Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

“Something happen between you two?” Karma asks, not bothering to look up. “You were both talking in whispers, so we didn’t get to hear what led to a storming-out exit.”

“I just asked a question I shouldn’t have.” Looking over to Dice, I add, “Some names can cripple a person with just their mention.”

I should have known better than to think I’d see empathy on the incubus’s face. Instead, he looks amused.

“I’m curious as to how it feels to have your aura beaming with lust for the man who has seen your sister naked. Numerous times.” There’s the incubus response I should have seen coming.

Karma coughs on air, looking up as though she honestly can’t believe Dice just went there. Apparently she hasn’t had very many interactions with Dice’s kind. But I have, so I know better than to let him see me blush or squirm.

Rolling my eyes, I head around to the coffee maker. “There’re a few problems with that statement, Dice. I’ll start with the obvious; I always have my emotional aura blocked from sight. I’m not looking at Gage as more than an ally. And if I did have any interest, it wouldn’t matter who he’s been with as long as it wasn’t Ella. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a rather seductive world full of sex and blood.”

He snorts while leaning back.

“An incubus can see a lusty aura any time they want to if they’re old enough. And I’m old, little Devall. Very, very old.”

He winks at me when I turn around, and I know the fucking pink is in my cheeks, probably burning just as bright as the aura I thought was hidden. Not what I need right now.

My phone buzzes, and I snatch it up for an excuse to bury my head. But the message is from Dice, and I start groaning as he bursts out laughing.

Dice: #sisterwives #GageandKimber #dirtylittlegatekeeper

“What’d I miss?” Gage asks while walking back in, looking between myself and the incubus.

“Dice is just being his usual charming self,” I say dryly.

Karma keeps a stoic expression, going back to her laptop research, and I lift one shoulder in a shrug to answer Gage’s questioning look.

“Well, Thad just called me,” he says while moving into the room better. “Alyssa has been updated, Drackus has been left in the dark, and we have two new sources. One is at a party held by Liza Berlow—fey or human, I don’t know. It won’t matter. We just have to find a way in, since it’s by invitation only.”

Dice’s grin slowly crawls up a notch, and I’m not sure I particularly like the look in his eyes.

“I’ll handle that part,” Dice says, sounding unusually helpful for a change.

Apparently Gage is just as surprised, because he gives him an incredulous look. I’m still waiting on the punchline. The incubus is full of terrible jokes that only he finds funny. But no punchline comes. Instead, all he does is leave the room, his cheeky grin still intact.

Gage brushes against me on his way to grab coffee, and my heartbeat speeds up loud enough for him to hear it. Cursing silently, I try to slow it down.

Karma stands and starts to abandon me, looking behind her to meet my eyes and grinning before heading outside.

“When do we leave?” I ask Gage with my back still turned.

“In a few minutes. You might want to do something about your aura,” he says with a smile in his voice, and my heartbeat kicks up even higher as my eyes widen.

“How can you—”

“I told you I was stronger than the average dark user, Kimber.” His breath fans my cheek as he leans up close behind me, putting his head almost beside mine. “But I promise you don’t really want me. I’m just the pretty distraction girls need from the one they really want.”

I shiver as he walks on by, and the smile I heard in his voice turns into a scowl as he heads outside. I have no idea what the hell that just meant, but I never said anything about needing a distraction.

“We’re driving separately and following two different leads,” he says from outside. “We’ll catch up with each other later.”

Focus, Kimber. Focus.

***

GAGE

My phone buzzes, and I glance down to see a message from Dice. I sent him with Kimber and Karma, since they were going to see a duster. I didn’t want them anywhere near the night stalker Thad and I had to question.