Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

Well, hot damn
.

I sat up straighter, and just as I was about to make another attempt at flirting, movement outside the wall of glass just beyond Ryder distracted me. The window looked out over downtown Portland, and until now the streets had been pretty quiet, which wasn’t a huge surprise at this late hour. A shadow flashed again and I relaxed when I recognized Sam, decked out in a black trench coat. He was doing his best to fulfill every stereotype of our sire’s kind—the old tall, dark, and deadly vampire.

Still, his outfit had a practical use. The rain was falling softly outside—Portland was always raining—and it was icy tonight with winter approaching. I hoped Sam was okay out there.

“How did you all meet?” I asked, turning back to Ryder. My curiosity about this tight-knit group of males was high. Ryder had been following my gaze, so he knew what I meant.

He flicked another glance back over his shoulder, eyes locked on the silent, patrolling enforcer, and the fierceness he wore so effortlessly softened just a little.

“You know the basics of Kyle and me. We were best friends from a young age, as were our mothers. My ash genetics kicked in first, but with everything that happened, I was lost for some time…”

He trailed off and I knew he would be caught in memories then, unpleasant ones of killing his fiancée. “So Kyle actually went through the culling first, and had a place in the Hive by the time it was my turn to fight to the death.”

Obviously they’d both made it through that barbaric practice. Not a huge surprise. Even before I knew the boys so well, I’d have bet money on them surviving. They were both absolutely lethal. If they’d have been in my group, I’d never have made it through alive.

“Oliver came to our Hive about ten years after Kyle and me. The cullings weren’t so organized then. Let’s just say they were more of a total bloodbath, less sponsors and no rules. No one wanted to train a gay guy, no one wanted a gay guy to join the Hive period. This was in the nineties, when people weren’t as accepting of that lifestyle.”

I leaned forward on my elbows as his rich voice wove this tale around me.

Ryder shrugged. “I saw him practicing on his own. He was good, fast as hell, and powerful. I offered to train him and told everyone in the Hive that he was not to be harmed. He survived and is one of my best hand-to-hand combat fighters.”

Could this guy get any more intriguing? And sexy? Because kindness was something I found utterly irresistible in this world filled with bullies and assholes.

“And Sam?” Sam was such a puzzle to me. Always silent. Totally deadly.

Something flashed across Ryder’s face but then it was gone.

“Sam’s been through a lot. He joined us about fifteen years ago. Found him when we were out on a call. We were alerted to the fact that a rogue ash was feeding on hikers up in Canada, leaving a trail of rumors and stories behind as he made his way into Oregon. We weren’t sure if it was a true call in or not since there were never any bodies left, just reports of animal-type attacks. Still, I had a feeling, so we checked it out. Sure enough, we found Sam. He was near dead—hypothermia can be deadly to ash—and despite this he managed to half kill me before I could capture him. Took me an entire year to gain his trust. Never regretted my decision though, he’s saved my life over a dozen times, is as loyal as they come, and surprisingly enough, wicked on a snowboard.”

The last part startled me. Sam snowboarding? Who knew?

“Jared?” I asked next. I loved the way that Ryder’s entire face changed when he talked about his best friends. I wanted more of this openness.

Ryder startled me with a bark of laughter. “That’s a crazy story. Let’s just say we met at an annual enforcer conference in Australia. I nearly lost my arm and Jared is no longer allowed in his home country.”

I raised an eyebrow and nodded. Okay, I would need to hear the rest of that story another time.

“And lastly Markus, with his pretty little man bun.” The Scottish enforcer was one of my favorites. He was a massive monster but funny as all hell. And kind. Most importantly he was kind.

Ryder leaned back a little, that damn half-smile on his face. I loved that smile. “Markus made it his life’s mission to bring me down a few—”

He was cut off by the sound of glass shattering behind him.

The enforcers around me acted immediately, tables upturning and weapons drawn. Ryder was already out of his seat and had me yanked to the floor by the time a projectile flew through the smashed window and clanked against the hardwood floors. Chaos broke out, and the enforcers closed quarters around us. No more than a few seconds had passed as I leaned forward to see better. Was that a gas canister?

Just as I had that thought, we were moving. Two of the guys had me under each arm and were practically lifting me off the floor and floating me across the room. Seriously? Okay, I might have a little trouble taking orders, but there was no need to manhandle me. I was not some damsel that needed to be carried out by her brave knights. I had two freaking feet and I could use them just fine.

It was extra annoying that in the crazy chaos I couldn’t even tell who was holding me. At least I could sense Ryder was close by. Smoke began filling the room, and as the vapor hit, my lungs burned and I started coughing and spluttering. What the fuck? We were in Portland, not exactly a war-torn city. Who was attacking us and where the hell had they gotten this type of weapon? It had to be Sanctum. It was too much of a coincidence that the very restaurant we were in just got randomly attacked.

My eyes were streaming tears as our group zipped through the restaurant and out into the back kitchen. Everyone was screaming and I could hear what sounded like gunshots outside—five or six pops in a row. Shit was getting serious now. As soon as we cleared out of the main room, I realized Ryder was on my right, pressed closely against me.

“Sanctum?” I shouted at him, before dissolving into another coughing fit.

We finally reached clear air near the open back door, but the longer we stood there the more the damn smoke followed us. Sucking in as much of the fresh Portland air as I could, my cough started to subside, but I could already feel the roar of pain in my throat. Ryder hadn’t answered me yet, and before I could ask again he let me go and withdrew the gun he always carried.

“Stay here,” he said, his tone firm. He turned, and with Kyle on the other side of him, the pair slid out the back door—probably checking to see if it was safe for us to leave.

I glanced back to find the smoke still billowing out of the main restaurant and surrounding our group. Had Ryder seriously warned me to stay put? I was so totally ignoring the bossy enforcer, because really, who the hell did he think he was ordering me to do anything? He could be in danger out there. It was that thought more than any other that propelled me forward.

Oliver, who had been standing beside me, made no real objections when I followed the rest of the enforcers into the alley. I noticed Ryder, Kyle, Markus, and Jared near the main street. The lights were filtering across their faces. Oliver and I strode closer.

As I neared the group I heard Jared call out. “It’s the damn Bible thumpers again!”

Markus, who towered over the other men, was looking uncharacteristically serious as he turned to face Ryder. “They’re gone. Sam went postal on them, shot up their vans.”

“Bible thumpers?” I asked as I stepped into their inner circle. Ryder didn’t seem overly surprised to see me, but still gave me a bit of a deadpan glance. He’d totally known I would not stay put, but still had to issue the demand. Men.

Before they could answer, my eyes were drawn to a nearby wall, which was plastered with government issued “Are you an ash?” posters, the ones which listed the symptoms and had the hotline number at the bottom. All of them were defaced with red spray paint, so fresh it still dripped from the posters. It took me a second in the dim light, but then I finally realized what had been tagged on them. One word:
Evil
. I shivered. Okay, now I was more than creeped out—standing here in the dark streets after having just been smoke-bombed out of my dinner date.

Some of the tension left Ryder as he holstered his weapon and gestured to the poster. “They’re a pain in my ass. Call themselves ‘Deliverance.’ It’s a religious group that think we’re all evil and want to wipe us from the Earth, and since they have insane amounts of money, they have plenty of resources at their disposal. Their end game is to cure the world of vampirism.”

A moment later Ryder and I froze as if a damn light bulb had gone off above both of our heads.

Holy shit.

Did they know about the pit? No! They couldn’t, right? How could they know? Ryder would not have left any loose ends for them to find, that was for sure, but I guess there was still my blood work out there. The Hive had taken more than one sample from me, and who knew where those results ended up. Not to mention we were all pretty sure there was a mole in the Hive, maybe feeding information out into the human world. That was why we trusted no one outside of this core group. And Jayden.

With their hate-on for our kind, I didn’t believe Deliverance was in bed with Sanctum, but the timing of the two attacks was hard to ignore. Was there a connection between the groups? Someone in our Hive? Or had we just been unlucky enough to be the only ash out on Deliverance’s nightly “clean up the streets” vendetta? Either way, I knew my time was running out. Secrets always came out.

I must have made a noise, some sort of distressed whimper. Ryder’s head shot up and we shared an intense look. From the corner of my eye I noticed the bewildered stares of the rest of the boys. Kyle was the one exception. He already had all the facts.

There was so much hidden emotion on Ryder’s stony face. He seemed worried, like, for the first time he had no answers.

A Humvee peeled around the corner, distracting us all. Sam was at the wheel, his face alive and murderous. Shooting up the Deliverance was clearly his idea of a good time. He screeched to a halt, opening the door and tossing Ryder the keys.

“Four men packing deadly weapons. They intended to kill, or possibly capture,” he said, in typical Sam style, using as few words as he could.

Ryder’s hardened expression did not ease, although he let out a small huff, resigned.

“Boys, we need to talk.” He motioned to the Hummer and in silence we all piled in.

I knew what was coming. We couldn’t keep my secret forever, and if Ryder trusted the sexy six with my life, then I did too. We had to tell them so they knew just what we were up against.

No one spoke as we left the restaurant; the tension inside the vehicle was palpable. It was a tight squeeze in a single car. Guess they’d go back for the other Hummer later. After about ten minutes of silent driving, I realized Ryder was going in the opposite direction of the Hive. I was about to say something when I saw a familiar landmark. He was taking us to the lake, the place where he grew up. No doubt he was worried that the Humvee was bugged, and after the Sanctum attacks we weren’t taking any chances. We needed to ferret out that mole in our Hive ASAP.

The other enforcers remained mute, staring out the window, following Ryder’s lead. As we halted in a small section which was blocked off from the main road by a mass of trees, Ryder threw the car in park and we exited.

I snuggled tighter into my black jacket, pulling my hood over my head against the cold. Ryder maneuvered his way around to me, reached out and took my hand. Even in the darkness I could see the silver of his eyes as our gazes met.

His voice was calm, serious. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” There was not an ounce of hesitation in my reply. I trusted Ryder to the same level as my mom and Tess. Family level. Sure, he had electrocuted me once, but I had pretty much let that go.

The hardness he’d been shrouded in since our date had been interrupted, finally started to ease. My trust meant something to him. His grip tightened as he pulled me close and turned to lead us through the trees. The rest of the guys flanked us as we walked for a few minutes away from the car and into a wooded green space. Portland was full of government-protected greenspace forests, which I loved; it felt like home when I was surrounded by nature.

As we crunched our way through the woods, I wondered how the rest of the sexy six would react to the fact that I was some sort of vampire cure. I was nervous. Even though I knew these guys deserved to know the truth when they had to risk their lives for me, I still wondered if we were doing the right thing spreading this information.

Eventually Ryder stopped and we all huddled in a circle. The rain had thankfully eased, but the cold was still prevalent. Ash genetics could only do so much to keep us warm.

Jared was the first to speak: “What’s up, mate? Must be some serious sort of news to drag us out into the ass-end of the city?” I took a moment to appreciate the Australian enforcer’s accent. Man, I was a sucker for accents, and we had a sexy mix of them in this group.

Ryder’s voice was low but clear, and I took some reassurance in the way he seemed completely unworried.

“Charlie is more than just a female ash…”

My focus, as always, was on the lead enforcer, but for some reason I felt the scrutiny of one of the others. Sure enough, as I shifted my gaze, I realized Sam was eyeballing me. Hard. I shivered a little. He was the toughest of all the enforcers to read, and even an idiot would see he was filled to the brim with secrets.

“Remember that vamp in the club who bit her…?”

I realized that Ryder was still explaining, and unable to stand the tension any longer I had a brain-to-mouth-filter malfunction.

“I’m the cure for vampirism,” I blurted.

There was dead silence for a few moments after that—wide eyes and slack jaws. Yep, that was not what most of them had expected the news to be.

Oliver, who was as manly as they came, decided now to channel his inner Jayden as he threw out a few flamboyant hand gestures. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

I exhaled loudly. “Like Ryder was saying, that vamp asshole bit me at the club and then you all threw him in the pit...”