by C. M. Owens
“If you’d do your job, I wouldn’t be forced to take chances. We only have a limited timeframe for this to work. I’m not waiting another century for the stars to align. By then, these mongrels will have pieced together the puzzle, and we’ll be looking over our shoulders for them. It’s a risk we’ll have to take.”
“And if it all goes to hell?”
A smile curls my lips. “Then we’ll at least get to watch this world burn.”
The End.
Next in the Deadly Beauties Live On is Lost Beauty. Release date TBA.
Lost Beauty
Chapter 1
KYA
Blood sprays as a guy in a white mask nails an ogre hard in the face with a right hook. Beautiful form, but sloppy footwork.
I can’t see his eyes from this angle, so I have no idea what he is. I can see the blonde hair creeping out from the bottom of the backwards hat he’s wearing, though.
He’s leaving himself exposed, and all it would take is one hard hit from that ogre to—
That predictable punch lands in the unknown guy’s side, but he doesn’t even flinch before hitting the ogre again, forcing the beast of a man to fall into the ropes.
Holy fucking shit. Who is that guy?
The crowd roars, chanting something about fury, and I try to push my way around to see his eyes. I want to know what he is.
The ogre pushes up from the ropes, and the white mask guy slips around him, punching him in the gut again. The ogre flips forward, and just when I get to a better angle, the guy in the mask turns his back to me again.
Damn it.
“Fury! Fury! Fury!” the crowd continues to chant.
The fight rings have just now been reopened. I’ve never come to one before, but I kept hearing about this guy who is destroying everyone. We could use him on our team before we face the Master, even if Slade doesn’t realize how badly we still need more muscle and power.
It’s then I realize he’s the one they’re calling Fury. He definitely seems to have a following, and no one has ever even seen his face.
He’s shirtless, and my eyes slowly travel up all the contoured lines of muscle and ink that stretches across his back. All the ink is protective symbols to ward against various things. For some reason, the placement of the tats and the body look very familiar.
A fist seems to clench inside my stomach when I realize where I’ve seen that body before.
No… That makes no sense at all. There’s no way in hell that can be him.
I’ve studied everything about them—all of them—making sure I knew how to take them on if they ever hurt my sister. But I have to be remembering wrong, because Fury can’t be Chaz. No freaking duster can fight like that or take a punch from an ogre without even flinching.
Hell, I don’t know any creature who can.
More blood sprays, and the ogre drops down to the mat, unmoving as his eyes roll back in his head. The duster couldn’t have knocked out an ogre. Impossible.
His dark jeans have blood all over them, as though he wears them with previous stains. Probably to intimidate the competition.
He turns around slowly as the crowd erupts into frenzied cheers, and he holds his hands up to announce his victory. My eyes slither up his torso and chest, taking in all the ink he wears there, and my breath catches in my throat. There’re a line of stars that dip down to his waistband, and a dragon on his chest.
It is the duster.
My eyes dart up to find his gaze burning through me, and my knees almost collapse at the impossible combination I see. No…
There’s no way Karma has seen him, not after how they reacted to the red jinn. Red jinn and the others mixed together… They’d fucking kill him before he could kill them.
I turn and shoulder my way through the crowd, racing toward the exit door of the old factory. Just as I break through it and reach the street, a hand clamps over my mouth and I’m slammed back against a wall.
Those wicked eyes stare into mine, and I struggle against his hold. My magic doesn’t zap him or even expel from my body, and I know it’s something he’s doing.
“I figured this day was coming,” the fake duster says on a sigh, but I feel as though he’s toying with me. “Now let’s discuss how good at keeping secrets you are. I’d hate to hurt Karma’s sister.”