I thought I’d hit rock bottom when I turned 16. The day I broke my first love's heart, ending things before I could ruin his career as a rock star. But damn, was I wrong. Things got progressively worse from that moment on, until now. Eight years later, when I find myself homeless, jobless, covered in blood, and running from a ghost of my past.

Dark magic is forbidden at Zodiac Academy. That’s why I hide it so well. But now, I’m supposed to mentor Darius Acrux, the son of the most ruthless dragon shifter in Solaria. If he’s caught using blood magic, he’ll lose his claim to the throne. The problem is? Our families are up to something, and we’re determined to find out what. No matter what dark power we must turn to....

Every four years, the criminal underworld engages in a game. The Game. The challenges range from the impossible to the deadly to the truly insane. Things that only a crazy person would tackle. I’ve won the game five times. This time will be no different. I’m at the top of my field now, the best of the world’s thieves. There’s nothing I can’t steal, and this time, the game is all about theft, subterfuge, and sleight of hand. Starting with a legendary painting of poppy flowers.

Born into Hollywood royalty, I’ve been making the hot sheet and generating internet buzz since before I could even walk. Doesn’t matter that my parents divorced prior to my second birthday, I can’t escape the shadows—or scandals—of my movie star mother and my rock star father.

He won’t tell me his last name, and maybe that should throw up a thousand red flags, but when I’m all alone in a new city and struggling to make ends meet, his texts are the lifeline I’ve been desperate for. I never would have answered that text if I’d known that Lincoln Daniels—superstar hockey player extraordinaire—was the one sending it. He’s trying to sweep me off my feet now. He says he’s obsessed. He wants me to wear his number…permanently. But is he still the wrong number, or can this hockey god prove he’s Mr. Right?

They say bad things happen in threes. The first was when I lost my parents. The second came when I had to leave behind everything I knew to move across the world to live with my only remaining relative. But what was life for, if not for living? So I kept moving. Then the third thing happened, just as I was about to begin my junior year at the prestigious Blackstone University. I caught the eye of not one, not two, but three of the most infamous guys on campus. The three guys from the wrong side of the tracks.

“Madison Kate Danvers was murdered tonight.” Those words changed my life, and not for the better. They were wrong, of course. I wasn’t dead. But I was set up. After being charged with a string of offences - and made an example of by my political-minded father - I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind. Hate. Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid-out future. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.

Everything changed the night my dad died. The night I met Saint, Galen, Caz, and Theo. Those manipulative a-holes set out to ruin me after our hot night together, but they didn’t realize you can’t destroy something that’s already broken. And it only works if the victim cares. Which I don’t. Because I’ve been in hell for years, and nothing penetrates the steel walls I’ve erected. Until the Sainthood decides I belong to them and cracks appear in my veneer. Their cruel games, harsh words, and rough touch awakens something inside me, and now, I’m in trouble.

Being in the Guild is our life…or death. Not everyone is created equal, and not everyone is truly cut out for the work we do. It’s not pretty, it’s not glamorous, and it’s sure as shit not moral or good. The weight of the sins we carry can become too much for some, and they crack. When they do, they become a threat. No one quits the Guild. Not really. Either they cut a deal to make themselves useful in another capacity, or they get eliminated. But who, you might ask, can kill a killer? Who scares the boogeyman into running and hiding? Men like me.

Bred in a world of gang wars, violence, and secrets, they rule the bloody town of Thorn Valley and all the people in it...too bad for me, I’ve never been good at kissing ass or keeping quiet. Even if their savage spirits awaken something inside of me I thought was long dead, I can’t break. I won’t. They think they scare me, that I’ll run and hide, but the joke’s on them. The Crows aren’t the first monsters I’ve faced, and they won’t be the last. There are worse evils out there waiting to take their stab at Ava Jade Mason. I say, let them try.

There’s one thing they don’t tell you about men without souls when they’re cast into damnation. Once we make a home for ourselves in hell, there’s nothing left to fear from life. And a man without fear is a man without limits. I hadn't had any limits in 10 long years.

They rule my new town, my school, and with more money than God, there’s very little out of their reach. Four gorgeous, perfect, scary boys. There used to be five, but one of them died, leaving a fifth position that I now fill. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be part of this billionaire-boys-club. But no one cares about what I want. Sebastian Beckett is the worst of them. Their leader. He draws me in, and strips me of every defense I have. He calls me Butterfly, but it's not a pet name, it's a threat.

Suddenly thrown into a world representing bloodlines I know nothing about, forcing a past I refuse to remember into the present, my world is turned upside down. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t want to go to college; it doesn’t matter that I don’t want to be here. I’ll follow the rules or risk my life. The organization that runs the criminal underworld is no joke.

It was supposed to be a simple weekend away to forget the heartache caused by my cheating husband. But the man sitting next to me in 1B has different plans. Cash’s whiskey-colored eyes and easy smile beg me to dance beneath the stars, kiss in the moonlight, and walk hand in hand down the streets of Boston. Unfortunately, life has other plans because I’m still married, and Cash James is the billionaire playboy standing between me and my dream promotion.

Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves. The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.