Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

That has my attention, and this time I do react involuntarily as I look over to Gage.

“You really want to taunt Kimber, or are you going to make a move?” Gage growls.

“Oh,” Gavin drawls, walking over to Morgana and taking a lock of her hair before rubbing it between his index finger and thumb, “so she doesn’t know that it was our dear, sweet mother who slaughtered them and tossed her into the slave cells.”

Gage shakes his head, cursing while looking away from his brother, and his eyes meet my

teary ones. No. He knew?

“I didn’t know for sure, Kimber. I was going to look into it after this was settled,” he tells me softly, but my heart won’t slow down. Amari. It was Amari who did this to me. That fucking bitch. Now she’s dead, and I can’t end her life myself.

Gage turns his attention back on Gavin, and the ground rumbles beneath our feet. “Fuck the small talk, brother.”

With a powerful surge that I feel quake inside my bones, Gage launches a streak of power like I’ve never seen, but Gavin spins, forcing out a power of his own, and slices Gage’s attack into nothing.

Gage’s eyes widen, but before he can do anything else, my ears start ringing, my body vibrates with pain, and I drop to my knees when I feel as though I’m being crushed from the inside out.

The ringing is overshadowed by the cries of pain from everyone behind me, and I look over as Gage fights to keep standing. Gavin is smirking, but I feel as though my body is close to exploding.

“Told you things have changed, brother.” Gavin’s smug tone destroys the ounce of hope I have for our survival, and then Gage bows and drops, grunting and growling in pain as he’s forced to join us on the ground.

“Always wondered what it would look like to have you bow before me.”

Gage looks over at me with apologetic eyes, trying unsuccessfully to move toward me, but it’s pointless. The blood starts pouring from my mouth, and I choke on the metallic taste, frozen in place.

Just as my vision dims, something lights up the sky, and yelps of pain from the other side ring out. The pressure containing me lessens and lifts, and I look up just in time to see waves of power rolling in.

Alyssa and Kane are flinging orbs and streaks from their palms, and Gavin curses when he struggles to affect them and us at the same time. Then, the entire fleet arrives, bodies appearing all over as the power around us rushes through.

Gage manages to get to his feet, and he comes over to grab me and pull me up. A lycan crashes through the planes, and my heartbeat kicks up when I realize it’s Ella in changed form. She shreds through the front line who have their arrows pointed at her, but Gage flings his hand, knocking the weapons away.

He struggles to hold himself and me up, so using his magic has to be painful. I’m not weak, dammit.

Biting through the excruciating pain, I start flinging out portals, sucking in various people, knocking them out of the fight before they can strike against my family. Drackus rattles the ground with his power, and Calypso displays her own.

Gavin is outmatched, because he might be stronger than Gage, but he’s not stronger than my whole family. Morgana gives Gage a sad look before dissolving into the air, escaping the fight. But then everything takes a turn, and Gavin’s smile returns.

The crystal trap Gage broke suddenly springs back to life, and Gage yells when we all become trapped inside it. Gavin walks around it, smiling over at Gage, and Alyssa and Kane fight uselessly to break free.

“Oh, you didn’t think I would prepare for this, did you?” Gavin asks smugly. “And no, brother. You won’t be able to break this one without killing yourself trying. You’ll be unsuccessful, I might add.”

He turns his eyes toward Alyssa, and he clasps his hands behind his back, once again feeling confident and composed. “Our dear queen has graced me with her presence. Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to be the one to take you out, Your Majesty.”

“No!” I yell.

He ignores me, and I stop just short of running into the light blue barrier holding us in place. Alyssa is trapped in a separate section, and I can’t get to her. Ella’s eyes change, turning to yellow, and I shake my head.

Her lycan eyes fall out of place completely, and she shifts into a hawk. “Don’t!” I yell to my sister, knowing she’s about to embark on a suicide mission, but she doesn’t listen as she pushes off from the ground and flies straight up, her velocity accelerating with every inch gained. By the time she reaches the top of the trap, she’s a white blur, resembling a comet crashing in the wrong direction.

She bursts through the trap, and the blue falters all around us when the magic is broken. Gavin’s whispers a shocked and disbelieving, “No.”

I take aim and shoot the crossbow, striking him in the chest, and he staggers backwards while glaring at me. Alyssa and Kane focus their attacks on him, and Gage does the same, using more power than I’ve ever seen him expel.

But then I see Ella’s naked body lying limply on the ground, unmoving. Tears spring to my eyes as I try to reach her, but the armies have collided, and I keep having to slash through someone else to gain any ground.

Chaz appears and in a blur of motion, manages to take down numerous men that were seconds away from shredding me, but I don’t even thank him before finally bursting through the pack, managing to reach the spot where I saw Ella, but she’s gone.

I whirl around, trying to find her, but she’s nowhere. She wouldn’t leave. Shit. Someone has her.