vra

d without knocking, letting the h

e embroidered Southern Alliance skull crest glaring across the back. On her right index fin

gainst her manicured acrylic nails, filling the

glee. "I see you managed to drag yourself out of the ER after all. Quite the

n't a

d packing my duffel. My movements were unhurried, measured, and completely relaxe

r than a shouted insult. The s

ume invaded the room, mingling sickeningly with the scent of leather. "Did you hear what Father said? You're being shipped off to the deser

ng her arms and sticking her chin out,

ern Alliance council. The presidents and road captains of six chartered clubs are riding in. Father is paying for an open bar from sunset to dawn. Tom

the screaming, or another

it neatly along the seams, and placed

her furious. A violent red flush crept up

lawing into the sleeve of my jacket, yanking hard to

d with pure spite. The keys in her hand

lar war chest into Father's offshore account yesterday! You're not going there to be a queen-you're the five-million-dollar scapegoat Father sold to take the fall for Erik's a

king laugh, her hot brea

m that chewed straight through his nerves and internal organs. The club's underground medics say he won't survive the month. You're not going to California to

g, waiting for the devastating tr

er with flat,

lower lip. Not even a bre

little control she had left. She shoved my shoulder

rincess? Your dead mother was nothing but a low-class whore who bought h

in the r

lowly, inch by inch

d instantly by a pitch-black, bottomless fury that

in my gaze. Her hand flew off my jacket as if

could process the

right hand shot out like an iron clamp, locking onto h

et. I drove her backward with brutal force, slamm

led violently again

floorboards like a discarded rag. The heavy brass Harley keys slipped f

lungs. Her eyes bulged in pure, unadulterated terror. The sister she had bullied and mock

off blood flow through the carotid arteries with terrifying anat

ow, rough as gravel grinding under i

wed frantically at my wrist, tearing at my skin, but my arm didn't budge a m

enough to crush her pathetic whimper, "and I won't just break your

rror streamed down her flushed cheeks, ruining her makeup. Her right hand fe

remaining consciousness, my left hand brus

my knuckles punctured the soft skin directly

, silent

An endocrine disruptor with a twenty-four-hour incubation window, set to detonate into violent epide

nconsciousness cooled the

ould be far too qu

d my fi

. She curled into a ball, clutching her bruised throat, coughing and retching violently

oking down with cold

t o

ck up the leather jacket or the keys she had been gloating over a minute ago. She stumbled toward the do

al, terrified glance over her shoulder, her voice crac

n smile touched the

and bolted down the corridor, her frantic, uneven footsteps slamming

clicked shut. S

d a sterile wipe from my pocket, and slowly, methodically

looked at my fingers

emor. Completel

asted violence for t

s only the