Changing Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 2)

“Then she saved your life,” Dice points out, possibly sounding protective of the woman his mother has fallen in love with. But to me, she’ll always be the bitch who let Kimber stay locked up as a child. “And she also helped us take down Gavin,” he goes on.

Kimber rolls her eyes. “What better way to thwart suspicion than to befriend your biggest threat?” she asks, posing a damn good question. “Think about it. She shows up with this spell—one no one else knew about—right after we lost every one of our leads and they changed the locations of the rings. Then she helped us, further inserting herself into our very hard-to-reach circle of trust.”

Dice tightens his lips for a moment, then delivers a blow I wasn’t expecting.

“You do remember that you dated her, right?” he growls, turning on me! What the hell did I do?

Low fucking blow.

Kimber’s eyes cut toward me, hurt clearly in the depths. Gage growls low in his throat. Damn drama-stirring incubus.

“We didn’t actually date, considering I never even went out with her. I found out in time that she knew about Kimber’s capture. Before I learned that, I assumed—since Alyssa saw good in her—she had been nothing more than a misled pawn. I cut all ties to the bitch when I realized she played a hand in Kimber’s pain. We never even actually went on a date; I was the one to cancel because of some work stuff. Then I told her to go to hell the next day—after I learned the whole truth.”

It totally sounds like a guilty ramble, but for once, I’m innocent.

That relaxes Kimber and Gage, and Dice grumbles something that sounds like an apology. But then he takes one more opportunity to toss in some defense.

“I just don’t think we should be singling out Sadie as though we’re on a witch hunt—pun intended.”

I snort derisively, but Alyssa adds, “He’s right. If we focus on Sadie being the ringleader, then we’ll connect dots that aren’t really there to be connected, and we’ll lose sight of other possibilities when we use tunnel vision instead of warily searching our surroundings. We’ll tread carefully around her, but we won’t single her out as our only lead.”

Kimber relents, nodding in acceptance.

“I need a drink,” I grumble, moving away from them and heading toward Kane’s house.

Life was so much simpler when I was running my own crew and calling the shots. This collaboration shit sucks. I would have just taken Sadie out by now, making sure she wasn’t a threat, instead of playing nice and getting all the facts lined up.

Proof is overrated and time consuming. Proof is something humans waste time acquiring. I love her, but before you know it, Alyssa is going to instate a judicial system amongst the fey.

I snort out a laugh just thinking of the ludicrous hearings that would ensue.

Just as I reach the door, Kane, Zee, and Chaz drive up.

Zee hops out, kicking the sand of the lake beach, looking frustrated when he starts to speak. “Nothing. All dead ends. No one knows what’s here; no one knows anything about this mystery leader; and no one knows about what Gavin could have done to me or how he did it,” he gripes.

He’s not the only one worried about the powers Gavin somehow defied all the laws of magic to give him. I’m not too crazy about his extra freak burst either.

Kane goes to Alyssa, grabbing her chin and tilting her head back as his lips brush hers.

I’m in couple hell.

“You staying here?” Chaz asks me, drawing my attention away. He tosses his duffel bag over his shoulder, staring expectantly for my answer.

“Nah,” I say with a shrug. “I’m getting settled in my old house that I bought back when I was keeping an eye on Alyssa.”

As much as I enjoy their company, I prefer my own space when I can have it.

My comment has the queen’s head cocking to the right. “The one beside my old house?” I nod, and she adds, “You kept that?”

Kane scoffs, “We’re possessive by nature—all of us. Letting go of a house is rare, unless you have ulterior motives the way Castine did. Obviously you’re the exception to that rule, since you’re only possessive of me.”

He winks at her, and she says something giggly and flirty. But she’s made me curious enough to ignore her girly, somewhat gross reaction. “You sold your old place?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yeah. I didn’t see any reason to keep it, so I sold it a long time ago. Then bought it back because they wanted to get rid of it a few months later, and I didn’t want it going to just anyone. It still looked exactly the same with all my furniture. Weird, I know. It sat empty for so long, but I sold it about a month ago to a girl named Rhonda or Rosie or Ros… I don’t know. It was something like that.”

I can’t be that lucky, but the wheels in my mind turn, possibly getting a little excited.

My entire mood shifts, and a small smile grows on my lips. “Roslyn?”