Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(29)

Laz turned back to me. “You’re at a hotel about five miles from the surfer’s house. Your boys are in room 514.”

My eyes widened. “We’re in the same hotel as them? Do they know?”

He just grinned. “Nope.”

Shit. These guys really were a force to be reckoned with. They freaking kidnapped me, followed the enforcers to the hotel, and then set up shop right next to them while I slept off my dart hangover. If anyone was going to have the skills and resources to infiltrate the hospital, it was Sanctum. I did not like or trust them, but we had a common goal, so we would tolerate each other. Despite everything that had happened, this might actually be our lucky day.

“We’ll be in touch,” he said, tapping the phone in my hand.

I just nodded, mentally urging them to GTFO. I needed to see Ryder and everyone. Make sure they were all okay. As soon as they were gone, leaving behind no trace that they’d even been there, I left the room. In the hall I saw that I was currently on the sixth floor, room 614. I chuckled. These smooth-ass fuckers had even got the room right above Ryder and the boys. Probably spying through the vents or some shit.

I started jogging down the hallway, sluggish and thirsty as hell, trying to keep my eyes down in case I encountered a human. Finding the exit door I plowed through it and pretty much threw myself down the stairs, emerging onto the fifth floor. It took me no time to find room 514.

I banged on the door like a cop about to do a raid. “It’s me!” I shouted, and one second I was banging and the next Ryder was filling the doorway, assaulting me with all of his hotness.

I drank in the sight of him, his rugged features, sexy tousled hair and blazing silver eyes. For a few moments today I’d been sure I’d never see him again, and standing there, both of our gazes locked, I drank in every inch of him. My heart swelled, and it almost felt like it wasn’t large enough to contain all of the emotions exploding through me.

Ryder reached out a hand then; his eyes were wide. He looked speechless. His thumb brushed down my cheek and his lashes fluttered, as if he couldn’t believe I was standing right in front of him. I almost couldn’t believe it. Without a sound his arm lowered and his hand cupped around my shoulder as he pulled me into his body. His palms began running over my back like he was inspecting my body, making sure I was all in one piece.

I tried to reassure him: “I’m fine. Sanctum didn’t hurt me. They want a truce,” I said.

He still hadn’t said anything and something told me he was too pissed to speak. He just pulled me tighter into him and squeezed me within an inch of my life, burying his face into the side of my neck. I was pretty sure he was smelling my hair.

Finally, after we stood like that for many moments, he said, “I’ll kill them all.”

I heard murmurs from behind him, and knew the other boys were back there and in full agreement.

I sighed and he released me. “You can’t. We need them.”

Another voice broke through the tension between us: “What happened? Tell us everything.” It was Sam. The enforcer seemed to be thinking a little more clearly, and with one last brush of my hand along Ryder’s arm, I stepped into the room. My eyes alighted on five faces. Each and every one of my family was unharmed.

“They blew a hole in the side of the house and kidnapped me. Tranq-darted me with what I can only assume was that AT20 stuff you guys were talking about.”

Ryder was pacing now, fists clenched.

“And then I woke up—”

“Where? Where are they?” Ryder was seeing red, his anger too large to be contained. I had to find a way to get through to him.

Before I could say anything else I finally noticed the room beyond the enforcers. The far wall, which must have been where the television and chairs were originally situated, was now completely stripped and had been turned into a board of Charlie. Surveillance shots of my face were seriously everywhere, along with lots of maps, papers, and other paraphernalia. There were these long strings connecting things across the place, and large red dots which were clearly checkpoints.

Seriously, I could have only been gone a few hours and already they had the mother of all police boards going on there. I took a few steps closer.

Markus’ brogue washed over me: “Sam was hacking into all the security footage around the streets where we were. We had narrowed it down to this area, which is why we checked into this hotel. We were regrouping before tracking them down.”

I couldn’t stop myself from crossing to the burly enforcer and throwing my arms around him. My voice started in a hurry, words spilling over each other: “I’m so glad you’re all okay. I was so worried. You guys were definitely tracking them in the right direction – they had me one floor above you.” I barely stopped to breathe, it was so important to get it all out.

“They knew I was the cure. Probably before half the vampire world did. They sent that guy out to Alaska to draw us out, to discuss a truce. He was supposed to get us out in the open so we didn’t go nuts and attack him before he could talk to us. Of course that didn’t exactly work out when we totally freaked about the barn and hunted him down.” Releasing Markus, I turned and sank tiredly onto the couch. It had been a long day. “Then they saw our message on the network. They want to help take down the vamps.” I pulled the cell phone from my pocket and gently laid it on the small table off to my right. “This is the phone we’ll use to communicate with them.”