Heather Long

The closer I get to the truth, the further away it feels. Every step I take is met with resistance—not just from the monsters still chasing me, but from the very men who have sworn to protect me. Especially Bones.

Of all the dreams I'd ever chased, the last thing I expected was for a nightmare to be the one that came true.

Do you ever lie to yourself? I do. Making friends has been the cruelest choice I ever inflicted upon myself. I like to say I don’t regret it, and for the most part that’s true. I resent it.

Our feelings for her were like wild animals finally freed from their cage. But my sparrow, she was the most brutal fighter of us all. She’d had to be. The battles she’s survived, she’s done in silence and alone. Not anymore. Never again....

Grandfather tried to prepare me for everything… Yet, how could anyone prepare me for this? Kidnapping. Blackmail. Deception. Grief. Vengeance. The Royals have always been about blood. Blood lines, blood relations, and the spilling of blood. I didn’t ask for this war. I didn’t go looking for it.

I was born into this world. Power and wealth are the keys to controlling it, but they aren’t everything. They are a means to an end when it comes to protecting the people I care about. I’ve known my destiny since I was old enough to sit at the table....

Emersyn Sharpe is more than just the girl we watched over. She’s very much the woman who fits us. The last thing we should have done was take her and the worst thing we did was keep her, but she needs us....

Survival isn’t everything. I’ve fought to protect my family....

It’s not true. It can’t be. Four DNA tests. Only one positive. The man claiming to be my father is quite literally the worst option imaginable. This isn’t happening to me. For the first time in my life, I know who I am and where I want to be....

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to escape. I hid in my dance. I ran away from my life as much as I could. I fought to be somewhere else, even if I couldn’t be someone else. One night, after my partner lashed out at me and I’d been hurt, the Vandals took me and never looked back....

My name is Emersyn Sharpe. Until a few months ago, I was the lead performer for a traveling show finishing up a contract. I had been beaten, but never broken. Then they took me. I didn’t belong in their world. Still, they took me and I didn’t know why....

My only connections were forged through the veil of a computer screen. I was their voice in the dark, their operator. I was their lifeline—until the day my past tore into my present, and they had to become mine.

I’d been called so many names over the years. None of them mattered. My mirror cared more than I did. But he never treated me as less. None of them did. My brothers were the Vandals. They didn’t always understand, but they never judged and they always had my back....

Madness runs in my blood or so my family history would suggest. For more than thirteen years, I've been driven by one quest. One desire. One goal. It's about more than just DNA and legacy, it's about a promise. One I swore I would never give up.

When it comes down to acclaim in the yearbook, my class rank would probably earn me my only entry, but probably very little else. I don’t wear cosmetics, do my hair, or really give a damn about my appearance in general. I don’t need to be cool....

Five years ago, I disappeared from the life I had and built this one. I spend my days and most of my nights on the line, helping my clients achieve their goals. They call me when they are in a jam or are getting ready to move on a target.

Life doesn’t come with a script, but some moments don’t need one. Senior year pushed us all. It dared us to embrace wonder and chase love. It challenged us to find out who we were as people, as partners, as a family. We’re so much better together....

Emersyn Sharpe was nothing like I expected and everything I could have ever dreamed of. She stayed and she changed everything. She put the guys in their place. She had fire and spunk, a ferociousness I wished I possessed....

I’m Cash Morgan. Special Agent Cash Morgan. They trained me to track killers. To find the cracks in their masks, the patterns in their chaos. I was the quiet voice behind a badge, the profiler with a near-perfect record, the one they called when things got dark and twisted.

They say you can never go back… ‘Course, I never wanted to return. It took me years to age out. Once I made it, I took off and never turned around. Trust me, there were only three reasons I managed to survive there as long as I did and they abandoned me as soon as they were able.