Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

“Are you really hurting for stronger blood?” Ella’s voice snaps me out of my silent reverie, and I crack my neck to the side while tossing down the O negative blood that usually keeps me away from the brink of losing it.

“Our main focus should be trying to figure out if she’s under their control or genuinely hurting for Gavin.”

“You heard what Gage said; she’s looking for an in. The question is why you? So I’m asking if you’re really hurting for blood that’s stronger.”

“You want the truth or something to ease your mind?” I ask quietly, leaning against the counter as my head lulls back.

“It’s me, Zee. Just me. No one else will know. I promise. What’s going on?”

She props up beside me, studying me with an eye sharp enough to know if I’m lying. More proof that young doesn’t mean dumb. Her voice is barely audible to me, so I know no one else can hear us.

“It’s getting worse,” I confess, feeling like it’s easier to breathe just by saying it aloud. “I think… I think I almost sired a girl tonight.”

Her eyes widen and a small, surprised breath leaves her lips.

“You’re serious?”

I nod slowly, letting that sink in. I almost did to someone else what I hated to have done to me.

“Are you still considering it?” she asks, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one else has walked in.

“Yeah. It’s pretty much consuming me. Which means you’ll have to watch me and make sure I don’t do it. No one else can know. We have enough shit to deal with as it is.”

She grabs a glass from the cabinet, and I watch as she bites into her wrist. My jaw starts to grind when the scent of her blood hits the air, and I stifle a groan as she pours it into a glass.

“In the meantime,” she says, letting it continue to flow, “you can have my blood. Creature goddess is as strong as it gets, and it’s just as edible as witch’s blood.”

I almost kiss her in that moment, especially when I drink it down, feeling it coat the need inside me and lock the monster back in the box with effortless ease. Fuck Morgana. She won’t be able to have a hold on me now.

“You may have just saved my fucking life,” I whisper, drinking the last drop.

She smirks while refilling the glass, biting into the wrist that has already heeled.

“Remember you owe me one. And let me know when you’re hungry. No more silent suffering.”

Loud music interrupts our conversation, and we both head back toward the living room where Dice is holding his phone up, bobbing his head to the beat of the weird shit he’s blasting.

You and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals, so let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.

It keeps saying that over and over, like Dice has it on a loop, and Thad looks like he’s on the verge of ripping the incubus to shreds. Roslyn’s lips twitch with amusement she’s doing well to restrain, and I exchange a confused look with Ella, who just shakes her head. Karma has to smother her laughter and hide her face. She’s just as weird as Dice.

Dice starts singing along with the repetitive lyrics until finally shouting, “Hashtag, Bloodhound Gang.”

“We definitely go insane after living too long,” I mutter.

Chapter 3

LEAH

Yep. I’m a crazy, psychotic, pathetic stalker girl. It’s amazing what someone can learn about themselves. For so long, people referred to me as the “freak,” but I never really was one. I was different, but I wasn’t a freak.

Until now.

For one week, I’ve “researched” him—or tried to, rather. He hasn’t been back to the club, and no one seems to want to divvy up information on him.

At all.

Then again, it is a very private club, so I’m not surprised. What does surprise me is the fact I’m still craving him, as though I’m suffering withdrawals. No one else there would even touch me or look at me for very long. They avoided eye contact when speaking, and went out of their way to avoid even the most accidental of grazes.