Page 86 of Craving Venom (The Venomous Beauty Trilogy #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

THE MONSTER

I ’m propped against the hood of my Bugatti, with my arms crossed, and my back resting against the bumper as I stare up at the building Faith just walked into.

She forgot her purse. I offered to get it for her, but she waved me off. Not that I mind, considering it gives me a few seconds to pull myself together before I do something I can’t take back. Like slam her against this car and fuck her with the whole world watching.

Faith walks toward me, and her hips sway in a rhythm that sends blood roaring through my veins. The streetlamp above her flickers once before it gives up entirely. Doesn’t matter. Moonlight clings to her like it knows it’ll never touch anything better.

The dress doesn’t even do her justice.

She stops when she gets close enough to see what I’m leaning against.

“You own this car?” She asks, lifting a brow.

I push off the hood, give her a smile that barely hides how fucked I am. “People love to call me Nighthawk,” I say, taking slow steps toward her. “Doesn’t mean I actually have wings.”

She swallows the laugh, lets it press against her smile instead. Her eyes land on the car again, taking it in with awe so raw it hums in the air between us.

But I can’t stop watching her.

I want to tear that dress off. I want to fuck her in it. I want to be on my knees again, devour her pussy until she’s crying and clawing at the paint of this multimillion-dollar car.

“What?” she asks, catching me staring.

“You’re going to fuck me up in that dress. You know that, right?”

Her brow arches. “You sent it.”

“Yeah.” I drag my gaze over her one more time. “Didn’t know it’d look devastating.”

She steps around me as her fingers glide over the door handle before she opens it with a soft click.

“Then take a picture,” she says, tossing her purse into the passenger seat. “Because it’s staying on until I say otherwise.”

She slips into the car.

And I follow, silently swearing I’ll earn every second she lets that dress stay on.

I shift gears and feel the car respond instantly. Faith’s legs are crossed beside me, the slit in her dress drawn so high it reveals the delicate skin just shy of her pussy. My cock throbs again. Hasn’t softened since she tied that strap herself and stepped into this car.

The road curves ahead, but I don’t take my eyes off her for long.

“So what exactly are we getting into?” she asks, still staring out the window. “I need to be prepared.”

Just like that, I fuck up. My hand jerks too fast on the wheel and the car swerves slightly before I rein it back in.

My knuckles flex.

“You sure you want to know?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t be in this car if I didn’t.”

“We’re going into a house that looks like it belongs to a bored professor and his barefoot wife,” I say. “But under the wine, candles, and fucking ‘sacred trust’ bullshit, it’s D.O.M. territory.”

I stare ahead, watching the road wind out in front of us. I should lie. Should give her the nice version. But there’s no point sugarcoating hell.

“We’re going into a den of people who feed on obedience, desperation, pain. You give them even a taste of control, and they’ll leash you.”

She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t breathe harder. Just waits.

“You’re not there to talk,” I add. “Not to ask questions. Not to make friends. Don’t speak unless I tell you to. Don’t look like you give a fuck about anyone but me. And if it gets messy, follow my lead.”

“You want me docile?” she challenges.

I snort. “I want you dangerous. But controlled. You slip once and they’ll know you’re faking.”

“And what about you?”

“I am the danger,” I say, dragging my palm slowly over the leather wheel. “But even a predator needs to play along when he’s in a room full of wolves.”

She’s quiet again. But I know what she’s thinking.

“I need you to understand something,” I say next.

“You’re going to see me do things. Things that’ll make you hate me.

I’m not falling into their act longer than I have to.

But I’ll have to get close. It’s my first time inside.

All I’ve got are stories. Every answer I’ve ever coaxed out of someone’s mouth came out the same way.

Like D.O.M. wrote the script and burned it into their tongues.

I don’t even know if what I’ve heard is true. ”

But I do know one thing. Every master brings a girl. I was going to take Ella. That was the plan.

But Faith asked to come.

And when she said it, I looked at her and saw something I didn’t expect.

Conviction.

Faith doesn’t want to play a part. She wants to see it with her own eyes. Wants to step into the belly of the beast and dare it to bite. I don’t question her ability to handle herself. I’ve seen the way she handles fear, how she turns it into teeth. But strength isn’t the problem.

It’s my fear for her that fucks everything.

That irrational, boiling thing in my gut that makes me want to rip out anyone’s throat for looking at her too long. That scream in the back of my head that says she doesn’t belong in this kind of filth.

I trust her more than I’ve trusted anyone in years.

But trust has nothing on fear. Fear always wins.

“Don’t worry,” she says after a long stretch of silence. “I won’t judge you.”

It hits harder than it should. Not because I believe her, but because some fucked-up part of me wants to be judged. Wants her to look at what I’m about to do and still stay. Still touch me. Still kiss me with blood on my hands like it means nothing. Or everything.

“What if someone tries to touch me?”

My hand slips off the gearshift and finds her thigh instead. I grip it. Not gently. Not cruelly. Just hard enough to make sure she feels every ounce of what I’m about to say.

“Good girl,” I say. “I’ll kill them. And sleep like a fucking baby next to you.”

Her breath stutters. She gulps. I see the pulse in her throat jump. She doesn’t say anything right away, but I know what that silence means.

She’s into it.

She might not admit it, but her pussy clenches at the thought of me killing for her.

And that takes me back to Trevor.

If I could drag him out of hell just to kill him again, I would. I only wanted to beat the shit out of him for touching her. Until I overheard him talking to the Initiation Head . The guy who assigns tasks to recruiters. The moment I heard Faith’s name, I snapped.

The only thing I regret is that the phone got destroyed. If it hadn’t, I could’ve tracked the bastard who gave the order. Terry tried to salvage what was left, but D.O.M.’s tech scrubbed everything.

But it won’t matter.

I’ll find him. I’ll find every one of them.

And when I do, they will cease to exist.

“Why college?” Faith uncrosses her legs, then crosses them again the other way. “I mean, not that I’d want any teenage girls involved, but if all this cult does is manipulate… wouldn’t younger girls be easier?”

“When you join D.O.M., you’re required to sign a form. It’s clean. It’s consensual. It’s all documented under bullshit terms like ‘obedience therapy’ or ‘discipline retreats.’ College girls are easier to frame it that way. They’re legal adults. That saves these bastards legal trouble.”

She stares straight ahead and goes quiet for a second.

“But it doesn’t save them from you.”

“No,” I mutter, shifting gears harder. “It fucking doesn’t.”

“What happens to their bodies?”

“Gone,” I say, downshifting with more force than I need to.

“Gone as in disappear?” she asks.

“Something like that.”

“You ever eat to erase their trace? I’m asking because I watch a lot of true crime, and, well, a lot of serial killers tend to indulge in their victims.”

I let out a low laugh. It’s so sudden I almost miss the curve ahead and have to jerk the wheel to straighten out.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m asking.” She turns her head and meets my eyes. “Are you a cannibal?”

I ease the car into a slower roll, closing the distance as my knuckles skim her thigh and my mouth finds the curve of her ear, hungry to speak.

“Are you offering to be my next meal, baby?”

Her breath catches.

That’s all I need.

I graze my fingers higher, teasing the edge of that slit. I feel the heat between her thighs before I even touch her pussy. I know it’s wet. I don’t need to check.

But I want to.

I pull my hand back, grip the wheel again before I do something reckless. More reckless than I already am.

She looks away fast. Her chin drops, and she stares out the window like the night might save her from what I just said. But it won’t. Nothing will.

She mutters, almost under her breath, “Most people would say no to that.”

“Good thing I’m not most people either.”

“Whatever freak.”

The car’s easing on the pavement when the Bluetooth kicks on and the dash screen lights up with Terry’s name. I tap the answer button on the screen and drop my hand back to the wheel. “Yeah?”

“East sector checkpoint’s been cleared. You’ve got a thirty-minute window before the next round comes through. The side entrance near the greenhouse is unmonitored tonight. I confirmed it with the perimeter sweep.”

“Cameras?”

“Looped,” Terry says. “Only for an hour, though. Don’t fuck around.”

“Do I ever?”

“You do. Constantly.”

I glance over at Faith. Her eyes are on the road, feigning disinterest, but every muscle in her body is tuned to me.

“Anyone inside in the support staff we don’t know about?”

“One new face,” Terry replies. “Male. Mid-thirties. Didn’t log his name at check-in.”

“Noted.”

Terry pauses, then adds, “You sure you want her going in with you?”

I look at Faith and she’s turns her head in my direction at Terry’s question. I can feel her gaze on the side of my face. She’s not subtle. Her stare burns hotter than her skin.

“I’m sure.”

Because if anyone’s going to burn this place down with me, it’s her.

Terry lets out a breath. “Okay. You’ve got exactly six hours before you have to be back at prison. Not a minute more.”

“If everything goes as planned,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road, “I’ll be back in two.”