“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.
“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.
Sam hit a few keys and low sound filtered across to us: screams, curses, and gunfire. My stomach churned, and I swallowed a few times to keep it together. I was shuddering as Jayden crossed to my side, engulfing me in a hug. Eventually he pulled on my hand and I let him guide me away, through the hall, past the kitchen, and into my private room.
He sat on the bed, picking at his cuticles. His face was pale – well, as pale as it could go, eyes sad as he turned to me. “Let’s talk about something fun. I need to get that image out of my head.”
