Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)(9)

Ryder was all business. “Becca, how safe are we out here? How far are the nearest neighbors? Who knows of you? Have you ever been seen? When do you grocery shop, get mail, water the garden?”

Whoa. My man was channeling his angers into OCD right now. Sam was giving Ryder a bit of a glare, but Becca didn’t seem worried. “We’re very secluded and safe, in my scientific opinion. The nearest neighbors are two miles south. They’re a small impoverished family that own a failing potato farm. They know of me, they think I’m a vampire. They would never turn me in. I saved their daughter’s life three years ago. I wear blue contacts when I go into town, and since female ash don’t exist and female vampires can’t go out in the day, everyone in town thinks I’m a human scientist. Still, I limit town visits to once a month.”

Ryder looked skeptical. “You let this farm family know about you? How are you sure they can be trusted?”

Becca squared her shoulders and stared my man down like an alpha. “I trust them with all of our lives.”

Holy shit, homegirl went from awkward nerd to possessive mom in two seconds. Jayden and I shared an impressed look. Ryder nodded, letting that line of questioning go.

“Okay, but I still want twenty-four-hour watch. We’ll trade days, sleep in shifts, and do four hour watches. It’s clear that the vampires will stop at nothing to find and punish us.”

The rest of the sexy six nodded.

Jayden raised a hand. “Yeah, that’s a problem for me. I need my beauty sleep.”

Ryder gave a tense grin, or more like bared teeth as he shook his head. “I didn’t include you, Becca, or Charlie in my calculations.”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Are you saying I need beauty sleep? I’m not sitting on my ass the whole time we’re here. I’m still training. I will take a watch too.”

Ryder stepped closer to me, lowering his voice, and the boys and Becca busied themselves with inspecting the floor or ceiling as Ryder and I got into it.

“I just lost a lot of people I cared about. I won’t lose you too. The answer is no.” His jaw was clenched as if he was daring me to fight him on it. And dammit, normally I would, but he was right. He’d just lost a lot of his friends and I didn’t want to stress him out now. Instead I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his rough stubbly cheek. “I’m conceding to you right now because of special circumstances. But don’t get used to bossing me around. We’re a team. Got it?”

He was no doubt feeling out of control and I would give him this one thing. Let him think he could govern my safety.

“Always a team, Charlie. I just need you to be safe,” he said, before turning to the boys. “By now the Quorum will know the truth about Charlie. They won’t stop at just the Portland Hive.”

Kyle frowned. “You think they would take out other ash? Other enforcers? All across the world?”

Ryder shrugged. “I think they see the scales tipping in our favor. We need to start thinking about the bigger picture.”

Silence descended on our small group and Becca and I shared a look. This right here, these eight people were my family now. If I couldn’t trust them I was fucked. So I cleared my throat and dropped the bomb.

“Becca is going to design a mass-produced-cure with my blood and I’m going to cure every single vampire. Every. Single. One.”

“No.” Ryder interrupted me, but I stopped him with a hand to the face.

“I believe in destiny, and I think this is why I’m here. My greater purpose. I’m going to cure the world of the Anima Mortem virus and return all these assholes back to their families.”

Jayden’s eyes were brimming with tears as he looked at me with pride. Holy shit, did I just grow up? Adulting sucked.

Becca nudged her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. “Technically, they can’t help being A-holes,” she said, her cheeks going slightly red as she stumbled over the last word. OMG, did she not swear? I was pretty sure I couldn’t trust someone who didn’t swear. This girl needed a lesson in how to speak Charlie.

“What do you mean?” Out with it, woman!

“Well, it’s fascinating really, and a little sad. Oxytocin, which is the neuropeptide that has been dubbed ‘the love hormone,’ is in charge of social bonding, maternal behavior, and trust. And it is completely missing in ninety-nine percent of the vampires. The Anima Mortem virus seems to just gobble it up in the first few months after the change.”

Her words flushed fear right into my gut and only one thing came to mind. “Tessa.”

Ryder took my hand and looked at Becca. “Her friend was changed recently, but she didn’t seem like the other vampires.”

Becca gave me the same look I expect doctors give patients right before dropping news of their impending death. Clearly she wanted to say more, I could tell, but she was hiding it.

“Just tell me.”

Becca sighed. “Well, they all seem normal in the beginning. It takes a few months. It happens faster in children. That’s why not many children mentally survive the change.”

Oh fuck. She was saying that Tessa might turn into a creepy asshole like Fugly! No!

Jayden threw his hands up. “Okay, ya’ll, this has been an epic shit day! We need to mellow out. Becca, girl, tell me you got some blood wine here.”