A sting on my palm ignites in pain as dirt coats my hand. I just want to go home and shower that disgusting Cutters club from my skin.

The police couldn’t have come at a better time, but it’s not who I was expecting to come barreling through those doors.

My own club didn’t come for me. My brothers left me there too long, they know what kind of men reside inside those walls. Brenner is just like them and yet they left me out to the wolves.

Tears burn in my eyes, I don’t allow them to fall, I won’t waste them now. I’m a Lilith’s Army Princess; the things I’ve witnessed have prepared me for everything. Evil lives inside my veins; the blood that created Brenner is shared with my own. I’m not like him, I’m strong and prepared to handle someone like him.

“The name’s Axel, but you can scream Axe. Your piece of shit brother stole something that belonged to me. Tell me, bitch. Are you a sweet little virgin like my Avery was when he fucking married her against her will?”

I silently scream inside my mind to erase the memory and scan the new shithole I’ve been brought to.

Mold is climbing the wall like a virus, and it’s making me cough, although I’m not sure if that’s just because of my awareness of the dust or an actual cough. The tickle causes me to rub a hand over my chest. I don’t know where we are it’s a rundown house on the edge of God knows where. Boards adorn what once were windows, and it’s barren, the floor covered with an old tattered carpet and nothing else. The walls are warped, and the roof is disintegrating, allowing rain inside. Everywhere is wet and cold. A shiver races through my bones.

Buzz is staring at me, and I squirm under his observation. Why would he have been sent for me and not Scorch?

“What’s going on? Is something happening at the club?” I ask again, but he doesn’t reply.

“Are my brothers okay?” I ask, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Buzz!” I bark when he doesn’t move and remains silent. Irritation flares inside my gut.

“Your brother betrayed me.” He growls so low it’s almost a whisper.

Thud.

“How so?” I ask, keeping the edge from my tone but a skittering of goosebumps skitters across my skin. The urge to run from him becomes so intense the floor feels like it’s vibrating beneath my feet.

What the hell has my brother done now? Why the hell did I get in Buzz’s truck?

I chance a quick glance at the exit, but his eyes on me make me numb.

His lips move, and my legs weaken. “He killed my brother.”

Thud.

My head spins with his words, and a pit opens in my gut. “What?” A gasp expels from me, and I stagger backwards a few paces. “No!”

Oh, God. He wouldn’t kill Tats, they’re friends. What’s going on, and why has he brought me here?

To kill me in retaliation.

The thought thunders through my mind like an explosion, setting fire to the hope that I am now safe.

He tilts his head and furrows his brow, and the sorrow is right there, tangible in his aura. Why didn’t I notice straight away?

Because you weren’t looking.

“You didn’t like him, but he was infatuated with you.”

He’s talking about his brother. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, just that he scared me. Every feeling in my bones told me he was dangerous; that his fixation was toxic.

He moves towards me, and I tense every muscle in my body. The door is too far for me to attempt to flee and I’m not even sure if it’s something I should be doing.

He reaches towards me, and I flinch involuntarily. He snatches his hand back and turns on his heel.

“Buzz,” I call. “Why am I here?”

“You’re going to help me get revenge.”

Thud.

“How can I do that?”

“By being the bate, then I’m going to offer your life for his.”

Thud.

Brenner will kill him for taking me, that’s if my dad or Slade doesn’t get to him first.

I want to ask why Brenner killed his brother but don’t want to rattle the beast. It’s not like Brenner ever needs a real reason, he’s a sadistic, brutal killer and has been since I can remember.

Visions of that poor girl killing herself assault my mind. She was terrified of Brenner and killed herself out of fear.

How many more people will die because of him?

Me.

A realization dawns on me, and my hands shake. “What did my father do about him killing another brother?” I chance to ask. You can’t just go around killing club members without cause.

His gaze penetrates right through me, burrowing inside the very marrow of my bones, dragging out my nerves.

“Your dad could be dead by now.”

I stagger backwards and collide with a wall.

“Did you kill him?” My hands ball and my eyes cloud with a haze.

“Fuck no. Your stupid fucking brother’s gone rogue, took out Gears and Echo as well, and then killed my fucking brother.”

Breathing is restricted, my lungs suffocating me, my chest crushing in.

“Slade?” I ask my voice, meek and quivering.

Buzz rolls his shoulders and shakes his head. “He took your old man to the hospital.”

“Avery?” I breathe.

“Brenner butchered her, fuck knows how she is. Enough fucking questions. Settle in, you’re not going anywhere.”

My legs give out beneath me, and I slip down the wall.

I can’t even compute everything he’s just told me.

He moves across the room and glares at me from the doorway. “I need to get something from the truck. You move and I’ll have to hurt you. I don’t want to do that… but remember it was Tats that had a thing for you, not me. To me you’re a means to an end. That can be your end if you push me.”

As soon as he closes the door, I’m on my feet. I rush through a door and almost slip on something wet on the floor. I don’t stop. I try the back door. Old cabinets hang on the wall, doors hanging from rusty hinges. It was once a kitchen, but now it’s a shell. The door doesn’t give when I try to pry it open. There’s a window and it’s coming away from the foundations. If I push it, it may come away.

The sound of Buzz’s return caused my nervous system to jolt me into running in a different direction. I open a door and falter when it turns out to be a closet.

Hands grip my shoulders and spin me around. “Going to be like that is it?” he growls.

I try to hit at him but he doesn’t give a shit, my fists beating at him doesn’t even cause him to flinch.

There’s a sinister sneer on his face, and it makes my blood run cold.

He drags me over to a sink and pushes my shoulders down, making me crumble to the floor. He’s so strong. It makes me feel powerless and weak.

He yanks a cupboard open. The door comes away in his hand and he just chucks it across the room.

Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulls out a pair of handcuffs.

What the hell?

Pulling me by the wrist, he slams one cuff over my arm and then attaches the other to a pipe that is coming into the house from what looks like outside.

A water pipe.

“Knock yourself out trying to get out of that.” He snarls at me, his lip curling into a sneer.

And then I’m left alone.

Every fiber of me instinctively tries to get free, but it’s all futile. I tire after scraping all the skin off my wrist, and tears build in my eyes.

The floor is filthy, and it’s cold and damp. I already feel ill before the damp has even crawled into my lungs.

I don’t want to die in a place like this.

I close my eyes and focus on the only thing I want.

Scorch.