Daredevil (Book 3): Venom Chasers MC, #3

By Kathryn Thomas

This is book 3 and the finale of the Venom Chasers MC romance series! 

 

He took me like he knew I was already falling for him.

 

I thought I left the past behind—all the horrible memories, each one worse than the last.

But in a single moment of weakness, I found myself sucked back into it all.

 

I was just doing my job.

Turns out that was the worst idea possible.

 

While out on a boat, taking notes on the marine ecosystem, I see something that definitely doesn't belong:

A dead, floating corpse.

 

It's like something out of a nightmare.

After giving my report to the police who show up, I head to the bar for a drink to calm my nerves.

And that's when HE showed up.

 

The biker.

 

Pax is handsome, scary, intense, leaving me speechless.

Something makes me beg for his searing kiss. Crave his scarred body. Ache for his big heart pounding away against mine.

 

He is everything that's wrong for me. Everything that I should stay away from.

But no matter what I do, something keeps pulling me back to him.

 

I know he can only break my heart.

But I can't stop believing his voice rumbling against my throat as he says the magic words that make me fall to pieces:

 

"You belong to me now."

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBook Publishing World
• Release date: Apr 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393654797

Book preview

Daredevil: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Venom Chasers MC Book 3)

By Kathryn Thomas

He took me like he knew I was already falling for him.

I THOUGHT I LEFT THE past behind—all the horrible memories, each one worse than the last.

But in a single moment of weakness, I found myself sucked back into it all.

I was just doing my job.

Turns out that was the worst idea possible.

While out on a boat, taking notes on the marine ecosystem, I see something that definitely doesn’t belong:

A dead, floating corpse.

It’s like something out of a nightmare.

After giving my report to the police who show up, I head to the bar for a drink to calm my nerves.

And that’s when HE showed up.

The biker.

Pax is handsome, scary, intense, leaving me speechless.

Something makes me beg for his searing kiss. Crave his scarred body. Ache for his big heart pounding away against mine.

He is everything that’s wrong for me. Everything that I should stay away from.

But no matter what I do, something keeps pulling me back to him.

I know he can only break my heart.

But I can’t stop believing his voice rumbling against my throat as he says the magic words that make me fall to pieces:

You belong to me now.

Chapter 1

The next day when I woke up, I felt like shit, but instead of turning around and pulling the covers over my head the way I’d done for the past week or so, I got up and took a shower.

It felt good to wash off the grime and the stale emotions that hung around me like a personalized stench. When I was done, and I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. I’d picked up some weight, and I had dark circles under my eyes. I still felt like I was in some deep morass, but I was getting fed up with being in this state.

The only thing that ever got me out of any kind of slump was that I first got bored with it and then irritated with it. I was there now. I was at a point where I wanted to get rid of it because it was doing nothing for me besides ruining my life.

It was still there, but I had to do something to change it, or I was just going to sit and rot in my house until there was nothing left of me.

I phoned Abby and asked her if she wanted to meet me for lunch. She was surprised to hear from me. I’d withdrawn from everyone, including her.

I was going to meet her at our usual coffee shop, and I was early so that she didn’t think I gave up on her halfway through.

When Abby arrived, she pulled me into a hug. I’m so glad you called, she said when she pulled away and sat down. You look... better.

I knew she wasn’t telling the truth. I didn’t look better at all. I looked clean, but that wasn’t the same thing.

I think I need to get out of here, I said, jumping right in with what had been tearing around inside my mind all morning.

Abby frowned. What do you mean?

I shrugged. A waiter arrived and took our order. We ordered drinks and food all in one go, and when he was gone, I tried again.

I need to change something. I’m going to run myself into the ground if I carry on like this.

Abby nodded slowly. Okay, I can get that. And it’s good that you finally figured that out. But you’re not thinking of running, are you?

I shook my head. I wasn’t planning for it to be permanent. I just needed a change of scenery—an escape.

I think I need to clear my head, and I can’t do that around here. Not with everything that’s been happening, and everything that’s always the same.

Abby nodded. Where will you go?

I shrugged. No idea. Somewhere inland. I have to be able to drive there.

Abby narrowed her eyes at me. Away from the ocean.

I shrugged and didn’t look at her. I wasn’t going to be able to explain to her how betrayed I felt by the ocean, by my one and only love. I had no way to tell her that it was because of the damn ocean that I was in such a mess now. Not directly, of course, but still.

The rest of our lunch together was filled with meaningless small talk and awkward silences that we’d never had before. When it was finally done, she couldn’t get away fast enough, and I felt the same. I knew she was worried. I knew it was my fault. I couldn’t do anything about it now, which was why I was going away.

I didn’t go home right away. If I was going to go away, there were a few things I still needed to do. One of them was to see if I could salvage what was left of my career. If I went into OIMB now and spoke to Mark, maybe I would still have a job to come home to. That’s assuming I haven’t already been fired, of course.

I knew it was going to be hard going back there. It was going to be embarrassing to face my colleagues after I went underground but walking into the lab and talking to Mark, that was going to be the hardest of all.

I drove all the way to the institute, but instead of pulling into the parking lot, I drove past then parked in a tourist parking spot that overlooked the bay, the institute, and the vast span of ocean that stretched toward Asia.

Everything looked so calm and so peaceful. I looked at the low white buildings that were spread out along the edge of the cliffs. Below the buildings were pools of natural seawater with gates that could be raised, where we kept marine life we needed to study or treat.

I walked along the trail that led to the beach then followed the waterfront away from the institute. I liked the taste of salt on my tongue and the almost-sticky sea spray that would get my hair into a terrible tangle, and make my skin feel foreign and natural all at the same time. The wind picked up, and I breathed in nostalgia and pain all in one gulp of fresh air.

I followed the beach toward the buildings again, and I knew it would come up to the tide pool if I kept going. I didn’t want to see the tide pool again. I didn’t want to think about what I’d found there. But I couldn’t stop myself, and then I was staring right at the spot where the black bag with the body had been stranded. In my mind’s eye, I saw the yellow police tape and the body wedged under the rock.

It was all gone now, and there was nothing there to prove that it had even happened.

But that had been the same with my father. Even after his body had been removed and the combine washed to remove the blood, every time I saw one working the fields, I could still see him hanging there, his arm shredded inside the machine to his shoulder, his head bent at a bizarre angle from the powerful machine trying to consume his entire body. I’d still been able to taste the despair, and with every combine, I saw I felt the stab of my loss.

No one understood that. They hadn’t then, and they wouldn’t now. That was why I had to leave. I had to leave everything behind and go away so that nothing from my past could find me. It had worked once before, and I hoped it would work again. Since I’d moved I hadn’t seen even one combine harvesting vast swaths of grain, and I’d been able to forget.

The last stop before home was Pax’s apartment. I’d only been there once before. After I’d chickened out of going to the institute, I felt like a failure. I wouldn’t have been surprised with myself if I couldn’t go through with this either. But it was different. This had nothing to do with the body. This had everything to with me and the life I was trying to save from total ruin. And Pax, as nice as he was, was another bad call in my life. I realized that now. It took me a while thinking about it, but it all added up. I’d been attracted to him for a reason. I always picked out the bad ones