Page 229 of A Love Like Venom

But then I remembered she was by my side once before. And after hearing the guilt she carried all these months I know she needs this as much as I do.

"With you by my side I'm ready for anything."

And it's a beautiful thing to know just how much that is true.

"Now my angel, you will become the angel of death."

Snake

Ipromised him, myself and Alice that his death would be a painful one. Beyond that I also promised that it wouldn’t be an easy one.

Death, too, must be earned.

And after months of torture his time has finally come. He will join his President who died ruthlessly in front of him.

I saw the fear in his eyes as I killed him. The smell of it was reeking from his pores. Like the predator I am I preyed upon it.

And the darkness inside of me enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it way too fucking much.

But I know his death, the one that I have been prolonging, the one that had to be earned for the damage he caused me, the one that had to be earned for every despicable thing he’s done to Alice, for every time he laid a hand on her, for each breath he breathed upon her, for every sinister stare that kept her captive, this death has been earned for her.

As far as I’m concerned Razor was a dead man walking when I learned he had his eyes on my girl.

I’m only making it official.

Alice squeezes my midsection from behind as my bike comes to a stop. Her body is plastered to mine. Legs hugging my outerthighs. Her cheek pressed firmly on my scarred back that is covered by a black long sleeve shirt and my leather cut.

Because of the scars being so fresh and new it takes my breath away whenever she freely touches them.

They aren’t pretty. They’re actually pretty fucking hideous. Most of my scars haven’t healed perfectly. That would be putting it nicely. My back is like a road map of horrors. Angry pink and red scars that are puckered and rigid.

But Alice, my beautiful angel never looked at them once with disgust. Never shuddered from the sight of them.

No, what she did blew my fucking breath away and made my heart stutter. She kissed each and every scar with a gentle caress of her lips showing me how much she loves me.

I’m not going to lie to you, when she did that tears fell down my cheeks.

And when she saw that I was silently crying she kissed them, too.

A pure fucking angel my girl is.

No one has her light. A light that burns more than a thousand suns. A light that all the stars in the galaxy can never achieve.

She presses a kiss to my back and my heart clenches.

Turning the engine off and then propping my bike on its stand I finally allow myself to melt in her arms.

My hands come to rest over hers. I lean slightly, my back being supported by her front. With the way I’m relaxed on the bike her head can fit perfectly in the crook of my neck.

I breathe her scent in, the heavenly scent of vanilla and let out a long easy breath.

God, this girl fucking centers me.

“I want him to burn, Reed,” she begins, her voice fierce and dark. “I want him to choke on the ashes of the livesheburned. I want his screams to echo throughout this building. But what Iwant most is for him to know that he didn’t win. And he can die burning with the fact that he lost.”

This darkness inside her, the dark streak that has always been there calls to me. It also makes her fucking perfect for me. Because even though Alice Hall is made of light her heart bleeds black for those who have wronged the people closest to her.

---