"Hunter, wake up," Cierra's voice rang as my eyes fluttered open. I groaned as a pillow hit me on my back. Son of a bitch.

Cierra was my dad's cousin's most annoying little brat. Yeah, you read that right. She was a brat, and the worst part about it was she had superpowers just like me.

"Get up, or I'll get not only my daddy but your daddy too!" She hurled the cushion into my ribs twice before I yanked it away from her and threw it across the room to my beanbag chair, hoping she would run off and fetch it. When she didn't, I groaned in frustration.

Hmm.

"Cierra, it's Saturday."

"We're supposed to go to the festival, remember? You promised you'd drive and all that." I smirked, rolling over on my side and squinting as the sunlight peeked through my curtains and reflected off my blue eyes. Was it that Saturday?

A luminous ball of electricity formed in Cierra's tiny fingers as she threatened me, a mighty sixteen-year-old super guy. How adorable. "You promised, Hunter." She wailed.

"Okay, what is that going to do, Cierra? Shock me?" I taunted, taking a deep breath. "I can do that too?"

"DADDY! Hunter is threatening me," Cierra's raucous voice reflected through my bedroom. I rolled my eyes and sighed as I rolled over to my side.

"You're a pain in the ass, Cierra," I snorted, lifting my head from beneath the covers. She grinned, floating the cushion back in my direction. The pillow smashed my face, and I flopped back on the bed.

"That's what you get, loser," she yelled. I roared, anger building inside.

"Cierra! Get out of my room!" I barked, listening to her sonic screech as she rushed for the safety of the doorway, and I jumped up from beneath the comforter.

"I'm telling my dad!" she screamed. My father and his cousin raced up the steps, meeting me just outside my doorway as I stood in nothing but boxer briefs.

"Hunter, put on some bloody clothes," Maximus roared at me as he picked Cierra up into his arms.

"It's not my fault she came barging into my room like that?"

"She's seven, Hunter," my dad countered.

"She's eight, genius," Max snapped. My father rolled his eyes at his cousin.

"Either way, she looks to you as a role model. Get used to it," my dad spoke, agreeing with the little monster. Thanks, Dad.

My dad was Alpha, the incredible, selfless hero, but when he did things like this, he was just my dad, driving me as mad as Cierra. Although, just as much as it annoyed me, I'm sure it annoyed him, too. He was a sensitive guy. The media loved eating my old man and the rest of my family alive like mosquitoes, which often took a toll on him.

I knew Cierra was an obnoxious brat. Maybe my old man had a point. Maybe Cierra looked up to me; I was just an irritable teenage boy.

Sasha, my twin, slightly younger by just a few minutes, poked her head out of her doorway, giving Cierra a fake smile as she looked straight at me. "Did she wake you up too?"

I pushed my lips together as Cierra squirmed in her dad's arms. "Yep," I repeated.

"Cierra, why are you waking everyone up?" Maximus scolded Cierra. Cierra imposed a frown and puppy dog eyes as she stared into her daddy's brown eyes. I think that's how instant karma feels.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. Hunter promised me he'd take me to the festival today and-"

"Hunter works late; he's got school, and he can't cater to you all the time, Cierra," my father declared. Cierra batted her eyelashes at her dad, but Maximus didn't give in.

"Cierra, knock that off!" Max yelled.

"Yes, Daddy," Cierra frowned, feeling defeated.

"Thanks, Sasha," I said.

My sister winked at me. "Any time, Hunter." Then she popped her head back inside the door and shut it. Maximus walked away, taking Cierra with him, leaving my dad glaring at me.

"Evelyn and I will never have kids," I said out of frustration. My dad's eyebrow rose as he gazed at me for a moment.

"One day, you and Evelyn will, but I'm glad it's not now." Teenage pregnancy was a common theme in this family, but I promised Evelyn and myself we weren't that kind of couple.

My mom and dad had Sasha and me at seventeen, and many of my dad's cousins had children before they reached eighteen, encouraging a massive surge in teen pregnancy.

Then, three years afterward, after his superhero career started kicking into gear, my dad, my uncle Derek, and their cousins, Sarah, Noah, Mark, and Bryce, with Maximus appearing on rare occasions, bought a mansion together and split the bill leaving them to take care of two dozen superhuman children.

Sasha and I, almost seventeen, were the oldest and always expected to do the responsible thing, even if I didn't want to on days when I regretted life. I preferred to stay in the shadows while doing superhero work, avoiding the media as much as possible and hiding my face behind my dark hoodie, but somehow, the spotlight always found me. My twin sister was the same.

Then came Noah's triplets, Taylor, Noah's oldest girl, Jack, and Nathan, the red-headed vigilante troublemakers. They were regularly causing unnecessary disturbances in the city but mostly did hero work.

Then came Maximus and Mia's oldest sons, Troy and Parker. They have ironically labeled a few of the only goodie two shoes of the group, considering their father's criminal history. Noah's youngest daughter, Kasey, the studious bitch who bullied me for amusement, was also born, although part of me wishes she hadn't been.

She hated me for the longest time, and I never understood why. On my fourteenth birthday, she gave me a tissue box full of condoms as a joke and told me to fuck off. Everyone talks about that joke today.

Then came my Uncle Derek's kids, Nathan, Harrison, and Scott. His wife Skylar was so happy, and he was so proud. They were the most unidentical triplets, but they always tried to deceive people.

Also, during that time, my mom agreed to become a surrogate for my dad's cousin Bryce and his husband, Mark, as long as my dad was okay with it. After much debate, he finally said yes, and Garrison was born months later.

Straight after, Grace and Gabriel had Peter and Caleb, while my mom and dad ended up with quadruplets, the popular goodie two-shoes kids. Each had their personality. Rylan always had the middle schoolers doing what she wanted. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and those boys were only getting a taste of puberty.

Dominic was the outgoing, sporty, boisterous type. He played for the Burbank baseball league and was always willing to help and put himself in the way of a bullet or punch. Everett was the shy, intelligent, nerdy type, constantly learning from Samual, our father's uncle. And Easton was the loud type, too. He was the gloomy, oddball goth boy who had a couple of credits in TV shows and movies since birth and was constantly reading or writing whenever he had the chance.

Maximus and his wife also finished with two more sets of twins, Gavin and Jordyn, always causing mischief, but unlike their red-headed cousins, they didn't mean it.

Last but not least, we had the youngest bunch. After my mom and dad stopped having kids, they agreed to have my mom carry one more child for Bryce and Mark, named Samantha, while Aunt Grace had Tyler and Rydell.

Unlike Cierra, Maximus's pain-in-the-ass daughter, those three kids were saints. They seldom made trouble, and it was hardly anything when they did. Max pulled the short straw with Cierra.

"Did you promise Cierra you'd take her to the festival?" My dad roared at me. Speaking of Cierra-unfortunately, I did-my mistake.

"Yeah, Dad," I muttered. "So what?"

"You're taking Cierra to the festival." My dad stated.

"Why?" I sighed.

"You don't make promises you can't keep," my father snapped. "Now, put some clothes on, grab breakfast, and take the kids to the festival. It'll be good for you to get out in the sunshine. All you do is sit in bed and mope about having superpowers and how you want a normal life-"

"Dad!" I snapped. "I'll take them, okay? But only if Sasha, Taylor, Jack, and Parker come along." Sasha peeled open her exit and peeked outside in a crop top, barely hanging below her ribs.

"Fine, I'll go. I know Jack and Parker will want to join us, too." She huffed, looking at me with a partial smirk. "You're welcome, Hunter."

"Thanks, Sasha," I answered, making eye contact before she closed her door.

"You have fifteen minutes before I force you out of this home," my dad barked. I rolled my eyes at him.

Whatever.

"I'll be done in ten," I said.

"You better," my father snapped. He looked me sternly in the eyes before he nodded and wandered off. Just my fucking luck.