Miscreants: Next Generation by Natalie Bennett (classic books for 7th graders TXT) 📕

which made that easy to do. This was one of my first strongholds. I’d come across it thanks to a tip from my silent benefactor. Only a few of my proselytes occupied it. The others were scattered elsewhere.

Our main insignia—a goat head with the antlers of a stag centered in the great Baphomet’s sigil—was painted as a mural taking up the entire back wall.

The second—the head of a lone stag—was on another. It was essentially two factions in one.

The Lazarus were mine.

Stags were Amo’s.

We took equal responsibility and control of both. It was no different than making an alliance, apart from the fact that we did everything together, creating a supersized army of sorts. Our Stags were our front runners while we kept the Lazarus movements hush. The two were night and day. Lazarus recruits tended to be the worst kind of twisted fucks, while a Stag just needed to know how to kill when necessary, so it worked out well.

Now that this was becoming common knowledge, as well as Amo and I revealing our true identities, things were going to get a lot more interesting.

Brody and Poet were playing a game of cards, both giving their full attention to the hands they had.

I wasn’t going to interrupt them.

Aurora and Cherry were at the breakfast bar.

I hadn’t decided what to do with this girl yet. She seemed to be a lag that went from place to place just so she didn’t have to be on her own. That sounded like a personal problem to me.

On my way out the door, I caught Amo’s eye. He was engaged in a game of darts with Takara—their darts being throwing knives and their target some random fuck gagged and hung on the wall. That wasn’t my problem, either. People had to entertain themselves somehow. If it wasn’t one of ours, who fucking cared?

Outside, I spared a glance for Jin. He was in the back building, prepping the first Brabus for tomorrow.

The one I needed was still where I had parked it, although the husk of Knox had been taken away by now. I opened the rear end and dug out the duffel bag that had what I needed.

Hearing someone approaching, I looked over and spotted Amo and Rory. If double trouble was a person, it was these two.

“When did you get here?”

“Maybe a half hour ago. Everything’s a go for the move.”

“Good.”

“How is she?” Rory asked.

“What about you?” I retorted.

Her grey eyes narrowed. “I’m still breathing, ain’t I?”

I laughed softly. She couldn’t stand anyone showing concern for her wellbeing, but she was quick to show concern for our faction and her siblings—Butcher excluded. She made sure we kept tabs on Cam, who was surpassing both his father and twin brother in terms of brutality.

As for her and Lilith, one was wary and the other didn’t know how to bridge the gap between them. This was one of the rare kinships I hoped would resolve in a good way.

For both their sakes.

Rory had been through her fair share of shit. She deserved a chance to show she was genuinely interested in having them in her life. She was a slum baby. She’d run with some Venom boys before they split and took their own paths.

The Badlands didn’t have great statistics for loners. Women had even less of a survival rate. Aurora was a rarity for making it on her own. It was no surprise my uncle had taken a keen interest in her.

“Sore. Tired,” I finally answered.

“Not all information is good information, babe.”

“You’re the one who asked,” Amo replied to her. “You owe me, by the way.”

I slammed the back end of the Brabus closed and turned towards them. “For?”

“I kept that snippety bitch entertained.”

He had to be referring to Takara.

“Aw, don’t pretend like you haven’t been eyeing her for weeks,” Rory remarked.

“You ready for the big meet?” he asked me, changing the subject.

“It is what it is.”

I wasn’t going to mention that I’d noticed his fascination with Kara too. When or if he wanted to talk about it, we would. That’s how we worked—respecting each other’s boundaries enough to know when to push an issue and when to shut the fuck up.

Unless he had a major personality switch up, that pairing would never happen, anyway. Amo had made it clear the only people of the opposite sex he cared for were his baby sister, Rory, and Lilith—who would never believe that.

Intimate relationship-wise, he killed off every girl he fucked after he got tired of them. My cousin Bella had been an exception.

“You tell her yet?” Rory questioned.

“Nah.” I looped the duffel over my shoulder and started back for the fief. “I will tomorrow…maybe.”

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

“I was invited. If they wanted me dead, they wouldn’t have gone through that much effort.”

It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but I didn’t have the desire to discuss how I felt or thought with anyone. If my uncle wanted to get rid of me, he wouldn’t keep it a secret. I told them I’d see them in the morning and returned to the upper bedroom.

I laughed to myself when I saw how she’d fallen asleep, partially buried beneath the comforter, long ways against the headboard.

She hated the wet spots from fucking. Usually, she’d use my body as her buffer. I sat the duffel down and perched myself on the edge of the bed.

With her hair framing part of her face, she looked peaceful. Effortlessly beautiful like she always did. I wanted to make this kind of peace her reality, but that was going to take a lot longer than one night to achieve.

When I first met Lilith, she was nothing but my cousin’s best friend. I never intended