Page 23 of Beautiful Madness

The animosity between us hadbeen growing since the day we’d met, really, and my bringing his shift and thenlocking him out of Lennon’s cell had forced the issue to a head. But becauseEli was temporarily ruling in the place of the alpha, the warriors wouldprotect him. He could have ordered them to stand down—this fight was betweenthe two of us—but he did not. In the back of my mind was the constant worryover the humans fighting with me, but I shut it out. The warriors were there toprotect Eli, not kill humans. They surely believed Jared would return, and thatwould color their actions.

I hoped.

Eli was a skilled fighter, andhe was vicious. He was also desperate. If he lost this battle, he would nolonger rule the pack in Jared’s absence.Iwould. And as much as Ididn’t want to be pack alpha, I knew I had to…but just until their true alphareturned. I could do that. Iwoulddo that.

IfEli and the warriorsdidn’t take me out, which was beginning to seem like a distinct possibility. Iwas only one wolf and an inexperienced one at that. They caught me in asnarling, brutal circle, and though my wolf fought with everything she had, inthe end, I was vastly outnumbered. The wolves didn’t fight fair—they fought tosubdue, to capture, to punish. They fought to win.

The shock of pain was mutedbecause I was in the fighting zone, but the damages affected my ability tofight. My injuries slowed me down and made me vulnerable. Eventually the warriorsconcentrated only on keeping me inside the circle with Eli, but by then Iwas…hurt. I was bleeding out, missing huge chunks of flesh, bones had beensnapped and crushed between mighty jaws, and I was unable to heal the damagebeforemoredamage was inflicted.

I was losing a fight I couldnot afford to lose.

I was dying.

In the end, my wolf lost herhold on her shift. I returned to my human form, though I believed it would killme to do so. The wolf was done. The woman, though…

She was mad.

She had power the wolf didn’tpossess—and she had a demon blade.

I screamed as I shifted to mywoman, a hoarse battle cry that started in my belly and clawed its way outthrough my mouth, and even that scream had power. I stood naked and bloody andsavage, my blade in my hand, renewed. Deadly.

Shifting should have killed me.No way could I heal as fast as my wolf, and even my wolf was nearly beyondhelp. But it didn’t kill me. I shifted to my human form, and I began to heal.

For a few seconds, no onemoved. Eli and the warriors stood frozen much like the unfortunate witchwolf,and the entire compound went silent. The Stone Moon wolves and the Gray Shadowwolves had been viciously attacking each other, and there were more wolves injuredthan not. I saw them all, and it hurt my heart.

Then I slung my hair out of myface and went after Eli, magic filling one hand, my blade in the other.

I needed Eli alive, but Iwanted to kill him. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt them all. There wasonly death in my heart, and I took it to the beta. AndIdidn’t fightfair, either.

My power, purple and white,silver and blue, sliced through the air like a savage sickle, destroying anywarrior who didn’t lose his shift, drop to his knees, and concede. And in theend, there was only the object of my mad hatred.

Eli.

I meant to kill him, and he sawit in my eyes. And finally, reluctantly, his face a mask of horror anddarkness, he lost his own shift, and he surrendered.

Still, I would have taken hishead. My magic swirled and my entire body vibrated with the need to end hislife. But something stopped me. Through the pounding in my head and the rage ofmy magic, I saw the alpha’s face.

If I killed Eli, I might neverfind Jared.

I balled my left fist and withthe magic weighting it, dancing around my fingers like a set of deadly brassknuckles, I punched him in the face. And though I restrained myself, that punchsent him flying backward and he hit the ground with a bone-crunching thud,unconscious.

In the silence, with bloodmisting the air and creating puddles of red upon the pavement, my mindcleared—somewhat—and I turned away from Eli to speak to those gathered. “I amyour alpha. Until Jared returns, I am your alpha. Do any of you want to fight mefor that right?”

No one even twitched, for fearI’d take that as a challenge.

In the silence, I began toassess the damage, and my sense returned as the madness dissipated. My hunterswere missing.

“Joe,” I yelled, my voice ahoarse, croaky scream. “Zach!”

But Remy Simon was the only oneof them who limped toward me, shoving his way through the throngs of silentwolves, his face so masked by blood that I barely recognized him. He was indeedthe boogeyman.

Maybe his anger matched mine,because as I watched, he grabbed a slow-moving wolf by the back of his neck andstabbed him with fast, vicious strokes, then slung the wolf away and came on.

I thought he might attempt tofight me, there was that much hatred and rage in his eyes. I said nothing, though,just waited to see if I would have to kill him. Mostly I just wanted to findJoe and Zach, and terror began swirling, the strength of it equaling any fear Ihad ever felt. “Are they dead?” I asked him, my gravelly voice hurting mythroat as it scraped its way from my mouth.

Please God, don’t let thembe dead.

And finally, some of thesavageness left Remy’s face. He slid his blade into its sheath and came tostand beside me. “Bring Zach and Joe,” he ordered the wolves. “Bring themfuckingnow.”