Bitten Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 3)

He’s two seconds from an ass-beating when Thad jerks me back. “Ignore him. Listen, we’ll go look for her. You stay here.”

“The hell I’ll stay here.”

“The last time you went looking for Leah, you turned black-eyed crazy and made it rain,” Dice says, smirking at the last part. “Hashtag, make it rain, bitch. That’s a good one.”

I glare at him, and he shrugs. “Coping mechanism. Get off me.”

It’s as though I’m just hearing part of what he said. “Property searches?” I ask, grabbing the box away from him.

“I was still looking through that,” Dice drawls.

I pull out the first document that says Masie, and my eyes roll over all the names.

“Her aunt has several properties in several states. That’s something Leah mentioned. I think they used her as an anchor,” I say to myself, mostly just thinking aloud.

“But humans don’t need anchors,” Dice says while looking over my shoulder. “They can’t cast spells.”

“The anointed aren’t just humans, and they don’t need spells. They’re the original creators of the seals like the rings used to keep people out. Hell of a lot stronger than a spell. Both require ownership. It’s not like they can squat anywhere and seal it up,” I go on, finally finding a paper with her name. “Masie Miller,” I announce just as Gage appears.

“Who?” he asks, confused.

I turn to him, and toss him my phone. “Use your tech magic and find every property listing for Masie Miller. They used her as an anchor.”

Gage puts his hand on the phone as his eyelids shut.

“Be nice if he could do that with facial recognition,” Dice mumbles. Chaz and I cut our eyes toward him, and Dice flips us off. “It’s a valid observation,” he grouses. “Hashtag, no fun douchebags.”

“Leah!” I shout again, starting to get pissed. Where the hell is she and why isn’t she answering me?

“I don’t think she’s here,” Roslyn says, walking around the corner. “Zee, would she go after them alone?”

“No,” I say quickly. “She wouldn’t… Couldn’t. She wouldn’t know where to find them, and even if she did, it’d be suicidal to attempt it.”

Denying that possibility is my only lifeline to sanity. Maybe she went for a walk to clear her head. There’s no way in fucking hell she’d go after them. How would she even know where to look?

She wouldn’t know. So she can’t be there.

Closing my eyes, I concentrate, hoping the damn bonds are at least active enough to let me locate her. A sire can always find the ones they’ve turned if enough bonds are active.

Her scent engulfs me, and I taste a hint of fear on her breath, as though she’s suddenly standing right in front of me. My eyes open, but I’m no longer in the room with everyone else. It takes me a second to realize I’m not looking through my eyes anymore.

“You can do this, Leah,” she says to herself, and I hear her take a deep, shaky breath as her gaze turns toward a rundown factory type warehouse.

I’ve seen it before. I know where that is.

She starts walking, and her thoughts run wild. It’s like I’m in her head.

I’m sorry, Zee. I so, so sorry. There may be a lot of things I never even get the chance to say.

I should have told him when I had the chance.

My breath slams into my chest, and I blink rapidly, finding myself back in the kitchen. Chaz is in front of me, and his lips are moving, but I can’t hear a word he’s saying. It takes me a second to realize I’m sitting on the floor, and everyone is speaking, but there’s nothing but an eerie silence around me.

All at once, the sounds roar back to life, and the shouting almost gives me an instant migraine.

“Zee! What the hell!”

“What happened?”