The night my sister died, a piece of me died with her. So I made a vow to enroll at Spine Ridge University just like her, find the person responsible… and make them pay. Until I meet three sick boys of the Skull & Serpent Society: Felix, Dylan, Alistair. Rude, heartless, vicious guys who are obsessed with making me regret I ever stepped foot on campus. They make me a deal: My body in exchange for a glimpse at their violence.

When we were ten we made a pact. When we were twelve she moved away. Now she’s sixteen and returned home.

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.

I’d been prom queen and cheer captain—high school’s most savage Queen Bee. I could have everything I wanted. Except them. The freaks, the weirdos, the school’s ultimate losers: Manson, Jason, Lucas, and Vincent. Our hatred for each other couldn’t keep us apart, not even when my own mistake got Manson expelled and made me the ultimate villain to the rest of them.

"Do you want some Goldfish crackers, Bliss?" Those were the last words my brother said to me before he was shot execution style. A childhood code only he and I knew, and one that had a single, clear meaning behind it.

Five years ago, Josie Porter's life was about to begin: she was going to escape her abusive family, move in with her best friend, and start college. Now, scarred from years of government torture in the Designation Academy, her dreams are long gone. Her only goal now is to survive. With the Designation Government out to pair every omega with often brutal alpha packs, Josie has to turn to black-market suppressants to disguise her biology. When the supply runs out, Josie can no longer run from her designation.

Liars. Every last one of them. The kings and queens of my new high school. The father and stepmother I never knew. Each has more wealth and privilege than I could've ever imagined. Each has a pile of wicked dirty secrets they'd do anything to protect. These people have grown accustomed to getting what they want, and what they want is to make my life a living hell. Too bad for them, you can't break someone who's already broken.

They all insist they don't know me. But they watch me. Every day. Their silence continues until a handsome, tattooed stranger dressed in a suit saunters into the arena and starts sweet-talking me. Then they jump off the ice, ready to fight him to the death. And for some reason…he seems ready to return the favor. Now, I'm being swept into a life of glamorous darkness…and into a war between men I evidently used to love.

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.

All I ever wanted was a better life for me and my father. So when I discover the Beta Trials—the government's new initiative to join a Beta to every Alpha-Omega pack—I sign up immediately. The trials just might be my one chance at finding a pack. And if I train hard enough, the government will assign me a pack before I even graduate. Sounds good, right? Except I have one little problem... My new pack doesn't want me.

There were six of us. Caged, turned into monsters, and tormented with brutal tests of our horrific emerging abilities. We had only each other to count on...until our escape attempt ended with one dead, the others recaptured, and me dragged away into a different nightmare.

In therapy, they tell you to use your senses. List the things you know: Sermons recited with malice. A blood-soaked ritual. The sting of tears and gasping sobs of the dying. Rotting flesh. I grew up in a cage, tortured by the Lord Almighty's most twisted servant. Death and despair became my close companions as I watched years of slaughter at Pastor Michaels’ hand. Eighteen girls. Dead. Eighteen lives. Ended. Eighteen futures. Stolen.

My name is Alexandria Donatella McCarthy, daughter of the don of the Rossi syndicate. Abused. Neglected. Underestimated. I’m about to unleash hell on this town. Keane Agosti, Rafael Ortiz, and Jaxson West don’t know it yet, but I am the devil who will bring that hell to their doorsteps—and take my father down right along with them. I was born into a life that showed me nothing but pain. A toy, a pawn, to be used by my father, Maximillian Rossi. My brother, Kellan, was the only bright light in my dark world. Then one day, he was gone. Taken from me. And it’s their fault.

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.

To be a successful pack, you must have an Omega. Alpha and Beta shifters can become feral when congregated in large numbers without an Omega’s calming influence. Eighteen years ago, I was kidnapped with my mother. They wrongly assumed she was an Omega. For 10 years, I watched them break her, beat her, abuse her in every way. They promised my fate would be the same when I came of age. They were wrong. I escaped, taking my two young brothers with me. We’ve avoided all other shifters for eight years. Until now. Now a new pack has moved in, and they seem to have an interest in my brothers. In me.