Heathens (Badlands Book 4) Read online

  Copyright

  HEATHENS by Natalie Bennett

  © 2018 by Natalie Bennett. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where the publisher or author specifically grant permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design: COVERS BY COMBS

  Editing by: Pinpoint Editing

  Blurb

  Cobra

  Wildcard.

  Sinner.

  Frequently misunderstood.

  I can be your best friend or your worst fucking nightmare.

  The Savages are my family and the Badlands is our paradise.

  When that’s threatened, no one is safe.

  Carnage and chaos unfold around me.

  Loyalties are tested. Truths start to unravel.

  When everything I know teeters on the verge of going up in flames, the only girl I tried to save may end up saving me.

  Blue

  Old soul.

  Selfless.

  Unusually stable.

  I was the good girl, the one who saw beauty in people.

  When the devil marked me, everything changed.

  The world I’ve been chained to is merciless and cruel.

  I was ready to leave it all behind, but then he found me again.

  He needed saving; I needed a reminder of who I was.

  Nothing could prepare me for what came next.

  DEDICATION

  To my tribe of ambitious women. I’d be lost without you.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Heathens is the fourth book in a dark erotic series with an underlying dystopian tone. This is a story with no cliffhanger that was written to bridge the gap between the first three books and the upcoming fifth, Degenerates: Badlands Next Generation.

  Books 1-3 must be read prior to fully enjoy this story. Heathens is by far the lightest book in the series.

  With that being said, please know your limitations. If you have issues with vulgar language, graphic sex, and reading about very dark and depraved themes with zero regard for moral boundaries, this is not the series for you.

  If you want questions with simple and easy to find answers, redeeming heroes, and a guaranteed happily ever after, I’m not the author for you.

  This is not a fluffy romance.

  This book is a work of fiction and meant only for entertainment purposes.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Blurb

  DEDICATION

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Playlist

  Recap

  Outcast’s Epilogue

  Bonus Epilogue

  Prelude

  “Fléctere si néqueo súperos Acheronta movebo”

  PART ONE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  PART TWO

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  COMING SOON

  DEGENERATES BLURB

  .Degenerates Excerpt

  Degenerates Excerpt

  Playlist

  Acknowledgement

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  Upcoming Releases 2018

  DEVILS WITH HALOS

  Depravity (Love Depraved)

  2019

  Opaque Melodies

  Degenerates

  Other books by Natalie Bennett

  UltraViolence Duet

  UltraViolence

  Blue Velvet

  Obscene Trilogy

  Love Obscene

  Love Corrupted

  Badlands Series

  Savages

  Deviants

  Outcasts

  Heathens

  Standalones

  Mercy: A Dark Erotica

  Rose De Muerte

  Pernicious Red

  DEPREDATION

  Old Money Roulette Trilogy

  Queen Of Diamonds

  King Of Hearts

  Ace Of Spades

  Playlist

  (Spotify)

  Lana Del Rey—Gods & Monsters

  Meg Myers—Motel

  Meg Myers—Numb

  Billie Eilish—Bitches Broken Hearts

  Selena Gomez—Back To You

  Breaking Benjamin—Without You

  Breaking Benjamin—Tourniquet

  Breaking Benjamin—Psycho

  Bring Me The Horizon—Mantra

  NF, Fleurie—Mansion

  NF, Britt—Can You Hold Me

  Aquilo—Silent Movies

  Flora Cash—Sadness Is Taking Over

  Marshmello—Silence

  Pvris—You and I

  Tender—Sickness

  Halsey—Eastside

  Red—Let It Burn

  Juice Wrld—Lucid Dreams

  Daughtry—It’s Not Over

  Drake—Take Care

  The Weeknd—Try Me

  Shaman—The Devil In Our Wake

  The Fountain—Bad Omens

  The Fray—Never Say Never

  The Fray—Look After You

  The Script—For The First Time

  Eminem—Legacy

  Eminem—Not Alike

  5FDP—I Refuse

  5FDP—Seasons Change

  5FDP—Will The Sun Ever Rise

  5FDP—Stuck In My Ways

  Three Days Grace—Nothing To Lose

  Gin Wigamore—Holding On To Hell

  Julia Michaels, Trippie Red—Jump

  Ariana Grande—Breathin

  30 Seconds To Mars—Rescue Me

  Kanye West—Yikes

  Troye Sivan—BLUE

  Twenty-One Pilots—Heathens

  Recap

  This is a quick rundown of events from the series up until Heathens. Mild spoilers are ahead for anyone who has not read the first three books.

  Deviants ended with Arlen being kidnapped by Romero’s half-brother. Leading into the next book (Outcasts), Grimm went to rescue her.

  Later on in the book, a few key players are introduced (Vitus, Katya, Blue) and some revelations are made.

  Outcasts ended with Blue being traded as collateral from Romero to Vitus.

  Everything unanswered will be resolved in Heathens. I’ve attached the Epilogue from Outcasts, or you can skip straight to the prelude of Heathens.

  Epilogue

  Prelude

  Outcast’s Epilogue

  GRIMM

  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.

  ARLEN

  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, to 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

  ROMERO

  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.

  Prelude

  “Fléctere si néqueo súperos Acheronta movebo”

  My world is cruel, merciless, and full of despair.

  There are no superheroes, knights in shining armor, or handsome princes to save damsels in distress.

  It’s kill or be killed.

  Man eats man.

  Survival of the sickest.

  Cannibals, gangs, and hedonistic warfare are what thrive in the Badlands.

  I once fought every day to be an exception.

  I had crippled wings and a splintered halo. My soul had turned a little blacker than I’d like to admit, but my heart was still solid gold.

  I did my best to stay on a moral high-ground.

  And then I met Cobra.

  He was sin personified, deadly and venomous—just like his namesake.

  We were total opposites, yet the only thing that could make the other complete. Our bond ran deeper than either of us could have expected.

  In the midst of anarchy, as the walls came crashing down, we used one another as our reason to continue breathing.

  However, hearts, flowers, and pretty poetic words our story is not.

  Sometimes it’s ugly, and sometimes it may hurt, but I would never take back a single moment.

  We found our own version of paradise, only after going through hell together.

  In the end, I was simply a blue-haired girl who fell deeply in love with a redheaded heathen.

  PART ONE

  Torch my soul

  Up in smoke

  Heaven knows

  Hell below.

  Chapter One

  BLUE

  Thunder rumbled overhead.

  Any second now, the coal black sky would unleash its torrential wrath.

  Sadly, the rain would be of no aide to the small group of travelers already consumed by ravenous flames.

  I stood a few feet behind six of the Venom, watching their flesh shrivel up and melt like plastic, and found peace in the fact that three out of t
he four were dead long before they were fed to the fire.

  As for the one who’d suffered the most, I couldn’t find it in me to offer him an ounce of pity.

  What he did was stupid and lacked all common sense. No one in their right mind would lead their family to an abandoned prison in the middle of the night.

  Did none of them see the markers and signs claiming this as Venom territory?

  Even if they hadn’t, I’d done my best to warn them away. Had they listened, they would never have been paraded though the prison and executed as an example.

  It wasn’t a sight I would soon forget.

  The man had begged for his family’s lives to be spared.

  The method was a simple bullet to the back of the head, quick and painless.

  They dropped him into the fire right on top of their bodies. After his agonizing screams ended, all there was left to do was inhale, exhale, and stare at the embers.

  The smell that carried on the wind was…haunting.

  It was emotionally taxing. Lack of humanity practically seeped out of it.

  Vitus was the first to turn away from the spectacle he’d single-handedly created. He started towards me, slowly perusing as he did.

  I’m not sure what he was expecting to find. I had never once shown him how I truly felt, a major feat for a girl who once walked around with her heart on her sleeve.

  Without a word, he took my hand in his and led me away.

  We walked in silence, following the rocky path that led to the rear entrance of the prison.

  Crickets chirped dubiously in the overgrowth that stood on either side of us. Tendrils of my hair lifted on a breeze, causing me to shiver.

  Vitus immediately dropped my hand so he could take off his leather jacket and drape it over my shoulders.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” I was quick to object.

  “Of course I did. Can’t have my favorite girl catching a cold.”

  From my peripheral, I caught a glimpse of his flirtatious smile. His words did nothing but make me feel unclean.

  I’d overheard him say the same thing to someone else just the day before.

  Choosing to keep quiet, I pressed my lips into a straight line and made a point of studying the ground, earning a sigh in response.