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PROLOGUE

I lift my head groggily, blood dripping from my parted lips. At least two ribs are definitely broken, maybe more. Betrayal lies thick on my tongue as I stare at the men I trusted with my life.

We are family. We have been together for years. I might not have always agreed with their methods, but I agreed with the end result—until now.

As the elite of our kind, we have survived things no others have by trusting one another and fighting side by side, but as I stare at them now, all I see are strangers—strangers willing to hurt innocents and torture and imprison me, one of their own, to get what they want.

They are corrupt. It has taken me too long to see it, and now I am left without any options or freedom. Everything we have built lies in tatters, and my dreams and hopes are broken, along with my body.

“I am sorry, Tate,” Eric, one of our youngest and newest recruits, calls as he heads to the cell door.

“You will be,” I snarl.

“You won’t make it out of here alive,” Major Black replies as he wipes his blade clean of my blood and grins at me. I knew the first time I met him that he was capable of evil, but it was aimed in the right direction, until it wasn’t anymore.

“We’ll see about that.” I smirk, even as it causes agony to ripple through me.

He simply spares me a disgusted look. “We could have been great together, Tate, an unstoppable unit. Such a waste. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have some hunting to do.” I watch him walk away, feeling such intense hatred, I’m surprised he cannot feel it.

The outer door slams shut, followed by Black’s mocking laughter, and I let fury fill me.

They won’t get away with this.

I won’t let them.

I will hunt down every inch of evil within our house and destroy them.

It’s time I become a monster rather than just hunting them.

Sometimes, it takes evil to fight evil, and before this ends, my soul will be as black as theirs.