Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

I felt a chill run down my spine. “Orion?” I gasped, utterly confused.

Galo nodded. “Now that the situation has changed, Orion’s demands have duly adapted. Since you have failed to deliver on the previous information he asked for, he has decided that he would like something else instead—you must steal any and all of the immortality elixir research from Queen Brisha, and send what you find straight back to him.” He paused, dragging in a heavy breath. “He says that if you don’t comply with his wishes, he will kill off humans one by one, on Earth… starting with your parents. You have one month to complete this task, before he begins his executions.”

I felt as though he’d just punched me in the stomach. “My parents? H-How would he even find them? How did he find us?” I asked, breathless.

“I don’t know exactly how he’d find your parents, but I have a feeling you don’t want to test his skills when it comes to tracking people down,” Galo said. “As for you… Orion didn’t just implant a chip so that he could control you, Riley. He planted a tracking device in you, too, so he could follow your progression from the moment you both left for Vysanthe. He has been tracing your every move.”

Realization dawned on me. Lazar had removed the chip that could end me, but he had willingly left the tracking device in there. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe he knew nothing about it. Even if he hadn’t known initially, after cutting me open he would have seen it. Anger bristled through my veins—I had known there was something amiss after the surgery. I had seen it on Lazar’s face. I just hadn’t known what it was, at the time. Guilt.

Furious at his actions, I felt stupid for not pressing the matter when I’d had the chance. True, Lazar didn’t agree with Orion’s violent methods of getting what he wanted, but Lazar still wanted the mission to succeed. Of course—it all made sense now. He didn’t want me to be hurt by the chip for Navan’s sake, but he still wanted Orion to be able to keep tabs on us. That was why he’d left the tracker in me.

“After all the trust I put in him,” Navan hissed, his hands balling into fists. “If I ever see that traitorous lizard again… He won’t get away with this!”

Galo glanced down at a watch on his wrist, and his face morphed into a mask of panic. “Drat,” he breathed, the emotion in his voice returning him to a semblance of his former self. “Listen, Orion has me on a timer, and I have less time—much less time—left than I thought. You need to find one of the Fed outposts in deep space and warn them about Vysanthe’s quest for immortality. Seek out allies, build a viable force that can take on the might of the coldbloods. Do this, or we are all destined for destruction!” He spoke rapidly, his eyes wide with alarm. “The star—” he began to add, but he was cut off mid-sentence. His body convulsed in violent spasms, his limbs flying out at all angles, his head snapping back as his eyes rolled into his head.

Blood filled his mouth, a sickening gurgle rising up his throat, before his knees buckled and his body crumpled to the floor. He stilled, his limbs splayed out unnaturally, his eyes suddenly glassy and blank.

“No,” I gasped, hurrying to his side and kneeling by his head. I clutched him in my arms, shaking him hard. But as much as I willed it, he didn’t come back to life.

I choked back a sob as Navan dropped down next to me. I hadn’t known Galo very long, or very well, but I felt his loss more intensely than words could explain. He had been kind to me when no one else was. He had guided me through what were possibly the darkest hours of my life, when I’d been all alone, without even Navan to help me. Galo’s voice had been there, steady and soothing. If it weren’t for that old lycan, I wouldn’t even be here today.

As I pulled his head up to hold him closer to me, I noticed the scars of three triangular dots on the side of his neck. I felt a hollow in the pit of my stomach. I knew those scars. I had the same ones. They couldn’t be anything else.

“Oh, Galo,” I whispered, tears pricking my eyes.

Orion had implanted a chip in him too. Even so, Galo had tried to give us a final warning, and it was up to us to make sure that it wasn’t in vain.





Chapter Thirty-Six





After wrapping Galo’s body in a curtain we dragged down from the window in the annex, and tying some weighty metal paperweights to his ankles, Navan picked him up. We managed to get away from the building unnoticed, and Navan carried him gently in his arms to the nearby lake that lay on the far side of the palace gardens, in the shade of the mountainside. Here, dark green, willow-like trees trailed the still water’s surface with their spiny tendrils, and bug-eyed creatures crept from the darkness of the bordering woods to sip from the icy water.

With his mouth set in a grim line, Navan went toward the water’s edge, his muscles flexing as he prepared to throw Galo’s body into the dark liquid. I called out, stopping him.

“Wait!”

Navan turned anxiously. “Is someone coming?”

I shook my head. “I just… want to say goodbye,” I said softly, tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t bear the idea of Galo alone under the water, with nobody saying a word over him. It didn’t seem right that he wasn’t surrounded by his kinsmen, being buried in the lycan way—whatever that was. Instead, he was here, on a planet that actively hated his kind, being tossed into a lake like a piece of garbage. I couldn’t handle the grief, feeling it clench at my heart like a vise. He didn’t deserve this. He was good, and kind, and gentle—and Orion had killed him.

Navan laid the lycan down on the bank and stepped back. He dipped his chin to his chest, his eyes closed in a private reverie.

I drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “I didn’t know you very well, but you were always kind to me,” I began, letting the words come. “You felt like a grandfather… It sounds silly, but that’s how I saw you. I’m sorry this has happened to you, and I’m sorry you’re so far away from home. I know what that feels like. I… I hope you find your way back to people you have loved and lost, and I hope they are there to greet you with open arms. I hope you can rest now, and know that your life was not lost in vain. We will do what you asked. We will heed your warning—so you can rest in peace, Galo. As painful as those final moments must have been, we will make sure they were worth living.”

“You were a brave warrior, Galo,” Navan spoke suddenly, taking me by surprise. “You will be avenged.” It was a simple statement, but it was powerful. “Is there anything else you want to say?” he asked, turning to me.