Page 50 of Taloned Heart

They would fight if they wanted to, but Algor wasn’t interested in risking the lives of his people for nothing. They were going to need some ground rules, and those were rules that Lore had to negotiate.

It left Abraxas and Beauty on their own a lot. And unfortunately, he’d never been able to keep his mouth shut very well with this little human.

She wriggled her way underneath his shell, somehow. Perhaps because she reminded him a bit of Nyx. Or maybe it was just that she was so innocent that it made him nervous.

Whatever the reasoning, she’d gotten the information out of him about Zephyr. And now she was spitting mad.

“Why wouldn’t Lore tell me?” she snarled, pacing side to side in the cave room. “She knows how much he means to me. She knows everything that Zephyr and I have been through!”

Actually, she didn’t. Abraxas didn’t want to point out that Lore had been dead for an enormous part of Beauty and Zephyr’s relationship.

Of course, Beauty hadn’t even told him if their relationship had gotten very far. He’d been too afraid to ask. Thinking about his two friends even kissing made his stomach turn a bit. Let alone what they had likely gotten into while it was just the two of them and no one else to make fun of them for it.

Making a face at his thoughts, he tried to wrangle his attention back to the present. “She has no idea how close you are. She knew you were closer than the rest of us, but that doesn’t mean she knows you two were actually in love!”

“She knew.”

“She could guess! It wasn’t like you two told anyone. You thought you were being so sneaky gallivanting off with each other.” Abraxas crossed his arms over his chest and took a seat while staring at her like a disappointed father. “You should have told us if those feelings were stronger.”

Beauty snarled again, baring her teeth at him like she was a dragon as well. “I wasn’t aware I needed to disclose my relationship with the two of you. You aren’t my parents!”

“No, but we are your friends.” He refused to back down in the wake of her anger. Besides, he found it rather adorable that she thought she was terrifying. “How are we supposed to guess when there is a person out there that makes your heart skip a beat? You have to tell people for them to know that, Beauty. I’m not in your head.”

“You noticed enough!” She threw her hands up in the air, obviously exhausted from the conversation already. “Now where is Lore? I don’t want to yell at you. I want to yell at her.”

Neither of them would be yelling at Lore. Abraxas might like the little human, but no one talked to his mate like that. He’d rather Beauty get it all out on him, and then be too tired to actually scream at Lore.

Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling. “Beauty. What are you actually angry about?”

“That you two thought it was appropriate to keep secrets from me when we finally got back together again? That you thought I wouldn’t get angry when I found out that you were keeping such secrets that affect my life!”

“Is that why you’re upset?” Arms crossed over his chest, eyes filled with disappointment, he watched her with the critical eye of someone who knew when another was lying. “Or are you upset because Zephyr is in pain and there is nothing you can do to help?”

There it was. She exploded again. Lit off like a firework, Beauty launched into an angry rant. “How dare you? You think I can’t help him? I would tear this world apart if I could get to him. Not a single one of those soldiers would know what hit them if I knew where he was. And now I do! Now I can go get him because I never thought Margaret would stoop so low that she would actually hurt him to keep him where she wanted him. That bitch. That horrible, stupid, heartless... bitch!”

Ah, yes. The only insult that Beauty could say without hating herself afterward.

She was upset that she couldn’t help him. She was upset with Margaret for everything that had happened. And she was even angry at Abraxas and Lore because the two of them had done nothing to help their friend, either. He understood it. He’d have to be dead not to see that she was hurting.

“And how will yelling at Lore about any of that help?”

“It will make me feel better. And maybe it would show her she can’t just toss people aside because they aren’t useful anymore.” Beauty glared down at him, her hands on her hips and her cheeks bright red. “Aren’t you mad at her for not telling me?”

“I also did not tell you.”

“You do whatever she tells you to do.” Beauty waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing the idea of being angry at him. Even though she’d yelled at him just a few minutes before. “This isn’t between you and me.”

“I resent that you think I’m Lore’s puppet.”

Beauty’s face crumbled as she realized her words were insulting. “Oh, Abraxas, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that! I just mean, I know you would have told me if you could, and that you never would have left me out of the loop like this. You are always thinking about me.”

He lifted a hand and interrupted her, forcing her to stop talking for a few seconds. “I very much supported Lore’s decision to not tell you, Beauty. In case you are unaware, you’re a little impulsive. And you love that boy. If you knew he was in danger, you’d have done something foolish.”

Indignation made her shoulders straighten again and that anger flare to life once more. “I wouldn’t have done anything foolish. I’d have gotten him back. Which is more than I can say for the two of you.”

“We’re working on it.”

“You’re not doing anything! We’ve been down here for three days, Abraxas. Three days when he’s been chained up, beaten, starved. Who knows what they’ve done to him? I know Margaret well enough to know that if she wants someone to hurt, they will bleed for years before they die.”

---