ENVY THE DAMNING KATIE MAY Copyright © 2019 by Katie May All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover Design by Melody Simmons Created with Vellum To Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for letting me stay at your house and write without distractions CONTENTS Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Epilogue Other Books by Katie May Acknowledgments About the Author First Chapter of Darkness We Crave! First Chapter of Gangs and Ghosts! PROLOGUE MALI I skirted the old well Z and I used to play at, now boarded up, before dashing into the forest. The forest once brought me comfort. The trees, tall enough to brush the skyline, and the animals scurrying through the brush. Like all Vampires, I was drawn to the living. Some might argue that it was merely a pull towards a food source, but I begged to differ. Vampires loved the living because we were death incarnate. Stumbling over the trim of my gown, I found myself in front of an unfamiliar cabin. The windows were unwashed, cracked in some places, and the wood was beginning to deteriorate with age. Still, the formidable building resembled a mansion to me and my tired body. With considerable effort, I dragged myself up the stone staircase and onto the wrap around porch. I waited, using my Vampiric hearing, but detected no heartbeats inside. Breaths sawing in and out from the marathon I had just run, I stepped through the door. The inside was just as dilapidated as the outside. Worn rugs, tearing on the edges, adorned the mahogany floorboards. A single hearth was lit in the entrance, the flames flickering and casting strange shadows on the walls. Alone at last, I settled on the ground and pulled out the arrow that had lodged itself into my leg. I had heard rumors of the Before time - before Nightmares came into play - and that the humans had used guns and bullets. I couldn’t imagine such a weapon when something as simple as a bow and arrow was able to incapacitate a newly-fed Vampire. The Council was full of assholes, but they had done one thing right when they had banned weapons worse than a knife. Cursing, I removed the wooden arrow and tossed it into the fire. The flames hissed but eagerly ate at its treat. I allowed my mind to wander. How did my life turn so fucked up? I had thought that I had everything - a best friend, two mates, a job. And it all shattered around me with the finesse of a bull trampling through a china shop. A sob lodged in my throat when I thought about Diego. His body lying limp on the ground, drenched in his own blood. The gurgling noises escaping from his lips. The tears in his eyes. I closed my own eyes as if that could somehow rid me of the horrendous images. And then Z’s face, the accusal in her gaze. The hatred. She could’ve killed me. I wanted her to. Because of me, Diego was dead. Because of me, my mate was dead. Zack. The person who was designed to be the other half of my soul. Or, at least, a third of it. My mind flittered to Atta the last time I had seen her. Her red hair framing her face as she leaned down to kiss my neck. Her small hand kneading my breasts, tweaking my nipples. I hadn’t been with a woman before, but she had made it as easy as breathing. As my tongue eagerly lapped at her slit, and her head rolled backwards, I knew I was in love. That love was only reconfirmed when she had returned the favor, our breasts bouncing against one another as our bodies moved. I had thought that if I were to be with any girl, it would be Z. I would be the first to admit that I was in love with my best friend, despite my previous conquests only being men. I would imagine her always. Under me. On top of me. Her heavy breasts bouncing in my face. I had been jealous when she had found her mates, irrationally so. Maybe things would’ve been different if I could’ve just supported my best friend. I had been so bitter, so angry, that I hadn’t once told her about Zack and me. When he had been with me, he hadn’t been a monster. There was so much gentle anxiety on his face, so much reverence, as he kissed down my body. Who would’ve known the monster that lurked underneath? When Z had cast me out, she had thought she had saved me from death. But she was wrong. Where would a Vampire that had been forsaken by her own kind go? I had worked with the human assassins, but they no longer wanted me. My family didn’t want me. No one fucking wanted me. A rogue Nightmare was easy prey. Already, I had over a dozen Hunters come after me - the reason for the arrow burning away in the fire. Sobbing, I placed my head in my hands and thought of death. It was so incredibly tempting, that seductive dark embrace constantly nagging at me, and I wanted nothing more than to give in. But I knew I could never. Atta. Z. My love and my best friend. Somehow, someway, I would earn their forgiveness and love. In my mind, I had a goal: to win Atta and Z back before Z’s wedding to the seven princes. I chuckled yet again, slightly hysterically, as I thought of my badass, Nightmare-hating best friend as the lover of the seven Nightmare princes. It was some cosmic joke. Fate was no
