Loch couldn’t believe the amount of shit his girl had to go through just to be free. Not only crazy fucking parents but medical issues mounting with the days. Every time she moved past one, another would pop up, and each scared ten years off his life.

It shouldn’t have been so damn hard for her. She hadn’t lived properly yet. She shouldn’t have to battle one illness after another so quickly.

After his mother had dropped off the soup and some clothes for them both three days ago, Sage had been moved to intensive care because of the mini seizures she kept having. At first, the doctors thought one of the snake bites had been poisonous, but the blood tests that were run every four hours for twenty-four hours after being brought in had shown no sign of toxins.

Her oldest brother, Porter, had gotten in touch with the hospital to find out her condition and was able to answer some questions about her overall health and tell them enough to know that epilepsy didn’t run in the immediate family.

Loch was beyond exhausted. After spending every moment with Sage they would allow and sitting in the waiting room for the next visiting hour, he didn’t know how he was still functioning.

Thankfully, the police had been by to take statements on Sage’s condition and any previous injuries they could tell them about. With her birthday… Shit! It was her eighteenth birthday, and she was so drugged up she wouldn’t be awake to enjoy it.

Looking at the clock on his phone, he had another forty minutes until he could sit with her for twenty. Dialing Nox as he left the ICU floor, he knew the perfect person to enlist for help.

“Yo, bro, how’s Sage doing?” Nox had been around for every freak-out call Loch had made in the past few days, and his respect for the older man had grown tenfold.

“She’s good. Still sleeping. I need Soph’s help, though.”

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to.”

“It’s Sage’s eighteenth birthday.”

A long whistle came through the line. “Damn. I’ll pass the phone to her.”

“Thanks, man.”

Giggling could be heard as Sophia came on the line. “Lochlan,” her voice reflected her smile, “how can I help?”

“Could you go shopping for me?” He wasn’t a big shopper, but he knew exactly what he wanted to get for Sage but didn’t want to leave the hospital in case she woke up.

“Of course!”

After explaining what he needed, she squealed with delight and hung up before he could thank her. His phone buzzed with a text from Nox showing a dozen question marks.

Possessive bastard.

Likely wasn’t thrilled that another man made his fiancée so happy. Ignoring Nox’s text, he turned the device off and headed back in to see Sage again. Entering the waiting room, Loch was shocked and outraged to see her parents there speaking to two police officers.

All of them froze when he entered. As much as he’d like to give them a piece of his mind, it wasn’t the time nor place for it.

“That’s the heathen,” Sage’s mother spat out, pointing at Loch. “He poisoned our daughter’s mind.”

“Lochlan did?” The officer, Frank, a man Loch and his family had known all their lives, fought to hide his laughter. He’d served with Loch’s father on a few tours overseas, so the man knew him as well as his own son.

“Yes.” Her hiss sounded just like the snakes she’d dumped her daughter into.

Sitting in a chair across the room from the small group, Loch ignored them as he watched the clock on the wall, waiting to see Sage again. The minutes felt like hours as they slowly passed by.

When the nurse Kirsten entered the room, shooting daggers at the Marlowe’s as she spoke to his father’s friend quickly, she nodded for Loch to follow as they both left the room with her.

“Causing problems, little Lochlan?” Frank laughed quietly.

Ignoring the joking, Loch told him, “Sage has a sister and two brothers that want out.” Kirsten remained quiet as she led the way to Sage.

“They’re all over eighteen, they can leave on their own, Lochlan.” He sounded confused over Loch’s abrupt statement.

“Except if they try to get out, they’ll wind up like Sage. She was abused, Frank. Tell me you’re going to do something about this.” Loch struggled to hang onto his anger all over again.

A harsh breath left the man, and Loch knew he wasn’t going to like the answer. “We can’t barge in there, guns ablaze, without due cause. Until I speak to Sage, my hands are tied. Because she was underage when she was brought in, I can pursue charges on her behalf whether she wants to or not. It will be easier if she wants to. But if she doesn’t, it may not go anywhere.”

“That’s it?” Loch’s movements stopped mid-step with his disbelief.

“The laws are very clear. And even when I don’t like them, I have to follow and enforce them. I will give her siblings the option to leave with me when I go out there to look around. If they choose not to, I can’t do a damn thing.”

The only thing that kept Loch from crawling up his father’s friend’s ass was the exasperation and annoyance in the man’s voice as he explained it to him.

“What about shelters? Surely, someone could help them.” He was grasping at straws now, and he knew it.

“Let’s get through this interview first. One thing at a time today.”

“Gentleman, your window is small. Quickly now,” Kirsten called from in front of Sage’s room.

It finally registered to him. “She’s awake?” Rushing forward, he entered the room to see her glazed eyes unable to focus on him. “Sage,” he murmured quietly.

It took a moment for her to lock onto him, but when she did, a brilliant grin appeared. Slightly lop-sided. “Lochlan.” Her sigh was filled with happiness.

“How are you feeling, Angel?” He gripped the hand she reached for him with in both of his.

“Tired. The nurse said I’ve been having mini seizures. I don’t understand.” Her brows furrowed with her confusion.

Kirsten came forward then to explain. “It’s like two wires touching that shouldn’t be, and it is causing aftershocks to vibrate through your body. The shaking you described feeling are the wires in your brain misfiring. The infection you’ve been fighting off has your body very weak, and when that happens, people have very diverse reactions. For you, it’s the seizures.”

She still looked confused. “You remember that second time you came to my shop?” She nodded. “I lifted the hood and played with the battery lines, tightening them. You remember how there was that small zap and crackle of electricity?” The blush that crept up her neck as she nodded realizing he had caught her watching him made him smirk. “It’s like that. Only imagine the battery as your brain and the wires as the lines leading to it. One keeps zapping like its over-charged.”

“Oh. Will it stop?” Her question was directed at Kirsten.

“Most likely once you’ve completely healed, yes. But there is always a chance they won’t.” Loch respected the woman for her honesty, but he wanted to kick her out for putting the fear back into Sage’s pretty blues.

“Ahem…” Frank cleared his throat and stepped forward into her field of vision, and Loch hated how she shrunk back into the sheets, cowering. “Miss Marlowe, I’m Officer Frank Cherry, and if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to ask you about what happened.”

Her entire demeanor changed with Frank’s question. She became stiff and withdrawn. The hand he was holding began trembling. Moving so he was sitting on the bed right in her field of vision, Loch took her attention away from everyone else in the room.

Tangling one hand in her soft hair, he brought their foreheads together. “Breathe, Angel. Frank’s a good man. He wants to help.”

A lone tear fell from her lashes as she responded, “I don’t want to relive it. I can’t go back.”

“You’ll never go back.” The words came out more like a growl. Unable to help himself, Loch pulled her head forward and melded their mouths together.

Soft, sweet, innocent.

Defying logic, Sage was everything he had never known he was missing. She remained frozen at his bold move, but he didn’t back off. She needed to feel something rational, something she could hold onto. When she relaxed into his hold, he licked the seam of her lips, eliciting a small gasp from her. Not wanting to scare her, he forced himself to brush their lips lightly before withdrawing.

“I’m right here. I’m not leaving.” His words were only loud enough for Sage to hear. Even though she appeared a little shocked at the impromptu kiss, she nodded in understanding.

Sitting in behind her, Loch nodded at Frank to ask his questions, intent on putting a stop to it if she became too distraught.

“I want to explain how this works first, Miss Marlowe. Because everything happened to you before you turned eighteen, I can press charges on your behalf, and I plan to. From what I’ve seen on the medical report, something needs to happen, and you, young lady, deserve justice. Now, it would make mine and the district attorney’s job much easier if you were to cooperate and press charges on your own, but you don’t have to. I don’t want to force you. Understand?”

“You want to send my parents to prison?” Loch couldn’t discern if she were upset over the reality or not. Her tone was neutral.

“That is entirely possible, but that’ll be up to the D.A. to present to a judge and me to make the case. Which is where your help would come in handy.”

“Okay.”

“First, I want you to tell me about what led up to you being here today. As much as you’re comfortable with, and if you need a break, just say so.”

* * *

Gripping Loch’s hands, Sage brought them snuggly around her waist. She needed stability to garner the strength to tell her tale. After waking up, she’d felt light-headed and confused, panicked even, when Lochlan hadn’t been there to ease her fears.

When Kirsten came in to explain she was going to get him and that an officer needed to speak to her, Sage wasn’t sure what was happening. She couldn’t collect her thoughts long enough to concentrate. After being told about the seizures, she’d become even more frightened than she already was. So when Lochlan entered the room, she felt better instantly. Calmer. It’s what he did for her.

Now, having to not only meet a new, larger man but also explain everything that had happened in graphic detail, she was feeling worn out. Thankfully, he didn’t interrupt her tale often with questions she didn’t know how to answer. He was understanding and kind. The kind of man she wished she’d grown up around.

Sage knew he tried to hide his emotions when she’d explained about the snake pit, being forced to stand in front of the entire congregation nude, and how terrifying it was. His horror was plain to see. His anger appeased some of her own.

Her entire life she’d known nothing different than what her parents told her. Witnessing someone with such power and strength become emotional on her behalf emboldened her.

“Is it true? My father can’t force me to marry Morgan? I can choose who I want?” The question may seem silly to some, but for Sage, it was the most important detail. She had to know she had the freedom to choose love.

Frank’s soft smile tempered her worry. “Sweet child, everything you do in life is your choice. You make the call on who to love, who to marry, everything.”

Turning, she searched Lochlan’s eyes. “I choose you.” What she felt for him, it may not be love yet, but Sage knew in her heart it was becoming something much stronger than she’d ever heard described. It was so much more.

Lochlan’s face softened at her words; his hands were running through her hair tenderly. Closing her eyes, she melted into his touch, needing the contact more so now than ever before in her life. She’d been missing an intimacy so fundamental to her upbringing that it wasn’t until the brink of death that she even knew it was absent.

“You’re eighteen today, Sage.” Her eyes popped open in shock at his statement, not realizing how quickly the time had passed.

“I am?”

“Yeah.” His grin was disarming. “That means you can do whatever you like now. You don’t have to choose me because you think I’m safe.” His words killed her heart a little bit. The sadness in his eyes baffled her.

“But I want to.” Being with Lochlan was the only thing in her entire life that she ever had control over. The way he made her feel, the way he spoke to her. She wasn’t just some girl to him. At least, she hadn’t thought so. He’d always made her feel as if she were someone important. Maybe she was wrong. “Do you not want me now?” The insecurity in her voice was transparent. “I know I’m broken and scarred, and I have nothing but my shaken faith, but I thought…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence it was so distressing to put into words what she was losing.

“Look at me, Sage.” She couldn’t. Knowing there were two other people in the room listening and baring her soul to a man who may not want her fragile mind was hard enough to bear.

“We’ll be outside,” Kirsten’s soft voice said.

The padding of their feet followed by the soft snick of the door closing announced their departure, enclosing Sage in the room alone with Lochlan.

“Please, look at me, Sage.” She couldn’t deny the pleading in his tone. Their gazes met, and in his, she saw everything she felt. “I want you, Angel. From the first moment your icy blues clashed with mine, you’ve stolen my every thought. You’re all I think about.” Her heart fluttered. “I don’t want you to settle, though. I want you out in the world and exploring. I want you to be happy. Even if that is away from me.”

Reaching up, she gripped the sides of his neck in the same fashion he was holding her. “I choose you, Lochlan.” She couldn’t be more concise than that.

Bringing his face closer to hers, he said against her lips, “I choose you, too, Sage,” before kissing her again. She’d been startled the first time, unsure of what to do or how. Now, she was sort of prepared and knew she could relax into his hold, and he’d lead the way.

Having never kissed a boy before, she wasn’t prepared for the feelings it evoked throughout the rest of her body. She tingled in places she hadn’t paid much attention to before. Her belly fluttered with a thousand butterflies, and her heart raced like she’d run a mile.

With every touch of his tongue on her lips, she wanted to moan with pleasure. She ached to brush her fingers through his hair and hold him to her.

His hands ran softly up and down her sides, careful of the bandages covering her skin. “One day,” he says pulling back, “I’m going to show you all the wonderful ways I can make your body sing.” A shy smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “On that day, Sage”—he places a gentle kiss on her lips—“you’ll be my wife.”

Wow.