PROLOGUE
I’ve never been a “good girl”.
Unless it’s growled into my ear while I’m riding dick like a savage…I’ve never even known what it meant. Truthfully…I don’t care to. My identifier? Is the brat. The whore. The spoiled little sister. The waste of life. The half-breed daughter of a fallen king, in a kingdom that was a fucking joke to begin with.
In my young life, nobody ever cared enough to ask me who I really am.
Nobody except one.
My brother bet his life on luck. And luck gave him a swift gutting—until she fell into his life with a bloody mop and a bucket…and a pile of dead people we laid at her altar. Seven Grey was our saving grace. Our‘Mother Mary’. That weird piece of furniture in our lives that reshaped the entire room—and she says she envies me.
I envyher.
I envy Malek.
I envy the fact that after all that’s happened…I miss the oblivious brat I used to be that might have once been stupid enough to shelve this jar with the bottled-up demon andnotthink about lifting the lid every five minutes. Malek deserves the happiness he’s found with the angel that brought us all a little peace.
But he didn’t get that peace without his revenge.
I never got my hands dirty when I sent him off to be the reaper when I was finished playing with my toys. I didn’t knowwhat it felt like to feel them die. To watch them. To get high off of their blood on my hands.
Now I do.
And burying a knife in Jonas O’Dell right before my Daddy had to die lying next to our enemies…picked the lock to the fiery cage that’s nestled in the pit of me. Branded by my last name. Set on fire by the hate I feel. I don’t remember the girl I was before it. She’s dead. All I know now? Is the bitch I’ve become. The rage that made my first murder so sweet. The taste I can’t get out of my mouth, no matter what kind of life I wish I could live. Malek’s demons are sleeping.
My name is Bridget fucking Byrne.
Andmydemons are very much awake.
CHAPTER 1
The Princess
This cunt just made me chip one of my nails.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m from the same family, and if I’m cut out for this…but then I remember how it felt like Christmas fucking morning every time Malek brought me home a gallery full of pretty pictures of all my exes with their insides strung out. I’ve trudged through these woods most of the way, holding ‘Stab-a-boob Barbie’by her arms…but she weighs more than shelookslike she weighs. So then, I decided to drag her the rest of the way by her pretty bleached hair. One good piece of her extensions ripped out a few feet ago. I fucking knew half of her wasn’t real. Way to combat the stereotype, precious. I know Mal usually left his bodies wherever he gutted them, but Sev made a whole side business outta this. After what happened with Kendall O’Dell…I’m not taking my chances. I’ll sacrifice an eighty-dollar mani.
I got ahold of this one by making her think I was the driver she ordered on a nifty‘come get me please, I’m drunk’app. Plastic already laid out in the trunk, knife at the ready. She was about three sheets to the wind to begin with, but I planned this. Booze always makes ‘em talk. By the time I made it to Witherle Woods, a small state park with plenty of cover, she was bloody and scared enough to tell me a few things. I almost felt bad for her—almost. But this is what you get for saddling up with shitty people, Blondie.
Malek blew Ace McKinley and some of his boys about as sky high as the O’Dells, in the warehouse where they were keeping all the guns. What hedidn’tbank on, was how far shithad gotten before we all took turns laying waste to these pricks. And McKinley still hasa lot…of sympathizers. Natalie here, was dating one of Ace’s nephews. She didn’t know much, but I was able to get a few more names of people I need to look into before they inevitably become a problem. I haven’t told Malek about any of this. Haven’t told Declan either. Mal and Sev are still enjoying their blissful bubble, and I’ve already taken too much from my fucking brother.He’s happy. He doesn’t wanna kill anymore. But I never made any of those promises, and I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to what’s left of my family.
It’s also…kinda fun. There, I said it.
I’m not as dramatic as Malek so far. I’m not making a show out of it. I got what I needed and stabbed right through lovely Natalie’s voice box. I left it in there and picked at my nails until she stopped twitching. Now we’re balls deep in the woods, and I feel like I threw my back out, dragging her this far. This’ll be good enough…I’ll just dig a—
Fuck…fuck, fuck, fuckity fu—I left the shovel in the trunk.
Okay, so…I’m still a noob. Nobody is ever an expert at anything on their first few tries. Go screw yourself. But now I have to figure out what to do with her. Sighing, I looked around the dark woods and spotted a grove where it looks like the trees grew close together. It’s the perfect size to toss her in the middle and cover her with leaves or some shit…which is exactly what I did. I’m good and exhausted now, and honestly…a little winded. I pulled my phone from my back pocket as my back slumped against the tree trunk, putting it to my ear.
“Red.”
“Hey,” I huffed, dabbing my forehead with the back of my sleeve. “I’mma be a little later than I thought, gettin’ the knives and stuff back to you. You wanna wait up, or could I just put—”
“Air short. Need exercise.”
“Thanks, Simon. You really know the way to a lass’s heart.”
He chuckled on the other end and I rolled my eyes.“Happy. Body good?”
