Changing Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 2)

Staggering up to my feet, I try to think of what to do to stop her, but nothing is coming to mind. Gage keeps trying to get close enough to knock her into a different plane, but the light surrounding her knocks him on his ass every time.

Kimber cries out as she opens a gate, doing all she can to suck Ella into it, but she’s not strong enough. I rush to her side, helping her add suction to the gate using my own abilities, but with my side bleeding heavily, it’s all I can do to keep from passing out.

And Ella’s too fucking strong.

“Motherfucker,” a guy’s voice growls.

I glance back to see the silver-eyed son of a bitch rushing toward Ella, but unlike Gage, when he hits her light barrier, he crashes right through it and right into her. They both vanish from sight as the others from his crew disappear as well, abandoning the battle like they won’t fight without him.

Kimber and I drop the gate, and she collapses in Gage’s arms. “We have to go after them,” she mumbles.

Gage looks at my side, cursing, and Zee appears, tossing my arm over his shoulder as he helps keep me standing.

“I’ll get Thad back. And, oh shit. Karma.” The word ends on a whisper as I look over and see Dice scooping Karma up.

“She’s breathing,” Dice exhales. “But that bitch sister of hers did something. She has control of her power. Karma doesn’t. Fucking bully bitch. Why did they attack us? And who is brave enough to go get Ella back?”

“We’re going after Ella,” Gage says as Kimber seems to regain her strength. “Call Kane. I’m going to need his help. That fucker was stronger than him and Alyssa. And Ella… Fuck. She never gets left alone again. She’s too tempted to give herself over to the unknown. She’s not like Kane or Alyssa. If you thought Alyssa had a dark side, you haven’t seen anything.”

I saw it with my own fucking eyes. Ella—the girl I accused of being too human—has a bigger secret than I knew. That was more than just losing control—that was embracing and loving insanity. She has more in common with Drackus than Alyssa, and Ella is ten times the force Drackus is.

It’s a deadly cocktail I wasn’t ready for. None of us were.

“Where’s Roslyn?” I ask through a painful strain, barely keeping my eyes open. I need a lot of blood right now.

I’m met with silence, and I look around to see no one is making eye contact with me.

“She’s the hybrid,” Gage says, the only one brave enough to meet my gaze.

“Yeah, and there’s something fucked up with what’s going on. Touch her, and you’ll have to kill me or be killed.”

He starts to speak, but Kimber puts her fingers over his lips to silence him.

“He’s right. She didn’t change until he was hit. She looked furious. Something happened the second she stopped being scared and got mad. I don’t think she even knows what she is, and Reese and Sadie have something to do with that. Whatever the spell they used on her, she’s suffering because of it. Hell, not even Karma could tell she was fey. It’s like… It’s like they’ve separated her human half from her fey half, and there’s no telling how dangerous that has made her. We need to call Reese.”

Kimber thankfully makes complete sense. If my beasts were able to take over without a leash… It’d be the dark ages of bloodshed and panic all over again.

“I need to find her,” I grumble, but then my legs buckle, putting the burden of holding me up completely on Zee.

“She’ll turn up,” Zee says, easily lifting me as he dematerializes us.

The planes are crossed easier than what he normally does, but it’s still not as smooth and practiced as Gage. I hold back the urge to retch as we rematerialize at the SUV. He loads me into the back, and I grimace while fighting back a string of names I’d like to call him when he doesn’t exactly use a gentle touch.

I settle for a death glare, and accept his muttered apology as he takes the driver’s seat. Dice joins

us shortly after, gingerly sliding Karma into the seat with me until her head is resting in my lap.

Probably a good thing Kane wanted old-school bench seats in this thing. Karma actually snores in my lap, but I lean my head back, ignoring her as I try to think of what the fuck to do about Roslyn.

I can’t go after her until I’ve healed. Hell, I’m barely staying awake. And I sure as hell am not letting anyone else go after her.

“Kane is on his way to help Gage and Kimber,” Zee says, putting away his phone as he finishes up a text.

“You sent that in a text?” Dice muses. “Fucking cold.”

He reaches back, taking Karma’s hand in his, distracting me. Where the fuck is Roslyn?

“I wasn’t about to get yelled at. So yes, I sent it in a text. He said Alyssa had to talk to us. I told him to have her meet us at Gage’s place. He said this before I told him about Ella. Other than the brief highlights, I won’t tell you what all he said after I told him about Ella. Chaz is already on his way to help find Ella.”