Chapter 1

 

“Jayden!”

My scream sounded slightly hysterical at this point. I knew I needed to pull myself together. It was just a date, for freak’s sake. Sure, it was a date with Ryder, who was probably the hottest ash on the planet, but it wasn’t like I’d never been on a date before. I needed to pull my shit together immediately and there was no one better to help me with that than my BAFF. Best ash friend forever came with certain requirements, and first date help was at the top of the list.

Jayden’s eyelashes entered the room first. Those luscious lashes were like a damn foot long, and my boy knew how to flutter them for full effect. Behind them were coal-black eyes, with a slight ring of silver. Ash eyes. Which looked hot as heck on the chocolate-skinned stunner who was my best friend. He ground to a halt a foot inside my room, hand dramatically slamming to his hips.

“Hell to the freaking no, Charlie. You will not leave the house in that! Over my dead, well-dressed body.”

I sighed and somehow stopped myself from rolling my eyes at him. “Dude, I did not scream because I needed your help choosing—”

“You need more than my help, girl, you need a mutha-freaking intervention. Jeans, Converse, and a tank is not date material. It’s Ryder. Did you forget that you were possibly going to have the chance to fuc–”

“Jayden!” My horrified snort of laughter cut him off this time. “I need you to help with my hair, just my hair.”

He strode the rest of the way across and plonked himself down onto my bed, his muscled biceps looking even more prominent than usual. Someone had been doing more than just chasing Oliver through the weights room.

“Nope, no way in all hell. We make a deal right here and now. I will do your hair and makeup, have you looking like the second hottest ash bitch in this Hive, but I also get to choose three outfits for you, and you must wear one of the three.”

This time my eyes were rolling, there was no way to stop them. He was so damned dramatic. I studied myself in the mirror, not really seeing what was so wrong with my outfit. I’d gone for sexy comfort, not knowing where we were going tonight. Besides, Ryder seemed to like me exactly the way I was, even with my Tomb Raider style of dress. It was just my hair, which was a freaking mess of weirdly shaped curls. I couldn’t use a curling iron to save my life. Looked like I was going to have to compromise tonight.

I met Jayden’s eyes in my mirror and gave him my best resting bitch face. “Okay, find your three outfits, and if you even mention nipple pasties this time, I will personally show Oliver that photo of you from when you were fourteen.”

His eyes widened. “You wouldn’t. I had acne and braces and weird lanky arms and legs. That’s the shittiest best friend move ever.”

I shrugged. “You’ve given me no choice but to play hardball.”

The slightest of grins tipped up his lips. “You win this round. I will choose three Charlie-approved outfits for you, then we can work on that horror hair you have going on there. Shit, girl, I hope I have enough time. How long until your date?”

Ryder was taking me out at midnight. We were on Hive time, which was geared toward awake at night and asleep for a lot of the daylight hours. “Two hours,” I said to Jayden.

He was suddenly up, and in a flurry of energy stormed to my closet and started flicking through the hangers and drawers. I remained where I was. I’d seen him like this many a time; he was on a fashion warpath and it was safer to stay on the sidelines until he was ready for me. My stomach clenched in anticipation then. It really didn’t matter what I wore, I was so ready for this date tonight.

 

One hour and forty-five minutes later I gave myself one last look in the mirror. Jayden had out-freaking-done himself tonight. There were no nipple pasties and I was really happy with my outfit: skintight black jeans that had to have been custom made, they hugged my legs and cupped my butt perfectly, Jayden was probably creeping in my bedroom at night and taking my measurements or something. But I was not going to complain. The jeans were topped off with a deep, rich purple top hanging dangerously low off one shoulder, exposing my black bra and draping across my figure nicely. It was tight enough to be fitted, but loose enough that I didn’t feel uncomfortable or exposed. Black ankle boots added three inches to my five-feet-seven. Team that with the bottle of O-negative blood I drank and I was ready for a date.

A knock at the door sent my stomach fluttering. Oh man, I had it bad. I inhaled deeply and smiled. Crossing the length of the living room, I rested my hand on the door knob and took another deep breath.

Date with Ryder, leader of the sexy six and ash enforcer. No big deal.

“Have fun, bitch. Wake me up to give me details,” Jayden called out behind me.

Chuckling, I opened the door and in that moment all thoughts of my BAFF fled my brain.

Standing before me was the kind of guy you gawked at in magazines … and he was carrying flowers. Ryder stood well over six feet tall, and every inch of him was toned muscle. Dark locks of hair hung wild, framing his chiseled jaw. He was wearing jeans tonight, soft and worn, and on top of that a dark gray, ribbed, long-sleeved Henley. It fit perfectly to his well-honed muscles. He looked every inch the warrior, and trust me, I’d seen him in action. He was a scary mutha when he was angry.

He handed me the flowers. The blooms looked extra delicate against all the masculinity of their backdrop.

“You look beautiful,” he said, his low voice growly. I liked it.

As he stepped closer, towering over me even with my heels, I swallowed hard, hit all of a sudden with the memory of him in a towel. That was a good day. Not sure what else happened on that day in the Hive but the towel had definitely happened.

Clutching the yellow daisies closer, I couldn’t halt my grin. “Thanks, I didn’t think you were a flowers kind of guy.”

Jayden popped up behind me. “I’ll put them in some water,” he said as he winked at the lead enforcer.

Ryder reached out and took my hand and just like that we were walking down the hall of the Hive, hand in hand like a … a couple. Ah, if only it were that easy. Ryder was still dealing with the fact that he drained his fiancée Molly to death when he turned into an ash over thirty years ago. But for now this was more than enough. Got to start somewhere, and he was already hitting the right buttons.

After taking the elevator down to the main floor, we quickly made our way into the enforcer garage. Opening the door, I raised an eyebrow as I saw the rest of the sexy six leaning up against the blacked-out Humvee.

Oliver let loose with a catcall whistle: “Dayum, little unicorn, you sure do clean up well.”

I grinned at Jayden’s boyfriend.

“Crashing my date, boys?” I hollered back, only half joking. Seriously, were they coming? Surely Ryder could handle any minor threats.

Ryder turned to me and whispered so softly I could barely hear him. “After the attack from Sanctum and the other incident in the pit … I can’t take any chances.”

Whoa. Date night had officially turned heavy. Of course, the Sanctum was certainly one big scary group of asshole killers to worry about, but the other incident, the one in the pit, was worse.

Just a week ago Ryder had released a vampire prisoner who had fed from me, only to find out he was human and I had somehow, with my magical unicorn blood, cured him of his vampirism. Ryder said he’d taken care of the body, and no one knew anything about me being the cure, but still, I hadn’t slept well since that night. I didn’t even want to think about what it all meant.

There was one thing I did know: if Ryder thought he needed the entire sexy six out to guard me on our date night, it sure as shit meant I was in trouble.

“We’re going to India Palace,” Ryder said to Kyle.

The huge jovial male, with his mop of dirty-blond hair, was Ryder’s best friend, the one guy he trusted most with his secrets. Kyle was the only other one who knew about my blood being the cure. He had been there in the pit and was helping to cover it all up.

Kyle flicked me a grin before nodding at Ryder. Then he and the rest of the boys piled into the second Humvee. Ryder opened the passenger door of our car and ushered me in. As I slid into my seat, his arm grazed across my shirt, scraping the side of my right breast. I almost jumped out of my seat, and the tension in my body, which was already at its peak, shot up further. Was it actually possible to be so attracted to a guy that literally the slightest touch had me tied up with so many emotions?

Our gazes clashed for a moment and it took everything inside of me not to clench his shirt in my fists and pull him into me, to touch my lips to his, to taste that intoxicating spiciness which was all Ryder.

His full lips quirked at the corners and something dark rose in his ash eyes, the silver swirling in arcs. “Buckle yourself in,” he finally said, pulling away, his body grazing mine again.

Pretty sure that time was deliberate.

He shut the door and I took a second to pull myself together. Holy hot day in hell, he was totally going to be the death of me.

As Ryder got into the other side, I forced my mind out of the gutter and back on the dinner ahead of us. Indian food. Ten points for Ryder. My inner food whore was officially drooling. Bring on the garlic naan and butter chicken.

 

An hour later I was having trouble breathing because I’d basically inhaled every menu item at India Palace. Ryder smiled, flashing one of his dimple-filled grins.

“I’ll be honest. I’ve never seen a girl eat that much.”

I shrugged. “Just wait until dessert.”

One good thing about being an ash—increased metabolism and inability to get fat—I hoped anyway. I’d never seen a fat ash or vampire, so that had to mean something.

Ryder’s grin widened, turning into a laugh. Goddamn, he had the best laugh. He was always so serious. And the way his eyes remained locked on me, like there was no one else in the room…

Which wasn’t technically true, since there was a scattering of ash and vampires about, though I had no idea why the vamps were here, seeing they didn’t really eat food. It did convey a sense of security, having the sexy six around us. The boys were keeping an eye on me and Ryder, and somehow managing to eat even more than I did. Except for Sam of course. The most serious of the sexy six was patrolling outside. Over-achiever, that one.

As Ryder’s laughter died off, I fluttered my lashes, giving him a subtle wink. “Nice to see you can laugh. For a while there, right after I first met you, I was sure you had a Botox addiction and couldn’t actually smile.”

He chuckled again and let his eyes roam over me, landing on my lips. “I won’t tell you what I thought when I first met you. Wouldn’t be gentleman-like.”

Well, hot damn.

I sat up straighter, and just as I was about to make another attempt at flirting, movement outside the wall of glass just beyond Ryder distracted me. The window looked out over downtown Portland, and until now the streets had been pretty quiet, which wasn’t a huge surprise at this late hour. A shadow flashed again and I relaxed when I recognized Sam, decked out in a black trench coat. He was doing his best to fulfill every stereotype of our sire’s kind—the old tall, dark, and deadly vampire.

Still, his outfit had a practical use. The rain was falling softly outside—Portland was always raining—and it was icy tonight with winter approaching. I hoped Sam was okay out there.

“How did you all meet?” I asked, turning back to Ryder. My curiosity about this tight-knit group of males was high. Ryder had been following my gaze, so he knew what I meant.

He flicked another glance back over his shoulder, eyes locked on the silent, patrolling enforcer, and the fierceness he wore so effortlessly softened just a little.

“You know the basics of Kyle and me. We were best friends from a young age, as were our mothers. My ash genetics kicked in first, but with everything that happened, I was lost for some time…”

He trailed off and I knew he would be caught in memories then, unpleasant ones of killing his fiancée. “So Kyle actually went through the culling first, and had a place in the Hive by the time it was my turn to fight to the death.”

Obviously they’d both made it through that barbaric practice. Not a huge surprise. Even before I knew the boys so well, I’d have bet money on them surviving. They were both absolutely lethal. If they’d have been in my group, I’d never have made it through alive.

“Oliver came to our Hive about ten years after Kyle and me. The cullings weren’t so organized then. Let’s just say they were more of a total bloodbath, less sponsors and no rules. No one wanted to train a gay guy, no one wanted a gay guy to join the Hive period. This was in the nineties, when people weren’t as accepting of that lifestyle.”

I leaned forward on my elbows as his rich voice wove this tale around me.

Ryder shrugged. “I saw him practicing on his own. He was good, fast as hell, and powerful. I offered to train him and told everyone in the Hive that he was not to be harmed. He survived and is one of my best hand-to-hand combat fighters.”

Could this guy get any more intriguing? And sexy? Because kindness was something I found utterly irresistible in this world filled with bullies and assholes.

“And Sam?” Sam was such a puzzle to me. Always silent. Totally deadly.

Something flashed across Ryder’s face but then it was gone.

“Sam’s been through a lot. He joined us about fifteen years ago. Found him when we were out on a call. We were alerted to the fact that a rogue ash was feeding on hikers up in Canada, leaving a trail of rumors and stories behind as he made his way into Oregon. We weren’t sure if it was a true call in or not since there were never any bodies left, just reports of animal-type attacks. Still, I had a feeling, so we checked it out. Sure enough, we found Sam. He was near dead—hypothermia can be deadly to ash—and despite this he managed to half kill me before I could capture him. Took me an entire year to gain his trust. Never regretted my decision though, he’s saved my life over a dozen times, is as loyal as they come, and surprisingly enough, wicked on a snowboard.”

The last part startled me. Sam snowboarding? Who knew?

“Jared?” I asked next. I loved the way that Ryder’s entire face changed when he talked about his best friends. I wanted more of this openness.

Ryder startled me with a bark of laughter. “That’s a crazy story. Let’s just say we met at an annual enforcer conference in Australia. I nearly lost my arm and Jared is no longer allowed in his home country.”

I raised an eyebrow and nodded. Okay, I would need to hear the rest of that story another time.

“And lastly Markus, with his pretty little man bun.” The Scottish enforcer was one of my favorites. He was a massive monster but funny as all hell. And kind. Most importantly he was kind.

Ryder leaned back a little, that damn half-smile on his face. I loved that smile. “Markus made it his life’s mission to bring me down a few—”

He was cut off by the sound of glass shattering behind him.

The enforcers around me acted immediately, tables upturning and weapons drawn. Ryder was already out of his seat and had me yanked to the floor by the time a projectile flew through the smashed window and clanked against the hardwood floors. Chaos broke out, and the enforcers closed quarters around us. No more than a few seconds had passed as I leaned forward to see better. Was that a gas canister?

Just as I had that thought, we were moving. Two of the guys had me under each arm and were practically lifting me off the floor and floating me across the room. Seriously? Okay, I might have a little trouble taking orders, but there was no need to manhandle me. I was not some damsel that needed to be carried out by her brave knights. I had two freaking feet and I could use them just fine.

It was extra annoying that in the crazy chaos I couldn’t even tell who was holding me. At least I could sense Ryder was close by. Smoke began filling the room, and as the vapor hit, my lungs burned and I started coughing and spluttering. What the fuck? We were in Portland, not exactly a war-torn city. Who was attacking us and where the hell had they gotten this type of weapon? It had to be Sanctum. It was too much of a coincidence that the very restaurant we were in just got randomly attacked.

My eyes were streaming tears as our group zipped through the restaurant and out into the back kitchen. Everyone was screaming and I could hear what sounded like gunshots outside—five or six pops in a row. Shit was getting serious now. As soon as we cleared out of the main room, I realized Ryder was on my right, pressed closely against me.

“Sanctum?” I shouted at him, before dissolving into another coughing fit.

We finally reached clear air near the open back door, but the longer we stood there the more the damn smoke followed us. Sucking in as much of the fresh Portland air as I could, my cough started to subside, but I could already feel the roar of pain in my throat. Ryder hadn’t answered me yet, and before I could ask again he let me go and withdrew the gun he always carried.

“Stay here,” he said, his tone firm. He turned, and with Kyle on the other side of him, the pair slid out the back door—probably checking to see if it was safe for us to leave.

I glanced back to find the smoke still billowing out of the main restaurant and surrounding our group. Had Ryder seriously warned me to stay put? I was so totally ignoring the bossy enforcer, because really, who the hell did he think he was ordering me to do anything? He could be in danger out there. It was that thought more than any other that propelled me forward.

Oliver, who had been standing beside me, made no real objections when I followed the rest of the enforcers into the alley. I noticed Ryder, Kyle, Markus, and Jared near the main street. The lights were filtering across their faces. Oliver and I strode closer.

As I neared the group I heard Jared call out. “It’s the damn Bible thumpers again!”

Markus, who towered over the other men, was looking uncharacteristically serious as he turned to face Ryder. “They’re gone. Sam went postal on them, shot up their vans.”

“Bible thumpers?” I asked as I stepped into their inner circle. Ryder didn’t seem overly surprised to see me, but still gave me a bit of a deadpan glance. He’d totally known I would not stay put, but still had to issue the demand. Men.

Before they could answer, my eyes were drawn to a nearby wall, which was plastered with government issued “Are you an ash?” posters, the ones which listed the symptoms and had the hotline number at the bottom. All of them were defaced with red spray paint, so fresh it still dripped from the posters. It took me a second in the dim light, but then I finally realized what had been tagged on them. One word: Evil. I shivered. Okay, now I was more than creeped out—standing here in the dark streets after having just been smoke-bombed out of my dinner date.

Some of the tension left Ryder as he holstered his weapon and gestured to the poster. “They’re a pain in my ass. Call themselves ‘Deliverance.’ It’s a religious group that think we’re all evil and want to wipe us from the Earth, and since they have insane amounts of money, they have plenty of resources at their disposal. Their end game is to cure the world of vampirism.”

A moment later Ryder and I froze as if a damn light bulb had gone off above both of our heads.

Holy shit.

Did they know about the pit? No! They couldn’t, right? How could they know? Ryder would not have left any loose ends for them to find, that was for sure, but I guess there was still my blood work out there. The Hive had taken more than one sample from me, and who knew where those results ended up. Not to mention we were all pretty sure there was a mole in the Hive, maybe feeding information out into the human world. That was why we trusted no one outside of this core group. And Jayden.

With their hate-on for our kind, I didn’t believe Deliverance was in bed with Sanctum, but the timing of the two attacks was hard to ignore. Was there a connection between the groups? Someone in our Hive? Or had we just been unlucky enough to be the only ash out on Deliverance’s nightly “clean up the streets” vendetta? Either way, I knew my time was running out. Secrets always came out.

I must have made a noise, some sort of distressed whimper. Ryder’s head shot up and we shared an intense look. From the corner of my eye I noticed the bewildered stares of the rest of the boys. Kyle was the one exception. He already had all the facts.

There was so much hidden emotion on Ryder’s stony face. He seemed worried, like, for the first time he had no answers.

A Humvee peeled around the corner, distracting us all. Sam was at the wheel, his face alive and murderous. Shooting up the Deliverance was clearly his idea of a good time. He screeched to a halt, opening the door and tossing Ryder the keys.

“Four men packing deadly weapons. They intended to kill, or possibly capture,” he said, in typical Sam style, using as few words as he could.

Ryder’s hardened expression did not ease, although he let out a small huff, resigned.

“Boys, we need to talk.” He motioned to the Hummer and in silence we all piled in.

I knew what was coming. We couldn’t keep my secret forever, and if Ryder trusted the sexy six with my life, then I did too. We had to tell them so they knew just what we were up against.

No one spoke as we left the restaurant; the tension inside the vehicle was palpable. It was a tight squeeze in a single car. Guess they’d go back for the other Hummer later. After about ten minutes of silent driving, I realized Ryder was going in the opposite direction of the Hive. I was about to say something when I saw a familiar landmark. He was taking us to the lake, the place where he grew up. No doubt he was worried that the Humvee was bugged, and after the Sanctum attacks we weren’t taking any chances. We needed to ferret out that mole in our Hive ASAP.

The other enforcers remained mute, staring out the window, following Ryder’s lead. As we halted in a small section which was blocked off from the main road by a mass of trees, Ryder threw the car in park and we exited.

I snuggled tighter into my black jacket, pulling my hood over my head against the cold. Ryder maneuvered his way around to me, reached out and took my hand. Even in the darkness I could see the silver of his eyes as our gazes met.

His voice was calm, serious. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” There was not an ounce of hesitation in my reply. I trusted Ryder to the same level as my mom and Tess. Family level. Sure, he had electrocuted me once, but I had pretty much let that go.

The hardness he’d been shrouded in since our date had been interrupted, finally started to ease. My trust meant something to him. His grip tightened as he pulled me close and turned to lead us through the trees. The rest of the guys flanked us as we walked for a few minutes away from the car and into a wooded green space. Portland was full of government-protected greenspace forests, which I loved; it felt like home when I was surrounded by nature.

As we crunched our way through the woods, I wondered how the rest of the sexy six would react to the fact that I was some sort of vampire cure. I was nervous. Even though I knew these guys deserved to know the truth when they had to risk their lives for me, I still wondered if we were doing the right thing spreading this information.

Eventually Ryder stopped and we all huddled in a circle. The rain had thankfully eased, but the cold was still prevalent. Ash genetics could only do so much to keep us warm.

Jared was the first to speak: “What’s up, mate? Must be some serious sort of news to drag us out into the ass-end of the city?” I took a moment to appreciate the Australian enforcer’s accent. Man, I was a sucker for accents, and we had a sexy mix of them in this group.

Ryder’s voice was low but clear, and I took some reassurance in the way he seemed completely unworried.

“Charlie is more than just a female ash…”

My focus, as always, was on the lead enforcer, but for some reason I felt the scrutiny of one of the others. Sure enough, as I shifted my gaze, I realized Sam was eyeballing me. Hard. I shivered a little. He was the toughest of all the enforcers to read, and even an idiot would see he was filled to the brim with secrets.

“Remember that vamp in the club who bit her…?”

I realized that Ryder was still explaining, and unable to stand the tension any longer I had a brain-to-mouth-filter malfunction.

“I’m the cure for vampirism,” I blurted.

There was dead silence for a few moments after that—wide eyes and slack jaws. Yep, that was not what most of them had expected the news to be.

Oliver, who was as manly as they came, decided now to channel his inner Jayden as he threw out a few flamboyant hand gestures. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

I exhaled loudly. “Like Ryder was saying, that vamp asshole bit me at the club and then you all threw him in the pit...”

They nodded.

“We went down to free him,” Kyle said, “as per Quorum orders, and imagine our surprise when he turned up as a human.”

Most of the boys still looked shocked, but Sam’s face was a mask of calm. I was getting a feeling about him, like he knew more than he was saying. Of course, before I could press him, the others distracted me with a bunch of curses and angry exclamations.

“Well, shit, looks like our little unicorn is dipped in gold,” Markus finally said, his brogue deep and smooth. “What’s the plan?”

Ryder took a moment. I could almost see the tumult of thoughts flashing through his mind. “I got rid of the human. No one knows about Charlie.”

Sam’s growl cut him off. “You can’t know that.” His voice was dark, ominous. The man of few words looked fired up, which had more alarm bells ringing in my head.

Ryder’s brow furrowed at his mysterious best friend. “You’re right. I don’t know for absolute sure that this information is not in the community. And the timing of the Sanctum and Deliverance attacks are suspicious to say the least. The truth is, it’s only a matter of time until someone comes for her again, so we have two options. Stay and play good boys at the Hive—use that time to tap into our resources and try to find the mole, try to find who hired the Sanctum, and see if we can discern any connection between Sanctum and Deliverance. Then when the shit hits the fan, I take Charlie and run.” Clearly he’d had the same thoughts as me outside the restaurant. “Or … I can just take Charlie now and run.”

Whoa. Run where? Survive how? The fact that Ryder was willing to drop everything and run away to protect me did crazy fluttery things to my insides. I understood why we had to run. Not even Ryder could take on the entire vampire population, yet I hated the thought that anyone would give up their life for me. This was bullshit, the entire thing.

“We run.” Markus said with force.

“Huh?” I said, furrowing my brows.

Kyle nodded. “We stay in the Hive, gather information, and when the shit hits the fan, we run. Together.”

He put his fist in the center of the circle, and each of the sexy six followed suit. After their macho fist bump, Ryder tucked me closer to his strong frame.

“I’ll start planning for that day. Until then, we tell no one.”

As we turned to start back to the car, Sam, who had still been staring at me the entire time, growled through clenched teeth: “This can never be mentioned inside the Hive. If her secret is found out by the humans, she will be experimented on and drained to distribute the cure and end the virus. If her secret is found out by the vampires, she will be decapitated and then burned for fear of her taking away all their power.” Since he rarely spoke in full sentences, we all knew he felt strongly about this information.

Ryder reached out and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “That will never happen, brother. Not while I’m still alive to fight.”

Sam’s worried words brought it all home for me. He was right. No matter who found out about this, there was no happy ending for Charlie. Can I just say FML?