PROLOGUE
L.O.R.D.
A LORD TAKES his oath seriously. Only blood will solidify their commitment to serve those who demand their complete devotion.
He is aLeader, believes inOrder, knows when toRule, and is aDeity.
A Lord must be initiated in order to become a member but can be removed at any time for any reason. If he makes it past the three trials of initiation, he will forever know power and wealth. But not all Lords are built the same. Some are stronger, smarter, hungrier than others.
They are challenged just to see how far theirloyaltywill go.
They are pushed to their limits in order to prove theirdevotion.
They are willing to show theircommitment.
Nothing except their life will suffice.
Limits will be tested, and morals forgotten.
A Lord can be a judge, jury, and executioner. He holds power that is unmatched by anyone other than his brother.
Chosen one:
A Lord must remain celibate during his first three years at Barrington University. Once he is initiated into the Lords, he is gifted a chosen for his senior year.
A Lady:After they graduate from Barrington, they are to marry a Lady—a wife to serve him. If he shall die before her, she is then gifted to another Lord to ensure the secrets are kept within the secret society.
CHAPTER ONE
INITIATION
SIN
LOYALTY
FRESHMAN YEAR AT BARRINGTON UNIVERSITY
I SIT STRAIGHT up as I hear my bedroom door bang against the wall. The lights are flipped on, making me squint at the harsh brightness. Men’s voices are screaming at the top of their lungs, but the words they’re saying don’t register in my foggy mind.
Hands grab at my body, and my adrenaline immediately kicks in. I punch aimlessly, my body now wide awake and aware that men are in my room. I hit a face, making one of them grunt. I hit another body part, making another curse.
But there are too many of them. I’m yanked off my bed and fall face-first onto the floor. A knee is shoved into my back, and my arms are yanked behind me. “Get the fuck off me,” I shout before something is shoved over my head, effectively taking away my sight.
My heavy breathing fills the hot and heavy hood.
I roll over onto my back. Kicking my feet aimlessly, I try to make contact with anything I can. But something heavy presses down on my chest, and I feel a prick in my neck. My body instantly betrays me as it goes limp on my floor. The last thing I feel is something being wrapped around my ankles when my eyes roll into the back of my head.
_______________
I OPEN MYheavy eyes, having to blink several times before they focus. My head is foggy, my body sluggish. They drugged me. It takes me a few seconds to see I’m in a room with other men—fellow Lords who are being initiated.
I only count three. The rest must have been taken somewhere else for a different type of initiation. Rumors are, they like to break us up. That way we’re not all aware of what goes on. What we’re expected to do. Some are challenged more than others. It’s to weed out the weak from the strong.
This is a part of our journey to rule the world.If you want to be a man, then you take one’s life.My father once told me that when he came home covered in blood, pistol in hand.
Growing up, I always thought we were different. But that night solidified my suspicions. I was twelve when I found out he was a Lord, and I’d one day get the chance to be one as well.
You’d be surprised what a man will do to survive, Easton,he added when I questioned how he could take a man’s life and then go about his day like it didn’t happen.