around the room, just beginning to fade.

Cain looked back at him with a laugh. “I’m surprised you wanted everyone to see when you’ll just copy me later. Just like you did even having a Saint Andrew’s cross here.”

The way he looked at Rivaldo was cutting. “Pathetic. We can find better places to party.”

Pax, Remington, and Stellan waited outside the room. Pax looked furious, and his wide, crazy eyes met mine. I tried to comfort him with my gaze, hoping he wouldn’t blow this for us. We were so close to finishing what we’d come here to do.

And Pax nodded, his face relaxing just slightly. He held out his arms to me, and Cain gave me a shove toward him. Thank fuck Cain could read both of us as well as he could.

Pax couldn’t be cold anymore, not when he’d just seen me hurt. He gathered me into his arms and carried me through the club in my tattered gown.

The five of us walked out together into the cool night air. As soon as we were out, Pax murmured to me, “Watching you demolish that asshole was the sexiest thing. God, I love seeing you bloodthirsty.”

I grinned back at him.

“For me,” he added, his voice raw. “You went in there for me.”

“Always, Pax,” I said.

And no matter how cold he managed to pretend to be sometimes, he sealed his lips to mine in a powerful, intense kiss.

22

PAX

T he five of us went to a nearby rooftop to watch the fireworks. Remington produced champagne and glasses, seemingly from nowhere. That seemed to be a gift of his. I sat on the edge of the rooftop, letting my legs dangle from six floors above the cement. To my surprise, Aurora came over and sat next to me, letting her beautiful long legs in her high heels dangle alongside mine.

The two of us shared a smile. It was clear she was as crazy as I was, maybe as crazy as all of us put together, and I loved it.

“Thanks for having my back,” I said. It didn't seem like enough. There was so much I wanted to say to her. I wanted her to know how much I loved her, even if I was the fucking worst at showing it.

“Always,” was all she said.

And that was enough. Especially when she smiled at me.

“Would you idiots please get back onto the rooftop,” Cain said. “I don't mind if Pax lets himself fall to his death, but Aurora...”

He trailed off. She looked back at him, turning that irresistible smile on him. “Yes?”

He offered her his hand to steady her as she left the edge. “I'm finally getting you trained the way I want you to be; I'd rather not see all my hard work splatter.”

She just laughed at him and took his hand, letting him pull her back from the edge. Part of me wanted some time alone to think about what I'd seen in that video and about my revenge.

But my friends were drinking champagne, and reluctantly, I joined them.

Remington handed me a glass. Stellan raised his and said, “How about a toast? To family and teamwork, and the way blood flows in the streets when we do.”

“You're cheesy, and it's embarrassing,” Cain told him.

Stellan’s grin wavered. Cain was always such an asshole. And then Cain clinked his glass against Stellan’s. “You're not entirely wrong though.”

“To family and bloodshed,” I repeated, and we all clinked our glasses. Aurora beamed up at me, and I slid my arm around her waist drawing me close to her, the way I'd wanted to all night.

In the distance, there was a boom and a fireball of an explosion that rose into the air. The ground shook beneath our feet.

I kissed Aurora, her soft lips parting against mine, and my tongue danced against hers. She'd been so perfect tonight. I couldn't imagine having any other woman at my side.

The dust was just beginning to settle when Remington’s phone pinged. He scrolled through something on his phone and then said, “Oh, shit.”

“What is it?” Stellan asked.

“That program that I was running to track down the source of that video?” Remington said. “Well, it just came through for me.”

“And?” I asked impatiently. My stomach was suddenly a burning pit.

“That video actually came from Kempler,” Remington said.

The words hung in the air for a long moment.

I was so furious that I could barely think straight. Kempler. Someone I had known for as long as I had been in Cain’s family. No, Cain’s organization. It was no family.

My family had died all those years ago.

Cain shrugged. “Well, we killed two birds with one stone. We needed to get rid of them eventually anyway. They were a bunch of drug and human trafficking sleazebags, and more importantly, they had territory that we needed to expand into.”

“Sure,” I said, my voice sorbic. “We needed to get rid of them eventually anyway. Or did your dad? Are we just doing your dad's dirty work for him? Maybe he just used Kempler to manipulate us all.”

I threw my champagne glass. It crashed to the rooftop, exploding shards of glass and sending champagne trickling across the cement.

I'd been stupid to think there was a reason to celebrate. I’d been stupid to think this was over.

23

AURORA

I t was the morning after we’d blown up the club, and I was walking across campus with Hank and Bob towards the library where we were supposed to be meeting for a group project. It was surreal to see everything looking so normal after the events of last night. I doubted that any of the students passing me on the green had ever blown up a building before, much less been in a situation where they’d contemplated that. Cain had been rather…enthusiastic last night after the adrenaline of the night, and I needed to wear long sleeves to hide the evidence both from the ropes at the Rivaldo club…and the leather restraints we’d used later on.

I got to the library, looking around to see if I recognized anyone. I’d just been placed in a group because obviously, no one was going to volunteer to have me working with them. I was shocked that they'd informed me where we’d be meeting at all, but I guess they were probably a bit afraid that one of the guys would do something to them if they screwed me over like that.

I finally saw a girl I recognized as being in my group. What was her name? Maria, maybe?

She was with the rest of the group, and she whispered something to them before they all turned to stare at me and watch me walk across the room towards them.

Rude.

"Hey everyone," I offered, trying to sound nice, like I wasn't the terrifying daughter of the serial killer that they had in their heads. Not the easiest task with this crowd, obviously.

"Glad you could make it," one of the guys said, a slight tremble in his voice, but at least he talked to me.

I sat down in the only empty chair and pulled my notebook out of my backpack. Everyone was silent…And still staring.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, wondering if I could petition for this to not be a group project.

"So…What should we start with first?" I asked.

THAT SEEMED to shock them into movement. One of the guys pulled out the paper the professor had handed out with the assignments. We were supposed to be analyzing literature and comparing it to a current event and then writing a group paper. A nightmarish project if I'd ever heard of one.

"We should probably pick a current event first, right?" one of the guys offered, fiddling with the glasses on his face as he talked.

"I have the perfect one," said Maria, a small smirk on her lips. It didn't take a fortune teller to guess what that was about, judging by the nasty way she was looking at me. "We can do the Demon’s escape."

The rest of the table glanced at me nervously, like I was going to spring from my chair and stab her in the throat…but instead, I put on a bland smile. She was a brave one, I'd give her that, but mean girls did very little to my psyche with everything I'd been through in my life. She might as well have just been a pesky fly.

"I think that sounds great," I said mildly, kind of enjoying at this point the way that everyone's jaw dropped at the table…including Maria's.

It took a moment for them to recover. "Okay then," said one of the girls, writing something down on her paper. "What book do we compare to that?"

"Anyone read any of Stephen King’s books?" I tossed out, trying to joke around a little bit. "I'm sure we could argue he’ll eventually be a classic author."

No one laughed.

"Edgar Allan Poe?" someone else offered. Everyone nodded in excitement. It sounded a little too easy to me, but I was willing to just go with what the group wanted.

We began to discuss Edgar's various prose, not agreeing on anything. Bored with the conversation, I reached over to grab my water bottle, and someone gasped. I glanced up to see Maria staring in disgust at my hand. Frowning, I looked to see what was making her react like that, quickly noticing that my shirt had bunched up and was showing the rope indents I had from last night.

Whoops.

I probably should have worn some sort of bracelet as a safeguard. But I could have sworn it hadn’t looked quite as…intense…when I’d been getting dressed.

"It's amazing you were able to join us, Aurora…what with all of your extracurricular activities," she spit out with an annoying, self-satisfied smile.

Everyone was throwing curious glances at my wrist, and I forced myself not to immediately pull down my shirt and cover it up. I had nothing to be ashamed of.

I’m sure everyone at this table…guys included…would love to have some kinky playtime with any one of my men.

I cocked my head and gave her a cool stare. I didn’t say anything, just continued to watch her. And the longer I watched her, the redder her cheeks became until they were almost crimson, and her hands were shaking on the table.

She saw that I’d noticed and she quickly put them in her lap.

After I’d stared at her long enough to freak her…and everyone else out, I turned my attention to the others at the table, satisfied I’d put her in her place. “Now where were we?”

“I NOW KNOW that I don’t work well with others,” I told Jenna at lunch a few hours later. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to figure out a way to do the whole project themselves without inviting me to any more sessions.”

“And you’re complaining about that?” scoffed Jenna, her mouth stuffed with french toast.

“I just keep hoping I’m going to get the whole college experience,” I complained.

Jenna set down her fork, her face sympathetic. “I know, babe. But maybe you were just never meant to be normal.”

That thought seemed to be the theme of my life lately.

It felt ungrateful to complain. Sophia was never going to get the chance to have any experiences at all.

But that was just my mood lately.

“I’m trying to think of something fun we can do,” she mused, stuffing another giant bite in her mouth. “But you already are having lots of kinky sex, and I don’t think we should start day drinking, so I’m not sure I can top either of those things.”

I snorted, thinking about just how much kinky sex I’d been having lately. I absentmindedly rubbed my wrist…and of course Jenna noticed.

“Is that…rope burn?” she squealed, drawing the attention of the people at the next table.

“Shhhh,” I murmured, pulling my sleeves down again and vowing to stop being an idiot drawing attention to the marks.

“Oh my gosh…I mean, I know I said kinky…but I didn’t know that kind of kinky.”

“What kind of kinky were you talking about?” I asked with a laugh.

“I don’t know…butt stuff.”

I about fell out of my chair…especially in light of all the “butt” stuff I’d been up to. How I’d gone from being a virgin a few months ago…to my current state…was something to behold.

Jenna leaned forward. “Okay…so tell me. Are the rumors true? You went to their famous Halloween party. Was it as crazy as everyone says?”

I laughed again, actually feeling good for once. It was amazing what laughter could do.

“Um. I’m not sure what everyone says…but I can confirm it was indeed crazy.”

Jenna huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Ahh, you’re no fun. You aren’t allowed to tell me, are you?”

“I probably am not supposed to, but you know that me and rules don’t seem to get along.”

“Yessss,” Jenna practically screamed, doing a funny little dance in her seat.

I opened my mouth to give her some details when I heard a throat clear right above me. I looked up and saw that Cain was staring down at me, an amused twinkle in his gaze.

“Shit,” I heard Jenna mutter. She’d been warming up to Stellan and Remington…but she wasn’t quite there yet with Cain. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, though, for anyone to warm up to Cain…with the exception of me, of course.

“Telling secrets, little devil?” he chided, his hand coming to rest gently around my throat.

“It’s hot...I’m hot,” Jenna whispered. I glanced over to her and saw she was fanning her face. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Bring your friend with you back to the Sphinx. I want you home with me.”

Now I was the one swooning. When Cain was charming…he was really charming.

His hand squeezed my neck, like he wanted to remind me who owned me.

“Fine,” I sighed, like it was a burden that one of the sexiest guys on the planet wanted me.

Cain had his car parked in front of the dining hall, and there was a small crowd gathered around it, admiring it. They all parted like the Red Sea when they saw us approaching, quickly dispersing with no prompting needed.

“I could get used to this,” announced Jenna, sliding inside the cool leather interior of the backseat as I hopped into the front passenger seat.

I turned in my seat and grinned at her, noting that Cain’s lips were still slightly upturned in amusement.

We made it back to the Sphinx. Jenna had been inside a few times, but like all the other times before, her eyes were huge as she took everything in.

I tried to see it through her eyes, tried to remember what it had been like the first time I’d walked in. I’d never had the same sense of wonderment that Jenna had, most likely because I’d been a prisoner when I’d arrived, but the place was impressive.

“I need to stop by my room and grab a sweatshirt,” I told Cain.

He leaned forward and nipped at my lip. “Meet me in the theater room,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir,” I quipped, watching the liquid heat fill his gaze.

He winked at me as I linked arms with Jenna and led her down the hall.

“I think I almost orgasmed just watching you guys. Is it always like that?” she whispered to me, shooting a glance over her shoulder to make sure Cain wasn’t following us and listening.

“Pretty much,” I admitted, my panties a little damp just from being in Cain’s presence.

“It’s amazing you even make it to class at all with that available.”

I was still laughing as I unlocked my door and threw it open.

My laugh cut off as soon as I saw what was on my bed…

Or should I say who.

There was a head lying there.

Maria’s head.

I’d stopped so suddenly that Jenna ran into my back. “What is going—

Her words disappeared when she saw the grisly sight, her shrill scream filling the air.

I walked towards the bed as if in a trance, my eyes on the piece of paper next to Maria’s wide, unseeing eyes.

I got to the bed and stared down at the letter.

A present for you…for her disrespect.

Dad

The world was spinning, my breath coming out in gasps. He’d been in that library with us. Or he had someone in there watching. Suddenly, I was spinning around, staring at the walls, imagining someone watching from the shadows. My limbs felt heavy.

“Aurora, what do we do?” cried Jenna from behind me. Her voice snapped me back to life. I turned to face her.

“You have to get out of here. You have to go back to your dorm, and you have to forget you ever met me,” I spit at her, shoving her towards the door.

He was watching me right now, I was sure of it. And what if he came after Jenna next? I couldn’t live with myself.

“Aurora. Stop. What are you doing?” Scared tears were streaming down Jenna’s face. She looked confused…and terrified.

“I said to get out!” I screamed at her, as Cain…and Hank and Bob came barreling around the corner.

I rubbed at my face, flinching for a second when I realized that I was crying too.

“Aurora, what is going on?” Cain growled, staring at my tears like he was prepared to destroy the world.

I ignored him and turned to Hank and Bob. “She’s your new priority. I don’t care what he was paying. I’ll double it. Just make sure she’s alright!”

The two men’s gazes bounced between Cain and me, trying to decide who to follow.

“It’s fine, boys. Do as she says,” he said coldly, and Hank and Bob immediately began to shuffle Jenna away.

“Aurora. Stop. Get your hands off of me, you stupid birdbrains. Stop!”

I watched as she disappeared around the hallway, her shouts slowly fading the farther they got her away.

“I thought you liked that girl. What exactly was that?” mused Cain.

I just stared at him, my lips trembling, and finally, he realized that something was very, very wrong.

“Aurora?” he said slowly. I pointed to my room with a shaking hand.

“There’s a girl’s head on my bed, Cain. A girl who was rude to me during my study session this morning. He’s watching me. Or he has someone watching.”

He didn’t need to clarify who I was talking about.

“It could be someone else,” he murmured gently as he walked into my room. I stood there in the doorway, watching numbly as he stared down at the body and then read the note.

“I know it’s him.”

Paxton

The four of us were gathered in the hallway right outside of Cain’s room, the door cracked so we could stare at Aurora while she slept. She’d been scarily silent since finding the girl’s head in her room.

She’d probably seen her fair share of heads in her life, but this represented more than that. It was a warning shot. All of the villains in Aurora’s story delighted in invading her bedroom, because it was supposed to be her safe place. Wasn’t that why we’d barged in so many times in the beginning, why Cain had set up cameras, why we’d wanted to mess with her room…because it symbolized more than invading her sanctuary, it symbolized invading her actual person.

“Anything on the cameras?” Cain asked Remington as he leaned against the wall, his gaze locked on Aurora’s sleeping form.

“Nothing. I just can’t figure out how he got in…with a head, and my cameras missed it.” Remington’s voice was frustrated and furious. I knew he was thinking of this as his fault, that the system he’d so diligently put in place had failed someone…or been compromised.

“She’s not alone. Ever,” growled Stellan, and I sighed. Aurora was smart, she understood the need for security, but having one of us around her at all times—she would not be happy about that.

We were a lot. I was well aware of that. And sometimes she just needed space.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t going to get that anymore.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to be by her, to be touching her. Like my insides were afraid she was just a mirage and she’d disappear if I didn’t hold on to her with everything I had.

I pushed past Stellan to get into the room, not stopping until I was standing right by the bed, my hand tracing a tendril of her hair.

The three of them silently followed me.

I didn’t say anything to them as I pulled off my shirt and then crawled into bed with her, pulling her tight against me. I was afraid to close my eyes. Afraid that if I did, she would be gone. I was afraid that she’d never hear me say the words that I’d carried close to my heart from almost the first time that I’d seen her.

Stellan crawled into bed with her on her other side, and Remington huffed as he walked around and slid into bed on the other side of me. Cain’s face was perturbed, and he stood there for a minute, I’m sure weighing the pros and cons of trying to kick us out so he could have Aurora to himself like the asshole he was.

Finally, he came to his senses and moved towards the bed. But instead of getting in beside Stellan, he pushed past him and carefully picked Aurora up and slid underneath her, placing her on top of his chest. She sighed and moved around, but didn’t wake up.

“This is kind of weird,” commented Stellan. Remington snorted next to me.

“I’m not leaving her,” I announced.

“Neither am I.” Stellan and Remington’s voices came almost simultaneously.

We came to an unspoken agreement then, that this was going to be a thing…for at least a while. Until we felt like we wouldn’t blink and lose the one thing in our life that actually made sense.

We lay there in the dark, and eventually, I heard the sounds of the others falling asleep one by one.

But I stayed awake all night, my hand holding hers, and my gaze stuck to her face.

Because what I hadn’t told Aurora was that lately…my dreams had changed.

It wasn’t my mom I was seeing dying.

It was her.

And that simply was not an outcome I was willing to accept.

24

PAXTON

I  asked Aurora if I could steal her away into my room. She glanced around curiously, tucking her long platinum blonde hair behind her ears, revealing little diamond hoops. I knew one of the others had bought them for her, and it made me feel jealous. I wanted her wearing something of mine.

Of course, I had a very specific idea of what that could be at the moment.

She noticed me watching her and said apologetically, “I haven't been here very often in the daytime.”

I nodded in agreement. “We're usually together in the darkness.”

And there was a lot of darkness. But I didn't want that to be our whole life together.

I perched on the edge of my desk. Not much made me nervous, but this conversation did.

“What did you want to talk about, Pax?” she asked.

“Do you remember when you had that tracker?”

A small smile played around her lips, even after everything she'd been through lately. She was so incredibly strong, and I wasn't sure she even realized it. “It was pretty unforgettable. I've never been hunted through the labyrinth beneath a secret society before.”

“There's a first time for everything.”

“And a last time, too,” Aurora said.

“The tracker wasn't an entirely bad idea though.”

She gave me a look, like she knew exactly where I was going with this. “I'm not going to be chipped again. I'm not property. I'm not a pet.”

“No, you're a thousand times more important to us than that. I can't deal with losing you, Aurora. I've been having these nightmares...”

She came toward me, looking worried. “Nightmares? Even when I'm there?”

“Even when you're there. They're about you. I imagine something terrible happening to you...”

She pressed herself against me, and her warmth, her softness, and the vanilla scent of her perfume twined around me, subtly relaxing some of my tension.

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” she said, and then a teasing smile came across her face. “I'm the biggest nightmare for most of this campus.”

“Not for me.”

Her gaze fell behind me, where the tracker gun and the tattoo gun both lay. An irritated look came over her face. “What's going on?”

“You gave Cain a tattoo so it would always be clear that he was your property.”

“Yes, because that asshole thought that he could keep anyone else from touching me, but that he could still have sex with other girls. It was ridiculous.”

“Cain is always ridiculous.”

“If you realize that, why do you have the tattoo gun and the tracker gun?”

I picked up the tracker gun. She took a step back, those beautiful, luminous, violet eyes fixed on me wearily. That look broke my heart. I would never do anything to her against her will.

I raised the tracker gun and pressed it to my own shoulder. It felt like being stabbed when I pulled the trigger, but it didn't even make me wince. I just kept gazing into those gorgeous eyes. “I want you to always be able to find me. To always be able to count on me. To always know I'm yours.”

She stared at me, her eyes wide. I'd managed to surprise even the Demon’s daughter.

I held the tattoo gun out to her. “I want you to tattoo me. Mark me, Aurora. You already marked my heart; you might as well mark the outside too.”

Her face softened.

“Are you sure? You might have noticed how terrible I am as an artist.”

“I don’t care. If it’s your hand, it’ll be beautiful,” I promised her.

She came toward me then, smiling a little. “Let's not exaggerate.”

But as she took the tattoo gun from me, our fingers overlapped, and she bobbed up on her toes and kissed my lips. I kissed her back hard, feeling a sudden sense of joy.

“You still want me to take another tracker, don't you?”

“I wouldn't object obviously. It would give me a lot of relief with the Demon after you.”

She took the tattoo gun and examined my skin carefully for the right place to put it. “Lay down.”

I pulled my shirt off and spread out on the bed. She straddled me, her hand stroking across my skin, looking for a blank piece of canvas. Her touch drove me wild, especially when she began to trace my skin with her lips as well as her palms.

“Close your eyes,” she said huskily. “I want it to be a surprise.”

I closed my eyes, but I could still see her beautiful face imprinted on my brain. The way she had looked at me just before I closed my eyes, looking amused but also pleased, would stay with me forever.

Our song came to mind, and I hummed it as the soft whirr of the tattoo gun began and she pressed the gun just above my pelvic bone, a rare bit of unmarked territory. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” had been my mother’s song. But now…it was undoubtedly Aurora’s. She was my safe place, what my whole world revolved around.

Something wet hit my chest and I opened my eyes to see that her gaze was shiny as she worked.

“Princess, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just that song,” she whispered, biting her lip as she tried to concentrate.

“It’s yours,” I told her.

“It’s ours.”

I closed my eyes again, something warm building in my chest, and let her keep working. I was wildly curious about what she was drawing, but I didn’t try and look, feeling her body straddling my lap as she shifted back and forth. That contact alone, no matter how distracted and innocent it was, had my cock at full attention.

The tattoo gun shut off. “There, are you brave enough to see what I gave you?”

I pushed up onto my elbows and looked down at the tattoo. She had tattooed a little moon with two stars nestled side-by-side.

“Because the nighttime is the only time we can be our true selves with each other,” she said softly.

“Aurora, I promise I'll always be my true self from now on, whatever hour it is.”

“And who is your true self, Paxton?”

“The man who loves you. And I'm not afraid to show it to you now.”

She leaned down and kissed me, her lips tender. Her hands cupped my face, and she looked at me as if she could stare at me for a long, long time.

I slid my hand around the back of her neck and drew her face down. Her lips pressed mine in a gentle kiss, and her hands slid over my shoulders, before trailing down my abs. My muscles tensed and contracted under her gentle touch, and I let my hands roam her body, stripping her clothes.

She reached my belt buckle and slowly undid it, before drawing me out. She began to trace my cock through the sweet slick between her thighs.

I groaned. “You’re so fucking wet already.”

She just gave me a beautiful, mischievous smile and continued to use me as a toy, until my cock ached. I caught her in my arms and rolled over so I was on top. Her shimmering platinum hair covered the pillow.

When I sheathed myself in her, her fingernails bit into my shoulder. “Paxton,” she breathed. The sound of my name on her lips was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard.

“I love you,” I whispered to her. The words weren't easy for me to say, but I needed for her to know. Even if it gave me an uncomfortable, nervous feeling, as if I were more scared of this gorgeous girl with soft blonde hair than I was of any opponent in the ring.

“I love you too,” she whispered. Her face nestled against my throat as she breathed, “I promise I'm not going anywhere, Paxton. You're always going to be able to find me.”

She reached for the tracker gun. I shifted away, rolling onto my back, watching her. I needed her to take the GPS chip. I needed to have a chance of getting her back if I lost her.

Then she climbed back on my cock. Her tight pussy enveloped me, her breasts swaying as she began to ride me again. I let out a hiss of satisfaction as my hands found her hips.

The two of us began to move together, and I felt a rush of relief seeing her raise the tracker gun to her shoulder. When she pulled the trigger, she winced. She dropped the gun on the sheets, and a bead of blood welled up on her pale skin.

“I'll kiss it better,” I promised roughly, pulling her down on top of me. I covered her throat and shoulders with kisses as I began to thrust upward into her, rolling my pelvis, hitting the spot that I knew she liked. She gasped and then bit my shoulder, the two of us linked together as she rode my cock.

But the truth was, we were linked together forever in every way.

PEACE NEVER LASTED VERY LONG with these men that I lived with. Aurora was curled up against my side, and my tattoo ached but in the best of ways. Then Remy knocked on the door.

He stuck his head in before he even finished knocking. He'd never mastered all the social skills.

“What?” I demanded. I just wanted my time with Aurora.

“I need your help,” he said. I turned to Aurora, who gave me a sweet, gentle smile. “Go. Help him. I'll go let Stellan babysit me for a while.”

She'd been laying with one leg thrown over mine, her head pillowed on my shoulder, tracing my tattoos with her fingertips. The world felt a little cold when she left me.

I made sure she was with Stellan before I was willing to walk away.

“What?” I repeated to Remington as soon as we knew our girl was safe.

He gave me a strange look. “You know, most people are in a better mood post-coitus. I don't know why you're still so grouchy.”

“This conversation is not doing a lot for my cheerfulness,” I answered.

“I'm not sure if it's gonna make you feel better or worse.” He led me into his room, where he sat down at his laptop and began to pull up screenshots. I crossed my arms, waiting for Remington to tell me something interesting. We sometimes defined interesting very differently.

Then he explained, “Remember when we made contact with Aurora's hacker friend? Nena? I questioned who Nena really was. She was too good. And you can't trust anyone on the Internet. No one is quite who they say they are. Everyone's fine-tuning their photos and making it look like they're having the time of their lives, while we're all pretty much equally miserable.”

“I wasn't miserable until you invited me into this conversation.”

“Try to focus, Paxton. I finally tracked down Nena. And I made it into her digital database, at least one of them. I imagine she has a lot, because she has a lot of videos.”

A sudden chill ran through me. “Videos? Of what?”

“Of Aurora.”

My stomach dropped, and then fury flooded through me.

“She’s been collecting all of her keystrokes. But what's worse is the videos. She even had a video of Aurora at the study group.”

“Do you think she's been tracking her through all those videos?” I asked.

“Worse. I think she might have been giving those videos to the Demon. He doesn't strike me as a particularly tech-savvy guy, and he's been locked up in prison for the last few years, so how would he have access to a video of Aurora at her study group to know that a girl disrespected her?”

“How far did the videos go back?”

“That is a surprisingly intelligent question, Paxton,” Remington responded, and I glared at him. “The videos go back years. She's obviously been stalking her for a long time.”

“Even before Aurora put the Demon away?” I didn't understand why this hacker would have helped Aurora escape from the Demon if she was feeding the Demon information.

“I don't see any videos from that early, but like I said, she's got to have other digital depositories. There are so many videos.”

Remington seemed convinced that this hacker was working with the Demon. The thought of her stalking our girl filled me with a sense of rage that pressed at my chest.

“What do you need from me?”

“I found her location,” Remy said. “I need you for backup.”

“Why don't we bring everyone?”

“Because Aurora is attached to her.” Remington's words hung in the air. “And if she's a danger to Aurora...”

“Then we've got to take care of it.” Aurora would be furious that we hadn't told her everything, but I could deal with her anger if it protected her.

“I don't know about this. I don't want to keep lying to her. Even by omission.”

“When did you turn into such a Boy Scout? Let me show you something. I think it'll make you want to pay a visit to her hacker friend. A stabby one.” Remy's fingers danced over the keyboard. Then a new video came up on the screen and began to play.

It was a blurry video of Aurora in her room. The room was grainy, dimly lit. Night time. In it, I crawled into bed with her, pulling Aurora's body against mine so we were spooning. I stared at it, horrified to see such an intimate moment captured in such a cheap way, given to god knows who.

“Somehow, she got into one of Cain’s feeds. She's been watching inside our house.”

Rage pulsed through my veins. “Do you know where to find her?”

Remy nodded.

“I'll drive.”

AN HOUR LATER, we pulled up outside a trailer deep in the woods.

“Places like this just give me the creeps,” I muttered.

“You are such a city boy,” Remington said. “Not every rural scene is like something out of Deliverance or The Hills Have Eyes.”

“I don't trust anyone in the city either,” I reminded him.

The two of us split up, moving to cover the two separate doors. I was sure she had a ton of security alarms.

Not that it mattered. When I kicked open her door, it splintered, and I was already through it. Remy was still struggling, and then the door flew off its hinges and landed on the floor on the other side of the house. Somewhere, an alarm started going off, but it didn't matter.

She was going to know we were here either way.

The two of us cleared the house, searching each room. In the bedroom, we found her backing away across the floor. There was no bed in there; she must sleep on the couch in the living room, which still had a musty blanket and pillow abandoned on it. The room was full of computers and servers.

“Why have you been stalking Aurora?” I demanded.

“Who are you?”

I moved close to her, wrapping my fingers around her throat. I started to squeeze. “You know who I am. You've been watching us.”

“If I know who you are, then he does too,” she reminded me.

A threat? Who was stupid enough to make fucking threats when I had my hand wrapped around their throat? I shook her back and forth, her toes leaving the ground. Her eyes begin to roll back in her head. “Is that a threat? Have you been passing information about Aurora to the Demon?”

“Easy, Pax,” Remi said. “We want to talk to her, remember?”

He gave me a meaningful look, reminding me that murder could come after conversation.

I set her down, and she drew in a ragged breath, her hands going to her throat. She had long, thick dark hair and a pale, pretty but lined face. I guessed she was in her mid-40s.

“You should get out of here. You'll lead him here. And he can't get his hands on everything I've collected about Aurora.”

“So you're trying to convince us that you're not working with him?”

She looked horrified. “No!”

“And why are you collecting all those videos of us?”

“I'm trying to make sure she's safe.”

“Out of the kindness of your heart? Just a caring stranger, who's been following her all this time?” Remy demanded.

“I'm not telling you anything. You're a danger to her.”

Remy shrugged. “Well, if you're not going to tell us anything...”

I felt just as furious as Remy, but my rage burned a lot hotter. She'd been stalking Aurora for all these years. There was no harmless justification for that. Was she planning to blackmail her? Sell these videos to the highest bidder? There were a lot of junkie magazines and websites that would love to know more about Aurora's life.

I pulled out my gun. As I raised it toward her, slowly squeezing the trigger, her eyes widened.

Her violet eyes.

I hadn't seen many people who had eyes like that.

Just one, actually.

I released the trigger abruptly. A sickening feeling washed over me as I realized what I'd almost done. “Who are you? You've been stalking her all this time because you are her...”

She gave me a long look, as if she were waiting for me to say the words. She looked cool and implacable, but her hands were shaking.

I finished, “Her mother.”

“Her mother,” she confirmed. “You figured it out, Paxton. And here I did not think, from watching the videos, that you were the bright one.”

I ignored that comment.

“Why didn't you tell her that you were alive?” Aurora would have been so relieved to know that her mother was safe. She'd spent all this time hurting from how her mother had abandoned her those years ago. It would have been a relief to know her mother was in contact with her all that time, trying to look after her and connect with her in some way.

“I'm a danger. If the Demon knows he can use me to get to her...” She shook her head, a horrified look coming over her face. “You have to forget you ever met me.”

“Yeah, that's not going to work,” Remington told her. “First of all, the Demon is hunting you, and Aurora would want to know that you're okay, and she'll want to protect you.”

“She can't protect me. Aurora is safer if I'm on the run.”

“The second problem,” Remington continued, as if he hadn't heard her at all. “Is that Paxton here has decided he's going to turn over a new leaf and be honest with this girl that we adore so much.”

Nena looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “This is a horrible time for that. You should be honest with my daughter. But not now. She's in so much danger. The Demon will stop at nothing to get her back.”

She turned imploring eyes on Remington. “You just need to go. Aurora is safer if the Demon is after me. Sooner or later, he'll come after her, but...”

“You mean, he'll come after her once he kills you?”

“I think it's more likely he'd use me as bait to try to get Aurora. So Aurora can't care about me,” she said. “She has to think that I'm just the hacker she talks to sometimes. I worry enough that she'll be terribly brave and self-sacrificing. But if she knows I'm her mother...” She shook her head, her eyes wide and desperate, shifting between the two of us. “Please. I just want my little girl to be safe.”

Remy looked at me and spread his arms in a shrug. “Maybe we should just leave her. We can barely keep Aurora safe.”

I shook my head. “No more lies, no more bullshit. We're bringing her with us.”

She made a break for it, suddenly lunging toward the window. Remington was on her, grabbing her with an arm around the throat. The two of them scuffled back and forth, but he managed to hang on to her, barely.

I whistled to get her attention. Her eyes finally fell to the gun that I held on her.

“We are a team. Aurora's team. And she would want to see you, so that's what we're gonna do. I'm taking you to her, but I'd rather bring you conscious and talkative.”

Her eyes narrowed at the threats. The two of us marched out of the building at gunpoint and put her into the car.

An hour later, we pulled into the garage under the Sphinx. Remy had kept up a constant chatter, as Remy often did, trying to get her to talk. But she had been stubbornly, insistently quiet. Meanwhile, I hadn't wanted to talk either. I just kept thinking about my mom, about how much I'd longed for her every day since she'd been gone. But my mom hadn't been there, because she’d had no choice.

Did Nena have a choice? Could Aurora's mom have protected her without abandoning her? I mean, what was the point when Aurora had ended up in the Demon’s clutches anyway?

When we arrived, I told her to get out of the car, and once she was, I holstered my gun, pointedly keeping my hand on it. “Can you come nicely? So Aurora doesn't have to see you dragged in to finally talk to her at gunpoint? She's been through enough.”

“I know she's been through a lot. I've talked her through almost all of it.”

“You haven't stopped her from having nightmares,” I said savagely. “You could have protected her from the Demon.”

She let out a laugh. “I wish that were true. I wish I were that powerful. If that's really what you think, you must think I was such a bad mother.”

I shrugged. It was answer enough for her. Her lips tightened, but if she were really sure of herself, if she didn't have any doubts or questions, I didn't think my words would have hurt her so much.

“You think I'm a negligent mother. But Aurora is an incredibly competent girl. And she's had you by her side, hasn't she?”

I thought about all the conversations that she said she'd had with Aurora combined with the fact that she had been watching us. How could a mother watch the kinds of things that Aurora had suffered through? To hear about them? “How much have you manipulated her? And manipulated all of us?”

She didn't answer. “I just wanted to keep her safe.”

I exploded. “She needed you!”

She gave me a look that seemed like it was full of sympathy, as if she saw through me far too much. “Maybe. But we don't always get what we need.”

“Aurora will,” I said fiercely. “I'll make sure of it.”

Though I wasn't sure I could make that true, not when it came to how much she needed her mother.

25

AURORA

C ain felt it was necessary for two of them to keep an eye on me at all times, so I was hanging out in the study with them. I was trying to do my homework, even though it was hard to believe it mattered anymore.

The Demon had taken everything from me. Including the college experience. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I’d sat in traffic waiting to pull onto Darkwood’s campus, looking forward to a fresh start.

Then the door swung open, and Remington walked in. I jumped to my feet. “You're just in time to save me from reading the rest of Wuthering Heights. I don't know why a book where the main character is such an asshole would be considered a classic...hold on...” I pretended to muse, but Remy didn't smile, which wasn't like him.

“What is it?” I demanded, my stomach dropping. Remy seeming serious at all was always a bad sign.

Remington stepped to one side, and I saw a woman coming into the room, with Pax just one step behind her.

The woman had long dark hair, parted down the middle, and she wore a graphic T-shirt. Intense, violet eyes met mine from across the room.

My mom.

It had been thirteen years, but I still recognized her the second I saw her.

My legs wobbled, then went out from underneath me. Remington lunged forward to catch me, grabbing my arm, but it was too late. I was already kneeling on the ground.

She came toward me, her own eyes welling with tears. She knelt on the floor in front of me so we were eye to eye. She raised trembling hands to cup my face. “I've seen you in pictures and videos, but it’s different... being here. You’re so beautiful.”

“I haven’t seen you,” my voice came out in a rasp.

“I love you so much,” my mother said, and for a second, I felt just like the five-year-old child I had once been, listening to my mom say those words before she kissed my forehead and tucked me in. “I have missed you every day since I left you. It hurt every single day, just as much as when I bought you that soda and put you in my sweatshirt and kissed you goodbye.”

Feelings overwhelmed me. I couldn’t even make sense of them. I could barely breathe.

But then she was putting her arms around me, and I hugged her tightly.

I couldn’t believe she was real. I couldn’t convince myself that she would still be there another second from now, and I couldn’t bear to pull away from her.

“Tell me,” I whispered, my voice too shaky to rise above a whisper.

She smiled shakily herself. “Tell you what?”

“Tell me everything.”

“You have to understand, I didn't want to leave you that day. The Demon was right behind us. He just kept following us, and he would never stop. But I knew he was tracking my phone. If I left you, and I kept my phone, I could lead him away. And then, I would lose my phone. That was the way to keep you alive.”

“Do you really think it was better for me to be without you as long as I was away from him?” I asked, still unable to raise my voice.

Her eyes flooded with tears. “What happened to you after I left?”

“You should know who else she is,” Remington interjected suddenly. “She's not just your mother.”

I looked at her in confusion. Pax must have realized that I couldn't put together anything besides the realization that my mother was actually there in front of me, because he added, “This is Nena.”

I gasped. “The hacker I've been in touch with all this time?”

She nodded sadly. “It was the only contact I could have with you and still keep you safe.”

“I wasn't safe,” I cried. “I was with the Demon.”

“I know,” she said. “I knew that you'd made it safely into the foster system–”

“Safely is an overstatement,” I cut in harshly. “It was horrible. They hurt me.”

Shadows passed over her face. “I'm so sorry,” she told me.

“The Demon rescued me,” I said, my voice acerbic. “I thought he was my hero at first.”

“But you figured him out. You figured out how to beat him. You've always been so smart.” Tears were running down her face. “When I looked for you years later, I was horrified to find out that the Demon had you. But then I realized that you'd already faced the monster and lived. And you would keep on living. If he ever found out I was in touch with you, if you ever found me... Aurora, the things he would have done to both of us…”

She wiped away my tears with her thumb, but it didn't matter. I just kept on crying, more tears replacing the ones that she had wiped away with her gentle hands.

I managed, “He's looking for you now.”

“I'll get away from him. I did it for thirteen years, and I'll do it again. But you have to let me keep running.”

She looked up at Pax, her face desperate. “You have to let me go. Let me draw him away from her. Let me protect her again. Just like I’ve been doing for thirteen years…”

More quietly, she added, “This time, I know other people are looking out for her. She's not alone.”

The memory of the little girl I'd been, kicking my feet on that bench, as night fell and the world turned colder, welled up in my chest, until it felt like I was still that little girl. “You broke my heart thirteen years ago.”

She was crying so hard, I wasn't sure she could see me, and yet she still reached to wipe away my tears. “I know, Aurora, I know.”

Pax cleared his throat. “It's up to Aurora. We'll keep her here if that's what you want, Aurora. And we'll protect her. And if she does go...”

Pax deposited the tracker gun on the table.

I thought furiously. My mother, I was sure, was right that the Demon would do terrible things to us both, use us to hurt each other. I desperately wanted to protect her. And the truth was, she wanted to leave to protect me, but I thought she was safer if she got away from me. My father might have a long, old obsession with her, but his obsession with me was deep and terrible.

I was supposed to be just like him.

He wanted to destroy everything in me that was different.

“She should go,” I managed, although I wasn't sure anyone could hear me through my tears.

“Nena,” Pax said to her roughly, offering us both a hand up. When he had helped her up, he placed the gun against her neck.

She nodded. “Do it.”

She winced, but she tried to smile even though it must have hurt. “This time, at least we get to say goodbye. Properly this time.”

Mom hugged me, gripping me tightly, for a long long time as if she didn't want to let go. But in the end, she did.

I watched her walk away for a second time.

Somehow, it hurt even worse the second time.

I broke down sobbing, and Pax drew me into his arms, comforting me. I tried to smile through my tears. He looked down at me with worried eyes. “Look,” I told him in a whisper. I raised a hand toward the sunlight streaming through the window.

“It’s daytime, and you’re here for me.”

He held me close, hugging me as if he’d never let me go.

.

26

AURORA

I t felt like I sleepwalked through the rest of the day. I stared at my book without managing to read a word, then got up and threw it aside, wandering through the Sphinx and ending up in my room. I stared out the windows at the falling red and gold leaves that blanketed the dying grass as I laid on my bed.

How was it possible that the world was so beautiful when it was so terrible, too?

“Baby,” Stellan whispered, wrapping me up in his arms like I was something precious and not something my mother seemed desperate to get away from.

“I can understand why she left. But at the same time…I can’t. If I had a child I would never want to leave them. I would love them so much that they wouldn’t have a doubt. Why didn’t she love me like that?”

The words were old thoughts, made new again by the fact that she’d departed once again. As soon as she’d disappeared, I’d been transported back to that park bench again. Just sitting there waiting for her to return and tell me everything was going to be alright.

“Why is it that the people we need to love us the most, never seem to have the capacity to do it?” I breathed, a sob rushing from my chest like a tide violently hitting the shore.

He opened his mouth like he had an answer, but then he promptly realized he did not.

What could he say? How did you explain away the melancholy of being abandoned?

You couldn’t.

You just had to carry it around with you like a bullet lodged in your beating heart. Hoping that eventually, you would grow numb enough that it wouldn’t hurt with every breath you took.

Stellan brushed a kiss across my shoulder that felt like a balm to my skin. My skin felt tight, like there was too much…feeling caught underneath it.

I needed a release.

And he could give me that.

I’m sure this kind of “release” wasn’t recommended by therapists, but who gave a fuck.

I turned in his arms, my breath caught in my throat with how fucking stunning he looked.

He studied my features, like he was searching for something, before he carefully wiped away a tear that was falling down my face. He looked heartbroken by the sight of it. His hair was falling in his eyes, and just the fact that I was wrapped in his arms made me feel a little bit better.

Because I might have a mother who abandoned me, and a serial killer for a father…but I had him. I had them.

“I never used to cry,” I told him. “And now it seems like it’s all I do.”

My heart was physically aching. The Demon had taught me to be numb, and I had all these feelings since I’d started at this school…it hurt. And it just kept on hurting, no matter how much I didn’t want it.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured, and a sob ricocheted out of my throat. I slid on top of him, tracing his lips with my fingers. I leaned over and pressed my lips against his, going for sweet, but of course, it deepened into more.

Because I was hungry for him. Hungry for how good he could make me feel. Hungry for the way he could make me forget.

Stellan parted my lips with his tongue, caressing me softly. He slid his tongue gently over mine, stoking the fires of the sweet ache building inside of me.

“You’re stunning,” I murmured, admiring his muscular body underneath me. I could feel his hard length pressing against the thin cloth of my shorts. It felt comforting…right.

His answering grin sent sparks flipping through my body.

He dipped his tongue into my mouth again, and I sucked him deeper, wanting as much of him as I could get.

I rolled my hips against him, loving his intake of breath as he grew harder beneath me.

“Are you sure?” he asked, like I was a virgin again. But I knew why he was asking. Because I wasn’t myself. I was a mess. He knew I was using him to forget.

“Fuck me with your big cock, Stellan,” I breathed, giving him a flirty wink to try and brighten the mood a little bit.

But he could read me by now; he knew what I really wanted. I wanted to feel with him…I just wanted to feel pleasure and not pain.

For once.

Stellan surprised me by reaching between us and ripping my shorts off, throwing them somewhere off the bed. He circled my clit with his thumb, playing with me.

“Come ride my face,” he ordered, and my insides lit up like fireworks as I let him take the lead and drag me up to his face.

Stellan licked me, and a soft moan escaped my mouth. He teased me with slow, careful flicks of his tongue, dipping into me, circling my clit, pushing me closer and closer towards climax.

He tortured me, suckling on everything but my clit.

Then finally, finally…he pressed his tongue against it. I arched into his touch, my hips riding against his mouth as he pressed his tongue expertly against my swollen bud while his hands reached up and flicked and played with my nipples through my thin spaghetti strap top.

Desperate for him to actually touch my breasts, I slipped my top off, moaning louder as his rough fingers traced circles around my nipples before gently squeezing and pulling at me in the same rhythm that I was currently riding his tongue with.

I came in clenching bursts, my hands pulling at his gorgeous long hair.

He growled against my skin and traced along my folds until he got to my asshole. I squirmed against his face as he held me down and pushed inside. My head fell back and I cursed as the dark sensations cascaded through me. I’d done a lot of stuff with these guys, things that would make anyone blush. But this…this just felt wrong…and good…and fuck.

I came again and he slid back to my core.

“Sweet fuck, you are so hot,” he groaned. His words were slurred, like he was high from tasting my cum.

Giving me one last, slow lick, he grabbed my hips and slid me down his body until I was hovering over his huge, hard cock.

He smiled up at me, his face glistening with my juices.

He’s the one who looked hot.

Stellan rubbed at my clit, playing with me before he finally, slowly pushed his tip into me, wetting it with my slickness before he eased out and then pushed back in.

“Don’t know how you stay so fucking tight with us fucking you all the time,” he moaned. “But you're choking me.”

He impaled me again…right as the door opened. And there stood Cain.

He seemed to have impeccable timing when it came to my sex life.

I wondered if he had cameras in all the guys’ rooms too. I wouldn’t put it past him.

Cain was wearing a pair of low-slung sweatpants, like the ones he’d been wearing that first night at the party. And I watched through hooded eyes as he hardened, until the tip of his dick was popping up through the top, already shiny with precum.

Stellan slid back out and then slammed into me, like he wanted to remind me he was there. Cain’s gaze was devouring us. I’m sure we were a sight. My face was flushed, a slight sheen to my body from cumming so much. Stellan's face was still wet and shiny from eating me.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” Cain growled to me as Stellan gripped my hips tighter and began to bounce me on his dick.

“Want to help make our girl cum until she passes out?” Stellan gasped, his own head thrown back in pleasure as we moved together. My hands went up to my breasts and I flicked and pulled at my nipples.

Stellan was enough for me…more than enough. But more hands…were always welcome.

Cain prowled towards the bed, sliding off his tank top as he walked and pushing down the top of his sweats so he could stroke his dick. My mouth watered as I stared at all that magnificence.

“Mmmh. Is my girl hungry?” he purred as he stroked down my hair, and then my back…all the way to my ass, where he pressed on my rosebud….which was still slick from Stellan’s…attention.

“Do you think you can take both of us?”

I froze, thinking of how big both of their cocks were.

Cain slid a finger into my core until it was rubbing up against Stellan’s dick inside of me. Stellan shifted at the sensation and I rubbed a hand down his chest soothingly.

It felt so good…I wanted to feel full of them. So full I could only feel…not think.

“I want you both,” I gasped as Stellan pushed on my clit and I spiraled into another fucking orgasm.

Cain pulled his finger out and walked over to the bedside drawer, opening it and pulling out a small bottle of oil.

He squeezed some of it in his hand before casually letting his sweatpants drop down all the way as he began to massage his dick, spreading the oil up and down.

Cain sidled up on the bed behind me, lining up his tip against my core as Stellan pulled me forward until I was lying on top of his chest.

And then there was pressure. So much fucking pressure as Cain pushed into me.

“Fuck,” Stellan breathed. “It’s so fucking tight.”

I couldn’t answer him. I couldn’t even breathe. It was burning and stretching and I’d lost the ability to do anything but lay there.

It took a second to realize that the cries I was hearing…were coming from me.

Cain stroked a rough hand down my back again, soothing me. “You’re our pretty, perfect girl, aren’t you? So perfect for us. Such a tight, perfect pussy. You’re so damn gorgeous like this, filled completely with our cocks.”

We lay like that for a moment, no one moving, as they gave me time to adjust.

“Start moving, Stellan,” Cain ordered, his breath hissing out between his teeth as Stellan did just that. I could imagine their big dicks rubbing together inside of me, and it was almost enough to make me cum again.

The burn started to fade then. And in its place was a pleasure so intense it was something close to agony.

“You all right, sweetheart?” asked Stellan.

I nodded against his chest, still unable to talk. I could only feel.

Stellan pushed in again, and they were both as deep as I could take them.

Cain began to move then, out…and then in…and Stellan joined him and…

I was cumming, stars sparking across my vision like shooting stars in a cloudless night sky.

This feeling of being thoroughly possessed…it was my new favorite thing.

They moved in and out, in a perfect alternating rhythm, and I could feel every ridge of their perfect cocks.

In that moment, there was no Demon, or mother…or stalker…or anything else. There was just this. Them, moving inside of me in short, measured drives that pushed me over and over again…until I was going in and out of consciousness as they took everything from me and more.

“You’re everything to us, little devil. You don’t need anyone else. You can’t have anyone else. No one’s going to need you the way we need you. No one’s going to be obsessed with you like we are. No one’s going to lo—” Stellan’s voice growled in my ear, his possessive words a soothing soundtrack for my fractured heart.

I was faintly aware of their loud groans filling the air, the warm pulses of their seed spilling inside of me.

And then everything faded away.

27

AURORA

“I ’ve got him!” announced Remington as he burst into the dining room the next evening. We all looked at him interestedly, none of us quite sure which “him” he was referring to. “Kempler,” he said exasperatedly, like we were supposed to have read his mind.

“Finally,” replied Cain, garnering two middle fingers from Remington.

“I hope you realize how fucking lucky you are to have me,” Remington growled as he slid into a chair next to me.

I immediately hopped into his lap, throwing my arms around him. I’d missed him. Cain had him tracking so many things, it was amazing that he slept for more than an hour a night.

“We’re the luckiest,” I purred as he shot me a starry-eyed grin that had my heart singing a bit.

I loved him so much.

It was terrifying to think about.

“Alright, where is he?” Cain said impatiently, staring jealously at me in Remington’s lap.

Remington locked eyes with him and began to nip at my neck, grabbing my boob for good measure.

Stellan snorted.

Paxton came into the room then, dark circles under his eyes. His gaze immediately found mine and everything about him just seemed to…relax.

“He’s in one of his mistress’s houses about two hours from here. Judging by the…extracurricular activities I spotted on one of her cameras…he’s not going to be leaving any time soon.” Remington’s face curled up in disgust as some mental image pulsed in his head—one that I did not want to know about.

Cain frowned at that. “That’s sloppy of him to leave her cameras vulnerable.”

“Oh, he didn’t,” Remington replied with a cocky grin. “I’m just really, really good.”

“The very best,” I cooed, garnering a goofy, besotted grin from him.

“Alright. That’s enough. Let’s get going,” growled Cain, practically yanking me out of Remington’s lap.

“Say ‘thank you, Remy’,” I ordered, smushing Cain’s cheeks together as he carried me towards the door, the others following along.

Cain rolled his eyes.

“Say it.”

“Thank you, Remy,” he finally sighed.

“Anything for you, bro,” Remington said happily, smacking a kiss on Cain’s cheek as he jogged by us. Cain growled at him, but I could see the flash of humor in his eyes.

We all piled into Paxton’s SUV, Cain driving of course, and set off down the tunnel and out onto the main road.

Everyone was silent as we drove, and butterflies were sparkling in my stomach the closer we got. Glancing over at Paxton, I saw that his hands were fisted in his lap, tension threaded through his corded muscles. I hesitantly placed my hand on his arm, softly stroking it and trying to offer some kind of comfort.

He never looked at me, just continued to stare out the window at the passing landscape.

Would this guy have the information we needed? What if we left before we got there? No, I was going to think positive thoughts. Something had to break for us.

We finally made it to a neighborhood that was clearly on the wrong side of the tracks. Lawns and bushes were overgrown, fences were in need of repair, and windows were shattered.

“It’s up there,” Remington pointed from the passenger seat.

I immediately knew what house it was. Because it didn’t fit the neighborhood. Like Kempler wanted to hide his mistress away, but also wanted to make sure she was living nicely. Hers was the only house that was well-kept. All the windows intact and the lawn and house neat and orderly. It was a bright yellow color, with a fall wreath on the door, and pots of mums artfully situated.

Just another example of how looks could be deceiving…since there was clearly no white picket fence fairy tale happening inside that house’s walls.

“So, what’s the plan?” growled Paxton…sounding a bit violent.

Cain must have heard it too, because he gave a wary glance at him in the rearview mirror as we went past our target and parked the SUV down the next street.

“Remington and I are going to go in and—”

“Fuck that,” Paxton spit, opening the door and jumping out of the car.

Cain was out immediately as well. He placed a hand on Paxton’s chest, pushing him against the car. “You need to pull yourself together before you fuck up all of Remington’s hard work.”

“Pull myself together?” Paxton repeated in a soft, dangerous voice. “What it must be like to be you.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve never had to worry about anything a day in your fucking life…You’ve never had someone stalking you, or killing anyone close to you. You were born to a family that worships the ground you walk on. You never had to worry about fitting in, or making anyone proud. It was just their damn misfortune you were born a fucking psychopath.”

Paxton’s words hovered in the air, growing larger and larger until they felt all-encompassing. There was a lot to unpack in that little rant.

“I guess then that means you should trust me to have a level head,” spit Cain after a long moment that felt like forever. He released Paxton with a shove and took a step back. Cain rolled his shoulders back, like he was releasing tension.

“Have you turned off the cameras?” he finally snapped at Remington. Remington shot him an annoyed look at his tone, but continued to type away on the computer in his lap.

“It’s going to take me a bit longer. He has warnings set up if the cameras are disabled, so I have to put in my own program to override that so he doesn’t get an alert.”

“I love when you talk nerdy to me,” Stellan joked, breaking the tension up a little.

Remington shot him an exaggerated wink and then continued to type feverishly. Stellan and I watched him silently as Cain and Paxton glowered at each other.

“Alright,” Remington said a few minutes later, hitting the keys a few more times with a flourish. “We’re good to go. And I’ve disabled the surrounding cameras as well.”

“You’re getting a blowjob later,” I promised since Cain and Paxton weren’t stepping up to the plate and showering Remington with compliments like he deserved.

“And that’s how it’s done, boys,” Remington purred as he dug around the front console and pulled out a bunch of black knit balaclavas before hopping out of the car. “Ladies first.” He began to pull one of them over my head.

“Is this necessary?” I asked, my voice muffled by the fabric being yanked over my mouth.

“Better safe than sorry,” threw out Cain as he pulled his own on.

Remington attempted to put one on Paxton and was batted away. Paxton didn’t even crack a grin. He really was in a salty mood.

Once everyone was masked up, we crept down the street, staying out of the lights. It was late, and there was no one out, or even driving by. It was kind of a creepy feeling actually, because it was easy to imagine someone staring out at us through the dark windows, seeing us even though we couldn’t see them. Cain led us through a gate and walked confidently through someone’s dark backyard, hoisting himself over the next fence and out of sight.

“Always an adventure,” Stellan muttered, offering his hands for me to step on to jump over the fence.

“Where’s my hand?” Remington complained as Stellan hopped over as soon as he’d hoisted me up.

Stellan just ignored him, and we all made our way over the next fence, and then the next, Paxton’s silent, glowering presence following behind us.

Finally, we were in the backyard of the mistress’s next-door neighbor. Remington took out his phone, pressing a few buttons before a video pulled up of—

Fuck, I needed to burn my eyes. There were actually two women in there with Kempler, one of them peeing on his weasel-looking face while another sucked on his dick. To each his own…but…no. Just no.

“Well…he’s occupied,” quipped Remington as he quickly turned off the screen.

“I’d like that on my ‘no’ list, sir,” I told Cain, and his eyes glittered in amusement.

“Enough. How are we doing this?” barked Paxton, bringing us back to the seriousness of the moment.

“Well, as he seems…occupied, it’s safe to say we have the element of surprise and can go right in,” I drawled, before they could overcomplicate anything. That was something the Demon had taught me–the simplest scenario was often the best one.

“You heard the little devil, men. Let’s do this.” Remington gave me a mock salute and I rolled my eyes.

Paxton walked towards the glass window that we knew led into the master bedroom thanks to a house plan he’d found, grabbing one of the patio chairs on the way.

“Subtlety isn’t his strength, is it?” I whispered to Stellan, who was watching Paxton with wide eyes as he picked up the chair…and crashed it through the window.

A woman’s scream ripped through the window.

“Fuck,” growled Cain, trotting towards where Paxton had just disappeared inside.

Cain rolled up his jacket in his hand, batting away at more of the glass before hauling himself over the window ledge and past the billowing drapes into the room.

Remington hauled himself inside next, and then Stellan and I followed.

Inside...was chaos. Two naked girls were huddled against the wall, holding each other as they sobbed with bugged-out eyes. Paxton was on top of the guy I’d seen in the video, throwing punch after punch to the guy’s face. Cain and Remington were trying to haul him off…unsuccessfully. I felt like I’d stepped into a madhouse.

One of the girls made a dash towards a cell phone on a leather chair a few feet away from her. Stellan saw and picked up a vase, throwing it at the wall right before she passed, making her scream and freeze in place. “Don’t move,” he warned, strolling over to the phone and smashing it several times against a wooden end table until it was broken. The girl who’d made a break for the phone passed out.

“This is some vigilante shit,” I murmured as Cain and Remington finally managed to drag Paxton off a bloodied Kempler.

“Tell the fucking truth!” roared Paxton, pulling against Cain and Remington’s grip.

“We know you’ve been behind sending the videos, Kempler. You know I don’t take kindly to half-cocked idiots in the organization,” said Cain silkily, his calm demeanor much more terrifying than Paxton’s out-of-control rage.

Kempler was shaking, his eyes darting all over the room like he was trying to find a way out of this situation. I noticed then all the water bottles all over the room. That was really weird. Apparently, they all wanted to be very…hydrated for their activities.

“Now’s your chance to come clean.”

“You’re just going to kill me anyway,” stammered Kempler.

“That’s true, but I promise to not drag it out if you cooperate,” Cain answered. Kempler tried to struggle to his feet, and Cain reached out with his foot and kicked him back to the ground.

“Can someone hand him some pants?” I threw out, sick of seeing his tiny dick every time I looked at him.

He was still hard.

“Can someone cover the princess’s eyes?” drawled Cain. Remington was already on the pants situation though, finding a pair on the ground and throwing them at Kempler to put on.

Kempler scrambled to put on his pants, keeping his gaze on Cain and Paxton the entire time. It was quite funny when people did that, thinking that Cain and Paxton were the biggest predators in the room.

I obviously held that title.

“Remington,” Kempler pleaded. “You know how it is. You just do what you’re told.” He reminded me of a squeaky, pathetic rat watching him writhe and plead for his life.

“Is that what you were doing? What you were told?” Cain mused, not sounding like he believed him. “Or were you just doing what you wanted? It’s easy for little rats to blame their masters. But that isn’t always the case, is it?”

Cain’s psychopath was in full bloom, his mask out in full force. Kempler recognized that, because he pissed himself, the front of his pants darkening. The room already smelled a bit like urine, explainable based on the extracurricular activities taking place before we’d arrived, so it only added to the ambiance of the room.

The girl who hadn’t passed out was hysterically sobbing, and I just really wanted this little session to be over. I could feel the flashbacks darkening the edges of my mind.

“Can we start the torture part?” I asked pleasantly. Kempler’s eyes snapped to me and he leaned forward, squinting as he studied my features.

“You’re the—”

“Demon’s daughter? Yes, I am,” I mused, pulling a knife out of my pocket and using it to clean out my nail tips as I sauntered towards him.

“Please. Please!” he screeched.

I glanced at my amused-looking guys, gesturing to the quivering man in front of me with the knife. “See, this was the respect I was looking for.”

I took another step and crouched down, just staring at Kempler. Then I traced the edge of the knife across his neck, a cool detachment filling my veins as I watched a bead of blood trail down his neck. “Are you ready to talk, or do you want to play?” I murmured. “And I don’t mean the kind of ‘play’ you prefer to engage in, if that wasn’t obvious.”

He was gnashing his teeth like he was trying to chew off his tongue. Wait a minute—"Stop,” I screeched, dropping the knife and grabbing his jaw, trying to pull his mouth open.

But I was too late.

Foam splashed out of his mouth, and his body convulsed and shook as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

A moment later… he was dead.

“Fuck,” growled Paxton, punching the wall hard enough to put a hole in it.

I stayed in place for a long moment, just staring at the body…a little in shock, and then I stood up and shook my head in disgust.

“You were terrifying,” assured Remington. “I definitely got hard.”

I scoffed, ignoring his comment, and Stellan’s head nodding in agreement behind him.

Paxton’s frustration and anger were tangible and pulsating throughout the room, like waves crashing against the shore. “Another dead end,” he hissed, a bleakness undercoating his words that sank into my veins.

“Stop sulking. He’s dead. That’s a good thing. He was probably responsible for the videos. And now he’s gone,” announced Cain, sounding confident in the idea that Kempler was just a bad seed in the organization.

But that seemed a little too easy of an idea to me. And even if the Demon had taught me that the simplest way was often the best way…I just wasn’t buying it.

I didn’t say anything though; I just tentatively walked over to Paxton and touched his arm. “I’m sorry, Paxton.” I’d been joking to myself earlier about being terrifying…but I couldn’t help but think that I could have handled that better.

The urge to leave that room was a living, breathing thing, and I grabbed Paxton’s hand and pulled him towards the window, deciding we would leave the way we’d come in. If this room was soaked in urine, I didn’t want to see the rest of the house. “Have fun with cleanup, gentlemen,” I announced as I carefully stepped over the windowsill and out into the cool night, gulping in the cool, clean-smelling air.

We began to walk back towards the SUV.

“It just feels too easy,” Paxton finally said with a huff. “I’ve never had anything to do with Kempler. Why would he try and come after me like that?”

“I’m not sure,” I murmured, my mind still pushing through possibilities. It still felt like all signs pointed to…Alexander.

And I was still trying to come up with every possible person who could be responsible besides him.

Did I have daddy issues…why, yes I did.

As we continued to walk to the car, the temperature seemed to drop even more until, by the time we got to the car, it was freezing.

The feeling that something was wrong settled deeper into my veins as we sat in the car, and as we drove home silently, and as I curled in Paxton’s arms later that night.

And it never went away.

28

AURORA

I t was one of those mornings when you just felt like everything was wrong. When you wanted to just sleep the day away and try again tomorrow.

Not even Remington eating me to an awesome orgasm could lift my mood.

The second I stepped out of the Sphinx, the feeling intensified. There were so many fucking whispers.

“Why is everyone acting even crazier than usual?” I muttered to Paxton as he walked with me to class. He was evidently on '“Aurora Duty” today.

Paxton didn’t answer. He just frowned in that growly way of his and scanned campus as we walked.

I couldn’t make anything out until we were in my class. Settling into my seat, I was assaulted by even more whispers. And when I realized what they were talking about, I immediately felt like I was going to be sick.

“The Demon…”

“Did you hear?”

“They found her body…”

“Paxton,” I whimpered softly as I pulled out my phone, my hands shaking so hard it was hard to pull up Google to search for articles.

Typing in “The Demon” gave me everything I needed to know.

They’d found his first victim.

A twenty-year-old college student. Quite different from his usual victim.

Her hair had been bleached blonde…after her death. And purple contacts had been placed in her eyes.

She’d also been put in a Darkwood College Sweatshirt.

He couldn’t have left a more blatant message for me if he’d written it out in a letter.

Of course, the newspaper article had taken the extra step of placing my face in the article.

My phone clattered out of my hands, the sound seeming to reverberate around the room, drawing even more stares.

So many stares.

“Princess,” Paxton murmured, concerned, grabbing my phone and pulling up what I’d just been studying. “Fuck!”

The professor walked in at that moment, her gaze immediately flicking towards my assigned seat. Her eyes grew wide, fear evident in their depths. She immediately averted her stare and started class, a halting lilt to her voice that wasn’t usually there.

Five minutes later, the door opened in the back of the classroom, and a male student walked in, holding a note that he gave to the professor, before he practically ran back out of the classroom. She blinked in relief and then turned her attention to me. “Aurora Hart, you’re needed in the admin office.”

“Right,” I muttered, quickly packing up my things. Paxton stood up when I did. The professor didn’t bother saying anything as he followed me out of the room.

“Surely they’re not going to ask me if I know anything about the murder,” I grumbled as we walked out into the crisp air.

It was amazing what a switch in point of view could do. While normally I thought the weather was magical and perfect, right now I was cursing everything about it and wishing I was on a beach somewhere.

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine,” assured Paxton, but I could hear the doubt in his voice. The fact that the Demon had decided to make his victim a lookalike of me could hardly be considered ideal. Did that girl even have any sins he thought he was punishing? Or had I pushed him over the edge and rid him of all the ideals he’d carried around all these years concerning his victims?

“I’m tired, Pax,” I murmured when we’d made it to the steps of the admin building. “I’m so freaking tired.”

He hesitated for a moment, and then pulled me into his arms. “I know, baby.”

“Sometimes I don’t feel like…fighting anymore.”

“One day you won’t have to,” he promised me.

But it felt like a lie.

I gave him a sad smile and started up the steps, dread growing with every step I took.

This was a different building than I’d been in before, so at least I wasn’t having to meet with the worthless Dean Worthington. This was a different dean, one in charge of the student body rather than the whole school.

The air in the building was cold, like they’d decided that freezing the students was a good intimidation tactic. There were some students milling about in there, and a long wooden counter on the side of the room where two student workers were checking people in. I’d caught their eye the second I’d walked into the room, and they tracked me now as I walked towards them.

“She’ll see you right now,” one of the girls said before I’d even made it to the counter. I tried to respond with a friendly smile, but she’d looked away the second she was done talking, obviously not wanting anything to do with me.

I spotted the important-looking door with Dean Covey’s nameplate across the way, and I walked towards it.

It doesn’t matter what she says, I told myself. Everything is going to be okay. You’ve survived more than anything she could say.

I knocked on the door and a second later, a serious-sounding voice told me to come in. I was not proud of how fast my pulse was racing as I opened the door and walked into the wood-encased office.

A woman in her fifties was sitting behind an important-looking desk, her hair pulled back in a severe bun, a pair of cat-eye glasses perched on her nose, and her lips pursed like she wasn’t impressed.

It was a great first impression.

Not.

I closed the door and then cleared my throat, trying to think of what to say. Before I could get anything out, she launched into her clearly planned speech.

“Ms. Hart, as you know, our college prides itself on its ability to provide a top-rate education for its students, while upholding the principles and traditions of its storied past. The college opened its arms for you, and we were hopeful that the relationship would be a long and successful one.”

“I was hopeful of that as well,” I said softly, my insides shrinking with every word she spoke. “I am hopeful of that.”

She looked miffed that I’d dared to say anything, and continued on. “I’m afraid that I don’t have very good news for you today.”

The dean attempted to look contrite at that, but it was almost comical in its falsity.

“The board has met, and under the circumstances, they’ve decided that you constitute a safety issue for the campus and we are placing you on probation. Starting immediately.”

My eyes widened in shock at her words. I’d expected something…but probation. “What exactly does that mean for my future?”

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “It means that you will need to leave campus immediately. You will not be allowed to communicate with anyone on campus. Of course, they can choose to associate with you by private means, but you will not be allowed to use any campus technology to communicate with them or use any campus properties to interact.”

“And classes? I can’t do them remotely?”

The dean lifted her chin haughtily. “You are banned from anything Darkwood College related for the indefinite future. If at some time the campus decides to reinstate you, you will receive an official letter.”

“And how likely is that?” I asked through clenched teeth, feeling like the world was shattering around me into millions of pieces.

She fidgeted with her glasses and stared down at her desk at the papers stacked in neat piles. “I wouldn’t count on that possibility. Your father…” Her voice trailed off. But she didn’t need to say anything else.

He’d told me once that it was just me and him against the world. Looking back now, I could see how he’d dismantled my life growing up, piece by piece, wanting me to have to depend on him wholly for my existence.

I’d gotten a brief reprieve from that dark…sickness.

And that was over now.

Here I was again, caught in his web, as everything around me was systematically destroyed.

“I understand,” I murmured, turning to leave and reach for the doorknob.

“You had to know that your sins would catch up with you,” she threw out, a vein of hatred staining her words. I looked over my shoulder at her, surprised at the drop in her professional shield…but not her words. “Everyone knows exactly what you are.” Her face was scrunched up, a red hue to her cheeks and her lips curled in disgust.

“And what is that?” I asked silkily, a dark anger sparking to life inside me and catching on my insides.

“A monster.” She had her hands clasped in front of her, and they were trembling as the adrenaline of the moment coursed through her.

I paused and then slowly spun around until I was facing her, enjoying the white line of fear that appeared around her thin lips. I sauntered over to her desk until I was standing right in front of her.

She had a fancy, old-fashioned letter opener lying on one of her neat stacks, and I slowly picked it up.

“Put that down,” she ordered, a tremble in her voice.

“Or what?” I purred.

“I’ll—I’ll call the police.”

I gave her a cold smile, letting her see how little that scared me. What did scare me…the empty coldness spreading inside of me. Like losing my degree was the thing that had finally cut me all the way open and bled out every spark of light I held.

“Let me give you a little word of advice…if you know someone’s a monster, don’t do anything to attract their attention.” I gave her a little wink, set the letter opener on its tip, and gave it a spin before walking away.

I stopped at the doorway once again and stared back at her. “Sweet dreams tonight,” I whispered, blowing her a kiss, enjoying the pale, clammy terror on her face. I knew that I would be in her dreams for the immediate future…while I would never think of her again.

Walking out of her office, it felt like the lobby had been changed since I’d been inside, the colors more muted and greyscale. The outside had changed as well, the fall colors losing their brilliance in the face of what felt like a devastating loss.

Paxton was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps, and his features fell when he saw me walk out.

“What happened?”

He tried to reach for me but I strolled past him, my mind racing with all the things I’d need to take care of to leave…and survive.

“They kicked me out of the school,” I responded coolly as he stumbled after me.

“They did what?” he growled. I didn’t stop to look back at him; I kept walking, the urge to just… keep walking forever heavy in my chest.

Could I survive yet another battle with the Demon? I’d changed my face, and I’d tried to change my life, but his shadow followed me around like a fly on a pile of shit.

And he was always one step ahead. Always able to strip me away to my bones no matter what I did to turn things around.

“Aurora, wait. Talk to me,” Paxton murmured, grabbing my arm and turning me around.

I struggled against his grip. “Let me go,” I groaned, hot, angry tears staining my eyes.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that.” He pulled me closer, taking both of my wrists in one hand and placing it on the tattoo I’d given him.

“He’s taken my future,” I said with a hitched breath. “I can’t lose one more thing. I can’t do it. I can’t win.” We were in the middle of the green, students milling around, their gazes on us. Always on us.

“Just breathe,” he murmured as he began to lead me away from the prying eyes, the piranhas that all wanted a piece of my skin.

Why was I always falling apart in front of him? I let him lead me numbly all the way to the Sphinx, and then inside, and then down the hall…until we were safely encased in his bedroom.

He led me to his bed and then carefully lowered me onto it before crawling in after me and holding me tight…in the same way he did on so many nights.

“I have to leave,” I whispered.

“Okay, where do you want to go?”

“I have to leave by myself.”

“I don’t think so, princess. You’re feeling sorry for yourself, but you’ll get past this.”

I squirmed in his arms and turned around to face him “I’m feeling sorry for myself?” I seethed.

He was staring at me so intently, so obviously willing to take my pain. But with every new thing that happened, the pain just grew.

I was dying inside. Couldn’t he see that? Caught between the past and the present, who I was and who I wanted to be. The blood on my hands and the bloody trail that followed me around.

“But you’re still alive,” he murmured, caressing my face gently. Evidently, I’d spoken my misery out loud. My insides cringed, thinking of all the people I’d encountered that weren’t alive.

Sophia shined the brightest in my head.

“You’re still alive. And you’ve made it this far. And you’re not going to give up.”

I lay there just staring at him, absorbing his solid confidence in me…that I could survive this.

“One day, I’m going to take you to France,” he murmured.

“France?”

“My grandmother was from there. My mother used to talk about going all the time. She never got to.”

“Okay. So we’re going to France. What are we going to do there?” I asked, reluctantly playing along.

“We’re going to walk down the sidewalks, get drunk on good wine, and eat a million baguettes. We’ll make fun of the art we don’t understand. And we’ll stand under the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower…and we’ll just be.”

“Just be?”

“We’ll do all of that knowing there’s nothing out there after us. There’s nothing hiding in the shadows down the alleyways. There’s nothing waiting for us when the lights go off. We’ll just be.”

“That sounds like a dream,” I murmured as his thumb traced my lips.

“It’s gonna happen for us, Aurora. I know it is. You just have to keep going…just a little longer…just one step at a time.”

“Okay,” I whispered, the promise sounding right on my lips. I could see his dream. I could see us in Paris. I couldn’t picture yet what it would feel like to not be constantly looking over my shoulder or dreading the next day.

But I wanted to.

“So you’ll come with me to Paris?” he asked, brushing a kiss where his thumb had just touched.

“I’ll come with you to Paris.”

And it was a funny, wonderful thing, that lying there in his bedroom, the hopelessness slowly slipped away. And out of all the confessions we’d made to each other in the darkness of this place….this promise we made to each other…

It seemed like the most important of all.

“I probably do need to leave campus fairly soon though,” I murmured a few minutes later, eyes heavy with exhaustion.

“Mmmh? Why?”

“I may have turned a bit scary with the dean…”

His laughter filled the bedroom…and my heart.

29

AURORA

T he school was serious about me leaving the property. Campus security showed up at the Sphinx, demanding to be let in. Evidently, all school property was supposed to have a code with campus security in case they needed to get in, but the Sphinx had thus far evaded it.

Cain ordered everyone to ignore them, and I had no doubt that if it came to it, he would have been able to make sure I could at least stay on campus…but I didn’t have the energy to deal with that fight.

Besides, beyond the guys, there was nothing on campus for me anymore. I was still refusing to speak with Jenna despite her daily texts begging me to talk to her. And without classes to go to…I didn’t want to be there.

When I told Cain that, he immediately decided we would all move off campus to one of his vacation homes on a nearby lake.

Because of course the posh bastard had multiple vacation homes.

I had to say, there was something to be said for sitting on a dock in the freezing cold, watching the ripples across the lake water, the sound of birds chirping around you, and nothing else. It was the soothing atmosphere that I needed.

Pax and I were currently huddled together on the porch that looked out at the water. He’d been my shadow since my meltdown the other day. He must have told the others what had happened, because they hadn’t tried to prod me about how I was feeling.

Which I appreciated.

I was done with talking about feelings for the time being.

I was lying against Pax’s chest, about to fall asleep, when it happened. His mother’s ringtone blasted through the peaceful silence, shattering the imaginary world I’d created in my head that we were safely encased in a bubble where nothing could reach us.

Paxton froze beneath me, and I sat up as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, his features filled with dread.

There was a video message from a number that just came up as “Unknown Caller” on his phone. Paxton took a deep breath before pressing the “play” button.

The video was dark, the sound of muted voices nearby. A few seconds later, a familiar voice became clear.

“Our mole just sent the information about the drug shipment. David’s about to go down there and check it out,” came Alexander’s voice.

“She told me yesterday she wants out. She’s afraid he’s going to be at risk. Rivaldo’s been asking questions.”

“She’s done when I say she’s done. And that’s not any time soon.”

“But her—”

“I don’t give a fuck. I own her.”

The recording cut off then.

We sat there in silence for a moment, absorbing what we’d just heard. I was new to the whole mafia thing…but it had sounded like they’d had an informant in the Rivaldo gang. That wasn’t overly surprising in itself, but the “her” they had been talking about...

“Did you recognize the other voice?” I finally asked.

I shifted uncomfortably because his hand that was on my leg was squeezing tightly.

“Fuck,” he growled when he realized what he’d been doing.

He rubbed a weary hand down his face. “The other voice belongs to Michael, Alexander’s first lieutenant.”

More silence.

“Michael was the one…who trained me how to fight. Alexander didn’t have a lot of time for an orphan boy, so he had Michael ‘handle me.’ I was so…angry all the time. I acted out, did everything I could to be a little asshole. So one day, Michael took me down to the gym where there was a punching bag hanging up. And he gave me some gloves. And he told me that he just wanted me to punch that bag until it didn’t hurt anymore. And so I stayed down there that day…for hours. Until I almost passed out. And I just punched that bag until the anger felt like a steady hum in my veins and not the overwhelming tide making me feel like I needed to die. He started training me after that. In a way…he saved me.”

“What was the point of this video though? Do you think your mom was the informant?”

The screen door opened and Remington stepped out, his phone in his hand, a pleased gleam in his gaze.

“I traced that one. The person who sent it must not know that Kempler’s dead, or he thought he knew how to use the same protections that Kempler had in place.”

“So who’s it from?” I asked.

“I can’t tell who it’s from. Just where the message came from.”

Paxton was up and hauling me off the bench with him. “Let’s go. I just want this over.”

Remington held up his hands. “We’ll go. How about you let Aurora walk, though? She probably doesn’t want to be hauled around.”

“Shit. Sorry, Princess,” he said apologetically, immediately loosening his once again iron grip.

I took his hand now that he wasn’t trying to carry me like a package. “Is Cain back from practice yet?” I asked, wanting Cain’s badass strength for whatever situation we were about to head into.

“Right here, little devil.” Cain appeared in the doorway, his dark excitement for the upcoming hunt clear.

It seemed like deja vu, us piling into a car to go off on some wild goose chase.

Paxton’s hands were clenching and unclenching throughout the drive, and I finally put my hand on them to stop them. His nervous energy was making me anxious. And that was the last thing that would help me.

Paxton only grew tenser as we got closer, his gaze glued to our surroundings. Cain was noticeably tense in the front seat as well, far less relaxed than he had been when we were on our way to find Kempler.

“What’s going on?” I finally asked.

“This is our territory,” Cain answered, a dangerous, silky edge in his voice that sent shivers down my spine.

“Which means that Kempler wasn’t the only bad seed in the organization.”

I didn’t bother to point out that maybe it wasn’t a matter of a bad seed. Maybe the problem actually came from the top itself.

I had a feeling Cain’s thoughts were headed in that direction as well.

Paxton and Cain’s mood only grew darker when we turned onto the next street and slowly perused it.

“It’s that one,” Remington murmured, checking his phone before pointing to a nondescript red brick house with white shutters. The lawn was well kept and there was a wreath and welcome mat on the front door, along with pots of flowers that were somehow thriving despite the chill in the air.

“You’re sure? This isn’t a mistake like at the club?” Paxton said through gritted teeth.

Remington flipped him off, a brief flash of annoyance lining his face. “I’m sure. I guess we can all forget that I was literally working through multiple layers of protection against another hacker.”

“Remy, I think you’re a fucking genius,” I purred, trying to cut the tension in the car. It was a testament to the mood that Remington only gave me a half-hearted grin.

“Who’s house is this? Do we know them?” asked Remington.

“Yes. We do,” said Paxton, and before we could come up with a game plan…or do anything at all, Paxton jumped out of the car and headed towards the door.

“Fuck,” growled Cain, swerving the car to the side of the road so violently that Remy’s computer went flying. “Stupid fucking idiot.”

He parked and threw the keys at Remington before jumping out and sprinting towards where Paxton had already disappeared.

The rest of us took a second to allow Remington to disable cameras before we headed after them.

I came to a screeching halt inside the doorway, feeling a sense of deja vu as I walked in on Paxton standing in the middle of the living room, aiming a gun at a middle-aged man sitting calmly on the couch, a shaking woman with a fucking apron on in the kitchen behind him.

Cain was leaning against the wall with his arms casually crossed in front of him, looking relaxed but for the sharp, intense…hatred in his stare aimed at the man.

“Why?” Paxton’s voice came out so pained that I flinched, like his pain was a sharp dart in my chest.

“I wanted you to know what the truth was.”

“About my mother? How was fucking sending me a video of her death giving me the truth?” His finger clenched on the trigger.

“Let me tell you the story, son…and then you can kill me.”

The woman, his wife I presumed, let out a hysterical sob at that.

“Don’t call me son,” Paxton spit.

The man nodded, his shoulders slumping.

“That’s Michael, Alexander’s second in command,” Remington murmured softly to me, his body slightly angled in front of me.

Staring at Michael, it was hard to see him as a hardened mafia man with his golf shirt and his parted hair. Of course, I knew very well how appearances could be deceiving, but the majority of people would never see him coming…until it was too late.

“Your stepfather was one of the Rivaldo members, a higher-up. She wanted to get out after years of him beating the shit out of her, so she came to Alexander for help because she knew she’d never be able to get away by herself.”

Cain straightened at that, a blankness spreading across his features. My insides were snarled and dark…I almost didn’t want him to continue. Because we were on the precipice of something we’d never be able to come back from.

“Alexander said he would help her if she stayed with her husband and acted as an informant for him. At first, she said no…but Alexander gave her no choice. He told her that she either spied for him or he would kill Paxton.”

Paxton looked like he was falling apart, but Cain…Cain was terrifying in the enormity of his rage…and betrayal.

“She passed information for a year…and she told Alexander she was done. Because her husband had been threatening and hurting Paxton, Alexander decided their contract was done…and he told the Rivaldos that she had come to him offering to spy for him. You know what happened after that…”

“Why didn’t Alexander just kill me?” Paxton choked out.

“You were the same age as Cain. He…he put me around you to make sure you didn’t know anything. Deciding you could live if I found out you hadn’t heard anything about Alexander’s role in everything.”

Paxton nodded, his gaze dazed and confused, like he was lost picturing that night. “She always hid me in the closet. She didn’t want me to hear…” He shook his head and stood straighter. “Who did he send to tell the Rivaldos about my mother?”

Michael held up his hands. “Paxton. I didn’t have a choice…”

Tears were streaming down his face as Paxton prepared to kill the man who’d acted as his father growing up.

I walked over to him and took the gun from his trembling hands.

“Goodbye Michael,” I said calmly.

And then I pulled the trigger, hitting him directly in his heart.

I was faintly aware of his wife’s screams and sobs, but I watched the blood bloom across his chest. And the light fade from his eyes.

And I didn’t feel any guilt.

MY PHONE RANG in the middle of the night. I sat up blearily, slipping out of Paxton’s arms so I could answer it. I usually put it on silent while I was sleeping, but I wanted to make sure that Cain could get ahold of me if he wanted since he’d disappeared the second we got back to the lakehouse.

My hand froze when I saw the name associated with the number. NENA CALLING.

I knew who was on the other side before I accepted the FaceTime, because there was no way that my mother would ever have a traceable number…with her name. This was the Demon. Another part of the game.

Except…once again, I’d lost.

“Aurora…I’m disappointed. You let those boys distract you again,” came my father’s smooth voice, as he stared at me benignly through the phone.

“Not quite,” I murmured.

Paxton’s eyes flew open and he sat up, but I put my hand on his leg so that he stayed out of view of the camera. The Demon was aware of my….extracurricular activities, but I didn't need to rub it in his face and set him off…even more than I already had.

“I have someone I think you’ll be absolutely overjoyed to see.”

His arm reached out and he hauled my mother onto the screen.

He’d drugged her. She wasn’t moving; only her terrified gaze swept over my face through the phone.

I was feeling rather numb myself as I stared at the reality of something I guess I’d always known was an eventuality since I’d found out that my mother was actually alive.

“Don’t you say it,” growled Paxton lowly, obviously worried I was going to trade myself for her.

I wasn’t going to do that though.

I knew the Demon too well to think that would pique his interest. The Demon didn’t make deals.

I didn’t bother pleading for Nena’s life. I knew him too well. I knew there was nothing that would push him from his course.

“Because I always have your best interests in mind…I decided to let you say goodbye.”

“You once promised not to kill her,” I whispered hoarsely.

“And I have every intention of keeping that promise.” He gave me that same nightmarish smile.

“Nena unfortunately…has decided to kill herself for her sins.”

And then…

The screen went blank.

Read the enthralling finale to the Rich Demons of Darkwood series in Make Me Queen.

MAKE ME QUEEN

Get Make Me Queen HERE.

THE DELILAH RECIPE

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Mmmh. Nighttime confessions…our favorite kind.

Did you guys love Paxton’s book? His darkness just did it for us. Aurora needs someone as traumatized as she is to really understand the demons inside of her. Someone who can walk the path when it gets too dark.

Because things are going to get really dark…

There’s only one book left…and so many things to uncover. There will be deaths…and tears…and hot, hot sex.

Everything we know you readers are obsessed about in this series.

A few thank yous…

Summer…thanks for always stepping in and helping us shine. You’re dreamy in every way possible and we love you.

Caitlin…couldn’t ask for a better friend and support system. Love you to the moon and back.

A huge thanks to our betas. You help us make this series shine.

Thank you to Jasmine for proofing our baby and helping our best story come through.

Thank you to Victoria for creating all of these beautiful covers. This is our favorite one yet.

And last but not least…thank you to you, our readers. You let us live your dreams, and we love you so much. Thank you for believing in Aurora…and in us.

XOXO,

C.R. & May

Keep reading for a preview of other works by C.R. Jane and May Dawson…

RUINING DAHLIA

I was sold to my enemies. And not just my enemies. I was sold to monsters.

I should know all about how to survive monsters though, I come from a family of them. We aren't Butchers in name only, after all.

I'm shipped away to New York City to the powerful head of the Costa Nostra, the Rossi Family.

My first meeting with them is bloody and wild, just like they are.

Lucian, Raphael, and Gabriel Rossi...they own me now. And they won't let me forget it.

A dahlia has always bloomed best in the light, but they're determined to keep me in the dark.

The thing they don't realize is that I'm more than what I seem.

It's a race to the ending, me against them.

They want to ruin me. And I'm afraid I just might like it.

Ruining Dahlia Copyright © 2022 by C. R. Jane

Cover by Maria Spade

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review, and except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For permissions contact:

crjaneauthor@gmail.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Proof: Jasmine Jordan

CHAPTER 1

Dahlia

I t was dark.

Isn’t that how all these tales go?

Maybe everything had always been dark for me though, since the moment I took my first breath as a baby. Always somber. Always sad.

An ache inside of me that the doctors and the medicine could never fix.

I laid in bed that night, listening to the sounds of the party that my parents were throwing to celebrate some deal that The Firm had managed to enter into.

There was a nightlight across the room, its light a beacon that I would stare at every night until finally I drifted off to sleep.

I had always been scared of the dark. Which was a strange thing in itself since I just confessed to living in it.

But ever since I could remember, I’d needed a light on.

At first, I’d been allowed to have the closet light on, but then my father had insisted that “no child of his was going to be afraid of the dark,” and from that moment on, it wasn’t allowed. He’d gone so far as to unscrew my lightbulb at night so I could “get over my fears.” It was only my continual screaming at night that got him to allow me a small nightlight. When I was away at school, I always kept the light on in my room, but here I was, back home on holiday, the nightlight my only saving grace.

A small creak sounded in the room. I flinched at the noise, my eyes desperately searching the darkness to see what monster was waiting in the dark corners of my room. I watched in terror as the door to my closet inched open, the sound of its creaking scraping down my spine, and a massive form stepped out from its depths.

I opened my mouth to scream, just praying that the music wasn’t too loud and that someone would be able to hear me before it was too late.

“It’s just me, pet,” my uncle’s voice whispered in the darkness.

I trembled beneath my blankets, sliding farther away from him until I hit the wall, because I knew even at eight there was no good reason for my uncle to be hiding in my closet.

His footsteps were soft as he ambled towards me, his features becoming clear as he walked into the nightlight’s purvey.

“Please get out,” I hoarsely begged, not sure what to do. My Uncle Robert was my father’s right hand. A skilled killer whose name was synonymous with The Firm.

My father would never believe me over him.

“Don’t be afraid, Dahlia,” he whispered as he reached my bed.

I whimpered and pulled the covers up closer to my chin.

I cried when he slid into the bed with me, his hands traveling over my skin.

I shattered into a million pieces when he first stroked his finger across my knickers. The darkness that lived inside me spread through my veins, until any light that had been trying to survive was extinguished, leaving me an empty husk.

But I didn’t cry after that.

Or the time after that.

Or the time after that.

I didn’t cry ever again.

TWELVE YEARS Later

“Bollocks,” I murmured as a busy passerby shoulder-swiped me as they walked past, the white chocolate mocha in my hand going flying all over the pristine white blouse that I’d mistakenly chosen for this flight. For some inane reason, I’d thought that getting all dressed up before my eight-hour flight made sense.

Not that the man waiting for me at the end of the flight would care if I was dressed up or not. He probably wouldn’t care if I showed up in a paper bag…or if I showed up at all.

Butterflies swarmed inside me just thinking of what lay ahead. I’d stopped in the middle of the walkway to assess the damage, so it wasn’t a surprise when someone knocked into me again, spilling the rest of my drink.

“Fuck,” I griped as I finally did the sensible thing and scurried out of the way of the thousands of people milling around in the Heathrow airport today. I’d never been in a public airport before. I’d always been on a private plane courtesy of the wealth of my father, Trevor Butcher. But he was gone now, and my brother…along with my new fiancé had apparently thought that commercial was the way to go.

For a moment, I imagined melding into the crowd and setting off for some exotic locale to be lost in. I imagined golden beaches, and drinks with the little umbrellas in them…or maybe an idyllic lake setting where I’d spend my days on a dock, watching wisteria grow over my bare feet, writing the next great novel which would never see the light of day.

I would have thought them all foolish to send me on my own. A girl even an ounce braver than me would be running for the hills, desperate not to marry a perfect stranger. After all, they didn’t know the nightmares that waited for me here in England were far worse than anything I could comprehend waiting for me in New York. They didn’t know how close I’d been to trying to get away…permanently.

Or maybe they did. My stomach clenched at the thought. Maybe they saw the ruin in me. Either way, my warped, damaged self somehow held some loyalty to “The Firm”…so here I was, the obedient daughter to the very end.

I shook my head, trying to push away the memories and images that seemed to be permanently etched into my mind.

That was all behind me now. This was my fresh start. I threw my now empty cup away and looked around to see if there were any airport shops I could get a new shirt from, since my bags and belongings were all either checked already or shipped to New York ahead of me. I wandered through the airport, glancing at the stores, searching for anything that might sell clothing, until I stopped and turned around, not wanting to get too far from my gate.

See…the perpetual good girl to a fault.

I weighed my options as I spotted a shirt sporting the Union Jack in one of the gift shops. Which was worse, meeting my future husband with a brown stain that resembled shit all over my shirt…or wearing that?

Union Jack it was.

My hand reached for the shirt at the same time another hand did, and our skin brushed against each other, until I yanked my hand away like I’d been burned.

I turned my head to apologize, but my words got lost at the blond Adonis standing next to me.

Everyone was looking at him. It was impossible not to. He was beautiful. Like Chris Hemsworth and Henry Cavill had merged into one being and then been touched by Midas.

And that description wasn’t an exaggeration.

It was his eyes that caught me first. They were the color of a thousand dancing waves, the exact color of pictures I’d seen showing the Caribbean. Or maybe not the Caribbean. They seemed to change the longer I stared. Maybe they were more like the hot blue flicker of a flame, burning my insides until a warm, achy feeling overtook me. Something I’d never experienced before, not even with Leo.

The color was startling against his golden features. Golden skin. Golden hair that reminded me of a field of golden wheat in the peak of the summer, right before fall hit and it was ready to harvest. His aristocratic nose would have had Prince William weeping with envy. And those lips…I knew a thousand women who would give their left ovaries…or both ovaries…to get a pair.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked, realizing that the beautiful stranger had just spoken.

He looked at me, amused and unimpressed at the same time.

I blushed furiously under his gaze, feeling like an errant school girl who’d never seen a man before.

I quickly yanked my gaze back to the offensive-looking shirt in front of me, wondering idly why this perfect creature would be wanting anything to do with this shirt.

“I was saying we seem to have the same taste in horrible clothing,” he said with a practiced grin that melted my insides. His accent was American, and the timber of his voice was like honey, like he’d been biologically made to attract a mate in any way possible.

I could only imagine his scent. I resisted the urge to lean forward and try and capture it.

That would be too much, right?

He looked amused again and I belatedly gestured to my ruined shirt, only then realizing that not only was it stained… It was also see-through. When I quickly crossed my arms in front of my chest to try to hide the fact that my nipples were standing at attention, I almost missed the flash of heat in his gaze, followed by a surprised expression that looked out of place on his face. I'm sure a guy like him had seen a million boobs.

And with that thought, I turned my attention back to the shirt, dismissing whatever errant thoughts I’d had about him.

But a piece of me wondered…could a man like him make me feel?

"I'm sorry if I offended you. I'm sure the shirt would look amazing on you," he said quickly, blinding me with another perfect grin.

"I know why I’m buying this blight of patriotism, but why are you?" I asked, examining the expensive-looking black dress shirt and slacks he was sporting, the dark color making his golden appearance even more noticeable.

He brushed his hand through his hair, almost sheepishly. "It's a thing I do. Well, a thing I collect," he explained. "I try to get a trashy t-shirt from every country I visit."

"How many do you have?" I asked, giggling at the thought of this veritable god having a closet somewhere stuffed with corny t-shirts. I tried picturing him in one, but my mind couldn't quite wrap around the thought.

He chuckled, probably at the look on my face. The sound reverberated right through me, stoking the flames inside that I was trying desperately to suppress. I didn't want to jump the man after all, and I was really close to that.

"Fifty-three?" he mused, stroking his lips with his thumb as he thought about it...I found myself strangely jealous of that thumb. "Well, I guess fifty-four as soon as this piece of art is paid for.”

"Well, your reason for buying this shirt is far better than my clumsiness."

I rifled through the shirts, looking for my size. Once I found it, I turned around and almost dropped it when I found him staring at me intensely, all the earlier lightheartedness completely gone. He was studying me closely…clinically, like he was tearing off the layers of my skin to see what was inside.

I hoped he didn’t venture too far down, he would only be disappointed when he got to my insides and found there was nothing but empty space.

What did it say about me that this small glimpse of the darker side of him only made me more attracted?

"Well," I began awkwardly. "Enjoy your shirt," I finished lamely, wanting to slap myself in the face for not being able to come up with something wittier.

"I hope you can find another coffee before your flight," he said charmingly as he reached past me and began to look through the shirts.

I was far more reluctant to leave his side than I would've liked as I headed towards the cashier stand to pay for my shirt. The bored-looking clerk quickly rang up my purchase, snapping her gum loudly as she did so. I forced myself not to wince. I’d always hated the sound of chewing. Chewing gum. Chewing food. It all drove me mad. Just another one of the little idiosyncrasies that set me apart from the rest of society.

I grabbed the shirt, not bothering to have her bag it since I would just be putting it on, and strode towards the exit, furtively looking around to see if I could get one more glimpse of him. He was still by the shirts, and he didn't turn around when I strode past him.

That was really okay, though; the backside of him was almost as good as the front.

As soon as I stepped out of the store, it all came rushing back. Where I was going. The fact that technically I was an engaged woman… It would take a minute to get used to that. I waited for the rush of guilt to hit me, since I'd spent the last two weeks after finding out about this whole arranged marriage trying to wrap my mind around the idea of becoming a stranger's wife.

Nope. Nothing. Not a flicker of guilt that I was just lusting crazily over a stranger.

My mum would be so disappointed, God bless her distracted, oblivious soul.

Rosemary Butcher was a lot of things, but oblivious was probably the most apt description for her. Oblivious to my father's sins, oblivious to my brothers following in his footsteps, oblivious to her daughter's pain.

I stepped into the bathroom stall, thinking of how excited she’d been for me as we said our farewells. She’d thought that this was the most amazing thing that could have happened to me. It would've been amazing if she was actually right.

But Rosemary Butcher was never right.

About anything.

I shook my head and pulled off my blouse, trying to push away the memory of that last hug she'd given me before she'd “spotted out for tea.” It was amazing how someone could love you so much, and at the same time, not see you at all.

I should've just stuffed my shirt in my bag. I'm sure someone could have gotten the stain out, but instead, I impulsively threw it into a trashcan in the stall. I tore off the tag to the Union Jack shirt and slipped it on, immediately realizing that I’d somehow managed to get a size too small. I blamed it on being distracted and cringed as I pictured showing up to New York in a skin-tight t-shirt sporting the Union Jack flag.

Deciding I didn’t have a choice but to buy another size, I peered into the trashcan to see if I could grab my blouse so I could take this one off and exchange it.

Of course, I muttered to myself, when I saw that I’d managed to throw the blouse right into an open diaper filled with poop.

I guess I was about to be the proud owner of two Union Jack shirts. Maybe there were better ones in there that I could find.

Continue reading Ruining Dahlia (a dark mafia STANDALONE) HERE.

FORBIDDEN HONOR

Forbidden Honor Copyright © 2021 by May Dawson

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review, and except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For permissions contact:

Maydawsonauthor@gmail.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1

Honor

I n my world, dragon shifters rule. Dragon shifters are always Royals. They’re always male. And they’re always assholes.

I have to obey if I want to survive.

But I don’t have to like it, and I don’t have to like them.

It was lunch time, and I was thinking about just how much I disdained the royals as I watched them from the balcony of Prince Jaik’s room. I’d been cleaning his room when the noon bell tolled, and I hadn’t hesitated to dump his dirty laundry in a pile by the door and head outside.

Red strands lashed my face until I raked them back into a ponytail, tying them with a leather thong from around my wrist. I needed that breeze after being up-close-and personal with the prince’s laundry.

Prince Jaik was sword-fighting with one of the young dukes, Arren. Arren moved impossibly fast for a man so tall and muscled, his dark hair pulled taut from his chiseled features. Jaik’s gorgeous cheekbones, wavy dark hair and tall posture in his dark uniform made him look impeccable.

But I knew better. The man’s armpits stunk like any other’s when he was done with a day of training.

That was what he—and the other dragon royals—were up to at the moment. The rest of the shifters at the academy had already melted away to lunch, but the five of them continued to banter and fight. Their swords rang against each other’s, their muscles rippling and flexing under tanned skin. They seemed to coordinate without ever saying a word, two of them attacking the other three, moving in fluid tandem.

They should stay shirtless like that forever.

And not just because it was easier on the laundry.

“Honor.” My friend, Calla, leaned across the opposite balcony, waving to catch my attention. “How did I know you’d be watching them?”

“I wish we could train too,” I said, before she could accuse me of having too much fun watching them.

I could enjoy the sight of the pretty men even if I didn’t have any respect for them. Not that they needed my respect; they had the adoration of an entire nation, because they stood between us and the Scourge.

“I know, I know. Come over here, I’ve got cake.”

I threw my sandwich back into my bag and tossed it over my shoulder, just as Calla hurriedly said, “Use the door, Honor. The hallway is your friend.”

I grinned back at her as I backed up and ran toward the balcony ledge. Calla backed up, shaking her head, until her back pressed the stone exterior of the building.

I jumped, got my balance on the edge of the railing, and leapt easily from one side to the other. In a second, I was beside Calla.

She sighed. “You scare me.”

“You’re still afraid of heights.”

She leaned over the railing, taking in the training yard far, far below. She was silhouetted against the shimmering lake and the blue outline of the mountains in the distance. “You don’t have to be afraid of heights to know that jumping balconies is a bad idea if you want to live until our first Shifting Moon.”

She was excited for our first shifting. I imagined that would be nice.

“Mm,” I said. “Maybe I don’t want to live long enough to find out my soul-creature is a field mouse.”

“What’s wrong with being a field mouse?” She raised both eyebrows at me, reminding me—too late—that Calla was from a proud family of chipmunks. Perhaps field mice and chipmunks were cousins in her eyes.

“Nothing,” I said, too late to be convincing.

“You want to be something fierce.” She put her hands up beside her face and imitated claws. It was adorable. It was charming. It was not remotely fierce.

“Hey, when you’re an orphan, the first shifting moon is an exciting gamble.” Although our soul-creatures were supposed to be manifestations of who we truly were, most times, they ran in families. Only males shifted into dragons, the highest of creatures, but their royal sisters tended to shift into lions or wolves.

And servants like Calla and me tended to be smaller, meeker, and far more edible.

“It’s an exciting gamble for everyone,” Calla reminded me. “Greta Sandstone discovered her real father was a hawk.”

I groaned. “What a terrible day.”

Calla had squawked and run away from the temple as if her true soul creature were an angry chicken.

One of the Royals whirled, throwing his sword—and a long, horned head and a powerful tail whipped out of his body as he grew long and scaled. The next second, his transformation was complete and he was an enormous dragon. He let out a long, blast of fire at the other royals, who threw up magical shields to block the attack and jumped over his wicked tail.

Their power was incredible, I had to admit. The Scourge had recently surged right outside the gates of the city. The royals had stopped them as the rest of the city cowered in their houses.

Calla propped her chin on her hand, forgetting to eat as she gazed at the royals. “You know, Lara got her hands on this amazing story being passed around about the dragon royals.”

“A true story?”

“No, it’s a fantasy. A romance. One of Lara’s cousins wrote it.”

I groaned. “Look at those men down there. They might be the heroes of the kingdom, but they are wildly arrogant. They’re probably terrible in bed.”

Calla looked considering. “They’re really good with those swords.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen victim to their fan club, too.” I had regrets about being so condescending about the Royals’ fan-fiction now, because part of me was a little curious. Did they always have tails? Some Fae did, although our race of shifters looked more mortal than the Fae in the storybooks I’d read.

Ever since the Scourge began, our island had been sealed away from the rest of the Fae world. Storybooks were the only glimpse I’d had of the bigger world beyond.

“Come on,” Calla swept her arm toward the door. “We should get out of here. We’re not supposed to linger in their rooms once we’re done.”

The military students training here were apparently too precious to wash their own laundry or scrub the hallway floors. Worst of all, though, were the royals, who were too important to even clean their own rooms.

“But I like the view,” I pouted, then added, “of the mountains.”

I glanced down at the empty yard only to realize the royals had left the yard as we were chatting, and sudden disappointment dropped like a stone.

“Mm-hmm.” Calla gave me a knowing smile.

Maybe every girl in Rylow secretly dreamed of winning the heart of a dragon prince.

Maybe that was even true for me, even if I also fantasized about kicking their asses.

They were a pretty fine-looking group of men.

A voice in the hall called for Calla, summoning her out of the room, and Calla scrambled toward it. I grabbed half her handful of cake before she could go.

“You’re going to get in trouble,” she hissed at me.

“Is that a promise? Because I’m so very bored,” I answered, even though the truth was, I needed the money. Which meant I needed the job.

But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t defy the head housekeeper behind her back. I was an uppity orphan—as she’d informed me. Now I had a reputation to live up to.

“I’m going to work right through my lunch break because I’m such a diligent employee,” I added, and even though Calla’s back was to me as she bustled through the room toward the door, I could feel the eye-rolling vibe.

Carrying my cake in one hand, I leapt onto the balcony, then across. I strolled into the prince’s room, scattering crumbs as I ate my cake. I still had to mop the floors anyway.

Then the connecting door to the bath swung open.

Prince Jaik stepped out, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Beads of water trickled from his spreading shoulders down the most beautiful set of abs I’d ever seen.

He stopped dead, staring at me, now wearing both a towel and a frown.

“Hi, just finishing up tidying your room,” I said, flinging my arm to encompass the room—and flinging crumbs along with it.

A bit of frosting landed on the prince’s cheek. Pink frosting. It complemented his dark hair and furious amber eyes quite nicely.

“What are you doing in here?” he demanded. “Haven’t I requested my privacy?”

I was momentarily flummoxed. “Did you think the towels picked themselves up by magic? That the dirty clothes turned sentient at night and walked themselves to and from the laundry?”

“Oh, you’re a smartass, aren’t you?” He leaned in the doorway. “I’m sure the head housekeeper would love that.”

“And I’m sure no one loves a tattle tale.” I tapped my cheekbone with two fingers. “You’ve got a little something right there.”

He swiped and his fingers came away covered in pink frosting. “You’re not a very good housekeeper, are you?”

Funny, I’d heard some variation on that—usually with a lot more swearing—several times from the Head Housekeeper since taking this job. “Maybe I’m meant for something more.”

“Mm. What’s your name?”

Giving him my name seemed like a very bad idea. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class? I can take care of the floors while you’re off. It’s no trouble.”

His eyes blazed. “I don’t need you to tell me where I’m supposed to be.”

Oh god. Even those abs wouldn’t make up for his anger problems. Why are the beautiful men so often such bitches?

The bit of cake still in my hand was becoming a sticky distraction, and I didn’t know how else to get rid of it, so I stuck it in my mouth. I backed away from him, still chewing.

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded.

I had an awesome snarky response for that, but the words came out a bit jumbled and with a spray of crumbs.

“I’m sorry, what did you try to say to me?” He took a step forward to match each step I took backward, as if we were dancing.

I’ve never liked dancing.

I swallowed just as I stepped out onto the balcony. “Honestly, you’d think with all that power you wield, all the reverence you get from the common people, you wouldn’t be so touchy. How do you get your feelings hurt so easily?”

He took the next step forward a bit faster, and I turned and leapt onto the railing, then over to the next balcony.

We rotated who cleaned the princes’ rooms. I wouldn’t come up in the rotation for a week or two, and hopefully I’d embarrassed him enough that he wouldn’t tattle to the Head.

But probably, I was going to end up fired in the next hour.

I stopped and turned toward him. His eyes still blazed with anger, but he leaned against the railing opposite me.

“You’re awfully sure-footed for a servant.”

“And you’re awfully tender-feeling for a king,” I shot back.

I stuck my tongue out at him and sauntered into his friend’s room.

The second I was out of his sight, I ran through the room and careened out into the hallway.

But the prince didn’t chase me.

READ the rest of Forbidden Honor now….

BOOKS BY C.R. JANE

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The Fated Wings Series

First Impressions

Forgotten Specters

The Fallen One (a Fated Wings Novella)

Forbidden Queens

Frightful Beginnings (a Fated Wings Short Story)

Faded Realms

Faithless Dreams

Fabled Kingdoms

Fated Wings 8

The Rock God (a Fated Wings Novella)

The Darkest Curse Series

Forget Me

Lost Passions

The Sounds of Us Contemporary Series (complete series)

Remember Us This Way

Remember You This Way

Remember Me This Way

Broken Hearts Academy Series (complete duet)

Heartbreak Prince

Heartbreak Lover

Ugly Hearts Series Contemporary Series

Ugly Hearts

Hades Redemption Series

The Darkest Lover

The Darkest Kingdom

Academy of Souls Co-write with Mila Young (complete series)

School of Broken Souls

School of Broken Hearts

School of Broken Dreams

School of Broken Wings

Fallen World Series Co-write with Mila Young (complete series)

Bound

Broken

Betrayed

Belong

Thief of Hearts Co-write with Mila Young (complete series)

Siren Condemned

Siren Sacrificed

Siren Awakened

Siren Redeemed

Kingdom of Wolves Co-write with Mila Young

Wild Moon

Wild Heart

Wild Girl

Wild Love

Stupid Boys Series Co-write with Rebecca Royce

Stupid Boys

Dumb Girl

Crazy Love

Breathe Me Duet Co-write with Ivy Fox (complete)

Breathe Me

Breathe You

Rich Demons of Darkwood Series Co-write with May Dawson

Make Me Lie

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The Lost Fae Series

Wandering Queen

Fallen Queen

Rebel Queen

Lost Queen

Their Shifter Princess Series

Their Shifter Princess

Their Shifter Princess 2: Pack War

Their Shifter Princess 3: Coven’s Revenge

Their Shifter Academy Series

A Prequel Novella

Unwanted

Unclaimed

Undone

Unforgivable

Unstoppable

The Wild Angels & Hunters Series:

Wild Angels

Fierce Angels

Dirty Angels

Chosen Angels

Academy of the Supernatural

Her Kind of Magic

His Dangerous Ways

Their Dark Imaginings

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Dead Girls Club

The True and the Crown Series

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Two Kinds of Damned

Three Kinds of Lost

Four Kinds of Cursed

Five Kinds of Love

Rich Demons of Darkwood Series Co-write with C.R. Jane

Make Me Lie

Make Me Beg

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ABOUT C.R. JANE

A Texas girl living in Utah now, I'm a wife, mother, lawyer, and now author. My stories have been floating around in my head for years, and it has been a relief to finally get them down on paper. I’m a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and I primarily listen to Beyonce and Taylor Swift…don’t lie and say you don’t too.

My love of reading started probably when I was three and with a faster than normal ability to read, I’ve devoured hundreds of thousands of books in my life. It only made sense that I would start to create my own worlds since I was always getting lost in others’.

I like heroines who have to grow in order to become badasses, happy endings, and  swoon-worthy, devoted, (and hot) male characters. If this sounds like you, I’m pretty sure we’ll be friends.

I’m so glad to have you on my team…check out the links below for ways to hang out with me and more of my books you can read!

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ABOUT MAY DAWSON

May Dawson lives in Virginia with her husband and two red-headed wild babies. Before her second career as an author, she spent eight years in the Marine Corps and visited forty-two countries and all seven continents (including a research station in the Antarctic). You can always find her on Facebook in May Dawson’s Wild Angels or on the internet at MayDawson.com

Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Join Our Readers’ Group

Make Me Burn Soundtrack

Rich Demons of Darkwood Series

Make Me Burn

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Make Me Queen

The Delilah Recipe

Author’s Note

Ruining Dahlia

Copyright

Chapter 1

Forbidden Honor

Copyright

Chapter 1

Books by C.R. Jane

Books By May Dawson

About C.R. Jane

About May Dawson