Hard soled boots turn out into the corridors behind me, scuffing and scraping sounding at the same time. More shouts of pain, more screams of terror. Probably as she’s dragged to one of his deranged rooms for amusement.
I stop, unable to take the sound of them any longer, and turn back in their direction. What the hell am I doing? I shake my head and keep my feet still. Nothing to do with me. This is her distraction, the one she’s just damn well crawled to Malachi’s feet for.
My own damned feet move of their own accord, towed towards the sound of the continued shouts of pain, and I keep striding. I’m not listening to it anymore, can’t. I don’t know why. My head’s an agitation of thoughts and sensations, all of them more involved in the sounds and feel of her than they should be.
Faith bounces as I pass her, clapping her hands together as if the funs just started. It hasn’t. I’m still not engaging in any of his taunts, but I will put a warning down before I go. I sneer as I rush the stairs, listening for more of Hannah. East, west? The sound of the continued noise crashes and echoes around the old halls, resonating and reverberating off the surfaces to make their direction impossible to find.
“Where’s he taken her?” I snap at Faith.
“Anywhere he likes,” she says, giggling still.
My hand grabs at her to shove her against the wall harshly, the other one joining in to show her the only language she understands. “Where?” She giggles again.
“Primitive, Gray. You must be delicious to fuck.”
I squeeze tighter, reminding her of the levels I like to watch even if I don’t engage in them. “Which room?” She squirms as the fingers grip in, her face beginning to screw up under the pain.
“Dungeon. Racks. Maybe a sauna. How I would I know?” Bitch. And she’s probably the only leverage I’ve got if Malachi’s that intent of having fun.
One hard pull and I twist her to me, winding her hair into my hand so I can show Malachi how he’s made me feel. She scuttles and scrabbles in my severe grip, hissing curses at me as I drag her towards their private dungeons. It winds me up more than the sound of Hannah’s distant screams still echoing, reminding me of what touch feels like, of density.
“You’re both idiotic to try this with me,” I snarl, focusing on the corridors I’m travelling through. Left, right, a corner more, and I finally find the stairs downwards. The sounds stop the second I reach the top of them, Hannah’s shouts suddenly gone. “Tell him to stop or I’ll show him what it feels like.”
She giggles under me and scrabbles for her feet again, not caring for my threat. “As if you know how to hurt anything Gray. You’re a voyeur. No one has ever seen you do a thing.”
I walk down the stairs, dragging her with me, and kick the door open at the bottom. “That should worry you more, not less.” The door flies inwards, dank air puffing back at me. “Rules don’t apply when you don’t care for them.”
The immediate sight of Hannah chained up on the rough, back wall halts me in my tracks.
I hover in the doorway, still gripping harshly to Faith’s hair, and shove her downwards beneath me. No bra. I stare, part shocked by the vison, and let my eyes caress everything on display for me. Thick, black buckles clasp around her wrists and ankles to hold her in place, metal latches securing them to the stone she’s laid against.
“Interesting threat,” Malachi says from somewhere in the room.
I don’t look for him, nor do I release the grip on Faith even when she squeals like a pig. I’m too absorbed in the beauty panting in front of me to care about anything. She gazes back, no fear on her face, and twitches. He must have given her something. Relaxant. Something to make the pain less severe.
“What have you given her?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
I’m transfixed, completely fucking besotted with something I shouldn’t want or need. Plains of skin on show, all of them soft and pale, dark hair spilling around her shoulders. My hand loosens on Faith, my body more interested in fulfilling a need that’s waiting for me on that cross. “She screamed because I asked her too.”
“What?”
“I screamed for you Gray,” Hannah says. “For you. I wanted you with me. Watching.” My hand lets go of Faith completely, body inching forward. “Malachi said you would come if I screamed loud enough.”
Did he.
I growl under my breath and stop my body, looking for him in the room. He’s over to the left, stalking through shadows, as he wipes his hands on a towel calmly. That fucking face. The sweet sense of success written into it. He played me to get me here. Taunted and baited just enough to make me turn back. And she joined in. Made it happen.
I look away from him towards her again, part unable to deny the fact that he knows which buttons to press, and part infuriated by it.
“If you were more like me it wouldn’t have worked, but all that gallantry of yours does you a disservice, Gray. Maybe you should have kept walking rather than come running back to the rabbit hole?” My feet back me up, eyes still fixed on hers as she quivers and trembles.
“Stay. Watch,” she murmurs, still trembling.
“Yes. Or join in,” Malachi chimes in. “I think we all know how much you want to.” He chuckles and reaches for a bag, pulling out some insidious device made for amusement. “Your choice. You did come back for her after all.” Fuck him. “No one will know but us. No one will care. You won’t have to feel guilty at all.”
He takes a step into Hannah, running his fingers across her skin absently, and then damn well kisses her to taunt me further. Two things erupt inside me immediately. They’re two things I’ve known for too long with regard to her - jealousy and desire.
And I have no right to feel either damn thing.
The End
Of Book One
~
Are you ready for more?
The story continues in:
A Torment Of Sin
Truth and Lies - Book 2
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Acknowledgements
As always I’d like to send out love and thanks to:
My PA - Leanne Cook, who has been my editor and superstar for these set of books.
My beta Readers – The above and Katie Matthews. Amazeballs. You helped remind that I should believe in myself – again.
My Proof Reader – Sal Warner. Thank you, honey.
My other half – Who is my world and gives me this chance. You don’t know how much you mean to me or my words. I love you.
And, of course, all of my readers.
You all amaze me with your kind words and encouragement. There will always be a story in me ready to come out, but it’s you lovely readers that help me believe the words are worth reading.
I can only hope that I continue to provoke thought with every novel and encourage your minds to search horizons new.
Also Available by the Author at Amazon
Innocent Eyes
A Cane Novel
(Hart De Lune)
*******
"If he's gross, I'm bailing."
That's what I said to my supposed best friend when she asked me to take her place. A blind date, she said. What harm could it do?
He was charming. Beautiful. God's finest creation. He wined me and dined me. Made me do things I'd never before dreamt of in the bedroom. It was perfect. Dangerous. Arousing.
But Jenny didn’t tell me the full story. She didn’t tell me about the debt she owed. And now Quinn Cane wants his money's worth, and he’s going to make me pay whatever way he can.
“
A debt needs to be paid.”
The woman who came to meet me didn’t owe me money. I could tell by her innocent eyes. Still, the debt will be paid either way.
She was something to play with and use as I saw fit, but something about Emily Brooks made me want to keep her. So she became my dirty girl. Pure. Innocent. Mine.
Then she whispered my damned name and invaded my world, changing its reasoning.
She wasn’t meant to break the rules. But she rolled my dice and won.
Shame. Forgiveness. Dark. Erotic. Romance. Mafia.
This book is intended for mature audiences. 18+ only.
The Stained Duet
Once Upon A (Book 1)
Alana Williams is three published authors. She has been for years, but now she wants to add another voice to her whirlwind of deadlines and unachievable targets. Trouble is, she knows nothing of her latest literary undertaking.
*****
Alana
It began as research. Just research. The technical approach. One that delivers the content necessary for a hidden culture to seem plausible, even if it’s not. Readers expect perfection from me. They want the experience. They need to be taken on a journey. That’s my job as a writer.
Blaine Jacobs is his name. He’s my research. A man who seems as logical and focused as me. A man who agrees to help. A man who, regardless of his stature in the community, seems to offer a sense of realism to this strange section of society. And even if he does occasionally interrupt my data with dark brooding eyes and a questionably filthy mouth, what does it matter? It’s just research, isn’t it? It’s not real. None of this is. Nothing will come of it or change my mind.
So why am I confused?
I’m becoming lost.
Falling apart.
And Blaine Jacobs, no matter how calm he might have seemed at first, now appears to linger on the edges of sanity, pushing my boundaries with every whispered word.
18+ ONLY. Intended for mature audiences.
This book is followed by The End (Stained Duet Book 2)
********
The White Trilogy – Nominated for best BDSM Series of the Year
Seeing White (Book 1) - This ebook is Free on all platforms. Start the journey at your leisure.
Https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PPZZGCW
“OMG. Amazing writer, amazing books. Deliciously dark and …”
********
Alexander White, the wealthy business man with looks to die for. Just like the other colours you’d think.......but no.
He came from a very different place and made some of his money a very different way.
And he keeps it well hidden because the truth would destroy everything he has. All that he’s worked for would be gone in an instant if they ever found out what he’s capable of, or what he really did and who he did it for. So he keeps people far away with metaphorical games and walls to deceive and confuse.
He doesn’t do relationships, he doesn’t do emotions and he certainly doesn’t do love.
He does money. Making it, manipulating it and spending it whist he plays with women who know what they’re signing up for.
Three people shaped who he is today. One damaged him beyond repair, another taught him to control the rage, and a decent one helps him to consider his options more appropriately.
But be under no illusions ladies, Mr White has not been a nice man, and he will probably never be a decent man, but as long as he keeps up his image, and nothing gets through his barriers, no one will ever see the truth.
Life’s good for Elizabeth Scott, successful business, happy kitchen and a great sister who deals with all the expensive people so she doesn’t have to. She just cooks, bakes and smiles her way through each day......well most of the time, anyway, that is when her great sister isn’t pushing her to, “get out there a bit more,” or “sort her shit out.”
Then the biggest contract of their lives comes up..... And the ever useless London tube, with her sister in it, catastrophically breaks down. Unfortunately, that means only one thing. She’ll have to deal with some of that wealth herself, and that means the devastating Mr Alexander White in all his glory.
Life suddenly couldn’t get worse, regardless of his unfairly gorgeous backside.
She has no idea what the hell she’s doing.
******
This book is followed by:
Feeling White (Book 2)
Absorbing White (Book 3)
A Distraction of Lies Page 15