Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(5)

“Wait, wait. I wasn’t ready!” Jared pleaded, but Ryder just moved him along.

“Jayden, you want a go?” Ryder asked my BAFF.

Jayden grinned, showcasing all of his beautiful white teeth. “I’ll pass, dear. I’m secure with the length of my manhood.”

Becca’s mouth dropped open.

Oh snap! God I loved that man. Ryder just shoved the comment off and sat in front of Sam. They engaged in an epic staredown. This was the battle of the alphas, and just like wolves, neither looked away.

“You could have trusted me with this,” Ryder finally said.

Sam sighed. “It wasn’t your burden to bear. You had enough going on.”

I knew he was talking about Molly, Ryder’s fiancée.

Sam held up his hand and Ryder gripped it tightly.

Sam leaned himself over the table. “You know this isn’t a fair fight. You’re a descendent from the house of strength.”

Ryder grinned his cockiest of grins. “What’s wrong? Scared?”

It was on; they both flexed their muscles and Sam’s hand started shifting backwards. He grunted and I thought the veins in his face might burst if he kept this up much longer.

With a slam, in the end Ryder won with ease.

Sam looked resigned. “I should have told you.”

Ryder nodded and clapped Sam on the shoulder. Just like that, everything was great between the boys again. My animal analogy was really not far from the truth; men had changed very little over the thousands of years of humanity.

Jayden ran forward. “Group hug!”

Oliver laughed as Jayden tackle-hugged a bewildered Sam and Ryder and I decided why the hell not and got in on the pileup. Sam was still sitting in the chair so we ended up just sitting on him or hugging him from the back. Jared reached forward and yanked a hair off Sam’s head.

“Ow! Did someone pull my hair!” I heard the silent enforcer yell.

“It was me, mate. Payback.”

Gotta love Australians and their payback.

Becca stood there awkwardly and I felt bad for her. She didn’t seem to quite fit in with our group yet. But something told me she would, one day.

Sam’s muffled voice came out again: “Okay, you’ve tortured me enough. I’ll never lie again. Please, God, just get off of me.”

We all laughed and backed away from the Sam love pile. A weight lifted from my chest. Sam was forgiven and we were back to being one big happy family again. I was so relieved to know that I could stop worrying and doubting one of my guys. It was us against the vampire world, and we had to have total trust in each other. Speaking of…

“Okay, now that all of this is worked out, Sam, I need you to find out what’s going on back at the Hive. Is Tessa safe? What happened to Lucas? Has Carter updated with anything about him and my mom?”

Sam smoothed back his mussed hair and nodded. “I have a secure computer here.”

Jayden pointed at Becca. “You.”

Becca paled. “Me?” she all but squeaked.

Jayden nodded. “You need to take me shopping. I refuse to wear this…” He was at a loss for words to describe his sweatpants and flip-flops. “Any longer.”

Becca smiled. “You won’t like any of the shops in town, but we get deliveries out here. So you can order anything online.”

Jayden’s mouth popped open and his eyes almost rolled back in his head. He looked like he was having a mini-orgasm.

Becca handed him a credit card. “Spend however much you need. Sam has us well funded.”

Again I raised my eyebrows at Sam and wondered if this wasn’t one of the “charities” that had received money from Deliverance.

Jayden’s hand shook as he took the card. His eyes were wide and a little crazed. “Unlimited online shopping? Everyone give me your sizes. I’ll be in my room for the next three days.”

I smiled. Jayden was officially in heaven, but I was hoping they didn’t sell nipple pasties online.

Becca held up a hand. “Right. Rooms. We have mostly bunkbed-style shared barracks, but there are two private rooms. One’s mine, so ... the other…”

Ryder stepped forward. “Charlie and I will take the other one.”

Oh my GAWD. Did he just do that? I was trying to decide if it was too forward or the hottest goddamn thing ever. I went with hot. I grinned.

Wait, did Ryder just ask me to move in with him?

Jayden and Oliver gave us glares. I waggled my fingers at them in a half-wave. Sorry, bitches. I earned this.



The room I was officially sharing with Ryder was small but cozy, and most importantly it had a soft bed with a thick down comforter. I had been starting to worry I’d be stuck in a sleeping bag on a cot. I had all of seven worldly possessions at the moment, and so after putting away my cheap plastic toothbrush, plastic package of cotton granny panties, and one extra t-shirt, I went to find the boys.

Turning from the bed, I saw that Ryder was standing in the doorway watching me. His gaze was hard to read, but damn he looked sexy. Even in cheap sweatpants and a t-shirt the guy could be on a billboard.

“Hey,” I said.

He stepped in and looked around the small room. Queen bed, bookshelf, and nightstand.

“Hope you don’t mind I claimed the room for us.” His eyes were saying a lot more than his words.