Page 20 of Beautiful Madness

Jared would want me to. At thatmoment, I, not Eli, was in charge of the pack, and I could think of only oneway to get their attention and make them listen.

I forced their shifts. Everysingle one of them.

As wolves, they were easier forme to control, oddly enough. The shifting broke their human anger, and as theymilled around, trying to get closer to me, I turned to Eli.

“Bitch,” he said. “You will notdare.”

“Oh, I think I will,” I toldhim.

“Then I won’t be responsible ifyou get hurt.” But he took a step back. “And it might take a while, but you willget hurt.”

“Dude,” Remy said, holding hisside. “Have youmether?”

Eli fought it, and he fought ithard, but in the end, I forced him to shift. I was an alpha, and he was not.And I made sure the pack saw it.

I saw something, as well. Whenhe shifted, a braided bracelet made from vivid red hair lay among his clothes.The wolf grabbed it immediately into his mouth and turned away, afraid someone mighttake it from him.

Lennon’s hair.

He’d been inside her cell,visiting her, taking locks of her hair, braiding it into a fucking bracelet towear so he’d have part of her with him at all times.

The little bit of trust I hadfor Eli faded away at that moment, and more suspicion set in. A beta wasgenerally the most trustworthy person an alpha knew—but Eli was completelywrapped up in Lennon and he was not Jared’s faithful second.

Not anymore.

I’d bring it to my team’sattention and we’d begin to quietly and subtly watch Eli’s every move. Iwouldn’t have been shocked if he led us straight to Jared.

“Get in my way again, Eli,” Itold him, “and I will throw you into a cell until Jared returns to sort youout.”

Then I turned back to thewolves. “Your alpha,” I told them, “is going to kick all your asses when hegets back. You will learn to get along, and you will not disappoint him. Youwill not fail him. Someone is trying to keep him from you, and I swear I willfind out what happened. You will help me and these men at my side. Shift back.Now.”

“Doesn’t look like he’s comingback,” one of them muttered as he cast around on the ground for his clothes.

I glared at him. “You losttrust in your alpha,” I said. “I won’t forget.”

He swallowed hard and lookedaway, shamefaced.

When there were only naked anddowncast people surrounding me, I took my hunters and strode away.

I knew I’d only made Eli resentme more with the forced shift, but I was about to do something that would turnthat resentment into pure hatred.

“Where are we going?” Joeasked, only a little worse for wear.

I smiled, a dark joy in myheart. “I’m going to change the code on Lennon’s cell door and make sure Elidoesn’t get near her again.”

ChapterEleven

I didn’t waste time going in tosee the frozen witchwolf. Not then. Ignoring the guards, I simply did what I’dgone there to do.

Once I’d changed the code, Ispoke to Nell. She shooed her new assistant away, and after a longsufferingglance at me and a sigh, he left us alone. Still, I kept my voice down when Iasked her to keep me informed whenever she saw Eli.

“You really believe he hadsomething to do with Jared’s disappearance,” she said softly, frowning.

“I don’t know, but…” Ishrugged. “I don’t trust him, Nell. He’s all twisted up because of Lennon, andI just don’t trust him.”

“I’ll report to you everythingI see and hear,” she said. “Find our alpha, Kait.”

“I will.” I had no idea how Iwas going to do that, but I didn’t doubt that I would. The ache inside me wasgrowing larger by the minute, though I tried to suppress my worry and fear.With no scent to latch on to, no tracks to follow, and no wolf willing to talk,finding Jared was going to be as difficult as finding the daywalkers.