Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

He’s acting suspicious. Or I’m paranoid.

Our plan has to work without a single hiccup, or we could all die. I’ve never been so sickeningly nervous in all my life.

“Who’s a pretty daddy’s girl?” Dice asks, as Karma rocks their daughter, distracting me from my own scary inner thoughts.

The baby sneezes and a few bulbs burst around the house.

“I’d say the daddy’s girl is going to be a lot stronger than is natural. I thought we were keeping her isolated until we knew for sure she wasn’t going to suck our souls out,” Thad tells them, looking pointedly at Karma.

“She’s a good girl. She only likes freshly dead immortal souls. So just don’t die in front of her if you don’t want her taking yours,” she says dismissively.

“Souls? As in more than one?” Chaz asks incredulously as he comes into the room.

“Well, there were these prisoners earlier, but they were going to be killed anyway for their part in the slave rings,” Karma says indifferently.

“Unbelievable,” Thad says, groaning as he scrubs a hand over his face.

Kya snorts. “I can’t believe I used to think you were the do-gooders of the crop,” she states dryly.

My lips twitch, and I eye my empty glass, staring into it like it’s going to show me the outcome of this fight. Do we save the day? Or does Slade die to accomplish what we can’t? Is it all for nothing?

“This is where someone usually gives the ‘we’re not human, we’re immortals; it’s survival of the deadliest for a reason’ pep talk to alleviate that little flicker of guilt,” Dice states. Then looks at baby Kicera and adds, “Oh, yes it is. It sure is,” in his very annoying baby-talk voice.

“That kid will be so fucked up before she’s even five,” Zee says almost in a trance as he stares at the doting, soul-feeding mother, and the hashtagging incubus who thinks it’s cute she’ll fart seduction when she gets immortal soul indigestion.

“I need a drink,” I say as I stand and get the vodka.

Roslyn intercepts me just as I reach the bar, eyes narrowed. “I’m literally the only girl who got left out,” she says on a hushed whisper.

“Only because you tell Thad everything.”

“They all told their men too,” she tattles, causing Leah to stumble on her way by.

Then Leah starts walking a lot faster like she’s trying to get away from me.

“If Zee knew, he wouldn’t be calm,” I whisper so that only she can hear.

“They told the guys you have a plan,” she whispers back. “That’s all I would have told Thad.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, meaning it, since I never expected her to be so bent out of shape.

“It’s fine. Kya gave me a role to play and filled me in on all the details.”

“How’d you find out—”

“Dice made fun of me and Karma for not hanging with the cool girls,” she says, shrugging and looki

ng away like she’s pretending not to be miffed. “Karma didn’t care, so that means I’m the only one left out.”

Karma wasn’t left out, but I don’t bring that up. Seems stupid to do. Besides, it makes me feel even guiltier for not including Roslyn.

Then an unnatural quiet settles over the room.

A chill slithers up my spine, and I know we all feel it. Roslyn even hisses in a breath as she takes a step back and looks around like she might find a physical source of the power.

There’s almost a buzz of energy crackling, something far more intense than the last cosmic setting Hannah tried to use. I’ve never felt anything like it before.

The sun is setting, and the Gemini constellation is rising in the stars on a night when it shouldn’t, in a place we shouldn’t be able to see it, and on a night when there shouldn’t have been any stars at all. It marks the start of where Slade came up with the name for his legend.