" ceremony were the first t

nts and the sharp crack of leather belts against flesh. My eyes shot ope

ken survivalist compound in the m

ed my arm, a

Please! They're g

were fixed on me, tears already streaming down her beautiful face. She was a maste

eriously transported from our office jobs in the city. Th

They would strike the unmarried women with leather belts, and the

ng I was protecting a friend. My body was covered in welts, but my sacrific

the Elder. He was the alpha, the one every woman wanted. Gabby, with fewe

for a controlling, brutish nature. Gabby, meanwhile, pretended to be my frien

nge. During a foraging trip

ceremony, Gabby was playing the same part, her

you have to stan

r in her eyes. I remembered the feelin

ere would be