Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Becca walked us back through a narrow hallway that opened up into a huge science lab, all stainless steel benches, fluorescent lighting, massive machines, and shelves filled with beakers, vials, and other science paraphernalia.

  “I have all of the latest technology, and I get blood donations from a local blood bank under the guise that I’m researching human diseases. Which I do on the side for fun.”

  Of course she did. Jayden and I shared a smile.

  She continued: “That’s how we’ll get our food. I have more than enough blood to feed us and continue my human research.”

  My eyes were roaming over all of the expensive equipment when I saw Sam pick up a white lab coat off the far wall and pull gloves on. Oh hell no. If Sam was mysterious, sexy, a pilot, and a smarty pants, I was going to lose it.

  “How do you pay for all this? You said your grant was only twenty years? It must have run out by now.” I glanced around the room again, chuckling as Kyle touched a heated coil and pulled his hand back, getting burned. Dumbass.

  “Sammy funds all of my research now,” she said guilelessly.

  Of course he does … probably hacks into crooked politicians’ bank accounts to pay for it.

  I met Sam’s eyes and he winked, confirming my thoughts. He was a bad boy to the core.

  “Sam, can you ready the centrifuge?” Becca asked, opening a blood-drawing kit.

  Sam nodded and walked over to a big machine and began tinkering with it. Wow, I couldn’t imagine these two playing lab partners for decades and not having tumbled between the sheets at least once. I was actually dying to know, and when I looked at Jayden I could see him trying to figure it out too. I knew my BAFF; his gaze was all over these two.

  In a smooth, relatively painless move, Becca took a sample of my blood. The moment it exited my veins and entered the tube, the scent of it hit the air. Her nostrils flared, eyes pulsing as she looked at me.

  “Incredible! I have the urge to bite you. It’s my immune system wanting the cure! It must be worse for full-fledged vampires…”

  Okay ... homegirl was cute and totally socially awkward. I was kind of beginning to like her.

  “There’s something you should know,” I said as she pulled the needle from my arm. “My vampire father or sire or whatever is an Original.”

  I waited for her shock, but she just smiled.

  “I know. Sammy told me. That’s why I’m so eager to get a look at your blood.”

  My jaw dropped as I pinned Sam to the wall with my glare. “You told her!”

  His expression did turn slightly regretful, but before he could speak, Becca stuck up for him. Again. “Don’t be mad. We’re best friends, he tells me everything.”

  What sort of fucking alternate universe was I in? Sam was sitting around some shipping container in Alaska with a hot-ass nerdy doctor, spilling his secrets. I had known him months now and he had said about fifty-six words. Fifty-four of them in the last hour. FML.

  Ryder moved then, approaching Sam, who was just placing my blood vials into the centri-whatever thingy.

  “Lots of secrets, bro,” Ryder said, sounding casual, but we all heard the undertones.

  Oliver had Ryder’s back. “Not cool.”

  For the first time in forever I saw Sam look vulnerable, like an orphaned puppy. Eyes wide, bottom lip turned under.

  Sam met Ryder’s eyes. “You know my story. You know why I keep secrets.”

  What the hell? I wanted to know his story.

  Ryder sighed. “I know, but we’re your brothers. You can trust us. Always.”

  My heart broke a little then. Ryder’s voice was filled with emotion. A lot of which felt sad. His best friend had been hiding an ashpire for decades. Hiding information which could have helped me in the early days when we were playing in the dark with my magical blood. A part of him had to be feeling betrayed by this, I knew it.

  Sam gritted his jaw. “The less you know, the safer you are.”

  Kyle came around behind Sam. “Only one way to settle this.”

  Jared smiled. “I got first round.”

  Becca looked alarmed. “What’s going on? You’re not going to hurt him, right?”

  Ten minutes later we all stood around the kitchen and dining room. It was a skinny galley kitchen that opened up to a large dining space that could easily fit twenty seats. These shipping containers were super cool, and with the high-quality finishes inside you totally forgot you were in a metal box. My guess was that this lab was built for an entire research team and once fully stocked could house dozens for many months.

  A cheer went up then as the male-idiots in the room continued their games. Sam had already beaten Markus and Kyle in arm wrestling. Now it was Oliver’s turn. Oliver put his game face on as Jayden gave him a little tap on the butt to cheer him on.

  Becca looked confused as she leaned into me and whispered. “I don’t understand. What is this solving?”

  I smiled. “Sam lied to everyone. Trust has been broken, feelings hurt, so they’re hashing it out this way.”

  Becca’s thick eyebrows drew together. “Still makes no sense.”

  I sighed. Homegirl had some serious social catching up to do. She clearly wasn’t used to being around a bunch of burly males.

  “Okay, it’s like animals in the wild. One of the wolves in the pack does something to piss off the alpha, they need to put him in his place.”

  A slamming sound had both of us looking up. Oliver was rubbing his arm; it looked rather red around the wrist.

  Becca finally nodded, seeming to like my animal analogy. “So Sam’s the alpha right? He’s winning.”

  I grinned. Ryder hadn’t had a turn yet.

  Jared was next. “You’re going down, Sammy.” He was trying to rile him up by using Becca’s term of endearment.

  Sam wasn’t fazed. He actually chuckled and held his arm up.

  “Go!” Ryder called, and Sam slammed Jared’s hand down in seconds.

  “Wait, wait. I wasn’t ready!” Jared pleaded, but Ryder just moved him along.

  “Jayden, you want a go?” Ryder asked my BAFF.

  Jayden grinned, showcasing all of his beautiful white teeth. “I’ll pass, dear. I’m secure with the length of my manhood.”

  Becca’s mouth dropped open.

  Oh snap! God I loved that man. Ryder just shoved the comment off and sat in front of Sam. They engaged in an epic staredown. This was the battle of the alphas, and just like wolves, neither looked away.

  “You could have trusted me with this,” Ryder finally said.

  Sam sighed. “It wasn’t your burden to bear. You had enough going on.”

  I knew he was talking about Molly, Ryder’s fiancée.

  Sam held up his hand and Ryder gripped it tightly.

  Sam leaned himself over the table. “You know this isn’t a fair fight. You’re a descendent from the house of strength.”

  Ryder grinned his cockiest of grins. “What’s wrong? Scared?”

  It was on; they both flexed their muscles and Sam’s hand started shifting backwards. He grunted and I thought the veins in his face might burst if he kept this up much longer.

  With a slam, in the end Ryder won with ease.

  Sam looked resigned. “I should have told you.”

  Ryder nodded and clapped Sam on the shoulder. Just like that, everything was great between the boys again. My animal analogy was really not far from the truth; men had changed very little over the thousands of years of humanity.

  Jayden ran forward. “Group hug!”

  Oliver laughed as Jayden tackle-hugged a bewildered Sam and Ryder and I decided why the hell not and got in on the pileup. Sam was still sitting in the chair so we ended up just sitting on him or hugging him from the back. Jared reached forward and yanked a hair off Sam’s head.

  “Ow! Did someone pull my hair!” I heard the silent enforcer yell.

  “It was me, mate. Payback.”

>   Gotta love Australians and their payback.

  Becca stood there awkwardly and I felt bad for her. She didn’t seem to quite fit in with our group yet. But something told me she would, one day.

  Sam’s muffled voice came out again: “Okay, you’ve tortured me enough. I’ll never lie again. Please, God, just get off of me.”

  We all laughed and backed away from the Sam love pile. A weight lifted from my chest. Sam was forgiven and we were back to being one big happy family again. I was so relieved to know that I could stop worrying and doubting one of my guys. It was us against the vampire world, and we had to have total trust in each other. Speaking of…

  “Okay, now that all of this is worked out, Sam, I need you to find out what’s going on back at the Hive. Is Tessa safe? What happened to Lucas? Has Carter updated with anything about him and my mom?”

  Sam smoothed back his mussed hair and nodded. “I have a secure computer here.”

  Jayden pointed at Becca. “You.”

  Becca paled. “Me?” she all but squeaked.

  Jayden nodded. “You need to take me shopping. I refuse to wear this…” He was at a loss for words to describe his sweatpants and flip-flops. “Any longer.”

  Becca smiled. “You won’t like any of the shops in town, but we get deliveries out here. So you can order anything online.”

  Jayden’s mouth popped open and his eyes almost rolled back in his head. He looked like he was having a mini-orgasm.

  Becca handed him a credit card. “Spend however much you need. Sam has us well funded.”

  Again I raised my eyebrows at Sam and wondered if this wasn’t one of the “charities” that had received money from Deliverance.

  Jayden’s hand shook as he took the card. His eyes were wide and a little crazed. “Unlimited online shopping? Everyone give me your sizes. I’ll be in my room for the next three days.”

  I smiled. Jayden was officially in heaven, but I was hoping they didn’t sell nipple pasties online.

  Becca held up a hand. “Right. Rooms. We have mostly bunkbed-style shared barracks, but there are two private rooms. One’s mine, so ... the other…”

  Ryder stepped forward. “Charlie and I will take the other one.”

  Oh my GAWD. Did he just do that? I was trying to decide if it was too forward or the hottest goddamn thing ever. I went with hot. I grinned.

  Wait, did Ryder just ask me to move in with him?

  Jayden and Oliver gave us glares. I waggled my fingers at them in a half-wave. Sorry, bitches. I earned this.

  The room I was officially sharing with Ryder was small but cozy, and most importantly it had a soft bed with a thick down comforter. I had been starting to worry I’d be stuck in a sleeping bag on a cot. I had all of seven worldly possessions at the moment, and so after putting away my cheap plastic toothbrush, plastic package of cotton granny panties, and one extra t-shirt, I went to find the boys.

  Turning from the bed, I saw that Ryder was standing in the doorway watching me. His gaze was hard to read, but damn he looked sexy. Even in cheap sweatpants and a t-shirt the guy could be on a billboard.

  “Hey,” I said.

  He stepped in and looked around the small room. Queen bed, bookshelf, and nightstand.

  “Hope you don’t mind I claimed the room for us.” His eyes were saying a lot more than his words.

  I closed the distance between us. “Don’t mind at all.”

  He eyed my lips, and a softness trickled across his hard features. It was one of those special little things he did only around me.

  Then a small smile quirked the side of his lips. “Should I be worried that Jayden just asked me if I wore boxers, briefs, or a thong?”

  I busted out laughing. I loved my BAFF hard; he was exactly what these serious enforcers needed. Ryder’s smile went to full throttle, but just for a moment, before it was replaced with a strained expression.

  “What’s up?” I prodded.

  He sighed. “We left them, Charlie. We just left them all to the whims and tempers of the vampires.”

  Tension skated across my body then and my chest got weirdly tight. Breathing was harder than it had been a minute ago. I knew exactly what Ryder was talking about, and it was something I was trying not to dwell on, but it was slowly eating me up inside.

  He was worried about his other enforcers. Being the lead enforcer, he had trained every single one of them, working with many of them for years. And although he was closest with the sexy six, he still cared for all the others. They were his team.

  I stepped even closer to him, our warmth wrapping around each other. “We left Tessa, Blake, and Lucas too. If there was another way, I would have taken it.”

  He pulled me into his arms and I rested my head against his hard chest. “I know,” he murmured.

  Most of the time I felt like a single, pretty insignificant person. But then there were these moments, like this, where I felt bigger, like I could do something grand, something unthinkable. I was the goddamn cure to our problem.

  “Ryder…” I pulled back and he met my eyes. “We have to save them all. The ash. My friends. I want to bring down the Hives. Annihilate the vampires whose power and corruption is polluting our world.”

  Ryder’s face was a mixture of surprise and pride. He nodded once, and I knew that even if we died trying, we would wipe vampires from the face of the Earth. This was the reason I was here.

  We remained in our comforting hug for many long moments. I could sense that Ryder was as reluctant as me to part ways and get back to reality, but unfortunately, even in the middle of nowhere, real life was continuing. And we had things to do.

  Chapter 2

  Ryder and I walked hand in hand through the maze of containers to the boys’ room. I was shocked at how large their bunk room was, three shipping containers wide with the middle walls cut out. Each container had a set of bunkbeds with curtains between them that could be pulled for privacy. There were also couches, a pool table, and a TV in a common area. I had a feeling this was going to be the hangout part of this facility.

  Becca wasn’t in the room. She must be back in the lab geeking out over my blood.

  As soon as we entered, Jayden looked up from the computer.

  “Charlie, you’re a 36C right?” he asked.

  My eyes widened as Kyle and Jared cleared their throats. Ryder leveled a look at Jayden; it was a look I’d seen many times. It meant you should stop talking. Now.

  Of course that didn’t worry my BAFF at all. He was still staring at me, so I nodded to let him know he was right.

  Jayden’s hands were again flying over the computer keys and I had no doubt that in twenty-four hours there would be four FedEx delivery trucks full of Victoria’s Secret, Coach, and other goodies. Jayden was a brand whore, and he had excellent taste in everything.

  Ryder was suddenly all business. “Sam. Report.” All eyes turned to the dark-haired enforcer in the corner, hunched over a laptop. He took a really long time to finally look up from the screen, and my heart dropped as I lurched toward him. Pure agony was swimming in his eyes.

  What the hell had happened?

  “You guys need to see this,” he said, his voice gruff. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears; his skin was sickly pale.

  Everyone crowded around Sam, who was back to staring at his screen, face now void of all emotion.

  “Tell us!” Ryder barked, so loud I jumped. Oh shit. This was bad, this was going to be really bad. Don’t be my mom or Tessa please.

  Sam met Ryder’s eyes. “Before we left I made a back door into the CCTV at the Hive so we could watch what they were doing.”

  Okay, that was creepy and genius. I braced myself for the next thing he was going to say.

  Sam actually bit down on his lip. “They killed them … all of them.”

  Ryder sagged against me. For the first time I saw something like fear and horror cross all of the enforcers’ faces.

&nb
sp; “Who?” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but the boys seemed to understand. They all looked devastated.

  Sam’s hands were gripped tightly into fists as he fought for control. He had to clear his voice more than once. “The enforcers, ninety-seven of them … all dead.”

  No! God, no.

  Jayden lost it then, cursing, crying, kicking out at things as Oliver wrapped his arms around him to try and calm him down.

  Tears welled in my eyes. God dammit! Those asshole bloodsuckers were doing this to hurt us. To punish us for leaving. The enforcers had stopped taking orders once they suspended Ryder and this is what they got. Mass murder.

  It took minutes – felt like hours – for Ryder to collect himself. He straightened, and the look on his face sent shivers down my spine and had my knees buckling.

  “Show me.” His voice was gravelly and pissed the fuck off.

  Sam shook his head. “You don’t need to see it.”

  “Show. Me. Now.” Ryder ordered again, and I was afraid if Sam didn’t do as he asked, Ryder might actually hurt him.

  Sam turned the laptop around, defeated, and my hand flew to my mouth. Whether to hold my gasp or stop the vomit, who could tell.

  The enforcers’ bodies were strewn around the gym, the very gym they made us fight for our lives in. Blood, so much blood. And so many bodies bent at wrong angles. I couldn’t look. I’d seen enough. Turning my back, I tried to control myself, counting to ten and thinking happy thoughts. Anything so those images didn’t continue to run through my head.

  “I want to see this whole thing. Rewind it.” Ryder’s voice was hollow, murderous.

  “Hey, mate, that won’t help anything,” Jared said, and from the corner of my eye I saw him put a hand on Ryder’s shoulder. The lead enforcer shrugged it off.

  “I will watch the entire video and every single vampire involved will burn alive.” Ryder’s voice was low, almost emotionless. Just his eyes displayed the strong emotions churning within him. They were blazing silver.

  I knew it wasn’t a threat. It was fact. Ryder would go back one day and kill every single one of them. This was different than the culling. These men had served the Quorum for years and this is what they got? Cold blooded murder.