Holy Shit. The enforcers’ instincts had been right; there was definitely a spy in our midst, more than one if that number of listening devices was any indication. I took a seat as Ryder drew the word mole underneath SANCTUM, before turning back to face us.
“First order of business … I’ve been trying for the past few weeks to politically deal with our response to the Sanctum attack. Finally, this morning, the Quorum ordered me not to retaliate against the group, and they denied my offer to sniff out who sent them to attack the Hive and steal Charlie. Not only does that make me a little angry, it makes me a lot suspicious.”
I nodded. Why the hell would the Quorum order us not to find out who had attacked their home and tried to kill me? Unless...
“The Quorum wants me dead,” I said in a resigned sort of manner. I really wasn’t even surprised at this point.
Ryder’s eyebrows furrowed and he and the rest of the enforcers turned to face me. I was startled to realize that it felt incomplete in here without Sam. These guys had quickly become friends and family to me, and now they were caught up in this bullshit because vamps were assholes.
The five were still staring at me, and I could see that they were waiting for me to expand on my previous statement. Without hesitation, I quickly caught them up on what Lucas had told me this morning. No one said anything during my story, but pissed-off-faces were being flashed all over the room. Once I finished with my speech, there was silence for like thirty seconds before the enforcers kind of exploded into action.
Ryder was the first to make himself heard: “We should just leave now. I don’t want Charlie hurt. I have plans in place, safe houses and cash stashed around. I haven’t figured out the blood thing yet, but I will.” It shocked me at how casual he was about giving up his entire life here, his job—everything really—for my safety.
Kyle interjected: “Look, none of us want to see Charlie hurt, bro, but hear me out. We have an opportunity here to find out the bigger picture, to gather intel on the Quorum and to not only find out who sent the Sanctum but also what Deliverance is up to. I don’t like not knowing what my enemies want, and I have a feeling this is bigger than just Charlie. If they knew one hundred percent what she is, she would be dead by now. I think we still have time.”
Markus nodded. “Besides, we can’t leave without Sam, and we need time to stash blood or figure out how we will survive. I say we stay friendly with the Quorum, and the second we catch wind of harm coming Charlie’s way, we’re out of here.”
None of this was sitting right with me. So much sacrifice for one stupid chick. Okay, I wasn’t a complete waste of space, but I always thought it was ridiculous in romance novels when all of these people just gave up their lives to save the damsel in distress. Now, in this situation, I see that this is what honorable males do to protect ones they care about. And while I would do the same for them, all of them, in a heartbeat, I still wanted to object.
“You guys, I feel bad about you having to leave because of me. Maybe we can just transfer to another hive. I’ve always loved Colorado.”
Jared put an arm around my shoulders. “You’re family now, we stick together. Plus, I reckon this fear of our beautiful unicorn goes deep and has spread to all Hives. That’s the word on the street anyhow.”
Even with his Australian accent prettying up that sentiment, it still wasn’t nice to hear. I groaned. What was wrong with being different? Oh yeah, I was the cure to the one thing that gave them power and strength. I would fear me too. But we still had no indication this was about my cure, no way to know if they had this knowledge yet. Shit, we hadn’t even known what I was when the Sanctum attacked.
Ryder touched his stomach then, those gorgeous silver eyes crinkling. I wondered if he was thinking about being shot up. “Okay, I think Kyle has a point. If we run, we would be completely in the dark, and knowledge is power. New plan is this: we lock down our intel, we have no more meetings unless we’re out in the open or have scanned for listening devices. We stay on Charlie’s ass—she’s to have two escorts at all times—and I will tell all of you individually the escape plans if shit goes down.” His eyes flashed to almost pure silver then. “And lastly, the Sanctum might be officially off our list to investigate, but the Quorum said nothing about Deliverance.” The gleam in his eye gave me chills. “You don’t try to kill me and my friends and get away with it. It’s time for Deliverance to learn a thing or two about ash.”
Kyle raised his hand. “Before you go Terminator on this one, I have a suggestion.”
Ryder glared at his best friend. “I want them to hurt. Charlie was there with us. A lot of ash died. They had one of us wired to a fucking cross.”