Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

It shouldn’t be natural to fall for someone as quickly as I’ve fallen for him,

and to cry would only give me away. So, denying all my emotions their right to surface, I keep myself stoic, even though it physically hurts to do.

When he doesn’t say anything, I ask the question that will address the oversized elephant in the room. “Is this about Morgana? Do you… Are you still…”

The words die in my throat because I can’t bring myself to ask them.

He sighs as he drops down to sit on the bed, and he hangs his head. If this invisible barrier wasn’t holding me back, I’d go to him.

“I wish I could be the guy I need to be and lie to you right now. I wish I could tell you that seeing her resurrected some buried emotions, but I can’t seem to bring myself to lie even if it’s the right thing to do.” His eyes come up to meet mine. “No. This has nothing to do with Morgana. She chose her own fate. This has everything to do with you, and since you have no sense of self-preservation, I’m doing the only thing I can to keep you safe, because I can’t make you the same promise I made her so long ago. I can’t promise I won’t lose it again, because I’m going after Gavin, and I’m going to have to tap into some seriously dark power to take him down.”

I glare at him, because once again he’s underestimating me. “And you think I can’t handle it? Gage, I frigging sent you to hell. I’m strong. You just keep treating me like glass.”

He leaps off the bed, and the barrier dissolves as he comes to put himself so close to me that I have to tilt my head back to look up into his furious eyes. “You’re reckless, Kimber. I could have killed you. When I get to that point, there’s no conscience. There’s no guilt. No fear. There’s nothing but power and the hold it has on me. Nothing else matters. I refuse to be your new mission. You. Can’t. Save. Me. Get that through your motherfucking head. You don’t mean a damn thing to me when I’m like that. And if I hurt you, then when I come to, I’ll end up going off the fucking deep end. Do you understand that?”

My eyes water when my restraint breaks, and he turns away, unable to face me as I break.

“You’re wrong. You dropped everyone to the ground, except me, Gage. You could have killed me, but you only made threats that you never tried to carry out. So say whatever the hell you want to, but I still trust you. I know you won’t hurt me.”

He turns back around, his jaw tense with anger. “That is why we can’t be together. You can’t fucking trust me, Kimber. Not now. Gavin is so much stronger than he used to be, and it’s going to take me more power than you know to kill him. And I don’t want you anywhere around me when I find him.”

The first tear falls to my cheek and I wipe it away violently and quickly, cutting my eyes away from his. “Ever consider that maybe your problem isn’t a curse?” I ask him, forcing myself to meet his gaze once again. He studies me but says nothing, so I continue. “You sabotage yourself, Gage. And that’s fine. If you want to be miserable and do things alone when you could have an army of friends at your side, then fine. Fuck you. I won’t stand in your way when you’re doing such a damn good job of it yourself.”

I turn and walk away, and just as I figured, he doesn’t even attempt to stop me. Ella is at the bottom of the stairs when I reach the last step, and she nods knowingly before following me out. I have to find what Gavin wants and destroy it before he finds it and uses whatever it is to kill Gage.

Chaz appears at my side when we reach Thad’s car, and he moves over just as the blonde changer jogs out to join us.

“What’s going on?” he asks me, at the same time Thad asks, “We leaving?”

Karma appears beside me, and I look over at her. “We need to figure out what Gavin is after. Any chance you know where some of the prisoners might have gone upon escape?”

She tightens her lips and nods. “There’s a guy who would definitely get involved to help them out the second he heard of their escape. He may not have been helpful in tracking down the rings, but he’ll help us track down the survivors.”

Chaz and Thad exchange a look, then sigh in acceptance.

“Gage just kicked me out of his house,” Dice says while joining us. “So what’s the plan to keep him from getting killed by his brother?”

Karma turns to him just as I do, and I say, “We find him first.”

Chapter 20

KIMBER

“This guy is a little… paranoid, so let me do all the talking,” Karma says as we walk into the old pawnshop that has seen better days.

“Sure,” I mumble eyeing a doll that is a little too creepy for my tastes.

A guy who looks like something from the cover of GQ walks around the backside of the table, dusting his hair from his eyes, and he looks over to us.

“Mortals don’t look that hot, so I can only assume you’re not here to buy a fake Rolex, now are you?”

“Perceptive,” Karma says. “We’re actually here for another reason, and since you’re the go-to for refugees, I’m hoping you can help me. Have you seen a girl who looks exactly like me in almost every way?”

My eyes widen. I hadn’t even thought about her twin sister. In all of the chaos, it has been the last thing on my mind.

He turns to study her face, and he frowns. “Twins? Man, that’s rare in our world. You one of the refugees? Someone cranked out the big guns and took down all the rings at once.”

A small smile twitches at the corners of her lips as pride swells. “I’ve heard. But now I need to find my sister. Her name is Kya.”