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CHAPTER 1

L ovie stared from the window of her bedroom at the pristine white grounds and gorgeous, snow-frosted trees, trying not to lose her ever-loving mind. She’d been trapped in this room for five days, and stir-crazy didn’t begin to cover how she felt. The walls were closing in on her.

But it wouldn’t do any good to scream and shout. If she made too much noise, one of the men outside her door would go get Ravage. He was one of the scariest men she’d ever seen. Large and muscular, with a scar that cut across his face from his left temple to the bottom of his right ear.

He had such an ominous presence that even the Warriors feared him. But for whatever reason, he’d taken to protecting her. The last four years of her life could have been so much worse if not for him. He’d convinced her during his last trip to her room the night before that she didn’t want him to be summoned again. She’d learned then how hard he was.

She’d ignored him once when the Society first insisted the Warriors bring her to the Graceview Retreat Center. The second time the men outside had brought someone to her room, it had been a man they called the General. A shiver iced down her spine.

Tugging the sleeves of her turtleneck sweater down so her bruises wouldn’t show, she crossed to the bathroom to inspect the ones on her neck. As if the passage of a few hours would change how vividly they stood out on her pale skin.

The worst part was no one would tell her anything about her brother, Zane, no matter how hard she begged. When she first arrived, she’d overheard General Pompous, her secret name for the General, and Ravage talking. Zane was in Darling, which turned out to be the neighboring town. Her brother was less than five miles away.

Without thinking, she had leaped to her feet. The book she’d been reading fell from her lap and crashed to the floor. When the General realized she’d been listening, he’d turned almost purple with rage. Ravage had grabbed her arm, dragged her back to her bedroom, and thrown her inside before slamming and locking the door as he left with all her questions unanswered.

What the heck was Zane doing in Tennessee instead of California, where they lived? At least, that was where they lived four years ago when this whole fiasco had started. Their father, well, Zane’s father, Lovie’s stepfather, would never let his only son move across the country alone. She’d gotten over her brother’s favored status the day her mother disappeared. Zane was the golden boy of the family.

Who was taking care of him? Had he even thought about bringing a coat with him? You didn’t get snow-covered fields and roads in Oakland, California.

She hated that the General even knew who Zane was. How had that even happened? Was the General planning to hurt him? She had so many questions. If that man or the Warriors laid a finger on him, she’d make them pay.

Mighty big talk for someone who can’t even get out of her room .

Okay, so step one of her badassery would be figuring out how to leave her room. Then she’d wreak her revenge. She rolled her eyes. Yeah, all those security guards and bikers were probably shaking in their boots at the mere thought of her.

A knock at the door interrupted her plans of vengeance. People always knocked. But before she could answer, the lock clicked open and whoever stood on the other side walked in. No one waited for permission before they entered. So, why did they even bother to knock?

Ravage opened the door, followed by two girls who couldn’t be much older than Zane. Staring at the floor, the first girl stepped passed him. “Would you mind if we changed your sheets?”

The second girl hopped to the side as Ravage swung out his hand and landed a solid slap to the first girl’s bottom. “What the fuck did I just say in the hall about talking to her?”

A flush of embarrassment tinted the girl’s cheeks. “Sorry. I forgot.”

“Best you remember from now on if you know what’s good for you, Jazzy. If you need a stronger reminder, I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”

Oh, wow! That was a first. Unless she missed her guess, Ravage had just threatened to spank Jazzy. Why did that kick the butterflies tickling the inside of Lovie’s tummy into high gear and then flutter lower? Other than it was something lifted straight off the pages of just about every book on her e-reader.

Ravage glared at the girl. “Well, little girl? Is that what you want?” The mere thought of something like that happening in real life whispered through her thoughts before the pain of isolation froze her. Was it really so terrible for someone to talk to her?

Jazzy shook her head as she stared down at the sheets in her arms. If only Ravage would leave, Lovie now had a million questions.

“It’s no problem. Let me just clear these off.” Scooting to the bed, Lovie picked up her two stuffies, Owlbert and Buzzy. Making a mental to apologize to them later, she placed them into the largest drawer of the bedside table with care.

The ladies who’d brought her breakfast had been older. They wouldn’t talk to her at all, much less provide her with information about her brother. If Ravage would leave, maybe she could get these two girls to talk to her.

Just like that, ringing trilled the air. Cursing under his breath, Ravage dug his phone from his pocket. Frowning at the name on his screen, he answered. “I told you not to call me. What the hell do you want?” He paused, and his frown deepened to a scowl. “Hold on a sec.”

Glaring at Jazzy, he said, “Don’t forget what I said. I’ll be right outside the door, and you do not want me to catch you talking to her when I get back.”

His tone rang with such stern authority Jazzy’s hands shot behind her to cover her rear. Heck, even Lovie’s bottom clenched. As soon as the door closed, Lovie’s attention flashed back to the girls at the bed.

Studying them, it was hard to imagine two girls more different. Jazzy was petite with straight, dark hair and incredibly deep brown eyes. The other girl was the picture of Nordic beauty with her brilliant light blue eyes and hair almost the color of the snow outside.

Lovie jumped right in to help by shucking the case off a pillow. Keeping her voice just above a whisper, she tried to start a conversation. “Thank you so much for doing this. It’s nice to see a friendly face.”

The willowy blonde girl glared at her and snatched the pillowcase from Lovie’s hands. But at least Jazzy smiled.

Neither of them spoke.

Never let it be said that Lovelyn Auria Reese was so easily stymied. “My breakfast was delicious. Can you please tell the cook I enjoyed it? It’s been a while since I had anything that good. I swear I can burn water, and the people I traveled with the past few years weren’t much better.”

That part was true. She’d tried to cook so many times Ravage now insisted they put her in a place with no kitchen. Something always seemed to go wrong. She tried, but the end result was always the same. It was gooey, gross, or burnt to a crisp. On the plus side, there wasn’t a fire alarm on the market she didn’t know how to deactivate.

Jazzy nodded, glanced at the door, then leaned closer. Matching Lovie’s volume, she said, “I’ll tell her. She’s very nice.”

Lovie smiled. “Thank you. I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance.”

Sally Scowls-a-Lot turned her frigid glare on her friend. “You aren’t supposed to talk to her, Jasmine. You’re going to get us in trouble,” she whispered.

Why was their talking to her such a big deal? It wasn’t as though she held some deep, dark, forbidden secret. The last thing she wanted was to get Jazzy in trouble, but she needed information. And face it, her options were limited, so she pressed forward. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. It’s kind of scary being held behind a locked door without knowing what’s happening. My younger brother is here, too. Well, not exactly here in the compound. But he’s close by. Have you heard of him?”

Sally Scowls-a-lot said, “No!”

But at the same time, Jazzy nodded. “He used to be here, but several months ago, he went into Darling and hasn’t come back. I got the feeling he was all right, but they were all really upset about it. I’m not sure why.”

Sally Scowls-a-Lot lost it. “That’s it! I’m telling Ravage, and he’s gonna spank you stupid. Well, stupider. I’m not getting punished because you can’t keep your mouth shut.”

Jazzy’s clenched hands punched her hips. “What Ravage does to me is none of your business. And if you say one word to him, I’ll tell Father Aron about you not coming to the nightly meetings three nights in a row a few weeks ago, Hyacinth.”

Well, it appeared Jazzy had put up with all of Hyacinth’s crap she was willing to take. Whatever Father Aron would do if someone missed the nightly meeting, it was bad enough to silence Hyacinth. Go, Jazzy!

Lovie kept Jazzy talking. “I love your names, by the way. I’ve never met a Jasmine or a Hyacinth before.”

Jasmine shrugged. “Thanks, but those aren’t our real names.”

Interesting. Jasmine was a regular fount of knowledge now, wasn’t she? “They’re not? Then why do you call each other those names?”

“Those are the names we got at the?—”

“Jasmine!” Hyacinth had gone pale. “You really need to shut up. If you keep talking, punishment nights in the closet will be the least of our problems. You’re going to get us sent to be some rich snot-nosed kid’s nanny. Is that what you want?”

The color drained from Jasmine’s face as well. “I wasn’t… I mean. I was just being nice. Hy, you know how my mouth can run away with me.”

Surprise pulsed through Lovie. Nights in the closet? Or worse? What the heck was being done to the women here? No wonder they were upset. “I would never say anything to anyone, Jasmine.”

The girl’s entire body shook. As if she hadn’t heard Lovie’s words, she ran to Lovie, tears streaming down her face. What in the world was going on? Jazzy grabbed both of Lovie’s hands in her own. Why were the girls so upset? What had she been about to say?

“Please,” Jasmine begged. “Please don’t tell anyone I said that. My parents will kill me if I have to leave. My family is depending on me. Please! ”

Lovie reversed the position, taking Jasmine’s hands. “I already told you I won’t tell anyone. I promise. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.”

Hyacinth grabbed Jasmine’s arm and dragged her away. “We have to go. Right now. I hope you meant what you said about not telling anyone.” She dragged Jasmine out the door.

Lovelyn ran to the door as well, but the lock clicked back into place before she reached it. She slapped her hands on the door. Muffled shouts and angry tones were all she could hear from the other side of the door. Ravage wasn’t very happy, that was for sure.

Damn it! Jasmine had been on the verge of telling her something important until Hyacinth shut her down. She needed to talk to Jasmine alone.

Wait.

Jasmine and Hyacinth were beautiful names. Striking and unusual. So why were they so familiar?

Frustrated, Lovie kicked the door as hard as she could, almost breaking her foot in the process. Limping back to the bed, she sat on the side and rubbed her injured toes. What on earth had just happened?

Hyacinth hadn’t freaked out until she’d asked about their names. But why was that a secret? Reaching for her bedside table drawer, she pulled out her two best friends in the whole world. It'd been a miracle she’d had them in her backpack the day the Warriors had shown up. Buzzy and Owlbert were the only reasons she was still sane after all this time.

Turning her attention back to the landscape outside the window, she allowed the snowy fields of hills and brush to soothe her. Hugging one stuffie in each arm, she sighed. “I’d give anything to be outside with Zane right now. Well, minus the Warriors and the Society that is. He’d love the snow.”

She never wanted Zane anywhere close to the Warriors. Her keeping them away from Zane was how she’d ended up in this predicament in the first place. She’d do anything to keep her baby brother safe. Anything.