Page 58

Stepping behind her, I press into her backside, I’m caught by her scent, by her soft skin and lick a trail up her neck. I’ve missed the way she tastes. Imogene exhales at my attention, then pins my eyes in the mirror.

“How did you sleep?” she asks.

“Like the dead.” I brush aside her hair to kiss her shoulder. The move exposes her breast and my stomach drops.Fuck. It’s been weeks, but the skin is still discolored from the punishment Rex was forced to dole out. Sliding my hand between her side and her arm, I ghost my fingers over the flesh. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you that day. That punishment belonged to me.”

“He did punish you. There was plenty to go around for all of us.”

I touch her gently, running my knuckles over the side of her breast. “I hate this.”

“I hate that I don’t know the difference between what I like and what Anex has groomed me to like.”

I nod, resting my chin on her shoulder. I understand. “It’s so fucking hard.”

“The lessons, and instruction, and Corrections, all the stuff he taught us muddles up the mind and body.”

Because even though all I want to do is take care of her, seeing those bruises makes my dick hard. And taking care of women is what I do. I calm, I sooth, and yeah, I manipulate, usually resulting in my own pleasure along with whatever job Anex has me doing.

But it’s not like that with Imogene. I know that. I want her because I love her. Because she’s mine.

She takes my hand, placing my palm over her breast. Hers rests on top and she encourages me to squeeze. “I like it when it hurts. It feels right. Like I don’t deserve something good without going through something painful to get it.”

I press a kiss under her ear. “What if it’s not about deserving and just what your body likes? Pain or pleasure.”

There’s something holding her back, a tension in her limbs, the shallow rise and fall of her chest. “Did he do something?”

“There was a cleansing.”

I’ve heard this before—actually, I’ve applied some of the methods with the recruits as they come into Serendee, purifying them for their new life.

“Before the ceremony?” I ask, dropping my hands to wrap them around her waist.

“Yes. The Preparation. They said a blessing and anointed us with oil, then sprayed us in the showers.” I nod at her description, but she isn’t finished. “We were all sitting around the fire, getting a lesson on how to please our men.”

I snort and that draws out a smile. “You probably could’ve taught that lesson.”

“Oh, they wanted one, but… they put something in my tea, and I woke up the next day bound to Anex’s bed.”

My grip tightens around her waist, holding her tight. “They drugged you?”

“Yes.” Tears build at the corner of her eyes, and she looks down. “Anex wanted a special cleansing for me because I’m so… dirty.”

“Hey,” I lift her chin and force her eyes to meet mine in the mirror. “You’re not dirty. You’re perfect.”

She shakes her head. “Whathedid made me feel dirty. The way he used me as an example. The way he made the women hold me down when he forced—”

“Imogene,” I ask quietly, “did he rape you?”

“I don’t know. There was this crystal…” she doesn’t finish, instead crumbles in front of me, sobs ratcheting though her body. It’s all the answer I need. He may not have used his body, but still forced his will on her. I turn her, pull her into my chest and hold her. “It hurt.”

“He’ll never hurt you again,” I assure her, holding back the mounting rage.

“You can’t promise that.”

She’s right. A normal man couldn’t, but this one? The one holding the woman he loves in her arms while she falls apart—so convinced she’s damaged and dirty that she doesn’t even recognize assault when it happens to her.

This man can make the promise. Because I know for certain that I’m going to kill him.

“What did you say this was?” I take another bite into the rectangle. It’s both hard and soft, the red fruit substance in the middle hot enough to burn my tongue.