by KL Donn
The other girl, Eli—she’d heard someone yell that at her—was the complete opposite of what Sage had witnessed in any woman in her whole life. She was loud, had tattoos like the men, and her clothes revealed far too much skin. But she was always smiling and cheerful. She had a confidence about herself that Sage craved.
Birds calling through her window and the wind rustling the leaves of nearby trees, lulled Sage into such a relaxed state that when the door slammed open so roughly that the knob lodged into the wall and she was savagely dragged from her bed, she didn’t react. Thrown onto the patch of grass outside her home, Sage landed on her hands and knees with a cry of pain. Her body stiff from what she’d already endured.
Her father’s cruel words caused tears to stream down her face. “This whore has refused the path of righteousness. She is unwilling to repent and ask forgiveness from our Lord. Sage Marlowe, you are damned to a life of sin and forever banned from entering my home. You will seek guidance and punishment from your new husband until I see you are fit to belong in our church again.”
With holy water being tossed on her broken body, she found the strength to sit up. The sheer number of disdainful looks falling upon her almost broke her resolve to rebel one last time.
“No,” she spat out. “I will not accept him as my husband, and if you make me, I will find a way to the authorities. I will have my freedom.” Out of breath, Sage had to force her head to remain high.
The backhand came out of nowhere as her father leaned down to grip her jaw tightly, cruelly telling her, “The law has no place in our faith.”
Left with no choice, Sage told him loud enough for the gathered crowd to hear. “Then I denounce my loyalty to you. To this congregation. And I will find God on my own terms.”
The collective gasp from her supposed friends and neighbors followed by the angry murmurs nearly made her waver as her father’s gaze bore into her.
His hand clutched her hair so tightly that she felt strands being pulled from her scalp as he snarled in her face. “You say this as though you have the choice to leave. This is your life, Sage.”
Her distress was so great that she couldn’t stop the words to leave her mouth. “No. I would rather die than stay.”
The sinister look he gave her was cut short by a commotion at the front gate and sirens in the distance. “You’ll rue the day you did this, Sage.”
His threat meant nothing to her as she watched the gates open and Lochlan stood in front of two police cars like her white knight.
Freedom.
Chapter Four
Do not quit: Somebody is praying for you, and you will make it through this.
Loch had gotten worried when he saw someone being thrown onto the front lawn of a house. He and Asher watched for a few minutes before that and knew something was happening. Thankfully, Asher had the forethought to call in a disturbance to the state troopers.
When he saw the stark white hair and lithe body matted and dirty, he’d known immediately that Sage was in trouble. He’d been ready to climb the twenty-foot-high gates and fight to get her free. Hearing the sirens in the distance, their approach rapid, he breathed a sigh of relief until he watched a man backhand her, and she fell to the ground. For the first time in Lochlan’s life, he felt a red-hot rage flow through his blood. He wanted to beat the man to a pulp. Show him what fighting someone with strength was really like.
Experiencing the fear and defeat in her gaze as the gates to the compound opened made him weak in the knees. That look was something he would work so hard at avoiding for the rest of their lives.
Running to his girl before the cops cleared the gate, Loch ignored everything and everyone around him as he skid on his knees to a stop in front of her. He was horrified at the bruising and cuts visible beneath her torn clothes. Her shaking body, broken and lifeless.
“Sage.” His voice was low so as not to scare her.
Their eyes met, and she changed before him. Relief replaced her fear. Hope buried her defeat.
“Lochlan,” was all she said before she wilted into him. Her mind and body shutting down, blocking the pain and giving her relief. Her breathing was shallow as he ran hands along the surface of her small frame.
“Ambulance!” Loch yelled to the cops as they walked closer, stopping to talk to a few people on their way. As soon as they heard his call, they took action, brushing people off and running to him while one was on his radio. Presumably calling for the medics Sage needed.
“Oh shit.” Asher could be heard as he saw the way Sage was leaning into him, unconscious.
“Hang on, Sage,” Loch whispered into her hair.
A young girl nearly identical to Sage, except for the dark hair, hid around the side of the house, terror and worry shining brightly in her blue gaze as she looked on.
“Stay with me, Angel.” His words were for Sage, but his gaze remained on the distressed girl.
Oblivious and distracted while the cops questioned the surrounding people still watching the innocent girl in his arms, Loch concentrated on counting her breaths.
Inhale.
Her body shivered.
Exhale.
Her body shook.
With every movement, a new injury revealed itself as her torn clothes shifted. Seeing puncture wounds on her arm, he leaned down to look closer. The swelling and distance between the two marks had him asking, “Are these snake bites?” When no one answered him, he looked up, eyeing anyone within distance. “I said, are these snake bites?” His words were harsh, commanding.
The girl that had been watching Sage walked forward, followed by a man close to his own age. “She had to be cleansed in the pond beyond the clearing.” The girl's voice was so quiet he almost didn’t hear her.
“They free the devil from her.” The man spoke up.
Loch struggled to catch up to their meaning. They couldn’t mean… “This was on purpose?” Who the hell does that?
“Hijo de puta.” Asher could be heard cursing from behind him.
“Our Father,” the girl started, but Loch interrupted. “Your father did this to her? Are you kidding me?” He was pissed; couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so angry.
“Well, he’s our bishop. We have to do as he says,” she relayed.
“No, sweetheart, you don’t. You over eighteen?” Asher asked her gruffly. She nodded her head so fast, Loch was sure she’d become dizzy. “Then you got choices and options. You leave this place if it terrifies you as much as your eyes belie.” The more Asher spoke, the angrier he sounded.
“Sir?” One of the cops tapped Loch on the shoulder. “Paramedics are here. You need to let her go.” Gazing down to the young woman in his arms, Loch wasn’t sure he could. How could he protect her if he wasn’t holding her?
“Sir, we need to assess her,” the female EMT told him. The understanding expression on her face made it easier for him to move aside.
Loch avidly watched as they attached her to machines, put an IV in her arm. Checked her vitals. All the while assessing and documenting every injury. The bruises and snake bites. The horrifying lashes and scars on her back when they rolled her to her side.
“What happened to you, Sage?” His words were spoken aloud, but he didn’t expect an answer.
“She’d become outspoken.” The young man, who held the girl he now assumed was her sister, spoke.
For the first time since finally getting to touch Sage, Loch let her go, standing, intent on releasing his rage on someone. “She spoke out?” The savagery in his tone shocked even him as Asher grabbed his arm. “She what, had a thought? Asked a question?” He was yelling by that point. “What was so damn horrible she deserved this?” Everyone was watching his explosion.
The couple backed up the louder he yelled. “Cool it, bro,” Asher murmured at him. Except he couldn’t. Sage was broken, exhausted, and terrified. He couldn’t just cool it. He couldn’t calm down. Loch wanted answers that no one seemed to want to give to him straight.
; “I’m Jossilyn.” The girl’s voice shook. “Things here, they aren’t easy. We…Tru, Porter, and I…we wanted to contact you.” Tears pooled in her eyes as she continued. “She didn’t want us to. Sage turns eighteen in a few days, and she said she was going to get out. She didn’t want to cause trouble because of us.”
Hell. He couldn’t very well continue to yell at the young woman when all they wanted to do was help their sister. Without the resources or know-how, he could understand their issue. Before he could say more, the paramedics were loading Sage on a stretcher and rushing to the ambulance.
“What’s going on?” he called after them, giving chase.
“Her body temperature is dangerously high, and these bites, there is infection everywhere. We need to leave now.” The woman who was kind before looked worried now.
“I’m coming with you,” he informed them. Giving no room for argument, Loch tossed his keys to Asher as he climbed in the back.
The ride to the hospital was rushed and chaotic. Watching helplessly as Sage’s body went into shock and she suffered a seizure was chilling. Unable to help for fear of getting in the way, Loch froze as her tiny body shook relentlessly on the stretcher.
“Straight to UC Health, Dan,” the female—Aislynn her nametag read—told the driver. With Sage’s condition worsening and the paramedics quiet, Loch didn’t know what to think.
He was in a daze the entire way there, so when they stopped and the doctors started asking him a dozen questions, all he could say was, “I have no idea. I got to her seconds before she passed out.”
Following them as they rushed her through the emergency room doors, Loch blew a gasket when one of the nurses said, “Sir, you need to wait here.”
“No!” The conviction in his voice shocked even him. “I won’t leave her again. I let her go, and she was tortured!”
“Sir,” the nurse began in an understanding tone, “I understand your concern, but until we get her assessed, you’ll only be in the way. I need you to wait here.”
“Loch, man, c’mon.” Asher had shown up and was drawing him back by the arm.
“I can’t just leave her.” His gaze was locked on the doors she’d been taken through.
Standing back, he listened to Asher and the nurse, but he refused to move from his spot only a few feet away from that door. When someone came out with news, he was damn well going to be waiting.
“Come sit down, bro.” He heard Asher speaking to him but couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge the man. Nothing mattered but Sage. “I’m gonna call Nox.”
It wasn’t until his brother arrived sometime later that Loch realized he still hadn’t moved. “Lochlan, what’s going on?” Nox’s voice was worried.
“They hurt her.” His own sounded broken, even to his own ears.
“Who?”
Turning his head, his eyes cleared as he answered. “Her family.” Hearing the swoosh of the doors opening, his body stiffened in hopes someone was coming to update him.
“Loch!” Nox’s firm command had him continuing on.
“I went to check on her. I just wanted a glimpse of her.” Christ, did he wish he’d gone to her sooner. “I watched her father toss her out like garbage on the front lawn. He hit her. She’s so fucking weak, Nox. Soon as I was in front of her, she passed out.” His eyes glazed over remembering the look of desolation in her light blue eyes. “They fucking broke her. Snake bites everywhere. Cuts, bruises. Who does that?”
Lennox’s arm wrapped around his shoulder as Loch’s emotions got the best of him. Not understanding how her family could hurt her so deeply. “I don’t fucking know, Loch,” Nox responded.
“Mr. Hogan?”
Whipping around at the nurse’s voice, Loch asked, “How is she?”
“She’s stable.” The woman looked down to the chart in her hand. “Infection has set in from the bites and open wounds on her back. She has a high fever that we need to monitor. Her heart rate is dangerously low, and that’s our biggest concern for now.”
“Can I see her?” He was eager to see the rise and fall of her chest for himself.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible right now.” Pity shone in her eyes.
“What do you mean not possible?”
“Her family has asked that no one be allowed in to see her. They want her isolated.”
His head spun from the information. Her family wasn’t even there. How could they pull that?
“I want to see her. I won’t leave until I do.” His words were resolute.
“I can’t let you back there, Mr. Hogan. I’ve already broken protocol telling you her condition.” She walked away before he could argue further.
“Loch, maybe you should sit down for a minute.” Nox tried to coax him away from the woman.
“No. They did this to her. The nurse told me I could see Sage when she was done being evaluated. I need to be with her, Nox.” Loch felt like his world was imploding.
She was right there, yet so damn far away. His need to hold her body in his arms overrode any self-preservation as he ignored the people around him and walked through the doors when another nurse came out of them.
Searching each room until he found her, he wouldn’t give up. Opening the sixth door, he finally spotted her. Her whitish hair seemed even more faded with her complexion appearing translucent. Her eyes and cheeks were sunken in like she hadn’t slept or eaten in weeks. Her body looked lifeless with so many wires and machines surrounding her. The persistent beating of a heart monitor the only signal she was even alive. The rise and fall of her chest were barely visible.
“Sage.” His voice was soundless as he dropped to his knees beside her bed. Too afraid to touch her for fear of causing more damage, he rested his hands on the mattress against her body. “Oh, Angel.”
“Sir, you need to leave,” someone said from behind him, but he didn’t care. They didn’t feel the way his heart was shattering seeing Sage so broken. They didn’t know how it felt to hold someone you barely knew but cared more about than anyone else in the world collapse in their arms.
They didn’t know anything.
“I’m not leaving her side,” he asserted again.
“I’m calling security,” the woman said.
“Loch, man, you have to listen, or you’ll be banned from seeing her period.” Nox was trying to reason with him, but he just couldn’t move.
He was compelled to stay with her. It was so much more than him just being a stubborn asshole. His entire life was lying half-dead in this hospital bed, and there wasn’t jack fuck all he could do about it.
“Oh shit.” Asher’s voice joined the fray. “Here they come, amigo, let’s go.”
“No.” He refused to waver.
“Lochlan.” His brother’s voice held warning.
“Sir, you can’t be here. Let’s go.” A guard stood on either side of him, each prepared to drag him out.
“Don’t, Loch. She may be out of it, but she’ll know.” His brother was right, he knew he was. It wasn’t going to make leaving any easier.
Standing, he was about to go with them until her fingers grazed his hand. “Lochlan?” Barely a noise to cross her lips, but he heard her.
“I’m here, Sage.” He dropped back down, gripping her hand in both of his.
“You’re really here.” Her pain-filled sigh had him worried.
Ignoring the guards still trying to remove him from the room, he asked the nurse, “Can’t you give her something?”
“She’s maxed out. Now you need to leave.”
“Leave?” Sage’s eyes widened at the thought, and her body went rigid as she tried to sit up.
“Shh, Angel, lay back down. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Mierda.” Asher was back to cursing when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Sage’s eyes grew wide with panic, and he knew leaving her wasn’t an option. “If you want me gone, you’re going to have to arrest me. I won’t leave her side.” Appealing to the nurse, he told the woma
n, “She’s new to all this.” Hoping his prediction was correct. After all, he’d been to her compound. He didn’t think any of them had left very often, if at all.
“What do you mean?” she asked him.
“I live on a compound.” Sage’s voice was weak. “I’ve never been here before.”
“How old are you, Miss Marlowe?” The nurse came over, sitting on the other side of the bed.
“Seventeen,” Sage told her shyly.
Nodding, the woman told them, “Your parents have already been in touch with quite specific instructions that no one is approved to be in here with you. No visitors, period.”
“Please don’t make him leave me.” Sage’s grip on his hand tightened as much as her feeble strength allowed.
“I’m inclined to listen to you over them now that you’re awake. I can see how much this gentleman’s presence means to you.” Relief swamped Lochlan. “However, Mr. Hogan, she needs rest. Which means you need to go home, get some rest yourself, and come back tomorrow refreshed. We should have her in a regular room by then. We have security on every floor; she’ll be safe.”
“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed, her assurance of safety the only reason he was willing to leave, “but I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”
Sage’s sad eyes followed him from the room as Nox pulled him along. He couldn’t risk getting banned completely when he’d been offered an olive branch.
“I need to talk to Ma,” he told Nox, grabbing the keys Asher offered him for his Mustang.
“What for?” His brother was confused.
“I can’t let her go back there, Nox, they’ll end up killing her at some point. And she’s seventeen so she can’t stay with me. Not yet.”
“You want Ma to take her in?” Finally, he was catching on.
“Yeah.”
“You think she will?” Asher asked from the other side of his car.
Nox and Loch shared a look as Loch said, “She’ll spend five minutes with Sage and beg her to move in.”
