Loni

Everyone in Harmony Heights knows about the Order of the Owed. A not-so-secret society, the men who get inducted are set for life. And the women they choose... there's no escape.

I thought I found one. The second I turned eighteen, I was gone. A new name. A new start. No expectations. When the day came that the new inductees plotted their lives, I wouldn't be a part of it.

And I believed that for more than a decade-until I received an invitation to my own wedding.

I thought it was a joke. No way was I going to be forced into marrying one of the Owed. It wasn't going to happen-

-and, yet, there I was, dressed in white, about to get married to a man I didn't know anymore.

Whoops. Wrong again.

Because the man who walked in on the ceremony, calmly shooting my 'fiancé' before taking his place?

I know him.

Adrian Heller. My biggest tormentor... and my biggest secret.

Adrian

For too long, I had to hide how I felt about Loni Dougherty. Considering my obsession with her was the biggest open secret in all of Harmony Heights, I didn't do that great of a job.

Everyone knew-except her.

She thought I was her high school bully. And maybe I was, but I also made her untouchable; at least, I thought I did. No one else could really have her, and I wouldn't let anyone hurt her more than I had to... until that party senior year.

Even so, I was sure that, once I became one of the Owed, I could make her mine. I held onto that, too, until she simply disappeared and my new loyalties meant I couldn't chase her out of town.

That doesn't mean I gave up on her, though. And when she gets dragged back to Harmony Heights to be given away to another Owed, I make sure the whole Order knows that I Claimed her first.

She looks so pretty with blood on her wedding dress and my name on her lips, even if her eyes are filled with hate as she vows to be my bride.

But I don't care about that. Loni is mine, and I'll end anyone who tries to get between us again.

After all, it wouldn't be the first time...