Beautiful Venom: A Dark Hockey Romance (Vipers Book 1)

Hush now, my darling, the moon’s in the sky,

The waves on the shore sing a soft lullaby.

The stars in the heavens will watch while you sleep,

And carry your dreams to the ocean so deep.

Mama’s soft voice echoes in my ears as my lids fall closed, flickering in that dreamy place between wakefulness and sleep.

“Mommy?” I whisper, but I’m not sure if any sound comes out.

My head’s heavy and my limbs are gripped by paralysis, as if I’m shackled to the rugged bed beneath me. Mom’s gentle features appear blurry behind my reddening eyelids, but her soothing voice carries on in the darkness.

Rest now, my sweet one, the night’s gentle song,

Will cradle you close as the tides move along.

The sea whispers softly, the wind hums a tune,

And soon you’ll be dancing beneath the soft moon.

“Are you here to get me, Mom?”

A calloused hand lands on mine and she stops singing. “Do you want me to get you, dear?”

“Hmm. I’m so tired, Mommy. It’s exhausting.”

“Then come join us.”

“Dahl!” a familiar voice calls, panicked urgency lacing its usual softness.

“Vi?”

“Don’t leave me, Dahl. We promised to be each other’s family. Dahlia! Dahlia, please! I only have you.”

The sea whispers softly, the wind hums a tune,

And soon you’ll be dancing beneath the soft moon.

Mom’s lullaby echoes around me mixed with Violet’s screams, until my senses explode in maddening chaos.

My eyes pop open.

A white ceiling with a moldy spot at the corner greets me first.

I try to sit up, but my limbs are so heavy, my head crashes back down.

Hot.

I’m so hot, the back of my throat is dry and I feel as if my clothes are my worst enemy.

Where am I?

What happened?

I cast my eyes around. A small white room, completely sterile except for the metal bed I’m lying on.

The place is dim, bathed in a soft amber light that casts long, flickering shadows on the walls. Everything feels wrong. Hazy. The air around me is thick, pressing in, suffocating me with its weight.

Again, I try to get up, but it’s as if my body is tethered with unseen bonds.

The world swims around me, blurring at the edges. Then my senses come back in sharp, jarring fragments. Unbearable warmth spreads over my skin, a fire igniting from the inside out. My heart pounds in my ears, each beat loud, pulsing through my veins.

Every brush of fabric sends shivers through me, amplifying the burning heat.

I breathe in, but my chest is tight, each breath shallow and ragged. The faint tang of sweat and something spicy hangs in the air and my throat every time I swallow.

The bed beneath me is soft, a contrast to the tension coiling in my muscles.

Something’s wrong.

My body’s too hot, my thoughts too sluggish. My skin prickles, every inch of me out of sync yet too aware of everything.

The air is like fingers ghosting over me, teasing, pulling at the heat that’s building at an overwhelming pace.

I try to move again, but it’s like I’m disconnected from my body, my limbs barely responding to my brain.

My mouth is dry, my mind racing, but everything is clouded in this thick haze of need I can’t stop.

The pounding of my heart drowns out my thoughts and the faint hum in the air that throbs with the same rhythm as my pulse.

My legs lock together and that triggers the pressure. I can feel the wetness gushing from my pussy. My skin burns with an ache I’ve never felt before.

The door opens and I stare up as two men wearing the familiar silver masks walk in.

“Who…who are you?”

Oh God. Why does my voice sound so husky and needy?

They approach me and I slide back against the bed.

“No. Stay away…”

Doesn’t matter what the hell Isabella and her minions injected me with, I won’t let them touch me.

Not even if this is related to the organization.

“How about I start?” the taller one says to the other, his voice rancid and scratchy. “I wonder if she feels as good as she looks.”

“No…” I try to kick him when he reaches for my leg, but he easily catches it and tugs on my jeans.

“Stop acting like a prude. We all know you let Kane use you like a slut.” He undoes the buttons and pulls them down, exposing my bottom half. Only my panties and the oversized hockey jersey cover me.

“I will kill you if you don’t let me go.” I kick and flail, fighting sluggishly as my eyes fill with tears. “I swear I will.”

Their cruel laughter echoes in the air, condensing over my head like a mocking cloud. “Good luck with that.”

“Please…” I tug on my jersey, squeezing my legs together until my knees knock.

I hate that I have to resort to begging, but I’ll do anything to leave this place in one piece.

Then I’ll poison these two in their sleep.

The taller one grabs my thigh, his cooler hand a shock against my burning skin. A rush of pleasure rushes down my belly and I throw my head back with a groan.

Oh God. No.

Please no.

“See?” one of them sneers. “You can’t wait to be fucked like a whore.”

My mind is jumbled, and my body is desperate to alleviate the ache, but I still mumble, “No…”

“You wanted to be a Vencor member, didn’t you? This is what members do, bitch. They open their legs whenever those higher than them ask.”

“S-stop… R-red…” I whisper.

My safe word lands on deaf ears.

Right. That’s only between me and Kane.

I don’t think Kane is behind one of these masks.

At least, I hope he’s not.

I’d never forgive him if he did this to me.

I’d kill him with my bare hands.

Part of the reason why I allowed the sex at the initiation and the party was because I trusted he’d stop if I said the safe word.

It’s different if I’m being drugged and taken advantage of without the option to stop it.

Anguish rips through me, raw and consuming. I want to fight, to scream, to tear their hands from my skin, but the drug they injected me with wraps around me like a vise, pulling me deeper into suffocating heat.

“Outsiders like you should recognize their limit,” one of them says as each pulls a leg to part them. “Consider this your warning. If you don’t leave town within a week, you’ll be fucked raw next time without the drug. Don’t even think about asking Kane for help. We’ll show him a video of you moaning for our dicks, and he’ll lose interest. We’ll also share it online so that you’ll be known as the campus whore.”

My racing heart slows down a notch.

It’s not Kane.

Am I supposed to feel this relieved?

Happy, even?

“Ready for the night of your life?” the one on my right asks.

“Fuck…you,” I mumble, but it ends in a muffled voice when he seizes my hair and yanks me up.

When Kane did this, I was turned on, even if slightly apprehensive. Now, I’m terrified to the core despite the artificial aphrodisiac.

The air thickens further, the scent of sweat and something sickly sweet clinging to my skin, smothering me. Everything is slipping away—my grip on reality, my control, my strength.

Vicious hands start to hook into my jersey, and I push with all of my might, but it barely touches them.

Get up. Fight.

You’ve always stood up for yourself. Fight.

Don’t scream. Fight.

Don’t cry. Fight.

Fight, Dahlia. Fight!

With painstaking effort, I pull my leg loose, aiming a desperate kick at the tallest guy’s crotch.

I don’t think it’s that strong, but he wails in pain and lifts his hand.

Raising my arm, I place it in front of my face to protect myself.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The whole room goes quiet at that voice.

The slap or punch doesn’t come.

Letting my arm drop, I shift sideways with painstaking effort.

Jude.

He’s standing by the door, his large frame blocking the exit. Leaning against the wall, he casually slides both hands in his pockets and crosses his feet at the ankles.

My heartbeat doesn’t slow down, and no sense of safety overwhelms me upon seeing him.

What if he’s in on it, too?

My blurry eyes sweep over the space behind him, looking, searching, scanning the door for someone else.

And I’ve never searched for someone to save me before.

I’ve done the saving.

For me and Vi.

“How…” The taller of the guys faces Jude as the other keeps me down. “No one knows about this place.”

“That’s what you think.” Jude’s voice is an effortlessly scary rumble without his having to do anything. “Since when do pawns like you think you have agency?”

“We’re just acting on orders.”

“Whose orders?”

Both guys remain silent.

“No matter who they are, they won’t protect you from what will happen in exactly…” Jude checks his watch. “One minute.”

The guys stare at each other, but the one who’s grabbing my thigh, half leaning on the bed, doesn’t release me.noveldrama

I try to wiggle free, but I’m too weak. My heartbeat is so loud, I think I’ll have an attack.

Through my blurry vision, I see the door slamming against the wall with so much force, I’m surprised it doesn’t come off its hinges.

At first, I can’t see correctly—my vision is slipping in and out of focus.

But I know it’s him.

A sense of peace befalls me, and my heart slows down.

Kane.

He’s here.

The quiet click of his footsteps echoes through the haze, steady and calm, but there’s something dangerous lurking underneath.

There’s a shift in the air, and the room contracts around him, bending to his presence. He doesn’t rush, doesn’t shout. He’s too composed, too controlled, like the stillness before a storm.

“Less than a minute. Impressive.” Jude’s voice echoes around me, but he’s far from being the center of my attention.

I blink, still trying to focus, to hold on to that anchor, but the drug drags me under again.

My body’s fighting me, my thoughts drifting away like sand through my fingers. I barely register the cold ice-blue of his eyes landing on me. There’s no warmth there, no softness.

Just a lethal edge that sends a shiver through the room.

My chest heaves, my mind muddling between the need to escape and the pull of his presence. His gaze flickers over me, taking in everything—the way I’m pinned down, the glazed look that must be in my eyes, and my helplessness seeping from every pore.

He shows no emotion as he tilts his head, focusing on the hands grabbing my legs.

I open my mouth, trying to say something—his name, maybe—but nothing comes out.

The men freeze, no doubt feeling the threat that simmers beneath Kane’s calm exterior. A crackle of electricity lights up in the air as Kane’s posture subtly shifts and he snatches one of the men’s wrists, then twists it.

It doesn’t look that forceful, but the man screams.

Kane’s voice resonates with a rich, low timbre. “I already made it clear, didn’t I? Which part of no one touches my fucking things do you not understand?”

“We didn’t know… Fuck!” the shorter guy screams as a pop reverberates through the air.

He broke his arm—or wrist. The guy’s howl bounces off the walls and rings in my ears.

The other guy dashes toward the exit, but Jude seizes him by the collar of his shirt with ease. “Not so fast.”

The one with the broken wrist falls to the floor, still screaming, but Kane stands behind him, grabs his left arm, and twists.

Pop.

His scream rings in the air, chilling, like something from a horror movie.

And it keeps intensifying as Kane kicks him in the nuts and crushes them with his shoe.

The man’s mask falls, revealing someone I’ve never seen before. His face is red and his haphazard blond hair covers his forehead.

He curls up on the floor in a fetal position, wailing and crying.

Kane stands over him, his shadow still, his posture uptight. “Next time you touch what’s mine, your whole body will be in a casket.”

My eyes are barely open, but I see him walking to the guy Jude’s holding. “Now, your turn.”

He catches his arm. “Who gave you permission to touch what’s mine?”

“I can’t tell… I’ll be kicked out⁠—”

“You’ll be kicked out anyway.”

The pop echoes in the air. A gut-wrenching scream follows.

“Let’s try again.” Kane secures his other arm. “Who orchestrated this?”

“If I tell you, will you keep me on?”

“No. But whether you leave with your limbs intact or not depends on your next words.”

“It was Preston⁠—”

He hasn’t even finished talking when Kane breaks his arm.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me!” the man screams.

“Changed my mind.” He kicks him as Jude holds him upright.

I try to hold on to that sliver of the scene in front of me, but my body is slipping, falling into a fog. My vision blurs, dark spots dance in front of me, and my breath comes out in ragged, desperate gasps.

Finally, I let myself lose the fight to stay conscious.

As my world turns black, I come to a disturbing realization.

I trust a monster like Kane to keep me safe.