Page 34 of Beautiful Madness

Rick grimaced a little as heput his jacket on. He’d be stiff and sore for a while, but he was surprisinglyuninjured. I wasn’t sure if we both had the same guardian angel, or if Nicolehad been guarding him to protect me.

I automatically reached down tosqueeze the handle of my demon blade, remembering her warning. Lucas was comingfor the blade, and though the blade would be hidden from him, I needed to beready for the son of a bitch.

I was itching to go back outand track Jared’s scent, but I wanted to check on Joe and Zach first. I dreadedseeing them, though Ben had assured me they would live. I didn’t want to seetheir pain. “Do you want to sit down and wait for me?” I asked Rick, pausing atthe door behind which my two humans lay. “I’ll only be a minute.”

“I’m okay to drive myselfhome,” he told me. “You don’t need to—”

“Ben gave you somepainkillers,” I said. “I’m not letting you drive. I’ll be right back.”

He sighed and dropped into oneof the hard chairs outside the door. “Take your time.”

He looked exhausted and I knewhe was mentally spent, but I wasn’t going to nag him to take it down a notch. Iwasn’t his mother. Besides, I understood his drive. I wasn’t exactly one totake it easy, either.

I needed badly to tell someoneabout the power that had manifested that night, but I hadn’t quite processed itmyself. Also, I wasn’t sure who to tell. But as I stepped into the room andshut the door behind me, suddenly Ididknow who to tell. The onlypeople who would really understand and be able to help me grow it.

The council. Specifically, Aeland Ti, the wolf and the fae.

But that would require a visitto the council, so it would be a while before I was able to discuss thehugeness of my new power with anyone. But my voice. My scream. I’d killeddaywalkers with my fuckingscream.

And that made me wonder what itmight do to a brutal angel.

Next time the bastard attackedme, I was going to find out.

Joe was awake when I went tohis bedside. The curtain around his bed separated him from Zach, and when Ipeeked around it, Zach appeared to be sleeping.

Max sat in a chair at hisbedside, peering into his phone. “Be warned,” he told me. “Joe’s grumpy.”

I patted Joe’s sheet-coveredleg. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Joe told me. “Ineed to have your back, and all I can do is lie in this hospital bed like thehelpless fucking human I am.”

He had a concussion, a brokenarm, and three broken ribs. His face was so swollen and bruised it was hard tolook at him. He had other injuries, as well, and Ben had told him it would be along time before he could work with me again. He wasn’t taking that news well.

“My back and I aren’t goinganywhere,” I told him, taking his hand. “You’ll fight again, Joe. Be patientand let yourself heal.”

“Fucking wolves,” he muttered,then he closed his eyes and turned his face away.

I leaned over to kiss his bruisedcheek, then went to Zach’s bedside.

My voice must have awakenedhim, because he was watching for me when I slipped behind the curtain. “Hey,” Isaid. “How are you doing?”

He lifted his hand, smilingwhen I took it. “I’ll live to fight again.”

I couldn’t bring myself toreturn his smile. He didn’t look as bad as Joe, but that wasn’t saying much. “Fuckingwolves,” I muttered, and was pretty sure I heard Joe snort.

“Don’t worry about Joe and me,”he said. “We’re tougher than we look. It just pisses us off when we take on awolf pack and get our asses kicked.” He gave me a wink, but it looked rathersinister because the skin around his eyes was so black.

I didn’t know what to say, so Ichanged the subject. “I picked up Jared’s scent.”

Joe yanked open the curtain.“Then what the hell are you doinghere?”

“Catch us up, Kait,” Zach said.“What happened after you left Shadowfield?”

Someone would have told themabout what happened with Eli.

“I was fighting daywalkers—dozensof them. Rick was with me, and he got hurt. I somehow manifested this strangepower where I can scream and kill daywalkers. I was caught between worlds whenI ran toward the detective, and my guardian angel and the dwarf kept him safeuntil I got to him. Nicole warned me that the asshole angel is coming back. Heknows I gave him the wrong blade. And when the remaining daywalkers fled, theyleft behind Jared’s scent.” I crossed my arms and squinted, thinking. “Yeah, Ithink that’s it. You’re all caught up.”

They simply stared at me,gaping slightly.