Page 88 of Scavenger's Oath

I lean against the doorway, folding my arms across my chest to hide the tremble in my fingers. “Always playing the soldier. But not an ounce of the self-control we were taught,” I say calmly.

Myles freezes for half a second before he turns, eyes darkened in the dim light. There’s something manic in him. Completely unhinged.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve coming in here after interfering,” he growls.

Good. Let’s get into it.

I step inside calmly. “You wanna talk aboutinterfering? You grabbed her like a rabid dog last week. You think that made you a hero?” I retort.

He shoves the rifle aside. “I stopped you from fucking her! You let her out of the cell just to sweeten her up.”

I grind my teeth. He’s not wrong and that makes my guilt rise like bile.

He slams his fist on the table, clearly not finished. “You act so noble, but you buried your fingers in her like she was free for the taking. Snuck behind my back just like Zane—worse! You actually tried to fuck her!”

“You thinkIneedyourpermission?” I chuckle without humour, approaching him. “She’s not your property, Myles.”

His nostrils flare, lip pulling up in a snarl. “The fuck she isn’t.”

There it is.

All his old wounds from the foster system. I thought he’d put this shit behind him. But maybe there was just nothing triggering it.

I stop just short of him, close enough to feel the heat coming off his chest. “You might’ve been the one who found her. But you locked her in a fucking cell, treated her like someone dangerous—”

“Because she is,” he snaps, pushing me back. “We didn’t know her. Girls like that…”

“Don’t,” I cut in, voice tight. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

His jaw flexes, but I’m not done. Not even close. He needs a major wake-up call. And I know just what’ll do it.

I sit on the edge of the table and let out a heavy sigh. “Ivy was a prisoner before we found her.” I keep my voice measured, evenas the knowledge rots in my gut. “You want the truth?”

Staring at him, I wait until his breathing slows a fraction. “Zane told me everything—the kind of shit that makes you want to rip your own skin off just for breathing near her.”

Myles blinks, thrown. “What are you—”

“She was trafficked, Myles. Traded.” I let the words hit him. Let them echo as they sour on my tongue.

I watch as he stills, breath held like he’s frozen.

“She was sold to some sick cult leader to join his ‘wives’. Kept for two fucking years by men who passed her around like meat. That's why she flinched every time we looked at her too long. Why she hasn’t tried to escape that cell. She's done this before.”

Myles steps back like I shot him, colour draining from his face as if the bullet is lodged in his gut.

So I stand up and step into him again, intent on driving my point home. “And then… you know what she told me this morning?” I narrow my eyes as his widen. “That you were going to carve your fucking name into her skin with that knife.”

His mouth opens, but no sound comes out.

“Do you have any fucking idea what it felt like when Zane kicked down that door, and I saw you on top of her? Knife,in your hand!” My voice climbs as the memory flashes through my mind. “And her… naked and crying on your bedroom floor. You wanna know what I thought I was walking into?” My voice shakes with rage now. He backs up again but I follow him. “I thought you were trying to fuckingkill her! I thought you’d fully lost it.”

“I wasn’t—” his voice cracks, thin and pathetic.

“You think that matters?” I snap. “You think intention counts for shit when she was lying there, bracing for another man to mark her body like livestock? Jesus, Myles.”

He stares at me, wide-eyed and shaken. “She never told meany of that. I… I didn’t know…” His voice breaks, the truth shattering his shell.

“She didn’t tell you because she doesn’t feel safe with you!” I shout. “She didn’t tell any of us. And she shouldn’t have had to. We should’veseenit. Her silence. Her compliance. How she stayed in that damn cell without protest. Even the bargaining.” I clench my fists, trying to rein in this rare outburst. “You wanna talk about‘girls like that’,Myles? Girls like that have faced constant danger their entire lives. And this morning?Youwere another fucking threat!”