Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) by Jaymin Eve, Leia Stone Page B

men, ending a life was still not something I could ever agree with.
    Ryder let out a deep breath, distracting me. “Nice shot, Charlie.”
    He pulled his weapon then and put a bullet between the scout’s eyes. I’ll never forget the hot blood meeting the cold snow, and the way it glowed on the night vision goggles.
    There was more light in the space now. Oliver had a small lantern. Where the heck had he got that from, and why didn’t I have one?
    “Charlie, check on Markus for me,” Ryder said, before turning to Oliver. “I’m going to need some help hiding the body. The harder it is for them to track him, the more time we’ll have.” This was the second time in the few months I’d known Ryder that he needed help in hiding a body. The enforcer struggle was real.
    Taking off my goggles, I slipped across the torn up area to reach Markus. As I crashed to my knees beside him, he started groaning. I ripped off my gloves, trying my best to feel around for his injuries. The enforcer surprised me by grabbing at his groin and rolling off on his side, panting.
    “Little prick kicked me in the goodies!” he growled. “Then when I doubled over, he knocked me out cold.” The Scottish accent was strong in his voice. I could barely make out his angry words.
    Ryder almost looked like he was holding back a smile. “Sanctum have no rules.”
    Markus was sitting up now, leaning on my outstretched arm. “It’s a code, a universal code between all males. You DO NOT go for the junk.”
    Ryder’s smile came through this time, before disappearing again as he picked up his walkie-talkie, radioing Sam, Jared, and Kyle.
    “We’ve got the enemy down and Markus is okay. Rendezvous at base camp.” His cold words cut through the tension now that the immediate danger was over, and I had to admit this military talk was sexy AF.
     
    When we all got back to the house Jayden was waiting, a blubbering nervous wreck. He inspected each of us, including Becca, who arrived back from the hospital at the same time as us, and determined we were all okay.
    “Are Lupita and her father okay?” I asked the blond ashpire, hoping there had been no other problems.
    She nodded, reaching out and squeezing my hand, which was a lot of emotion for the normally reserved chick. “Thank you, thank you so much. They’re my friends, have been for many years. I saved their oldest daughter when she got sick and they have repaid me a million times over in love, friendship, and cake. If they had lost him, well, it would have been devastating for all of them. He’s the backbone of the family.”
    Shit, there must be some debris in my eyes or something, because they were suddenly watering like crazy. Or I was hormonal. Yes, that was it. Stupid ashpire hormones had me leaking and stuff.
    I smiled. “I’m really glad I was here to help.”
    Ryder’s voice broke over all of us. “Meeting time. Let’s gather in the main room. Hands up for first scout and patrol duty.”
     
    Ten minutes later I was settled into the couch and warm again. Finally. Felt like you could literally freeze your butt off up here in seconds. All of us, except for Markus and Jared, who were stationed on the roof watching our backs, were gathered around in the main room again, and the atmosphere was grim.
    Ryder, who was still decked out in enforcer gear, had the floor. “We need to run. We can’t risk the Sanctum coming back to check on their missing guy, or worse, alerting the vampires to where we are.”
    “I … what? I can’t leave. I need my lab to create the cure…” Becca’s voice was surprisingly strong for someone who’d just had her world turned upside down. She was a little tigress about things she loved. I liked it.
    “How can you be sure there was only one scout?” Sam muttered through gritted teeth. The silent enforcer’s mind was calculating our next move. I knew it.
    Ryder didn’t seem surprised by the question, even though his jaw clenched harder, and the corner