Lost Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 4)

“You’ve launched two unprovoked attacks on our people, yet you’re threatening us because of a jealous feud?” Gage asks incredulously.

Again, Slade just smirks, never removing his eyes from me. “He abandoned her like everyone else has. Everyone but me. Tonight he proved he wasn’t worth her time. He’s weak and juvenile. Kya is too focused to be distracted by someone like that. Check your ego at the door when we finally go to war. It might save your life. Or don’t. Personally, I couldn’t give a fuck,” he says before vanishing.

I start to go after him, but Gage clamps down a hand on my arm. “Let him go. We can’t afford a fight with him right now. What did Kya tell him?”

Apparently everything, which lets me know where she stands on the matter. I knew I fucked up, but I didn’t know it was this bad.

“She tattled on you?” Gage asks like he’s reading my mind.

“Obviously. And he definitely has feelings that aren’t brotherly.”

He shakes his head as he starts driving us back toward our bunker. “I think he was just trying to provoke you or get in your head. Either way, don’t let him win. We have too much other shit going on right now, and Amy’s death has hit everyone hard. Especially Sierra. Ella is struggling with it too. It reminds her that our title may be immortal, but we’re not invincible.”

Pulling out my phone, I try calling Kya again, and it goes straight to voicemail just like before. Even entertaining the thought that Slade and Kya are together is driving my beast wild in my veins.

“I think I need to read that damn book.”

“The dragonite book?”

I nod. “Yeah. Hopefully it’ll have control tactics to keep the aggression watered down. Otherwise, I’m going to accidentally go after Slade and finally kill the son of a bitch.”

Chapter 18

KYA

“What are you looking at?” Slade asks me as he comes into my makeshift bedroom.

“The alignment of the stars is wrong,” I tell him, prepared for the inevitable argument.

“No. I checked it several times,” he argues predictably, leaning against the edge of the desk I’m at.

I spread out the astrological charts I’ve been analyzing for the past several hours, trying to figure out what I can.

“It’s at least another week, give or take a few days. The stars here aren’t going to be in place in time,” I tell him, pointing to the two misfits.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he says under his breath.

“I’ve been taking pictures and developing them daily. It’s not going to be tomorrow, Slade. But they might think the same thing you did, and we might be able to catch them while they’re exposed and failing at the attempt.”

His lips quirk up in a half smile. “Brilliant.”

That small bit of validation makes all the efforts worth it. He hates being wrong, usually, but this time seems to be an exception.

“Good job.”

I don’t tell him I’ve been searching for distractions that don’t include me kicking everyone’s ass on the sparring field as I’ve been doing. I just lucked up with the stars actually having something worth studying.

I haven’t seen or heard from Chaz in two days. Shouldn’t be a big deal, right? He left me naked and alone in the middle of the woods, and I still don’t know why. I shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t be a priority.

Survival is supposed to be paramount before all else right now, just as it’s always been. Actually living... Maybe one day.

“You’re a million miles away right now,” Slade says, not looking up from the charts.

“I’m fine,” I lie.

“You’re distracted. I thought I handled your distraction after he hurt you,” he says, acting as though he’s not talking about anything serious.

“What does that mean?” I ask, worried.