“No.”
“Please.”
It was desperate, that sound, and it made me shiver. Because it was all too easy to imagine that sound coming out of my mouth. With the full moon rising, it was totally possible for me to get
that
desperate. I’d been there before, thanks to Talon and his insane determination to get me with child any damn way he could, and I knew from that experience I would do anything—take any amount of punishment—to get what the moon and my body demanded.
And if I kept fucking Jin, that just might be where I ended up. He liked pain—could possibly even feed on it—and a werewolf was capable of taking a whole lot more in the way of punishment than a mere human.
I bit my lip, and decided, right there and then, to get the hell out of this place as soon as possible. I might want to catch the people responsible for sacrificing the women, but there were still limits to what I would do for the Directorate’s cause.
The sound of flesh slapping against flesh, and the moan that followed it, had another tremor running across my skin. Jan might want what they were doing to her, might have paid big money for it, but all I wanted to do was get up and smack them all.
Then go find Kellen, who was into common old everyday sex, and fuck his brains out.
“Are you willing to pay more for your needs, Jan?” Jin asked. “Are you willing to go all the way?”
All the way? Something about that phrase had warning lights flashing. I mean, how much more could any human—male or female—take?
Obviously, a whole lot more if the sudden surge of desire and desperation coming from Jan was any indication. “Yes, yes,” she said.
Jin glanced at the big man beside him and smiled. It was a cold, pleased thing, and sent ice slithering through my soul. There was nothing remotely human in that smile. Nothing even resembling humanity.
“We have another candidate, Marcus.”
“We do.” The big man’s voice was a rich rumble that should have been sexy, but only sent more chills skittering across my skin. “I shall inform the boss.”
“Good.” Jin glanced at the woman. “Finish her off, then take her to the recovery room. I better go check our other patrons.”
“The women in rooms two and three bleed sweetly.”
Jin snorted. “But the woman in two gives no pain. No fear, and only a little desperation.”
“She is lesbian, is she not? Could we use that?”
“She’s bisexual, so no. Death intends to keep trying, but I think she’ll become another meal for him. I don’t believe she can provide what we need.” He slapped the other man on the shoulder. “Don’t forget to get the papers typed up for Jan once she regains consciousness.”
“Will do.”
Jin left. Marcus casually unfurled his whip and snapped it across the silence. I jumped. Jan merely moaned, the sound one of anticipation.
“Tell me what you want, Jan.”
“Finish it. Hard.”
“Tell me,” he said, voice almost lost under another snap of the whip.
“Beat me,” she whimpered. “Just beat me.”
“As the man said, I can’t do that. Not yet.”
She made a gargled sound full of despair. He breathed deep, as if sucking it in. Just like Jin had appeared to be sucking in her pain.
God, was Jan the only human in this room?
“Please,” she said again.
Marcus coiled the whip back up, then ran the handle end down the torn flesh of her back. “You want it finished; I want your desperation. I want to feel your torment.” He reached up with one hand to grab the rope tying her left arm to the ring. “You will give me that, Jan.”
Her arm flopped free. He grabbed it before it could fall to her side, then spun her around, shoved her back roughly against the wall, and tied her back up.
Then he fucked her, using the thick whip handle rather than his body. All the while, the big man breathed deep, his body shuddering in pleasure as she twisted, screamed, and, eventually, came. Then she collapsed against the ropes and blacked out.
Marcus leaned forward and kissed her lips, as tenderly as any lover, then carefully undid her ropes and carried her out. I stayed where I was, battling the mix of rage, disgust, and desire sweeping through me, trying to control the twin urges of finding someone to beat senseless and finding a man to fuck the hell out of.
Right now, neither was exactly practical.
I blew out a breath then stood, knowing I had to get back to the spa before someone came looking for me. I padded across the room and carefully opened the door. The corridor still lay in shadowed darkness, but it was far from silent. Screams and grunts were now coming from the room that held the odd scent—which was room two, I noted, suddenly seeing the small number on the door.
Who was the man referred to as death in that room? Was it Gautier, or someone else? It didn’t smell like Gautier—not exactly—and besides, Gautier didn’t do sex. And whatever else was happening in that room, sex was definitely involved.
I shuddered and got the hell out of there.
As I opened the door at the end of the corridor, a door down near the torture rooms opened. I scooted out the door as fast as I could, but not fast enough.
“Hey—”
I didn’t hang around to hear what else was shouted, just ran. I hit the buzzer to open the glass doors, waited impatiently for them to open, then pushed through and ran for the spa.
Once there, I stripped down, slid the pass out of sight behind the stool, then dove into the spa. As the warm water began to take the chill from my skin, I ducked under the bubbles, wetting my hair and feeling the heat caress my face.
In the hall outside, doors opened and closed.
Someone was checking who was and wasn’t around.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. A few minutes later, my door opened and Jin’s thick scent filled the room. I opened one eye and looked up at him. “Twenty minutes isn’t up yet, is it?” I groped for my watch, which had slid toward the little stool. It was then I noticed a little bit of the pass-card’s lanyard sticking out from behind one of the stool legs.
Shit. If he took one more step, he’d be able to see it.
I grabbed my watch, then rose. I didn’t step from the spa, though, just let the droplets stream down my water-warmed body. His gaze followed them, as I thought it would. Whatever else he was, he still wore the shape of a man, and all men looked when presented with nakedness. But I pressed a wet hand against his chest, just to ensure he didn’t move.
“According to my watch, I still have eleven minutes left.” Which was a huge shock. I mean, with all that I’d seen and done, I would have sworn at
least
twenty minutes had slipped by. “Are you trying to cheat me?”
He grabbed my hand, squeezing it harder than necessary. I winced. He smiled. “It can hardly be cheating when you’re getting it for free.”
I arched an eyebrow, and kept my voice low. Sultry. “And here I was thinking I was going to be paying for it all later.”
He chuckled, then pulled me forward, the unexpected force of it making me slip. He caught me, his arms sliding around my body, the strength of his grip brutal.
“What games do you play, little one?” He dragged me up, out of the water; his voice was a dark whisper against my ear.
“No games.” My breath little more than a pant of air, but the cause wasn’t excitement. He was holding me so damn tight it was a struggle to breathe.
“You had better not be. I do not like being made a fool of.”
“I’m not trying—”
“Then why were you in a restricted area?”
Shit, shit, shit
. I raised my gaze to his, saw nothing but coldness in those alien depths. Whether he’d truly seen me, or merely fished, I couldn’t honestly say. I’d been moving with vampire speed—most people wouldn’t have seen more than a white blur.
But Jin wasn’t most people.
I tossed a mental coin to decide between a lie and the truth, then said, “I went to the toilet. I didn’t know it was restrict—”
He swung me around and flung me back against the wall. Hard. Pain flared briefly, reverberating through my body, and I had to resist the fierce desire to knock him back onto his ass.
“Hey, I don’t mind rough sex, but that’s enough of that or—”
“Or what?” he cut in. He wrapped a hand around my neck and pressed against my carotid artery lightly. Fear swirled through me. I saw him taste it. Saw his eyes gleam in sudden pleasure. “You’ll leave?” He barked a laugh. “You need what I offer, little one.”
“No—”
He shook me, making my teeth rattle and cut off the words. “Yes. Shall I prove it?”
Before I could say anything, his mouth swooped to mine. It was a harsh and unrelenting kiss, a demand that briefly walked the edge of violence, then well and truly dipped over when his teeth caught my lip and bit down hard.
It hurt badly, but desire flared all the same. I couldn’t help what I was, couldn’t help that danger drew me like a moth to flame, and perhaps that was just as well. Because Jin was taking the lust for danger for the lust for pain, and in this situation, that was a good mistake. One that might just keep me alive.
He chuckled softly, and stepped away. I tried to ignore the throbbing ache in my lip, as well as the one lower down, and said, “You take me for granted.”
“Because you want it. Because you get off on it.” He flicked a puckered nipple casually. “You will wait, for as long as I want you to wait, simply because you hunger for what only I can give.”
Arrogant bastard. But I kept the thought inside and simply looked at him as he continued, “But unfortunately, I have other duties to tend to before I get to satisfying your desires.”
He turned and walked out. I listened to his footsteps, the sound of doors opening and closing, the soft questions and answers.
He wasn’t so sure it was me after all.
Thank God.
And his actions here just now had given me the perfect excuse to run. I’d already accused him of taking me for granted. Given his arrogance, it would be perfectly logical for me to now walk out.
Which was more than worth the price of a bitten lip.
I had a shower to wash the scent of chlorine and Jin off me, then toweled myself dry and put the robe back on. After peering out the door and testing the air to ensure Jin’s scent had well and truly faded, I headed back up the stairs to the changing room.
Once dressed, I walked around to the reception area.
“All finished?” the blonde said brightly, as I handed back the locker key.
“Yes. And when Jin comes looking for me, please tell him I do not appreciate being taken for granted.” I slipped into her mind as I said it, handing in the stolen keycard and making her believe a guest had found it near the stairs.
“Of course,” she said, without skipping a beat. And if the amusement in her eyes was anything to go by, she’d absolutely delight in making such comments to Jin.
I nodded my thanks, but on turning away, caught sight of her computer. Would a receptionist have membership lists on her computer? She’d have to, wouldn’t she?
I slipped into her mind again, making her do a search through the database. And discovered that Jan Tait wasn’t the only woman who had signed up for a gold pass.
Karen Herbert, the latest victim of the serial killer, had too.
And so had every other victim.
Chapter 8
J
ack wasn’t going to let me walk out on Jin for very long, that much was obvious. Not when the club he worked at had finally provided a link between all the murdered women. Jin was a source of information not yet fully explored.
None of which changed my determination to walk out now. I glanced around to ensure no one was paying us any particular attention, then got the woman to download onto a disk all the membership files and employee details possible. The gold-pass membership files were restricted, and I wasn’t about to push my luck by getting her to try and load those. Jack could order one of his tech plebs to do that. Although I’m sure the caramel cow would just wet herself at the thought of showing off her technical skills. She certainly had them: I’d caught her hacking into my files once.
I slipped the disk into my pocket, then erased my tracks in the woman’s mind and headed out the door. Once I’d returned my pass to the guard and was safely ensconced in my car, I grabbed my phone and dialed Jack.
“She reports twice in a twenty-four-hour period,” he said, by way of hello. “This is indeed a time for miracles.”
“You’ve been hanging around the cow too much. You’ve picked up her smart mouth.”
“The only woman in my employ who has the sass to backchat her boss is the one I’m talking to. And it’s not nice to call someone a cow.”
“It is when they have tits the size of hers. And don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”
“Are you ringing for a reason? Or do you just want to piss me off?”
Both, usually, but I didn’t think it would be wise to admit that. “I think I’ve found the link between all our victims.”
“What? How?”