“All good, little unicorn.Our big bad leader will be back before you know it. He told me to tell you hesays hello.”
I tried to conceal themiddle-school squeal that wanted to rip from my throat. Instead, I nodded.
The rest of the day passed agonizinglyslow. Oliver and Jayden were shacked up in the room, so after my shift I tookoff to the roof and spent the better part of an hour jogging my ass off. Itdidn’t help with the frustration at all, and the fact that Lucas still wasn’thome the five other times I checked that day didn’t help either. Tessa could bein the middle of any shitty situation and I would never know, because for thefirst time in ages I had no emails from her. My little outburst had pretty muchensured she wouldn’t be telling me much about her vampire excursions.
I had to stop her beforeshe did something stupid, but of course the moment I needed Lucas, thewhite-trenched-coat vampire was nowhere to be found.
I trudged back to my apartment,grateful to find Jayden there alone, looking a whole lot relaxed. “Hey, readyfor dinner?” he said as I stormed through the door.
“Yeah, just give me fiveminutes.” I was starving, but definitely needed to shower off my run sweat.
I was done in about eightminutes, taking an extra second to choose my clothing and add a little makeup.I might be a tad pissed at Ryder, but I sure as shit wanted to look my bestwhen we first saw each other. Three days and no email? Jerk … even if he wasbusy working.
“Hot damn, baby, youcould turn this gay ash’s head any day of the week.” Jayden whistled as he tookin my skinny jeans, flat ankle boots, and skintight tank. It was one of thosewhich was ripped in places and held together by these little scraps of lace.Everything was black, and I’d gone a little heavier on my eyes than normal. Notto mention leaving my hair down to hang in straight layers to mid-back.
I blew Jayden a kiss,crossing to link arms with him. We rolled out and made our way into the ashdining room. It was packed; we were late as usual, and as always the entireroom basically paused for a second when we entered.
Jayden didn’t sweat shitlike that, simply dragging me across the room toward the enforcers’ table. Wehad the privilege of sitting there. Not many were accepted into their littlegroup, but the thing with Ryder and me, not to mention Jayden and Oliver,assured that we made the cut. The sexy six might need a new name. Excitingeight. Exotic eight … I’d work on a name for us.
I paused as I countedonly five heads there. Before the disappointment could bowl me over, I wasdistracted by the way they were leaning into each other, conversing too low tohear. Their tense faces sent trills of fear through me.
Something was wrong.
Jayden left me and tookoff for the long rows of food. As usual he was more than starving, and wouldsoon be back with his Mount Everest size plate of food. I didn’t follow. Myappetite was now nonexistent as I took the last few stumbling steps to falldown into the spare chair beside Kyle. Five sets of black eyes locked on me,and even though each of the enforcers’ looks were unique, right then they wereall wearing the same expression.
“Just give it to mestraight,” I said, wasting no time on bullshit. “You all look like you’re aboutto kill the next fucking person who glances sideways at you, so I knowsomething has happened.”
Kyle and Markus – the red-headedenforcer, looking surprisingly clean cut and handsome, having trimmed his bushybeard and man bun – exchanged a glance and I forced myself not to scream andstamp my foot. Just as I was about to jump up and start beating the shit outof them, even though they could wipe the floor with me every day and twice onSunday, Markus answered.
His voice was gruff, thethickness of his accent making the growl worse. “Ryder was supposed to check inwhen he left, and then again when he landed. He should have been back at thecompound thirty minutes ago.”
Kyle picked up theconversation. “He did text me when he got to the airport. The private plane wasready to take off. He never checked in upon landing, and when I called theflight control, they said Ryder never showed. He didn’t make the flight.”
While they were talking,there was this strange ringing in my head, like a buzz or something. It was mypanic, and it was distracting enough that it took me more than a few moments towrap my head around what they were saying. Ryder was missing. Ryder who was themost badass ash in America. What the hell could have happened to him?
I forced the nausea down,and clenching both fists in front of me landed hard eyes on each and everysingle one of the boys. “Well, what the fuck are we waiting for? Let’s go findout what happened to him!” I get all cursey when I’m scared or worried.
Kyle’s lips thinned, andI realized he was forcing back a smile. He wasn’t the only one either. The restof them looked both amused and impressed. “It’s dangerous, Charlie.” Oliver’svoice was low and smooth. “Not much could take down Ryder. We have no idea whatwe’re walking into.”
I was already on my feet.“Only one way to find out.” I turned then, and without looking back or lockingeyes with the many curious faces around us, I strode through the hall and outthe door.
I didn’t have to check, Icould feel the boy’s energy behind me, and I felt more than safe having them atmy back. I knew I should have told Jayden what was up, he’d be pissed at usditching him, but he’d be safer here at the Hive.
Kyle strode faster tofall in line beside me. “What’s the plan?”
I gave it two seconds’thought. “Say we got an emergency call, drive out of here in the van, sirensblazing. Start driving to Seattle, asking questions wherever we stop. Interviewthe pilot, rough up the Seattle Hive. Do whatever we have to.”
Kyle shook his head a fewtimes, his eyes drooping down as his entire body tensed. “I should have stayedback with him,” he said as we turned the corner and opened the door leading tothe garage.
I shrugged. “I shouldn’thave given my virginity to Seth Peters. Can’t live life in the past.” I tendedto lean on inappropriate humor and sarcasm to avoid serious emotions and getthrough stressful times.
Oliver, Markus, and Jaredall chuckled. Not Sam though, he was immune to all of Charlie’s charm. As wereached the Humvee, I grabbed the keys and moved to open the driver’s sidedoor. Kyle placed a hand on the glass, barring me from opening it.
“Nice try. Get in backand hide.” He pulled the keys from my hand as all of the guys piled in.
Dammit. Bossy-ass ash.Still, Ryder was gone and we were the only ones looking for him. I would obeyfor now because I didn’t want them to waste any more time. I lay in the back andpiled some thermal blankets over myself. The engine roared to life and then wewere hauling ass. It was much rougher back here with no seatbelt. I felt one ofthe guys drop a heavy hand on my side, which definitely helped to keep me inplace. A few minutes later Kyle called back to me.
“Okay, Charlie, you cansit up.”
