Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(10)

Becca looked nervously at Sam, who gave her a little wink. Okay, hold up a second. Did silent dude just WINK at her? He never did shit like that. Until this moment I didn’t even know he knew how to wink.

“Sam brought some last time, but I was too nervous to try it,” she admitted.

We all looked at Sam and he cleared his throat, his eyes fastened to some periodic table poster on the wall.

Jayden saved him from our scrutiny. “Okay, party people, freshen up and meet me in the common room in one hour.” He snapped his fingers and took off.

Marcus and Jared shook their heads at my BAFF, but I could see some happiness had seeped back into their faces. Jayden was this beautiful infectious person that you just couldn’t stay depressed around. The world needed more Jaydens.

Everyone split up then to go shower and get ready. Becca smiled awkwardly and went back to looking under her microscope.

I lightly pulled her ponytail and she leaned back from the microscope to meet my eyes. “Nope, no more science-geeking out tonight. You’re one of us now. If Jayden says meet him in an hour, that means you too.”

She broke into a grin and I could see that she desperately wanted friends, but she just wasn’t sure how to make it happen.

She pushed at her glasses again, in her very obvious nervous mannerism. “I’m not sure I’ll be much fun. I don’t know how to … relax very well.”

I felt a real grin rip across my face; she was in trouble now. We were totally making her over. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. “Do you have clothes, makeup and stuff here?” Jayden had none of his usual supplies, and while he was probably the best ash I knew when it came to transformation, he wasn’t a genie. We would still need some stuff to work with.

Becca shrugged. “Uh, maybe. Sam ships me supplies all the time. I only ever deal with the lab stuff. The rest gets stored. There might be something in there.”

I felt an unnatural thrill of excitement. God knows why, I wasn’t someone who got giddy over makeup and fancy clothes, but something about having everything stripped from me had me wanting to see something familiar. Even if it was only a mascara wand.

I grasped her hand again. “Show me, like now, girlfriend!”

Becca’s eyes flicked up and over my shoulder and I swiveled to find Ryder standing there, waiting for me. I turned back to the scientist. “Actually, would it be okay if you go and find Jayden and take him to your storages? He’ll figure out what we need. I’ll find you soon.”

Her beautiful eyes were wide and glassy; the tension in the room had her uneasy, but she also seemed to be liking it. Ryder and I were her very own personal soap opera right now. She managed to nod once at me, before licking her lips and stumbling out of the lab. Which left Ryder and I alone, and let’s just say I was facing down one angry mountain of enforcer.

“We didn’t finish our conversation from before,” he cut in straight away, and I was surprised that he was so forthcoming. Generally, when he got upset, he was a bit like Sam, deadly and brooding. “Your plan to cure vampires … it’s … what the hell, Charlie? You’re only one person, a person I’d like to keep around for a very long time. Yet you keep coming up with these plans that are most likely going to get you dead.”

I stepped into him, for many reasons, but mostly because I needed to be closer. The distance between us felt unnatural, like when we first met. I never wanted to go back there. Not with Ryder. “Can you live in a world where vampires are free to kill our friends? Where they can turn innocent children, destroying their minds? Where they control media and politics and the humans?”

As I posed each question, his already grim expression deepened. He knew I was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. I stepped right into him then; our chests touched, and his arms wrapped tightly around me, like he couldn’t help himself. Which had my heart aflutter. But it didn’t stop me from finishing my speech.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least attempt to bring them down. The perfect weapon fell into my lap when I turned ash … or ashpire … whatever. I am the weapon. And now we have Becca, who from what I can tell is an uber-stratospheric-genius that’s going to be able to figure out how to give us everything we need for my plan—”

Ryder cut me off in the most delicious way possible, his lips gently skimming against mine. Normally I hated when men used their hotness to halt me mid-conversation, but I could tell Ryder hadn’t done it for that reason. His blazing silver eyes were looking all proud of me and stuff; he hadn’t been able to stop himself from kissing me. Which just like his arms around me, was the best feeling in the world.

The kiss deepened to the point where we had to stop or find a more private, less lab-type room. As we pulled apart, our breathing rapid, Ryder cupped my face in his hands.

“After tonight we’ll get down to business. You’ll tell me your plan in full, leaving nothing out. Then with the help of all of our people, we’ll figure out if it’s possible to pull off with no more casualties. We’ll also discuss the best way to warn the other ash and enforcers around the world about what the Quorum did in Portland.”

I nodded against his hands. “Thank you for being on my team. I wouldn’t want to do any of this without you.”

His thumb brushed across my lips, and his first genuine smile in hours emerged. “I love you, Charlie. We’re a team. We’ll do this together.”