Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

“Okay,” Bashrik sighed. “Let’s head somewhere quieter and hash out this plan.”

We paid for the meal, and as we all left and walked through the village to the bed and breakfast, I hurried ahead to join Galo. As he removed his hood, I glanced at his wizened face. Although I really did feel that I trusted him, something in me just couldn’t help but ask him quietly, “Did you mean everything you said back there?”

“Every word,” he said, gliding ahead quickly. “The trouble with always smelling the truth is that it predisposes you to want to tell it most times, too.”

He was already a few feet ahead of me, and he cast a derisive glance back as I fell farther behind to join Lauren and Angie.

“Now hurry up, we have a bed and breakfast to get to.”





Chapter Five





The bed and breakfast looked pretty dingy from the outside—walls of dirty off-white bricks and a crumbling roof. Nevertheless, the inside was surprisingly homey. It was in Lauren and Angie’s room, all of us flopped on their bed’s multicolored quilt comforter, that we formulated our plan. With the help of a pad of paper Lauren had brought, we laid out what we were going to do.

“We have only two invisibility suits,” Ronad said. “So the safest option would be that only two of us go into the camp, keeping in contact with the others, who will be nearby, with the comm devices.”

We all agreed on that one. Even Bashrik gave a begrudging nod. “The real question of the hour is who those two will be,” he said. “Considering Ronad and I have the most experience dealing with coldbloods, we’d be the best bet. Not to mention that I’m easily the strongest of you all.”

“That may be so,” Galo remarked drily. “But you aren’t the most reliable.”

“What do you mean?” Bashrik said, his eyes flashing.

“What I mean is—what’s stopping you from making a deal with the rebel coldbloods if it means your brother gets free? How do we know you wouldn’t betray us to save him?” Galo said. “Anyway, I’m the one who best knows how to use the Fed weapons and suits, and I’ll die before I trust a coldblood.”

“Oh really?” Bashrik said, glowering at him.

From the way his chest had started to heave, I sensed Bashrik might be about to do or say something he’d regret. He was so stressed out by Navan’s situation that I feared any provocation might cause him to snap. I stood up and positioned myself between the two men.

“Guys—please. We’re on the same team,” I said.

Both men pursed their lips, but remained glaring at each other.

“Riley’s right,” Ronad said. “This is only wasting valuable time we could be using to work on saving Navan.”

This seemed to calm Bashrik down somewhat. When Angie softly added, “Please,” he nodded, leaning back in his chair.

“I apologize, lycan,” he said gruffly. “Sometimes my concern for my family makes me a bit… difficult to deal with.”

“I understand,” Galo said, though he didn’t take his eyes off the coldblood.

“Okay, so, we need to make a decision,” I reminded them as I sat back down.

“You’re right,” Angie said. “But I should be the one to go with Galo. You’ve been through enough as it is, and Lauren, well….”

“I’d probably collapse with terror at the sight of the camp,” she admitted, looking terrified at even the thought.

Angie and I gave her a reassuring squeeze as Galo stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Yes, yes. That will do. Riley and I will be the ones to go.”

The whole room erupted into angry noise.

Angie was the angriest of all. “What? That’s not what I said—!”

Galo waved his hand. “Yes, I’m aware. And while your concerns do take into account the wellbeing of Riley, which is important, they do not take into account the success of the mission. Riley has the most experience with the invisibility suit; not to mention, I have received word that she has an uncanny skill for knife-throwing. What can you offer us that she can’t?”

Angie’s hazel eyes were set into an expression of exasperated surprise. “I’m in better shape, so I can run faster,” she said, mouthing a “sorry” at me, “and I once took out this big guy who was trying to mug me.”

“Hm,” Galo said. “Good points, but sadly still not quite enough. I think we can all agree that Riley is more suited to the task. After all, she’s infiltrated the base once before—she might have failed in her mission, but she knows the area now better than any of you.”

All eyes went to me. They looked as uncertain as I felt. After all, the mission would be a dangerous one. Not to mention an incredibly important one, and I’d already failed at saving Navan once before. And yet, once again, Galo was right. I’d been there in the coldblood camp—I knew where Navan was; I knew the layout of the bunker. And more than from a merely logical standpoint, there was the whole heavy sense of responsibility I felt about Navan’s capture. I’d left him there, with those brutal monsters, and I wanted to be the one to rescue him from them. I wanted to be the first one he saw when he was freed. I wanted to see his lit-up grateful face—and kiss it.

I exhaled and rose. “I have to be the one to do this. I’m the only one who was there at all. More than that, I won’t be able to rest unless it’s me in there saving him.”

Lauren took my hand. “Are you absolutely sure, Riley?”

I nodded, giving her a sad smile. “Absolutely sure.”

Silence fell between us.

“I suppose Riley is right. She does have the know-how,” Bashrik said. He glanced at Angie, who, frowning, nodded her agreement. “And as for Galo accompanying her instead of me… I’ll admit I’m not of the most stable mindset right now, so perhaps it is for the best.”

Galo nodded in appreciation, and it seemed we’d finally come to an agreement. Now that we’d established who was going into the camp, we laid out the rest of the plan: together we’d fly into the Siberian wilderness, landing the ship a safe distance from the coldblood camp. It was in this ship that the others would wait while Galo and I snuck into the coldblood base. We were to keep in contact whenever we could using the comm devices, and to turn back at the first sign of trouble.

“And I mean the first, slightest, tiniest, eeny weeniest sign of trouble,” Angie said, looking me sternly in the eye.

“Yes, yes,” Bashrik replied impatiently, although I could tell he was thinking, Yes, turn back at the first sign of trouble—as long as you have Navan, that is.

“Agreed,” I told Angie, managing a wan smile.

The more we talked about the mission, the more nervous I was getting. It was just me, a weak human, and Galo, an elderly lycan, going into a base filled with thousands of merciless killers—coldbloods and shifters alike. Sure, we had our invisibility suits, but I’d barely made it through the camp undiscovered last time. And what if Galo got himself caught? Was I really willing to leave him behind if the mission called for it?

“You okay, Riley?” Lauren asked, looking at me with concern.