Page 134 of Sweet Venom

Disgust churned in my stomach. Humanity could be so vile. So greedy. So cruel.

But then Azariel’s face flashed in my mind as he tenderly cleaned my wound. He was so careful. So gentle. And when he told me he’d learned to treat injuries on himself, before he ever knew what it was to be cared for.

That broke something in me.

He shouldn’t have had to learn to survive like that. Life isn’t fair—I know that—but it didn’t have to be that cruel to him.

I thought about him again, his big, tattooed hands in my hair, dyeing it because somehow he knew the growth was bothering me. How someone with so much pain in his past still knew how to be gentle. How to give softness where there’d been none before.

Even today—when we spent the day cooking and existing in the garden together—he showed me that quiet, unspoken tenderness. The kind that no one gets to see in him.

It had been a beautiful day. No, a beautiful week. All because of him.

Maybe that’s why the words were flowing tonight. Or maybe it was that sweet boost of energy from the Snickers bites Azariel had left on the desk for me. Now he leaves snickers all over like sweet little treasures for me to find.

He knows me too well.

I bit into another candy, the sweetness hitting my tongue as I leaned back in the chair. “Verali,” I said into the phone, holding it between my shoulder and ear. “You wouldn’t believe the nasty shit I wrote for this spicy scene.”

Her voice crackled through the speaker. “Ooooh. I like nasty shit.”

I grinned. She did. Verali wasn’t ashamed to admit. “Okay, so picture this…the hero has a breeding kink.”

Artemis visibly cringes. “Okay. Gross. I’ll pass.”

“Oh, come on. A dominant-submissive sex with the possibility of pregnancy fantasy doesn’t excite you?”

“Fuck, no. Anything that could result in little red-haired demons is a big no for me.”

Yeah, I thought so.

I laughed softly, glancing at the screen. “I think kids are cute.”

“I think that head wound might’ve caused brain damage, Poe. Seek help immediately.”

I was about to hit her with more sarcasm when the lights overhead flickered, then—snuff. I was bathed in complete darkness. The sudden quiet was creepy, and I froze in my seat, my eyes scanning the room for any sign of a malfunction or maybe a power surge. Shit. Am I accidentally touched one of the cables underneath Azariel’s desk and fucked something up?

“Uh… V?” I called, but the phone was dead. I glanced at the screen. The call had disconnected. That’s weird.

I sat there for a beat, trying to decide if I should call Verali again, but something felt off. There was an eerie calm. The fire in the hearth crackled softly, its orange glow the only light in the room.

I checked my phone, hoping to see a text from Azariel. Nothing. He’d gone to a meeting earlier, but he hadn’t returned yet.

I stood up, grabbing my phone and heading for the door. I needed to check the rest of the manor, make sure everything was okay. There was no one else here but me and the cats.

I stepped into the hallway and the silence was louder than it should have been, as if the manor itself was holding its breath. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… way off.

I dialed Azariel’s number, my thumb pressing the screen with a little more force than necessary. It rang.

Once.

Twice.

Click. The line went silent.

My breath hitched, and my eyes darted around the hallway, my heart rate picking up for no apparent reason. Okay, there was a reason… I was getting scared.

The phone rang again but from inside the manor. The sound of it echoed like it was just waiting for me to follow.

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