Savages: A Reverse Harem (Vengeance Book 1) Read online

  Contents

  Prologue - Gray

  Chapter 1 - Gray

  Chapter 2 - Adyen

  Chapter 3 - Gray

  Chapter 4 - Athens

  Chapter 5 - Gray

  Chapter 6 - Rhodes

  Chapter 7 - Gray

  Chapter 8 - Adyen

  Chapter 9 - Gray

  Chapter 10 - Neo

  Chapter 11 - Gray

  Chapter 12 - Taylor

  Chapter 13 - Gray

  Chapter 14 - Gray

  Chapter 15 - Gray

  Chapter 16 - Gray

  Chapter 17 - Adyen

  Chapter 18 - Gray

  Chapter 19 - The Boys

  Chapter 20 - Gray

  Chapter 21 - Gray

  Chapter 22 - Athens

  Chapter 23 - Gray

  Chapter 24 - Gray

  Chapter 25 - Taylor

  Chapter 26 - Gray

  Chapter 27 - Neo

  Chapter 28 - Gray

  Chapter 29 - Gray

  Chapter 30 - Rhodes

  Chapter 31 - Gray

  Chapter 32 - Gray

  Chapter 33 - Adyen

  Chapter 34 - Gray

  Chapter 35 - Neo

  Chapter 36 - Gray

  Chapter 37 - Rhodes

  Chapter 38 - Gray

  Chapter 39 - Neo

  Chapter 40 - Taylor

  M. Sinclair

  Copyright

  Copyright © M. Sinclair, 2018. All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  *Fantasy Reverse Harem*

  Gray and her guardian swear a lot. As well, please be advised that the book contains darker themes such as gore, assault, PTSD, and violence. Additionally, sexual themes are suitable for mature audiences +18.

  For those who love our over the top alpha males AND our kickass heroines.

  “Create an empire together.”

  Prologue

  Gray

  My lips touched the rim of my porcelain coffee mug as the taste of orange blossom tea exploded on my tongue. The morning traffic, heavy with small sedans, flew by the gates of our academy. What did the humans driving past our academy think about when they looked upon the dark foreboding gates? Did they think it was odd that a tiny collegiate academy decided to pick a small suburb of Colorado for its location? I thought it was odd and I attended the damn place.

  It didn’t help that our walls were so heavy with secrets that they shook with tension. A safe haven. That was the meaning it held for so many of its students. Could it truly be a safe haven though? When the walls inside were so frail they would break upon impact? When everyone was so terrified to say anything. To admit to anything. So instead, silence rattled the walls in fear like a pair of knocking knees.

  My manicured hand pressed against the thick panel of the dorm window as a pair of warm muscular arms wrapped around my waist comfortably. It was a friendly gesture that made me sigh in content. He rested his head on my shoulder and pressed a kiss to my clothing covered scars.

  “So you’re positive? Do we know their names? Or anything useful?” I asked with a raspy voice that spoke to my exhaustion.

  “No, not really… but I am as positive as I can be,” he mumbled and pressed his forehead to my shoulder. “It means your time here is shortening.”

  My hand reached up to rub his soft hair absently.

  “We knew this would happen.”

  “I just thought we had more time,” he grumbled while turning my shoulders gently so that I faced him. My back pressed into the cold glass behind me.

  “We are going to be just fine,” I reassured him with a tight smile.

  His warm tanned hand cupped my jawline. “I know. I just can’t imagine going a day without being us.”

  I grinned at that.

  “Us, isn’t us though, You know how much I hate those assholes.”

  A low, comfortable chuckle filled the air as his lips pressed to my forehead. It was soft and warm, like melted chocolate. How could I not love him? He was the balm to my dark soul and the shelter within my storm. This connection had been predestined. It ensured me that at least one person would love me without reserve.

  “One day, Gray,” he whispered before pulling me into a hug, “this will all be over. We just have to be strong.”

  “And until then?” I swallowed my mounting fear.

  “Punch anyone who gives you a problem,” he stated with a grin.

  That I would.

  Chapter 1

  Gray

  Monday was my favorite day. It was the day I looked forward to because of this moment. This moment being the ever consistent event that highlighted the lack understanding between Bobby and I. He had his stupidly muscular arms crossed and his face twisted in a confused expression. My blank expression and sarcasm seemed to have stopped his onslaught of ‘witty’ remarks regarding my scars.

  “What?” he asked with a tilt of his head, reminding of me a golden retriever.

  “Bobby,” I groaned as his friends snickered. “You asked me if I noticed what I had on my face. I responded with, ‘What do you mean? What’s on my face?’ It’s pretty clear what I was asking.”

  His honey brown eyes darkened, “How do you not know what’s on your face?”

  He seemed genuinely concerned that I didn’t know about the scar that held center spotlight on my cheek. I bit my lip as a genuine laugh almost escaped.

  God damn it, Gray. Keep it together.

  “Bobby, she’s being sar--” His lanky, red-haired friend, Jason, finished in a mumble because of my narrowed eyes. This was my game with Bobby. He wasn’t about to fucking ruin it.

  Jason paled as he worried his lip ring. Good. Be nervous. I turned my eyes back to my large ‘friend’ and spoke quietly.

  “Now, Bobby, please continue to explain what is on my face because I am clearly at a loss here.”

  I grinned and motioned to the other women around me, “I know I am not the only one who is curious, correct?”

  A series of murmured agreements and laughs sounded. Esme laughed from behind me at our usual table. Her cigarette smoke clouding the area in a perfume of tobacco. The entire front lawn of the estate, from the dark gates to the main building, had been landscaped into a series of gardens. Our garden, with our specific table, was surrounded with terraces of black roses that formed a protective visual wall. The roses perfumed the air and made our lunch time rather enjoyable and picturesque.

  Bobby’s eyes narrowed as the cogs turned in his brain. One of these days he would understand sarcasm. One of these days. I kept telling myself that.

  “Your scar--”

  There it was! I let my fist collide with his beautifully tanned face and felt something crunch. It was only a very small smidge of my physical power, but enough to make him grunt while holding his bleeding nose. I had to retain the small giggle of delight from my inner savage before turning on my black leather heels. Like every damn Monday, Jason led him toward medical.

  Routine. Every Monday.

  Routine. Different dialogue.

  Routine. Same fucking result.

  “I think he likes you,” Esme teased as she turned to face me.

  We sat across from one another at our benched table. Her messy dark waves formed a halo around her smooth, mocha colored skin in the afternoon light. I felt a slight tug of jealousy, as always, at
her clear complexion. Not one single scar.

  “Probably,” I offered while adjusting my cropped leather jacket. Lunch time was the only time of the day that residents of the academy could actually relax. One hour out of 24. It seemed inhumane. Unless you were me, of course, and had more fucking time than you knew what to do with.

  “Are we still on for tomorrow?” Esme asked with curiosity as she hit the ashes off of her cigarette. It was nearly out, which meant our lunch time was almost to an end. I smiled as a brief moment of appreciation cycled through me at her fantastic memory. Of course, she would remember my birthday. She was fantastic at this friendship shit.

  When I first arrived at the academy with a chip on my shoulder, Esme had looked me right in the eye and told me to ‘calm my shit.’ Something about her straight forward attitude and genuine interest in my well-being eventually broke through my little black heart. We had been best friends every since. Her loyalty was something I never questioned. In fact, she was one of the only two individuals that I trusted with anything worth mentioning in my life.

  “You only turn 21 once,” I sighed.

  She smiled, humor sparkling in her amber eyes.

  “Well, twice, if you count your fake ID.”

  “As if I need it,” I smiled in jest. My eyes caught movement near the gates. My heart jumped from my chest into my throat. At first, I thought it was them, but my contract hadn’t mentioned them visiting today. When I didn’t see a black SUV, I relaxed back into an indifferent posture. I continued to watch the guests as my lips curled into a small smirk.

  “I hadn’t heard we were receiving any new transfers,” I mumbled quietly while looking at Esme. “Have you heard anything about this?”

  Esme turned to peer past the usual group of women gathered in the surrounding gardens to see five large, suited men talking to security. They all ranged in height, but their massive builds and expensive clothing told me that they were definitely not human. Instinctively, every part of me was very okay with that. Self-preservation told me to go fucking hide because these weren’t normal men by any standards.

  “Should we say hi?” Her smile was dark and contagious. Esme was a lunatic like myself. Her scars were emotional, rather than physical though. The woman had survived 18 years in a religious cult while hiding that she was madly in love with the cult leader’s daughter. In my opinion, she deserved more fun in her life. I had the power to provide that fun.

  Unfortunately the fun would be for us, not the hot new guys. We had a reputation to maintain. They disrupted our carefully built hierarchy by showing up here. I had made a promise to myself, long ago, that I would always be the queen of my own damn castle. I would not be ruled over. I motioned to one of the girls around our table. Her blue eyes widened in surprise.

  “Go invite them over here,” I nodded to the gate. The girl nodded and adjusted her uniform as if she were on a mission for the gods themselves.

  I nearly smiled at that.

  If she only knew.

  Esme lit another cigarette before grinning.

  “Ready to have some fun?”

  Chapter 2

  Adyen

  Holy motherfucking shit.

  Now, I wasn’t a shy guy. There wasn’t a shy bone in my body. I was usually very secure in myself and my ability to talk to others. However, for the first time in my life, I was speechless. Every possible point of conversation in my mind was gone. All because of her.

  In fact, the only sound I could possibly produce would be a growl. If that. My dragon was creating a rumble in my chest that I attempted to silence with a cough. It only brought her attention to me as we approached.

  She couldn’t have been more than 5’3, yet her entire body radiated a dangerous tension that I had only seen on a defensive cobra. I suppose it was pretty accurate since we had just watched her break the nose of some guy twice her size. As we followed the large eyed girl to the table where we had been ‘summoned,’ I felt my eyes widen in realization. This was her.

  Taylor, tell Rhodes. This is her.

  Rhodes shot me a look and nodded in understanding. We had been sent here for her. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t her. It wasn’t this.

  “Hello boys,” she purred in greeting and caused her friend, the only one sitting across from her, to smirk. I imagined this was similar to being summoned to a queen's throne, every surrounding face watched us narrowly with suspicion. It seemed they were very protective of her, which made me want to chuckle. She had created her own following, even on earth realm.

  Rhodes stepped forward, his body tight with tension, but eyes curious.

  “Nice to meet you, I’m Rhodes.”

  He offered her a hand and she simply grinned like it was fucking Christmas. It was a dangerous grin that spoke to a predatory nature.

  She exuded anger, power, as well as sexuality. Her hair was so dark that it had hints of navy blue. It hung in a straight, silk veil down to her waist. While she was short, her entire body was perfectly curved and fit like she spent everyday running and working out. That same tight, curvy body was dressed in painted on jeans and a half top. I was not complaining about the lack of uniform. Yet, it seemed to only apply to her. It was when I met her gaze and saw the annoyance on it that I realized I had been caught staring.

  “You done?” She asked through a tight jaw while standing up from the table.

  I felt myself smirk at her frustration.

  “Done with what?”

  Why was I antagonizing her? It wasn’t in my nature to do that. At my center, I was protective and reliable. Yet, somewhere in my fucked up brain, I wanted her to react. Instead of apologizing, I kept smiling.

  I blamed my dragon, the fucker was an antagonist and aggressive bastard.

  As she stalked forward with precise movements, the scent of ashes and something uniquely her surrounded me. Those eyes fixated on me with frustration. I couldn’t help but examine her unique coloring. Her eyes, a stunning rich indigo, had a silver edge that surrounded her pupils. They were framed by thick lashes that brushed her cheeks and brought my attention to her lips that, while plump and deep red, were pressed in a thin line. My god, she was beautiful - absolutely fucking beautiful. Annoyed at me, but nonetheless, beautiful. Possibly more beautiful because of her annoyance.

  After all, it wasn’t everyday that a woman scowled at me. Most wouldn’t have risked it.

  “Are you done examining me?” she growled a cute sound as she tilted her head up. My dragon answered her anger with a rumble that made her pupils dilate. I knew she very much understood that my dragon wasn’t threatening her, but it seemed the other answer wasn’t preferable to her. She ignored my obvious reaction and narrowed her eyes.

  I was impressed by her, considering most people didn’t stand toe-to-toe with me. I wouldn’t lie. This woman was intimidating and I imagined that she faced the same problem. Instead of backing down, I continued to offer her a challenging gaze. Her confidence and poise spoke to what I knew of her heritage.

  “Maybe,” I offered with a singular shoulder shrug. “Maybe not.”

  I thought I saw amusement flash through her eyes, before she offered an eye roll and moved to sit on the edge of the table. Her friend, currently smoking, rose a brow at all of us with an unimpressed gaze. Gray looked at her and then tucked her silky locks behind her right ear. It was then that I noticed her scar. I tried not to react, but her eyes were trained on us as a group. When I heard Neo make a pained sound, I sighed. Fucking idiot.

  I understood it, though. My dragon wanted to know what had fucking caused that.

  The scar was a silver color that trailed from her temple to curve along her jawline. It reminded me off a crescent moon, adding to her beautiful, ivory skin. She narrowed her eyes at Neo and raised her long nails for inspection. The hand had scars on it, smaller round ones. I took in the contrast of her scars next to her set of diamond rings.

  She was baiting us. She wanted us to react. To see the contrast.


  She screamed wealth and power, yet those scars... Where the hell did those come from? Every protective instinct inside of me roared up. I swallowed hard and kept my eyes on her gaze instead of the scars. I knew she wasn’t doing this for pity.

  A smile crossed her lips.

  “Let me make something very clear, boys. I don’t really give a fuck about who you are or why you are starting the semester late. Just make sure to stay away from my people and we won’t have a problem - got it?” Heads nodded around her.

  Rhodes frowned as Taylor offered me a raised brow and an amused smirk. The fucking demon found everything funny. I noticed her entire group was made of women that were staring at her like she was some kind of deity. She probably was to them. Hell, she was like nothing I had ever seen. I wondered why she had placed such a purposeful distance between herself and the other men on campus? At least, I assumed that was the case. She had, essentially, a wall of women surrounding her. Shit, maybe I didn’t want to know.

  Fuck. No. Now I had to know.

  “Shouldn’t we know the name of who we are avoiding?” Athens asked with a coy smile.

  He needed to watch himself. Both he and Neo were absolute idiots at times. It was stupid to rise to her challenge when she was this defensive.

  This caused an authentic smile to flash onto her face. It was stunning and nearly caused me to lunge forward so I could see it better. It was in my nature to like shiny treasures, after all.

  “Gray,” she offered and locked eyes with me.

  But we already knew that.

  Chapter 3

  Gray

  “Who the hell are those guys?” Esme asked curiously while echoing my thoughts. “They seem way older than college kids.”

  “I would bet 24 or 25. The one asshole seemed younger, though,” I murmured.

  They did seem older, stronger, and bigger… I let out an exhale. My anxiety felt like a constricting snake around my throat. I was terrible with change.

  “Come on. Let's get to our classes,” she offered with an understanding look of sympathy.

  I didn’t do well around men and sure as shit not men that big. It was why I offered protection to the women at this school from assholes like them. Even if they were who I suspected, men had fallen into predictable patterns my entire life. Men that big and dominant? They were absolutely nothing but fucking trouble.