Page 78 of Scavenger's Oath

“When I finally tried to leave… they made sure I'd never forget it,” his deep voice rumbles.

I swallow hard. “What happened?”

“…Lots,” he sighs but doesn’t elaborate. “But another group raided us, shortly after I was recaptured. The leaders scattered. Then Phoenix and Myles showed up to pick off the rest. They found me in one of the cages, beaten within an inch of my life. If they’d been a few minutes later…” he trails off.

“You'd be dead?” I finish, something lodging in my throat.

He nods, like it's just a fact. But it lands in me like a weight.

Wrapping my arm around his ribs, I feel the steady, calm beat of his heart under my palm.

Then his gaze sharpens on me. “What about you?”

My body locks up.

“You weresleeping in that car when we found you,” he says, quiet but direct. “Terrified. All alone. A girl like you? Alone? There’s gotta be a story behind that.” His eyes bore into me and his brows knit together.

Avoiding his gaze, I sigh. “I spent some time with traders too. They sold me to my last group after a year of their ‘training’.”

Zane doesn't flinch or push me to say more. He just waits. And as much as it scares me to admit, some part of me has already decided thatthesemonsters are safer than Bennett and his men.

“I didn't get away until right before you guys found me,” I continue. “We’d been planning it for months. After… one of us died. We were waiting for the right moment. But I had to go alone.”

His brow furrows. “We?”

A hollow feeling grows in my chest, guilt creeping in like smoke. “Just one person. A girl. She was supposed to follow me… when she could. We… we had a plan to meet in the nearest town but I—” my voice breaks.

I don’t want to say it. To accept what it would mean. “I was supposed to meet her a week later,” I whisper.

His jaw tightens and I feel his hand ball into a fist at my back. “Andwelocked you away.” Zane shifts closer, his voice low and steady. “How long were you with them?”

“Around two years.” I shrug one shoulder.

He breathes in, then lets it out slowly and shakily like he’s trying to calm himself. “What kind of people were they?”

Hesitating again, my fingers fidget with the edge of the bedsheet.

“The kind who enjoyed hurting women. They’d punish us for all sorts of things, but they were convinced they were ‘cleansing’ us,” I say, focusing on the fabric between my fingers.

I take adeep breath, the reality of it seeming so obvious now.

“They tried brainwashing us. The leader even called us his wives. They lied to us about what was outside the farm,” I continue, brows pulling together as bitterness fills those memories. “I actually used to believe them.”

The truth feels shameful now. How stupid I was to believe anything that came out of the mouths of people like them.

Zane’s eyes darken, his body stiffening like stone. “And they’re still out there.”

It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.

He sits up straighter, tension rolling off his shoulders like storm clouds gathering. “Do they know you got out?”

Nodding again, I look up at him through my eyelashes.

There’s no way Bennett didn’t notice his prize possession is missing. “And if Jade was caught trying to follow me—” I can’t finish the sentence.

I still hear her screams every night when I close my eyes. I don’t even know if she made it out. Or if he caught her. I should’ve stayed. Should’ve insisted we leave together.

That guilt is something I’ll carry with me forever.