Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

Another growl is ripped from me as I mentally curse her for being here. On this night of all nights. The first day of my freedom. The day I’m finally freed from the cage that has bound me for centuries as torture met me in the mornings for too long.

Now I feel a tomb being brought up around me, sealing my destiny, caging me in despite all my centuries of planning for this day.

All because of the blonde, lethal, delicate fucking girl in my arms.

I use all my strength to launch us out of here, dematerializing us before someone realizes how badly they just fucked up before I

can shed these shackles and put forth my plan to never wear another pair again.

We land in a dark forest, but the air is almost familiar. It’s not as pure as my memories, but when the trickle of a breeze blows against my face, something hot rolls down my cheek.

Ignoring the lone tear, I force my eyes open, swallowing down the emotion wadding in my throat as I spot what looks like an empty cabin in the distance.

I’ve envisioned what this moment would feel like a thousand times, but none of those imaginings were even close.

I feel like I can breathe again.

I feel like I can move again.

I feel like I can finally live to see death delivered to the doorsteps of those on my list.

I feel…free.

My eyes drop to the girl in my arms.

Almost free.

I carry her into the cabin and leave her there to heal, even though it takes every ounce of strength I possess not to take her with me. I’ve spent centuries preparing to be a monster.

She looks anything but monstrous, even less so than in my dreams.

Stepping back outside, I feel power rippling through the air, warning me that someone is coming.

Kya appears from thin air, then more and more land close by, everyone looking to me. Everyone wanting the same damn thing.

Everyone expecting me to lead.

Kya takes her place near me, eyes up and steely gaze on mine.

“We’re actually free,” she whispers, almost as though she’s afraid to say it too loud.

“Let’s make sure it stays that way,” I tell her, moving toward the others in the woods.

“We need to find a point of base,” I tell Kya. “See who can help with that.”

She immediately gives the order to Simone, who darts away to carry off the task.

“After we have camp?” the misfit lycan/incubus Halfling asks me.

My lips twitch. “Then we have a list to work through to find out who the hell has kept us captive all these long years. And we kill them. All of them.”

Dark, sinister smiles form, showing several sets of white teeth below the moonlight.

“First person on my list is the traitor wolf witch,” I bite out. “Find her, and we’ll see if she has any secrets to share.”

A chorus of cheers go off, and I look down at Kya again.

“Let no one near that cabin without killing them,” I say quietly.