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Her heart started beating a little harder as she thought about being engaged to Malachi. It seemed like such a silly tradition, proposing, asking for her hand in marriage. This world certainly didn’t do weddings and receptions anymore.
But it was nice to have traditions from the times they were accustomed to.
It was nice to picture her wedding with all her family gathered around, even if that’s not how it would be.
Sasha held her hand out and shook Amanda’s. “It’s really nice to meet you.” Amanda tipped her head to the side and looked Sasha up and down.
“God, you’re young.” She then looked at Lucy, Malachi and the other two in their party. “You guys traveled from where?”
Malachi was the one to speak, telling her the story of how they met, where Sasha and he had come from, and the stuff they’d gone through.
A long silence passed between them, and Sasha could see that Amanda was mulling all this over. “Give me a minute, okay?” she finally said.
Sasha nodded, although she didn’t know what she was agreeing to. Amanda walked back to Trevor and they started talking softly. Although the armed guards on either side of the door kept their weapons lowered, the ones in the tower still had them pointed toward Sasha and her group.
After a few minutes, Amanda finally came back to Sasha and held her hand out, but then pointed behind her to the community within the walls.
“Welcome to Sunset Cove.”
It was almost a comical name with a beachy, California feel to it. But Sasha liked it. It seemed happy and uplifting.
“Some things have to happen before we can consider letting you into the community.”
Sasha nodded. “I understand.” She looked at the other people in her party. “We understand.” She looked back at Amanda and for a moment the two women held each other’s gazes. And then Amanda lifted her hand and snapped her fingers together.
The next series of events happened so fast that it made Sasha’s head spin. Men carrying guns filed out of the woods surrounding the compound.
“What the fuck?” Malachi barked and tried to pull Sasha and Lucy closer to him, but two beefy guys grabbed his arms.
Then two guys came toward Sasha and Lucy, grabbing their arms and keeping them immobile.
“What are you doing?” The hope Sasha had felt vanished. She felt frantic, and it was reflected in her voice.
“This is protocol. We don’t know who you people are, or if you’re sick. We don’t know if you’re carriers of the virus. We have to make sure you don’t infect the people that are here.”
Sasha felt her eyes widen even more, fear moving through her. Lucy was still beside her, but a big burly guy held on to her upper arm so she couldn’t move. “We’re clearly not infected and are immune, as we’re still standing.”
Amanda shook her head. “We don’t know how this virus works, and we don’t know who was directly exposed to it. We have to assume no one is immune, and until we can find more answers, and if you want to stay in this community, this is what you have to do.”
No one moved or said anything for long moments.
“What are you going to do to us?” Lucy asked and Sasha snapped her head to her sister, trying to act like she wasn’t frightened, like she had her shit together, even though she felt terrified.
“First thing is the health screen to make sure you’re clean of the virus. After that we can explain more.” Amanda looked at Sasha once more. “Unless you don’t want to participate. If that’s the case, that’s fine. But if you don’t agree, you will not be allowed inside.”
Sasha looked at Malachi, who hadn’t said anything since being immobilized. They held each other’s gazes for long moments, and then he nodded once.
Sasha looked back at Amanda. “Okay. Your house, your rules.”
Chapter Fifty-One
The rules were meant to be broken
It had been a long time and Malachi felt ready to kill. With metal cuffs around his hands and strapped to a table, he stared at the door, hoping that the next person through expected to die. He didn’t know how long he’d been waiting but it sure as shit wasn’t acceptable. Not only had he been dragged by five guards away from his woman and Lucy, but they had then dumped him in the coldest fucking bath he’d ever known.
The torture hadn’t stopped there. Oh no. They’d held him down, cut off most of his hair, shaved off his beard, and then proceeded to examine every inch of his body.
As if that wasn’t enough, they’d checked everywhere, and he was fucking pissed. If they touched Sasha and Lucy like that, everyone at this fucking facility was going to die.
He’d gladly cover the walls and floor in blood. Each and every single person would know the true beast they had unleashed.
