I named myself. I took the word animal out of their mouths, wore it like a badge of honor, then shoved it down their throats. I've fought for what I have. I see you coming before you even know you want a piece of me. In a city riddled with warring families, I'll rise up between them. My people, the broken souls I gather, will have power by the time I'm done with them.

I met her among the chaos of a gang fight - one that I inadvertently started. Ember. Beautiful, feisty, and passionate. And the sister of Mercy, an infamous assassin. We fell for each other, hard. Until forces outside of our control intervened. Now, she's a prisoner, doing everything she can to keep her family safe. And I'm her guard, doing everything I can to set her free. I'd take a bullet for her. Hell, I'd take a few. In this dark, twisted world, we only have each other. But I have to wonder, is that enough? 

The stories were all wrong—Hook was never the villain. For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they’re gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken. Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked. But it’s pointless. Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren’t willing to let me go. 

Six years ago, I awoke in a cage with no knowledge of who I was or where I’d come from. Six years ago, I was spared the flesh markets and instead thrown in with a group of savages, where I learned it was fight or die. Now, eight Orders of Assassins are converging on the only home I’ve ever known. All in hopes of purchasing new blade slaves for their ranks. I’m for sale, yet all I want is a life far from death and ownership. Then I meet them, the Order of Scorpions. Their allure is a threat to the freedom I crave, but I won’t fall victim to their sting, no matter how tempting it might be.

My whole life, no one has had my back. My parents are dead, my adoptive mother is a drug addict, and the mean girls on campus mock me for my scars. So when I end up desperate for money and out of options, I agree to sell the one thing I have left: my innocence. On the night I’m meant to give my body to a brutal Russian mobster, three men storm into the room like dark shadows and kill him before he can claim me. When they drag me from the blood-soaked bed, I’m certain they’re going to kill me too.