Kate

“You’ll always be mine.” The latest taunt from my stalker reminded me I was nothing more than a possession to my father, to the Reapers, to Archer D’Ath. Even to Kody and Steele. Princess Danvers - the prize. His wife. Archer D’Ath’s wife. I hate them. They lied to me. Over and over again. I knew they were lying, and I hate myself for letting it happen. For believing in the fake relationships I want so desperately to be real.

“Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight.” Those words changed my life, and not for the better. They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up. After being charged with a string of offences - and made an example of by my political-minded father - I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind. Hate. Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid-out future. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.

Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves. The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Five years ago, I made a choice that I haven’t regretted a day since. I protected the single most important person in my world, my little sister. I protected myself, and I seized control of the Tri-State Timberwolves. Since then, I’ve wielded that power with an iron fist. Done whatever it took to take care of my people. Kept us out of the public eye, and kept us safe. Now a ghost from my past is threatening my position. Challenging me. Peddling their poison and breaking my rules. Stabbing at me in the dark. 

They say to keep your enemies close and mine are all around me. At the heart of it are four dangerously gorgeous men. The man who wants to light my darkness and already paid the price for loving me. The man who can handle my power and loves every dark inch of me. The man who has been my closest companion and now threatens to upend our carefully balanced world in pursuit of me. But the fourth man is probably the most terrifying. He wants to take the others away. He wants to tear the spinal column out my empire. Destroy my businesses. Destroy me.

Fox, JJ, Chase, and Maverick. The four names tattooed onto my heart more permanently than any of the ink on my skin. They don’t just live in this town anymore, they rule it. And the view here may be beautiful, but the sun, sea and sand hide dark secrets. The gangs. The lies. The violence. It all lurks beneath a veil so thin that once you’ve seen through it, you can never close your eyes to the truth again. But I don’t plan on closing my eyes. I have four devils set in my sights. And this dead girl no longer has anything to lose. 

Once upon a time I met four monsters and thought the world would come to an end at their hands. But I was a fool. Because I didn’t understand the bigger picture. That the enemies I thought I knew would become the reason for my entire existence. My strength. My pain. My life. My love. The big bad wolf has teeth and claws as sharp as iron, and the danger before my eyes is blinding. So blinding that I didn’t see the true danger lurking in the dark. But now my eyes are wide open and I see it all.

I had my chance to run from these brutal boys, and I didn’t take it. The bonds between us are too strong now. Bonds of blood, oaths, betrayal, and vengeance. And I intend to make good on all of them. I’ve made my list. And I won’t stop until each and every one of their crimes has been paid for. 

I’m the girl who no one wanted. Or the one who got away. Depending on who you ask. Either way, betrayal and heartache have been my friends for far too long and it’s time for me to start over. I gave the Harlequin boys a chance to change. A chance to prove that history wasn’t just set to repeat itself. But they failed with spectacular colors. 

I can still hear the gunshot. Still see the blank look on Sloan’s face as he pulled the trigger. Those images beat against the inside of my skull, drowning out everything else. I can’t let my dad’s death be for nothing. No matter what it takes, I’ll make my keepers pay. The man who took everything from me. The man who shared his secret with me. The man who made me think he cared about me.

In Fairview Heights, there’s one rule everyone knows: Don’t cross the Black Rose gang. Not if you want to live. My father broke that rule. Now, he owes the notorious Black Roses a favor, and to make sure he pays up, they’re taking me as collateral. Until Dad completes whatever job they gave him, three gang members will be my keepers. Sloan, Rory, and Levi. The boss’s son. The man with a secret. The flame from my past.

I thought I was trading one evil for a lesser one. Marry a man I might eventually love, forge an alliance between his gang and my father's, and get out from under Dad's sadistic thumb. Turns out my fiancé has other plans. Like slaughtering me and my entire family the night before the wedding. I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. But if I want to crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all. 

The Havoc Boys rule the hellhole we call Prescott High. Once upon a time, they ruled me. For an entire year, I endured their shit. But senior year is going to be different. This year, I own them. I’ve made a pact with the Havoc Boys to get the vengeance I deserve. Their price? Me. At their beck and call, in their beds, a part of their gang.

Cruel. Heartless. Quarantined. The ruthless boys of Everlake Prep never saw lockdown coming. But the virus isn’t their number one enemy. I am. And as if being confined to a boarding school for the elite wasn’t bad enough, now I’m stuck in isolation with the boys who hate me most too. With the virus escalating and my dad’s name splashed through the news, my entire world is falling apart. What he did has cast a dark shadow over me. And the Night Keepers want to make me pay for his crimes.

With vengeance burning like fire in my blood, I convinced myself it didn’t matter who I hurt, as long as I made the Black Roses pay for my dad’s death. But my father is alive. And now Gavin wants me dead. Trust is in short supply. A target has been painted on my back. My heart is a tangled mess. But I've never been one to roll over and give up, no matter how bleak things look.