Page 9 of Ravage

Something flickers in his eyes.

Recognition? Interest?

I have to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.

This close, his presence is overwhelming.

He radiates controlled violence, leashed power that could be released at any moment.

"What's your name?"

"Selene."

He doesn't offer his own.

He doesn't need to.

Everyone here knows who he is.

"Selene." He tastes my name like wine. "Do you know what happens to lost little lambs in Hell?"

"They get devoured."

"Yes." He reaches out, fingers ghosting along my jaw, not quite touching. "They get torn apart. Used. Broken. And no one comes to save them."

"Good." The word escapes before I can stop it. "I don't want to be saved."

His hand drops.

For a moment, something passes over his face—something that looks almost like surprise.

Then it's gone, replaced by an expression that makes my thighs clench.

"Prove it."

"How?"

He sits back down, legs spread, arms resting on the chair like a throne. "Watch."

He gestures to someone, and a woman is brought forward.

She's crying, makeup running down her face, and there's real fear in her eyes.

A man follows—one of the ones who was talking business earlier.

"This one betrayed me," the Boss says conversationally, like we're discussing the weather. "Sold information to my competitors. The man she sold it to is dead, of course. But she... she requires a different kind of punishment."

The woman sobs. "Please, Mr. Wolfe, I'm sorry, I?—"

He holds up a hand, and she goes silent.

"I'm going to give you a choice, Selene." He's watching me, not the crying woman. "You can leave now. Go back upstairs. Forget you ever came down here. Or you can stay and watch what happens to those who betray me. But if you stay, if you watch, you're mine for tonight. No backing out. No safe words. No limits I don't set."

The rational part of my brain screams at me to run.

This is insane.

This man is dangerous.