Chapter 1
AXL
I’ve killed five men for touching the woman I’m not allowed to fuck. And if I catch her with another one, I will make it six.
Saylor Reign Carter likes to party and mess around, like any college girl. She does whatever she wants with whoever she wants, and all I can do is keep reminding her—in the one way that I can—she’s fucking mine. She knows I’ll kill them. The first time I killed for her, it didn’t seem to faze her. It’s just business as usual in our world. It also didn’t change her fucking behavior. She just tests me again.
I’ve been watching this girl for three years, ever since she walked past me at a Ravens gala on her daddy’s arm in a tight black evening gown. I decided right then and there that she was mine. I wasn’t supposed to want her. I’m a Talon, serving my time to earn my brand as a Raven, a member of the most elite secret society in the world. I kill who they tell me to kill, and I don’t get to fuck until they tell me I can. It’s been almost four years of Talon bullshit, and the only thing keeping me sane is the thought of my girl on her fucking knees for me.
Three more goddamn weeks. Then I’m carrying her out of those woods and fucking her while they all watch me make her mine. At least for a year. I’ll have to figure shit out after that. We’re both expected to marry whoever our parents arrange for us. But I’ll blow up that bridge when I get there. I just need to finally claim her, and until I’m over whatever hold she has on me, I don’t recommend anyone trying to fucking take her from me.
I check the side mirror for the third time in a matter of minutes. Her white Mercedes is still parked in the same spot across the lot at Graves University. She’s fifteen minutes late leaving one of her evening classes. Everyone else is long gone.
They say only the best and brightest attend Graves, which is bullshit, because it’s really just the richest and most connected. Most of them are the sons and daughters of Ravens or from families the Ravens want to keep in their pockets. The university was started by one of the Council families, so many Ravens send their kids here, basically buying their degrees from a prestigious university. I’ll have my fucking MBA by the time I’m branded as a Raven, and I never bother with class.
“Dude, chill. She’s probably talking to her fucking professor.” My best friend, Priest, says beside me, not looking up from his phone. I’m pretty sure he’s just watching porn over there with his boots on the dash of my blacked-out G-Wagon. “She’s the only person at Graves who actually gives a shit.”
“Get your feet off my goddamn dash.”
He doesn’t move them. “I think your head is going to explode when you finally get to fuck her. What if you’ve worked it up too much in your mind, and then she’s not very good?”
“Fuck you.” I’ve spent every night for the past three years with my hand wrapped around my dick imagining what it’s going to be like when I finally get inside her. I already know how she sounds when she comes. I heard it before, and then I had to decide if the man who fucked her would suffer a quick death or a slow one. There’s no version of my girl that disappoints me.
She likes to get off. I respect that. I’m all for her getting off—over and over—when I have my way with her. But she’s mine. And she’s going to learn that I mean that shit.
All my girl knows about me is that I’ll kill for her—already have—and that I’m always fucking there, even when she can’t see me. I can’t let myself get closer, or I won’t be able to control myself. If I feed the obsession I have for her, I won’t fucking stop. I’m already hanging on by a fucking thread.
“If the dude she’s with isn’t any good, she’ll be out in the next five minutes in a pissy mood.” Priest scrolls his phone without looking up. “If it’s any longer, then you might want to worry about someone taking your girl.”
“Nobody’s taking shit from me.” Every asshole who dared to touch her found out what happens. Five of them are in the ground already. And I don’t feel sorry. Not one damn bit. The men at Graves are usually into some shady shit, so they probably had it coming.
He finally looks up, chuckling. He thinks he’s fucking funny. “You look like you’re about to rip the steering wheel off the dash.”
I grit my teeth. “I could kick your ass, instead, if you want.” He’s the person I trust most in the world, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to kill him sometimes.
“You could try.” He lowers his phone and cracks his neck. “But I’d hate to fuck up that face of yours and really ruin your chances with her.”
I snort and punch his shoulder. Hard. It doesn’t make me feel any better.
“Listen, fucker.” He tosses his phone into my cup holder. “You’re going to have pussy in three weeks. All you have to do is win your fight and she’s yours. I’ve only got my one fuck to look forward to, and then it’s another year of jacking off.”
That’s how it works. Talons aren’t allowed to fuck other than one night a year at the annual progression ritual, and only after we survive whatever fight the Ravens throw at us.
They train us to be the most ruthless assassins and enforcers for our world. Five years of killing for the Council, only to be rewarded with one fuck a year and a piercing through your dick. The entire society watches all of it, so our loyalty is on full display. The Ravens fucking love their shows.
At least that’s all there is until the last of our five years of service, when we claim a Dove. It’s the Ravens way of making the women serve too. It’s the promise we get in exchange for proving our loyalty—that we’ll get to finally fuck freely and do whatever we want for a year before we’re branded. After that, our parents push us into some arranged marriage.
“Is that why you’ve been such a bitch lately? Did some poor girl actually get under your skin, and you’re pouting because you can’t fuck her?”
Priest slugs me back, then he leans his head back and laughs. “You know better than that.” But something about his reaction leaves me unconvinced. I think I’m onto something, but he’ll figure out his own shit. “At least when you’re finally fucking your girl every night, I’ll have something to listen to. Unless you want to be a real friend and let me watch.”
My head snaps in his direction. “I really will kick your ass if you or your cock get anywhere near her.”
“You’re no fucking fun.” He grins. “But Crew has already said that he’s going to let everyone watch him fuck his Dove, so at least someone knows how to share.”
“I don’t give a shit what Crew does with his.” I readjust in my seat because my cock is aching just thinking about Saylor.
The piercings in my dick don’t fucking help the strain. The first night of initiation they put an apadravya straight through the head of our cocks. Then every year after the fight, they add another barbell to the shaft. I’m about to get my fifth piercing. The sixth and final comes when I get my brand at the end of this bullshit. It’s just another way for them to remind us who we serve.
Between the piercings and covering our bodies in ink, we use pain to get through the years of not having pussy. It barely works.
And since I decided Saylor was going to be mine, I skipped the victory fuck after my last two rituals. No one does that. Ever. No man who’s been cut off is going to deny himself the chance at a pussy, ass, or mouth. But I know what I want, and it isn’t one of the paid girls from Velum. It’s the gorgeous blonde who should be on her way home from class, instead of wherever the fuck she is right now.
“They should at least let you claim her before you get your next piercing,” Priest says. “It’s just another way they fuck with you.”
We’ve done a lot of fucked-up things and ended a lot of lives in the name of protecting the Ravens. But it isn’t enough to make us serve and do their bidding. They constantly prove their control over us by testing us in every way they can.
“I don’t give a shit about the piercing. It won’t stop me from fucking her.” We’ve been trained to handle pain. What’s a little more?
I check the mirror again. Her Mercedes hasn’t moved, and she’s nowhere in sight.
“Fuck this.” I’m done sitting in this car. “I’m carrying her ass out of there.”
Priest glances at the south doors, then at me.
“Why do I have a feeling some bullshit is about to go down?”
I’m out of the SUV before he can say anything else. I’ve got this sick feeling in my gut telling me she’s in that building doing something I’m going to make her regret.
Priest’s door slams behind me. His boots pound against the pavement. He doesn’t try to stop me. He just hurries to keep up.
We take the stairs two at a time. I pull the door open so hard that it bangs off the wall. The lobby’s dead, but I know exactly where I’m going. I’ll start with where she had class and search every room in this building if she isn’t there. I’m walking her to and from her classes from now until school is out. This shit is done.
I approach the lecture hall and find it empty. What the fuck?
I look down the hallway for anyone still around, making my way toward a row of offices. Then a sound catches my attention, and my blood fucking boils.
She’s moaning. I know it’s Saylor. It’s the sound I’ve been replaying in my mind for the past three years with my dick in my hand. Except right now, she’s letting someone else touch what’s mine.
And that is fucking unacceptable.
I continue down the hall toward the office where the sound is coming from. The fact that she’s letting someone fuck her makes me want to put my fist through the wall. After I beat the shit out of whoever the fuck she’s with and kill him, I might even spank her ass too.
Priest grabs the back of my shirt. “You’re going to be fucking her soon enough. Don’t get yourself in trouble with the Ravens.”
I rip out of his grip and turn to glare at him. I don’t give a fuck that she’s not technically mine yet. Or that I’m not supposed to kill without their authority. Those are just meaningless details. Don’t try to reason with an obsessed man. You won’t win. I don’t give a shit how insane it is.
I’ve killed plenty of other men without asking permission. And right now, I want to rip the door off its hinges and slice this fucker’s dick off for thinking he can touch my girl.
“Either help me or get the fuck out of my way,” I snarl at him, daring him to stop me again. I know he’s going to do what needs to be done, so I’m not going to waste any more time and give the fucker in there a chance to spill his cum inside my pussy.
I square my shoulders knowing what I’m about to do. There isn’t a chance in hell the dipshit in there gets to keep breathing.
I open the fucking door.