Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

“She was with him tonight while he used her to punish himself. Forced her to do it. Used her link and emotions that tether her to me against her, as she strained not to accidentally kill him and me in the process.”

He seems to visibly pale, and I take another step toward him.

“You treat her like she’s not part of your circle, and she’ll continue to act alone, because she’s not meant to be sidelined. She knows what you keep pretending not to know. Her instincts are screaming for her to take over. She’s alpha. You’re all betas. And every dominant animal is pacing inside of her, ripping her apart as she forces herself to be a subservient daughter, adding to the maddening shit she has to battle because of her connection to me.”

He narrows his eyes on me.

“She’s not ready.”

“That’

s your fault. You forgot she wasn’t human, and you all try so hard to emulate humans that you forget there are primal creatures inside us that don’t have the same instincts. She’s trying to emulate you, and she’ll never be like you because she’s tethered to me.”

He grabs my arm before I can leave, and I growl down at the contact. He lowers his hand, releasing me slowly, heaving out a frustrated breath.

“We thought we’d faced the end of the world and won,” he says quietly. “We didn’t realize there’d be another reckoning so close to the last.”

My eyes find his, lighting up silver. “It’s never-ending.”

Before I leave, I turn to face him. “We have less than two months to prepare for the next portal opening, and one last shot to take Hannah out. Be ready.”

With that, I dematerialize.

Chapter 15

ELLA

“There has to be some way to make this stop,” Dice says, cutting off a pigtail that simply reforms.

My head bobs with the music that’s playing, as I flip the page in one of the books Kya dropped off yesterday after she and Chaz raided an old, underground council chamber.

We’re all avoiding discussing the drama and focusing on the fact we finally have a deadline.

I’m not sure why Slade shared that with my father or when he shared it, but since my Dad and I are acting awkward any time we’re in a room together, both of us avoiding our own confessions of wrongdoings, I haven’t exactly asked questions.

I am focusing on what the portal might open to, and all signs point to Lokies. The council had an entire book on Hannah that I read already, and it lines up with what I’m reading about here.

There are an undetermined number of dimensions with their own versions of immortals or humans, but the Lokies seem the most likely she’d access.

“Why Lokies?” Kya asks from beside me, startling me.

I guess I’ve been musing all this aloud.

“Who cares about Lokies? I’m going to spend my last days looking like the woman who gives me nightmares!” Dice shouts, but we both ignore him.

“She hates what they did to this world, and her death brought out her vengeance that much worse. She drained the energy immortals in her first life before they were immortals. Now she’s drained immortals in this version of her demonic upgrade.”

I flip the next page, reading on.

“Can you read it aloud?” she asks, and I look over at her.

“I thought you were learning to read,” I point out.

“I am, but it’s not moving along quickly, considering there’s a lot to learn, and I’ve been busy trying to help thwart the apocalypse with two divided groups,” she reminds me. “I can remember staring at the words in Slade’s journal, wishing I could read. I was the only person he ever trusted with it.”

“It’s still weird that he didn’t teach you to read,” I grumble.

I’m sure, on some level, she’d regret reading anything he felt like writing down and keeping private. People would be very scared of my private thoughts sometimes.