Keri Arthur - Dangerous Games

I stopped behind her and studied the cuts. The welt marks evident through the raw mess indicated the whip I'd seen the man carrying earlier was more than likely the weapon used here. Which just might mean he was due to come back.

Meaning, if I was going to question this woman—or at least read her mind and grab the answers I wanted—I'd have to hurry. I lowered my shields, and slid swiftly into the woman's thoughts.

Bad mistake.

Her mind was all pain and thick arousal, and the moon heat surged to life in response. Sweat broke out across my skin, and for several seconds, it was all I could do not to spin around, go find the nearest male, and fuck him senseless.

I wrenched free of the woman's thoughts and took a deep, shuddery breath. Okay, so I'd have to get answers the old-fashioned way.

"Jan? Why are you doing this?"

"I need. I pay."

I raised my eyebrows. So the Hunter's Club did provide more than just gym and massage services. Interesting. "What do you pay, Jan?"

She twisted on the ropes, her wrists so raw blood dribbled down her left arm, heading for her shoulder. "Gold pass. Top of the tree. Please. No more teasing. Finish it."

There was a desperation in her voice that had the chills galloping, rather than merely stepping, across my flesh. She wanted what they were doing to her. Wanted it, needed it. I rubbed my arms, and said, "I'm not here to finish it."

She moaned and yet, oddly enough, her desire rose, sharp and tantalizing in the still air. I wrinkled my nose against the scent, not because it was horrible or anything, but because my blood was beginning to pound through my veins again, stirred to life by the seductive smell. I might not be attracted to the same sex, but the scent of desire was enough to set hormones raging when the moon heat was closing in.

"Tell me how people find out about the gold pass."

"Hellion Club," she gasped. "They realized I needed more."

Needed to be brutalized, obviously. Needed to be cut into pieces and left hung up to suffer. Like she was just another slab of meat fresh from the slaughterhouse.

Another shudder ran through me. I might be sexually adventurous, but even I had my limits, and this was way, way past anything I could ever imagine wanting. And I couldn't help feeling sorry for her—though I'm sure my sympathy would be the last thing she'd want.

She obviously enjoyed what they were doing to her, so who was I to turn up my nose at another's wants or needs? Hell, that was the very reaction I'd spent most of my life righting.

"Who from the Hellion Club recommended you come here, Ian?"

"Maisie, the owner. She saw my need. Said she understood it."

"And why did she recommended this club? Aren't there others?"

"She said, her brother specializes."

Her brother . Another link in the chain, or just a coincidence? As I opened my mouth to ask another question, footsteps echoed in the hall outside. I waited, barely daring to breathe, hoping those steps would keep going right on by.

They didn't.

As the door began to open, I sprinted across to the huge wheel and slid in behind the cover of the water trough.

The man who came in was the man I'd seen carrying the whip earlier. But behind him was Jin. He must have taken a shower since I'd last seen him, because he looked fresh, and no longer smelled of sweat and sex and jasmine. Or maybe it just seemed that way because the tall whip carrier's scent was all blood and sweat and musky man, and it was powerful enough to overwhelm any lesser scents.

The two of them stopped just behind the woman. Jin raised a hand and casually slapped the woman's beaten buttocks.

She moaned, as if in pain, and yet the scent of desire sharpened tenfold.

"What do you want, Jan?" Jin slapped her again, harder this time. As the woman whimpered, he breathed deep, as if sucking in the sound.

A chill went through me. He'd done the same thing when he'd broken the bones of the baby vamp who'd attacked us, too.

Maybe he was some sort of energy vampire, as Quinn had suggested. But if that were the case, why was I still reading him as human? He couldn't be both—it just wasn't possible. Once you'd stepped over the threshold of life to undeath, you read as a vamp, regardless of what you'd been in life.

"More," Jan said, twisting agitatedly against the ropes holding her, unable to see but obviously trying to.

"I legally cannot give you more, Jan."

"But I paid," she panted. "Please—"

"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 fin-ished, 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."