Page 253 of Craving Venom

“It’s a cult. An underground pipeline that takes girls and turns them into property. Women are handpicked. Stolen. Bribed. Sometimes they’re sold by their own families, sometimes they volunteer without knowing what they’ve signed up for. They’re sold at private auctions. Not forever, just long enough to break them. To train them in obedience. Rich, powerful men pay for ‘temporary ownership’ so they can do whatever the fuck they want without legal ties. It’s advertised as discipline. But it’s rape. It’s torture. It’s control masked as refinement.”

I watch her eyes widen. Her pulse pounds beneath my fingers.

“They call the men ‘Masters.’ The women are given numbers, collars, contracts. Once their training time is over or once they’re broken enough to be ‘returned’ they go back to their true owner. The Dominus. The one who bought them first.”

Her nails dig into my chest.

“Celine was one of them. She was sold to Robert Gaile.”

“Is that why you killed him?”

I nod.

She swallows. “But… they ruled it out as an animal attack.”

I grin.

“Yeah. Because I made it look like one.”

I push her gently onto her back again, straddle her hips, and lean down to her ear.

“I sank the tiger claw into his throat. One hook caught his windpipe, dragging it out with a wet crunch. I twisted it deeper, tearing into his jugular. Blood sprayed so hard it painted my face, but I didn’t stop. I wrenched it to the side, feeling the cartilage pop. His eyes bulged while his screams turned into choking gasps as air struggled through the blood spilling from his neck. His ribs were next. I wanted them exposed. I wantedhim to see what his lungs looked like as they failed him. His last breath wasn’t even a scream it was a wet, rattling gasp. By the time I stepped back, his neck and chest were just raw, pulpy meat, ribbons of muscle were hanging off jagged bones. That’s the moment he knew that he wasn’t a man anymore. He was just a carcass. And I wasn’t going to stop until there was nothing left to recognize.”

Her breath catches.

“He thought he’d get away with what he did to Celine. He thought hiding behind a fake foundation and press smiles would save him.” I lick her neck, then bite, hard enough to bruise. “But I buried his legacy in blood.”

“Why make it look like an animal attack?” she whispers.

“Because I couldn’t have people knowing I was in Veridian yet.” I drag my lips up her jaw. Her pulse hammers against my tongue, daring me to bite again. I don’t.

“Why not?” she breathes.

Instead of answering, I hook my arm under her back and yank her up. She gasps, scrambling to cover her tits, but I’m already dragging her off the stone floor.

“Zane—wait—I’m not—” She tries to twist out of my grip. “I’m naked.”

I start walking again, half-dragging her across the cold floor. She stumbles behind me. We push through a side door. Into the library.

It’s past midnight. The place is a graveyard. Shelves rise like shadows, but her eyes keep darting toward the door.

“There’s no one here,” I say.

She doesn’t believe it.

“Please, just come to my dorm room.”

I shove her against the nearest shelf with one hand locking around her jaw while the other slides between her legs.

“Get on your knees.”

She hesitates as her lips part and her breath turns ragged before she finally speaks softly. “Why am I the only one naked?”

I know she’s buying time, trying to talk her way out of this. But I won’t let her. Unlike her, I’m going to honor this deal.

Her voice is shaky, but her eyes flick down, then up again. “I want you naked too.”

My grip on her jaw tightens. “Then take it off.”

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