Outcasts (Badlands Book 3)

by Natalie Bennett

  Carrion birds gathered on the roof of the prison. They seemed to be everywhere we went.

  Grimm pulled the hood up on his newly acquired black ensemble, his eyes getting that calculated, deadly look in them he wore so well.

  Katya surprised me by adjusting a stiletto knife in her boot.

  “Will they have guns?” Blue asked.

  “Yes, but they won’t pull the trigger unless it’s a last resort. They don’t know the structure of this building, and they’ll realize soon enough we didn’t come alone,” Cobra answered her.

  “There’s ten of us—.”

  “Much more than that. Romero wouldn’t send us anywhere without ensuring we were ten times stronger than whatever the fuck we’re up against. “In this case, there are twelve people–– that’s including Noah, and we all know he can’t fight his way out of shit.”

  I could only assume he’d gotten all this information during one of his many vanishing acts for him to be so specific.

  We approached the building and my nerves zinged. They all looked ready to fuck shit up, except Blue. She actually looked Blue.

  Katya was definitely the backbone of their duo. She seemed shy, reserved, and sweet.

  I had a gut feelin she would be the first and only one of us to go. For the first time in awhile, I felt guilty.

  “Blue, you stay with us. Cobra, take Kat. I’ll meet you in the west wing.”

  “Go kill some shit, sis,” Cobra grinned, droppin a kiss on my cheek before all but dragging Kat away.

  “Be safe,” I mouthed to her, catchin a small thumb up before I couldn’t see her anymore.

  “Take this,” Grimm said, nudging me with a familiar black gun.

  “You actually got it back?” I tucked the solid piece of metal in the waistband of my shorts.

  “Cobra did.”

  Ugh, no further information needed.

  “Wait, what about you? What are you gonna use?” I stopped walking and turned towards him.

  “I have everything I need. I was going to make you stay behind me, Knew your ass wouldn’t listen. Also what you need, because I need it too. I promised to make sure you got what you wanted.”

  “Regardless, no one is going to fucking touch you. We need Noah and Vance alive but, kill whoever else moves. Just try not to get trigger happy, because foundation, and don’t shoot our own people.” He smirked at the last part, knowin my aim was pure shit.

  “And you stay close to her,” he ordered Blue, suddenly serious.

  “Stay close, got it. I don’t need to hear that twice.” She nodded.

  How was I ever gonna thank him for any of this?

  He’d turned his whole world upside down for me. He was getting ready to massacre in my name. What notion could be sweeter than that?

  “Thank you is a real dismal way of—.”

  “Brat we’ve been through this, you—.”

  “Shut up and listen Grimm. Damn.”

  “If my dad wasn’t hellbent on getting me back, your friends from the brothel would still be alive, your towns wouldn’t be being invaded, and——.” He gripped the back of my neck and brought me flush against him, forcing his tongue in my mouth to shut me up.

  Blue shifted uncomfortably in my peripheral.

  Grimm pulled away and looked down at me. “You wouldn’t have been taken by Noah for some bullshit reason that never existed; I wouldn’t have come to find you. We’d still be eyeing each other from across the room, neither of us making a move. You know I’d take you anyway I could get you.

  He let me go and stepped away, his face shrouded by his hood. “You ready ?” he asked, holdin out a gloved hand.

  I looked at the old prison as the first scream of pain tore through the air. My heart was pounding like I’d just approached a twelve foot drop, ready as hell for me to go over the edge.

  I couldn’t say me and this new Arlen were well acquainted yet, but we understood one another just fine. My petals had wilted and thorns took their place. The demon in my head was wide awake, and the venom in my veins churned a thirst for carnage I couldn’t wait to satisfy.

  I was a plague none were prepared for. I’d never felt stronger, and with Grimm forever lurking in the shadows, watching over me, I felt damn near invincible. To touch me was to touch death, and death always won.

  “I’m ready,” I said, lookin back at Grimm, with a bright smile, and taking his hand.

  Just like the hospital, sound echoed.

  People’s yells of surprise, footsteps, and one single gunshot so far.

  Grimm had seemingly vanished, but I knew he was close, I could feel him, and was proven correct when a body seemed to come from nowhere. Blue and I had been on our way up an old staircase when the man came tumbling down.

  His head hit the solid metal railing, leaving a ringing crack and blood behind as he free fell to the level below, landing at an obtuse angle with a nasty soundin splat.

  I wondered what it said about my relationship when I knew it was my man who killed someone simply by the way they were executed. Clearly, we were very compatible.

  “That’s eleven,” Blue whispered.

  We wound up in a long hall lined with cells. I heard a muffled sound comin from the end like a woman was in pain.

  Blue and I slowly edged towards it.

  There was a ton of dark spots inside the building, but the vaulted skylights that had been installed when the prison was built made it easy enough to see.

  The sound was comin from a cell half-way to the end. I had the pretty lil dagger Grimm had given me in hand and was ready to cut shit. The weight of the gun reminded me it was there too, but that was my last resort.

  As we closed in, I realized it wasn’t pain I was hearin.

  Blue made a sound of disbelief, shaking her head. Two people were fuckin in the midst of all this. I reckoned they didn’t know what was goin on for that same reason.

  I debated for a millisecond if I should let the chick live, but nah. Fuck all of that; I was takin no prisoners.

  They didn’t see me, until it was too late.

  By the time the man realized I’d entered the small cell and gotten the full view of his freckled ass, there was nothin he could do.

  I went in full force.

  I was on his back with my blade slicin into his throat, making him bottom bitch. He tried to fight back for half a second, the blade sliced deeper, right through arteries, tissue, and muscle. His cock was still nestled between the woman’s legs he’d been screwin, and as his body jerked I wondered if this would be considered necrophilia on her end.

  Seein as they were on a dingy old cot, we didn’t all fit nice and comfortably together.

  The man was making weird noises as he bled out. I shoved his head full of brown hair out of my way, and covered the woman’s mouth, mufflin her scream as blood sprayed us but, mostly all over her pretty blonde hair––shame.

  “Someone’s coming,” Blue whispered, surprising the hell out of me by doing a similar move Katya had done.

  She took over mufflin the blonde’s screams by yanking the dirty pillow out from beneath her head and slamming it over her face.

  Jumping up, I rolled the man onto the floor as fast, and quietly as I could, then straddled the blonde. She fought like hell to free her face, Blue was stronger than she was though and my bloody knife goin through the bottom of her jaw solved our problem real quick.

  The air she expelled was forced right into the crimson pillow. Blue jumped right over her, grabbed me, and pulled me behind the old rusty door just as another Venom entered.

  Hawke.

  I reacted instinctively.

  He spun around to yell and saw me. There was only brief look of surprise that reflected on his face as my boot landed squarely in the center of his stomach.

  He went backward, trippin over the body, and goin down. When he attempted to bounce back up he slipped in the blood of his friend.

  It covered his shirt, arms, and jeans. I clenched my white-turned-re
d dagger between my teeth, knowing I would need both hands, and charged.

  “Wait,” was all he got out.

  I managed to hit him hard enough that his head smacked against the stone floor when he fell back again. I straddled him, but because I was just as slippery as he was, I couldn’t get the grip or angle I needed on the dagger due to his struggling.

  I wrapped both my hands around his damn throat and squeezed. I squeezed with everything in me, digging my nails into his skin and feeling my muscles burn.

  I blocked the veins responsible for the oxygen flowing to his brain, knowing it would start to swell as he suffocated.

  I watched the color drain from his face and the calipers burst beneath, the skin, making it look like he was bleeding from the inside out.

  I waited as his blood pressure plummeted, his heart struggled to beat, and his lungs seared with the burnin sensation I knew all too well when they were deprived of air.

  I watched the life leave his body, and mine felt elated. He dropped down with a quiet thump. I simply stared at him. After a second I spat in his face and stood up with Blue’s assistance.

  “He got off easy,” she mumbled, clearly picking up on my body language. I briefly wondered if that was from personal experience, but we didn’t have time for conversation.

  “Come on,” I said, removing the bloody knife from between my teeth. I rolled my lips together to rid them of the taste.

  We left the room behind, heading down the remainder of the hall. The prison seemed oddly quiet, all a sudden.

  I knew he was behind me without havin to turn around.

  “Damn, Brat, you did good.” His hands settled on my hips, and he spun me to face him, a full smile waitin to grace me. I swooned inside.

  “You saw em?”

  “My favorite part was when you choked him out. I might let you try that next time you ride my dick.” His smile shifted to a smirk.

  “How did you see that?”

  “Just assume I never really left you alone.” He took my bloody hand, pullin me down the hall.

  “Is that why there’s like, two drops of blood on you?” Blue interjected.

  “No, there’s only two drops of blood on me because I don’t always make a mess.”

  “Is it done already?” I asked.

  “No, but there’s somethin you need to see.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I was thoroughly confused.

  In what would have been the food hall, there seemed to be a standoff. At the center of it was Noah, Vance, and Vitus uncle, Rex; all with guns held to their heads by their own people.

  Vitus stood behind them like he was a crowned prince. A man with darker features was right beside him.

  Acolytes, too many to count, stood by every exit. Coming through a cellular’s speaker was Romero’s voice, soundin rather smug.

  Cobra and Katya stood off to one side, both lookin like they’d dove in tomato soup, Kat still looked prim and proper, despite that, although, her face was serious for once, as was Cobra’s.

  I refused to cower into Grimm when Vitus looked right at me, a smile lightin up his face. Bile rose in my throat at the sight of these men, but that’s all it was. They made me sick, made me hate, and they’d hurt me, but they didn’t fuckin scare me.

  Blue stepped closer to me as an act of silent support. Vitus’s eyes shifted to her. The immediate curiosity I saw there had me pushin her behind me.

  Grimm squeezed my hand, bringin me closer to his side and helpin me block her.

  “You have two minutes to tell me something I want to hear before everyone in that room tears you a new asshole.” Romero’s voice filled the silence.

  It was odd not to see him front and center; it only solidified how he felt about Cali that he wouldn’t leave her side while she was carryin his lil spawn.

  “I want to meet you face to face. I’ll come to where you are, and, as an act of faith you can have my father, my uncle, and Noah. I was gonna toss my cousin in too, but I’m told he’s dead.” He winked at me, the ballsy fuck.

  This wasn’t what I’d been expecting him to say at all. I couldn’t even play the, but they’re his family card. Family wasn’t defined by blood. I was walkin proof of that. Mine stood around me, half wearin satanic masks.

  “He has leverage,” Grimm said quietly.

  “Continue,” Romero commanded with no change in his vocal inflection.

  “I just need a week. I’ll meet you face to face and then we go from there.”

  “You haven’t told me why the fuck I wouldn’t just kill you now and still get what I want.”

  “Well, you could’ve killed me the second I became a problem. But you didn’t. You’ve been waiting for me to show my cards. That’s why you take these fuck-ups off my hands and meet me in a week. We can iron out the details later of why later.”

  The room went so silent you could hear a pin drop.

  “He’s gonna take the deal,” I mumbled, a split second before he did exactly that.

  “One week. I’ll get a hold of you, not the other way around.” The line went dead.

  “What just happened?” Blue asked from behind me.

  I didn’t fuckin know, and at that moment, I didn’t care. Four of the men I’d came for would be dead. Three were right in front of me, comin back to my home turf. Four out of five was pretty damn good odds. I didn’t care how they got there. I wanted them so badly I was nearly salivating at the mouth.

  Vance’s eyes locked with mine and I think he got the message clearly.

  His ass was mine. Literally.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  We rode in the backseat this time.

  For the first few hours we exchanged theories on what the hell kinda information Vitus could possibly have that made him feel so invincible.

  “Vitus is naturally going to take his father’s place. If you want to live out here, there’s one man you don’t make an enemy of. Sure as shit what his dad did,” Cobra vented.

  I’d worked that out already. I was on to more pressin matters.

  Like the fact that my muscles were feelin my warrior moves from a bit ago, that I’d just faced the men who’d put me in this position in the first place, and how badly I wanted Grimm right then.

  Our prisoners were bein transported in the back of a large, windowless van between two SUVs. I stared out the window at the black sky for a minute before adjusting my head in Grimm’s lap.

  He was replying to Cobra when I reached for his zipper. I worked it down, and adjusted again so I could slide my hand down his pants. His cock was already hard, clearly, he felt how I did. We just wanted to kill and fuck. Nothin was wrong with that.

  He was solid and warm in my hand. He lifted slightly, allowin me to free him. His erection stood tall and proud in the darkness of the backseat. I encircled it, rubbing a throbbing vein with my thumb.

  It was so smooth.

  He grabbed a fistful of my hair, forcibly guiding my mouth down onto his cock, making me take him all.

  I fought not to gag as the head hit the back of my throat. Grippin him with my hands, I lay on my side and started sucking him hard.

  This I’d done quite a few times before. I knew how to cup his balls, swirl the tip of my tongue around his silky tip, and deep throat him back to back.

  During a small lapse in silence, I was certain the suction noise echoed around the car. Knowin they heard me had my blood crusted thighs clenchin together.

  I worked him harder, moanin in delight at the first taste of his pre-come. He scooped up some of the saliva running down my face, and then slid his hands down the back of my shorts, using it to lube between my cheeks before easin two fingers inside my puckered hole. The burn was delicious.

  As he finger-fucked my ass, I eagerly sucked his dick.

  I was a whore, greedy for his come to spray across my tongue as our friends sat in the front seat. My breathin became impossible to control. I wondered if I could get off with his thumb working my rim.


  Poppin his cock out of my mouth, I turned my cheek into his lap, licking his plushy sack before gently easin his right nut between my lips, then the left, paying them equal attention.

  I felt his abdominal muscles tightening, and heard him tell Cobra to watch the road, a breathy laugh following.

  “Put my dick in your mouth,” he gruffly commanded, turning me onto my stomach.

  I did as he said, easily slipping his saliva drenched member back where it belonged. He took hold of my hair again, and proceeded to savagely fuck my face, driving his fingers in and out of my ass at the same tempo.

  “That’s it, good girl,” he praised.

  When he twitched, I was ready. He didn’t warn me, didn’t even have to force me lower.

  “Goddamn, Brat. Fuck,” he cursed softly, grippin my hair so hard my eyes stung.

  I happily deep throated as he came, milkin his balls so I got every drop, feelin the tangy liquid slide down my throat.

  After a complimentary twirl around his tip, I tucked his cock away before lying on my back again. I knew my face was a wet mess, just like my eyes were watering from his grip on my hair and makin myself not gag; I smiled up at him anyway.

  “We’ll be home in less than ten,” he said. Due to the fact he wasn’t touchin me, I knew what that meant. The word ‘home’ made my heart swell. Home was with him. Home was with our family.

  Home was where Vance would soon find out how great it felt to be fucked in the ass without givin permission.

  “Why did Romero cut the mayor off?” I asked to distract myself from the inferno goin on inside me, licking the roof of my mouth for any trace of his semen.

  “Cabrona.” Katya tisked, making me grin.

  “Sorry about that,” I volunteered, not really sorry at all. I wondered if I should be worried that I didn’t care that much, but then I’d have to care for it to be an option.

  “No the fuck you’re not,” Cobra laughed.

  “Girl, I could watch that spank bank material every day. You two are hot together. There’s nothing wrong with being sexual. It’s human nature. We’re animals after all, savages who figured out how to walk and talk.”