Chapter 3

 

As soon as we closed in, Ryder gunned the gas and hopped the curb. No fucking around for the lead enforcer. The humans dowsing the ash with water turned as he slammed on the brakes, stopping the Humvee inches from the cross. I could see now that they had actually tied up the ash with razor wire and his arms were bleeding badly.

“Stay in the car and get ready to drive!” Ryder ordered me. Then all the doors flew open and the five enforcers leapt out, guns raised.

Holy fuck. Nothing like a front row seat. I was close enough to see the crazy anger across the humans’ faces. It was this glint of insanity that had true fear cramping my gut. There was no way to predict what a group of unstable people would do and I was panicking, not just for my team, but for the hogtied ash with guns to their heads. This faceoff was raising the danger of them being killed.

The Deliverance humans straightened as they got a good look at the boys in black. The maniacs at the rear, the ones with the larger guns, turned toward them. Oh hell no. I slowly climbed in the front seat, put my foot on the brake and slipped the car into drive just in case. I would mow these bitches down if shit looked like it was going south.

Ryder and the boys had left the doors open, so I could hear every word. The lead enforcer’s voice was calm as he pointed his gun at a greying woman, mid-fifties, who was short, stocky, and full of fire. She was standing center stage and Ryder had clearly surmised she was the one in charge. Not to mention she was the one clutching a Bible, her jaw set and her eyes angry. This bitch would kill for her beliefs. I could see it.

“Your actions are illegal. The human government has stated that unless provoked, ash must not be harmed. Walk away now!” Ryder’s voice remained calm but the unspoken threat was clear. If the old bitch didn’t walk away, shit was going to go down.

She smiled. “I follow one ruler! He is above all and His law states that you are an abomination that must be wiped from this Earth.”

Shit. Markus, who was the closest to Ryder, took a small step forward. “As a Catholic of many years, I don’t recall seeing vampires or ash in the Bible. We’re all humans too, just different. It’s nothing more than the results of a virus from infected bats. That’s it. Nothing to do with the devil or evil. No apocalypse. Look…”

Markus pulled a necklace from his shirt and dangling there was a cross. The woman’s nostrils flared, her mouth nearly foaming in anger.

“How dare you!” She reached into her jacket with her free hand and pulled out a gun. Now there was another human pointing their weapon at the enforcers.

“Stop right now or I’ll shoot to kill. I’m well within my rights!” I recognized the register of Ryder’s voice now. He was not messing around.

The woman wore a similar expression. I almost yelled out as I saw her finger flex on the trigger, and in that moment my movement must have caught her eye. Her face shuttered as recognition lit up her features.

“It’s her,” she whispered, but I could still hear her.

Shit. Out in the bright daylight, with silver eyes, I wouldn’t be mistaken for anything else. Female ash. Unicorn. Antichrist most probably. I clenched my hands even tighter around the steering wheel as I tried to destroy her with an angry glare. A glint flickered across her eyes, followed by a wry grin, then she swung into action.

The next sixty seconds was the worst minute of my life. The time went by so slowly, and yet it was over by the time I sucked in my next deep breath. I still don’t remember how everything went down—probably I had mentally blanked a lot of it out. The woman pivoted quickly and fired her gun like a drunken maniac, spraying bullets.

Through those first moments my eyes were locked on Ryder, who dived forward and away from the Humvee which would have protected him. Nope, instead it looked like he deliberately jumped in front of Markus, shielding the larger man. A scream froze on my lips as both men fell. Even with Ryder’s heroic act, both him and the Scottish enforcer—not to mention the ash hung up on the cross—received the full brunt of her spray of bullets. Kyle, Oliver, and Jared managed to take refuge behind one of the car doors and were already returning fire. My foot bounced on the brake pedal, but since Ryder had dropped in front of the car I couldn’t gas it.

I was just trying to figure out the best way to help the boys when the crazies holding the ash hogtied swung their weapons down and started firing—kill-shots to the ashes’ heads, all of them dead in a moment.

“Nooo!” This time I couldn’t hold back my panicked shouts. Shit. What the hell was going on here? How had this gotten so out of control!

Slamming my mouth closed, I breathed in short puffs. There wasn’t enough air left in the world for me right now. I couldn’t fill my lungs. Flashes of black and white crossed my vision and I knew I was on the verge of a panic attack. Ash were dead. Ryder and Markus had been shot. At least the other guys were okay, but I didn’t know how bad Ryder was. Maybe the bullets had just skimmed him? I quickly talked myself down from the full-on-panic mode I’d been slipping into, knowing that I had to help, and calm was what I needed to properly assess the situation.

First thing: I needed to get to Ryder.

I flat out refused to believe he was dead. There was no way I could even think of that. It would literally drive me crazy.

No one was paying attention to me right then; they were all a little distracted by the massive gunfight going down, so I threw the car in park and slipped out the open driver side door, dropping to the ground and rolling underneath the Humvee. I had no problem army-crawling under the car. And thankfully, from what I could see, I had a direct path to the huge, not-moving body of Ryder.

Without hesitation, I started powering along, arms and elbows getting cut to shit but I didn’t care. Ryder had slumped right beneath the front of the grill but Markus was nowhere in sight. Hopefully one of the other guys had pulled him to safety, since he’d been to the side and not dead center like Ryder.

When I reached the prone enforcer, I grabbed his belt and tipped him back toward me, laying him flat. I tried not to break down at the sight of Ryder’s olive skin now as pale as snow, blood seeping from his stomach. He was completely unconscious.

Counting to ten in my head, a technique I’d learned to keep myself calm, I started to slide his body back under the car. As I backed up, I glimpsed the old lady and her psychos hidden behind a food truck. They continued shooting the shit out of our car, but only sporadically, as my boys were firing back. People were running and screaming down the street and I heard sirens in the distance. This was followed by the empty click of a gun that had run out of bullets.

“Shit,” Kyle said.

Acting on instinct, I pulled the gun from behind my back, and with the limited movement I had in the tight quarters under the car, slid it across the ground toward Kyle’s feet.

Without missing a beat, he scooped up my weapon and continued firing.

Placing one hand under Ryder’s belt and another under his armpit, I dragged him under the car. It was rough, slow going. I tried my best to be gentle, but time was a factor; he was losing too much blood. He groaned then, and I noticed he seemed to be semi-conscious now.

I huffed in and out, straining every muscle to move him.

“Shit! What the hell did you eat for breakfast, a small library?”

The mental counting slowed as my scattered mind started shooting questions at me. Was Markus dead? How long could we hold them off? How much blood could Ryder afford to lose? How the hell had all of this happened? This was supposed to be an in and out mission. Shit, I was missing Sam’s crazy-ass presence right now. That dude would have Rambo’d his way through those Deliverance, smacking them down. Hard.

I dug deep into my stubbornness, dragging Ryder six inches at a time. I flinched and almost shrieked as bullets chipped at the ground and ricocheted up under the car. Effing shitheads, they’d finally noticed me. I heard the increase of bullets from the enforcers, and was glad to see the boys had put more than a few of them down. Bodies littered the path.

Finally, by sheer stubborn willpower, I got Ryder out to the safe side of the street. Hunching over him, I fluttered around trying to figure out how to haul his massive frame up into the car. Kyle appeared behind me and jumped up to stand on the edge of the back door, shooting over the roof.

He shouted down to me. “Charlie, I’m going to get Ryder in the back now. Jared and Oliver have Markus. We’ll have to immediately try and stabilize them and control their bleeding, so we need you to get us all back to the Hive. We have to go now before the Deliverance call in backup. Do you think you can pull it together and drive?”

Okay, shit. Don’t freeze up, Charlie.

“Yes.” Because what other choice did we have?

Brave words. No idea if I could follow through. As I dragged myself back toward the door I caught sight of Jared’s blond hair. He was shooting still, hiding behind the open back door. I couldn’t see Oliver but knew he was somewhere close by. This car had to be bulletproof and reinforced, because it had taken a beating.

In one smooth movement I popped into the driver’s side, keeping my head down best I could. I waited a few seconds and the suspension lurched as a thousand-plus pounds landed in the back seats. The enforcers shut the doors best they could, but the bullets had twisted them a little, and they didn’t close properly. Oh well, it would have to be good enough for now.

Without thinking twice, I gunned the Hummer and lurched forward five feet, popping off the gutter. The Deliverance took the chance then to leave the safety of their hideout, running at us, guns blazing.

“Go, Charlie!” Jared shouted.

I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal, pulling the Humvee back onto the road. The right side of the car clipped one of the Deliverance on our way out, the tires squealing as I did zero to sixty in record time. My hands were slippery on the wheel, blood and sweat coating them. My heart was beating triple-time; I couldn’t tell what was fear and what was adrenalin. Everything felt the same in my crazed mind.

A few bullets pinged off the back as we made our escape, but that noise faded away as I screeched around another corner. Once we were a safe distance away, I managed to slow the car down and get my breathing under control. A glance in the rear was enough to see that Ryder was in Kyle’s lap. Blood and grime stained the enforcer’s dirty-blond hair and he looked like he was seconds from losing his shit. Turning back around, I refused to think that crazed look in his eyes was because of Ryder. The lead enforcer was going to be fine—he was like Superman or some shit. Bullets could not kill him. Nothing could.

Dammit. A few minutes later I wanted to look again, to make sure that everyone was still breathing. “What’s happening back there, guys?” I shouted. I couldn’t turn at the moment, I was too busy white-knuckling the steering wheel while zooming through the downtown traffic.

“I’m fine, lass, just a few wee holes in me for luck.” Hearing Markus’ brogue was a welcome relief.

“Right, just a few holes,” Oliver said drily. “He has eight bullets in him. He’s just lucky most of them ended up in his right shoulder and leg.”

“That’s only because Ryder jumped in from the side and pushed me out of the way, which I will beat his damn ass for as soon as he’s back on his feet.” Markus sounded pissed, and worried. I knew he would have done the same for Ryder. They were a team, they had each other’s backs, no matter what.

“And Ryder?” my voice shook just a little, but since I was almost totally focused on the driving I was doing, I managed to stop myself losing it too badly.

“I’m counting twelve bullets, six in the abdomen, five scattered about his extremities, and one grazed his temple, which is why he’s out for the count right now.”

I could sort of see in the rearview mirror that Kyle was applying a thick pad or pressure cloth to his best friend’s stomach.

Our eyes met in the reflection. “Just keep driving, Charlie,” he said. “I won’t let him die. We just have to get back to the Hive.”

I slammed my foot down even harder. Horns blasted at me as I sailed through a red light, but I seriously did not give a single fuck right now. I was a woman on a mission, and I was getting our asses back to the Hive in record time.

I still couldn’t believe what had just happened? Massive shootout, dead humans. The six ash we had gone to save were dead. Not exactly the first day on the job that I imagined. Those Deliverance assholes … they were totally insane, and so much more ruthless and deadly than I expected. Ryder clearly had not been expecting it either; the boys might have had their weapons out, but there had been no real urgency, as if they never anticipated the others would retaliate with deadly force.

Fury washed through me again as I wrenched the wheel and pretty much drifted around the corner. The slickness of the roads would have been scarier if I hadn’t been angry enough to set the car on fire. I’d been a bit on the angry side lately. Most of my ire was reserved for the selfish vampires who thought ash were their personal entertainment and slaves. But now there was some space in the Charlie-is-pissed vault for these religious extremist humans.

Everywhere I looked, ash were being shit on and killed by others who thought our lives were not important, that we didn’t warrant the basic rights of survival. I knew that once upon a time I had been someone who cared very little for ash or the Hive. It was something I regretted. The ash were my friends and my family; the discrimination had to stop, and it had to stop right now, because as the Hives around the world filled further, there would be less and less room for ash, and even the few rights we had would disappear.

Guess there was now at least six spots freed up in our Hive, assuming those six had been from Portland. Gah, I was turning into a psycho. Seemed the moment my shock had faded out, I was less of the “human shaking and crying” and more of the ash “pissed and ready to kill”.

As the Hive came into view, I was relieved to see the gates were open. One of the boys had called ahead. Which was good because I wasn’t stopping. I screeched up the path and into the garage, my instincts urging me to go as fast as I could and slam on the brakes to stop. But knowing that might cause more injuries to the guys, I curbed those instincts and took my time to slow smoothly.

I threw it into park, and by the time I was out the door Kyle and Oliver were already moving. It took two of them to carry Ryder; they held him between them and were sprinting for the entrance. Jared and Markus were slower, but at least the Scottish enforcer was only limping. He didn’t seem to be in mortal danger.

“Go, Charlie, I’ll be fine. Ryder needs your support.” Markus waved me off and I threw him a quick smile before I scrambled across the concrete garage.

The second the door to the Hive opened there were medical staff with a stretcher ready to care for Ryder. All vampires. WTF? Were ash not smart or something? Why were all of the medical staff and scientists full-on bloodsuckers? I’ll bet it was because they didn’t want us to be in control of any of the top-secret lab stuff. Wouldn’t want us figuring out what bullshit was going on behind the scenes.

The vampires took charge, heaving Ryder onto the stretcher and hauling ass down the hallway and to the medical wing. Since I totally did not trust these vamp bitches, I followed close. There was no way I was leaving my man crush Monday with them. Oliver had dropped back to help Jared with Markus, but Kyle kept pace with me and the medical team.

Once we reached the door to the operating room, a tall blond woman put a hand out on my chest, stopping me.

“You’ll have to wait outside.” She was polite but glaring with her squinty-ass eyes.

I pushed her hand off smoothly. “Not a chance.”

I stepped forward as she stood there with her mouth open. These people treated us like shit, put cameras up to spy on us, bugged our rooms. There was no way in hell I was leaving Ryder weakened and alone with them.

One of the male vampires that had begun cutting Ryder’s shirt open narrowed his eyes at me as well. Still I refused to move, secure with the heat of Kyle at my back.

“Operating room is for the patient only,” the male vampire growled.

Kyle and I moved further into the room, pushing the blonde out of the way. She didn’t try to stop us.

Kyle was all casual as he leaned against the wall. Despite his stance, I could see the determined fierceness in his gaze; he would not be leaving his best friend either. “We’re not leaving, and if he dies I’ll kill you all, so I suggest you stop talking and start saving his life.”

I heard the enforcer’s teeth clank as he slammed them together. His eyes were wild, and the way his right hand was twitching over his gun should have been worrying the doctors. Even if it was a bit of a suicide run trying to take on three vampires, for Ryder, Kyle and I would not even hesitate. Striding to his side, I put on my best tough-unicorn face, leaning on the wall and crossing my arms.

The male vampire’s nostrils flared as he prepared to retort, but the third scrub-attired vampire in the room, a female who looked kind of familiar, placed a hand on his arm. “You’d do the same. Besides, this one is the Quorum’s favorite. We better do all we can to save him.”

I remembered then where I’d seen her. She was one of Lucas’ confidants. Often seen with the Quorum leader. That sort of had me feeling like we might have a slight ally in the room.

The male vamp looked like he was going to ignore her. He paused with a scalpel in hand and continued glaring at us. You mother effer! If he didn’t start patching Ryder up in two seconds, I was going to go postal.

He sighed and shook his head. “Let’s do this, he’s bleeding out fast.”

The breath I had been holding left me and I nearly burst into tears. As the first cut was made, I decided to find a spot in the room to stare at because there was no way in hell I could watch this. Even the knowledge they were slicing into Ryder had me on the verge of losing my shit and falling to the ground in tears.

I felt a strong warm hand take mine, a lifeline which pulled me back from the edge.

Kyle.

I wasn’t alone. Holding on to him as tightly as I could, I decided on two things. One: life was too short to live half-assed. If you wanted something, you needed to go for it. And two: I was a hundred percent most definitely falling in love with Ryder. And who could blame me?

 

The next twelve hours were some of the most painful and scary of my life. The medical team kept asking for more blood to be hung. Not to mention all the cursing as Ryder’s stomach continued closing over the surgeon’s hands before he could patch up the damage inside. Even with the ash’s advanced healing, the organs needed to be properly stitched together, bullets removed. Just like my broken leg had to have the bones set properly before healing or it would have fused together crookedly.

Kyle and I sat on the operating floor, against the wall. We were slumped together in a ball, my head on his shoulder. The surgery seriously felt like it had been going on for years, when the doctor finally stepped away from Ryder and rolled his neck to work out the kinks.

He met my eyes. “He’ll be fine.”

He turned then and made his way to a hand-scrubbing station. That was it, all the information I was getting, but it was all the information I needed.

I jumped up, my heart slamming against my chest as relief flooded me.

“Thank you!” I said, as gratefully as I could. Still hated the assholes, but they had saved Ryder’s life.

I followed as the vampire female whisked Ryder down the hall and into a recovery wing. There were three other ash in there, all hooked up to blood and curtained off from each other. A wheelchair was set up next to Ryder’s bed.

The nurse gave me some clear liquid in a syringe. “He can go home in an hour or so when he wakes. This will help with the pain. Stick it in his leg.”

My eyes widened and Kyle nodded before thanking her.

Once we were alone with our boy, I exchanged a look with Ryder’s oldest friend, a look that said Holy shit we just survived something crazy and thank you for being there with me. But we didn’t say a word. Sometimes there are no real words that can describe what you’ve just gone through.

Kyle wrapped a warm hand around my shoulder; he looked exhausted and ready to drop. I, however, was so jacked up on adrenaline there was no way I was sleeping until Ryder was awake and talking.

“You want me to bring him to my apartment and take care of him?” Kyle asked.

My heart tightened at the thought of letting Ryder out of my sight. I shook my head. “No, I can do it.”

Kyle nodded and pulled me in for a big hug. “You did good today, rookie.”

I gave a lame attempt at a smile as he pulled away and met my eyes. “Get some sleep,” I told him.

He nodded and yawned. “I’ll check on Markus. I have to report to the Quorum before I can sleep.”

Damn. No rest for the enforcers. I guess I should get used to it.

I sat in the wheelchair and held Ryder’s limp hand. It took me about thirty minutes, but eventually that jacked-up feeling started to lessen. Some of the stress and exhaustion pressed in on me and I lowered my head to rest on the side of the bed. I knew Ryder could wake at any moment, and I really didn’t want to drift off. Trying to stay awake, I started a slow, slurring murmur: don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep…

 

The sound of Ryder groaning jarred me awake. It took me a few seconds to orient myself, then the last twenty-four hours came slamming back. Ryder! Heart pounding, I fumbled for the clear syringe which had fallen into my lap. I was probably lucky I hadn’t accidentally stabbed myself with it while I slept.

By the time I got my shit together, my gaze crashed into his wide silver and black eyes. They were filled with a tumult of emotions.

“Charlie…”

The rasp of his voice almost had me in tears. The way he’d just said my name, so much emotion in his tone—a tenderness rarely seen from the strong enforcer, except in vulnerable moments like these. His hand snaked out and touched my hair and I found myself sinking into his touch.

“Ryder…”

For once in my life I didn’t know what to say. Was it too soon to blurt out Don’t ever do that again, I’m totally falling in love with you, and you scared the shit out of me? Yeah, probably.

He looked down, noticing the gauze across his stomach, the blood dripping into his IV. His face scrunched in pain, and I was just about to freak out that something had gone wrong when his face shot back up to me. Clarity entered those eyes, along with some worry.

“Markus?” Ryder struggled to sit up.

I would guess he’d just remembered how he’d been a big hero and jumped in front of a bunch of bullets. We really needed to talk about that sometime.

“He’s fine,” I said, giving him my most reassuring face. Of course, I didn’t know for sure he was fine, having not seen him since we got here, but surely if there had been an issue with his injuries, someone would have found Kyle and me and told us.

I palmed the clear syringe. “They gave me something for your pain, and it means I get to stab you in the leg.”

A deep chuckle came from him before he winced. Laughter was not good for belly wounds; even the tough guy here was struggling. I waved the syringe a little closer and he gave me a glare.

“I don’t like meds and I don’t need any. Take me home. I hate hospitals.”

Fair enough. Dropping the syringe on the side table, the first thing we had to do was remove the IV. The blood bag was almost empty now anyway. I might have closed my eyes just for a second as I gently pulled it out. It released easily, and apparently relatively pain free, as Ryder’s expression did not shift.

Moving closer then, I put an arm under each of Ryder’s armpits. Seemed like the safest place with all of his injuries.

“One, two, three,” I said, and with a lot of help from him, we got him sitting with his legs dropped off the side of the bed.

I was both relieved and slightly disappointed to see he was in a low slung pair of sweats. One of the vamps must have slipped those on after the surgery. Of course, my female appreciation of his beautiful body was definitely diminished by the sight of his bandages, red seeping through some of the white.

As I swayed a little at the sight, I took a second to be grateful that his wounds were not on show. My mom might be a nurse, but I always knew medical stuff was not for me. I’d definitely have puked to see his body torn to shreds like that.

He noticed my inspection. “I’ll heal in a few hours. As long as they stitched me up okay, it won’t even leave a scar.”

He was trying to reassure me, but we both knew the truth. He could have died today. Even ash can only lose so much blood and suffer so much damage before their genetics cannot save them. Forcing myself to focus on anything other than his almost death, I nodded at the wheelchair.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

It took some effort, but together we shifted him into the wheelchair. I was pretty sure I pulled my back doing it too. I’d thankfully healed all my injuries from dragging him under the car, so this was just a new one to deal with.

Ryder groaned, sinking into the chair. He looked as pale as a sheet and his eyes were on the syringe I had set down.

I smiled. “Want me to bring it just in case?”

After the briefest of hesitations, he nodded. Well, damn. If my big hardcore enforcer was needing pain meds, this was serious. I wheeled Ryder out of the medical ward, nodding to a nurse as we passed. After wheeling him into the elevator and down the hall, I stopped at my door and fumbled for my keycard.

Once we were inside, I noticed Jayden’s door was closed. He was probably at his job. I wheeled Ryder around our couch and right into my bedroom. Careful not to bump the chair, I walked the long way around to face him. He wore a wan grin.

“What?” I asked.

“Not exactly how I imagined being invited to your bed.”

Well hot damn. Ryder had thought about being invited into my bed. Nice.

“Want the pain meds yet?” I had the syringe safely stashed in the side of the wheelchair.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m still doing okay.”

Dude was a total liar; his normally bronzed skin was as pale as mine right now.

I sighed. Tough guys, they never asked for help. I reached out and plucked the painkiller free. I was betting whatever was in this thing was strong, especially if it would subdue an ash’s pain. If Ryder didn’t start looking better in a few minutes, I was totally using it on him.

Just as I had that thought, I noticed how much sweat had broken out on his forehead. Time to roll. I raised the syringe up high and he groaned.

“What’s your obsession with wanting to hurt me?”

I shrugged, stepping even closer into his personal space. “Guess it’s been harder than expected to get over the electrocution thing.”

His attempted chuckle turned into another grunt.

“Ready?”

He nodded, and before I could think about what I was going to do, in a single smooth motion I drove the syringe into his leg, pushing down to disperse the clear fluid inside. He didn’t even wince at the needle being jammed into his thigh. That pain probably paled in comparison to his stomach wound.

The mysterious clear liquid worked almost instantly. The tension which had racked his face lessened. His sigh of relief was music to my ears. Before he completely lost consciousness, I helped him out of the chair and tucked him into my bed. As his eyes fluttered, I went to step away, planning on running to the feeding station and grabbing some extra blood. But before I could he reached out and captured my hand, pulling me hard, using far more strength than an injured ash should have at their disposal. I fell onto the bed next to him.

“Lie with me,” he whispered in a slur.

I kicked off my shoes and tucked myself into his side, careful not to lie against his injuries. I felt his head tilt down to rest against my hair, and as he nestled closer into me he breathed in and out deeply.

“This is all … all I want.”

His last words were almost incoherent, but I heard them. Then he was fast asleep in a nice, drug induced state. As I was drifting off to sleep myself, I realized that this was what I wanted too. Unlimited spooning with Ryder was totes on my more to do list.