Lost Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 4)

“If this is an ambush, they won’t be taking hostages for negotiations. They’ll be killing to make a statement. They’ll see you as threatening. Or they could see you as less than pure, an abomination of sorts. They killed half breeds in that little mind journey I took.”

> His look softens, and his lips twitch. “You’re cute when you’re worried, but I can handle myself.”

I grab his wrists, pleading with my eyes. “You have no idea what you’re going up against here. And to even consider speaking to them is... Just no. Don’t do it.”

The others start to leave, apparently leaving us to argue in private, but Dice leans over the counter like he can’t look away.

“Ella doesn’t need to go. If they’re looking for hostages, she’s a sure-fire way to get Alyssa to give them whatever they want,” Dice says on a whisper.

“You volunteering, incubus?”

“As long as you glitter my ass out of there.”

“You have a child on the way!” I snap, glaring at Dice.

“And I want that child to have a future. People find me charming,” he says, winking. “If anyone can broker peace, it’s a sexy incubus.”

Just as I open my mouth to say something else, Chaz tugs me to him, and his lips crush mine, swallowing the string of words that were sure to talk him out of this. What were those words? Hell if I remember now.

His hands fly into my hair, and he presses against me, drinking me in like it’s the last taste he’s ever going to have. I realize too late what he’s doing when he pulls back.

“I love you too,” he says as he smiles at me.

Before I can ask him what the hell that means, he’s grabbing a yelping Dice, and the two of them disappear. My stomach slams into my ribs, and I sag to the floor. Why does it feel like he was just kissing me goodbye?

Chapter 30

CHAZ

Dice groans as I drop him to his feet, looking around the desert where we’re supposed to be meeting the dragonites.

“Warn me before you voo-doo me out of a place,” he says, his eyes scanning the sky. “You also better warn me if one of those fuckers tries to take me away. I’m not into bestiality. It’s a hard limit. And I’ve seen the dragon porn people read.”

He shudders dramatically, but I don’t bat an eye. I’ve become impervious to what he thinks is humor.

“They’re late,” I note. The sand swirls start picking up speed, and I watch as tiny little sand cyclones begin to build.

A shadow eclipses us, and Dice’s breath halts as we take in the enormous beast that flies over us like a blur. No wonder we haven’t heard reports. They fly so fast that the human eye would notice nothing more than a streak.

But no other immortals have reported seeing them either.

The dragon is at least fifteen feet long, with a twelve foot tail behind that length. There are small spikes on the end of the tail. Unlike the other night when we saw a black one, this one is solid red.

It opens its arms and a girl emerges. She can’t be more than twenty—but looks can be deceiving, obviously.

She glides toward us with elegance and grace that extends past those years, and the dragon stays far away, crouched like it’s ready to rocket into the sky if need be.

“Mind him not. He is under strict orders to keep a low profile,” she tells us with a stern look and soft, haunted eyes. “We come in peace.”

Dice holds his hand up and makes some weird gesture with his fingers split. “We come in peace too,” he says in a robotic voice.

She eyes him, confused, then looks to me. “Why two delegates?” I ask her, still ready to bail out if she tries anything.

“Two delegates for two delegates. We are all they would risk. Namely me. Gamran will fly away to send warning to the others if this turns hostile. We are merely here to state our intentions. We are aware of what your legends must paint us to be, due to the unfortunate actions of our ancestors. But I can assure you we have other motivations if you allow us to live beside you in peace. They were held against their will, forced into a dimension they did not want or trust. We came in search of asylum.”

Her English is stilted and outdated, and a hint of an unknown accent mingles in her words. She doesn’t use contractions, and I hear her working to annunciate each word.

“Asylum from what?” Dice asks suspiciously.