Lost Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 4)

My gaze darts to Chaz whose eyes are solid gold this time, and his lips tense as Slade goes stiff beside me. Shit. Now Slade will know I lied to him.

“Kya,” Slade says softly, as everyone now gives the fake duster a wide berth. “Something you forgot to say?”

Only the woman he called his mother moves to his side, and she glares over at us like we’re going to make the wrong move. I guess she doesn’t know that I already know what Chaz is. But it freaking terrifies me when I see his powers on display like that.

I could smell the fire as though it was really burning through the land. I could see the dragons with such clarity to believe they were genuinely flying above me like majestic beasts. It was real and terrifying enough to send a horde of mindless savages racing back into the woods.

And he’s just started using those dormant powers. What will he be capable of as he develops them even more?

“Simone!” Slade shouts, snapping me out of my trance as he stalks toward her. “Take a group and follow them. Keep a safe distance. Make sure they aren’t just circling back.”

Simone smirks over at me before nodding at Slade. Normally it’d be me he sent to lead such a mission. But he’s pissed at me right now. And he’s letting everyone else know it by sending Simone out in lead. It’s as humiliating as it is degrading.

Simone is far beneath me in ranks, so sending her is nothing more than a slap to my face.

She picks a few people who all eye me with judgment before racing behind Simone, following her into the woods.

I turn and walk away as everyone else starts to gather up their things. We obviously can’t stay here now that they know our location. Not that we were going to anyway, since this was a temporary location. Tears sting my eyes, but I have no idea why.

Maybe it’s because the one person I thought had my back just pretty much humiliated me.

I walk inside and grab the notes to hand over to one of the Scooby gang. This was a terrible idea. Chaz is stronger than I thought, and I should—

“Kya?” Chaz’s voice has me startling, and I turn in time to see him approaching me with a furrowed brow.

When he steps too close, I stumble back, not realizing just how much that show of power rattled me until this moment.

Instead of acting offended, his look changes to something more... enticed?

He steps closer again, and I swallow down the knot in my throat, reading the predatory gaze in his eyes now. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“There’s the information you came for,” I tell him, motioning toward the scattered papers on the desk. “It’s all we’ve learned.”

“You kicking me out?”

I glance through the window, seeing his people disappearing.

“They’re leaving. You should too. This was a bad idea, and now... Now... I have no idea why I thought it’d be smart to bring you here,” I say on a sigh, running a hand through my hair.

This time he moves so fast that I don’t have time to dart away. He shoves me against the wall and cages me in, pinning me between him and the wall as he smirks down at me.

“I know what’s going on in your head right now, Kya. You’re confused but unable to stop yourself,” he says, his warm, sweet breath skittering across my skin that hums with the contact.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie, albeit my voice isn’t quite as strong as I wish it was.

His hand slides up, cupping my face with a gentleness that conflicts with his aggressive nature—the nature he’s recently fallen into. My body arches against him involuntarily, and he grins like he was expecting it.

“It drives you crazy,” he goes on, keeping his words whisper-soft. “Because what I really am scares the living hell out of you. But you can’t seem to stay away.”

He bends, and his lips brush over mine, teasing and taunting. “The only thing holding me back is the fact my beast wants you too. And I don’t know why.”

There’s suddenly vacant air in front of me, and I stumble forward. The papers I showed him are gone, and I groan until my eyes lock on Slade’s.

Where’d he come from? I suck in a sharp breath as he glares at me.

“You lied to me,” he says simply, his jaw tensing.

“You won’t stop trying to kill them when you know the truth,” I remind him.