Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

Those words have me relaxing immediately. Birds. It’s a message. Birds trust each other without question. When one shifts, the others shift, too. Whatever he’s about to do, he’s warning me to go with it.

“Speak to him,” Gavin says, and I choke on the air that gathers in my throat from my previously swallowed words.

“I said speak!” he roars.

Since I might not have the opportunity again, I want to tell him I love him. But I worry that might ruin whatever plans he has.

“Your brother thinks we have something much more serious going on, apparently,” I remark dryly.

Gage smirks when Gavin’s lips go thin.

“What the hell is it that you want? Obviously you came here for a reason,” Gavin says, still trying to find his upper hand.

“I did,” Gage says, his smile forming. “I came for Morgana.”

Now that fucking hurts like a son of a bitch. I don’t care what game he’s playing, that’s crossing a line.

Birds, Kimber. Birds. He was telling me to trust him. As hard as that is to do, I have to trust him.

“Morgana?” Gavin asks, his eyes narrowing. “My weapons for the girl who chose me over you?”

Gage nods,

and I yell, “Hell no! You stupid son of a—”

My words are cut off again, but Gavin crosses his arms over his chest to study Gage instead of measuring my acting skills.

“You’re so full of shit. You’re not going to let her die and try to take Morgana. I’m not an idiot, Gage. And your duster didn’t come to carry out a body. But whatever you’re stalling for, well, it’s pointless.”

Gage holds his hand up, and his wrist flicks. I’m not sure what he did, but Gavin gasps, horrified as he stares at us. I look over to Karma, but she shakes her head, urging me to stay quiet with just her expression.

“They’re dead,” Gage says, but I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. “I’m not stalling. Morgana for your weapons.”

“I knew you were a cold bastard, but you’re fucked up,” Gavin says in disbelief, still staring at us, but it’s as though he’s seeing something else entirely.

“Last chance,” Gage tells Gavin.

“No,” he says on a trembling breath. “Morgana won’t go with you. Fuck you. I’ll find someone you do care about.”

Before anything else can be said, a hand is clamping around my mouth. Chaz is beside me, and he does something that has the shackles fall off without making a sound. But Chaz is also beside Gage, even though he’s not speaking.

How in the hell is Chaz in two places at once, and what is Gavin seeing?

I look over as a guard that usually feeds us one meal a day moves over to silently remove Karma’s cuffs, and suddenly the guard turns into Sadie. She frowns as she looks around, and Chaz nods his head toward the wall.

Karma is too weak and battered to even think about trying to dematerialize herself. She’s too young to block out the pain the way the older ones can. Same for me. Plus, Gage handicapped me with a damn necklace I can’t remove.

I feel my body being dematerialized, and pulled away. My mind swirls through a whirl of colors I’m not used to seeing, proving the duster process is different than the dark user process of planes traveling. Before I know it, I’m being reassembled in the back seat of a car, and Chaz is right beside me.

“Gage,” I whisper, as Sadie takes the driver’s seat and Karma appears in the front.

Karma looks as weary and in pain as I am, but Chaz’s eyes are closed and he doesn’t speak as Sadie starts pulling away.

“Gage,” I say more forcefully, panic rising, but I’m too weak to try and stop her.

“He has to stay back until we’re clear of this place. He’ll catch up,” she tells me, gassing the car and squealing away from the isolated hiding spot that is nowhere around whatever place we were being held.

“Chaz,” I say in a pained whimper. “Make her stop.”