Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

Slade leaps at me, and instinct takes over again. Rocketing up from the ground, one leg kicks up, and my foot slams into his chest. More shock rattles me when he’s launched backwards, and I flip—yes, flip—over the railing and start running even as feet thunder behind me.

“Do not let her go!” Slade roars. “Kill her!”

Chapter 10

ZEE

“You’re too quiet,” Sylvia taunts, but a small smile plays on my lips. “Always so quiet. It’s unsettling. I don’t like the quiet ones. You weren’t quiet when I got you.”

She runs her fingers up my spine, circling me.

“What are you thinking about?” she muses, but I shut her up by handing her a letter from my old friend.

Silan is in town, it seems. And he apparently wants to play with Sylvia before he destroys her.

Sylvia reads it, and I don’t miss the way she sucks in a sharp breath before crumpling the paper and tossing it harder than necessary at the corner of the room. She glares at me, pointing a finger in my face.

“If Silan shows up, you will notify me. Then you will do everything in your power to stop him. Understand?”

I nod, understanding completely what she’s saying. Guess it’s time to feel like I’m being dipped in acid, because I will defy both of those orders.

“I’m just saying life would be easier if monkeys reigned instead of humans,” Dice states, pointing at the movie where a planet of apes reigning exists. “That wouldn’t be accurate, though. No. If apes ruled in real life, there’d be no modesty, no concern if someone watched them fuck, and no reason to worry about monetary means. They’re like us, all things considered.”

“You’re really comparing us to apes?” Thad asks him.

“You can be an ape if you choose,” Dice states flatly. “I envy you a little. But you can’t fuck like a porn star, so I guess I win the coolest fey award.”

Before I can weigh in on the stupid topic, a searing pain hits my chest, and panic rises. It’s not my panic though. I can feel her, hear her, and taste her like she’s right up against me.

The fuck is going on?

“Zee?” Thad prompts.

It takes a second to realize I’m on the floor and crawling toward the door.

“Leah,” I hoarsely say, but another pang of pain hits me, like I can feel what she feels, and I grip my chin that suddenly aches.

“Zee!” Thad yells as I run out.

I’m dematerializing before I can think about it, and the wind pushes me forward, guidi

ng me. It gets stronger—the pull of her calling for me. Suddenly, I’m materializing in the middle of the woods somewhere, and Leah is rushing toward me with wide, terrified eyes and a bloody mouth.

“Run!” she yells just as Slade materializes behind her.

My hands fly out before I can stop them, and several red and blue orbs fly free.

That’s new. Usually they’re not so easy to control.

Slade looks too surprised to see me to react quickly enough, and the orbs slam into him, tearing flesh and drawing blood as he flies backward. Leah crashes into me, and I grab her, hauling her against my body as I dematerialize us.

The second we’re back on solid ground, panic hits me hard. Dematerializing a mortal can kill them, and even if she is destined for immortality, she’s not immortal yet.

Surprise flows through me when we fully materialize, and she grabs my neck, pulling me down until our lips crash against each other’s. She’s not even sick or disoriented from the dematerialization.

She moans into my mouth, and my mind catches up to the action too late.

Fuuuuck.