Page 75 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
Work, purpose, friends, perhaps family, although I haven’t seen any sign of them.
Well… that settles that.
A solution solidifies in my mind. One that he will likely hate, but I’m sure will eventually come to appreciate, even if it is a little heavy-handed.
Levi releases another deeply masculine groan, hips giving subtle thrusts in counter to the large hand milking his inked shaft and fat crown. My pussy clenches woefully around nothing when his cock gives pulsing spurts of cum that land on the tightly bunching muscles of his abdomen.
Soon, soulbound, I will tend to your every desire.
As soon as I steal you away.
LEVI
A FEW DAYS LATER
There’s an unsettling weight on my chest that I can’t quite place every time my mind drifts back to the woman with black horns, a tail, and dark gossamer wings. The buzz of the bees as I tend to my apiary is a soothing hum to my soul—easing some of the tension in my chest. For the third time in the last several minutes, I pause to scan the vicinity: a field of every pollinator’s favorite flowers, the surrounding forest, and mountains.
My eyes tell me I’m alone, but that weighty thrum in my chest tells me otherwise. It feels like a singular resonant chord being plucked and vibrating all the way down its length—like a guitar string.
While my eyes don’tseeher, I’ve learned to trust that gut feeling of being watched. And I canfeelher there. The phantom touch of herpresencewhispers against my skin with that same strange but soothing energy I felt when I first saw her that day on Gideon’s ranch.
The breathtaking, otherworldly female whose wings are not entirely dissimilar from the blue swallowtail butterflies I propagate on my land.
Violette Lark,according to Winnow, who’d eagerly supplied the name when I’d asked.
Seeing the physical proof that humans aren’t the only intelligent life in the universe was, strangely, less shocking than one might anticipate. However, watching the horned woman tear a hole in the fabric of the universe and step in and out of another realmwas the most mind-blowing event I’ve ever witnessed.
Other sentient beings existing? Not even remotely surprising. Since my mother died—from the noose she put around her neck—there have been many occasions in which I couldfeelher presence. Too many occasions in the dangerous career paths I once chose, where I could or should have been killed, but somehow walked away unscathed. After escaping death’s grip so many times, eventually, chalking it solely up to luck and skill felt like a lie.
Scraping away the last of the excess comb and propolis from the last hive, I direct a few cool puffs of burning pine from the smoker and shut the hive. Once I’ve cleaned my equipment, I place the jars of honey in their oak storage crate and make my way back to the house.
Not even two weeks have passed since I saw Violette, and this visceralneedto find her still hasn’t waned. At this point, it’s borderline maddening.
And terrifying.
I’ve never felt anything like this for a woman. Much less one that I’ve never even formally met. I vowed a long time ago that I would never allow myself to fall in love the way my parents did. To become that vulnerable. Hinging your entire well-being on another person to the point of detriment is something I’ll never open my heart up to.
Do I want to be alone forever?
I’m not entirely opposed to the idea.
Get married?
If I were to meet someone that I felt I could trust—however unlikely—it would be precisely someone whom I wouldn’t miss too much should they die or leave me.
My heart will never belong to anyone but me, and the task of killing the man who stole my parents’ lives, my childhood, and those of God knows how many others.
Which is why this strange compulsion to find Violette is unsettling. It’s like some future-me is tugging, urging me forward to find her.
Maybe I just need to go fuck someone. Get the urge out of my system.
Though my intuition tells me the only person who will ever satiate this urge is Violette.
Maybe I can just…fuck her.Then I’ll be cured of this aching, fiery, throbbing need coursing through my veins.
Unease winds through me as I near my house.
My eyes take a moment to truly accept what it is I’m seeing, but sure enough, as I ascend the porch steps...
