by KL Donn
UNCHAINED
Hogan Brother’s Book 3 Loch & Sage
KL Donn
Edited by
KA Matthews
Illustrated by
Sensual Graphic Design
Unchained
Hogan Brother’s book 3
Copyright 2017 Krystal Fahl (KL Donn)
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication or any part of this series may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your respect of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. The names of characters, places, brands and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and owners of various products and locations referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication or use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
Warning: This book is intended for readers 18 years or older due to bad language, and explicit sex scenes.
Credits:
Cover Design – Sensual Graphic Designs
Editing – KA Matthews
Quotes – AnonymousQuotes.com
Created with Vellum
Contents
Blurb
Author Note
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Sneak Peek
Epilogue
Afterword
About the Author
Also by KL Donn
Blurb
She’s sheltered. He’s steadfast.
Sage Marlowe was born with grace and care.
Loving her religion and understanding her place in the compound was drilled into her from the moment she could walk. Never leaving until she was a teen, she had no clue of the outside world.
She didn’t understand that she had choices, or could have opinions. She didn’t know she could have freedom.
Meeting a man that called to her heart changed her submission. Gave her a reason to fight for desires she didn’t even understand.
Forced to make a choice, the foundation on which her beliefs are based are rocked to the core and she knows her entire world will never be the same again.
Forbidden love is as elusive as Eden’s garden.
Lochlan Hogan is the youngest of three brothers.
Quiet, loyal, fierce, Loch knows nothing about love and passion until she steps through the doors of his shop.
She walks in beauty and grace. Ash blonde hair, crystal blue eyes. The girl with no name calls to his soul in every way.
She’s shrouded in mystery and elegance. He wants her something fierce.
His obsession with her forces him to do things he wouldn’t normally. Following her back to her home, he’s shocked to find that her beliefs are dipped in sin and shrouded with lies.
Together their love is UNCHAINED, but will her family let her go when she’s already made her vows?
Author Note
Anything I say right now is inconsequential to how I feel. Writing Unchained… Learning about Loch & Sage... it challenged me as a writer, as a woman. I was pushed beyond my own beliefs and into something I didn’t quite understand.
I do now.
I understand so much more today than six months ago.
I understand love is often warped into something ugly.
I understand love is beautiful beyond eye sight.
I understand WE, as humans, have the power to make or break someone.
I understand if you hate this story because I twisted a belief system into something ugly while pushing a young woman to see beyond what she was told.
I understand if you love this story because you were pushed past your own limits.
I understand.
And I hope you do too.
Acknowledgments
Scuba, Kaci, Mom, Codie, Christina, Katherine, Katrina, Grandma, Savannah…
Your guys’ unwavering supporting is more than you can possibly understand.
It’s everything.
Without you, there is no me. There are no words.
Fighters, ARC team, thank you for your kind words and encouragement!
Natalie, Stacey, Tamra, and all the girls working behind the scenes at the Wit & Wonder Agency thank you for embracing my crazy. For the late night panic attacks. For knowing that when I give you one day, I really mean another week.
Kaci & Katrina thank you for helping me through the panic attack I had only days before the set release. Your kind words and encouragement helped me make this story everything.
Bloggers, authors, readers! I see you! Your support, your love, everything! Thank you so much!
Dedication
For Kaci & Katrina
My rocks
My reason
My strength
Thank you
Foreword
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Prologue
We walk by faith, not by sight.
The first meeting.
On the cusp of becoming a woman in the eyes of their Lord, Sage Marlowe had questions no one seemed inclined to answer. Her mother, Alma, had finally granted her wish to accompany her on a trip into Loveland, Colorado to replenish supplies and have work done on the engine of her station wagon. It had been making funny noises for weeks. It also happened to be the first time Sage had left their compound. She was homeschooled like so many other children in the congregation and had never been allowed to venture out.
There were nearly three hundred members that lived in their small village. All of whom followed the Lord’s will and the word of the bishop, her father, Gideon. Lately, he’d been preaching about temptation and sin; how they must always fight from giving in.
Hell’s disciples would come for them in their sleep if they failed.
What he didn’t know was that her oldest brother, Porter, had been sneaking around with another parishioner. A married woman in an unholy union.
Sage caught them naked in the pond one night when she was sent to repent after disobeying her mother and not helping in the gardens. Instead, she chose to tell stories to some of the younger children about fairies and princesses.
During that incident, her father had grown so volatile that she feared him for the first time in her life. She began to question everything after that. What purpose did she
serve on earth if she couldn’t have the freedom to tell a simple story? How was she to follow his rule?
Nearly a week had gone by before the bruising faded and Sage was introduced to a newly widowed member whose wife had passed from an unexplained illness. Morgan was a nice enough man, but he was older than her barely seventeen years, closing in on forty now.
She had a feeling her father intended for her to marry this person no matter that Sage wasn’t ready for it. She wanted to explore the world, fall in love, find out who she really was.
As her mother parked in the lot of what she’d described to Sage as a mechanic’s shop, she noticed a man. He immediately caught her eye because of the way he was wiping his face with the edge of his shirt. The skin of his stomach and chest was accentuated with muscles of the likes she’d never seen on a man before.
When he lowered the material again, his gaze pierced her own, snaring her in a trap only Medusa could extract herself from. He looked shocked as she watched him cover himself up. When she stepped out of the car after her mother, he left, and she found herself disappointed she wouldn’t be able to speak to him.
Lochlan Hogan heard the sputtering engine stall as he wiped the sweat from his face after being under the body of a ‘78 Fairlane installing a new exhaust. When he dropped his shirt, a girl with snow white hair and crystal clear blue eyes was watching him.
At first, he’d been shocked. Then he watched as she got out of the car with the woman who had been driving, and he had a feeling she was young. It could have been the baggy clothes hiding her figure he supposed, but the fresh doe-eyed look she’d given him spoke volumes for her age.
He stayed quiet in the background as his oldest brother, Lennox, helped her and the woman. Watching as Nox checked the spark plugs for looseness and proceeded to move through any small issues the vehicle may have had. When Loch saw him pull out the filter and the amount of dust corroding it, he immediately knew what the problem was and that Nox would have no trouble fixing it, so Loch went on with his day.
She remained at the forefront of his mind, though. With everything he did, he worried about the two women getting home safely. He wondered about the look in the girl’s eyes—equal parts curiosity and wonder. The way her gaze never stopped roaming from one object to the next as if she were seeing it all for the first time.
When that same icy stare kept shooting shy glances his way, he backed away further. Until he was out of sight and able to observe her without fear of being caught. The mother looked downright cranky anytime the girl tried to explore the garage.
It was going fine until Asher caught him. “She’s cute.”
Startled, Loch crashed into a pile of empty jugs of oil. “Crap. Can’t you warn someone when you’re around?” Asher was a good guy, just extremely stealthy.
“Sorry, kid.” Ash’s smile wasn’t hiding his laughter. “You crushing?” His nod was to the girl.
“What? No. She’s too young.” Walking away before the other man could further comment or someone else could catch him, Loch was sad to see the girl leave, knowing he likely wouldn’t see her again.
Six months later.
They were back. Again.
Loch didn’t know whether to be frustrated or happy. The girl—he still didn’t know her name, only that she was too young for him—kept sabotaging her mother’s car. For months, they’d been coming in with one problem or another, and he feared that one day her antics would go too far.
This girl, she awakened something in him. His heart stood up and took notice when she was around. His mind screamed she couldn’t be real. Not because she was too perfect with her pale white skin, clear blue eyes, or white-blonde hair. It was that she was so natural, fresh, innocent.
Off-limits.
He spoke to her mother all the time when they came in. He sensed she wasn’t comfortable around the other guys. Maybe his lack of cursing every other word set her at ease. Maybe it was that he knew he couldn’t look at her daughter no matter how much his body begged him to.
But once a month or so for the last three months, they’d been coming in. Oil was low, steering fluid was low, a tire had mysteriously gotten a puncture in it. It was always something small that could turn into something deadly. And she always had this look in her eye. Not innocent anymore, more mischievous, and Loch knew his nameless girl was at the center of it all.
The biggest problem was not knowing how young she was.
Not legal.
Not his.
After talking to Nox when they were watching a football game neither had been interested in, his brother tried to encourage him to go for it. To give her a shot, become friends, something. Anything that beat the fuck out of not interacting with her. He couldn’t, though, his morals wouldn’t allow him. Conversely, his heart wanted nothing more than to claim her as theirs. To know everything about the young woman.
At one point, confessing to Levi, his other brother, that all he wanted to do was steal her away. Hide her from the nasty looks her parents were constantly shooting at her. Levi had reiterated almost exactly the same advice as Nox.
Fight for her.
They didn’t understand the age difference, though. They didn’t know how it felt to see the girl of your dreams sabotage her parents’ car just so she could spend time with you. They didn’t know what it was like to have everything you’ve ever wanted right in front of your face, and yet be so far out of reach.
Keeping clear so she didn’t see him, Loch called to Levi as he watched them enter the shop. “Where the hell are you?” Levi called, not catching onto his need to remain silent.
“Over here,” Loch called quietly from behind the connecting door to the main office. “She’s here,” he muttered.
Confused, Levi walked over to him. “Who’s here?”
Loch levelled him with a look, and it hit him. “Yeah, her,” he whispered as Levi looked around the door.
His brother’s gaze landed on her as she came into sight. “You wanna know her name, right?” Loch nodded. “You know how old she is?”
“Not a damn clue.” One of his biggest regrets. The hurdle they needed to jump.
“Let’s go.” Levi pulled the door open before Loch could argue and announced their arrival. “Welcome, I apologize for the wait. How can I help you?”
“Oh, hello, I was hoping to see Mr. Hogan.” The older woman’s face grew serious and her tone was put upon.
“I’m one of the Mr. Hogans.” Levi stuck his hand out to her. “Call me Levi.” His own gaze was glued to her.
“Mrs. Marlowe,” she replied back. “I’ve been dealing with another man for a while. I’d like to see him.” Her tone was getting less and less friendly, and she wouldn’t take his hand.
Levi suddenly pointed towards Loch, and he straightened his stance. “That’s my other brother Lochlan. Was it him you were dealing with?”
“No, well, sometimes,” she damn near snapped. “But I want the other one. Perhaps, I’ll just come back.”
Her smile died, and Loch froze just as he was about to walk forward. Panic seized him at the thought of her nearness. About to move on in his life once again and still not knowing her name.
“Alright, Mrs. Marlowe. If you and…” Levi’s voice hung in the thin air with that open question.
“Sage,” the girl whispered. Loch’s heart sung.
He didn’t hear anything else that was said following that. Now, he knew her name.
Sage Marlowe.
He’d finally noticed her. His smile, the dimples. Sage was on cloud nine recalling the way Lochlan looked at her. When he heard her name, his entire demeanor shifted. She knew he would try just a little bit harder next time and maybe speak to her.
Mother had hustled her out of there so quickly, she’d barely gotten to see him.
“You’ll have no part of them,” Alma snapped from the driver’s seat of their car. “That one is not meant for you. Morgan will make a fine husband.”
She cringed at the much older
man’s name. “Morgan is old enough to be my father,” Sage whispered. Over the past few months, both of her parents had gotten more and more violent with her. It appeared every time she opened her mouth for anything but prayer, she was being backhanded.
Sage didn’t understand what had happened to make them hate her so much. She couldn’t ask simple questions. She felt like a prisoner in her home as each day passed. Her faith was so shaken, she didn’t think she’d ever recover.
“You’d do best to watch your mouth, Sage. Morgan won’t tolerate your insolence once you’re wed.” That was the first time they’d come out and said it.
She couldn’t hold her tongue. “Wed?”
“I’m warning you, Sage, Morgan has a temper.”
“And you’re handing me over to him?”
The glare Alma shot her way shut her up. She knew she had to get out, but she just didn’t know what to do.
All the way home and to church, it was all she could think about.
“Avoid it. Resist it. And pray for help.” Bishop Marlowe, her father, the leader of their communion and all things Grail had the entire congregation chanting and praying together.
He was God, their God. And he knew what was right. Her father was the key to the path to the Holy Land, and she must follow. Her sisters, brothers, and mother pushed for her to better understand the promises of God and His mission.