Chapter 1
Sunny
I crawl across the ground, nails digging into the mud, as I leave a trail of blood in my wake.
I can’t die here.
Not now.
Not yet.
Not like this.
Despite the crippling pain, I keep putting one hand in front of the other in a desperate attempt to get to safety. I don’t know where or how, but I will make it. I’ve gotten so far already, and even though I can’t fucking walk on my own two feet anymore, I will not quit.
My teeth grind together as I shove my knees forward, groaning from the agony, but I refuse to give up.
I’m a motherfucking Reed, and Reeds never fucking give up.
I will not quit on myself, even if the world has decided I should.
Another drag across the mud, and my legs slide sideways, while blistering pain shoots up my thighs and belly, and I screech.
“Fuck!”
BANG!
The sudden gunshot makes me stop.
That came from somewhere close.
Was I followed?
Are they coming to finish the job?
I crawl and crawl, trying to get as far away from the area the gunshot came from, exerting myself over my physical limit.
As my hands slip away, my chin drops down into the mud, which splatters all across my face, and I lie there with my eyes closed for a moment to breathe through the pain while the rain pours down on me.
I’m going to make it. I have to…
So I can rain hell on the motherfuckers who betrayed me.
Xavier
I hold the paper against the wooden board and smash the tape against the flyer, making sure it’s tightly secured and clearly visible before I move on to the next board I can find on this campus, which is on the second floor of the building.
I have already plastered these all over campus under the judgmental gazes of plenty of students, but I don’t care what they think of me. I won’t stop pasting these flyers all over Spine Ridge University until I’m out of paper.
I run up the stairs without looking and nearly bump into my half brother Silas.
“Whoa, watch it, bro,” he says.
“Sorry,” I mutter, but as I pass him, he snatches the papers out of my hand. “Hey!”
“What is this?” He turns them over and inspects them. “You hanging wanted posters?”
I snatch back the paper. “Missing posters.”
He shrugs. “Same thing.”
“It’s not,” I reply.
Silas stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Sunny Reed? Really?”
“Got a problem?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Yeah. She’s part of that family.”
Oh, so that’s what this is all about. Old family feuds I thought were buried.
“Just because she’s Levi's family doesn’t mean she should be punished for what he did. You just wanna hate Levi so bad.” I make a tsk sound.
“Did you forget they killed our mother’s men?”
“To protect themselves,” I retort, “from you.”
That’s not why Silas has issues with Levi, though.
We stare at each other for a moment.
Levi is fucking my sister, and Silas doesn’t like that. Too bad for him, we don’t decide what Aspen does with her life. In fact, the women in our families basically have the men under their heels. That’s the hierarchy. I don’t make the rules.
And it’s not like his girlfriend, Ivy, doesn’t have Silas under her thumb too. He only pretends he’s in control.
“Whatever. I don’t have time for this,” I say. “Wanna help me or not?”
“Pass. Not because I wanna be a dick, but because I have class in five minutes,” he says. “Gotta run.”
“Great.” I roll my eyes.
“You go run ahead, simp. Have fun hanging those flyers. Sunny will come back in no time, with or without our help.”
I ignore him and continue up the stairs toward the next board.
We don’t know if Sunny will come back without our help, so I have to try. I have to do something.
I’ll hang these missing posters all over the fucking school if I must, until I run out of goddamn paper, and then I’ll print some more and paste them all over Crescent Vale City too.
Sunny has been gone too long. Something happened to her, and I won’t stop looking until I find her.
Atreus
I aim my rifle at the bird sitting atop the tree branch far above me, resting my finger on the trigger while I wait until I get a clean shot.
Right when I press it down, a bone-chilling scream jolts me.
BANG!
I miss, and the bird flies off into the unknown.
I pull down my rifle and gaze around.
That was not my imagination. Someone screamed, but where?
I get up from the ground, brushing the leaves off my dirty pants as I make my way through the thick forest toward the area the sound came from, pushing aside some branches and bushes in my way.
The dense pine trees make it hard to look far ahead, but beneath my feet is a slippery trail of mud mixed with blood that looks like someone was dragged through it, so I follow it until I come across a body lying motionless on the ground.
A woman.
Time feels like it comes to a halt as I approach the body, wondering if she’s dead and I’ve just stumbled upon a crime scene. Her black-and-green hair stands out among the foliage as I close in on her, but the blood pooling beneath her thighs makes my heart throb in my throat.
I goddamn hope this isn’t what I think it is.
I push her shoulder to wake her, but when she doesn’t respond, I roll her over instead. Her face is covered in mud, eyes closed, lips parted, and I lean in to listen for the sound of life.
A soft, barely noticeable breath leaves her mouth, but it’s enough.
She’s alive.
I curl my hands underneath her back and legs and lift her from the ground, then carry her all the way back to my car as fast as I possibly can. I lay her down on the back seat and jump behind the wheel, kicking it into gear before I race off toward the nearest hospital.
Orion
I lament over my latest poem, annoyed at myself that I just can’t seem to find the right words lately. Every time I write one sentence, I get the urge to scrap two more, and it’s just not fitting together correctly in a cohesive manner. But why?
It isn’t like I don’t have plenty of inspiration to go around, such as thoughts of sex and death, death and sex, or both at the same time, because why not?
I keep on clicking my pen while staring at the letters until they begin to float off the paper, then grumble and look away, throwing my blond locks over my shoulder.
Dammit, this writer’s block is killing me. Maybe I should let it. At least then I can finally rest these weary bones. But it would be such a shame to die now without having even produced my magnum opus, let alone a proper ending to this damn poem.
But the wine … oh, the wine, my dear muse, is calling my name.
I slide my chair back and gravitate toward my rack of bottles of carefully selected beauties that I’ve managed to find over the years and grab the one that’s been eyeing me from day one.
“You’re mine now,” I muse, tapping the bottle before I pop it open and pour myself a nice big glass. “Ahhh … perfect.” I swirl it around and take a sip. “Just a few more and maybe I’ll finally be able to think straight.” I chuckle at myself. “Good one, Orion.”
But as I put the glass to my lips, my phone buzzes, distracting me from my midday binge. I pick it up and nearly drop my glass when I read the text my mother sent to the family chat.
Mom: They found Sunny. She’s in the hospital.
I slam down my glass and immediately grab my fur coat along with my pen and notebook and shimmy out the door.
When I get to the hospital, everyone in our extended family, as well as their loved ones, has already arrived, even Silas, and I’m shocked he even cared enough to come see her. Then again, his family probably dragged him along because they’re friends with Sunny’s mother.
I swallow back the lump in my throat as I approach the group. “Is she really back?”
“Barely,” Aspen responds, sucking in a breath. “But I’m glad she was found alive.”
“Where did they find her?” Xavier asks.
“In the woods, apparently,” their half sister, Melody, says, and she shrugs. “I wonder what she was doing there.”
“Can’t have been good, since she was covered in blood,” my half brother Heath growls, folding his arms.
“Blood?” His sister Cecelia’s eyes widen.
“Sounds gnarly,” Atlas says.
“She can handle it,” his brother Apollo says. “She’s a Reed.”
Atlas bumps him with his elbow. “Read the room, bro.”
“Where’s Mom?” I ask Heath.
He points at the door up ahead. “Inside, with all the other parents, as well as Levi, Max, and Elliot.”
I’m glad her brothers are by her side. Even if she’ll never show it, I know she needs them.
“I hope she’s okay,” Cecelia mutters to herself while biting her lip.
“I just hope the guy who found her won’t be a problem,” Silas says, folding his arms behind his head.
“How so?” I ask.
“Because he’s a damn cop, that’s why.”
“Well, shit,” Grey, one of Aspen’s boyfriends, mutters.
“Wait, is it the same one who was investigating our family because of some murders?” Aspen asks.
“Yup,” Apollo responds, taking a sip of his Coke. “Want me to smash his face in?”
“NO!” the three girls, Aspen, Ivy, and Cecelia, say in sync.
“What? It was just a suggestion.” Apollo shrugs.
“That’s not a solution to our problem, dude,” Heath says.
“The police have been sniffing around for months,” Silas says.
Xavier leans forward. “And whose fault is that?”
Silas narrows his eyes at him. “I have urges. You want me to take them out on you instead?”
“Hey,” Apollo interjects. “No fighting.”
“Who put you in charge?” Silas grits.
“Your parents and mine did, so shut your damn mouth,” Apollo barks back.
“Someone has to keep the peace in this family,” Melody muses with a lightheaded voice. “Otherwise, we would’ve caused another bloodbath in these hospital halls.”
“Does anyone know why Sunny was in those woods?” Xavier asks.
No one answers. I don’t think anyone knows.
Not until she tells us.
If she’ll ever tell us.
Because if there’s one thing everyone knows Sunny Reed can do well, it’s keeping secrets.
Sunny
Every head of each of our poly families is currently in my very crowded room. Ares, Caleb, Blaine, and their lover Crystal, my mom and dad and her two other lovers, and even the entire Rivera family, including Penelope, Dylan, Felix, and Alistair.
It should be a happy reunion for them, but all I want to do when they see me is look away.
“My baby,” Mom says, as she hugs me so tightly I can barely breathe. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Okay?
I am not okay.
I exist.
That’s about it.
“The doctors told us they had to keep giving you infusions,” Dad says, swallowing away the lump in his throat. “You lost a lot of blood.”
Tears form in his eyes, but he immediately blinks them away. My dad rarely ever cries. I don’t think I’ve seen a single tear roll down his cheeks. Maybe once in a blue moon, but that’s it.
Which is why this is so difficult to stomach.
I hold out my arm, and he comes to hug me too.
I don’t want them worrying about me.
I’m alive. I’m here. That’s all that matters.
At least, for now.
“We were worried about you,” Max says as he grabs my hand.
When my parents release me from their hug, Elliot comes in next and hugs me tightly. “Missed you.”
“C’mon, don’t exaggerate,” I quip, making him laugh.
“You know better than to disappear on us, bitch,” he claps back.
“How long has it been?” I ask.
“More than a week,” Levi says, making a fist. “What happened?”
I swallow, not wanting to burden them with my choices or mistakes.
“Don’t hasten her,” Ares, Apollo’s dad, says. “Let her speak on her own terms.”
“Ares is right,” Caleb says.
A sudden knock on the door makes them all turn toward the doctor, who pokes her head inside.
“Can I speak with my patient?” she asks.
“She’s here,” my mother says.
“You can speak to her with us present,” my mom’s other lover, Kai, says.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor begins, “but this is doctor-patient confidential material that I want to discuss. In private.”
“The what now?” my dad mutters.
Kai places a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just let the doctor do her thing, Nathan.”
“Yeah, I’m sure we can talk about everything that happened later,” Milo, my mom’s third lover, says. “Cmon, Lana.”
“Ugh, fine,” Mom groans, throwing her hands in the air. “But as soon as she’s gone, I’ll be right back with you.” She leans in to press a kiss on my cheek.
“I’m fine, Mom. Honestly,” I say.
Everyone in the room smiles at me before they leave me alone with the doctor.
But there are no smiles left once the doors close, and I’m left alone with her. As her lips part and those dreaded words I feared spill from her lips, the image I once had of my future no longer exists.
My fingers curl around the blanket while she tells me the news.
I do not care about the ifs or the whys.
Only the when.
Because when I get out of here …
I am going to kill.