Heather Long

My name is Grace Degas Black. Years ago, I made a splash during a charity fashion show where an agent discovered me. My work led to the glitzy world of haute couture, perfume ads, and more.

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.

Family legacy dictates everything from type of education to suitability of friends to eligible marriage opportunities to the type of business I’m expected to go pursue. It’s more than just DNA, it’s also about birth order, gender, and unfortunately—the family name.

Born into Hollywood royalty, I’ve been making the hot sheet and generating internet buzz since before I could even walk. Doesn’t matter that my parents divorced prior to my second birthday, I can’t escape the shadows—or scandals—of my movie star mother and my rock star father....

When the year started, I had one goal - make my AP classes count and keep my grades up. Both my focus and my grades started wobbling. Dating my best friends came with perks like hugs, kisses, and invitations to dances, but it also came with cons in the form of vindictive posts....

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....

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....

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.

Emersyn Sharpe doesn’t belong in our world. In fact, the very last place she should be is with us. But someone is hurting her. When she nearly died in front of us, we had to act. She doesn’t belong in our world, but I’ll be damned if someone lays a finger on her under my watch....

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.

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....

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....

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.

My name is Liam O’Connell. Hellspawn is mine. Emersyn is ours. We aren’t going to wait around for the next attack. No, we’re taking the fight right to them....

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....

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....

Jake, Archie, Coop, and Ian were my best friends, and three of them still are - but they’re also now my lovers, my boyfriends, and pretty much the anchors keeping me from getting washed away. One thing is for sure, I’ll never forget my senior year. It’s the year everything changed....

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.

It’s a new year. It’s a new me. Or maybe I should say a new us. We’re out there. We’re not hiding the fact that I’m dating all of them. PDAs are back on the table. The final semester of high school kicks off with a bang....

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....