Page 21 of Feeding Beauty (The Lost Girls #5)

Slap on a Pair of Fae Fabric Gloves and Finger Diddle Me

TALON

R ap doesn't shoot a glance at Aurora, but she doesn't have to.

Every fiber of my being stiffens defensively. Fight or flight in my body is activated, and I'm not sure which mode is necessary.

"She's Rosari, but she’s different from the others." Rap's voice is so low, only I can hear it. "What does she feed on, Talon?"

My lips pull tight. I force down the snarl climbing my throat.

If this woman so much as thinks about hurting or exploiting Aurora, I’ll tear her apart. No one will ever find the body—or rather, the ash.

“You appear human,” I say, echoing her earlier phrasing, “but you’re different from the others?”

I’ve been watching her since the moment we met. She may run a bar in a human city, but Rap is anything but human. There are remnants of power in her, but it’s been hacked off, like a limb. The absence of it leaves a bleeding, jagged edge to her.

“I’ve traveled a lot. Met a lot of different beings, Rapunzel.” I use her full name deliberately. “I’ve seen another like you.” My gaze drifts to her colorful braided mohawk with a pointed message. “Don’t think for a second I won’t use what I know to protect that girl over there.”

To her credit, Rap barely flinches. Just the tiniest twitch under one eye.

My blood is ancient, and it is immune to her power, should she choose to access it.

Rap calmly sips her drink, her eyes lowered.

"Good," Rap says. "I may not know what she feeds on, but I know that girl has been locked up for far too long. I know all the signs." Something passes over her face. Something personal and painful. "No one should be locked away for what they are."

Then she looks over at Aura and Snow, who are bent over laughing so hard, tears are streaming down their eyes. Ariel has cast her head into her arm, shoulders heaving with laughter. Something about Aura practicing her bottle skills.

My heart tightens at seeing the unbridled, ridiculous joy Aura is experiencing.

"She's a good girl," Rap says, still watching.

"She is." The words come out rough, weighted with emotion.

When Rap meets my eye again, we are on a different playing ground. "I'm not going to hurt her, Talon. She's a Lost Girl now. She's one of mine. I protect my own."

Respect rises in me for this woman. There is so much more there than I could begin to guess, but I see enough.

I run a hand through my hair and throw back my fourth glass she's poured, wondering if I'm about to yet again cross another line I shouldn't. "Succubus." The word is so quiet, I'm not even sure it passed my lips. "She was cursed to be a Succubus."

To Rap's credit, she doesn't react. She simply nods, eyes cast down as if thinking it through.

"I don't know how to help her," I say, in a rare moment of vulnerability fueled by the excellent liquor.

Rap jerks at that. “Don’t be an idiot. You are helping her.”

I rub my forehead.

“Hey.”

Her “Hey,” cracks like a whip, snapping my head up before I can stop it.

“Sometimes you can’t fix it. Sometimes just showing up, being the one who stays, is the only thing that gets someone through.”

It doesn’t feel like enough. I’m her protector. I should force her to go home, to keep her in that safe bubble she hates.

More than that, I should be the one kissing her, touching her, feeding her. Instead, it’s anyone but me.

It’s always bothered me, but the rum allows me to admit to myself the pain of it has sharpened since we came to this place.

I'm back to holding my head in my hands. "It's complicated."

"You love her." Rap shrugs. "There's nothing complicated about that."

Her words strike me at the core.

It’s not like I hide it, but there’s something about having it so blatantly laid out. I’m hopelessly, madly, irreversibly in love with Aurora.

But Rap is wrong about one thing. Loving her is complicated because where I’ll never get the satisfaction of expressing that love, she’s taken away the one thing I clung to being able to provide. Safety.

As soon as Rap retreats to her office, Snow and Ariel insist Aurora and I head out for the night first, though we all live in the same building. They say we both look tired, and neither of us argue.

The girls are smart enough to know something is brewing, but they don’t seem to push Aurora for answers. They give her space and encouragement as they can. Still, it’s best we keep Aurora’s...condition a secret, even from them.

As Aurora and I head down the street, the earlier events of the day begin to crowd in on us. The unspoken events become heavier with each step we take until I think she's going to avoid the whole thing.

"Thank you," she says finally. Contrary to how she was in the bar, she seems small, vulnerable now.

“You're welcome.”

She gives me a weak smile.

"But we shouldn't be crossing all these lines. Involving me like that today is a bad idea. We can't do it again."

The smile disappears. Hurt flashes across her face, but it quickly turns into something else. "You didn't like it? You didn't like what you saw?"

They aren't questions, they are accusations.

I stop walking, forcing her to do the same. "Aura," I start as I scrub a hand over my face. "You know that's not it."

"Don't I? I'm constantly in a vulnerable position around you, and you couldn't give me a little vulnerability back?"

This is about me not undressing for her. Suddenly my temper flares too. "You know why. That path can only lead to pain. It's better not to entertain impossibilities. It will only hurt us both."

"Does it have to? Have we ever even tried, Talon? Snow asked me why you don't slap on a pair of fae fabric gloves and finger diddle me like you are always so clearly pining to do so."

"Finger diddle?" My brain short-circuits at the visual, equal parts horrified and tempted.

"Her words, not mine. Don’t change the subject. The point is, I didn't have an answer for her, and I should . Because if two people love each other, they try to do everything they can to make it work, and we've never even given this thing," she waves a hand between us, "a real shot."

At that, I begin walking again. She has to scramble to catch up to my stride.

"Aura, I'm not entertaining this." I use my sternest tone to shut this down.

"But why?"

"Because," I roar, whirling on her. "You don't think I wanted to? You don't think I was affected, penetrating you? When I didn’t keep fucking you with that toy like I wanted to, shoving and dragging it in and out until your legs collapsed and you gushed all over the damn sheets?”

My voice drops to a lethal rumble I’ve only ever used when I meant to kill someone. Never with her.

“It's because I want it so badly that I can't. We're crossing too many boundaries, acting as if I touch you, I won't sear your flesh off.

It's only a matter of time before I forget myself, or you forget yourself and you get hurt, and I can't handle that. You think Snow came up with a revelation I’ve never considered? That I haven’t already realized I could pull on a pair of gloves and finger fuck you until you convulse and come? Many, many times, Aurora."

Her eyes widen to saucers as she takes it all in.

Some part of me can't believe she didn't know how much I’ve thought this through, tortured myself with ideas. “But all these scenarios end the same way. I hurt you, and neither of us get what we really want. Because unless it’s everything , it won’t be enough. ” The last word comes out on a hiss.

My spine stiffens as the night air is suddenly thick and charged, leaving my instincts prickling. Something is off.

“Talon, I—” Aurora starts.

A blur.

A rush of wind.

Something slams into my side with the force of a cannonball, throwing me into the brick wall so hard my vision sparks.

Aurora cries out, but before she can react, the shadow lunges for her, arms vise-tight around her body, fangs bared at her throat.

A vampire.

Not just any vampire. A hungry one. Desperate.

Aurora thrashes, snarling, but he grips her tight as his fangs pierce her throat.

For once, I don’t hesitate to lay hands on someone. Roughly grabbing his bare arm, the vampire releases a loud cry of pain. I don’t let go, not even after he’s released Aurora and she stumbles back, covering her neck with a hand.

Despite the burning pain he must be suffering, the vampire throws a punch to my cheek. The contact throws me off-balance.

The second my grip slips, the vampire snarls and launches at me again—fangs bared, eyes wild.

I catch him by the throat mid-lunge and slam him against the opposite wall. Brick cracks behind him. My hand flares with heat.

“Bad choice,” I growl.

Smoke curls between my fingers. His scream tears through the alley like a dying animal.

I hold him there, burning him from the inside out, until the stench of scorched flesh fills the air. It takes longer than it should, considering how desperate to feed he was.

Still, I don’t let go until his thrashing turns to twitching. Until his body crumples to ash and bone at my feet.

Aurora stares, pale and wide-eyed. “Holy shit.”

I shove down the shame and discomfort at her seeing how I’ve disposed of all the bodies. I’d been chosen by her parents because I’m unaffected by her power, but the sweet second benefit is no one can identify the ash I leave behind.

“We need to move,” I bark, already ushering her toward the apartment, careful not to touch her. “Now.”

We half-jog the remaining blocks, Aurora keeping pace beside me. Her breath is quick but even, the adrenaline still riding her hard. Mine isn’t. I’m already doing the calculations. The questions. The why.

When we slam the door behind us and lock the deadbolt, the silence feels too loud.

Aurora paces, running a shaking hand through her pink hair. “What the hell was that? Was that random? Is that just what happens in the city? Like getting mugged?”

She knows that attack wasn’t a coincidence.

Another sign she’s too naive to be out here.

“No.” I shake my head, still feeling the vampire’s heat seared into my palm. “That was a Midnight Fae, Aura.”

“He went straight for me,” she says, pressing a palm to her throat, eyes unfocused. “He didn’t hesitate.”

“You’ve pulled a lot of attention lately,” I say. “Being up on that stage every night. You’ve been recognized, and she knows who you are. Where you are.”

Her eyes snap to mine. “You mean...Mal?” The name comes out a dry rasp.

I hesitate, then nod.

“She meant to kill you with that curse. She’s sent a lackey to finish the job.”

“Well...” her eyes are wide and glazed with fear, “fuck.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.