Unchained Beauty (Deadly Beauties Live On Book 5)

by C. M. Owens

  “She hates what they did to this world, and her death brought out her vengeance that much worse. She drained the energy immortals in her first life before they were immortals. Now she’s drained immortals in this version of her demonic upgrade.”

  I flip the next page, reading on.

  “Can you read it aloud?” she asks, and I look over at her.

  “I thought you were learning to read,” I point out.

  “I am, but it’s not moving along quickly, considering there’s a lot to learn, and I’ve been busy trying to help thwart the apocalypse with two divided groups,” she reminds me. “I can remember staring at the words in Slade’s journal, wishing I could read. I was the only person he ever trusted with it.”

  “It’s still weird that he didn’t teach you to read,” I grumble.

  I’m sure, on some level, she’d regret reading anything he felt like writing down and keeping private. People would be very scared of my private thoughts sometimes.

  “Hello, is anyone listening to me? Don’t make me use my sexy mojo to make you pay me attention,” Dice says, causing both of us to look over at him in exasperation.

  “Fix. Me,” he goes on, then gestures to himself. “Then you can focus on the fate of the universe. Hashtag, priorities.”

  “Did she give you a vagina with that transformation?” I ask him seriously. “Because I swear you sound like a human teenager on their period.”

  He turns a wonky shade of red, and Kya’s lips twitch as we both return our attention to the page.

  “Cactuses and pricks,” Dice sputters, then stalks out, digging a wedgie out on his way that simply returns, because Polly is diabolical.

  Kya sneezes, and I frown over at her.

  “Since when do immortals have allergies?” I ask when she sneezes again.

  Her brow furrows, and we both wait to see if she’s done.

  “That was…weird,” she agrees, shaking her head. “By the way, Chaz told me Sierra and Deke left.”

  “They’re going into lycan country to see if they can rally more soldiers. Sierra wants justice for Amy more than anything right now, so Dad let her go.”

  “Understandable,” she says quietly.

  We lapse into awkward silence after that, until Dice shrieks from upstairs.

  “Anyway, why Lokies? I still don’t get it.”

  I point at the portal design on the page, something that would have come in handy before we went after Hannah the first time.

  “This looks damn close to what was used to summon the dragonites. What’s the word on them, anyway?”

  “They refuse to help in the fight when it comes because getting involved in our conflicts apparently led to the first war where they killed everybody and started burning the world down,” she tells me.

  “Got it,” I sigh, going back to the page. “I guess we’ll have to explain to them how this is going to really work when we get finished dealing with Hannah.”

  “What do you mean how this is really going to work?” she asks, and I pause as I look up.

  “You don’t think we’re going to allow them to exist outside our laws, do you? That will lead to rebellions and everyone splitting into species-specific factions again, and my mother is the reason that finally stopped. The night stalkers sat at the top, and it was bloody for witches everywhere—dark and light users. Light users and dark users were trapped in a never-ending war that picked up when someone crossed a territorial boundary. Wolves tore apart anything that encroached their territory. Lycans shredded humans at their will, and the bitten fey could turn anyone they wanted without recourse.”

  She blinks at me, and I remind myself she grew up in a prison, unaware of any existence outside the walls.

  “What?” I prompt.

  “Alyssa plans to live separately. Chaz told me about her decision this morning.”

  “Mom is just drained and has no fight in her right now. She’ll change her mind after the baby is born and her fight is back. How’s Karma doing?”

  “Better,” she says, looking away.

  “What?” I groan.

  She glances back at me, then checks the room before facing me again. “When Karma and I joined, I think it did something to the baby.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t feel how strong we were together.” She glances around nervously once again, then her eyes meet mine as she adds, “We woke Dice from the dead.”

  My heart thumps quickly in my chest as the first sprout of hope pops up.

  “Can you do the same thing for Slade if he dies?” I ask her quietly, and she glares at me.

  “You think I haven’t thought about that every single second since I learned I could do it? I don’t even care how pissed he’d be when he woke up, so long as he was alive.” When I see the first shimmer of tears in her eyes, she clears her throat and adds, “But the second we snapped back, the baby started draining Karma like something had happened to it during the process.”

  Sighing heavily, I watch as that thin thread of hope unravels. Even I’m not monster enough to ask Karma to risk losing her life or her child’s life to save Slade’s.

  “The baby will be half incubus and a fraction of demon—not powerful at all. Usually when a child drains a mother like that, it means they’ll be really strong. Like you. Something else happened. Had to,” she goes on, like she’s trying more to convince herself that than me.

  I guess she really has been lamenting over this.

  “I didn’t hold on as long as my brother or sister has,” I say, shifting the topic to ease her mind, because we both know there’s no use in trying to go down a path we never could.

  “How powerful will a child be if it’s held on this long?” she asks a little quieter, and a chill breezes into the room like an omen in answer.

  “Just hope he isn’t tethered to another dark source for all eternity that he’ll never overcome, because his only chance is about to kill himself for the sake of masking suicide as martyrdom,” I state wryly.

  She clears her throat and bristles uncomfortably next to me.

  “Should have figured it out, really. Mom’s darkness wasn’t as severe. It came from Dad, not Drackus. Just like Calypso’s came from Drackus. That’s the true royal curse. Feeling our mate’s darkest pieces rile the instincts inside us that leave us helpless and trapped while they slip away.”

  When I realize it’s silent in the room, I look up, seeing Kya’s attention trained on the door where Zee and Chaz are. Both of them look away from me like they realize I didn’t mean for them to overhear.

  They disappear from the room, and I resume looking at the book, clearing my throat.

  “Anyway, I think Hannah wants to try and drain the Lokies the same way. She’s a patient woman. She’s possibly going to drain them for centuries with all her firsts.”

  “I thought the firsts were to be sacrifices,” she says, frowning as she leans over.

  “I think she’s trying to take them with her so the bitten fey can infect, and the others can help her control the flock.”

  “Lokies created us, so wouldn’t they be stronger?” she asks.

  “Not with all the magic she’s been hoarding and stealing. If I’m right, we might finally get a step ahead of her.”

  A little hope floods me, because the thought of beating that Gemini prophecy becomes a possibility.

  “There’s also no telling what all they took from purgatory while my parents and their armies were distracted with the threat they knew to look for. Hannah never truly had partners. She only had manipulated pawns.”

  Something crashes through the window, and Kya dematerializes as pain collides with my side.

  I flip back, staggering a little when I land on my feet, and my eyes widen as something mangled and distorted comes toward me like Frankenstein’s unhinged monster.

  “What the hell is that?” Chaz shouts when he appears behind it, flames shooting from his hands.

  The monster almost looks famil
iar on one side of his face that hasn’t mashed together.

  “Adam,” I say on a rasp just as he throws Chaz through the wall.

  Kya flips through the air, landing a hard, power-infused kick to the madman’s gut, but he doesn’t even budge. Kya screams in agony, her knee breaking and turning out at an odd angle on impact.

  I dematerialize and grab her when his fist is coming down. Just before he connects, I dematerialize us outside, hoping someone else can set her knee so it can start healing, then rush back in just as Zee is launched out.

  I drop back as Zee’s body misses mine by inches, and I shove myself back up, flinging myself at whatever monster this is.

  Amy’s traitorous night stalker is no longer even slightly a man.

  Dodging strike after strike, I spin, power pulsing from me and slicing through the air. I focus damn hard on pushing back the need to touch that darkness, envisioning Alton.

  I can hurt Alton, but I can’t kill him.

  It doesn’t work for shit, because all I can see is this beastly man who looks like he’s undergone a hellish, painful transformation, as his muscles bulge unnaturally, and the deformations on his club-hands and distorted face.

  I also see the man who betrayed Amy and stole her from us. Stole a girl who’d only ever wanted to be in love so bad that it broke her what little she wasn’t already broken.

  Another lash of power strikes before I can do it myself, as Slade appears in the room, his fist slamming into the beast’s face.

  He curses when his hand simply breaks, then growls as he forces out enough power to fling Adam outside, tearing down the rest of the front of the house.

  Chaz rushes to catch the top before the whole damn front topples down, and I let him fix it while I dart outside to help Slade, dematerializing from the porch to be behind Adam.

  Another slash of power slips from me, striking across his back the way I did Alton when I was still somewhat sober.

  It’s enough to make him howl into the air and turn on me.

  My eyes widen in horror when the marks on his chest visibly heal right in front of me, the hellacious hit Slade landed on him already gone like it never happened.

  Slade hits him next, his orbs crashing against the monster’s abdomen as I fight the dimming vision, refusing to black out right now. Not until this thing is dead. Then I’ll spit on him and send a picture to Sierra so she can come back and shred him and piss on him and whatever she else wants to do.

  A growl rumbles out of me, and my bones crack, causing my breath to catch as I’m forced into a shift. My scream turns into a roar before all my senses are suddenly heightened, and my eyes go tunnel vision.

  Freedom rushes through me, because I shifted! Into a lycan!

  And then pain explodes in my side when Adam bowls into me because I’m stupidly inwardly celebrating how good it feels to shift. I’ve gone too long.

  Turning, I snap my jaws, latching onto his forearm and biting down. But I gag and release him as the rancid blood enters my mouth.

  He’s knocked off me as another lycan leaps over me, tackling him to the ground, and I raise up, seeing the scars and smelling him.

  Slade latches onto his throat, but then he’s gagging and shaking his head, slinging the blood out of his mouth like he’s disoriented. The monster kicks out, landing a hit in Slade’s side, and he yelps as he crashes to the ground and rolls.

  A tiger is suddenly rushing into the fray with a wolf right on his heels, a howl radiating the air as they both tackle Adam.

  “Magic isn’t working on him very damn well!” I hear Kya shouting as she launches streak after streak of it, hobbling on one good leg. “He heals too fast!”

  Chaz, bloodied and still slightly disoriented, comes out with more flames, pummeling Adam’s skin to no avail. It’s not even leaving a mark anymore. It’s as though the monster is absorbing the energy.

  Not feeling as tempted by the darkness like this, I charge again, tackling Adam as soon as he shakes off Thad and Roslyn, sending Roslyn’s wolf crashing into a tree so hard she cries out.

  Thad rushes to her as I slam into Adam with all I have, almost blacking out from the harsh impact. But I manage to make him roar in pain this time too, and I start raking my claws against him, remembering the widow’s venom Alton spoke of.

  I’ve got widow venom too.

  The venom oozes out of my claws, tugging at the darker edges of my mind as I use it, but when I make him really bleed for the first time, I grit down and keep digging until he manages to nail a shot to my head that sends me toppling and seeing stars for a second.

  Slade leaps onto his back just as familiar orbs of power start hitting Adam from behind me.

  “What the fucking hell is that?” I hear Gage shouting.

  Slade is doing exactly what I was, probably smelling the venom the way I smell his from here, as he digs into Adam’s back.

  But Adam turns, rolling over on him and slamming an elbow into Slade’s side hard enough to make Slade howl.

  More familiar orbs join the fight, and I see my father as he concentrates all his power into one shot of energy. But Adam barely grimaces as he strains to stand against it.

  Then, as if he’s been toying with us this entire time, he launches his own power in a wave so strong we’re all blown back. Something slams into my back or I slam into something.

  I’m not really sure, since it all goes black for a second. In the next, I’m back in flesh, and I’m shooting every ounce of power I have, no longer holding back.

  It’s like I can sense it—sense what he’s doing. He’s draining everyone’s power to use it back against us, but he won’t be able to resist fighting back against something like this.

  After all, it’s instinct.

  And Slade’s here. He can stop me from hurting anyone when my own instincts go wild.

  Chapter 16

  SLADE

  No matter how bad I wish it wasn’t true, it’s always beautiful when she loses herself, as twisted as that is to admit.

  The monster’s blast of power collides with her streak of power, and her eyes go instantly black. Those black eyes are becoming a trend around these people. So much uncontrollable power easily accessed but never contained.

  Gage curses, grabbing Kimber just as she appears for the first time and gapes in horror.

  Humans are everywhere, screaming as they run by us. If they’re still worried about exposure, I hope the royals have a cleanup process.

  “She was mine,” Ella shouts, her voice not sounding like her own. “Mine,” she says as her voice turns into a vicious growl, even without her lycan form.

  Amy…

  She’s referring to the lycan he’s responsible for getting killed. Now that’s unexpected and completely different…

  My eyes dart around to the lawn, wondering if maybe we’ve been wrong all along. Ella might be crazy like this, and may even enjoy hurting someone…

  But they’re still hers.

  I study her completely differently, because she’s starting to make more sense.

  I shift back, walking slowly behind Ella as everyone else starts clearing back, while she strains to match Adam’s power, unable to fully do so even like this.

  My hand snakes around her waist, feeling her growls vibrating her body as I start matching her power, pushing against his with her. It’s been a long time since the dark pieces of my mind were teased and tempted to fight with me.

  But straining with her against something that shouldn’t be possible is testing every ounce of the control and fortitude I believed to have mastered long ago. I sure as hell can’t lose myself, because that would be nuclear bad.

  Then the beast starts struggling, dropping to his knees as his body seems to begin convulsing. He loses his hold on the power, and ours finally hits him hard enough to gash him open.

  He roars in pain, and we separate, hitting him over and over and over with our own individual strikes of power. Ella hisses at him when he manages to launch himself
at her, completely feral by this point—both of them.

  I grab him by his hair and rip him back, and she hits him with another shot of power before shifting into her lycan form again and bouldering through him, knocking him away from me.

  Then she starts tearing him up with her lycan claws and that stomach curling venom that almost making me sick as a few memories try to assault me. But I bear it, because it’s the only thing that has worked as effectively against him.

  He quits fighting back, and I just watch as she continues to tear him apart, not getting her mouth near that disgusting, toxic blood again.

  My hand throbs as it tries to heal, the few broken bones mending themselves without blood or help.

  “What the hell did they do to him?” I hear Kane asking when he finally gets a glimpse at the side of the face that gives a peek of the man this creature used to be.

  Ella’s eyes snap up like she’s just noticed him for the first time, and a dark, wild growl emanates from her.

  “Walk backwards very slowly, and lower your eyes,” I tell him quietly.

  He clears his throat and does as I say, backing up with cautious steps, ready to dematerialize if she makes any sudden movements.

  She simply goes back to tearing Adam to shreds, claiming her trophy the way a lycan queen would during a time when we didn’t suppress our instincts so stringently. A lycan queen who punished night stalkers for betraying one of her own…

  She sniffs the air, then growls in Thad’s direction, her upper lip curling to show her razor sharp fangs.

  Thad lowers his eyes and backs away the way Kane did, and she glances around, eyes landing on me briefly, before returning to completely obliterating the enemy who attacked her home.

  “I don’t guess I have to ask how he got past the boundary spell, but I do have to ask why magic didn’t work worth a damn on him, and if that’s something we need to start worrying about,” I hear Gage whispering somewhere behind me.

  Ella growls again, her eyes lifting.

  “Can none of you shut the hell up? Or are you too daft to realize what’s going on?” I snap.