Dark Need (House of Sin 3)

Why do I keep imagining him doing these things to me?

He’s made his stance pretty clear from the get-go.

All of this may be business as usual to him.

Although, I have no clue what the usual business is. The men from that house weren’t exactly easy to divulge information about their jobs. All I know is that they punished people for sins, but I have no clue how. Or why.

No one ever came to me or tried to hurt me.

I did hear others scream.

Those noises would keep me awake at night, wondering when it would be my time.

I shiver again, though I’m not sure if it’s from the fear or from the cold.

“I’m fine,” I say, clutching my damp flannel shirt and pants, wishing I’d had time to put something thicker on before we left. But it’s too late now.

Soren sighs and rummages around in his bag, fishing out a blanket, and he throws it over to me. “Here.”

I don’t know what to say, but I am flabbergasted he’d go this far for me.

Then again, maybe he just wants to stop my complaining.

“Thanks,” I say with a gentle smile, which he doesn’t return, but the look on his face at least isn’t as grumpy as it was before.

I cover myself in the blanket before pulling off my shirt and pants, which stick to my skin like glue. I place them on the ground beside his shirt, keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around my body so it doesn’t slip off.

His eyes are on me at all times, but I don’t know whether to feel embarrassed or flattered.

“You don’t have to look at me like that. I told you I wasn’t going to run … not like this anyway.” I look down at my feet and kick off my shoes too, as my socks are soaked as well. Slipping them off, I place them by the fire.

“No, you won’t,” he reiterates firmly.

I gulp as our eyes connect again. “You wouldn’t … really hurt a woman, would you?”

It’s not meant to be patronizing. It’s an honest question as I have no clue what those men were doing, and I wasn’t privy to any of that information. Everyone always kept quiet around me, like they knew saying anything would be dangerous.

Soren’s eyes narrow. “You don’t know what I’m capable of,” he says, his voice unusually low in a way that makes me quiver on my wooden log. Especially with the deadly stare that follows. “What it is that I do.”

Soren

Days ago

“Ow!” she yelps.

Her cries are so loud they go through the thick dungeon walls, but I don’t care who hears.

Even though Eli told me to keep my sinners quiet, that doesn’t mean I can’t set an example for the rest who live upstairs.

They should be happy they’re not down here in the basement with me.

Unlike filthy Tiffany over here.

I pick up her head and make her look at me. “Repent.”

She spits in my face instead, and I wipe it off with my hand only to smother her own mouth with it. And I pick up the whip and smack it down on her back so hard she starts to cry.

“Please, stop. I promise, I won’t do it again,” she says, the scent of her fear exciting me beyond control.

“Too late,” I bark, licking my teeth.

She already convinced some guy to fuck her.

A guy who didn’t belong to her, who was already taken.

This is the price paid for seducing someone who wasn’t available.

I whip her again and again, not giving a shit about the bloody streaks I leave on her skin. It’s not often I get a woman down here, so I’m going to enjoy it.

“You sick bastard!” she screeches, but I only get off on the names she calls me.

“Keep calling me that, and I might rip more to shreds than just your clothes,” I growl, a hint of a smile following.

I can’t help it. I enjoy dishing out the pain as much as I like seeing the fear.

It’s how I was born. How I was raised.

And this right here—punishing the wicked for their sins right here in this House—is my calling.

She throws me a foul look. “You like this, don’t you? Just say you want to fuck me yourself. You’re just another horny bastard who couldn’t have the girl he wanted so now you take it all out on me.”

I grab a filthy cloth and shove it in her mouth.

That’s one thing I don’t like about women. They talk too much.

Especially the ones who know they’re wrong.

The ones who sin on the daily.

Ones like her who use their bodies for the wrong purpose.

She thinks I want to fuck her? Upstairs, in those beds? Nah, that’s Eli’s and Tobias’s job.

But women like her don’t respond to fuckery.

They don’t see it as a punishment.

They relish in it.