Page 77 of Scavenger's Oath

But right now… with Zane, I want to.

He's still asleep, breaths even, one arm curved protectively around me, the other draped across the mattress.

As I shift slightly, the oversized button-up shirt twists around me, Phoenix’s shirt. The reminder of what happened last week makes my stomach churn.

He gave it to me before everything spiralled. Before Myles looked at me like I’d betrayed him. Before I hid myself away in Zane’s room for a solid week.

My period came the next day, so it was a great excuse to stay in the comfy bed, only going downstairs to shower while Zane guarded the door. I half expected my cycle to be thrown off by all the stress, but it’s still like clockwork.

Part of me was scared to face Phoenix and Myles. Because I don’t regret what happened with any of them, but I can recognise the part I played in all of it.

Zane didn’t push me to interact with them but allowed them to come in here freely. And they found all kinds of reasons to talk to me.

So another part of me is starting to feel guilty. They’re not blaming or punishing me, they’re trying to win me back.

My gaze moves up to Zane’s face… he’s relaxed, but still guarded even in his sleep. His jaw is sharp, black hair hanging over his forehead, lashes dark against his tanned skin. He looks nothing like the monster I thought he was when I first saw him.

Although the scars that cover him tell a different story than the gentle side he’s shown me. My eyes trace the jagged scar along his ribs, the ones on his muscular arms and shoulders. Then the strange circular one on his chest, seared into a shape I don't recognise—abrand.

But I don't need to know what it means. I canfeelwhat it is. Cruelty and punishment. I know it well.

Reaching out without thinking, my fingers brush the mark. Just feeling the heat of it with my breath held tight.

Zane's breath shifts. His lashes twitch and one pale-green eye peeks at me.

“I didn't mean to wake you,” I whisper softly.

“You didn't,” he murmurs, voice still sleep-warm. He shifts, curling around me and squeezing me into his arms tightly. “I’ve been up for a while… just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you.”

My face presses into his chest now, right next to the brand on his pectoral muscle. “These scars… did they all come from after the Collapse?”

His gaze follows mine to the brand, and something flickers in his expression. Not shame, not exactly.

More like, a painful memory.

“Most of them,” he says before swallowing. “Some are from hunting. But others… from people.”

He props himself up on one elbow, his other arm still holding me close. “I wasn't always with Phoenix and Myles. Before them, I was part of the group that started flesh trading.”

Horror rolls through me, as my stomach drops like lead.He’s like the men who took me? Am I in bed with a flesh trader!

A cold sweat breaks out on my skin, bile rising up my throat. I start to pull away, but he notices and clutches me tighter.

“I didn’t want to join them. They forced me, Ivy,” he says urgently, pleading in his eyes. “Please believe me. I never wanted to be part of any of it.”

I want to believe him. He’s nothing like the men who kidnapped and trained me. But my skin prickles where his hands are still on me.

With bated breath, I wait for him to continue.

“It was hell. They believed keeping people ‘entertained’was the best way to control them. If you didn’t play along, you were punished. The worse part was... they often used me… as that ‘entertainment’.” He says the word through gritted teeth, as if it makes him angry to even use it.

My anxiety eases slightly. I know those games well. The kind designed to chip away at your conscience. Conditioning your mind and twisting your own will against you.

“I stayed too long.” His voice dips into a deadly tone. “But I thought I had no other choice. I used to think I was like them. For too long.”

He turns his face away as if he doesn’t want to see my reaction. As if he can’t bear to look in my eyes as he confesses who he was.

My throat tightens seeing him like this. He’s always been the kindest of the three, and hearing what he’s been through, makes my heart hurt in a way I wasn’t expecting.