Den of Vipers

by K.A. Knight

He knows what I am—death. Ryder might be the face, Garret might be the enforcer, the muscle, and Kenzo the dealer…but me? I’m the fucking Grim Reaper.

They’re going to learn that money can’t buy obedience. I’m no man’s object. They are going to regret the day they took me. Vipers? Bitch, please, I bite too.

When you’re a kid, they tell you stories of monsters hiding under your bed or in the dark. They don’t tell you of the very real human ones. Those who prey on people weaker than them, or even the monsters that hide within ourselves.

They will never know how close I am to the edge. Diesel went over it a long time ago, but he learned how to live in the dark. Kenzo walks that line, and Ryder? Ryder holds it all back with pure fucking strength. Me? I beat it down.

I look over to see Roxy patting D’s chest like a dog. “Good boy, I’ll share my cake if you don’t kill anyone all the way through dinner.” “But what if they need killing?” he asks, frowning at her. “Then let Garrett do it,” she suggests sweetly. D sighs dramatically and slumps. “Fine, Little Bird. Only because you asked so nicely.”

“I’m gonna marry her,” he tells Garrett, but I ignore that, taking it as just another one of his crazy ramblings. “You have to ask her, genius.” Garrett chuckles. “Nah, I’ll just put a ring on her finger one day and tell her it happened,” he declares earnestly.

They aren’t knights in shining armour, no, they are the villains in the dark, with brooding eyes and beast-like tendencies. I never needed a knight. I needed a body to stand with me in the dark,

A woman can be strong and weak. Beautiful and scarred. Scared and brave. Smart and sexy.

‘Throw me to the wolves, and I will come back leading the pack.’

Never back a Viper into a corner, we always strike back harder,”