I couldn’t believe I’d had to do something so… so… indescribable. That Makayla had forced me to do that. This was on her. This was fucking on her. I had taken her to the lake house to keep her safe! To keep her fucking safe.

And now this.

I saw no other way except to pretend I was one of them, that I was a supporter of the ritual and all about treating the purchased woman like a damn animal.

I had become a monster.

We were here. We were at a place I had sworn I would never be again. After attending one ritual years ago, I had promised myself that I would never stand among these monsters again. And yet, here I was. Not only standing among them, but actually being part of the ritual. But again, Makayla had given me no choice. It was either I buy her, or someone else would be first in line to do so. We were just lucky that the members of the brotherhood bought my story that I had always lusted after Makayla and that I now hated her father over a business deal gone bad and this would be the ultimate revenge. They all believed my story, and, of course, took my obscenely huge amount of money for the honor of claiming her and owning her for the ritual tomorrow.

Makayla stood with terror in her eyes, and with a shaky voice, she said, “I’m sorry, Alec. I hope you understand why I came. I had to. I couldn’t just allow my father to die.”

“I am beyond livid right now, Makayla. I can barely see straight. Do you know what you have done? What kind of danger you put yourself in? Look at you!” I shouted as I pointed at her nearly naked body wearing only my coat. “You are a fucking sex slave as part of the ritual because of your foolish decision.”

“But, my father—”

“Stop!” I shouted.

Makayla swallowed hard and then with those damn eyes of hers that made me weak- kneed, she said in not much more than a whisper, “Thank you for coming. For coming to save me.”

Part of me wanted to pull her into my arms and place a million tiny kisses over her entire body because I was so happy to see her, but the other part—the more powerful part at the moment—wanted to strangle her.

“Of course I came! How could I not come? You forced my hand, Makayla! You went against what your father wanted, and definitely against what I wanted. And now because you thought you could go off and save the day, you are standing here in nothing but my jacket after being paraded around naked in front of beasts of men. You have proven that you are truly a little girl trying to survive in a man’s world. I don’t know what the fuck you were thinking.”

“Please try to understand,” she said with a quivering lip.

“I don’t want to hear another word,” I snapped between clenched teeth. I knew I was being hard on her, but she deserved it, and I couldn’t control my rage at the moment even if I wanted to. My stomach coiled as the memories of what had just occurred stabbed at my entire being. Yes, we had already had sex before, but not like that. Not in front of sick assholes gawking and no doubt jacking off to the event which had occurred in this room only moments ago. “Not one fucking word. Because of you, I am now in this up to my goddamn eyeballs, and I need time to think. Tomorrow is the ritual, and you have no idea. No idea at all what you did just by coming here.” I pointed all around the room. “You think what happened in this room is bad? The nightmare is just beginning.”

“Alec…”

“No! Just be quiet and go lie down on the bed. We both need to get some sleep so we can deal with tomorrow with sharp minds. I can’t talk right now. Give me that. Give me some peace and quiet so I can try to figure a way out of this disaster before the ritual begins.”

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night, with the sharp chill in the air and fear of the unknown pumping through my veins. I had to still find my father. I sensed from Alec that he had all but given up, but I wouldn’t. My father was still alive and I knew it. He needed me. He needed us.

The full moon cast a strong beam of light into the room, only illuminating my harsh reality. I was a captive in bed with a man who claimed he would save me. But I needed to save my father with or without Alec’s help. Even if it meant me dying, then so be it. I would never be able to live with myself knowing I walked away and allowed my father to die. I had only myself to hold on to, even though my strength was fading. A strength turning into a pool of thick dark weakness, threatening to suffocate me in despair.

“Alec?” I whispered, breaking the silence of the room. I looked up at his face as he slept. He looked so peaceful, gentle, even in this living hell. This was not the rough man who had punished me in front of a roomful of men and then taken me against my will—or what appeared to be so. This sleeping man was not a monster. “Alec,” I said again a little louder.

His eyes fluttered open, and he turned his head to look at me. “You should be asleep,” he said in a scratchy voice.

“Am I going to die?” I had to know the truth.

“Go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long, grueling day for us. You need your rest, so we can face this head on and get out of here.”

“Are they planning on killing me?”

“No.”

“But my father? Will they kill him?”

“There’s a high chance. Yes.”

I should hate him for being so calm. I should scream and hit him over and over demanding he save my father. It infuriated me that he was so willing to accept just because it was the way it always was.

I should hate him…

So why? Why did I want him? Why did I want to be held? If he gave me one ounce of affection, it would be all over. I would be his, and only his. One touch, one kind word, one soft look. That was all it would take, and I would be his forever. Did he know how simple it would be to win this war? He would be the victor if only he used one weapon… give me some kind of hope that all was not lost. That was all it would take, and I would follow him blindly to the end of the world. My body already wanted him. As much as I hated to admit it, it was the truth. I knew that the last thing on my mind in this situation should be sex, but Alec… well… Alec.

“I know you aren’t like the rest of those men,” I declared, voicing my deep-rooted belief.

“No, I am not,” he agreed with a sigh. “I realized that a long time ago. But bloodline, legacy and southern customs have a pull stronger than you could ever know. Your father is proof of that.”

“Why? Why would he or you ever be part of something like this? I don’t understand. Why would your father, and your father’s father? Why has no one stopped the chain of this barbaric society?”

He took a deep breath and then positioned himself on his side, propping his head up with his arm. We were so close that we could have kissed and maybe that would have helped ease the awake nightmare we were in, but I didn’t move in the slightest. I didn’t feel I needed to in order to still feel comfort.

“You aren’t going to go back to sleep, are you?”

“How can I? I don’t know where Papa is. I have no idea what will happen to me when I wake up.”

“What if I told you that everything would soon work itself out? That if you trust me and do exactly as I tell you, you will be able to walk away from this alive and a free woman. Can you do that?”

I shook my head, more confused than ever. “What are you talking about? What do I have to do to be free again?”

“Trust me.”

“Right! Coming from a man who was going to just sit by the lake sipping a cocktail while his best friend died. And you beat me! Had sex with me in front of everyone!”

“I didn’t beat you, I spanked you. And trust me, if I were any other man in the room, it would have been an actual beating you would have received—one that you would barely survive. I did what I had to do to make it seem I was putting you in your place, but still not harming you. I was trying my best to not hurt you but still make it believable. Our lives depend on making every single thing we do from now on believable. The members of the brotherhood are powerful and wise. We aren’t dealing with ignorant men.”

I absorbed his words. “So you were intentionally not trying to hurt me?” I studied his face. “It didn’t feel like it,” I said with almost a pout.

Alec smiled for the first time since I had seen him at the mansion. “Yes, well, the whole situation that occurred with you wasn’t my intent, but you not listening to me and running off sort of forced my hand. Again, I had to do just enough to satisfy the men. I had to give the illusion that I was claiming you as mine to them, so they wouldn’t take you for themselves or feel like I was lying and doing this to protect you because I was once a partner with your father. I had to play it off that I always wanted you, and now that I could, I was willing to pay and do whatever it took. They bought my story.”

“Will they let my father go now that I’m here?”

Alec sighed. “No. It’s too late. Rhett will have to do the ritual because he refused the brotherhood. That is something you can’t do and not expect consequences. Had you told me this crazy plan of yours before running away from the lake house, I would have told you. You coming here is not a sacrifice. It’s simply giving the brotherhood both you and your father. They get the best of both worlds.”

“Do you blame me for running off? I couldn’t just sit there after reading that letter. I don’t know how you could.”

He shook his head looking exasperated. The way he casually spoke and lay only inches from my face—it was as if we were two long-time lovers having a midnight chat deeply in love. This wasn’t the way a Master and his slave should be conversing, or two people part of a sick and twisted reality, and yet it was how we were.

“I’m lying in a bed in an old plantation mansion I remember from my childhood, surrounded by sociopathic men who are trying to continue a sadistic ritual that should have never existed to begin with. I’m lying in the bed with the man who is supposed to be my Master, or owner, or whatever. But, of course, that is after I was stripped completely naked, spanked like a little girl, and then fucked for all to watch. Oh, and don’t get me started on being chained by the neck and put in a room with other poor women in the same messed up situation as me.”

Alec’s smile disappeared, and he grew serious. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m not the same as these men. I don’t expect you to believe that, but I’m not.”

“Then why? Why are you here being part of it? Why did you do the things to me you did, if you aren’t like them? Why are you just accepting my father’s fate? Why aren’t you stopping it? Why aren’t you trying to save my father and your best friend? Another human being?”

“I have had one goal since I took you away from Spiked Roses, and that is to keep you safe. I came here to save you. I did what I felt I had to do to save you from someone else doing it and doing it much worse. I’m here for…” He paused and turned to his side, his back facing me. “We’ve talked enough. Go to sleep.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder, pulling him back onto his back. “No, please tell me what you were going to say. I can tell there is more. I feel it.”

Alec studied me for a moment and then spoke. “Just trust that I know what needs to be done. I need you to play the part of my sex slave, and not try to do anything stupid.”

“Have you done this ritual before? Are there other women in the past that you have done this to?”

“I’ve never had any sex slaves. You are the first I have claimed, and the only reason I did so is because I know it will all be over in a few days, and I didn’t have a fucking choice.” He paused and swallowed hard. “And I will try my best to help your father if I can.”

My heart skipped. “You will?” I sat up in disbelief.

Alec also sat up and turned to face me directly. “Rhett and Minka were my best friends. Family. And you were like the daugh—” Alec diverted his stare and swallowed hard. “Whether you want to believe me or not, I was only following your father’s wishes. I care very much about him and what could happen to him.”

“So you think we have a chance?”

He nodded. “There’s always a chance.”