Changing Beauty (Book 2) (The Deadly Beauties Live On) (21 page)

Chapter 22

ROSLYN

The pain comes when they do.

They can hit, but I can too.

The monster grows stronger now.

When it breaks free, it’ll get me out.

Pretty bones will break for the beast.

On their blood I shall feast.

The sun waits, and the moon breaks.

The time is coming to escape.

I keep finding myself in different places, disoriented and crying out for help, only to be met by my own singing voice in my head. The pain is almost unbearable, and I can’t stay on my feet. Every time I try to stand, it feels like the wind is knocked back out of me, and I end up a crumpled pile on the ground.

Break me now, but I’ll be back for blood.

I’ll shred their skin just to have some fun.

They’ll feel my pain without mercy.

They’re going to scream so prettily.

Chapter 23

THAD

“That’s a lot to take in,” Gage says on a sigh. “If I can’t reverse it, then I’ll figure out something else.”

“If I hadn’t had the spell done, she would have immediately gone after them. And I couldn’t even show how furious I was. I had to hide it all while my daughter suffered so much pain she couldn’t even be trusted around me. More than once she tried to tear me apart,” Reese says quietly. “I barely survived one of her attacks.”

“I can totally see that,” Dice says casually. “Daddy issues are still trending.”

Reese glares at the incubus like it’s new that he’s an insensitive ass.

“The spell wasn’t supposed to go that way. It was supposed to cloak her memories, but her anger triggers her change. She freaked out when she woke too soon, and when I came after her, trying to calm her down, she dematerialized from the room. I lost her after that. She somehow found out about her bank accounts, probably from a memory that was distorted and surfaced as something else. She took all her money out before I even thought to check them. And she ran.”

“I’m going to go check on her,” I say while turning around.

“Can I see her?” Reese asks, sounding so fucking weak. I’ve never heard him like this, and I suddenly feel like an ass.

“Yeah. But you’re not taking her to your pack. Even if she is strong enough to defend herself now. She doesn’t know she’s strong enough.”

“I’m not taking her. She’s much safer here as long as no one tells anyone what she is.”

“Will she know who you are? She said she didn’t know your name when I asked.” She lied to me?

I turn back around just as he starts to speak.

“No,” he says, a sadness to his tone. “I’m part of her fey life. All her memories of me will be cloaked. But she should be close to her immortality.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” I ask, already feeling a surge of excitement. Roslyn is mine for good.

“There’s… well, there’s something you should know. She has a little power on top of her already substantial power. And there’s a problem with the spell.”

Exchanging a look with everyone else, I cross my arms over my chest. I’ve had about all the surprises I can handle.

“Go on.”

“Roslyn can taste someone’s blood, and if she doesn’t kill them, she can always track them. I don’t know if her captors learned that or knew it already when they took her. I think they were watching her or something. How else could they have known what she was?”

She can track someone? She can track fey?

“That’s actually something we can use,” Gage points out. “She tasted the blood of Slade.”

No fucking way am I letting her near him again.

“How are they discovering they’re fey?” Dice asks, moving forward. “Karma and her sister were caught while still mortal. They knew what they were, and that should have been impossible. Reese took numerous precautions, yet they knew what she was.”

That has us all stumped.

“They have a visionary.” Kimber’s voice is so abrupt and unexpected, that even I jump a little.

She comes down the stairs, glancing around at us all. How long has she been listening?

“With the exception of you, visionaries are extinct,” Gage reminds her. “That power has been dead for so long.”

She blows out an annoyed breath while going to step into his arms. It just makes me want to get back to Roslyn. The feeling gnawing at my stomach isn’t pleasant, and I know it’s because she’s been out of my sight for too long.

Fucking whipped.

“It’s the only explanation, and it’s not like I’m a visionary anymore. Besides, whoever it is isn’t as powerful as I once was. I’ve definitely done my homework on my kind. Most visionaries get glimpses of something. They have to seek and search for what they want. Small clues get them there, but they can’t just find exactly what they’re looking for the very second they look for it.”

That’s the best bad news I’ve heard. Fucking eh.

“So they have a visionary, and they may or may not see us? Or what we’re doing? Or when we get close?” I ask in summarization.

“Yeah. They’ve been searching for various things for centuries. Mostly powerful beings, it seems,” Kimber says, looking over at Kane. “And they may or may not learn all of our secrets. Secrets we desperately need to keep from people like this.”

Recognition sparks in Kane’s eyes at the same time her underlying meaning hits me.

Alyssa has a powerful yet vulnerable baby growing in her womb. And these people are seeking major power. They take children, just like they took Kimber. Like they took Kya. Like Karma.

Motherfucker.

“I gotta go. Call me if you need me,” Kane says, disappearing immediately.

Reese looks confused, glancing around at all of us. “Something going on?”

I shrug. “You have your secrets we have ours. What about the rest of what you were saying?” I prompt. “What about the spell? And why did you say her becoming immortal soon is a bad thing?”

His intrigue turns to seriousness once again.

“The spell wasn’t strong enough to do on an immortal. It was hard enough to make it to be strong enough for a mortal. When she turns immortal, the spell wears off. It wasn’t ever a long term solution. It was just to buy some time until a more permanent solution could be found.”

Fuckity fuck fuck.

If Roslyn gets hit with all those memories at once, they’ll tear her apart.

“Then we’ll find something long term,” Gage says with a sense of confidence that already has me feeling a little more at ease.

“We need to know what she faced in there, as much as I don’t want to hear it. We need to be prepared just in case. You saw it, right? You saw her memories?”

Tears fill his eyes again, and I already dread whatever he’s going to say.

“You want to know what she faced? She faced something worse than hell. You talked earlier about your girlfriend,” he says, looking over at Dice. “Your girlfriend might have suffered, but I assure you it has to be mild in comparison, otherwise she wouldn’t be sane.”

Dice’s hands turn to fists as fury blazes in his eyes.

“I mean no disrespect,” Reese adds. “I’m stating the facts. Most of the prisoners were kept in cages where they could see everyone else. They had contact with other beings at all times. Werewolves have to have contact with others. It’s why we travel in packs. Hell, it’s why we’re in packs. A wolf has to have some semblance of a family in order to remain sane and healthy.”

Taking a deep breath, I try to keep my temper down as I ask, “She was kept in solitary confinement, wasn’t she?”

“For two years,” Reese says while looking down. “To a werewolf, that’s like fifty years. It’s painful to be without contact with someone else for that long. The only interaction she got with a breathing being was when they came to beat the hell out of her.”

A few tears trickle from his eyes, and my jaw grinds as my beasts try to claw their way to the surface.

“She got to a place in her broken mind where she looked forward to those moments, because it was the only thing that soothed her need to be around someone. That’s how broken she was. They wanted her that way. They needed to break down everything about her so they could slowly become what she depended on.”

Dice’s hands uncurl, and he looks over at Reese with apologetic eyes. My skin actually hurts, because it feels like it’s on fire right now.

“She didn’t have fingernails left when she got out. She clawed the walls and floors so much that she broke every one of them off. She was frail, pale, and almost dead. They made one mistake. That one mistake is what freed her. They blood starved her.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rise. I knew she was feeding as a wolf, but…

“She needs blood now? As a mortal?” I ask, confused. “How did that save her?”

He nods. “She’s always needed blood. Even as an infant. That wasn’t an easy task, but I managed. I had to enlist some help along the way from someone I trusted, but she has always been fed. And she needs immortal blood to survive. Going longer than three days isn’t good. She went two years in there without a drop of blood. I don’t think they realized she needed it, and they never listened to her or even spoke to her.”

“Motherfucker,” Gage says on an exhale, running a hand through his hair.

Kimber has tears falling from her eyes as she listens to a horror story even worse than her own. No wonder Roslyn’s mind was fucked when she got out.

“It saved her because, unlike night stalkers, when we’re starved, we get desperate instead of weaker. We get deadlier by the day. She broke the chains that were meant to hold her in place while they beat her. Chains that bound her there by magic. And she managed to escape by dematerializing through the walls also bound by magic. But it’s also why she fed like a starved animal when she escaped. Because that’s what she was. You can’t hold her accountable for that. I know Alyssa’s policy is no killing unless—”

“No one here is worried about any rules she’s broken,” I interrupt, glaring at Kimber like I’m daring her to object. She doesn’t even look at me as she wipes away her tears.

“We’ve only found a few,” she says.

Reese’s lips tighten. “I cleaned up a mess already. Personally, I don’t think she did any damage to anyone who didn’t deserve it, but then again, there aren’t many of us who haven’t earned a death or two.”

No one says anything for several long minutes. I’m trying to catch my breath, but it seems to be too hard to do.

“Can I see her now?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I whisper, unable to form a stronger tone or even move. “She’s upstairs. Knock first. Make sure she’s decent. You can tell her to come down, and we’ll move this to the living room. We’ll pretend we’re all normal for the rest of the night.”

He growls, causing me to snap my eyes up.

“I think now that you know her history, you’ll stop with your little games. She’s not someone to just play with and toss away.”

A hand clamps down on my shoulder when I almost lunge at him without thinking. Zee has remained quiet for most of the conversation, and he picks now to step out of the shadows. Bastard.

“Still can’t kill her dad,” he reminds me.

“Thad’s a bit in love with your wolf girl,” Dice says, back to being his annoying self. “He’s not playing with her in any way she isn’t enjoying.”

Normally, I’d groan or something, but right now, all I can think about it getting back to Roslyn.

“You love her?” Reese asks skeptically.

“I haven’t known her long enough to love her,” I say distractedly, hoping he just leaves so I can talk to Gage about the spell he wants to try and work.

I need to know all the side effects that it could possibly have—

“There’s a particular time frame required for love?” Dice asks in his cheeky, assholish way. “Pretty sure you love someone on some level when you’re willing to die for them. Fairly positive you love them if you’re threatening
us
about what you’ll do if she gets hurt. And I know you don’t look at her like a sister. Therefore, you don’t just love her; you’re
in love
, dumbass. And don’t forget about wanting to make her immortal using any bitten venom you could, just so you could keep her. Hashtag—wake up and smell the motherfucking coffee.”

That has me admittedly squirming in place, but Reese seems to have a ghost of a smile on his face.

“Then she’ll be safe here,” he says before heading up the stairs.

As soon as the door closes, Kimber speaks as though she’s been waiting on him to leave the soundproof room.

“Sadie is definitely the only one powerful enough to perform a spell like that,” she says with a scowl. “So what’s her angle?”

“Maybe she doesn’t have an angle,” Dice says, defensive of the evil bitch witch I want dead.

“She has one,” I say, agreeing with Kimber. “The sooner we figure it out, the better. Roslyn is powerful, if all he’s saying is true. Sadie could have very easily intended for that spell to go awry in order to get Roslyn away from Reese’s protection.”

“It makes sense, only she probably wasn’t planning on her staying so well hidden or having a stash of cash. It also makes sense why she found a roommate. She didn’t want to be alone.”

She never has to worry about that again.

“Still on a bloody witch hunt,” Dice says under his breath while heading up the stairs and away from the conversation. The second he’s gone, I turn my attention to Kimber and Gage.

“I think it’s time we stop risking Sadie. She’s a liability, and I feel like she’s tied to the rings. She’s tied to all of this. You were right about the spell to find the rings being too convenient. She’s playing with us, and I’ve never been a fan of games. Time to cut her out of the picture.”

“Completely with you,” Gage says in agreement.

“Same here,” Zee chimes in.

Kimber sighs hard as she seems to wage some internal war. Glad I don’t have the same useless morals as her. Threat equals something to kill.

“I’m in. But we can’t tell Mom or Alyssa. Hell, we can’t even tell Ella.”