Outcasts (Badlands Book 3)

by Natalie Bennett

  It was calmly veiled chaos.

  “I like you already,” Vitus grinned victoriously when Blue took his hand.

  Cali stood beside me, as helpless as I was. I think the saddest part of all this was, Romero was right. He always was.

  “It’s okay, I’ve been through this before,” Blue told me on a near whisper, forcing a sad smile.

  That didn’t make it okay. That made it worse. I stepped forward to say somethin, but Grimm pulled me back.

  “Wait,” Romero said, walking towards them. He walked right up to Blue with something in his hand. By time any of us knew what it was, he was pressing it into the side of her neck. She cried out and instantly tried to jerk away. He was movin away again as fast as he’d gotten to her. A large red welt was now visible on her flesh.

  “What the hell, man?” Vitus asked, actually lookin concerned.

  “I just marked her. She’s one of ours. I want her back alive.”

  “I’ll be in touch,” Vitus said, not looking pleased by that at all. He took her anyway, gently still. His men followed him out and that was it.

  Romero held a hand up for silence. “Before any of you say anything else fucking stupid and insult my intelligence, Grimm seemed to be the only one that trusted me enough to know what I was doing. If you think

  I was suddenly caught off guard you’re as stupid as Vitus is.” That was his fuck off speech I assumed.

  He left too, taking Cali with him.

  Cobra helped Katya up where the acolytes had left her and helped her back upstairs. If it weren’t for the heaviness in the air, it’d almost be like all of it never happened.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  He hadn’t left his room in hours.

  Katya was on the patio staring at the remains of Noah, which meant he was alone.

  We walked down the hall, and paused outside his door. Cali found her balls before I could. She knocked twice, and then walked right in, leavin me to follow.

  “Wow,” I murmured, the second I entered “I forgot how different his room was from the rest.”

  “He likes color,” Cali shrugged, making her way to his bed.

  Cobra’s room was done up in blues, yellows, and a dark green. It looked like somewhere someone royal would reside.

  Hearin the shower water runnin, and unsure how long he would be, I followed Cali’s lead.

  Grimm and Romero had gone on some secretive as hell run an hour after Vitus left and had yet to return. The fact Cobra stayed behind let me know he was feelin some kind of way, which was to be expected, but he didn’t have to do it alone.

  I settled beside Cali on his bed, fluffing one of the gigantic pillows.

  “Do you know how many come stains were lying in right now?” Cali asked, staring at the ceiling.

  “For real? Ew, shut up,” I laughed, playfully pushin her shoulder.

  “Damn, I’m thinking I should stay home more often,” Cobra said, walking into the room with nothing but a towel around his waist, and his red hair a shade darker from his shower.

  Cali and I shared a quick glance with one another after focusing on his body longer than what was necessary.

  Cobra wasn’t as bulked up as Romero or Grimm, but he made up for it with toned definition and colored tattoos.

  “Stop givin me those incestuous looks.” He pretended to shield himself from us.

  I rolled my eyes. “Put some damn drawers on, and then come sit with us,” I sighed.

  “We came for moral support. However you need it,” Cali added.

  Without responding to us he went to his dresser and retrieved some briefs. He respectfully added a layer of black sweats before crawling between us, smellin strongly of male bodywash.

  The three of us sat with our backs against his headboard in absolute silence for a few minutes.

  “Do you wanna talk about?” I asked, knowin Cali wouldn’t.

  He took my hand and then Cali’s, just holdin them for comfort. It dawned on me the longer we sat without sayin a word; he was lonely too.

  “I fucked up,” he finally said.

  “We all fuck up, Cobra, that’s life,” Cali replied, placing his hand on her bump.

  “But I really fucked up. I might have a kid, and now Blue is…Romero knew,” he finished, confusing me and Cali both.

  He puffed his cheeks up, and then let out a noisy stream of air. His silver eyes stared off blankly into space as he got lost in whatever was goin on inside his head.

  I had an inklin he liked Blue much more than he’d let on, because Cobra killed chicks left and right, and now she was with Vitus.

  My stomach still coiled just thinkin of his name. Throw a potential baby by my scandalous bitch of a sister into the mix, and I couldn’t imagine how the man felt.

  Beth deserved everythin she had comin to her, in my opinion. We didn’t have a full disclosure about everythin yet, but we would. And if this turned out to be true I’d be damned if I let the only untainted member of my family be used as a pawn in war.

  “We’ve all been through the ringer Cobra. And if you do have a kid so what? You we won’t let anything happen. Fuck Beth. We’ll bring him or her home and that kid’s going to have the best fucking life ever. You have to remember you aren’t alone. Blue’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay, too,” Cali said.

  I nodded my head, agreeing with her every word.

  Romero and Cali had gone through hell.

  Grimm and I had gone through hell.

  Now, it was Cobra’s turn.

  Epilogue

  Did it seem like we would have trouble in paradise?

  Sure as fuck did.

  The Savages, though…

  We’re a family, blood or not, and every family goes through shit from time to time.

  We were back on track a week later trying to figure out the best course of action. Vitus had been right.

  The DNA test was the best option to get Frank, the mayor, to back the fuck off.

  And so life went on.

  My life, specifically.

  I grinned up at Brat, and she smiled back.

  She loosened her fatal grip on my hair, urging me to come higher.

  Not bothering to wipe my face, I rose up and rested between her spread legs. I lightly trailed my fingers over the bruises on her neck.

  She’d got her little ass shitfaced off hooch. If I thought Brat was a pain-slut sober, her drunk was a whole new fucking animal.

  Last night was a special occasion. Brat took her initiation like a champ, rode me like a pro, goat blood and all, until I took over. My aching balls and happy dick agreed I’d made the right decision. I craved to make her pussy bleed.

  “Tell me how happy I make you,” I demanded.

  She leaned up, licking her arousal clean off my face, beard and all. “You’re gonna milk this forever aren’t ya?” she asked with a laugh.

  “I can’t put into any more words how happy you’ve made me, Tell me how happy I make you.”

  “You just fed me some delicious pussy for breakfast, and let me put a ball and chain on your finger; I’m very fucking happy, Brat.”

  She grinned at her diamond, and looked up at me with full adoration. Every time she gave me her eyes, I loved her hellion ass a little more.

  The most damaged parts of her soul still shone strong enough to give me a peace I’d never known. That fucking brimstone flaring inside her would forever be my altar to worship.

  She was mercy. I was death.

  She’d always be Sally. I’d be her Jack.

  A goddess like Persephone, to a Dark lord like Hades.

  Queen of death.

  Queen of me.

  For always.

  Death came to me in the form of a man.

  He replaced the halo that had fallen from my head with a crown forged of bone, blood, and desert roses.

  He gave me life, but didn’t know it yet.

  Looking back at the path I’d walked, I couldn’t believe the woman I’d become, but she
was someone I could be proud of. This whole journey was like watching a movie on the big screen.

  I sat on the couch with Cali and Katya, relaxing for the final weeks before our lives turned chaotic again.

  Across the room, stood a man straight out of the darkest of nightmares, and in his arms was a small bundle wrapped in pink. She was our key source of happiness it seemed, a temporary stress reliever to hold onto for a few moments.

  He looked up at me with joy in his eyes as he gently handed her to Cobra. Romero, the bulldog of a dad he was, stood hovering over their shoulders’.

  I wasn’t sure of the precise moment this gorgeous man had come to mean so much to me. I think he had had me at the first choke-hold. It just took some time to get the wind in our sails.

  He was an angry gray cloud, hovering over my head, just out of a reach. And then the drizzle started, but I didn’t think much of it, because a little rain wasn’t that big a deal.

  Before I knew it, he was a thunderstorm that was rapidly becoming something more.

  He was as lethal to me as he was alluring—He was my Tartarus hurricane.

  I don’t know what gave him the right to sweep in and wreak havoc on my fuckin soul, but I was so glad he had, because he’d destroyed me in the most beautiful way possible.

  He showed me how beautiful hell could be and all the wicked delight to be found in the dark. What seemed like a tragedy at first, wound up being a blessing in disguise.

  In this world, I was forced to change, enter uncharted territory to find my true strength and authentic self.

  What survived may not be kind, but it was me. As my eyes came to rest on Cobra, I knew that for the best.

  It was going to take a helluva lot of bloodshed to make this right.

  I had a feelin in the pit of my stomach that his journey would be the one that pushed all of us to the breaking point, and exposed everything.

  We would win the war, but there was no guarantee we would all be amongst the living when it was over.

  Bonus Epilogue

  I had an empire.

  I had my own personal hell right outside my door.

  I had an army at my beck and call ready to annihilate anyone who fucked with me.

  I had two brothers, a family that would do anything for me.

  None of that shit mattered.

  It couldn’t touch what was right in front of me.

  My beautiful, dark fucking queen was the best thing that ever happened to me. In her arms was my best motherfucking achievement.

  Adelaide Deville came into this world six days early, on the sixth day of May, at six sixteen in the morning. Her hair was dark blonde, her eyes still newborn blue. She was quiet and calculating, already as beautiful as her mother and as lethal as her father.

  There may have been an accident where the doctor ended up dead, but Uncle Cobra and a nurse got her out just fine while Arlen stood by as doula.

  It was almost as if she was aware we were a week away from going to war, and needed to be present right fucking now.

  Cali knew I was standing in the doorway, just watching the two of them, probably thinking I was there to collect my extra limb. She’d just finished feeding, now fast asleep on her chest.

  Her hypnotic blue eyes met mine, and she smiled.

  She still looked at me like I was the only man in the fucking universe, and she was still everything to me.

  “You know you got this,” she said as I finally approached our bed.

  “No, Pixie, we got this.”

  Bloodshed is what we did, but she was right.

  No one came to the devil’s playground and beat him at his own game.

  COMING 2018

  Add to TBR

  Pre-order/Release Notification

  Reader’s Group

  Playlist

  Spotify

  Gin Wigamore- Black Sheep

  NF-10 Feet Down

  NF-Mansion

  BHM-Can You Feel My Heart?

  Trevor Moran-Sinner

  Coldplay- Fix You

  Lacey Strum-Rot

  The Neighborhood-Heaven

  Disturbed-Down With The Sickness

  5FDP-The Devil’s Own

  The Fray- Never Say Never

  Stone Sour- Song #3

  Tove Lo- Moments

  Halestorm- The Reckoning

  Fall Out Boy- Bishops Knife Trick

  Three Days Grace- The High Road

  Three Days Grace-Painkiller

  Three Days Grace- Animal I Have Become

  Wasteland- 10 Years

  Evanescence- Imperfection

  Shinedown- Cut The Cord

  Sam Smith- Life Support

  Niykee Heaton-Lullaby

  Halsey-Gasoline

  Halsey-Roman Holiday

  PVRIS-Separate

  PVRIS-Fire

  The Weekend-Pray For Me

  Breaking Benjamin-Red Cold River

  Breaking Benjamin-Save Yourself

  Breaking Benjamin-The Dark Of You

  In This Moment-Sick Like Me

  In This Moment-Forever

  Want to be the first to hear about new releases or sales? Join my newsletter.

  Sign Up Here

  Follow me on: Facebook

  Follow me on: Instagram

  Upcoming Books 2018

  King Of Hearts-6.09

  Ace Of Spades-6.22

  Heathens-TBA

  Fuck Toy-7.01

  Devils With Halos-TBA

  Other books by Natalie Bennett

  UltraViolence Duet

  UltraViolence

  Blue Velvet

  Obscene Trilogy

  Love Obscene

  Love Corrupted

  Love Depraved–10/31

  Badlands Series

  Savages

  Deviants

  Outcasts

  Heathens

  Degenerates *The next generation*

  Standalones

  Mercy: A Dark Erotica

  Rose De Muerte

  Pernicious Red

  Fuck Toy

  Acknowledgements

  Evelyn Summers-Thank you for taking my words and making them 10x better. You have the patience of a saint. LOL

  Michelle Brown- Everyone needs a PA like you.

  Quib-This space will never be big enough for me to type out how much I appreciate you. Thank you for being my partner every single day.

  Ena & Amanda- I’ve been using Enticing Journey for almost a year now, and I can’t imagine doing a release without you guys. Thank you for everything that you do for your authors.

  Bloggers- I appreciate all that you do. All the sharing, reviewing, and teasers, you are invaluable to any author.

  Daqri Bernardo-You slay my covers every time with minimal instruction.

  My Readers- Last but never least, thank every single one of you.

  From the ones that have followed me on this learning path to the ones willing taking a chance on me for the first time.

  You make this all worth it on the days I feel low. I promise to always do my best and put out the best work that I can.