Changing Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 2)

Good. If she likes this place, then she’ll love some of my homes.

As soon as the large doors open for us, the wild party’s volume blares to its full potential, and Roslyn cringes against me. I pull her in, despite her obvious hesitation, and she follows reluctantly.

Everyone is dancing, or talking, or making out. It’s like college and high school exploded in here. Well, new age college and high school. I missed out on all this shit.

Immediately, a dark user I know steps into view. He’s from the Somage, and I stiffen. We’ve already determined the Somage can’t be trusted.

“Alex,” I say with a smile, trying not to let him know I’m not overly fond of his presence and alert him to our suspicion.

Zee catches my eye, moving toward us with a blonde on his arm—not Jenny. He dismisses the girl on his way, and he nods toward the right, alerting me to the presence of several other Somage members off to the side.

I don’t make any conspicuous moves, and I only view them out of the corner of my eye. I also notice Kimber’s not in here.

“Didn’t know you guys were hanging out in Pine Shore,” Alex says, bringing my attention back to him.

Roslyn bristles, and I notice Alex’s eyes training on the small amount of cleavage her dress is showing off. A growl tries to emerge, but I barely manage to hold it back.

Fuck.

I’m used to having so much more control over myself.

“Yeah. Decided to come check out the scene,” I say with a shrug, tugging Roslyn in front of me, spinning her so that her back is to Alex.

She looks up at me right as I slide my hands down her back, keeping my eyes on Alex. He cocks an eyebrow, but I don’t let a single expression cross my face, somehow managing to look bored as I wait on him to speak.

“Same for us. Heard there was possibly some trouble in the area.”

The vagueness we use in front of humans… Sometimes it can be exhausting to have a conversation without having the actual conversation. Soon I won’t have to hide words from Roslyn.

Roslyn melts against me as I start running my hand up and down her back, keeping my other planted on her hip. Zee is smirking as he joins us, but Alex doesn’t notice him before speaking again.

“I came to speak to Kimber, but she appears to be absent,” Alex says, looking around once more.

Apparently he thinks Kimber will give him details of what we’ve found. It’s amazing how stupid they think we are.

“Kimber is out,” Zee says, the lie rolling off his tongue with effortlessness as he steps closer.

Alex cocks an eyebrow while turning to face him.

“I didn’t think you guys were letting her out of your sight these days. Considering she left us, I assumed you had her under lock and key or something.”

“I thought the same thing,” a

gruff voice says, and I inwardly cringe. Fucking ogre. I can tell from the sheer brute size of him.

Roslyn looks over her shoulder, but stays pressed against my front, observing the scene quietly. This is not what I planned on happening tonight.

The last time I felt like beasts inside me wanted to claw their way to the surface was when I was still a new immortal and learning control. Right now everything in me is screaming, begging to all surface at once, and every protective instinct is demanding I get Roslyn out of here and hide her away. Fuck me. This is bad.

“She’s out,” Zee says again when I don’t offer any words. “She and Gage had something to do. No idea when she’ll be back.”

I’m too busy worrying I might fucking roar or something if I open my mouth to help Zee out. That would be a little hard to explain.

“Gage,” the ogre scoffs, shaking his head in disgust. “It figures she’d abandon us the way he did. It’s not as though we’re beneath the queen’s fucking circle. We were once the most revered group—”

I clear my throat loudly as Alex widens his eyes, glaring at the fucking idiot who cuts his words short. Ogres are big, strong, and so damn stupid.

“Human, Dumbass,” Alex growls, keeping the register too low for Roslyn to overhear.