Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

“I know,” I say, swatting away the gazes like they’re tangible and suffocating.

“An anointed?” Thad asks as I grab the bottle of whiskey and a glass. My eyes study the glass for a second, and I put it back down. This is a straight-from-the-bottle kind of moment.

“I know,” I repeat, guzzling down a long sip.

“She’s apparently fresh, according to what she said. It makes sense how she got away from you that night now,” Ella states. “Magic doesn’t seem to affect her. It’s like she’s immune. But she can be transported, since you and Kya both did that with her. I’ve never heard of an anointed being completely immune before. That’s a little scary.”

“I know,” I say yet again.

“She’s fast. Really fast. I don’t even think she knows how fast she is,” Roslyn says. “I haven’t seen her run, but I know she escaped you and Slade. That’s a feat on its own. I’m not even that fast.”

“I know,” I groan a-fucking-gain.

“It’s not so absurd,” Kimber says, shrugging. “Forbidden love is a common twist of fate’s sick sense of humor. Even writers forge their own tales.”

“Let’s play name a forbidden love,” Thad prods, smirking over at me.

“Mark Antony and Cleopatra,” Gage says immediately.

“Guinevere and Lancelot,” Chaz supplies.

“Helen of Troy and Paris,” Roslyn says.

“She was totally a succubus,” Thad snorts. “True story.”

“Seriously?” Roslyn asks.

“Definitely,” Gage and Thad both say at the same time, smiling.

“And you know this how, exactly?” she asks, looking between the two of them.

Kimber narrows her eyes on Gage, who looks anywhere but at her as he wipes the hint of lingering smile off his face. Thad clears his throat and avoids the subject altogether.

“Tristan and Isolde. The actual couple. Not the movie rendition,” Thad goes on, garnering curious stares. “I’m old as fuck. Shut the hell up.”

“Romeo and Juliet,” Ella adds.

“Pocahontas and John Smith,” Karma sighs, dreamily propping her hands under her chin.

“Buffy and Angel,” Dice announces.

Everyone turns to groan at him, and he holds his hands up innocently.

“What? Mine is the most accurate here. Don’t hate on me just because you didn’t think of it first. Hashtag, jealous.”

Thad snickers, and I continue to drink. Heavily.

“The anointed do a thing where they fully resonate and receive all of their powers. Usually it’s after seeing one of our kind. But it sounds like she touched an Aquarius marking tonight and that made her powers explode into action. She already had speed and immunity, but tonight she also got strength,” Roslyn says.

She didn’t feel too strong when she was pinned under me.

But I know why…

Silently cursing, I scrub my face with my hands. My head needs to get away from there, even if it’s the only place I want to go.

“She said Slade caught up with her, so she’s not that fast,” Dice says. “Her jaw was bruised from a hit he managed to land at some point during her retreat.”

That makes every muscle in my body tense. I wish I could fucking rip Slade to pieces.