Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

“I remember when you had a sense of humor. You even recycled my insults,” he grumbles.

My eyes drop back down to the board in front of me, with our terrible drawing of our Hail Mary pass.

“He changed the future,” I say again. “I hope.”

Kimber and Kya launch into fully explaining to Leah what her part will be, while Dice walks out, huffing and puffing when we don’t give him phase five details. They fill Leah in on that once we’re sure he’s gone.

“So why do you have all this circled? And this part here makes no sense at all. What do you need with a deer?” Leah asks, not even blinking at the onslaught of information, despite the fact what we’re asking her to do is really big.

“That’s Kya’s part,” I tell her, which has Kya’s eyebrow raising.

“What’s my part?” Kimber asks, and I grimace.

“Your part is hoping you’ve made Gage love you enough to do absolutely anything you ask,” I tell her, giving her a hopeful look.

Her eyes glance down, then back up, adding up the Ella Math in her head, most likely.

“I don’t like my part. Give me the deer,” she states flatly.

Dice walks back in, looking down at all of us. “Have I been gone long enough?” he harps as he goes to take his seat.

“You can’t really help with the deer,” I say to Kimber.

“What’s with the deer?” Dice asks from the corner.

I give him an annoyed look, but when I glance back, Leah is staring at me quizzically. “I’d like to understand the deer too.”

“Dice,” I say, sighing heavily.

“Let me guess, you need me to go fetch you something while you concoct more of the secret plan you don’t want me knowing,” he says as he stands. “I’ll just stretch my legs while you girls scheme.”

My eyes dart to Kimber’s, then to Kya’s.

“They turned my father into one of those Firsts. I’ll have to be the one to kill him,” Leah tells me, but I already know.

I’m the one who told Thad and asked him to help ease the blow to her, when I thought Leah was avoiding me. It’s just been Zee avoiding me and essentially forcing her to go along with it, because he’s terrified Slade will go murderous on her again if her guard is down.

“You’ll only have a small window to kill him, but Zee might be able to kill him instead.”

“No,” she says softly. “I don’t want to risk Zee. It needs to be me. Slade’s not the only one who’d die in place of the woman he loves. Just make sure I get some backup if it doesn’t look like I can take him on my own in the timeframe necessary.”

“I’ll back you up myself,” I say, eyes on hers.

“I trust you,” she tells me. “Things have felt…different since I first walked into this room. You feel different. It’s almost…soothing. Which doesn’t make sense, so of course I’ve silently been analyzing it this entire time. There’s an odd calm just standing in front of you.”

“I’m anything but calm,” I assure her, my brow arching.

“But you’re in charge,” Kya states, her finger running over her lips. “I feel the same calm when Slade stands in front of me and directs me. I always know he’s the deadliest in the room, except for when you’re there. Then I feel torn, like I can’t decide who to listen to. All this talk about instinct has had me dissecting my subconscious movements. It’s the same with Alyssa and Kane when they disagree, according to Chaz.”

“The rules of yesterday won’t matter tomorrow,” Leah says, distracting us.

Her eyes are on my scribbling next to the deer as they widen.

“Why do you say that?” Kya asks.

“It’s what was inscribed on one book about the Aquarius. My family’s motto has never been more right.”

“Give it a moment,” Kimber says, clapping her shoulder. “One minute you’re a child prodigy visionary legend, the next you can’t even see yourself tripping over your own feet until it’s too late. Everything else will seem possible after that rock bottom drop.”