Kyle burst out of theSUV, gun drawn, and I decided that I was definitely following him. Thank God itwas dark out, ‘cause Kyle and I looked shady as shit, especially with his gunwaving around.
I forced myself to stop afew feet from Ryder. I wanted to hug him but wasn’t sure if I should. It felt alittle weird between us, so much unresolved after that kiss. Before I couldmentally break apart our relationship any further, Kyle swooped in, his longarms loping across Ryder’s shoulders, taking his weight.
“Charlie’s not safe,” hemumbled as we walked back to the van.
Kyle and I exchanged aglance. Ryder was barely audible. He was in worse shape than I’d thought. Whathad happened? What did this have to do with me and the fact that he knewsomething about me “not being safe?” When we reached the car, Markus and Oliverpiled into the far back. I squeezed in between Jared and Sam, allowing Ryder totake shotgun. The injured ash took the white gauze which Sam had pulled fromthe med kit for him and wiped away some of the red on his forehead, the cutslooked to have already healed. In the close confines of the car, his copperblood hit me and I was instantly reminded of drinking from him.
Trying my best to ignorethis, I leaned forward, peeking through the middle seat. “What happened? Pilotsaid you didn’t make your flight? How are you here?” Seattle was a three-hourdrive from Portland – he had gotten back somehow.
Ryder barked out a laugh.“Is that what he told you? I made the flight. Bastard set me up. I got jumpedby some enforcers from another Hive when the pilot landed in this field justoutside of Portland. Said we needed to pick up another person. I didn’t trusthim, so I was ready.”
Holy shit. Ryder fought agroup of enforcers and got away alive?
Ryder met my eyes.“Charlie, they had your original blood work. They know that you’re not showingnormal ash blood and that you’re a direct descendant of the fourth house. They’reafter you. They were trying to recruit me to their cause. Offered me money andplenty of other incentives to turn against you.”
Bastards. Guess I waslucky Ryder had an honor code. I had never doubted that he was a good guy deepdown, even if he had electrocuted me.
“How much money did theyoffer?” Kyle flashed his pearly whites at me. “Always good to know the goingrate for Charlie’s life.”
I flipped him off and hisgrin widened further.
“Three mil,” Ryder said.
My mouth actually droppedopen. “Like … three million dollars? American dollars?”
Ryder gave a short nod ofconfirmation. Well, what do you know. For that ridiculous amount of money Ishould turn myself in.
The CB radio on the dashblared to life and all of the men stopped their joking and focused.
“This is command. Bringin all enforcers. The Hive has been infiltrated. I repeat, the Hive has beeninfiltrated. ETA on a secure channel.” It was Jason’s voice, a guy I knew andworked with. Sirens could be heard in the background.
My blood chilled.“Jayden!” Oh shit. I’d left my best friend behind. Oliver made a noise then andI spun around to lock him in my gaze. I knew I wasn’t the only one panickingabout this attack.
Ryder grabbed Kyle’s handmid-air as he was about to respond. “Five ash enforcers attacked me. Four ofthem were regular, run of the mill, but the fifth one, the one who offered methe money, had a fighting style I recognized. We were evenly matched, and beforeI could hurt him too bad he got away.”
The two shared a lookthat sent chills up my spine. “Don’t say it.” Kyle was looking as pale asMarkus right now. And the Scottish ash was definitely on the fair side.
Ryder didn’t hesitate. “Ithink it’s the Sanctum.”
“The who?” I didn’t likebeing out of the loop. The entire car clearly knew who they were. Thecollective curses had told me more than enough. If they were worried, then Ihad no doubt that the Sanctum was not to be effed with.
Ryder was silent for amoment. “The Sanctum are an elite group of ash mercenaries. They offersanctuary to any ash who does not wish to live within the Hive. But there is aprice to pay. They have no morals, no loyalties, and no end goal. They arehighly trained killers who do what they do for money. Glorified hit men. Ithink a price has been put on your head.”
The air whooshed out ofme. “How do you know all this?”
The entire car wassilent. Ryder looked out the car window as if reminiscing. His voice washollow. “Because I was recruited by them. I was lost for a few years after Ichanged, and they offered me a way to focus through the pain. I trained andworked with them on a few jobs until I realized we were killing innocents. ThenI left.”
Holy shit. That’s howRyder had become so deadly. Something told me that if these Sanctum had trainedRyder, they were not people I wanted to meet.
“You’re sure it’s them?”Kyle asked.
Ryder nodded. “I didn’trecognize him, but his fighting style screamed Sanctum. He was there to see ifI was susceptible to turning, to join them again. And if that failed, to put meout of commission before attacking the Hive. Should have sent two of them ifthey wanted to make sure of that.”
I wanted to roll my eyes,but he was really just stating a fact. They probably should have sent three.
Ryder continued: “I’mgoing to say, judging on that call from the control room, they decided not towait and went looking for Charlie. Of course she’s not there, she’s here withus, so they have made their presence known. They’re drawing her back.”
A searing flood of panicfilled every part of my jittery brain. This was worse than I’d thought. Jaydenwasn’t just in the Hive while it was under attack, he was in there with highlytrained mercenaries, who were after me and probably knew he was my best friendand roommate.
