Page 21 of Inhuman Nature

It was a rhetorical question, but Shaun replied anyway. “No, Master.” It had been, perhaps, a week. Not long at all in the lives of immortal beings, and especially not when Shaun still felt the phantom sting of the wood against his feet as he walked. Even with his vampiric healing, it’d been hard to stand for the rest of that night. So, naturally, Lawrence had forbidden him from sitting or lying down until the daytime hours.

“Trousers down. Bend over the back of the sofa,” Lawrence commanded before practically prancing back out of the room.

Shaun slid his jeans down, baring himself. His cock had been hard all evening watching Rake and DJ, but now it hung flaccid and untouched. He thought about what was happening to him now, and what Rake had done with DJ at the club. The two scenes couldn’t have been more different.

Lawrence only wanted to hurt Shaun.

Rake wanted DJ to fly.

“Pet, what did I tell you to do?”

Shaun jumped at Lawrence’s voice. He must have sprinted back from the bedroom. “Bend over the sofa, Master,” Shaun supplied.

“Might I ask why you didn’t follow my instruction?” Lawrence’s tone held a deceptive calm.

“I have no excuse.”

Lawrence loomed over him, catching Shaun’s face between his fingers and squeezing. “Bend over the sofa,” he said, voice layered with compulsion.

Shaun resisted. For a moment, heactuallyresisted. He hadn’t known it was possible until that very moment. Lawrence didn’t often compel him anymore; Shaun followed every command, regardless.

Lawrence’s eyes widened, flashing with that dangerous tint that signalled the predator rising. But Shaun turned and draped himself over the back of the sofa. If he pretended well enough, he might get away with it.

“You’re shaking, pet,” Lawrence observed, a hand trailing down Shaun’s back as he bent. “It’s not because you’re cold.”

Shaun’s eyes shuttered. “It’s the anticipation, Master.” He didn’t need to breathe, but he inhaled anyway. In through his nose, out through his mouth. The sound of the cane swishing through the air had him tensing up, despite knowing better.

He wasn’t able to stifle his yelp as the wood connected with the backs of his thighs. It set his skin alight in a way that not much else did, the cane so thin that it slashed like a knife.

Lawrence repeated the movement.Thwack.Thwack.Thwack. He rained down blows on each of Shaun’s naked thighs, then moved upwards to his backside.

Lawrence laid down stripe after stripe in horizontal lines. It burned—a deep physical burn that made Shaun feel like his skin had been exposed to the sun. It took significantly more hits to mark a vampire than it did a human. He never bothered counting how many Lawrence doled out. He’d tried once, in the early days, and had lost focus somewhere around the thirty mark.

There was a reprieve from the onslaught when Lawrence stepped back. Shaun stretched his fingers out for a few seconds. His hands had been pressed into fists to stop his talons from ruining the upholstery.

The first time he’d damaged the sofa, Lawrence had gleefully ripped each of his nails out with pliers. Shaun had, of course, never so much as dirtied the furniture since.

“There, pet. You’re all warmed up. Your punishment can begin.”

Shaun usually began to cry at this point. Only the knowledge that he had resisted Lawrence’s compulsion kept the tears at bay. He didn’t want to give Lawrence the satisfaction of breaking too soon.

The next blows were harder, each one cutting clean into Shaun’s skin. Blood dribbled down his legs. Lawrence would be angry if he stained the wooden floor, no matter whose fault the spilled blood was.

Shaun’s fangs cut into his lips over and over again as his body fought to heal itself. This was what Lawrence craved with Shaun; the ability to hurt him repeatedly and without limits.

A self-repairing sex doll that lasted forever.

Shaun cried out when Lawrence caught him right at the crease where his arse met his leg. It was only his enhanced senses that allowed him to hear the huff of amusement that Lawrence let out as he found that spot twice more, eliciting the same cries from Shaun each time.

The cane fell to the floor. Shaun sensed Lawrence crouching behind him, so kept still. But when Lawrence raked his talons down Shaun’s arse cheeks and over every cut he’d scored into his skin, he jerked forward with a scream.

“Hush, pet.” Lawrence gave a self-satisfied chuckle. “I could play noughts and crosses on your skin when it looks like this.” Lawrence lapped at his fingers, making wet popping sounds as he sucked them clean of Shaun’s blood.

Shaun wasn’t able to stop a wet sob from escaping at the utter humiliation of it all.

“What do you say, pet?”

“Thank you, Master,” Shaun whispered through his tears.