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“Do you think you’re shocking when you say things like that? That you’ve revealed a dark secret of this place?” he asks. He walks over to the mahogany chest pushed against the wall, opens a drawer, and removes something. He turns. “Serendee is under my will, Rex. It has been since the day I purchased the land. Since I created the bylaws that we adhere to. The residents of this community have chosen to follow my path. My way.” He walks back over, the dark object clenched in his hand. I can’t see what it is. “It pains me that you are choosing the opposite. That you, your friend, and this girl have all decided to work against me.”

“We will never be on your side, Anex,” Rex declares. “Never again. Just let us go. We don’t need money, or anything more than the clothes on our back. Banish us—all three of us—and you’ll never have to worry about us again.”

“I would if I could.” His father stops before us. “But letting you go would be the easy way out, and finding Enlightenment isn’t easy. It’s arduous. Exhausting. Painstaking. I will not release you from finding your way.”

His eyes are on me as he says this, and as it is every time Anex has blessed me with his attention, I’m caught in his vortex. Except this time, I don’t feel the desire to appease him. I feel the urge to run, because the way he looks at me, the small curl to his lips, it’s the look of a predator and I’m nothing but prey.

“Sit,” he says simply, nodding at a hardback chair.

“Anex.” My voice is a whisper.

His hand rises and I see the object. A paddle. Slightly larger than a hairbrush, with silver rivets embedded across the back. “Come here, Imogene, and prepare to receive your Correction.”

Rex vibrates next to me. “If you touch a hair on my mate’s body, I will end you.”

Anex sighs, deep and exasperated. “I appreciate your bravado, Son, but you don’t have the upper hand here. You never do. When will you learn that?” He waves over the guard. “I’d have you remove him, but he needs to see this. See what happens when they break the rules.” His eyes go to the gun. “Keep him in line.”

“Yes, sir.” Erik’s eyes never leave Rex, as if he knows that all my mate needs is a split second.

“Imogene, come,” Anex commands. “Or I’ll be forced to make you.” His head tilts. “Or is that what you want? Is that what gets you wet? Binding you up? Forcing you?”

“Stop!” Rex roars. “I swear to God.”

Anex snorts. “There is only one God here, and I’ve already made up my mind. Imogene will be punished, and you’ll watch.” He jerks his head to another guard stationed at the door. “As will a selected audience.”

“Punish me instead,” Rex blurts. “Leave her alone.”

Annex’s eyes narrow. “I’m sure you’d like that, but no. That’s not how this works.”

The guard opens the door and a small group files in. I know the majority of them—the women, at least. They were all part of the secret group I’d joined. My eyes meet Kayla’s—the woman I’d personally held down while she was branded, talking her through the pain. The scent of burning flesh, singed into my nostrils. The scent I will always associate with guilt and regret.

But she doesn’t look regretful. No. She and the others surrounded Anex like a harem in their flowy dresses and painted eyes. I would have been one of those women—should’ve been.

The urge to run across the room, grab Kayla by the shoulders and shout,‘Can you see how easy it is for him to turn on you?’That the brand doesn’t protect you, it makes you a target? They’re Collateral. I know for certain it will be used against them. Not if, but when.

“Fuck,” Rex swears, and my eyes are drawn back to the door.

One last person walks through. His hands are bound in front of him, tied at the wrist. A watchful black-clad guard stands nearby. My heart cracks in two, because I’d hoped he would leave him out of this and focus his punishment on me alone, but no, Anex is always two steps ahead.

Silas.

“Everyone, take a seat,” Anex says, gesturing to the area around his chair. They file in, curious looks on every face—everyone but Silas, whose skin is pale.

Rex’s eyes dart around the room, at the guards and the new witnesses. To Silas and then to me. They finally land on his father. The tension trembles between them, or maybe that’s just the fear spiking up my spine.

“May I approach?” Rex asks.

“With caution.” That simply means Erik never lowers his weapon.

Rex moves toward his father, and he speaks, voice so low that no one in the room can hear. No one but me. “You can’t Correct her like this. Not when you want her for your own.” He swallows painfully at the admission his father plans on keeping me for himself. “You’ll see those scars every time you’re with her, a constant reminder of this event. The humiliation and defeat.”

“Marks of her journey,” he counters. “That she deserves.”

Rex continues as if his father hasn’t spoken. “More than that, she’ll hate you. She’ll poison any future children you have with her into hating you too—and she’ll have the proof she needs to convince them.”

The thought of losing more children seems to make Anex consider the argument. He rests a hand on Rex’s shoulder. “You make a good point. I’ve trained you so well, Son. I can sense the leadership that runs through you. My blood. My power.” He presses the paddle into Rex’s hand. “You do it.”

“What?” The device falls to the ground like it’s made of fire. “No.”