Page 39 of Beautiful Madness

“Sam?” I asked.

“That’s some crazy shit,” Remymurmured, fascinated despite himself.

Sam walked to stand in front ofEli, and for a few seconds, they stared at each other—and I began to get a verybad feeling when Eli smiled. It grew, that smile, slowly, until finally, he wasoutright laughing. He looked at me. “Lennon is smarter than you, and she’s aseer. She knew what could happen.” He spread his arms. “And here we are.”

“Sam,” I cried. “What thefuck?”

He shifted back to his formerface. “He doesn’t know, Kait. I’m sorry. He doesn’t know Jared’s location. Sheknew it’d come to this, and he’s not wrong. She’s a smart little witch. But hedoes know some things. Like the fact that Lennon has managed to leave herfrozen body as a spirit and inhabit the bodies of others. She took over thebody of a man Jared trusted. The others who helped her did so because they werethreatened. One of them has a human woman in his basement. You can guess whathe does to her. The other was desperate for money that he gambled away. Both hadbeen assigned guard duty.”

“Who?” I asked, barely able tomove my lips. My teeth clattered together as doubt spread through me. Jared wasgoing to die because I couldn’t do anything right. I was thwarted at everyturn. “Who silvered him?”

“It was the warrior you justspoke with,” Sam said. “Wyatt. But Kait,” he said, before I could react, “Wyattdidn’t know he was being possessed by the witchwolf. He doesn’t rememberanything of the sort happening. He wasn’t in there when she took over. That wasall her. And if he finds out the truth…”

“It’ll destroy him,” I said.

He nodded. “He’s a good guy.”

“We’ll just have to do someold-fashioned hunting,” Remy said. “My favorite kind.”

Before I left the room, though,I had a few things to say to Eli. I got in his face. “You were always so disgustedby me,” I told him, “because my father betrayed the Stone Moon alpha.” I curledmy lip. “Who’s the traitor now?”

He looked away from me. “Youdon’t understand.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m afraid Ido. And Jared will not die wherever he’s stashed, Eli. I can’t even imagine howyou’re going to feel when you’re forced to face him and your pack.”

“Kill me,” he begged, finally.“Just fucking kill me!”

“Oh no,” I told him. “I won’tlet you off that easy. Not for anything.”

He leaped at me then, his teethbared and his claws reaching, but I knew what he was doing. I slammed himagainst the wall and beat the hell out of him, but I didn’t kill him.

“Damn, Silver,” Remy said, aswe left the dungeon. “You have a mean streak.”

Sam looked at him. “Youshouldn’t forget that. You might be the boogeyman, but she’s a little ofeverything.”

I had a bad feeling Sam hadbeen in my head, but I didn’t ask. His answer wouldn’t have reassured me,because I had no idea when the shapeshifter was telling the truth or lying tomy face.

Shapeshifters were born wicked,and when it came down to it, they could not be trusted. Not even a little bit.

And for a while, I wouldpretend I wasn’t one of them.

ChapterTwenty

“Before we hunt,” I said,changing the subject hurriedly for fear Sam would tell Remy what lived insideme—and yes, there was shame, “I have to sort out the traitor wolves and takecare of the imprisoned woman.”

“There’s probably not much leftof her to save,” Remy said.

It turned out that the wolfdidn’t keep his prisoner in Shadowfield. The wolves would have likely smelledher or heard her screams, and he couldn’t risk discovery.

He kept her in the house of oneof his human friends in Falton—aka the Pocket, and I was not surprised. Theplace was a cesspool. It was also the place I’d first spotted Sam. Thedetective and I had also rescued a human girl named Marcy from the Pocket, andI was nearly certain that if I broke into every house in that shitty village,I’d find more than a few other atrocities.

Someday, I’d make it my missionto clean out the Pocket.

As soon as we left Jared’shouse, I beckoned Wyatt to me. He’d calmed down and was less angry, and helistened to me without arguing.

I told him about the wolveswho’d betrayed Jared, and he swore he’d handle them both. I did not tell himhe’d been the one to silver his alpha, but I did tell him to order everyone tostay out of the dungeon, and I gave him the reason for that.

“If no one goes down there,” Isaid, “Lennon will be stuck. She can’t possess a person if he isn’t there topossess, and her spirit can’t leave the dungeon.”