They make me feel like I belong for the first time since my parents were murdered. And when they touch me, my whole world sparks to flame. But they have enemies. Those who would give anything to harm what they hold dear. And while they’ll do whatever it takes to keep me safe, sometimes falling in love will put you right in the line of fire.

Goodbye heartache, liars, and cheats. I’m hot-tailing it to the city to escape all my problems. What I don’t expect is to find a whole heap more. Right at the top of the pile: turns out I’m not the beta I always believed.

It was supposed to be simple. All of that changed in a single breath. Because it turns out I'm not human. And I just knocked out the power on an entire city block. In a split second, all of my carefully-laid plans go up in smoke. There's no chance for college because I'm being hauled off to Kingwood Academy. They say it's for my own protection and those around me. But I know one thing for sure . . . I'm not welcome here.

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.

Lydia Anderson is an unbonded omega who left her life behind to escape a family more interested in their status than protecting their daughter from an alpha who won't take no for an answer. It took everything, but Lydia managed to break free, running as far as she could. Now she lives with her head down, avoiding attention.

After surviving childhood at the snooty, stuck-up boarding school for budding omegas, I have everyone convinced I'm a dud. My awakening? Never gonna happen. Heat, mates, and a fairytale pack life? Maybe next reincarnation. All I want is to be left alone. I'm invisible, and headed to a blissful solo future until the Wyvern Pack destroys my dream of independence. But Atlas, Hunter, Finn, Jett, and Orion are poison candy. They don't want an omega, but they need one, even if there will never be a real spot for me in their pack. 

In Saint Gabriel City, there are the Four Families, and there are those who are owned by them. The Spencers, the Hargraves, the Ferreros, and the Knights rule the City together with their exorbitant wealth and iron fists that no one dare challenge.

I was born with a curse that spun a violent storm around me, seizing every beautiful and fragile thing that flittered into my life, tearing it all from my grasp as effortlessly as the wings of a butterfly are torn from its body. Or so I thought, anyway. It all changed when they came for me, when they dragged me to trial for my crimes. I should have faced execution, but fate is a fickle and funny thing, taunting me with the knowledge that I was always destined to be so much more.

All I wanted was to keep my head above water. To survive long enough to hit my 18th birthday so I could escape the nightmare that my homelife had become. But all of that was turned upside down the moment they showed up. The best friend from my past. The surly brooder. The kindhearted nerd. The king of campus. The dark one.

When mages slaughter my parents in front of me, I’m allowed no time to mourn. It turns out I’m the long-lost heir to a royal family of dark magic - and the four scorching hot guys I’m meant to rule beside have no patience for my grief. They expect me to fall in line. Learn my lessons at this college of magical villainy. Cultivate a power that feeds off people’s pain. Take my proper place as a vicious queen among ruthless kings.