Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(34)
Breaking away from Sam I stepped into Kyle’s space. Our eyes met and something passed between us; no words were needed. Like the time we’d waited for hours in the hospital room, not knowing if Ryder would live or die, this was another moment for us, and I knew without any words that Kyle and I would get Ryder back.
Sam never missed a thing. “You can’t go running off after him like idiots. We already risked ourselves once. Let’s think this through.”
I turned on Sam and I knew my eyes would be blazing silver. The fury and fear was filling me, washing away the tears and leaving pure bitch in its wake. “Ryder is not thinking clearly. If he was he’d know that storming into the Hive out of anger will only get him killed.”
Sam put his hands out. “I know, and that goes for you too. Let’s take tonight and think up a proper plan. Ryder is long gone, you won’t catch up with him. I’d bet my life that he took the chopper. I showed him how to fly. He knows I have contacts that could get us another one if we needed it.”
I felt sick. Ryder, alone in a chopper, hell bent on taking down the Portland Hive? FML. What was he thinking? Boys were stupid.
“In the morning we’re leaving.” I gestured to Kyle and myself. We all knew the others would have to stay. Becca and Jayden couldn’t handle all those vampires alone.
Sam shook his head and I walked to the door. “I need some fresh air. When I get back, we figure out a plan.”
I brushed past Becca and burst out the front door of our little remote cabin, taking off into the snow-drenched forest. I missed my running, the days when I could jog without a care in the world. Jumping over fallen logs, the anger subsided slightly, and with that there was a sliver of space for the pain to hit again. Crap. Tears started to flow.
As a girl with daddy issues, Ryder leaving me felt like total abandonment. I know he didn’t think of it or mean it like that, but it tore a hole inside of me. It felt like the lives of his men trumped our future together, because even he must have realized the odds of making it out alive were slim. And why? We were so close to curing them all and ending this forever. But no, that wouldn’t have been enough for Ryder. He had to make the Quorum pay. His men deserved this from him, and he would not rest easy until he fulfilled his vengeance. I just wished it didn’t come at such a steep price.
Footsteps behind me caused me to slow my pace and turn. Kyle was barely winded, standing before me with blazing silver eyes. Neither of us were wearing a jacket and neither cared. The pain was keeping me warm for now.
“I’ve known Ryder since before I could walk. You’re his soulmate and he would never hurt you on purpose. He isn’t thinking clearly. He thinks he’s protecting you.”
His words just made me cry harder, because most of me knew he was right. I nodded as the tears fell down my cheeks and onto the forest floor. My wet lashes were starting to freeze on my eyelids.
“We’ll get to him before he does anything stupid,” Kyle promised, but I didn’t see how that could be possible. I wanted to run out right now and be hot on his trail, but Sam was right. If my lead enforcer was hell bent on enacting revenge, than he couldn’t do it alone and we needed a solid plan.
Kyle’s arm came around me and we walked back to the cabin slowly. Every step I took away from Ryder made my gut tighten in anxiety.
Back in the cabin I began to load up my backpack for the trip to Portland. The second the twilight of day hit I was out of here. Going through my personal stuff my stomach dropped when I realized one very important thing was missing. I charged into the lab, where Becca was doing her science nerd thing and Sam was hunched over his laptop.
“Sam, please tell me you took the Sanctum phone from my bag?” My heart was pounding in my chest.
The look Sam gave me told me all I needed to know. That little fucker!
“So that’s his plan. Get Sanctum to help him.” I couldn’t believe Ryder had stolen the phone from me!
Sam thought about it for a second, his head tilting to the side. “It’s actually brilliant. We’re days out from the plan going into place. Paperwork arrived this morning from Cellway. Our covers are assured. But Ryder is still worried about their loyalty. He’s going to make them jump through a few hoops before the plan.”
I growled, despite Sam making a lot of sense. I didn’t want to see logic right now. Ryder took that phone and left me, that’s all I saw. Although a part of me felt slightly better. Involving Sanctum meant this wasn’t a complete suicide mission. Ryder really did plan on returning to me alive. Of course, I might kill him when I got my hands on him, so that would be redundant.
Sam’s computer buzzed and he read something for a second and then grinned.
“Ryder is using the secure phone to contact us. This definitely wasn’t as irrational as we thought. He seems to actually have a solid plan.”
Becca stopped what she was doing now and I strode across the room, avoiding the wires and machines. “What does it say?”
Sam smiled. “He says: I bet our little unicorn is fuming mad. It’s safer this way, she’s everything to me, tie her up if you have to but don’t let her come after me. I’m not alone here, the plan is already in place.”
My mouth opened at that last part and I found myself flexing my muscles, readying myself for his attack. Sam’s eyes locked on me, and I could tell he was actually considering it. Ryder was still their leader, and they were used to his orders. I straightened, and started thinking of every self-defense technique Markus had taught me. I was going after Ryder, and none of these assholes were stopping me.