Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(17)



I somehow shuffled down the hall, and even though I smelled of barn, smoke, and sweat, and probably a little fear, I collapsed into bed in my t-shirt and granny undies with Ryder right next to me. Then it was lights out. Goodbye, fucked-up day.





Chapter 4


The next morning I awoke and saw that I was all alone. As I shifted over, the scent coming from my clothes just about knocked me out. Ugh, I smelled like shit; it was crazy how the smell of a fire could stick to your hair, your clothes, your skin.

Stumbling into the bathroom, I showered and relished in the feeling of the warm water on my skin and the orange shampoo that Becca had in here. The citrus smell was invigorating; those shampoo commercials were really onto something.

After changing into my one spare pair of granny panties, a pair of Ryder’s sweats, and a clean tank-top, I began to make my way down the hall when Jayden’s shriek tore through the house. Shit! I ran through the connecting containers, cursing myself for not grabbing my gun. Stupid Charlie! We just got attacked last night! I shouldn’t go a second without a weapon from now on.

Another scream. Fuck! Blasting through the kitchen, I burst into the common room where Jayden was shrieking … and hand flapping and jumping up and down in excitement at what looked like at least a hundred packages stacked before him.

“You bitch! You scared the shit out of me,” I scolded him, and he turned with legit tears in his eyes.

Sam and Ryder, who’d also dashed in from somewhere, were glaring at my bestie.

“Jayden, FOUR delivery trucks! FOUR! You didn’t need to order this much stuff, we’re supposed to be keeping a low profile,” Ryder said with a shake of his head.

Jayden just put one hand on his hip. “You gave a gay man with incredible fashion sense a credit card and told him to do unlimited shopping.”

Oliver, who had wandered in late to the party, clearly the only one who had known what his man was shrieking about, shrugged. “It’s true, you kind of asked for it.”

Sam sighed. “Some of this shit better be useful.”

Now Jayden had his game face on. The “I will cut you” face. He rummaged through the packages and threw five huge boxes across the room to land at our feet. They were all identical, about four feet high and two feet wide. Sam raised an eyebrow and produced a pocket knife, cutting open his box. His brows rose as he pulled out a heavy duty, army spec camping backpack, the kind with a metal cage and chest straps and even a sleeping bag tied to the bottom.

“I figured at some point we would need to run. Got us all hooked up,” Jayden said, and was glaring at Sam, awaiting his reply.

“Thisisgood,” Sam mumbled.

Jayden put a hand to his ear. “What’s that, Sammy? I didn’t hear you?”

Sam actually smiled then. “This is good. Thank you.”

My BAFF looked at all of us and we took turns thanking him. Smug bastard. I loved that guy.

What can I say, after all the shitty events of the past few days, the next two hours were like Christmas. Jayden took turns handing all of us our presents. I got some completely inappropriate lingerie, including some star nipple pasties. But I also got some cute skinny jeans, regular lacy thongs, tight t-shirts – one of which said “coffee before talkie” – and a bunch of other cool camping shit, not to mention an absolute top of the line set of throwing knives.

“Jayden, you’re the shit!” I exclaimed.

My smile broadened as I noticed Markus sitting in the corner coloring in his adult-man coloring book. It had different cars and guns in it. I hadn’t even known the Scottish enforcer liked art, drawing and stuff, but Jayden did. There was a true friend there under all the flamboyance. Jayden was one of a kind.

I was distracted by Ryder. He got some hot denim jeans and cargo pants, leather combat boots and a sexy-AF black leather jacket. We all got a set of black army fatigues with tons of small pockets for storing cool shit.

Watching Becca open her packages was hilarious. I’d never seen someone turn so red. When she opened the push-up bra, she literally inspected it like a scientist would, squeezing all the padding.

“There must be an inch of padding. That’s like … false advertisement.” She gawked and we all laughed.

Becca, Jayden, and I all got new makeup kits, and of course Becca got false eyelashes and we both got green contacts. Jayden thought of everything.

“You have a future in personal shopping. I’m just throwing that out there,” I told my BAFF.

“I know, right!” He winked, slipping on his Gucci loafers.

We had swapped out those who were on patrol duty a few times so that everyone got to enjoy their gifts, but all too soon it was time to put our shit away and get down to business. And not the fun, sexy kind. Nope, this business was going to be dangerous, scary, and there was a high possibility I was never going to get a chance to use my sexy new lingerie.

Ryder gathered all of us together, even calling the boys in from patrol. Everyone had to be here to chime in on the plan. We were going to iron it out, make sure it was concrete, and then put it into motion.

“Sam is going to take Becca, all her necessary lab equipment, and everything else needed for a month or more of lockdown, across to his secret house. Becca believes that in using Charlie’s blood she can create a synthetic cure or vaccine for the vampire virus, and that we’ll be able to use it in a mass amount to take down all the Hives.”

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