Miscreants: Next Generation by Natalie Bennett (essential reading .txt) 📗

had become were two drastically different breeds of predator.

We’ve all got aspirations—something or someone we dream of being when we grow up. Born as a Savage, my path should have been an easy one, simple and already paved. I was meant to be death personified, a reaper in the flesh.

My father didn’t look at me that way, though.

I could see in his eyes that he didn’t believe I’d ever follow in his footsteps.

That realization brought with it an expected degree of disappointment on both sides. It soon became obvious that my big sister was going to take up our dad’s gauntlet. I harbored no resentment towards Nyx for it. She was everything I couldn’t be, and I wanted something different.

I didn’t want to be known as merely Grimm’s son. I abhorred the thought of being a copy or protégé almost as much as I hated the idea of becoming just another Savage. There were hundreds of them.

So, while I didn’t have an issue with my sister, I resented that her taking my position didn’t free me. If anything, it made the chains around me that much tighter.

Maybe I could have lived with all of that, but then the ultimatum came, and it wasn’t something I was willing to accept.

None of that mattered now.

I’d made my choices.

I went down a path of destruction I could never come back from.

Ironically, that didn’t stop my past from catching up to me. It came calling in the form of a summons that I’d buried in the bottom of a dresser drawer.

An eloquent request to meet with my father and Uncle Romero. Two notorious legends in the Badlands.

I had yet to respond or truly consider it.

There were more pressing matters to handle before I dealt with the Savages.

Lilith.

And the inevitable bloodbath that was about to spill across the Badlands.

If I didn’t come across them before either of these matters were resolved, they’d be handled last. No matter what, Lilith would always come first and foremost before anything or anyone else. Giving her up wasn’t an option.

She had no right to leave my side when it was her fault I had become this way.

They say that if you love something, you should let it go, and if it comes back it’s meant to be.

That sounded like bullshit to me, which was why I came up with my own version.

If you love someone, let them go. Then hunt them down and drag their ass back, kicking and screaming.

I stood from the sofa and looked around the cabin, making a mental list of anything I may need. I hope she was prepared for the domino effect she’d just created.

I’d always be her protector, but I was her predator too.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The woods were ominously quiet.

It had taken approximately thirty minutes to cross the lake and reach a place level enough to get off the boat. We’d been footing it for another twenty, at least.

The sun was sitting proudly in the sky by this point. Patches of blue broke through the tree tops every few steps. I couldn’t tell if they were helping or making it hotter. I already missed the early morning chill.

This woodland wasn’t like the one on the other side of the lodge.

People didn’t casually stroll through it when they wanted to take a walk. Therefore, there weren’t any man-made paths, making the journey onward that much harder. Our footfalls were dramatically loud in the stillness, moving over uneven ground as we pushed through underbrush and branches.

“How are you doing?” Takara asked from behind me.

“A little hot, but otherwise fine.”

Poet glanced at me over his sweaty shoulder, pushing tendrils of brown hair away from his damp forehead. “I think she was asking how you’re doing about Samael. If she wasn’t, I am.”

The question shouldn’t have come as any surprise, but it was jarring, nonetheless. I couldn’t very well tell them the truth—that this was all a huge mistake. Loving Samael sometimes hurt, but leaving him was an entirely new type of anguish.

It was like purposely severing a vital organ because you were too damn stupid to realize you needed it to live. I told myself that time would make everything better, but that was complete and utter crap.

My heart was chained to his. Going one way as it was pulled in another was killing me. I could do nothing but soldier on. Poet and Takara had risked too much for me to do an about face because I was selfishly indecisive.

“Really trying not to think about that right now,” I muttered, swatting at some tiny brown bug that was trying to hitch a ride on my shoulder. “What’s the deal with him?” I nodded to Travis. I needed to change the subject and was genuinely concerned about this strange man traveling with us.

He was as tall as Poet, yet skinnier than me. His brown hair was thick and wavy, going all the way to his nape.

The fact that he was wearing a damn jean jacket was seriously grating on my nerves. It was too hot for all that nonsense. I was eighty percent certain he only had it on to try and cover up the nasty scar on the side of his lower neck.

The skin looked as if it had been burned, a tell-tale sign that the faction he once belonged to had exiled him with enough respect not to kill him. That, or he’d run away and done it to himself. Probably the latter was more likely, now that I thought about it. Most factions wouldn’t let you keep breathing if you wanted out.

“He knows how we can get in touch with your family,” Poet replied, pushing through another tuft of brambles.

Your family. Those two words had my nerves fraying more