Sage was terrified. Her father had her locked in her room for three days as he planned her cleansing. Her entire life, she’d always recognized that she and her siblings were held to a higher standard in the community, that their punishments would be more severe for disobedience. However, not once had any of them suffered the fate she was about to.

Tru, Porter, and Jossilyn spent the past three days trying to convince their father to let her repent while Anastasia and Kaidence ignored her like so many others until her cleanse was complete. She was ostracized from everyone.

At mass on Wednesday, her father had made it clear that no one was to speak to her. That she was the devil’s sinner. For Sage, this was equivalent to death given that she thrived on being social. She loved being able to teach and play with the children. Working in the gardens had always been soothing for her troubled mind.

She had become a burden to those around her now. Even if she were declared reborn after the cleanse, she would never be looked at the same again. She would be forever tainted. Broken. Everyone would feel she was going to bring hell to their home. No amount of praying to her Lord had given her insight into why this was happening either.

Hearing the door to her room being unlocked from the outside, she quickly turned from the window and sat cross-legged on her bed, ready to be done with the whole ordeal.

“Sage,” Jossilyn called her name softly. As the second youngest at eighteen, her sister often felt as trapped and confused as Sage.

Standing, she asked, “Is it time?” Trepidation shook her voice.

“No.” Joss shook her head. “I’m going to town with Momma. That man you mentioned, I’m calling him. You need to leave this place, Sage.” The stark terror in her sister’s gaze had Sage’s spine straightening as she closed the door behind her.

“Why? What’s happening?” Their words remained hushed.

“Morgan is calling for your deflowering within twenty-four hours of the cleanse.” The urgency in her sister’s voice scared her. “He’s a bad man. His last wife didn’t die from an illness, he beat her to death.” Shocked, Sage’s jaw hung open.

“What do I do?” Her words were too quiet to be heard.

Jossilyn gripped her shoulders and shook her body. “You have to remain strong, Sage. Do not waver. God will pull through for you.”

How could she believe that when her parents were about to let a man more than twice her age steal her innocence after traumatizing her in the snake pond?

“Get your things together. Porter and Tru are looking for a way out for you. Somewhere no one will see you leaving.”

“Where will I go?” She didn’t know life outside of the compound. She barely knew anything about the real world.

“What’s his name?” Joss asked her.

“Who?” Her mind was too confused to piece anything together.

“The man from Loveland. His name, what is it?” Footsteps could be heard as Sage struggled to come to grips with all this new information and think coherently. “Sage!” she snapped.

“Lochlan.”

The door burst open, and there stood their father. A man she used to look up to, respect. A man she now feared. “Jossilyn, what are you doing in here?” The menace permeating his voice had them both shaking.

“I came to help Sage before the cleansing.” Her sister was so strong. Sage’s voice would have wavered, she would have cowered back. Jossilyn stood tall, sure in her words.

“Leave.” His command sent her sister stumbling through the open door. Once she was gone, the bishop closed it quietly, a betrayal of the anger burning below the surface of his calm demeanor. “You are a disappointment, daughter. You never learn to just be, you always need answers. Well, after today, you will either change your ways and accept your fate as the wife of Morgan in two weeks or after the cleanse, I will give you to him so he can clean the devil from your body with his seed.”

“You can’t do that,” she whispered.

“I can do as I please!” His bellow made her flinch.

“It’s illegal. I don’t want him. I don’t want him as a husband or in my body. It would be rape!” she screamed back. Her fear of becoming tainted in the eyes of the man she would one day have as her own forgotten in the face of being forced to comply.

The sash of leather in her father’s hand came from nowhere as he beat her with the belt. The sting of contact across her cheek, arms, and neck made her cry out. The metallic tang of blood could be smelled in the air as she strained to get away from him.

“Please stop, Father.” Her cries fell on deaf ears as he continued the assault.

Her clothes were in a tattered mess, hanging off her body when he finally finished. “Tomorrow you will be tossed into the pit. The snakes will decide your fate.” As the door closed behind him, Sage struggled to understand what had just happened. Why he would beat her so severely.

The locking of the door was like a nail in her coffin.

She might as well be dead.

* * *

Loch made a trip out to where Sage lived every night, hoping for just a glimpse of the girl. Craving to see her bright eyes. A young woman wanting to be accepted; dare he even say loved.

As he approached the gates to the property, the sun had just gone down, and he could make out plenty of lights illuminating the dark sky as men and women moved around. Unsure if they had a security system or not, Loch kept to the shadows.

Chanting caught him off guard, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. The tone and intensity of it caused him to worry. Not only about Sage, but others on the property. He watched and listened until late into the night. When nothing happened, he finally left. Giving up hope of seeing the object of his affection.

Feeling defeated, Loch drove the hour back home to an empty house he’d only bought eight months ago. After moving out of his mom’s house, he felt more alone than he ever had. Seeing Nox and Levi find their girls, he was as impatient as ever now.

His brothers had always referred to him as a different breed of man because when it came to women, he was either too shy to interact or disinterested altogether.

Before their father passed away, the man had been insistent that Loch wouldn’t settle for anything less than what was his. That when he found the one girl meant for him, she would become the passion he often felt was missing from his life.

Until he’d spied Sage, he thought there was something wrong with him. That he was defective in the love department. He’d feared never being so consumed with someone that he couldn’t breathe. Miraculously, from the moment their eyes met, he’d known she was it.

Staying away from her was making him miserable, and not knowing her age only made things worse. Just the idea of running his fingers through her silky snow-colored hair was enough to turn him on. He was obsessed with her uniqueness, her beauty. He couldn’t imagine another girl in the world gathering his attention like she had.

After Hayes’ graduation on the weekend, he was going to figure shit out. He was going to learn as much about Sage as possible so he could create a plan of action. He needed her in his life, and there wasn’t a soul that could stop him.

Entering his home, Loch walked up the stairs, stripping as he went. Saddened as he made his way to his room.

Wanting.

Needing.

Craving a girl, he couldn’t yet have.