Page 22 of Feeding Beauty (The Lost Girls #5)

Found by the Enemy

AURORA

M al. The Midnight Fae who cursed me. She’s trying to finish the job.

My parents caught her hovering over my crib, speaking a death curse onto me, but it didn’t work out the way she wanted.

Then again, Midnight Fae aren’t supposed to be able to wield magic.

After she was banished by her absolute asshole of a father, King Charming, she mysteriously developed a dark, unstable ability.

“Surely not,” I protest. “It can’t be her.”

Talon looks at me with a flat expression, like he’s talking to a child.

Maybe that’s what I’m being. A child, trying to hide from the monster who doomed her.

Before I can react, Talon disappears into my bedroom. He grabs my bag and starts opening drawers, pulling out my clothes and shoving them in the pack.

I stop at the threshold, holding myself up by gripping the doorframe.

“What are you doing?” My voice sounds far away to my own ears.

“We’re going back,” he says without ceasing his motions.

Panic flares in me. I rush forward and grab the pack from him. Talon’s gaze jerks up to meet mine, but he doesn’t let go.

“No. No, we aren’t going back.”

His mouth opens then closes, and I can feel the frustration building in him.

“Aura!” he finally bursts in exasperation.

“We need to go back to where you’ll be safe.

You’re starving here. You could hurt someone, or worse, you could get hurt.

Do you know what finding you in the shower like that did to me? ” His eyes blaze with orange embers.

“And now Mal is sending vampires to kill you?” He shakes his head. “No. We are leaving. Tonight.”

The finality in his voice breaks my heart.

“No.”

“No?” It’s the most expression I’ve ever seen on his stupid, handsome, broody face and it’s all exaggerated shock.

“No,” I repeat, giving my backpack a little jerk, but he still won't let it go. “We aren’t going back.

Talon’s jaw locks. “You’re being reckless.”

“I’m being brave.” My tone is sharper than I expect, but I don’t back down. “For the first time in my entire life, I fed, and I didn’t kill anyone. That’s never happened before. Not once.”

His grip tightens. “That doesn’t mean it’s safe to try again. You are still in pain. You’re still hungry. ”

“I’m changing, Talon. You helped me change. Don’t you get that? It wasn’t just about surviving tonight. I did something new. ” I suck in a breath. “I didn’t hurt her. That’s groundbreaking for me.”

He doesn’t speak, but something flickers behind his eyes. He knows it matters. He just doesn’t trust it to matter enough.

“I’m not running now,” I continue. “Not because of some curse. Not because of Mal.”

At the name, Talon flinches like I just lit a match under his skin. “She’s hunting you.”

“We don’t even know that attack is connected to her,” I protest.

His expression flattens and he blinks at me like I’m slow. “Vampire attacks rarely happen in the Common World, and even less in Boston, Aura. Not only is this a human city, but the coincidence is too uncanny.”

I throw up my hands. “Well, she’s been hunting me since I was born. She cursed me before I could walk. She’s dictated every second of my life—what I could do, where I could go, who I could be.”

His silence is suffocating, but I keep going.

“I’m done letting her rule me from the shadows. I won’t be intimidated anymore. I won’t run from everything I’ve wanted . ”

His hand is still on the pack. So is mine. The tension between us thrums with unspoken words and years of fear.

Then I glance at the window.

And our reflections are almost unrecognizable.

Me, in a torn band tee and fishnets, covered in spiky jewelry and tattoos, and holding my own like I never have before. Talon towering over me, carved from stone, but hesitating.

We’re caught on opposite sides, holding my backpack in a stalemate. But I don’t see the princess I once was. I’m a Lost Girl now, and I decide my own fate.

I stare at that reflection and speak without looking at him.

“You think going back will keep me safe. But what’s the point of being safe if I’m dead inside?”

His fingers don’t loosen on the bag, but he stops pulling.

“You’ve seen it,” I say, voice softer now. “Have you ever heard me laugh so much? I’ve never laughed like that in my life. Why would I want to go back to that castle, to rot in isolation with my secrets and shame?”

Talon doesn’t answer, but his jaw ticks, like he’s grinding down his resistance tooth by tooth.

“I’ve been in cages my whole life because I’m this dangerous creature,” I whisper.

“But today, you…you defused me. Not completely. But you showed me I could be more than what Mal made me. I could feed without killing. That’s never happened before.

Do you understand how groundbreaking that is?

” My gaze locks on him with all the emotional weight I have.

“If I leave now, I will lose all of this. I will lose myself. ”

We’re frozen. Caught in this impasse. Both still holding the damn bag like it might anchor us to our sides of the argument.

THUMP .

Lucifer the cat jumps onto the bag with an angry yowl and lands full weight across the center, claws immediately sinking in.

“Shit,” I gasp, letting go instinctively.

Talon curses and jerks his hand away at the same time. The bag drops to the floor with a dull thunk . Lucifer, unbothered, settles on top like a smug little goblin king.

We both stare at the devil cat who apparently thinks he’s won the game we were playing.

Silence. Then I look at Talon. His gaze cuts to the bag, then to me.

He doesn’t pick it up.

I’ve won at least one more night in Boston.

The blender shrieks like it’s possessed, a sticky mess of strawberry and something neon splattering across the counter. I hit the off switch too hard and curse under my breath, grabbing a rag to mop up the chaos.

Third time tonight.

I’m not usually this distracted on shift.

But then again, I’m not usually being hunted.

Talon’s standing a few feet away, leaning at the end of the bar, sipping a glass of water. Always close. Always watching.

I told him we’d go back to the Realm of Roses if there was another attack. Swore it with a straight face and wide eyes and the tone I’ve perfected over the years—measured, believable, just desperate enough to be taken seriously.

He hasn’t brought it up since. Instead, he hovers.

He’s become my shadow. Not suffocating. Not controlling. Just...there. Always there.

When I pass too close, I feel the heat of him behind me, a quiet pressure against my back, gravity skewed by his presence. And at night, long after last call, I hear the thunderous flap of his wings above the building, circling the rooftop, a hellfire gargoyle in motion.

Protecting me.

Punishing himself.

The rag in my hand is soaked through. I toss it in the bucket and wipe my palms on my skirt, then rest my hands on the sticky edge of the bar. A pulsing, moody remix of something sad and sharp thrums under my feet. It suits my mood too well.

I scan the crowd but don’t really see them. Just colors and motion and the occasional flare of a spark between lovers or enemies across the room.

Mal .

The name tastes like ash. It’s been pounding in my skull since the vampire’s fangs grazed my throat.

She’s here. Or close enough to send her little monsters sniffing down alleys, trying to finish what she started.

And I’m supposed to go home?

Hide?

I’m not going back.

The blender shrieks again, and I whirl on the poor appliance like it insulted my boots. Ariel tosses me a look from down the bar, eyebrow raised in silent “ Are you okay ?”

I nod once. She doesn’t press. None of them do. The girls seem to be giving me space, maybe even waiting for me to divulge why I’ve been acting so on edge. But I keep it to myself, even at our post shift hangouts in their apartment.

How are you doing?

Are you eating enough?

You look like shit —that one, courtesy of Snow.

The questions are careful, concerned, and though I want to spill my guts, I shove it all down deep. I give noncommittal answers and keep claiming that culture shock is a hell of a thing. I don’t think they believe me though.

I thought I’d be afraid when Mal came back. I thought I’d curl inward, collapse like I used to when I was little, and the curse burned too hot inside me, and no one knew how to help.

But I’m not scared now.

I’m angry.

So. Fucking. Angry.

She took my past. My future. My body. My choices. Turned me into a living curse and disappeared like a ghost, leaving me with death on my lips and guilt permanently lodged between my ribs.

And now she’s sending assassins to finish the job?

No .

She doesn’t get to choose how my story ends.

I grab another glass, fill it with ice, and slam the shaker lid on harder than necessary. The metal stings my palm. The rhythm of pouring and mixing helps keep the fury in check, but just barely.

This is my life now. Messy. Loud. Mine.

She can’t have it.

“Cinder. Kai.” Snow literally vaults over the counter to get to the two people approaching.

An Asian woman with dark purple lipstick, and jet-black hair pulled into two ponytails framing her sharp cut bangs.

The former Lost Girl has the expression of someone who has lived the goth lifestyle since emerging from the womb and has never smiled in her life.

Snow slows to give the woman she called Cinder a fist pump before turning to the taller, lean man next to her. Unlike his companion, he folds himself over to envelop Snow in a warm hug, sporting a devilish grin that stretches ear to ear.

I jolt when I register the fangs of a Midnight Fae.

Blood drinker. Vampire .

Alarm shoots through me, but no one else seems to be panicking.

“Steady,” a low voice says from nearby. I forgot Talon was right beside me for a moment.

He’s right to tell me to keep calm. No one else seems surprised this Kai person is here, and judging by Cinder’s pallor, she’s likely to be a vampire too. Or just...very goth.