Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

“You think I haven’t thought about that every single second since I learned I could do it? I don’t even care how pissed he’d be when he woke up, so long as he was alive.” When I see the first shimmer of tears in her eyes, she clears her throat and adds, “But the second we snapped back, the baby started draining Karma like something had happened to it during the process.”

Sighing heavily, I watch as that thin thread of hope unravels. Even I’m not monster enough to ask Karma to risk losing her life or her child’s life to save Slade’s.

“The baby will be half incubus and a fraction of demon—not powerful at all. Usually when a child drains a mother like that, it means they’ll be really strong. Like you. Something else happened. Had to,” she goes on, like she’s trying more to convince herself that than me.

I guess she really has been lamenting over this.

“I didn’t hold on as long as my brother or sister has,” I say, shifting the topic to ease her mind, because we both know there’s no use in trying to go down a path we never could.

“How powerful will a child be if it’s held on this long?” she asks a little quieter, and a chill breezes into the room like an omen in answer.

“Just hope he isn’t tethered to another dark source for all eternity that he’ll never overcome, because his only chance is about to kill himself for the sake of masking suicide as martyrdom,” I state wryly.

She clears her throat and bristles uncomfortably next to me.

“Should have figured it out, really. Mom’s darkness wasn’t as severe. It came from Dad, not Drackus. Just like Calypso’s came from Drackus. That’s the true royal curse. Feeling our mate’s darkest pieces rile the instincts inside us that leave us helpless and trapped while they slip away.”

When I realize it’s silent in the room, I look up, seeing Kya’s attention trained on the door where Zee and Chaz are. Both of them look away from me like they realize I didn’t mean for them to overhear.

They disappear from the room, and I resume looking at the book, clearing my throat.

“Anyway, I think Hannah wants to try and drain the Lokies the same way. She’s a patient woman. She’s possibly going to drain them for centuries with all her firsts.”

“I thought the firsts were to be sacrifices,” she says, frowning as she leans over.

“I think she’s trying to take them with her so the bitten fey can infect, and the others can help her control the flock.”

“Lokies created us, so wouldn’t they be stronger?” she asks.

“Not with all the magic she’s been hoarding and stealing. If I’m right, we might finally get a step ahead of her.”

A little hope floods me, because the thought of beating that Gemini prophecy becomes a possibility.

“There’s also no telling what all they took from purgatory while my parents and their armies were distracted with the threat they knew to look for. Hannah never truly had partners. She only had manipulated pawns.”

Something crashes through the window, and Kya dematerializes as pain collides with my side.

I flip back, staggering a little when I land on my feet, and my eyes widen as something mangled and distorted comes toward me like Frankenstein’s unhinged monster.

“What the hell is that?” Chaz shouts when he appears behind it, flames shooting from his hands.

The monster almost looks famil

iar on one side of his face that hasn’t mashed together.

“Adam,” I say on a rasp just as he throws Chaz through the wall.

Kya flips through the air, landing a hard, power-infused kick to the madman’s gut, but he doesn’t even budge. Kya screams in agony, her knee breaking and turning out at an odd angle on impact.

I dematerialize and grab her when his fist is coming down. Just before he connects, I dematerialize us outside, hoping someone else can set her knee so it can start healing, then rush back in just as Zee is launched out.

I drop back as Zee’s body misses mine by inches, and I shove myself back up, flinging myself at whatever monster this is.

Amy’s traitorous night stalker is no longer even slightly a man.

Dodging strike after strike, I spin, power pulsing from me and slicing through the air. I focus damn hard on pushing back the need to touch that darkness, envisioning Alton.

I can hurt Alton, but I can’t kill him.