Tempting Venom

**The limited deluxe edition comes with foiling, printed edges, and exclusive art**

From New York Times bestselling author Rina Kent comes the third book in the Vipers series, a dark hockey romance set in a glamorous secret world.

When two ruthless enemies collide.

My name is Preston Armstrong, and I'm the most depraved bastard you'll ever meet.

I take what I want, ruin what I don't, and live exactly how I please.

That is, until I crash into the force of nature that is Marcus Osborn.

Captain of our rival hockey team and the perpetual thorn in my side.

A migraine in human form and the one person who refuses to play by my rules.

He's my brand of heartless and just as deranged.

I set out to crush him, his career, and his infuriatingly gorgeous face.

But Marcus hits back with equal force, turning our rivalry into a violent, addictive dance neither of us can walk away from.

We were supposed to annihilate each other.

Instead, we spark a fire that threatens to devour everything in its path.

In this battle of two unhinged souls, our bodies become collateral damage.

But I never expected our stone-cold hearts to get involved.

Rina Kent is a New York Times, USA Today, and #1 bestselling author of all things dark romance.

Better known for writing unapologetic anti-heroes and villains, Rina weaves tales of characters you shouldn’t fall for but inevitably do. Her stories are laced with a touch of darkness, a splash of angst, and just the right amount of unhealthy intensity.

When she’s not busy plotting mayhem for her ever-expanding Rina verse, she leads a private life in London, travels, and pampers her cats in true Cat Lady fashion.

Tempting Venom is a dark MM college hockey romance about two rivals whose hatred turns into something far more dangerous, intense, and consuming. The story centers on Preston Armstrong, who introduces himself as a reckless, ruthless, and deeply damaged young man who is used to taking whatever he wants and destroying whatever stands in his way. He lives with a swaggering sense of control, using cruelty and confidence as armor, until he runs into Marcus Osborn, the captain of a rival hockey team and the one person who can match his force without flinching. From the moment they collide, their relationship becomes a battle of ego, anger, attraction, and refusal, with each man determined not to give the other an inch.

What makes the novel compelling is that this is not a simple enemies-to-lovers setup. Preston does not just dislike Marcus; he wants to beat him, embarrass him, and ruin his career. Marcus, however, is not a passive target. He pushes back with equal intensity, and their rivalry becomes a violent, addictive dance of challenges and retaliation. The more they provoke each other, the harder it becomes to separate hatred from desire. The book leans heavily into the tension between them, showing how two people who seem chaotic in very different ways can become completely entangled when neither is willing to back down. Their fights are sharp, their chemistry is immediate, and their connection grows in a way that feels both destructive and irresistible.

At its core, the novel is also about control and vulnerability. Preston presents himself as untouchable, someone who can mock, seduce, and dominate without consequence, but his obsession with Marcus reveals that he is not nearly as emotionally armored as he pretends. Marcus, for his part, carries a steadier and colder energy, but he is just as deeply affected by their connection. Their dynamic becomes a push and pull between two people who are both used to winning and neither of whom knows how to surrender without losing themselves. The emotional force of the story comes from the fact that the attraction between them is not soft or easy. It is messy, intense, and built on mutual challenge, which makes every step toward closeness feel risky.

The college and hockey setting adds another layer to the story. Their rivalry is not just personal; it is also competitive in public, tied to teams, reputations, and masculine performance. The pressure of sports, status, and social image makes their attraction even more dangerous because it cannot simply stay private without consequences. The book uses that environment to heighten the stakes, showing how hard it is for two men like Preston and Marcus to admit what they feel when the world around them expects hardness, control, and dominance. That tension gives the romance its edge and keeps the story moving with urgency.

As the relationship develops, the novel gradually shifts from pure antagonism into something more intimate and unsettling. Preston and Marcus begin to understand that the other is not just an opponent, but someone who sees through their defenses. That recognition is frightening because it means neither can keep hiding behind performance for much longer. The story explores the idea that love can emerge from violence, but it also suggests that real emotional connection often begins where certainty ends. Neither man expected to care, and both are forced to confront feelings that complicate everything they thought they knew about themselves.

The tone of the book is dark, chaotic, and emotionally charged, with the kind of over-the-top intensity that fits a high-stakes romance built around obsession and rivalry. It does not aim for calm or subtlety. Instead, it thrives on extremes: anger, lust, rivalry, loyalty, and the terrifying possibility of tenderness. The result is a story where love does not soften the characters right away, but instead becomes another force they must survive. By the end, Tempting Venom is less about two people falling neatly in love and more about two broken, combative souls finding a connection strong enough to change them, even if it leaves plenty of destruction in its wake.