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Lochlan offered her some of those choices. The way he smiled when he didn’t realize she had been watching—with his entire being. The happiness he emanated was what she envied.
That first time she entered his shop, there were so many things she’d never seen before. Men who looked aggressive with their tattoos and ripped clothes but turned out to be quite nice behind their gruff exteriors. Seeing the two women present in such a manly setting had been such a shock to her. Sophia seemed to be such a sweet woman. Subdued, soft, the type of girl who would fit right into Sage’s congregation. Working in the fields of vegetables and fruits they grew, Sage knew Sophia was the type of woman younger girls would have looked up to.
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.
